The end is near...

I feel I have learned a lot about what kind of topics in literature I like and do not like.  We have read a lot of books that I never would have chosen to read on my own and would have never heard of before.  I can honestly say that Feed and Culture Jam were my least favorites because I am not a big fan of reading about technology. However, I absolutely loved The Hunger Games and am so glad it was part of the text we read.  I plan on adding the other two books in that series to my summer reading list.  I also really enjoyed 1984.  It was an interesting plot and made you really think. I have learned that I may like some books that are outside of my normal  picks.  So I have learned to become a little more open minded about books that I choose to read. This class also helped me to make better connections between texts.  Lastly, I think having to write a blog weekly forced me to think outside the box.  I had to learn to relate literature to modern media or ideas, which is something I have never had to do before.

As far as ideas or literature that moved me in some way; there were two main ones.  The Hunger Games  grabbed the most attention from me out of the books we read. It was inspiring to read about a strong female character.  The Second Skin documentary was the one piece that we covered that made me angry.  I was really irritated that people do not appreciate their health and everything. There are many people in the world who are disabled and would do anything to get a chance to walk, run, and be active. Yet these lazy people chose to sit around and play video games all day. It just boggles my mind!

Censorship

A world with out books would be awful.  We would lose all of our history, literature, tradition, and even part of our culture.  The world would be full of people with a very limited amount of knowledge with very narrow minded views.  People would have no way of understanding our world, how things work, or where we came from.  "The more you read, the more you know..."

I would definitely miss books if they were forbidden.  I love to read and learn new things. If I read a book and then watch a show or movie of the book, I always seem to like the book better.  Books give so much more detail.  They allow you to choose your actors for the roles of each character.  I think if books were no longer "allowed" I would be one of those people who would hide books in my house or something.

I think we metaphorically "burn books" today with our increased reliance on technology.  There are those people who would rather rent the movie than read the book.  Our generation now uses Google or Bing instead of picking up a dictionary to look up a word.  We are all about quickness and getting stuff NOW. Most people feel  they do not have time to read a book. I guess books could be considered dangerous because they raise questions. They allow you to think outside of your small bubble and learn about what else the world has to offer. Books would be especially dangerous to a government who is trying to control their citizens (like in 1984).  They would not want people to question their motives, how things used to be, or compare them to something better.

Hunger Games

I absolutely loved this book.  I am definitely planning on reading the rest of the trilogy. The book was very interesting and suspensful, and I could not put it down.  In conversation with the rest of the books we have read, it fits in because it deals with technology and privacy.  The government watches over everyone in the Hunger Games sort of like they did in 1984 just not as extreme. The tributes are constantly watched in the arena.  Also, the Capital is very futurisitc and strange and reminded me of Feed.

Katniss was definitely the person I related too. I was routing for her to win the whole time.  She seems to be a strong willed, opinionated person who always speaks her mind.  She is also very strong and determined, which are admirable traits.  I found myself feeling bad for Peeta because you can tell he truly cares about Katniss and is not pretending.  I wanted Katniss to feel the same way about him.  Its always nice to have a happy ending.  I felt happier when Katniss had allies in the areana, first Rue and then Peeta.  It made it seem like she had a better chance of surviving and I did worry for her safety as much.


The Launch
I could definitely hear this song playing as the tributes are raised up on their metal circles.  All the tributes looking around at each other and the open stretch of dirt between them and the cornucopia.  Also, I can picture Kaniss looking around for Peeta and seeing him shaking his head,warning her not to go into the Cornucopia. The song is gloomy and slow and would create suspense as they wait for the gong and the hunger games to begin.

The Chase
This song reminded me of a chase scence. The song is very menacing so I could definitely imagine it in the background as any of the Careers especially Cato is chasing down Katniss.  One chase that stuck out would be after Katniss dropped the trackerjacker bee nest on the Careers and she heads back to get the bow and arrow from Glimmer.  You can just imagine this playing as Cato gets closer and closer to Katniss, and Katniss being disoriented and confused as she tries to get away.  The song kind of slows down a bit at the end and I can picture Peeta running out of nowhere and saving Katniss.

The Kardashians Takeover

Gabler makes many key points in his article.  Most importantly if we, as viewers, did not watch reality tv then it would not exist.  The outrageously high ratings are fueling the reality tv fire.  It seems like there are more and more new reality shows coming out each year.  As an audience, we have influenced reality to be more outrageous.  In most reality shows there is always at least one person who is just over the top or controversial.  The networks know this will bring them ratings and big bucks.

I don't spend much of my time in front of the television, but I will be the first to admit that I always catch the new episode of the Kardashian shows ( I like all of the spinoffs and am pretty excited for the new one coming called Khloe and Lamarr).  Currently, it would be the show Kourtney and Kim Take New York.  I do not consider this real "reality" because they are celebrities and live differently than the average person.  But it does follow them around on their day to day business and activities. I definitely enjoy watching this show.  I like Kim the best. I just think she is so pretty and I love her style.  I like to see what the sisters are wearing in the show. This show definitely values sex appeal because all of the cast is incredibly good looking.  I would also say it values competition because they are all businessmen/women and are trying to get ahead in their careers. I would also go out on a limb and say intelligence, although most people don't see it.  These sisters have turned their name into a brand, a household name.  They are millionaires and are not even big movies stars or entertainers, so they definitely have something going on up there(in their head).

The last episode was titled "A Dash of Respect"

In this episode it is the grand opening of the sisters' new Dash store in NYC.  In the past episodes this has been what they have been working on.  Their sister Khloe makes a special trip from LA to NYC for the store opening. Kourtney and Khloe are very close and spend a lot of time together during her visit to the city, and they leave out Kim.  Kim gets hurt and jealous, but they end up talking it over and everything works out.  Also in this episode Scott (Kourtney's boyfriend) lands the cover of a fitness magazine, and films him at his shoot. He is very rude to his new assistant and the guy ends up quitting.

Freedoms vs Security

In the novel 1984 the people have no basic freedoms especially not privacy.   However these people know no differently because they think its how their country has always been governed.  In today's world it is a different story. We know our civil liberties and rights, and will protest if they are encroached on by anyone, even government.  I think that many Americans whether they will admit it or not, are willing to give up some freedoms or at least give the government some 'wiggle room' in order to be safe.

9/11 is a prime example of this statement.  The plane hijackers lived undetected in the US for months while they were taking language classes, flying lessons, studying crop dusters, and while their visas were about to expire.  After 9/11 Americans were terrified,outraged, and shocked that something like this could have happened, and how they could have blended in so easily and gone undetected. However with our open society it really was not hard. Also, a third of Americans in polls said that Arab Americans should be placed under special surveillance and half said that Arab Americans should be required to carry special identification cards. I think this is ridiculous that their are people willing to give up others rights but not their own.  The Americans who voted this way are generalizing that just because someone is Arab that they are a terrorist, which is wrong.  Arab Americans are citizens and deserve the same liberties under the constitution.  If rights are going to be limited it should apply to everyone.
 I think it is terrible that it took innocent lives to be lost to open our eyes and realize "wow, something needs to change".  I think the government should have better investigative power in order to keep situations like 9/11 from happening again.  Everyone seems to be scared of the government going to far and abusing its powers, but I think that should be the least of our worries.  The government has on numerous occasions restrained itself from encroaching on our civil liberties.  For example, after 9/11 two programs were proposed known in short as TIPS and TIA.  TIPS was basically a national snitching system, and TIA was a huge database of credit card receipts, travel records, and etc which would have been run by military.  Congress rejected both of these programs because it knew there were unconstitutional and it was just going way to far.

The saying goes, "You gotta give a little, to get a little", which is exactly what has to happen when discussing freedoms vs security.  Its a balancing act and it always will be.

ADS that would appear in my Feed

These are four ads that I think would come up in my feed a lot. Since the feed was sort of "all knowing" I figured it would know what I like and use it to tempt me to buy more of it. It was hard just to chose four, but I think these are definitlely in the top.  (Click on the headings to watch the ads)


Nike Throwdown
I absolutely love this commercial.  It is catchy, upbeat, and inspiring.  I think this would come up in the feed a lot because I have a lot of Nike workout clothes and sneakers.  I am very active so it would know that I need and want high quality work out gear.  There are also more females in this commercial than the usual Nike ads so I would be part of the target audience for this commercial.

PEPSI
I have always been a Pepsi drinker.  It is way better than coke.  This would definitely play in my feed because I would probably go and buy a Pepsi every time it came up.  It would make me thirsty for one. I am a Biology major so I have taken physics and chemistry classes as well. This one might be one the feed would choose to play since Albert Einstein is a character in it and the feed may think I might look up to him or that I would find it amusing.

Orbitz
This or other travel sites would absolutely pop up in my feed all the time with deal on flights and hotels.  I travel a lot and always use Orbitz or Kayak to book my flights.  I know I can rely on Orbitz and have never had any problems with any purchases I have made there. The ad sort of reaffirms that it is reliable.  Also, the ads would most likely have advertisements with a beach or somewhere warm since those are the kinds of places I tend to travel.

Godiva
Chocolate is a huge weakness of mine, not just Godiva. I pretty much crave chocolate 24/7.  I love Godiva chocolates and especially going into a Godiva chocolate store.  They smell so good I just want to buy everything.  As with the Pepsi commercial, after I saw this in my feed I would go and buy chocolate right away.  This ad correlates their chocolate with fun times with those people close to you, and it makes the chocolate seem more special and appealing.

Thoreau Challenge Day #2

This will be my second day without technology.  I feel kind of isolated from the world because I don't know what is really going on outside of my everyday life.  I think the first day was the easiest to deal with, today has definitely been alittle harder.

I do not really spend much time watching tv or using the internet(other than for class) so the worst part for me is not using my cell phone.  I like being able to stay in touch and talk to the people who are important to me. Its hard not to be able to pick up the phone and call whoever I want, whenever I want.

Another hard thing to go without is my ipod. I always use my ipod even when I am driving.  I have a radio transmitter that lets me play it over the radio in my car.  So I don't miss the radio at all because I never listened to it anyways, there are too many advertisements.  I do not enjoy driving in silence because I tend to think about all of the homework and stuff that I need to do, and go over it again and again. I think it would not be so bad if it was summer and I could have all the windows down listening to the wind.

 Its also different working out without my ipod too.  The music I listen to is usually real upbeat and gets me pumped and motivated.  I definitely miss it when I run.