#third letter

"You are an ocean. I dreamed once for a moment that I was the crest of your wave." - Erika Mitterer, tr. by Beth Bjorklund, from Correspondence in Verse; “Third Letter,”

When Ieyasu tears down the Feelies-Are-For-Sillies Dam, MC's like:

e trupi im s'lëviz?

Why do I take steps forward

S'më përshtatet si rroba, që e provoj në trup

Dhe më rri e vogël?

Why is it that God, God himself,

does not fit me like the clothes I wear

"Make something original!"

"People don't want to see the same old stuff; they want something new."

"That seems too much like this, where's the originality?"

The concept that surrounds originality is like a virus. It changes and if you can't adapt to its changes then you'll get hurt. There was a point in time where what we associate originality to be was just that. At one point, it was something truly new and never done before. However in the modern era in which we live in...'orginality' is more than 'something new' but rather it is something 'fresh'.

What is fresh though? Take a sandwich. You've had this sandwich multiple times. Its gotten bland at this point but lets say that your only option is to have a sandwich. What was previously just a sandwich with a slice of ham and a nice spread of mayonnaise has received some much needed tweaks. Now it has lettuce, toasted bread, a slice of tomato. Its still just a sandwich but its a fresh take.

You keep making tweaks and 'improvements' on the sandwich all up until there is seemingly nothing left that could be added to it.

Its bland again. So you go back to basics. A slice of ham, even spread of mayonnaise on untoasted white bread. Rather than something with a flash, simplicity is better appreciated.....

...

...

...

...all up until its bland again.

The term of originality should not be something 'new' and 'never done before' because we are at a day and age where it has all been done in one way or form. Rather it should be...

The individual interpretation that is improved to contrast others in its field. It is the deconstruction and reconstruction of an item or concept. Originality is the much needed take on something for the time being.

Dear Sherlock,

They’ve finally told us when we’re going to go in. We’re heading in at dawn. We’re going in with the daylight. Tomorrow. We’re going in tomorrow. We’re going to kill people tomorrow.

I don’t think these men are ready for it. Some of them are, those that know what they’ve gotten themselves into by re-enlisting for another tour in Afghanistan, but our team is mainly filled with those who still haven’t seen all the horrors of war. Most of them have never been on a mission of this caliber. I would have been happy for them if it weren’t for the fact that they were getting ready to experience it first hand.

My only hope is that this won’t turn out to be a suicide mission. I don’t think that it will since we have some good men on our team, but there’s no knowing what it will turn into whether it’s meant to be a suicide mission or not.

Even if it doesn’t turn into that, I’m sure that many of my men are going to get injured. I already have the med kits put together in the most efficient way that I can think of. I’ve checked them three times already just to make sure that everything is exactly as it should be, but I think that I’ll check again after I’m done writing this letter. I know I’m being a little too cautious, but I want to make sure that I have everything that I need so that I can save as many of my men as possible. I know that I can’t save all of them, but I will make sure that I don’t lose all of them. I’ll protect my men until the moment that I’m dead. Just like I protected you.

Some of these men remind me of you. Sometimes I look over at one of them and see you for a few moments. I’ve had to stay away from them just so that I don’t have a break down from seeing you all the time, but now I have to work with them. I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle it if I see your face on one of them as they die. That’s another reason I’ve been staying away from them. I don’t want to get too attached to one that is just like you only to have them die in my arms. I wouldn’t be able to handle that. Not again.

Love,

Anna (17 may) Great Josh! Looking forward to reading it. i'll see what I can do on tumblr if we haven't fixed it before then. Best, Anna

Hugo (17 may) Hey everyone, sorry for being AFK for so long. I'm finishing up on something else, and tuesday can help you with tumblr, including posting the text Jens sent me. Best, Hugo

Jens (18 may) Hi, you can find the pics of my letter in the attachment. Best Jens

Hugo (19 may) Hi all, Jens, I only read you letter now, it is great! I have one question, though: your photograph was sent along with the letter, but you didn't provide geolocation and timestamp. Do you have that information? The internet is telling me that Alexanderplatz is located at 52.5217° N, 13.4133° E, but that doesn't give me a timestamp anyway. Also, I'm not sure if I'm overly censuring things from the e-mail records on tumblr, but I've been replacing mentions to outside projects, such as the articles, with rows of 'X's. Is this the way to go, or should I just put it all there lol? Josh: I've posted Jens letter now on tumblr. Could you provide me with the transcript from the e-mails that go from Jens transcript (that I will post soon) up to hum, I guess this e-mail? That should go before your photos and your letter scans (I've put your posts on private now, so we can post them up later with the whole package). Also, in regards to the appearance of the scans, tumblr automatically organizes pics like that when you mass-paste them onto a single post. If you want to have each picture occupying the same space on the layout, just paste them individually. In either case, if you click through any picture, they will apear on their original size. I've made this change on your post (and reordered the images, since I think you had the third and forth pages switched), please let me know if this is what you intended. I can't do the same to Jen's letter because there are too many pages, and tumblr didn't let me paste them individually AND add text (go figure). Best, Hugo

Jens (19 may) The geolocation of the photograph/Weltzeituhr (world time clock) is 52°31'16.20"N 13°24'47.96"E Censuring is ok :-) Best Jens

Jens (19 may) Timestamp: 02/03/2015 12:15:28 You can find the photograph at the attachment.

Hugo (19 may) Great Jens, thanks! I just realized that tumblr was still eating up some of the images, so I guess we can't go over 10 pictures on a single post. So I took out the first page (with indication of date and place), and the photograph page, that was already on another post anyway. Check it out, and see if you agree. Best, Hugo

Hugo (21 may) Hi everyone, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Best, Hugo

Anna (26 may) Hi all! Josh, your letter has arrived, thank you! I will be travelling the coming week, and we will see if I manage to write the letter on the road, or if I wait until I come back to Paris, I'll let you know. Best, Anna Anna (6 june) Hi Hugo! What is your home address? So I can send the letter. Best, Anna

Hugo (6 june) Hi, Anna!You can send the letter to: XXXXXXXXXXX Can't wait! Best, Hugo