Email to a Friend or Add a Social Bookmark

He spends the first half of the book, very carefully developing the character through their daily life, very detailed and even mundane at times. But what he is doing is establishing the reality of the world the character lives in. Then halfway through the book, he tilts that reality askew with something fantastical, supernatural or transcendently spiritual. It is like a rollercoaster and the first half of the book the car is slowly ascending the first hill. Click, click, click. But if you are patient enough to stick with it to the peak, you can now ride the rollercoaster down with great speed through exciting twists and turns. The ride down makes the long climb up worthwhile. I think this is deliberate.

Of course, I will now have to finish the book to see if my theory proves true. I hope so, because to this point I have been underwhelmed compared to his other books, and yet this is supposed to be his magnum opus that pulls together all his previous writings. So, if it doesn’t deliver I will not know what to think of my abilities to comprehend his vision, a vision that I once thought I fully understood and deeply appreciated. I guess I could always take the graduate level philosophy course at the American University of London that is based on this book, yeah right.

Here are some quotes from Hermann Hesse (July 2, 1877 – August 9, 1962) whose books explored an individual’s search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality.

Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke.

If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.

Knowledge can be communicated, but wisdom cannot. A man can find it, he can live it, he can be filled and sustained by it, but he cannot utter or teach it.

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.

When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane.

Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.

Email to a Friend or Add a Social Bookmark

The drink is hand-muddled fresh watermelon, fresh sour and house-made cucumber vodka infusion.

Here is the mixology, that the waitress was kind enough to share:

• 2 pieces watermelon muddled
• 2 ounces FRÏS Vodka infused with cucumber
• Splash sweet sour
• Pump of simple syrup

The cucumber and watermelon combination is fantastic. But perhaps my favorite part was the ice cubes were in fact two frozen chunks of watermelon on toothpicks. Outstanding drink! I think I will try to serve this at our next campfire.

Email to a Friend or Add a Social Bookmark

Email to a Friend or Add a Social Bookmark

Email to a Friend or Add a Social Bookmark

Email to a Friend or Add a Social Bookmark

Arrested Over Twitter: 8 Tweets That Got People SNAGGED Twitterers and non-Twitterers alike often grumble that the many tweets are fluffy nonsense–posts about what we ate for breakfast, complaints about the weather, and other…

Arrested Over Facebook: 19 Posts That Got Suspects Snagged (PHOTOS) Forget wiretaps and paper trails: more and more frequently, mischief and malfeasance on Facebook in photos, posts, pages, and chats is helping police track down…

Fired Over Facebook: 13 Posts That Got People CANNED Facebook’s mission is to make the world a “more open and connected” place. But the site’s users can sometimes be a bit too open, posting…

Fired Over Twitter: 13 Tweets That Got People CANNED To your employer, you are what you tweet. While most of your Twitter updates may be harmless–whether it’s the latest viral video or what you…

Pasqual Manfredi Facebook FAIL: Mafia Hitman Arrested For Facebook Stupidity (VIDEO) Memo to Mafia hitmen on the run: don’t chat with friends on Facebook while holed up in your secret hideout. One of Italy’s most wanted…

Shannon D. Jackson: Woman Arrested For Facebook “Poke” “Poking” someone on Facebook may sound like a naughty double-entendre, but generally speaking it’s a perfectly harmless (and totally G-rated) way of getting in touch…

Email to a Friend or Add a Social Bookmark

If you’re a dinosaur, all of your friends are dead. If you’re a pirate, all of your friends have scurvy. If you’re a tree, all of your friends are end tables. Each page of this laugh-out-loud illustrated humor book showcases the downside of being everything from a clown to a cassette tape to a zombie. Cute and dark all at once, this hilarious children’s book for adults teaches valuable lessons about life while exploring each cartoon character’s unique grievance and wide-eyed predicament. From the sock whose only friends have gone missing to the houseplant whose friends are being slowly killed by irresponsible plant owners (like you), All My Friends Are Dead presents a delightful primer for laughing at the inevitable.

Avery Monsen is an actor, artist, and writer.

Jory John is a writer, editor, and journalist.

They are friends, and neither is dead. Yet.

Email to a Friend or Add a Social Bookmark

Email to a Friend or Add a Social Bookmark

Here is more personal artwork done by San Francisco artist Alex Pardee »

Email to a Friend or Add a Social Bookmark