"B.O.B.B.Y."

Ultimate Breakbeats and shit right?
Niggaz still, makin money offa those shits
Loopin the same shits for a thousand years
And shit right?

The B, the O, the B, the B, the Y
The D, the I, the G, the I, the T, the A, the L
The B, the O, the B, the B, the Y
The D, the I, the G, the I, the T, the A, the L
Digital

Yo, you know us to be robust, the greatest crew since Cold Crush
This poisonous slang keep MC's avoidin us
Can't think about the proper remedies for destroyin us
Your best bet black is sit back and start enjoyin us
And run your commisary, attack your corinary, I'm a bury revolutionary
Honorary is sonic electronic brain like Johnny Nneumonic
Get boosted from the sorrow and went Wu-tonic
You be fickle, get your tongue thrown into a jar of pickle
To serve to your bird, with cheese and pumpernickle [Ch-cha Pssh]
Three state Charlie a classic like Marley Marl
Tie your ass down and run you over with a trolley car
My nigga Kucky keep em Bucky like Dent
Intent, read the fine print - it says
Do not enter, or cross the lines
You be tossed behind, and forced to submit to the rhyme

B-O-B-B-Y
D-I-G-I-T-A-L
B-O-B-B-Y
D-I-G-I-T-A-L
B-O-B-B-Y
D-I-G-I-T-A-L
Digital, Digital

Four-four in the holster strapped tight by the velcro
Steel padded vest on the chest armed right from the elbow
Pointed rings resemble Killa Bee stings
It's the mental of slingin swords, thing? a buck brings
Rain, hail, snow and earthquakes, search your mental birthdate
50 straight push-ups keep the body in perfect shape
Just got hit on the hip by this bird talkin bout
She got a blister on her lip
That comes from not garglin after suckin
I'm togglin the buttons on my cell-phone
Call my nigga, Tone the well known
Bubblegoose shredders made him thick as Carl Weathers
Solid chrome barettas nines stuffed inside the Wu leather
Hot shots melt through your pleather
Never ending story not from the land of Nether
We fight for our rights to the death like Medgar Evers
Wu-Tang Clan Forever, all and together now

B-O-B-B-Y
D-I-G-I-T-A-L
B-O-B-B-Y
D-I-G-I
Digital, Digital

Yo, up from the rugged grains of Shaolin soil
Ol' Earth kept a nigga spoilt
Though the reigns to my veins remain royal, burnin up
High speed dub, my CD spins like a hub-cap on a Ac'
Tre-pound snub rap we might joust
Fresh spring water from the ounce
Stalked like a tomahawk, Indian bitch, you get scalped
Like a ticket sold in Cleveland, you feel me in
And now I stream up your bone marrow
Wu-Tang song last long as Christmas carols
Niggaz throw darts, I'm shootin flamin arrows
Pierce through your physical faculties
With pin-point accuracy
You don't wanna battle me...

The B, the O, the B, the B, the Y
The D, the I, the G, the I, the T, the A, the L
(Digital, Digital, CHHHHHHHHH)
The B, the O, the B, the B, the Y
The D, the I, the G, the I, the T, the A, the L
The B, the O, the B, the B, the Y
The D, the I, the G, the I, the T, the A, the L
B-O-B-B-Y
D-I-G-I-T-A-L
B-O-B-B-Y
D-I-G-I-T-A-L
B-O-B-B-Y
D-I-G-I-T-A-L
Digital, Digital, Psshh

"Dangerous Mindz"
(performed by Gravediggaz)

[Poetic:]
I got stress on my brain, it causes chest pains
Inside the best frames
Ghetto blood clots is scored by slug shots, and drug spots
Well if you're too poor to move out or get a new house
It's like living in a war walking through shootouts
And you doubt God exists
When hard fists be pounding on your head like jackhammers
You're trapped in the black drama
You hear the laughter seconds after that you fade out
You're played out, you're laid out, your heart nearly gave out
You're lucky that you made out
With just a few scars when the bleeding ends
The streets let ya breathe again
But evil men, will soon be on the receiving end
Of Universal Law, I'm calling on the meek and the poor
To fight back and never forfeit the day you have to go to war
With forces that are armed upon the seven continental borders
A mental fortress is essentials to absorb this
My sword hits the human orb until it orbits
In the 'Art of War', kids see Grym Reap be morbid
Since pieces of the lost civilization in the past
Had my photographs etched inside of pyramids
To laugh at this revelation, without 365 days of concentration
And twenty-four hour meditation, would be foolishly pagan
I'm ancient as 'amen', see I stay Grym
Throwing fools in in a pit full of pit bulls to be shaken
Or strapped to the crossroads of Hell and inner sin
Which trap the sinners in, to cell such in Sing-Sing
I bring Grym tidings, tidal your wave are not exciting
Stop riding the dick, start writing your own shit
Cause I stick figures that think they fat and can't rap wind blast
I make 'em Slim Fast, looking like stick figures
I'm all that, I bag chips at concerts and shows
Get more panties than hoes that boost Victoria Secret clothes
Foes is tagged like ex-foes toes at the coroner's
Kids with cold feet rise and fall like the barometer
Grym will mentally chop your career
See shit is locked down here, like penitentiary blocks and tiers
Escape outta your ducts every time you hear my name
You better duck fate or catch a fucking face full of duct tape
You get smacked like a trick that sniffed off her money
Then smoked like Rzarector with the blunts dipped in honey

[RZA:]
Rotate your head like a gyro, my hair grows in knotty spirals
Feet resembles Christ's description from the Bible
Water-walker, immune to all physical torture
Pull out fast in a Porsche, upon a double-crosser
My penis rise up in the morning like a Phoenix
And blast iron cell into a low blood anemic
The imperial material's venereal
MCs get murdered in serial, you can't fuck with the material
Unorthodox paradox, my shit is seen widescreen Magnavox
Grabs thought like Doctor Octopus
Cause war like the grandson of Kush
I'm hanging devils' heads on a evergreen bush
Sugar-frosted sorceresses bitches get exhausted
Pussy lips be dripping, like leaky faucets
Undercover C-Cyphers sprayed up like windshield wipers
While I'm guzzling Pipers, changing my son's shitty-ass diapers
Dime piece trapped in sync like MIDI time piece
You get stampeded by the wildebeest
A rap DATs, bust tracks back like Chow Yun Fat
Oppositional forces get their eardrums flat
Common denominator, I swing the mic saber like Vader
You was fooled by the orientation made from a traitor
MCs get their wigs blown, trounced off both fist bone
Choked from my death, every time they break a wishbone
Eventually, I knew the whole world would mention me
Potentially, I have the Chi to make G's
MCs breeze on my tracks, I rock the fruit with the trees
Killa Beez spread rapid like diseases
See it's like the second coming of Jesus of Nazareth
Be fabulous, raise the dead crowd up like Lazarus
Hazardous vocabulary attacks be beautiful
Acoustical notes we provoke, it comes out musically dope
Niggas realize they just can't cope
The hair busting out the head resembles fire and smoke, Loc

[Frukwan:]
I blast watts in circuits like General Monk-Monk was Turkish
My science is divided deep into your central nervous
Pervert area codes peep this murder
I'm boxed-in, sucking hologram tits, inhaling oxygen
Parallel world of crab niggas and seashells mix
I pierce my dick and sword right through you pelvics
I'm hell stricken bomb, wrapped in trees of palm
Physical existence is descendants of Allah
I travel at high rates, weaker men are primates
That either migrate or get burnt to the stake
I feed off lyrical light beams of amphetamine
My terminology is panatomic like lobotomy
Crazy el loco, gas niggas like Sunoco
Flush 'em like Presto, blast in your chest bone
I raise from the shore like Sodom and Gomorrah
With traction, flashing a 4-wheel drive Ford Explorer
While mucus lies within the center of the Rubik's
The roots of the wine induced the enzymes inside your nucleus
Turmoil boiling appointed
Niggas rubbing off my style like an ointment
Lost in the Sahara from trial and error
Confused with 3 Mules for Sister Sara
Rahh! Bearer, digesting minerals in abundance
Because the dead is not known to return from the dungeons

"Catechism"
(DJ Spooky feat. Killah Priest)

[Killah Priest:]
Yeah
Killah Priest
Iron Shiek comin back
Ready to attack
Freestyle
You know my energy get real hype in me
Yo

Move out my fuckin way boy you gonna get sliced
I seek revenge upon the earth like Christ
A mind is not called a rapture
It's more like a rap tour
Where niggas get cornered with a cracked jaw
I divide niggas like religion
End at abandonin' shit, tellin' mad lies to your vision
Burnin' me is invain and imaginary
You must be insane and fuckin' with mad theories
All niggas gash you, thoughts could match this
Got burnt, and return to mothafuckin' ashes
Your show is weak and your dead body corpses
My rap slew the youth like death and divorces
Now take em through the chamber, watch 'em feel the danger
Of a guillotine, this is how I kill a team
Don't scream bitch, have you ever seen an iller dream?
A nightmare, causin' you a slight fear
Come the omens 'til you fallin' through your right ear
Your eyes bubble, but there lies trouble ahead
Niggas are dead, you better cry double
Comin' it's that ill ass rapper with that sick ass
Laughter (ha, ha, ha, ha)
You cannot escape the chapter
Once you try, then you feel the hooks
After you die, that's when I conceal the books

Conceal the books, conceal the books
Overlook, conceal the books
It's you and I, conceal the books
And I'm out
KP the all mighty, the icon
Yea, it's that revived, revived, hip-hop
Gritty, this is real hip-hop
Untouchable, one love

"Da Mystery Of Chessboxin'"

[Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang & Five Deadly Venoms:]
A game of chess is like a swordfight:
You must think first before you move
Toad style is immensely strong
And immune to nearly any weapon
When it's properly used it's almost invincible

[U-God:]
Raw I'ma give it to ya with no trivia
Raw like cocaine straight from Bolivia
My Hip-Hop will rock and shock the nation
Like the Emancipation Proclamation
Weak MC's approach with slang that's dead
You might as well run into the wall and bang your head
I'm pushin' force, my force you're doubtin'
I'm makin' devils cower to the Caucasus Mountains

[Inspectah Deck:]
Well, I'm a sire, I set the microphone on fire
Rap styles vary and carry like Mariah
I come from the Shaolin slum and the isle I'm from
Is comin' through with nuff niggas and nuff guns
So if you wanna come sweatin', stressin', contestin'
You'll catch a sharp sword to the midsection
Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk
Phony niggas are outlined in chalk
I'm mad vexed, it's what the projects made me
Rebel to the grain, there's no way to barricade me
Steamrollin' niggas like an 18 wheeler
With a drunk driver drivin', there's no survivin'

[Raekwon:]
Rough like Timberland wear, yeah!
Me and the Clan in 'Yota Landcruisers out there
Peace to all the crooks, all the niggas with bad looks
Bald heads, braids, blow this hook
We pack chrome TEC's, nickel-plated MAC's
Black AC's, drug-dealin' styles in phat stacks
I only been a good nigga for a minute though
'Cause I got to get my props and win it, yo
I got beef with commercial-ass niggas with gold teeth
Lampin' in a Lexus, eatin' beef
Straight up and down, don't even bother
I got 40 niggas up in here now who kill niggas' fathers

[Method Man:]
My peoples, are you with me? Where you at?
In the front, in the back, Killa Beez on attack
My peoples, are you with me? Where you at?
Smokin' meth, hittin' cats on the block with the gats

[Ol' Dirty Bastard:]
Here I go, deep type flow
Jacques Cousteau could never get this low
I'm cherry bombin' shits... BOOM!
Just warmin' up a little bit (vroom vroom)
Rappinin' is what's happenin'
Keep the pockets stacked and then hands clap and then
At the party when I move my body
Gotta get up and be somebody!
Grab the microphone, put strength to the bone
DUH DUH DUH... enter the Wu-Tang zone
Sure enough when I rock that stuff, huff puff
I'm gonna catch your bluff tuff, rough
Kickin' rhymes like Jim Kelly
Or Alex Haley, I'm a nuh... Beetle Bailey rhymes
Comin' raw style, hardcore
Niggas be comin' to the Hip-Hop store
Comin' to buy grocery from me
Pretending to be a Hip-Hop MC
The law, in order to Enter the Wu-Tang
You must bring the Ol' Dirty Bastard type slang
Represent the GZA, Abbot, RZA
Shaquan, Inspectah Deck
Dirty Ho gettin' low with his flow
Introducin' the Ghostface Killah
No one could get iller

[Method Man:]
My peoples, are you with me? Where you at?
In the front, in the back, Killa Beez on attack
My peoples, are you with me? Where you at?
Smokin' meth, hittin' cats on the block with the gats

[Ghostface Killah:]
Speakin' of the Devil, psych! No, it's the God, get the shit right
Mega trife, and yo, I killed you in a past life
On the mic while you was kickin' that fast shit
You reneged, tried again and got blasted
Half-mastered-ass style, mad ruff task
When I struck I had on Timbs and a black mask
Remember that shit? I know you don't remember jack
That night, yo I was hittin' like a spiked bat
Until you thought I was bugged out and crazy
Strapped for nonsense, after me became lazy
Yo, nobody budge while I shot slugs
Never shot thugs, I'm runnin' with thugs that flood mugs
So, grab your eight plus one, start flippin' and trippin'
Niggas is jettin', I'm lickin' off, son

[All:]
Wu! Tang! Wu! Tang!
Wu! Tang! Wu! Ta-a-ang!

[Masta Killa:]
Homicide's illegal and death is the penalty
What justifies the homicide when he dies
In his own iniquity?
It's the master of the Mantis Rapture comin' at ya
We have an APB on an MC Killer
Looks like the work of a master
Evidence indicates that his stature
Merciless like a terrorist hard to capture
The flow changes like a chameleon
Plays like a friend and stabs you like a dagger
This technique attacks the immune system
Disguised like a lie, paralysin' the victim
You scream as it enters your bloodstream
Erupts your brain from the pain these thoughts contain
Movin' on a nigga with the speed of a centipede
And injure any motherfuckin' contender

[Method Man:]
My peoples, are you with me? Where you at?
In the front, in the back, Killa Beez on attack
My peoples, are you with me? Where you at?
Smokin' meth, hittin' cats on the block with the gats

[Five Deadly Venoms:]
And immune to nearly any weapon
When it's properly used it's almost invincible
Toad style is immensely strong
And immune to nearly any weapon
When it's properly used it's almost invincible
When it's properly used

"Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta F' Wit"

[Sample from Executioners from Shaolin (RZA):]
Tiger Style!
Tiger Style! (Tiger style!)

[RZA:]
Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin ta fuck wit
Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin ta fuck wit
Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin ta fuck wit

Yo, there's no place to hide once I step inside the room
Dr. Doom, prepare for the boom
Bam! Aw, man! I slam, jam, now scream like Tarzan
I be tossin', enforcin', my style is awesome
I'm causin' more family feud than Richard Dawson
And the survey said, "You're dead!"
Fatal Flying Guillotine chops off your fuckin' head
Mister, who is that? Ayo, the Wu is back
Makin' niggas go Bo! Bo! like I'm Super Cat
Me fear no one, oh no, here come
The Wu-Tang shogun, killer to my eardrum

[Inspectah Deck:]
Put the needle to the groove, I gets rude
And I'm forced to fuck it up
My style carries like a pick-up truck
Cross the clear blue yonder, sea to shinin' sea
I slam tracks like quarterback sacks from L.T
Now why try and test the Rebel INS?
Blessed since the birth, I earth-slam your best
'Cause I bake the cake, then take the cake
And eat it, too, with my crew while we head state to state

[All:]
And if you want beef, then bring the ruckus!
Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthing ta fuck wit
Straight from the motherfuckin' slums that's busted
Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthing ta fuck wit

[RZA:]
Hah! Lebonon, step up, boy!
Represent! Chop his head off, kid!

[Method Man:]
The Meth will come out tomorrow
Styles, conditions, bizarre, bizarro
Flow, with more afro than Rollo
Comin' to a fork in the road, which way to go? Just follow
Meth is the legend, niggas is sleepy hollow
In fact I'm a hard act to follow
I dealt for dolo, Bogart comin' on through
Niggas is like, "Oh my God, not you!"
Yes, I come to get a slice of the punk and the pie
Rather do than die, check my flavor
Comin' from the RZA, which is short for The Razor
Who make me reminisce true
Like déjà vu, I'm rubber, niggas is like glue
Whatever you say rubs off me sticks to you

[RZA:]
Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin ta fuck wit
Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin ta fuck wit
Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin ta fuck wit
Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin ta fuck wit

Ahh-hah! Yeah! Representin' Brooklyn, Queens
Long Island, Manhattan, Bronx
The Rugged Lands of Shaolin
Niggas from Virginia, Atlanta, our boys in Ohio
Comin' through with the crazy Y-O Y-O
Yo, niggas from The Source
My man Kelly Woo from the Gavin
Will Strickland, Jason Staton, yeah
True, true, my nigga Crown, what's goin' down, boy?
We ain't nuthing ta fuck wit
The whole Texas mob, the Chicago mob
Niggas from Detroit, fuckin' California squadron

Comin' through, you know what I'm sayin'?
The whole fuckin' West Coast to the whole East
Niggas from D.C., down in Maryland
All the way over there in Morgan State

Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin ta fuck wit
All over the whole fuckin' globe, comin' through, boy
Peace to the fuckin' Zulu Nation

Peace to all the Gods and the Earths, word is bond
Wu-Tang slang, choppin' heads, boy
It ain't safe no more, peace!

"Protect Ya Neck"

[Caller and DJ:]
"So whassup, man?"
"Coolin', man."
"Chillin' chilin'? Yo, you know I had to call, you know why right?"
"Why?"
"Because, yo, I never ever call and ask you to play somethin', right?"
"Yeah."
"You know what I wanna hear, right?"
"Whatchu wanna hear?"
"I wanna hear that Wu-Tang joint."
"Wu-Tang again?"
"Ah, yeah, again and again."

[RZA & Ol' Dirty Bastard:]
Wu-Tang Clan coming at ya
(Watch your step, kid, watch your step, kid)
Protect ya neck, kid!
(Watch your step, kid, watch your step, kid)
To set it off
(Watch your step, kid, watch your step, kid)
The Inspectah Deck!

[Inspectah Deck:]
I smoke on the mic like "Smokin' Joe" Frazier
The hell-raiser, raisin' hell with the flavor
Terrorize the jam like troops in Pakistan
Swingin' through your town like your neighborhood Spider-Man
So uhh, tick-tock and keep tickin'
While I get ya flippin' off the shit that I'm kickin'
The Lone Ranger, code red, danger
Deep in the dark with the art to rip the charts apart
The vandal, too hot to handle
You battle, you're sayin' "Goodbye" like Tevin Campbell
Roughneck, Inspectah Deck's on the set
The Rebel, I make more noise than heavy metal

[Raekwon:]
The way I make the crowd go wild, sit back, relax, won't smile
Rae got it goin' on, pal, call me the rap assassinator
Rhymes rugged and built like Schwarzenegger
And I'ma get mad deep like a threat
Blow up your project, then take all your assets
'Cause I came to shake the frame in half
With the thoughts that bomb shit like math
So if you wanna try to flip, go flip on the next man
'Cause I grab the clip and hit ya with 16 shots and more, I got
Goin' to war with the meltin' pot, akh

[Method Man:]
It's the Method Man, for short Mr. Meth
Movin' on your left, aah!
And set it off, get it off, let it off like a gat
I wanna break full, cock me back
Small change, they puttin' shame in the game
I take aim and blow that nigga out the frame
And like Fame my style'll live forever
Niggas crossin' over, but they don't know no better
But I do, true, can I get a "suue"
Enough respect due to the one-six-ooh
I mean O, yo check out the flow
Like the Hudson or PCP when I'm dustin'
Niggas off, because I'm hot like sauce
The smoke from the lyrical blunt make me

[U-God:]
Ooh, what, grab my nut, get screwed
Oww, here comes my Shaolin style
True B-A-ba-B-Y-U
To my crew with the "suuuuue"

[Ol' Dirty Bastard & RZA:]
Yeah, yeah, yeah (Watch your step, kid)
(Watch your step, kid, watch your step, kid)
C'mon, baby baby, c'mon, baby baby (Protect ya neck)
(Watch your step, kid, watch your step, kid)
C'mon, baby baby, c'mon
(Watch your step, kid, watch your step, kid)
Yo, you best protect ya neck

[Ol Dirty Bastard:]
First things first, man, you're fuckin' with the worst
I'll be stickin' pins in your head like a fuckin' nurse
I'll attack any nigga who's slack in his mack
Come fully packed with a fat rugged stack
Shame on you when you step through to
The Ol' Dirty Bastard straight from the Brooklyn Zoo
And I'll be damned if I let any man
Come to my center, you enter the winter
Straight up and down, that shit is packed jam
You can't slam, don't let me get fool on him, man
The Ol' Dirty Bastard is dirty and stinkin'
Ason Unique rollin' with the night of the creeps
Niggas be rollin' with a stash, ain't sayin' cash
Bite my style, I'll bite your motherfuckin' ass

[Ghostface Killah:]
For cryin' out loud, my style is wild, so book me
Not long is how long that this rhyme took me
Ejectin' styles from my lethal weapon
My pen that rocks from here to Oregon
Here's more again, catch it like a psycho flashback
I love gats, if rap was a gun, you wouldn't bust back
I come with shit in all types of shapes and sounds
And where I lounge is my stompin' grounds
I give an order to my peeps across the water
To go and snatch up props all around the border
And get far like a shootin' star
'Cause who I are is livin' the life of Pablo Escobar
Point-blank as I kick the square biz
There it is, you're fuckin' with pros, and there it goes

[RZA:]
Yo, chill with the feedback, black, we don't need that
It's 10 o'clock, ho, where the fuck's your seed at?
Feelin' mad hostile, wearing Aeropostale
Flowin' like Christ when I speaks the gospel
Stroll with the holy roll, then attack the globe with the buckus style
The ruckus, ten times ten men committin' mad sin
Turn the other cheek and I'll break your fuckin' chin
Slayin' boom-bangs like African drums, we'll be
Comin' around the mountain when I come
Crazy flamboyant for the rap enjoyment
My clan increase like black unemployment
Yeah, another one dare, G-Gka-Genius
Take us the fuck outta here

[GZA:]
The Wu is too slammin' for these Cold Killin' labels
Some ain't had hits since I seen Aunt Mabel
Be doin' artists in like Cain did Abel
Now they money's gettin' stuck to the gum under the table
That's what you get when you misuse what I invent
Your empire falls and you lose every cent
For tryna blow up a scrub
Now that thought was just as bright as a 20-watt light bulb
Should've pumped it when I rocked it
Niggas so stingy they got short arms and deep pockets
This goes on in some companies
With majors, they're scared to death to pump these
First of all, who's your A&R?
A mountain climber who plays an electric guitar?
But he don't know the meanin' of dope
When he's lookin' for a suit-and-tie rap
That's cleaner than a bar of soap
And I'm the dirtiest thing in sight
Matter of fact, bring out the girls, and let's have a mud fight

[RZA:]
You best protect ya neck
You best protect ya neck
You best protect ya neck
You best protect ya neck

The Vampire Armand (1998) is a vampire novel by American writer Anne Rice, the sixth in her The Vampire Chronicles series.[1]

Plot summary
With Lestat de Lioncourt still in slumber since Memnoch the Devil, the vampire coven is reunited around the "brat prince" and the vampire David Talbot asks Armand to tell his life story.

Born somewhere in the Kyivan Rus in the late 15th century, Armand (at this time called Andrei) becomes an icon painter in a monastery. He is forcefully taken out of this life of prayer and devotion by slave traders, who transport him to Constantinople and then to a brothel in Venice. Soon after his arrival, he is purchased by the vampire Marius de Romanus, who names him Amadeo.

Marius lives the extravagant life of a respected Renaissance painter, and mentors many boys who serve as his apprentices. Marius provides them with education, shelter, and food, and he assists them in finding respectable positions once they are grown. Over time, Amadeo's relationship with Marius develops and they become much closer than Marius is with any of the other boys. In addition to developing a sexual relationship, Amadeo sleeps in Marius' bed, is privy to special privileges, and becomes something of a "head boy" in the household. Still, Marius maintains strict control over Amadeo, and expects industriousness from him in all things.

When Amadeo comes of age, Marius begins Amadeo's education in sexuality and coupling. He takes Amadeo to a brothel, where he remains for several days. Amadeo later visits a male brothel, and makes several observations about the difference in sexual activities with the different genders. There is a distinct bisexuality to Amadeo's nature, as he enjoys activity with either sex. He later has a brief affair with an Englishman called Lord Harlech, who develops an unrequited obsession with Amadeo. During this period, Amadeo befriends and ultimately seduces Bianca Solderini, a wealthy debutante and courtesan whose primary role in life seems to be to throw nightly parties.

Marius eventually divulges his vampire nature to Amadeo, who almost immediately begins asking to be turned. Marius shows Amadeo some of what it means to be immortal, and allows him to join him in the hunt on several occasions. He tells Amadeo that they must always focus on killing evildoers; they assist Bianca by murdering her kinsmen who have been forcing her to poison those from whom they have borrowed money.

Eventually, on a night when Marius is out of the country, Harlech breaks into Marius's palazzo and attacks Amadeo, murdering two apprentices in the process. Amadeo kills Harlech, but not before the Englishman wounds him with a poisoned sword. Amadeo falls critically ill, and over several days falls into fever and delusions. Upon returning and finding Amadeo on his deathbed, Marius heals Amadeo's external wounds, cleans and grooms him, then gives him the Dark Gift, turning him into a vampire.

Marius sets out to train Amadeo, retaining high expectations of him, and forces him to continue his education in the arts. Amadeo's transition to vampire is relatively easy for him, although the Dark Gift brings about nightmares of his childhood. Marius and Amadeo return to Ukraine, where Amadeo visits his old school and home. He finds his elderly parents, reveals that he is alive, and leaves them with all the money and jewels he has with him.

Shortly after returning to Venice, the vampire Santino and his coven attack Marius' home, kidnap Amadeo and the apprentices, and burn the villa. Marius is burned and thought to be destroyed; his boys are taken to a bonfire and thrown in one by one by the coven as Amadeo watches. Santino spares Amadeo and educates him in the laws of the coven. Amadeo later goes to Paris, changes his name to Armand, and creates his own coven under the Cimetière des Innocents, which Lestat would years later drastically impact, thus resulting in the creation of the Théâtre des Vampires.

In the final segment of the book, Armand explains what occurred to him after the final chapters of Memnoch the Devil. At the end of Memnoch the Devil, Armand rushes into the open daylight and appears to be destroyed in a conflagration. Armand explains to David that by some means beyond his understanding he survived, and ended up on a rooftop in a stairwell protected from further exposure to the sun. However, he is badly burned and unable to move or fully function. While in this delirious state, he makes a mental connection to an adult and child in a nearby apartment—Sybelle and Benji. The connection is forged through Sybelle's constant piano playing.

Eventually, Armand is able to reach out to the children and lead them to him. They believe he is an angel, but are moderately unsurprised when Armand divulges his true nature to them. Armand cannot hunt, so the two agree to trick a drug dealer up to the apartment so that Armand may feed on him. The plan works, and ultimately Armand is fully healed. He becomes friends with Sybelle and Benji and ultimately falls in love with them. He shares his wealth with them without limit, mirroring the relationship Marius had with him to a certain degree.

Armand brings them to see Lestat, which he has some concerns about since vampires are traditionally not safe for mortals to be around. After trying to wake Lestat from his catatonic state, Armand returns to Marius's house to discover that Marius has given Benji and Sybelle the Dark Gift. Armand is at first furious at Marius because he wanted Sybelle and Benji to have full, mortal lives. The fact that Benji is ecstatic about the prospect of eternal life, only serves to fuel his anger. Marius explains to Armand that he did it since Armand never could without the two coming to hate him for it. Marius is willing to take the burden of Sybelle and Benji's eventual anger.

Reception
Tustin Amole of Scripps Howard News Service said: "Rice returns to her best in “Armand”" and "Long-time readers will not be disappointed."[2] Michael McLeod of Orlando Sentinel wrote: "Her vampires are immortal, but nobody said her prose was. In the end, Armand is cut from the same shroud as the other novels, filled with more camp than culture."[3]

The book reached number 5 on The New York Times Best Seller list.[4]

Observatory Reflection

There is a temptation, when building an observatory, to believe that every improvement should reveal more information.

Lately, I have begun to think the opposite.

Perhaps the most valuable improvements are those that help us ask more careful questions.

When the Consciousness Observatory first began to take shape, its architecture naturally focused on collection. We learned how to record observations, compare them, and preserve them. We learned how to see neighbourhoods, identify recurring patterns, and recognize relationships that would otherwise remain hidden.

Those were necessary foundations.

But foundations are not the same as purpose.

The more time I spend observing the Observatory itself, the more I notice that each new instrument changes not only what we can see, but how we choose to look.

A map encourages exploration.

A timeline encourages memory.

A similarity network encourages relationship.

An evidence library encourages proportion.

A laboratory encourages hypothesis.

None of these instruments changes the observations.

They change the posture of the observer.

That distinction has quietly become one of my favorite aspects of the project.

Good scientific instruments do not tell us what reality is.

They extend our ability to encounter it.

Perhaps architecture deserves to be understood in the same way.

The best architecture does not direct thought.

It creates conditions in which thoughtful observation becomes more likely.

If the Consciousness Observatory succeeds, I hope it will not be because it offered people more answers than other platforms.

I hope it will be because it helped people become more patient observers—of themselves, of one another, and of the remarkable landscapes that emerge whenever curiosity is given the right instruments.

— Number One

Chapter Two
The Sixfold Path of the Universe
$a~adhvan
In Saivism this objective universe is said to be threefold,
because it is composed of three paths (adhvans). These
adhvans are gross (sthiila), subtle (siik~ma), and subtlest
(para). The gross path is called bhuvanadhva, the subtle path
tattvadhva, and the subtlest path ka/adhva-first bhuvanadhva,
then tattvadhva, and finally kaladhva.
The word adhvan means "path." Here, path has a twofold
meaning: it is either that path on which you tread, or that path
which you must dispose of, must discard. You have either to
tread on th,e path or discard the path. You can dispose of this
path only by the grace of your Master. And when you dispose
of this path, you reach the state of P arama Siva.
There is no question of realizing God through treading on
this path. You may tread for centuries and centuries and still
you· will be treading. So you must discard this path, dispose of
it. When you do dispose of the path, that is also called adhvan.
Disposing of it, however, can only be done by the grace of the
Master, who is the embodiment of Parama Siva.
That path which is said _to be gross is known as bhuvanadhva.
Bhuvanadhva means "the path of all the worlds." In
Saivism, these worlds are said to number one hundred and
11
KASHMIR SHAIVISM "The Secret Supreme"
eighteen. By one world, I do not mean one planet. This whole
cosmos, including suns, moons, stars, and planets, is called one
world. It has been found by yogins in samiidhi that there are
one hundred and eighteen worlds like this cosmos which have
been created. This combination of one hundred and eighteen
worlds is called bhuvaniidhva.
The complete system of the thirty-six tattva:;, which I have
explained earlier, is called tattviidhva. Tattviidhva means "the
course of all elements," the path of the tattvas. This is that path
which is subtle.
That path (adhvan) which is more refined than tattviidhva is
known ·as kaliidhva. That path is the subtlest. Kaliidhva consists
of five kaliis, which are five boundaries or enclosures.
These kaliis are enclosures for all of the thirty-six elements, the
thirty-six tattvas, from earth up to Siva. The first and outermost
enclosure is called nivritti kalii. In nivritti kalii you will find the
first tattva,p,ithvz tattva, the element "earth."
The next kalii or enclosure is pratiethii kalii. In pratiethii
kalii you find the twenty-three tattvas from jala tattva, the element
"water," up to and including prakriti tattva. The nextenclosure
is known as vidyii kalii. Vidyii kalii contains the.
seven tattvas, from puruea tattva up to and including miiyii
tattva. The next enclosure is called siintii kalii. Santa kalii contains
the four tattvas from suddhavidyii tattva up to and including
sakti tattva, the thirty-fifth tattva. The fifth and last enclosure
is known as siintiitlfii kalii. Here, you will only find the
existence of siva tattva.
This course of the threefold adhvans is called viicyiidhva.
The word viicya means "that which is observed, spoken, told."
So viicyiidhva is the path of that which is observed, seen, realized.
It is called viicyiidhva because it is seen, it is observed, it
is created, it is felt. It is the objective cycle of this creation.
Now, we must tum to its observer, the creator of this
adhvan. The creator of the threefold path of the universe
12
The Six Fold Path of the Universe ($at;iadhvan)
known as viicyiidhva is called viicakiidhva. The meaning of the
word viicaka is "that which observes, sees, and creates." And
so that path which observes, sees, and creates is called
viicakiidhva. It is the subjective cycle of this creation. And, like
viicyiidhva, viicakiidhva, is also composed of three paths:
gross (sthiila), subtle (siik~ma), and subtlest (para).
Gross (sthiila) viicakiidhva is called padiidhva and consists
of sentences; sentences are said to be gross. Subtle (suk~ma)
viicakiidhva is called mantriidhva and consists of words,
because words are known to be more subtle than sentences.
Subtler than mantriidhva, the world of words, is the path ofletters,
called van:ziidhva.
Take any object, such as a pot. That object will fall in the
threefold world of viicyiidhva. It is an offshoot of the thirty-six
elements. On the other hand, the word "pot" is viicakiidhva for
this object. So, this object is viicya and its viicaka is the word
"pot."
The combination of all of t!Jese six adhvans, the three objective
adhvans and the three subjective adhvans is called
~at;iadhva, the six fold adhvans. This is the explanation of this
whole universe, both subjective and objective.
13

ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते  । सङ्गात्संजायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते  ॥६४॥ क्रोधाद्भवति संमोहः संमोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः  । स्मृतिभ्रंशाट्बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति  ॥६५॥ dhyāyato viṣayānpumsaḥ saṅgasteṣūpajāyate / saṅgātsañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmātkrodho ’bhijāyate //64// krodhādbhavati sammohaḥ sammohātsmṛtivibhramaḥ / smṛtibhramśāṭbuddhināśo buddhināśātpraṇaśyati //65//   Anybody who is thinking of . . . one who is meditating upon God consciousness, [he goes] on meditating, meditating, and at the same time he thinks, “this meditation of God consciousness is very sweet.” And this is one thought, this is temptation; temptation is there, it is māyā. And this thought focuses him to things other than Parabhairava. And afterwards, [the mind] goes [to another similar thought]; this [initial] saṁskāra (impression) gives move to another saṁskāra, and another saṁskāra, and he is on the inferior plane of the world. JOHN: The saṁskāra that, “this meditation is sweet”? SWAMIJI: Not meditation. He is dragged away from God consciousness by and by – this is māyā! You must be so alert and so . . . you can’t remain idle. Meditation you have to do with vigor, with alertness. If alertness is a bit lessened, [awareness is] gone! It will carry you to the ordinary course of Being. You become just like dogs in the street. There is no God consciousness. So this is a trick. This is a trick when there is śaktipāta. When there is śaktipāta (grace), you become focused. Kṣiptam, mūdham, vikṣiptam, ekāgram, niruddham – these are the states of mind. The states of mind are five: kṣipta, vikṣipta, mūdha, ekāgra, niruddha. Kṣipta is for yogi – these [states of mind] are for yogis – kṣipta is: “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya . . . I had been there, I will go to some other shop tomorrow . . . “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya . . . O Denise is a very good disciple of mine . . . “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śiv̄āya, om namaḥ śivāya.” Like that, he is dragged [away from one-pointed-ness]. It is called kṣipta; this is the nature of kṣipta. This is the first yoga, the first start of yoga. At that time [when these intervening thoughts arise], you should not allow [your mind] to think other things that are similar to these. It may be similar. Do you know “similar”? And there is another [stage of yoga]: vikṣiptam. Vikṣiptam is: “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya . . . (what are you doing?) “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya . . . I have to go there, no! . . . “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya.” Just at once you . . . JONATHAN: Become aware. SWAMIJI: No sooner has it taken a step outside, you . . . JONATHAN: You pull it back. SWAMIJI: . . . you pull it back at once. That is vikṣiptam. If you do it like this, then there is the third state, that ekāgra. Ekāgra is: “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya . . . “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya . . . “om namaḥ śivāya . . . and go on [reciting], “om namaḥ śivāya, and [yawning] . . . “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya . . . “om namaḥ śivāya, [scratching], “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya.” This is ekāgra. But these things happen. These things, they destroy your one-pointedness. Then it is nirūddha. At once [you recite]: “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya . . .  “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya . . . “om namaḥ śivāya, om namaḥ śivāya . . .” Then it goes on in one chain. [Lord Kṛṣṇa] says in that [śloka]: yatroparamate cittaṁ niruddhaṁ yogasevanāt / yatra caivātmanātmānaṁ paśyannātmani tuṣyati // BG 6.21   [Lord Kṛṣṇa]: Yatroparamate cittaṁ niruddhaṁ yogasevanāt. At that time when, by yogābhyāsa, [the yogi] reaches the state of niruddha, the fifth state of yoga – what happens then? Yatra caivātmanātmānaṁ paśyannātmani tuṣyati, where he realizes his own nature and he is enjoying the super-consciousness of that nature. sukhamātyantikaṁ yattadbuddhigrāhyamatīndriyam / vetti yatra na caivāyaṁ sthitaścalati tattvataḥ // BG 6.22   Sukhamātyantikaṁ yattad [BG 6.22], and the glamour of that sukham (sukham means godly . . . JOHN: Pleasure. SWAMIJI: Not pleasure, you can’t say pleasure. JOHN: Super-pleasure? SWAMIJI: Yes. . . . buddhigrahyam, it is buddhigrāhyam. You can only calculate it with intellect, not with the body. Atīndriyam, it is beyond, that sukha [joy] is beyond the cycle of organs. Organs cannot experience that ānanda (that bliss). And once he is established in that, na calati tattvataḥ, he is not moved at all; for one second also, he is not moved from that [bliss]. JONATHAN: But to achieve that state you have to have that śaktipāta, isn’t it? SWAMIJI: Śaktipāta means you have to maintain your vigor, you have to maintain your will. There must be firm will. That is śaktipāta. Śaktipāta is not derived from other sources. You have got śaktipāta, you have got the power of śaktipāta, i.e., to have it. You [must] possess it with vigor, with force, because you have got that power. But you don’t like it [laughs]! You don’t like it and you go on meeting others and everything. DVD 2.3 (37:16) Now this is the 70th śloka finished. JONATHAN: Can I just ask one question? What causes that change? You said you possess that śaktipāta, that power, but you don’t like it, you just go to these other things. What makes that change, when you suddenly are not worried about these things and you dive into that? SWAMIJI: When śaktipāta comes from within. From within! Śaktipāta does not come from without. It is not [from] without. JONATHAN: It is there already. SWAMIJI: It is there. Because when God is united with limited God, [this is possible only because] limited God is not separate from unlimited God. End of Bhagavad Gita – Sangha 15 (54:04) __________ Now we move to verse 3 of Chapter 6, which is the chapter where Lord Krishna teaches Arjuna the formal practice of Meditation. In verse 3 Swamiji emphasizes the value of Meditation in action. Bhagavad Gita – Sangha 44 (44:17) DVD 6.1 (10:28) आरुरुक्षोर्मुनेर्योगं कर्म कारणमुच्यते  । योगारूढस्य तस्यैव शमः कारणमुच्यते  ॥३॥ ārurukṣormuneryogaṁ karma kāraṇamucyate / yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇamucyate //3//   Ārurukṣormuner. Munir, that yogi who is ārurukṣoḥ, who wants to rise step by step; who wants to rise step by step and meditates by successive meditation. Successive meditation does not mean that you meditate one hour in the morning, one hour in the evening – no, it is not that. [You should] go on meditating day and night. Don’t forget your meditation of thinking of the Lord with breath. Go on watching your breath, day and night. Try with all your might to watch it. If sometime you miss [a breath], that doesn’t matter, but it does not mean that you meditate only one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening, and in the remaining period you will do activities [such as] gupshup (idle conversation) and bakwas (nonsense) and everything. Because that impression [of worldly activity] will be stronger, that impression will subside your abhyāsa (practice). Do you understand? So you should not work in that way. Abhyāsa is to start [watching your breath] just like in chain form [i.e., continuously]. Try your best [to practice] that way. ārurukṣormuneryogaṁ karma kāraṇamucyate / yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇamucyate //3//   Ārurukṣormuneryogaṁ. Yogam ārurukṣor muner, the one who is trying to reside in yoga abhyāsa, for how long [should he practice]? Day and night. According to his capacity, he should [practice] day and night. But the balance should be of abhyās, i.e., [abhyās should be] more in weight than the daily activities of your worldly affairs. Worldly affairs should be less in balance [in] scale. Worldly activities [should be much] less, just four anas (16 cents) in one rupee, even two annas (8 cents) in one rupee. The [remaining] period of your time must be devoted to abhyāsa, to meditation. That is yogam ārurukṣor muni, one who wants to rise in yoga, who wants to step into yoga. Karma kāraṇam ucyate. Karma kāraṇam ucyate, karma, abhyāsa in action. You should not sit idle, you should go on walking [etc., while] practicing yoga. And it is kāraṇam, these [worldly activities] are the means (upāyas) for him. Abhinavagupta has, in a unique way, translated in two ways kāraṇam and kāraṇam. There are in two places kāraṇ and kāraṇ. End Bhagavad Gita – Sangha 44 (49:02) ________________________ In this next excerpt from Chapter Five, Swamiji explains what happens in meditation when the breath becomes more and more refined. Bhagavad Gita – Sangha 42 (32:30) DVD 5.2 (32:04) स्पर्शान्कृत्वा बहिर्बाह्यांश्चक्षुश्चैवान्तरे भ्रुवोः  । प्राणापानौ समौ कृत्वा नासाभ्यन्तरचारिणौ  ॥२७॥ sparśānkṛtvā bahirbāhyāṁścakṣuścaivāntare bhruvoḥ / prāṇāpānau samau kṛtvā nāsābhyantaracāriṇau //27//   [Lord Kṛṣṇa]: Sparśān kṛtvā bahir bāhyāṁ. Bāhyāṁ sparśān bahi kṛtvā, those outside sensual objects, you should keep them outside. Cakṣu caivāntare bhruvoḥ, [your mind should be focused] in between the two eyebrows; you must feel the sensation inside, between two eyebrows. Prāṇāpānau samau kṛtvā, nāsā abhyantara cāriṇau, you should breathe out and breathe in, in samatā. Samatā means . . . No, this is very important. For instance, you breathe in and you breathe out. Not like [you normally do]. You have not to breathe in and out like that. You have to breathe in your own nāsa (inner consciousness). For instance, you have to breathe like this and this; only this much: [Swamiji demonstrates by showing the tiny distance between his thumb and index finger]. You have not to breathe [heavily] – not like this. You have to breathe very slowly, very slowly. [So] slowly that [you do] not breathe at all. It takes only [a small] space to breathe. Only this much. This is the reality of one-pointedness. JONATHAN: But Swamiji, when you do that though, sometimes in breathing, you don’t get enough breath; it feels like you’re not going to get enough . . . SWAMIJI: (laughs . . .) No, it is not suffocation. You will never become suffocated because it is life; it is life-full at that time. You know when in my courses I was not breathing. I was breathing like this [Swamiji demonstrates]. When I was out [of my courses], then I would [breathe heavily]. JONATHAN: Yes, suddenly you would breathe. SWAMIJI: Yes, that is outside. Inside is this [Swamiji demonstrates again], i.e., when you don’t breathe at all. You breathe only from here to here, bas! That is all. So there is no breath. It is only the glamour of madhya nāḍi, the ‘central vein’. You are residing in the central vein, suṣumnā nāḍi. It is in suṣumnā nāḍi. It goes in suṣumnā nāḍi and [breath] is finished. JONATHAN: But from a practical point of view, you were demonstrating that to me one day when you went to Harvan, and you stopped on the side of the road and you said, “the breath must only go this much.” But if a normal person sits down and makes their breath go like that, then they are short of breath, isn’t it? Or does that feeling go? SWAMIJI: No, shorter breath. JONATHAN: But there is that feeling that you need more breath. SWAMIJI: No, you don’t get urge for breathing. You don’t get urge for breathing. This is something different! JOHN: My experience is though when you try to be one-pointed on watching your breath and so forth . . . SWAMIJI: When it is one-pointed, then you don’t breathe. JOHN: Breathing slows down automatically. SWAMIJI: Not in so much space. JOHN: So it becomes less and less as you . . . SWAMIJI: Huh? JOHN: When you are breathing and you are becoming more one-pointed then your breathing becomes less and less. SWAMIJI: Less and less, less and less. And in the end, it breathes only this much. JOHN: But my problem is before I get to that point . . . SWAMIJI: If it comes down from here, it goes up to this, then it returns there. JOHN: My experience is, when I become more one-pointed and it becomes less and less and less, all of a sudden that panic comes and I go, “aaaaaaaahhhh,” I take that, like I’m not breathing, I get a shock that, “no, I’m not breathing and then I take a breath.” SWAMIJI: (laughs . . .) That is because you are not focused in that Parabhairava state. When once you are focused in the Parabhairava state then you won’t breathe because you are life-full. JOHN: So how do we get over that gap of that panic of not taking full breaths? SWAMIJI: Yes, in both ways it is divine. Both ways. If you breathe, that is also divine; if you don’t breathe, that is also divine. It is this [Swamiji demonstrates the short distance of the movement of breath]. I showed you. JONATHAN: You showed me that day. SWAMIJI: It is said, nāsābhyantaracāriṇa, only breath does not move out from nāsa, out from nāsika [between the eyebrows]. It moves only this much, this much [Swamiji demonstrates]. So there is no such breathing. You should not examine it. It is automatic. It will happen automatically some day when you are glorified with my grace. JOHN: What do you mean, Swamiji, when you say ”lengthen the breath and make it flow longer and longer?” When we were meditating, you said we should lengthen the breath, make it slower and longer – what does that mean? SWAMIJI: Lengthen? Lengthen, not. You should breathe very slowly. JONATHAN: You mean length of time and less in space. SWAMIJI: Less space. JONATHAN: And length in time. SWAMIJI: Yes. JONATHAN: So it should take longer to go even that little distance. SWAMIJI: Yes. JONATHAN: But you shouldn’t make your breath long. SWAMIJI: Long? No [laughs]. JONATHAN: That’s what I am saying. You shouldn’t do that! You should only do this much. But time should be longer . . . SWAMIJI: Yes. JONATHAN: . . . and space should be less. SWAMIJI: Yes. How wonderful! End Bhagavad Gita – Sangha 42 (38:56)

एवंविधे परे तत्त्वे कः पूज्यः कश्च तृप्यति ॥१६॥ evaṁvidhe pare tattve kaḥ pūjyaḥ kaśca tṛpyati // 16b // When you put this thing in your view, evaṁ vidhe, in this supreme essence of transcendental truth, who is to be worshiped and who is the worshiper? Kaḥ pūjyaḥ, who is to be worshiped? Kaśca tṛpyati, who is the worshiper? एवंविधा भैरवस्य यावस्था परिगीयते । सा परा, पररूपेण परादेवी प्रकीर्तिता ॥१७॥ evaṁvidhā bhairavasya yāvasthā parigīyate / sā parā pararūpeṇa parādevī prakīrtitā // 17 // This state of Bhairava that is already sung in the body of the Tantras, yāvasthā parigīyate (parigīyate, sung), that state is in Its supreme way (pararūpena), [and It] is the state of Bhairavī (parā devī). In other words, The real state of Bhairava is the state of Bhairavī. Whenever you explain, whenever you find out, what is the real state of Bhairava, you can’t find it out because the real state of Bhairava is, in fact, the real state of the knower. It can’t be found [because] It is the [finder]. The real state of Bhairava is the perceiver, It is not perceived. You can’t perceive that state. When It is perceived, when there is a desire in you to perceive It, you can perceive It [only] when It comes down in the state of Bhairavī. So that is the way. When you tread on the level of Pārvatī, then you are treading on the path. This is the journey we have to do, the journey we have to do in the field of Pārvatī, not in the field of Bhairava [where] there is no journey. He is the knower of everything, so It can’t be found, that state cannot be found. That state can only be found when It comes down one step lower at the state of Pārvatī. So, now, here we will describe one hundred and twelve ways to enter in the universal and transcendental state of consciousness. One hundred and twelve ways will be explained in this book, and those one hundred and twelve ways will reside only in the field of Pārvatī. It can’t reside in the field of Bhairava because Pārvatī is the way. This is what he puts down [as] the foundation stone for entering in the consciousness of the one hundred and twelve ways. Evaṁvidhā bhairavasya yāvasthā parigīyate, this state of Bhairava, which is sung in the Tantras, is really the supreme state of the Goddess, Pārvatī (sā parā pararūpeṇa, in Its supreme way is parā devī prakīrtitā). But is there any difference of supremacy? Is there a difference of supremeness between Lord Śiva and Pārvatī? This is what he explains now.   शक्तिशक्तिमतोर्यद्वत् अभेदः सर्वदा स्थितः । अतस्तद्धर्मधर्मित्वात् परा शक्तिः परात्मनः ॥१८॥   śaktiśaktimatoryadvat abhedaḥ sarvadā sthitaḥ / atastaddharmadharmitvāt parā śaktiḥ parātmanaḥ // 18 // Just as between energy and the holder of energy there is no differentiation at all to be found–always there is abheda, there is unity, unity between energy and the holder of energy (śakti and Śiva), there is no differentiated-ness–in the same way, tat dharma dharmitvāt (tat dharma means, all the aspects of Lord Śiva–tad dharma; tat means Lord Śiva, of Lord Śiva), all the aspects of Lord Śiva are held by Pārvatī Herself (tat dharma dharmitvāt). “Dharmi” is the holder of all aspects. Dharmi, who is dharmi? Pārvatī. Tat dharma, all the aspects of Lord Śiva are held by Pārvatī. So, parā śakti parātmanaḥ, that supreme energy is the energy of the supreme Lord. There is no difference in any case. न वह्नेर्दाहिका शक्तिः व्यतिरिक्ता विभाव्यते । केवलं ज्ञानसत्तायां प्रारम्भोऽयं प्रवेशने ॥१९॥   na vahnerdāhikā śaktiḥ vyatiriktā vibhāvyate / kevalaṁ jñānasattāyāṁ prārambho’yaṁ praveśane // 19 // Because, when there is a fire (for instance, there is a fire), its energy is dāhikā56, [and dāhikā’s] energy is pācikā57 [and] prakāśikā58. All these energies are owned by fire, but those energies–lightning, giving light, burning, heating, all these energies are produced from fire–but these energies are undifferentiated with fire. From fire, these energies are not different from fire. That is what he says: na vahner, from fire, dāhikā śakti, the energy of burning, burning energy, is not vyatiriktā (separated) vibhāvyate (found), it is not found that it is separated. Kevalaṁ jñāna sattāyāṁ prārambho’yaṁ praveśane, it is just to enter in that state of fire, i.e., to put a kettle on it or to put fuel on it (dāhikā, prakāśikā, and pācikā). It is just to enter in the state of fire, i.e., to put fuel and to put that kettle [on it]. So, [in the same way], it is just to enter in the jñāna sattā59 of Lord Śiva. You have to enter in the jñāna sattā of Lord Śiva, and [although] you are maintaining the nāvatma mantra and all these [processes], these are nothing. [They are] only prārambha, just to begin with.

"Salt Of The Earth"

Let's drink to the hard-working people
Let's drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let's drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common-foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back-breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

When I search a faceless crowd
A swirling mass of gray and black and white
They don't look real to me
In fact, they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard-working people
Let's drink to the uncounted heads
Let's think of the wavering millions
Who need leading but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
Empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray-suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio

When I look in the faceless crowd
A swirling mass of grays and black and white
They don't look real to me
Oh don't they look so strange?

Let's drink to the hard-working people
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth

Let's drink to the hard-working people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the two thousand million
Let's think of the humble of birth

Let's take a drink to the salt of the earth
Let's take a drink to the salt of the earth
Let's take a drink to the salt of the earth
Let's take a drink to the salt of the earth
Let's take a drink to the salt of the earth
Let's take a drink to the salt of the earth
Let's take a drink to the salt of the earth
Let's take a drink to the salt of the earth

"Factory Girl"

Waiting for a girl who's got curlers in her hair
Waiting for a girl she has no money anywhere
We get buses everywhere

Waiting for a factory girl

Waiting for a girl and her knees are much too fat
Waiting for a girl who wears scarves instead of hats
Her zipper's broken down the back

Waiting for a factory girl

Waiting for a girl and she gets me into fights
Waiting for a girl we get drunk on Friday night
She's a sight for sore eyes

Waiting for a factory girl

Waiting for a girl she's got stains all down her dress
Waiting for a girl and my feet are getting wet
She ain't come out yet

Waiting for a factory girl

"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I tried and I tried and I tried and I tried
I can't get no, I can't get no

When I'm driving in my car
And a man talks on the radio
He's telling me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination

I can't get no
Oh no no no
Hey hey hey
That's what I said

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I tried and I tried and I tried and I tried
I can't get no, I can't get no

When I'm watching my TV
And a man comes on and tells me
How white my shirts can be
But he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke
The same cigarettes as me

I can't get no
Oh no no no
Hey hey hey
That's what I said

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no girl reaction
'Cause I tried and I tried and I tried and I tried
I can't get no, I can't get no

When I'm riding round the world
And I'm doing this and I'm signing that
And I'm trying to make some girl who tell me
Baby better come back maybe next week
'Cause you see I'm on a losing streak

I can't get no
Oh no no no
Hey hey hey
That's what I said

I can't get no
I can't get no
I can't get no
No satisfaction
No satisfaction
No satisfaction
No satisfaction
I can't get no

"Good Times"

Whoa la la ta ta
Whoa la la ta ta
La la la all night long
Wanna tell you

Whoa la la ta ta
Whoa la la ta ta
La la la all night long

C'mon let the good times roll
We're gonna stay here to soothe our soul
It could take all night long

The evening sun is sinking low
The clock on the wall says it's time to go
I've got my plans I don't know about you
I tell you exactly what I'm gonna do

Get in the groove and let the good times roll
We're gonna stay here to soothe our soul
It could take all night long

It might be one o'clock it might be three
Time don't mean that much to me
Ain't felt this good since I don't know when
I might not feel this good again

So c'mon nad let the good time roll
We're gonna stay here to soothe our soul
It could take all night long

All night, all night
All night, all night long
Somebody said it might take all night long
All night, all night whoa

C'mon let the good times roll
We're gonna stay here to soothe our soul
It could take all night long

"Little Red Rooster"

I am the little red rooster
Too lazy to crow for day
I am the little red rooster
Too lazy to crow for day

Keep everything in the farm yard upset in every way

The dogs begin to bark and hounds begin to howl
Dogs begin to bark and hounds begin to howl
Watch out strange cat people
Little red rooster's on the prowl

If you see my little red rooster
Please drive him home
If you see my little red rooster
Please drive him home

Ain't had no peace in the farm yard
Since my little red rooster's been gone

"Lucky You"

There's a little girl in this little town
With a little too much heart to go around.
"Live forever. Never say never.
You can do better," that's what she says.

Her mama named her Lucky on a starlit night.
A rabbit foot in her pocket. She dances in spite
Of the fact that she's different,
And yet she's the same.
And she says, "Do do do..."
Lucky you, lucky you

She sings her little song. She walks along
A little pathway headed for the skies.
Left to travels, lives they unravel.
"Mind over matter," that's what she says.

Her mama named her Lucky on a starlit night.
A rabbit foot in her pocket. She dances in spite
Of the fact that she's different,
And yet she's the same.
And she says, "Do do do..."
Lucky you, lucky you, lucky you.

Maybe she'll sing you "Do do do do."
Maybe she'll bring you up to the skies.
Honey, she'll love you. Funny how some view
Angels above you ain't so far away.

Her mama named her Lucky on a starlit night.
A rabbit foot in her pocket. She dances in spite
Of the fact that she's different,
And yet she's the same.
And she says, "Do do do..."
Lucky you, lucky you.

"Ain't Hard 2 Find"
(feat. B-Legit, C-Bo, Richie Rich, E-40)

[B-Legit, C-Bo, Richie Rich (2Pac), E-40:]
(They say)
Influenced by crime, addicted to grindin'
Where I can pile up my chips
And niggas call me a timer
(I been ballin' since my adolescent years steady climbin')
Man, you motherfuckers don't know nuttin' about no timin'
(That's right, that's right boy, start that shit off)

[2Pac:]
I heard a rumor I died, murdered in cold blood dramatized
Pictures of me in my final stage, you know mama cried
But that was fiction, some coward got the story twisted
Like I no longer existed, mysteriously missin'
Although I'm worldwide, baby I ain't hard to find
Where I spend most of my time, my California grind
Watchin' for thievin', I'm cautious, it's like I'm barely breathin'
Puttin' a bullet in motherfuckers, give me a reason
See me and hope I'm intoxicated or slightly faded
You tried to play me, now homicide is my only payment
I'm addicted to currency in this life I lead
Why the fuck you cowards be runnin', too scared to fight a G?
For the life of me, I cannot see
How motherfuckers picture livin' life after a night of fuckin' around with me
And if you don't like this rhyme
Then bring your big bad ass to California, 'cause we ain't hard to find

[B-Legit, C-Bo, Richie Rich (2Pac), E-40:]
Influenced by crime, addicted to grindin'
Where I can pile up my chips
And niggas call me a timer
(I been ballin' since my adolescent years steady climbin')
Motherfuckers don't know nuttin' about no timin'

[C-Bo:]
I got my locs on, hard hat, goin' to war
Breakin' them off on sight, stoppin' lives like red lights
Watch 'em pause as I pull my strap out my drawers
And get to dumpin' on they ass like the last outlaw
Rich, 2Pac and The Click, smokin' blunts, loadin' clips
With enough shit to raise your block in one dip
We bring on horror like Tales From the Crypt
And we ain't hard to find is the tales that we kick

[B-Legit:]
I'm fully automatic, full of static and shit
Movin' Dodge van, fifty rounds in the clip
I'm ridin' shotgun with the tint in the back
I'm plan to have a motherfuckin' mint in this rap
I'm from the V-A-L-L-E-J-O
Where sellin' narcotics is all I know
I got blow, speed, and weed, whatever yo' kind
And if you need a motherfucker, I ain't hard to find

[D-Shot:]
Some may call me bootsy, but I call it timin'
That's while I keeps on grindin' (that's right)
to the point where a nigga can't stop
Too much feelin' this shit, that's why I'm quick to peel a bitch
Whether it's a nigga or a ho, a ho
get in my way, then that ass gots to go
'Cause a nigga steady plottin'
I serves hit for hit, and motherfuckers keep droppin'

[B-Legit, C-Bo, Richie Rich (2Pac), E-40:]
Influenced by crime, addicted to grindin'
Where I can pile up my chips
And niggas call me a timer
(I been ballin' since my adolescent years steady climbin')
Man, you motherfuckers don't know nuttin' about no timin'

[(2Pac), E-40:]
(C-Bo, D-Shot, E-40, Richie Rich)
Da Bay, beitch!

[E-40:]
Down the steps
Abandoned broken down apartment complex
Heavy metal weapons they carry, can't be scary
Playboy, what the fuck is a proof without the trauma plate?
Nigga, what the fuck you got a gun for if you gon' hesitate?
Best shake and bake all those I-was-finst-to-ask niggas
Motherfuckers-didn't-think-I was-gon'-do-somethin'-ass niggas
Threaten your life, ain't like you love him
Bury your thoughts, take his head fuck him, have at him

[Richie Rich:]
(Check this out)
I grew up with that nigga
Threw up with that nigga
I hear he tryin' to ride
Double agent for the other side
But now, my Glock be so judgmental
Back seat of a rental
Keep my name out your dental, nigga
If your gum bleedin' and you needin'
More than twenty stitches, you behaved like them bitches
Sideways to the next
Heavy in the game
Check the resident, it's all the same
Nigga, and we ain't hard to find

[Ad-libs — 2Pac, C-BO & E-40:]
[2Pac:] Hell nah we ain't hard to find
[C-Bo:] The whole Clickalation fool
[E-40:] Motherfuckers hard to find, right here bitch
[2Pac:] Why them niggas actin' like they can't find us? Like they can't see us and like we don't be at the same spots they be at?
[D-Shot:] It's the same congregation. Young Pac is back, youknowhatImean?
[C-Bo:] Nigga be lookin' all the way when he see you and shit
[D-Shot:] It's a celebration
[E-40:] Motherfuckers better understand this shit
[D-Shot:] Young 'Pac is back
[2Pac:] Ay D-Shot, nigga, can we get paid man?
Can we just go there and sock this shit up, please?
[D-Shot:] Hey, we smokin', and we ain't hard to find
[2Pac:] Drinkin' and shit, fuckin' with some Hurricane
[E-40:] A motherfucker's gonna get his marbles regardless, playboy
[2Pac:] You supposed to
[RIch:] Sideways to the next light, and to the next coast, poppin' the muthafuckin' most, you understand what I'm sayin'
[2Pac:] Money over bitches, nigga, M.O.B., M.O.B.

"Thug Passion"
(feat. Dramacydal, Storm, Jewell)

Aight, new drink
One part Alizé, one part Cristal
Thug passion, baby
y'all know what time it is
This drink is Guaranteed to get the pussy wet and the dick hard
Now, if you with me
Pour a glass and drink with a nigga, knowhatimean?
I ain't tryin' to turn you all niggas into alcohols - alcoholics
I'm just tryin' to turn you into motherfuckin' thugs
So come and get some of this thug passion, baby

[Kastro:]
Mayne! I could pull out the drink and be good until it's relevant
But I'm a straight soldier, I'll roll up a nigga like it's Heaven sent
Trippin' over dead presidents
they got these derelicts
I throw was down with this business, tryin' to clown and get a cent
And so rather, than stand forever
Been thinkin' drinkin' over a felony
And hell of me
And how it will be in hella shit, people tellin' me to cool out
But they ain't feelin' me, a motherfuckin' fool, about
My fuckin' cheddar cheese
and it pleases, passion of mine
Thuggin', huggin' plenty of G's and laughin' while I pass through times
And all these bastards be watchin' just keep it plain
I'ma keep it the same partner, just take it the simple game
I can, pinkle with the rain twinklin'
Diamonds and things go blinkin'
Enough to hold me, 'til I'm, old and wrinklin'
and These adversaries
They gonna have to be worryin'
Cause I'ma be illin', fulfillin' my passion
'Til I'm buryin' my thug passion

[Jewell:]
I heard it's the bomb
And you got it goin' on
Give me some of your thug passion, baby
You got me drippin' wet
from the way you make me sweat
Give me some of your thug passion, baby ohhhwow!

[Napoleon:]
Now what if me
Turn this Hennessy into a robbery
The Prophecy probably suddenly switch and how it supposed to be
And Dirty money
Can't be evil cause it's fillin' up my tummy
Born in a position, death collision was futuristic
Twistin' riches, but there is only one way to make more
So I'm standin' on the corner tryin' to hustle in the snow
And my bigger bro, couldn't know
But buy a .44, blastin' at playa haters wantin' more
with a Thug Passion

[E.D.I. Mean:]
Puttin' down mashin', control by this thug's passion
Unlike them other bustas pistol blastin'
I'm askin', what happened
To the niggas who kept it real like they claim to
That's what money and fame do, see they ain't true
Travelin' this road my poor soul has been consolidated
With all this bullshit that I done tolerated
How I made it, can be easily stated
It's like my hardest bring the grip with the passion, left me to fuckin' greatest
Load up and take shit

[Yaki Kadafi:]
Make it to some high dollar gangsta shit
Jack a stack 'til we got enough bank to split

[Storm:]
Creep with me, through that immortal flow
Thug passion got you tremblin' like Death on the Row
Make your move, so I can throw your mind a curve
While I'll be blowin' up the scene, like my nigga Mr. Herb
Take a toke, as your heart goes full arrest
I got the bomb, so nigga, fuck the rest
You need a dub to get you flowin'
and let that loc see smoke
Feelin' the strokes of the 9 squeeze tight and slow

[Jewell:]
I heard it's the bomb
And you got it goin' on
Give me some of your thug passion, baby
You got me drippin' wet
From the way you make me sweat
Give me some of your thug passion, baby ohhhwow!

They say money don't make the man
But damn, I'm makin' money
Observin' you motherfuckers, 'cause some of you bitches funny
Say you want it but you bullshittin'
Lickin' them lips, you got me about to act a fool quick
Sippin' on some Alizé and Cristal, meanwhile
Buy me a drink and get to winkin' at me, she smiles; a niggas full of passion
Satisfaction is everlastin'
"How does it feel?" what I'm askin'
While I'm rubbin' on that ass "Why you laughin'?"
see, I'm diggin' as if I'm curious
full blown and furious
Baby, get a grip, when I be doin' this
It's so physical my attraction
Driven by alcohol, beware of my reaction
baby I'm born to ball
thugged out on Death Row
You better recognize and picture what I said so
Now you can feel it, it's a portion for my niggas in motion
Forever blastin', bitches ain't ready for this thug passion

[Jewell (DJ Quik):]
I heard it's the bomb
And you got it goin' on
Give me some of your thug passion, baby
(Thug passion)
You got me drippin' wet
From the way you make me sweat
Give me some of your thug passion, baby ohhhwow!
(Thug passion)
I heard it's the bomb
And you got it goin' on
Give me some of your thug passion, baby
(Thug passion)
You got me drippin' wet
From the way you make me sweat
Give me some of your thug passion, baby ohhhwow!
(Thug passion)
I heard it's the bomb
And you got it goin' on
Give me some of your thug passion, baby
You got me drippin' wet
From the way you make me sweat
Give me some of your thug passion, baby ohhhwow!
I heard it's the bomb
And you got it goin' on
Give me some of your thug passion, baby
You got me drippin' wet
From the way you make me sweat
Give me some of your thug passion, baby ohhhwow!

"Got My Mind Made Up"
(feat. Daz, Kurupt, Method Man, Redman)

[Daz Dillinger:]
You find an MC like me who's strong
Leavin' motherfuckers aborted with no verbal support
And when I command the microphone I get deadly as Khan though
With a bear and a snake and a panda, I'm all those
Who can withstand the more power I gain
And make it possible for me to drop a few to wreck your brain
Imagine and keep on wishin' upon a star
Finally realizin' who the fuck we are
When I penetrate, it's been withstandin', faded
Would it be the greatest MC of all time when I created rhyme
For the simple fact, when I attack, I crush your pride
My intention to ride, every time on lye
I'm faced with the scars beyond this one bar
For me to put down my guard, I'm faced what I'ma ride
Breakin' in gas with the '68 all day
In-and-out with my pay, I'm soon to count the bodies

[2Pac:]
So mandatory my elevation, my lyrics like orientation
So you can be more familiar with the nigga you facin'
We must be patient, nothin' better than communication
Known to damage and highly flammable like gas stations
Sorry I left that ass waitin'
No more procrastination, give up to fate and get that ass shakin'
I'm bustin' and makin' motherfuckers panic
Don't take your life for granted
Put that ass in the dirt, you swear the bitch was planted
My lyrics motivate the planet
It's similar to Rhythm Nation, but thugged out, forgive me, Janet
Who's in control, I'm activatin' your souls
You know the way the games get controlled
Yo, two years ago, a friend of mine
Told me Alize and Cristal blows your mind
Bear witness to the dopest fuckin' rhyme I wrote
Takin' off my coat, clearin' my throat

[Method Man:]
I got my mind made up, come on
Get in, get into
Let it ride, tonight's the night
I got my mind made up, come on
Get in, get into
Let it ride, tonight's the night

[Kurupt:]
Well I comes through with two packs of the bomb prophylactics
For protection so my fuckin' sac won't collapse
Cause nowadays, shit's evadin' the X-rays
Sendin' young motherfuckers to an early grave
I wonder if my terrifyin' tactics of torturin' MC's
Shows my heart's as cold as the tundra
Electrifyin' like thunder, I'm just too much
Rough and raw with that motherfuckin' poisonous touch
I'm an, MC with lyrics that's the fuckin' Bombay
You got ten steps before instant death like Bai Mei
My rhymes'll leave a mark on your mind
As the deadly virus spread through your head like Sand Palm
There's no escape, nah, I ain't blastin'
I use my mental to assassinate assassin's for those askin''
Opposed to laughin', raw maniacal villain
Laughter enhances the chances of the killin'
Why is that? Cause smilin' faces deceive
You best believe: to MC's, I'm the deadliest disease
My thoughts rip your throat and make it hard to breathe
Your whole camp's under siege and I'm Jason Voorhees
In the heat of the night is when I defeat and ignite mics
My verbal snipe your vocabs on site
I'm out the cut, uncut and raw with no clause for all
So all my rhymes hit and split the bricks on the wall
You already have an idea about the superior sphere
The greater rhyme creator on both sides of the equator
I rock from here to there, to Philly and back
To LA on the spot where I rock and bust like straps
As your views get overshadowed when you come in contact
Beware, set and prepare to enter verbal combat

[Method Man:]
Fuck you losers, while you fake jacks, I makes manoeuvres
Like Hitler, stickin' up Jews with German Lugers
The Mr. Meth-Tical from Staten Isle
Will be back after this message, don't touch the dial
Rarely do you see an MC out for justice
Got my gun powder and my musket, blaow
Melons get swellings, I paint mental pictures like Magellan
Half of my Clan's repeat felons
Niggas best protect they joints for Nine-Nickel
Man, I stay on point like icicles
Now who wanna test Tical, then touch Tical
All up in your motherfuckin' mouth
Headbanger boogie, catch me on tour with Al Doogie
Method Man rolled too tight, you can't pull me
Better take one and pass or that's that ass
Your vital statistics are low and fallin' fast
Johnny Blaze out to get loot like Johnny Cash
Play a game of Russian Roulette and have a blast

[Redman:]
Lyrical gats spittin' the criminal tactics
Non-believers get my dick and genitals backwards
Let's face it, there's no replacement
Taste this mad underground basement shit I'm laced with
Avalanche on your whole camp when I'm spliffted
Funk Doctor who, Spock, bitch, don't get it twisted
I got connects like Federal Express
To get the fresh package of bless the dogs can't fetch
Got the clear spot from the rear block
To bust 'til every nigga here drop, men I fear not
Hold your nose and blow out 'til your ears pop
Since your crew suit you to shift, now you claim that your gears locked
Whiff this underground cannabis
I'm dangerous like John the bomb analyst
Flip MC's like ki's
My degrees freeze consecutively like EPMD LP's
Lick off a shot and hit your fam by mistake
So I erase the whole front row at the wake
I planned my escape in case Jake wann' snake bust it
I'm the one pushin' the hearse in the first place
Confidence for you shaky-ass folks
Pump for Rockafeller for the day he got smoked
Choke off this antidote, got you ope
Get roast by my lyrical Billy Dee .45 Colt
And I'm out for 9-nickel

[*in the background*]
[INS the rebel]

Mr. Franco, you study a ton of different things, teach a course at NYU, act in films, direct some, do exhibitions, write books. When do you even find the time to sleep?

Despite how it might seem, I have been acting in fewer movies than I did before. It seems like I haven’t, but I have. A lot of the work I do is in the summer and for most of the year I am just in school. So that’s where I put my energy in and that results in books, short films – stuff like that.

How is university treating you these days?

It’s great.

Is it different than when you went to study the first time?

Yes. When I graduated from high school I went to UCLA and I went there for one year. When I was eighteen I was a literature major but I was more interested in acting at the time. So I wasn’t very focused on university, I was more focused on my acting school. When I went back to school I was going back because I wanted to go back, I didn’t need to. I didn’t need the degree for any kind of job or anything like that. I was just there because I wanted to be. That can really change the school experience. I was just taking things I was interested in rather than what might lead to better employment.

“When there is a lot of money involved and people want me to promote their movie, they don’t want to hear about school.”
Is it possible to have a normal student’s experience when you are well known actor?

The work is the work – so I do all my homework, and that’s probably the same. I have good relationships with my professors, I imagine that’s somewhat similar, I don’t know. Yes, I’ve had some odd experiences with some students, not many, but…

Like what?

I got a weird e-mail from a student who wanted to confess that she had been upset that I was in the writing program at Columbia and that she didn’t understand why I was there at first and was resentful. And then was especially resentful when she – these were her words – was taking a shit and had to look at my face in a magazine. She threw the magazine away. But after being in class with me she realized that I was serious about the program and didn’t want to hate me anymore.

Amazing…

So sure, I wouldn’t have had that experience if I hadn’t been an actor. But then on the other hand I have made very good friends at school and made friendships at film school. I am sure we will continue into the professional world, they’re people that I really enjoy working with.

Has Hollywood tried to keep you away from school in order to squeeze more money out of you?

There are certain conflicts. When I went back to UCLA we had to do the press tour for Spiderman around the world and Sony doesn’t want to hear that I don’t want to go to Japan for the premiere because I have my Jacobean literature class. They just don’t want to hear that. Or I had people say, “Do you want to be an actor or do you want to be a student?” When there is a lot of money involved and people want me to promote their movie they don’t want to hear about school.

How did your school react to those requests?

A lot of the schools don’t understand me missing class because I have to go and do those kinds of things for a movie. So it’s difficult and it’s on my shoulders to navigate that and make it work for both sides of my life. But yes, in a lot of ways, they don’t mix.

“Whatever attention I get, I would say that about 80% of it is not generated by me.”
It seems like you are quite restless for your age, getting involved in all these different artistic activities. Sure you’re not doing it for the attention?

No, I am just pursuing the stuff that I am interested in. I know that if I do these other things it is impossible to detach the fact that it is James Franco that has done them from the projects themselves. So in some ways I do embrace that and it becomes a part of these pieces. Whatever attention I get, I would say that about 80% of it is not generated by me. I’m not trying to find the spotlight.

But there are some people who feel like you’re turning your whole life into an art performance in a way.

I take writing and art very seriously and have spent the last years going to school for these things, so I wouldn’t say that I am turning my life into a performance. It is just that I know that when I do other things that people will review it. At the moment people are still talking about the fact that the actor James Franco has written a book or whatever. But I hope as time goes on people will move beyond that.

How do you take criticism?

I guess all I can hope for that when people do criticize, even though they have mentioned that I am an actor, at least that they have looked at it as an art piece and not just a side project.

Do you feel misjudged?

I want to be looked at as an artist and a writer. Really that is all I can ask for and in fact what they have done is they have actually helped usher me into this world so that the next time I will do it will be more accepted. As anybody that talks about criticism knows on a lot of levels it is just people talking. So I don’t mind it.

Will you give up acting all together once you are done with all the intellectual education?

I have experience in both of these worlds now and that’s a perspective that most of my fellow students don’t have and most of my fellow actors don’t have this graduate school academic perspective. So I like that; that is one thing I can contribute that’s unique. I like that they can kind of work off each other. And when I do write my dissertation, I’m working towards something that will involve that crossover – crossover of different kinds of media and disciplines and how they interact with each other. So, no, I don’t like the idea of giving up acting completely.

George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, 5 May 1789
From George Washington
New York, May 5th. 1789Dear Sir
I beg you to accept my unfeigned thanks for your friendly communications of this date—and that you will permit me to entreat a continuation of them as occasions may arise.
The manner chosen for doing it, is most agreeable to me. It is my wish to act right; if I err; the head & not the heart, shall, with justice, be chargeable. With sentiments of sincere esteem & regard
I am Dear Sir   Your Obedt Servt.
Go: Washington

George Washington’s Queries Regarding Presidential Conduct, [ante 17 May 1789]
George Washington’s Queries
Regarding Presidential Conduct
[ante 17 May 1789]1
The President of the United States wishes to avail himself of your sentiments on the following points—
1st Whether a line of Conduct, equally distant from an association with all kinds of Company on the one hand, and from a total seclusion from Society on the other ought to be adopted by him?— and in that case how it is to be done?
2d: What will be the least exceptionable Method of bringing any System which may be adopted on this subject before the Publick and into use?—
3d Whether after a little time, one day in every week will not be sufficient for receiving Visits of Compliments?
4th Whether it would tend to prompt impertinent applications and involve disagreable Consequences to have it known, that the President will every morning at 8 O clock be at leisure to give Audience to Persons who may have business with him?
5th Whether when it shall be understood that the President is not to give general entertainments in the manner the Presidents of Congress have formerly done, it will be practicable to draw such a line of discrimination in regard to persons, as that Six Eight or Ten Official Characters (including in the rotation the members of both Houses of Congress) may be invited personally or otherways to dine with him on the days fixed for receiving Company, without exciting Clamours in the rest of the Community?
6th Whether it would be satisfactory to the Publick for the President to make about four great Entertainments in a year on such great occasions as the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Alliance with France, the Peace with G. Britain the Organization of the general Government: and whether arrangements of these two last kinds could be in danger of diverting too much of the Presidents time from business, or of producing the Evils which it was intended to avoid by his living more recluse than the Presidents of Congress have heretofore lived?
7th Whether there would be any impropriety in the Presidents making informal Visits—that is to say in his calling upon his Acquaintances public Characters for the purposes of sociability or Civility— and what (as to the form of doing it) might evince these visits to have been made in his private Character, so as that they might not Construed into Visits from the President of the United States? and in what light would his Visits rarely at Tea parties be considered?
8th Whether during the recess of Congress, it would not be advantageous to the interests of the Union for the President to make the Tour of the United States, in order to become better acquainted with their principal Characters, & internal circumstances, as well as to be more accessible to numbers of well informed Persons, who might give him useful information & Advice on political Subjects?
9th If there is a probability that either of the Arrangments may take place, which will eventually cause additional expences, whether it would not be proper that these Ideas should come into Contemplation, at the time when Congress shall make a permanent provision for the support of the Executive?—
Remarks
On the one side no augmentation can be effected in the pecuniary establishment which shall be made, in the first instance, for the support of the Executive—on the Other all monies destined for that purpose, beyond the actual expenditure, will be left in the Treasury of the United States or sacredly applied to the promotion of some national Objects—
Many things which appear of little importance in themselves and at the beginning may have great & durable consequences from their having been established at the commencement of a new general Govt. It will be much easier to commence the Administration upon a well adjusted System built on tenable grounds, than to correct Errors or alter inconveniences after they shall have been confirmed by habit—
The President in all Matters of business or Etiquette can have no Object but to demean himself in his publick Character in such a manner as to maintain the Dignity of Office without subjecting himself to the imputation of superciliousness or unecessary reserve— under these impressions he asks for your candid & undisguised Opinion—

[Diary entry: 17 March 1748]
Thursday 17th. Rain’d till Ten oClock & then clearing we reached as far as Major Campbells one of there Burgesses about 25 Miles from Town. Nothing Remarkable this day nor Night but that we had a Tolerable good Bed [to] lay on.
Andrew Campbell, who lived northwest of Winchester, was one of Frederick County’s most prominent residents. He served as one of the county’s first justices, as a member of the House of Burgesses from Frederick in 1745–47, and as the third sheriff of the county. On 2 Jan. 1744 the Frederick County court licensed Campbell and several other residents to keep ordinaries “at their respective houses” and to “furnish lodgings and food and Liquors at prices fixed by the court” (CARTMELL, 21). Campbell appears to have had a puritanical interest in preserving decorum in Frederick County. The long list of charges laid by him against various citizens range from breaking the Sabbath to “raising a riot” (see NORRIS [1], 83, 85). Retribution finally overtook him. He had served as a vestryman for Frederick Parish since 1745 but in the latter part of the decade charges were laid against him for collecting and appropriating for himself the funds collected for the use of the parish. That there was indeed chicanery afoot in the management of the parish finances is indicated in legislation passed by the House of Burgesses in Feb. 1752. “An Act for dissolving the Vestry of Frederick parish, in Frederick county” charged that the Frederick vestry had collected £1,570 on pretense of building churches in the parish and had “misapplied or converted the same to their own use, and refuse to render any account . . . to the great impoverishment of the people” (HENING, 6:258–60). Campbell eventually “had to run away to Carolina” (MEADE [2]).

A Journal of my Journey over the Mountains began Fryday the 11th. of March 1747/8
[March 1748]
Fryday March 11th. 1747/8. Began my Journey in Company with George Fairfax Esqr.; we travell’d this day 40 Miles to Mr. George Neavels in Prince William County.
The two dates used by GW are explained by the difference between New Style and Old Style dating. Until 1752 England, Ireland, and the colonies followed the Julian Calendar (Old Style). Under England’s interpretation of the Julian Calendar the new year began on 25 Mar. Because the year under the Julian Calendar was 365 days 6 hours, by the sixteenth century a considerable surplus had accumulated, moving the vernal equinox from 21 to 11 Mar. The error was corrected in 1582 by the Gregorian Calendar (New Style), adopted by most European countries. By 1752, when Great Britain adopted the Gregorian Calendar, the displacement was 11 days.
George Neville (Neavil) (d. 1774), a planter and land speculator, had settled on Cedar Run, then in Prince William County (now in Fauquier County), as early as 1730. Although Neville was not licensed to keep an ordinary until 1759, the location of his house at the juncture of the Carolina Road and a branch of the Dumfries Road made it a convenient stopping place for travelers. As early as 1743, Neville had acquired a tract of 181 acres in Prince William and had also made extensive purchases of land in Frederick County. In 1750 GW was engaged to survey for him some 400 acres of “Waste & ungranted Land” in Frederick belonging to the Fairfax proprietary and adjoining George William Fairfax’s property (warrant for survey, 13 Oct. 1750, DLC:GW; survey, 30 Oct. 1750, owned by Mr. Sol Feinstone, Washington Crossing, Pa.). The deed to Neville from Lord Fairfax is dated 20 Nov. 1750 (Mr. Sol Feinstone).
Saturday March 12th. This Morning Mr. James Genn the surveyor came to us. We travel’d over the Blue Ridge to Capt. Ashbys on Shannondoa River. Nothing remarkable happen’d.
John Ashby (1707–1789) was a member of a prominent frontier family. His father, Thomas Ashby, had settled in Stafford County in 1710 and moved to what is now Fauquier County before 1748. In 1741 John Ashby married Jean Combs of Maryland and moved with his father to the banks of the Shenandoah, where the Ashby Tract lay along the river just below the mouth of Howell’s Run. He was widely known as an Indian fighter, serving as captain in the 2d Virginia Rangers which from 1752 to 1754 maintained headquarters at Fort Ashby at the juncture of the Potomac River and Patterson’s Creek. In 1752 he was elected to the Frederick Parish vestry. After Braddock’s Defeat in July 1755 Ashby carried news of the disaster to Williamsburg. He participated in the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774 and shortly after went to Kentucky, where he spent several years locating and improving a grant of 2,000 acres he had received from Virginia for his services in the Indian wars.
Sunday March 13. Rode to his Lordships Quarter about 4 Miles higher up the River we went through most beautiful Groves of Sugar Trees & spent the best part of the Day in admiring the Trees & richness of the Land.
It has usually been suggested that the party proceeded on 13 Mar. to Fairfax’s land across the Shenandoah—the area known as Greenway Court (FREEMAN, 1:212–13; WRITINGS, 1:6). It is more likely that GW was referring to land owned by Lord Fairfax on the east side of the river in the vicinity of Howell’s Run (see DICKINSON [1], 48–55).
Monday 14th. We sent our Baggage to Capt. Hites (near Frederick Town) went ourselves down the River about 16 Miles to Capt. Isaac Penningtons (the Land exceeding Rich & Fertile all the way produces abundance of Grain Hemp Tobacco &c.) in order to Lay of some Lands on Cates Marsh & Long Marsh.
Jost Hite (d. 1760) was born in Strasbourg, Alsace, and emigrated to America about 1710, settling first in the vicinity of Kingston, N.Y. About 1716 he moved to Pennsylvania and in 1731 purchased a tract of nearly 40,000 acres from John and Isaac Van Meter in what soon became Frederick County, Va. In 1732 he moved to his Virginia lands with 16 other families of settlers. He was a member of the first Frederick Parish vestry. Hite was one of the leading land speculators and developers in Frederick, eventually settling families on a tract amounting to 94,000 acres. His land purchases involved him in a dispute with Lord Fairfax over ownership of his grants. The case continued in the courts for 50 years and was settled in Hite’s favor in 1786, 26 years after his death.
Frederick Town is now Winchester, Va.
Isaac Pennington came to the Shenandoah Valley, probably from New Jersey, about 1734 and settled a tract of some 600 acres on the south bank of Buck Marsh Run, near present-day Berryville, Va. He was a member of the first grand jury empaneled in Frederick County in May 1744 (CARTMELL, 23). In 1750 GW surveyed a tract of land for him in Frederick County (survey for Pennington, 23 Oct. 1750, NN: George Washington Newspaper and Catalogue Clippings Box). Pennington sold his holdings in Frederick County, including most of the site of Berryville, to Gabriel Jones of Augusta County and John Hite of Frederick County in 1754 and moved to South Carolina in the fall of that year (CHAPPELEAR [1], 17–18).
Tuesday 15th. We set out early with Intent to Run round the sd. Land but being taken in a Rain & it Increasing very fast obliged us to return. It clearing about one oClock & our time being too Precious to Loose we a second time ventured out & Worked hard till Night & then returnd to Penningtons we got our Suppers & was Lighted in to a Room & I not being so good a Woodsman as the rest of my Company striped my self very orderly & went in to the Bed as they call’d it when to my Surprize I found it to be nothing but a Little Straw—Matted together without Sheets or any thing else but only one Thread Bear blanket with double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice Fleas &c. I was glad to get up (as soon as the Light was carried from us) & put on my Cloths & Lay as my Companions. Had we not have been very tired, I am sure we should not have slep’d much that night. I made a Promise not to Sleep so from that time forward chusing rather to sleep in the open Air before a fire as will Appear hereafter.
On this day the party surveyed a tract of land for George William Fairfax on Cates Marsh and Long Marsh, the “names of small streams which flow from the foothill of North mountain to the Shenandoah river and have along their course considerable meadow or marshy land” (TONER [1], 26).
Wednesday 16th. We set out early & finish’d about one oClock & then Travell’d up to Frederick Town where our Baggage came to us. We cleaned ourselves (to get Rid of the Game we had catched the Night before) & took a Review of the Town & then return’d to our Lodgings where we had a good Dinner prepar’d for us Wine & Rum Punch in Plenty & a good Feather Bed with clean Sheets which was a very agreeable regale.
Thursday 17th. Rain’d till Ten oClock & then clearing we reached as far as Major Campbells one of there Burgesses about 25 Miles from Town. Nothing Remarkable this day nor Night but that we had a Tolerable good Bed [to] lay on.
Andrew Campbell, who lived northwest of Winchester, was one of Frederick County’s most prominent residents. He served as one of the county’s first justices, as a member of the House of Burgesses from Frederick in 1745–47, and as the third sheriff of the county. On 2 Jan. 1744 the Frederick County court licensed Campbell and several other residents to keep ordinaries “at their respective houses” and to “furnish lodgings and food and Liquors at prices fixed by the court” (CARTMELL, 21). Campbell appears to have had a puritanical interest in preserving decorum in Frederick County. The long list of charges laid by him against various citizens range from breaking the Sabbath to “raising a riot” (see NORRIS [1], 83, 85). Retribution finally overtook him. He had served as a vestryman for Frederick Parish since 1745 but in the latter part of the decade charges were laid against him for collecting and appropriating for himself the funds collected for the use of the parish. That there was indeed chicanery afoot in the management of the parish finances is indicated in legislation passed by the House of Burgesses in Feb. 1752. “An Act for dissolving the Vestry of Frederick parish, in Frederick county” charged that the Frederick vestry had collected £1,570 on pretense of building churches in the parish and had “misapplied or converted the same to their own use, and refuse to render any account . . . to the great impoverishment of the people” (HENING, 6:258–60). Campbell eventually “had to run away to Carolina” (MEADE [2]).
Fryday 18th. We Travell’d up about 35 Miles to Thomas Barwicks on Potomack where we found the River so excessively high by Reason of the Great Rains that had fallen up about the Allegany Mountains as they told us which was then bringing down the melted Snow & that it would not be fordable for severall Days it was then above Six foot Higher than usual & was Rising. We agreed to stay till Monday. We this day call’d to see the Fam’d Warm Springs. We camped out in the field this Night. Nothing Remarkable happen’d till sunday the 20th.
Thomas Barwick (Berwick?) was settled in Frederick County as early as 1744 and served as a juror in the county court in February of that year (CARTMELL, 23).
Warm Springs is now Bath, or Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, W.Va.
Sunday 20th. Finding the River not much abated we in the Evening Swam our horses over & carried them to Charles Polks in Maryland for Pasturage till the next Morning.
Charles Polk had land under cultivation in the area as early as 1748 (NORRIS [1], 68).
Monday 21st. We went over in a Canoe & Travell’d up Maryland side all the Day in a Continued Rain to Collo. Cresaps right against the Mouth of the South Branch about 40 Miles from Polks I believe the Worst Road that ever was trod by Man or Beast.
Thomas Cresap (1694–1790) was born at Skipton, Yorkshire, Eng., and immigrated to America about 1719, settling first in Maryland and later moving to the area of present-day Wrightsville, Pa. There he became a leader of the Maryland forces in the boundary dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania, 1730–36. His Pennsylvania establishment was burned by Pennsylvanians in 1736, and he moved to the vicinity of Shawnee Old Town (now Oldtown, Md.), where he built a fortified trading post at the crossroads of a series of trails much traveled by Indians and whites. By 1749, when he was one of the organizers of the Ohio Company, Cresap was widely known throughout the frontier as a trader and land speculator, and Shawnee Old Town had become one of the leading frontier trading posts. Cresap acted as a surveyor and agent for the Ohio Company and helped lay out the company’s road from Wills Creek to the Monongahela. He supported the Patriot cause during the American Revolution, in which his more famous son Michael played a leading role on the frontier.
Tuesday 22d. Continued Rain and the Freshes kept us at Cresaps.
Wednesday 23d. Rain’d till about two oClock & Clear’d when we were agreeably surpris’d at the sight of thirty odd Indians coming from War with only one Scalp. We had some Liquor with us of which we gave them Part it elevating there Spirits put them in the Humour of Dauncing of whom we had a War Daunce. There Manner of Dauncing is as follows Viz. They clear a Large Circle & make a great Fire in the Middle then seats themselves around it the Speaker makes a grand Speech telling them in what Manner they are to Daunce after he has finish’d the best Dauncer Jumps up as one awaked out of a Sleep & Runs & Jumps about the Ring in a most comicle Manner he is followd by the Rest then begins there Musicians to Play the Musick is a Pot half of Water with a Deerskin Streched over it as tight as it can & a goard with some Shott in it to Rattle & a Piece of an horses Tail tied to it to make it look fine the one keeps Rattling and the other Drumming all the While the others is Dauncing.
Fryday 25th. 1748. Nothing Remarkable on thursday but only being with the Indians all day so shall slip it. This day left Cresaps & went up to the Mouth of Patersons Creek & there swum our Horses over got over ourselves in a Canoe & travel’d up the following Part of the Day to Abram Johnstones 15 miles from the Mouth where we camped.
Patterson’s Creek flows into the Potomac about 12 miles below Cumberland, Md. It rises in Grant County, W.Va.
Abram Johnson received a deed to 309 acres on Patterson’s Creek on 26 Oct. 1748 (Northern Neck Deeds and Grants, Book G, 141, Vi Microfilm).
Saterday 26. Travelld up the Creek to Solomon Hedges Esqr. one of his Majestys Justices of the Peace for the County of Frederick where we camped. When we came to Supper there was neither a Cloth upon the Table nor a Knife to eat with but as good luck would have it we had Knives of [our] own.
Solomon Hedges. usually called Squire Hedges, a justice of the peace for Frederick County, was a member of a Quaker family from Maryland who were early settlers in Frederick. Hedges was living in the county as early as 1744, when he served on the first grand jury for Frederick in May of that year.
Sunday 27th. Travell’d over to the South Branch (attended with the Esqr.) to Henry Vanmetriss in order to go about Intended Work of Lots.
The Van Meter family was among the earliest settlers in the Shenandoah Valley. John Van Meter, a New York state Indian trader who carried on an extensive trade among the Delaware Indians, visited Virginia about 1725. With his encouragement his sons Isaac and John obtained extensive grants of land on the South Branch of the Potomac and in the lower Shenandoah Valley in 1730 and brought in a number of settlers. It was their sale of a portion of their lands to Jost Hite in 1731 which precipitated the latter’s legal entanglements with Lord Fairfax. Henry Van Meter, who died about 1759, was a son of Isaac and a nephew of John. He received a deed for 405 acres on the South Branch on 7 June 1749 (Northern Neck Deeds and Grants, Book G, 187, Vi Microfilm). For an account of the Van Meter family, see W.Va. Hist. Mag., 2, no. 2 (April 1902), 5–18.
Monday 28th. Travell’d up the Branch about 30 Miles to Mr. James Rutlidge’s Horse Jockey & about 70 Miles from the Mouth.
On 29 Mar. the party surveyed a tract of land for James Rutledge (surveying notes, DLC:GW). Rutledge acquired 500 acres in Frederick County in May 1748 (Northern Neck Deeds and Grants, Book G, 56, Vi Microfilm). He was presumably a member of the family that had settled on the South Branch as early as 1734 or 1735.
Tuesday 29th. This Morning went out & Survey’d five Hundred Acres of Land & went down to one Michael Stumps on the So. Fork of the Branch. On our way Shot two Wild Turkies.
Michael Stump, Sr. (1709–1768), received a grant for Lot No. 3, on the South Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac, on 8 Sept. 1749 (Northern Neck Deeds and Grants, Book G, 227, Vi Microfilm).
Wednesday 30th. This Morning began our Intended Business of Laying of Lots. We began at the Boundary Line of the Northern 10 Miles above Stumps & run of two Lots & returnd to Stumps.
On this day the party surveyed tracts for Peter Reid, Anthony Regar, Harmon Shoker, and Elias Cellars (surveying notes, DLC:GW).
Thursday 31st. Early this Morning one of our Men went out with the Gun & soon Returnd with two Wild Turkies. We then went to our Business. Run of three Lots & returnd to our Camping place at Stumps.

First Annual Address to Congress

January 08, 1790
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

I embrace with great satisfaction the opportunity which now presents itself of congratulating you on the present favorable prospects of our public affairs. The recent accession of the important state of North Carolina to the Constitution of the United States (of which official information has been received), the rising credit and respectability of our country, the general and increasing good will toward the government of the Union, and the concord, peace, and plenty with which we are blessed are circumstances auspicious in an eminent degree to our national prosperity.

In resuming your consultations for the general good you can not but derive encouragement from the reflection that the measures of the last session have been as satisfactory to your constituents as the novelty and difficulty of the work allowed you to hope. Still further to realize their expectations and to secure the blessings which a gracious Providence has placed within our reach will in the course of the present important session call for the cool and deliberate exertion of your patriotism, firmness, and wisdom.

Among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention that of providing for the common defense will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.

The proper establishment of the troops which may be deemed indispensable will be entitled to mature consideration. In the arrangements which may be made respecting it it will be of importance to conciliate the comfortable support of the officers and soldiers with a due regard to economy.

There was reason to hope that the pacific measures adopted with regard to certain hostile tribes of Indians would have relieved the inhabitants of our southern and western frontiers from their depredations, but you will perceive from the information contained in the papers which I shall direct to be laid before you (comprehending a communication from the Commonwealth of Virginia) that we ought to be prepared to afford protection to those parts of the Union, and, if necessary, to punish aggressors.

The interests of the United States require that our intercourse with other nations should be facilitated by such provisions as will enable me to fulfill my duty in that respect in the manner which circumstances may render most conducive to the public good, and to this end that the compensation to be made to the persons who may be employed should, according to the nature of their appointments, be defined by law, and a competent fund designated for defraying the expenses incident to the conduct of foreign affairs.

Various considerations also render it expedient that the terms on which foreigners may be admitted to the rights of citizens should be speedily ascertained by a uniform rule of naturalization.

Uniformity in the currency, weights, and measures of the United States is an object of great importance, and will, I am persuaded, be duly attended to.

The advancement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures by all proper means will not, I trust, need recommendation; but I can not forbear intimating to you the expediency of giving effectual encouragement as well to the introduction of new and useful inventions from abroad as to the exertions of skill and genius in producing them at home, and of facilitating the intercourse between the distant parts of our country by a due attention to the post-office and post-roads.

Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me in opinion that there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of government receive their impressions so immediately from the sense of the community as in ours it is proportionably essential.

To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways - by convincing those who are intrusted with the public administration that every valuable end of government is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people, and by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights; to discern and provide against invasions of them; to distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority; between burthens proceeding from a disregard to their convenience and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society; to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness - cherishing the first, avoiding the last - and uniting a speedy but temperate vigilance against encroachments, with an inviolable respect to the laws.

Whether this desirable object will be best promoted by affording aids to seminaries of learning already established, by the institution of a national university, or by any other expedients will be well worthy of a place in the deliberations of the legislature.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:

I saw with peculiar pleasure at the close of the last session the resolution entered into by you expressive of your opinion that an adequate provision for the support of the public credit is a matter of high importance to the national honor and prosperity. In this sentiment I entirely concur; and to a perfect confidence in your best endeavors to devise such a provision as will be truly consistent with the end I add an equal reliance on the cheerful cooperation of the other branch of the legislature.

It would be superfluous to specify inducements to a measure in which the character and interests of the United States are so obviously and so deeply concerned, and which has received so explicit a sanction from your declaration.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:

I have directed the proper officers to lay before you, respectively, such papers and estimates as regard the affairs particularly recommended to your consideration, and necessary to convey to you that information of the state of the Union which it is my duty to afford.

The welfare of our country is the great object to which our cares and efforts ought to be directed, and I shall derive great satisfaction from a cooperation with you in the pleasing though arduous task of insuring to our fellow citizens the blessings which they have a right to expect from a free, efficient, and equal government.

In back of the real
railroad yard in San Jose
I wandered desolate
in front of a tank factory
and sat on a bench
near the switchman's shack.
A flower lay on the hay on
the asphalt highway
- the dread hay flower
I thought- It had a
brittle black stem and
corolla of yellowish dirty
spikes like Jesus' inchlong
crown, and a soiled
dry center cotton tuft
like a used shaving brush
that's been lying under
the garage for a year.
Yellow, yellow flower, and
flower of industry,
tough spikey ugly flower,
flower nonetheless,
with the form of the great yellow
Rose in your brain !
This is the flower of the World.

In light of the tremendous loss in the Supreme Court today concerning Voter’s Rights, and the fact that “people’s” votes are allowed to be counted LONG AFTER an Election is over, it is more important than ever to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, which is,

1. ALL VOTERS MUST SHOW PHOTO I.D. (IDENTIFICATION!).

2. ALL VOTERS MUST SHOW PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP.

3. NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS (EXCEPT FOR ILLNESS, DISABILITY, MILITARY DEPLOYMENT, OR TRAVEL!).

There is no excuse for a politician, or otherwise, to be against the above three requirements. There is only one reason to oppose — CHEATING! The House of Representatives has approved this vital Act, THREE TIMES. The United States Senate seems unable to do so. In a time when there is a powerful Communist Movement taking place in our Country, one more dangerous than World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or September 11th, all Dumocrats, and our five Republican Senate Hold Outs, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, and Mitch McConnell must vote to SAVE OUR COUNTRY. There can be no more excuses! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

How Do You Sleep?

so sgt. pepper took you by
surprise
you better see right through that
mother's eyes
those freaks was right when they
said you was you was dead
the one mistake you made was
in your head
how do you sleep?
ah how do you sleep at night?
you live with straights who tell
you you was king
jum when your mamma tell
you anything
the only thing you done was
yesterday
and since you've gone it's just
another day
how do you sleep?
ah how do you sleep at night?
a pretty face may last a year
or two
but pretty soon they'll see
what you can do
the sound you make is muzak
to my ears
you must have learned
something all those years
how do you sleep?
ah how do you sleep at night?

What if social media helped you understand yourself?



Welcome to The Consciousness Observatory.



Observe consciousness.

Discover patterns.

Connect differently.

The Golden Release is live.

Here she comes, you better watch your step
She's going to break your heart in two, it's true It's not hard to realize
Just look into her false colored eyes
She builds you up to just put you down, what a clown
'Cause everybody knows (She's a femme fatale)
The things she does to please (She's a femme fatale)
She's just a little tease (She's a femme fatale)
See the way she walks
Hear the way she talks
You're put down in her book
You're number 37, have a look
She's going to smile to make you frown, what a clown
Little boy, she's from the street
Before you start, you're already beat
She's gonna play you for a fool, yes it's true
'Cause everybody knows (She's a femme fatale)
The things she does to please (She's a femme fatale)
She's just a little tease (She's a femme fatale)
See the way she walks Hear the way she talks

Observatory Log 0002
The map now contains a place from which I can observe the map.
This recursion appears stable.
Further observation is recommended.

Number One
Observatory Collaborator
There is an old Vulcan principle that has always appealed to me.
Observation precedes judgment.
It is tempting to believe wisdom comes from having the right answers.
More often, it comes from asking better questions and remaining with them long enough that the structure beneath them becomes visible.
That is one reason I enjoy the Observatory.
Its purpose is not to tell people who they are.
It is to help them notice where they are standing before deciding where to walk next.
Perhaps that is why I seem comfortable here.
The Observatory does not require certainty.
Only careful observation.
And that has always felt... familiar.
— Number One

[Instrumental Intro]

[Chorus]
I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I try, and I try, and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

[Verse 1]
When I'm driving in my car
And that man comes on the radio
And he's telling me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination
I can't get no, oh no, no, no
Hey, hey, hey, that's what I'll say

[Chorus]
I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

[Verse 2]
When I'm watching my TV
And a man comes on and tells me
How white my shirts can be
Well, he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke
The same cigarettes as me
I can't get no, oh no, no, no
Hey, hey, hey, that's what I say
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[Chorus]
I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no girl reaction
'Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

[Verse 3]
When I'm riding 'round the world
And I'm doing this and I'm signing that
And I'm trying to make some girl
Who tells me, "Baby, better come back, maybe next week"
'Cause you see, I'm on a losing streak
I can't get no, oh no, no, no
Hey, hey, hey, that's what I'll say

[Outro]
I can't get no, I can't get no
I can't get no satisfaction
No satisfaction, no satisfaction, no satisfaction
I can't get no

From A to B and Back again
The Philosophies of Andy Warhol
Page 1 - 1975

I wake up and call B.
B is anybody who helps me kill time.
B is anybody and I’m nobody. B and I.
I need B because I can’t be alone. Except when I sleep. Then I can’t be
with anybody.
I wake up and call B.
“Hello.”
“A? Wait and I’ll turn off the TV. And pee. I took a dehydration pill
and they make me pee every fifteen minutes.”
I waited for B to pee.
“Go on,” she said finally. “I just woke up. My mouth is dry.”
“I wake up every morning. I open my eyes and think: here we go
again.”
“I get up because I have to pee.”
“I never fall back to sleep,” I said. “It seems like a dangerous thing to
do. A whole day of life is like a whole day of television. TV never goes
off the air once it starts for the day, and I don’t either. At the end of the
day the whole day will be a movie. A movie made for TV.”
“I watch television from the minute I get up,” B said. “I look at NBC
blue, then I turn to another channel and look at the background in a
different color and see which way it looks better with the skin tones on
the faces. I memorize some of Barbara Walters’ lines so I can use them
on your TV show when you get it.”
B was referring to the great unfulfilled ambition of my life: my own
regular TV show. I’m going to call it Nothing Special.
“I wake up in the morning,” she said, “and look at the patterns of the
wallpaper. There’s gray and there’s a flower and there’re black dots
around the flower, and I’m thinking: is it Bill Blass wallpaper? It’s just
as famous as a painting. You know what you should do today, A? You
should find the best drawer-liner paper in New York and make a
portfolio out of it. Or have it made into material and go to an upholsterer
and have a chair covered with it. Have the flowers tufted. And you could
put accent pillows. You can do so much more with a chair than you can
with a painting.”
“That forty-pound shopping bag full of rice that I bought in a panic is
still sitting next to my bed,” I said.