PAPERCUT

Amerika [19/07/2021]
I've been reading Kafka in the past couple of days. For reasons unknown, I had somehow assumed that I had covered all possible ground with "The Trial", "The Judgement", "The Castle", and, of course, "The Metamorphosis" ages ago, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover "Amerika" in the public library last week. It is a painful experience to read Kafka. Always has been. More than any author I know, he has the cursed propensity for putting together Hell: Mounting, surreal discomfort, inescapable in the way only nightmares are, and evoking a sort of malaise that escalates into vertigo levels of unsettlement. I re-read "Letter to His Father" on the side, to keep in mind the psychological context of Kafka's literary work, and, quite frankly, in the same way we start reading comments when a video becomes too scary. "Amerika" isn't even that dark. It is the only one of his works that has a happy ending in fact. It, too, is an unfinished work, and there is a discernible gap in the narrative between discomfort and happy ending. The sudden change in tone caught me by surprise. The happy ending is also delivered in a surreal, unrealistic-realistic manner, and it made me think how different the word "Kafkaesque" would have been if the author had concentrated his distinctive style into producing a "happy" surreal effect. At the same time, as I was reading the upbeat ending, I couldn't help but feel that what with the trumpeting angels and devils, and everyone -the more down on their luck the better- being effortlessly accepted in the legendary theater, Karl died sometime along the way, unceremoniously perishing from the continuous maltreatment inflicted upon him, and went to Heaven. 

Italia campione d'Europa! 🇮🇹🏆⚽ [12/07/2021]
Complimenti all' Italia e alla squadra Azzurri straordinaria! Finale meritata!

Ti vogliamo bene, i tuoi vicini 🇬🇷❤️.
 
😍AAAAAAAAAA [09/07/2021]
This is the best coat of arms I've ever seen!

                                            😍 Super cute, aesthetically pleasing Donald-esque curves!
                                            😍 Unusual looking dragon-serpent walking around crowned & full of swag!
                                            😍 Tongue out like "blaa, that's how I roll"!
                                            😍 Dazzling smart eye, unlike typical inbred-looking lions!


Is this autism (?) [08/07/2021]
I got vaxxed so, naturally, I now use a 🎩 on top of any face emoji I send to anyone who hasn't gotten vaccinated yet. Of course this joke can't go on forever. Once I get the second dose, I will start using a  👑.

The Danish defense [07/07/2021]
Should go on to do ads for mattresses or something, given the wonderful REM sleep they were having while Viking wallkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was saving the penalty. 

The watermelon [06/07/2021]
My mother, after my father brought home the worst, most watery watermelon of all times, having ignored her 👏1! 👏2! 👏3! rules for how to pick a good watermelon:
Mom  -(Nevertheless), God gave us this watermelon, so we shouldn't throw it away.
My father and I at the same time, under our breaths:
Me     -This watermelon definitely didn't come from God.
Dad   -This is not a watermelon.

...It will probably take a couple more days to finish this thing.

How I've missed this blessed land! [06/07/2021]
The air, pulsating with cicadas and birdsongs at daytime, is heavy with the aroma of night flowers as soon as the sun disappears behind the mountains on the strip of land visible across the bay. Around that time, every afternoon, I walk along the country road from my house straight to the sea, leisurely stepping on gravel until I’m in the sea, gazing at the sunset as I slowly see-saw with the waves. My mind is completely serene at last.
How did I stay in that tupperware of swampland with its dumb, offensive animals for so long? 

The pond in front of the house must have a million tadpoles now. Where do they go? What happens to them? Very few make it to adult frog life. 


Πόσα βιβλία να έχει γράψει άραγε [25/06/2021]
Ο Στήβεν Κινγκ από την τελευταία φορά που ασχολήθηκα (?)🤔


🛫🖕😀🖕✈️ [25/06/2021]   

           Tuesday 29

In an unbelievable turn of events [21/06/2021]
I am deeply nostalgic over the first lockdown; all the things I did back then and all the things that were more attainable. Doing out of pure curiosity, at my own pace, instead of this thankless soldiering on, begrudgingly, in a fucking endless winter, cold, cold, cold. Hooray to the pioneer, hooray to the trailblazer who risks everything and becomes half mad and groundbreakingly alone.

Jean Peter's endless bleeding [20/06/2021]
The second reading of "A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White", is going significantly better. A muted Brando continuously changing sheets from underneath Peter's bleeding body, is the long-awaited response to the mythology surrounding the sanitized-sexualized female body's functions. It's incredibly aggravating that, until very recently, the leading cause of death for women in the developed world was childbirth, and, yet, the only discussion surrounding it even now is still the most censored "miracle of life" bullshit ever. 

Τα πηγάδια της Quinta da Regaleira [19/06/2021]
Τόσο καιρό λέω στον εαυτό μου "με το που θα εμβολιαστώ θα φύγω Ισπανία και σιγά μη με ξαναδείτε ποτέ", αλλά μήπως τελικά να πάω Πορτογαλία να βρώ το σανγκ ρεάλ? 🤔

I've taken up the hobby [19/06/2021]
Of receiving most of my daily caloric intake in the form of potable liquids. In my defense, this not only includes booze, but also coffee, ultimately leading me to a healthier lifestyle in accordance with which I drink more water and religiously brush my teeth, for fear of losing it -or worse staining it- all, due to the ungodly amounts of sugar I consume.  I suppose all this could be considered an obvious downgrade of all kinds of health, but I reckon that, above all, adults have a moral obligation to think of all of the unhappy grown-ups in the world and finish their drinks. 

Postmodernism & the Distrust of grand narratives [19/06/2021]
I like it in principle. While going through "A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White", I understand jack shit of course. 

Straight to Avīci [18/06/2021]
I've been doing nothing but killing flies, killing their brethren and killing their offspring, five days in a row. My bloodlust would be quenched, if only I could posess a door mesh net that doesn't suck. Until then, I have no choice but to continue my rampage, swinging the orange electric racket of death that has already claimed the souls of so many. Also, I wish the police horses wouldn't shit in front of the house, endlessly calling reinforcements to the battlefield.  

Πάσσαρης - Πάνια [17/06/2021]
Δύο το βράδυ, κουφόβραση, και βλέπω συνέντευξη Πάσσαρη στην Πάνια. Ξέρωγωμητουμιλάςσανα'ναικαθυστερημένοςέλεοςήδηυποφέρουμε.

Dogra Magra [09/06/2021]
I still can't get over the fact that Yumeno Kyusaku's work hasn't been translated into English. 

Lost Generation Style [10/05/2021]
The experience of doing a second master's. 

The Paul Brothers [09/05/2021] 
The real reason why they are doing all those boxing matches is that they can't possibly suffer any more brain damage. Logan, the "smart" bro, thinks he can beat Mayweather. He also happens to be the more "likeable" of the two. And that's the same guy who went looking for and then jokingly showed to the whole world the dead body of a man who had committed suicide.
Then again, perhaps the true measure of their hybris is that they keep participating in recorded sports events (that involve vigorous upper torso movement), despite having that ambiguous Trump hairstyle.  🥊🧑‍🦲🥊    👀👀👀⁉️⁉️‼️
 
Ugh [08/05/2021]
I feel that the whole lockdown gig, the entire past year basically, should have endowed me with some revolutionary enlightenment; ~THE Epiphany To End ALL Epiphanies~.
...Meanwhile, the only thing I learned is how to do online shopping more cost-effectively. 

Roman spy [04/04/2021]
Imagine having to report back to Rome on Jesus's activities:
- Ambulavit in aqua!
- Prohibere vinum bibens, Cassie. 
 
Delightful [04/04/2021]
When scholars -who just published or are about to publish a book- ferociously  feud  over whose snake oils stink the most.

This whole year [03/04/2021]
Has been a loophole of jumping up from the couch in a bra-less panic when the delivery guy shows up.

Hue hue hue [23/03/2021]

I did a thing.

I wanna get the Sputnik vaccine [07/03/2021]
Due to coolness of name, which is the only criterion by which I can judge vaccine specs anyway.

Arab-Mongol ninjas (?) [20/02/2021]
The Rouran in Mulan (2020).  Aguilera's "Loyal Brave True" was the bomb though.


No cynicism on the actual date [14/02/2021]