the ancient art

PIG PHOTOBOMB!

Rebellion

A living man can be enslaved and reduced to the historic condition of an object. But if he dies in refusing to be enslaved, he reaffirms the existence of another kind of human nature which refuses to be classified as an object.

~Albert Camus

Flowers for Algernon

'progris riport 1-martch 5, 1965

Dr. Strauss says I shud rite down what I think and evrey thing that happins to me from now on, I dont know why but he says its importint so they will see if they will use me. I hope they use me. Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart. My name is Charlie Gordon. I am 37 years old. I have nuthing more to rite now so I will close for today.'

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Above is an excerpt from one of my favourite short stories, entitled Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Without giving away too much, the story concerns Charlie Gordon, a man considered 'mentally deficient' who agrees to undergo a surgical brain treatment in order to increase his IQ.

It's quite touching, and it really got me thinking about the nature of the brain, and how sometimes the mind can be a prison in itself.

Here's a link to the full story :)

Flowers For Algernon

Happiness

<3

Wicked

Been listening to the Wicked soundtrack lately and holy shit I really want to see it again.

It's so awesome : ( and really puts a spin on the Wizard of Oz story.

If you've been living under a rock and don't know what Wicked is about, it's based on a novel by Gregory Maguire which explores the history of the Wicked Witch of The West before the happenings of The Wizard of Oz, as told from her point of view.

What pulled me into the musical, aside from the shiny colours, flamboyant costumes and catchy songs (Defying Gravity anyone?) is how the plot cleverly turns around a lot of things you think you know from the Wizard of Oz. By the end of it all your perception of the original Wizard of Oz story is changed and you start to think, who's the real bad guy here? Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, is portrayed as the nicest and most innocent girl, and her character grows on you till you're balling your eyes out at the end when she gets melted by Dorothy's bucket of water.

Not that I was balling my eyes out

I WASNT.

I SWEAR.