P.S.

Referring to Blumfeld:

Februrary 9, 1915: "Just now read the beginning. It is ugly and gives me a headache. In spite of all its truth it is wicked, pedantic, mechanical, a fish barely breathing on a sandbank." - Kafka.

Well, fuck that.

Hey, Thanks

I had a lot of fun. I learned a lot. I got a lot of bruises. It was a good time.

thanks.

(the end.)

B is for Blumfeld, who was killed by falling balls.

This video is incredible. Also, could we get their leftovers? I think they had 300,000.

Watch for the frog at 1:40. And, all balls stop bouncing at some point.

On a mind bending side note, apparantly the image below is the image used to represent the balls on the endpages of the fancy shmancy edition of Blumfeld.

In the article reviewing the story, they said this at the end:

"What is most striking, for those expecting from Kafka a sense of isolation and confusion, is that ‘Blumfeld’ is not only lucid but very funny. Blumfeld’s recurring thoughts on getting a dog are funnier each time the subject comes up, and there is a delicious understated wit in lines like, 'If one looks at the whole thing with an unprejudiced eye, the balls behave modestly enough.'

"However there is isolation here too, and the balls reflect Blumfeld’s fractured relations with others, as is made clearer in the second section of the story. Here, having apparently solved the problem of the balls, he goes to his place of work, where he is saddled with a couple of assistants, who hound and trouble him, but are deemed necessary to him, and from whom he cannot escape."

I kind of think we captured everything that he talks about... and I find that really awesome, since I'm not sure if I really understood these things when I first read the story.

Also, saying the word awesome just now just made me think of our very first meeting, when I had no idea what we were getting into, but we used the word awesome a lot.

P.S. I am disappointed in both of you, since you have both promised me epic posts and failed to deliver. But this is an epic post. So watch the video and be amazed.

this is quite the day for me!

Thought i'd post the original pictures that I brought in that early rehearasal.Plus I remembered that I haven't yet posted any factory pictures! I found some great ones. If you (Dakota and John?) can post the pictures from that first day as well, that would be awesome! I'd like to use them. I think in particular there was one really good one of an apartment.

Just to make sure you're reading, and to make you comment!

What are the songs that we are using in the scene? Are they all Billie Holiday? Can you possibly post the tracks here? Is that possible?

So... I'm not in theater history anymore, because it's DONE for the semester, but I'm still procrastinating...

Some images of Prague around the 1920s/30s. Can't you see Blumfeld spending hours just sitting alone in that movie theater on the left in the first picture? I imagine that's how he spent some of his younger years. Now he doesn't even do that... I like the apartment image as well. I imagine Blumfeld's being this, but slightly less fancy and less colorful. Although I don't mind the blue walls all too much and the neatness and precision of the room is perfect. For the last one, maybe a view from his window? (oops, that means that's his suicide view. an interesting idea...)

So... I'm in theater history....

Interestingly enough, Kafka worked as a young man in an asbestos factory. And then he died, primarily of tuberculosis. Though asbestos usually can be harmful to the lungs, which is typically where TB starts, there doesn't seem to be a connection between the two. However, depending on what kind of linen factory B. works at, he could have some kind of lung thing after years of working there. Could we potentially give him a cough or a wheeze or something that might serve to emphasize his elderliness (apparently that's not a word.... oh well) as well as, to anyone who is really paying attention, some other connection to Kafka.

Also, Kafka was essentially afraid of sex, but in a weird way in that he would have purely sexual relationships with women (but maybe they weren't actually having sex... I'm confused on this point). But the main point is is that he broke off a number of engagements and long term relationships because he was afraid of the coital part of marriage. Again, if we're equating Blumfeld to Kafka, which I think is an interesting idea (Blumfeld as what Kafka was afraid he could become?), Blumfeld could have this history of being with a lot of women, none of whom he's had the guts to marry. Which is potentially even more lonely that him just being alone his entire life.

Now, three interesting (to me) images. The first two are cute little girls in berets, just to prove that cute little girls wear them and look cute. The third, well, that's obvious, and I think we're more awesome....