Doon't Say We Never Do Antyhing Nice...

Last night comedian Lynne Koplitz was on campus. You may have seen her on comedy central or elsewhere, and I must say, I was thoroughly impressed. My live comedy experience is limited, but this was a riot...and quite informative.I learned about everything from life changes as you hit your mid-30's to how women fake orgasims...I mean, the things you can really bring home to the dinner table. It was a solid mid-week evening, that will carry me calmy into the weekend.

This was the first full week of classes, and by full, I mean 5 straight days of the Univeristy actually being open. I've dove deeper into the philosophy of War and Truce, reading up on Kant's article "Perpecual Peace" and have emerced myself in the language of Truth Functional Logic. I've begin editing the draft of my thesis from last year, and am focusing on some more technical phenomenological research. A deadline was set as well, my thesis is due the first week of April, and the defense is scheduled for the end of that month. So with about 8 weeks to go, if I appear a bit frazzled for the rest of the winter, you'll all know why!

My pop-culture vices are being fulfilled to the max this week...First, yesterday marked Alex Ross's return to Marvel Comics! Captain American #34 came out yesterday, and not only did Ross draw a varient cover (shown here) but the new Cap was introduced. I don't want to give too much away, but your favorite WWII sidekick may be dawning the red, white and blue...

And tonight, as if you didn't know...is the triumphant return of LOST! With only 8 episodes written so far, we'll see how long season 4 will last, but regradless, I can't wait to see what's going on with our favorite castaways, others and frensh jungle woman!

With a friends birthday (dejavu from last weekend I know) this should be a great end to the week. At least before I continue my research and start sending out cover letters to possibly my future employers! Cheers -- enjoy life...

Current Song -- Sun, Sun, Sun -- The Elected

Art Breaks My Heart...

Like I promised, I made my way to the ICA last night...and after a half-hour walk along the water, we embarked on a 2hr excursion through the hallows of modern art. As expected, there were some incredible pieces, including a rug made of thousands of tiny pins, a room filled with foam mattresses that had silhouettes of people dug out of them, and a video piece featuring a gentleman mimicking his hunting heritage by shooting his groceries in the supermarket with a bow & arrow before purchasing them.

But none was as creepy as Cornelia Parker's "Hanging Fire." I came around a corner to find remains of a burnt art studio, suspended from the air, resembling a still explosion. The instant my eyes settled on the piece, my heart raced and a single bead of sweat attacked my cheek from my temple.

I've included pictures of two works similar to that which now haunts me. (to the left - "Heart of Darkness". to the right - "Cold Dark Matter") Trust me when I say that a picture does no justice...as if they ever do.

When I first laid eyes on the piece I felt as though I was looking into the future, and suddenly knew I was destined to experience a blaze similar to that which created the shards of wood and nails I was staring at. There are few times when art effects you as much as "Hanging Fire." It is my destiny to travel to a small island off the Western Coast of Japan, train for several life-times...return to the frozen flame with a centuries old Japanese blade, and defeat that which as tortured my soul. It is for this reason, that this was my favorite piece in the gallery.

Current Song -- So Subtle -- Snowsera

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Weekday Prep for Weekend Par-tay

The semester is in full swing, and for the moment, work, school, comic reading and movie watching are in a harmoneous equilibrium. I've managed to catch up on weekly issues (comics) and add pages upon pages of reading with logic problem sets into my weekly dose of mental exercise.

Today's a workin day, with classes tomorrow...which means I'm listening to The Moldy Peachesall day long! If you're not down with TMP's you best get on that pronto...they're more geeked out than Weezer...if that is humanly possible.

This seems to be a week of preperation...we're preparing the phil. film meetings, classes are in the clickity-clack stage of the roller coaster and my leftover Chilli's chips and salsla are in the mirowave...

The ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) happens to be free on Thurs. nights after 5pm, and is conviently located just across the water in South Boston. Once some fellow philosophy enthusiests get out of class, we'll be adventuring over for some culture to kick off the weekend.

I'm on RA duty tonight and Friday, which could be worse, I've got Lost Season 3 to catch up on before the 31st ans a slue of graphic novels to dive into if the residents opt to behaive. With a friend's brithday on Sat the weekend is looking promising. Enjoy life...

Current Song -- Hold On -- Tim Armstrong

With the first day of the semester behind me, it appears that '08 holds some significant promise. I had a wonderful break in Chicago, with a trip-within-a-trip to Cancun for New Years! It's amazing how the sense of home is very different everytime I go back. What constitutes home, and how that notion relates to where I am in my life, always seems to clarify my current outlook or attitude on the given moment. So for that effect, home was great, but I am thrilled to be back!

Second semester senior year could not provide a better schedule, and with only two classes, both on Mon and Wed afternoons, my days are wide open for riding bikes and playing frisbee...come sping anyway. But in the meantime, it'll be snowy walks and bar room banters to pass the non-working hours away. As far as academics goes, I'll be enjoying Philosophy of War and Truce and Advanced formal logic. Phil War should be truly interesting...the class consists of me (interested in logic and aesthetics, which is a paradime in and of itself), the professor and about a dozen poly-phil interested peers. The class focuses on the (possible) false dicotamy of War and Peace. The idea is that there is an existant middleground between these two extremes, and that the societal norm of dicotamies is plain wrong. I wonder if dicotamies are inherint within ourselves, and thus are manifested socially and politically? I'll keep you posted as this all developes.

Advanced Formal Logic is an extention of the Formal Logic course, and focuses on the notion of Truth, and how logical reasoning will eventually lead us to an understanding of that Truth. We will spend our time learning the tools of the logic trade, and completing problem sets. It's a blend of arithamtic and philosophy, and is a concept that is more applicable to my daily life than anything else I've learned in any other class. I'm not delusional enough to think that I'm a logician by any stretch of the means, but the amount of logical falicies out there would astonish you. Eventually we will transend logic and discuss the theory of logic in terms of metamathmatics.

The two seem to compliment each other well, but more than anything, it just feels great to be in the classroom. You can't beat it when your "job" is to learn, which is cleche enough, but something I will definatly miss come May.

This afternoon I will be enjoying Juno for the second time! Parker Posey watch out (though Broken English may have stolen my heart, turned it inside out, gave it back in broken-puzzle form, and taught me to speak French) I think we may have a new queen of Indi-ville USA. Elen Page brings sarcasim to a whole new level. With refrences to the likes of The Thundercats, slight chuckles were pleantiful the first time around, and will hopefully lead to an appreciaton of the follow-up jokes that I missed while laughing at the leading jokes durring the first screening. (Reference Superbad for a similar experience.)

This is one of the best times of the semester. Most people are yet to be jaded and spring is somewhere in sight. Enjoy life.

Current Song -- All Right Now -- Free