What is Cool?

    I feel we all have different ideas on what "cool" is for example,  I feel my views on being cool are totally different from most teenagers. To me, being cool is all about creativity. I'm really interested in art so I think cool is looking unique, which is mainly seen through fashion. I would find someone that was wearing something like a corset cooler then someone wearing a floral dress from Urban Outfitters because the corset is uncommon, as the dress is not. When people follow trends too much, I just see them as a poser because their only dressing like that because thats what's "in". I feel I can connect better to someone dressed unique because their clothing reflects a lot about what they like or what they are interested in.

     However we also have similar views on what is cool. For example, going to parties and getting intoxicated is considered cool to most people, at least it is as a teenager. Such acts are probably considered cool because they are the things we have been told not to do all our lives by authority figures like our parents or the police. Parents are always telling kids that alcohol and drugs are bad. There are also many laws prohibiting "minors" from drinking and prohibiting everyone from doing drugs. Breaking these rules makes us feel free and rebellious and it helps us break away from stuff like the work we get at school.

     Something else a lot of people also consider cool are celebrities, which I think is due to the media. A lot of magazines feature which clothes are “cool” by showing them on celebrities, they even conveniently tell you where to buy them and how much they cost. Its all just for advertising trying to make people buy their merchandise. A lot of trends are influenced from celebrities clothes, tattoos, piercing, etc... For example, lots of stores will label there products that have been worn by celebrities. For example:



      This is a picture of a pair of sunglasses being sold on fredflare.com. The website also includes a picture of Lindsay Lohan wearing the sunglasses. Even if customers don’t like the item, they might buy them because a celebrity is wearing them. Celebrities are heavily admired in our society and many people will buy the things they have to be like them. Even in the book Feed, which takes place in the future, teenagers are still influenced by the media. Through out the whole book, almost everyone is constantly on their feeds getting information on what's “hot” and what's “not”. One of the big things I noticed in the book that the girls are always going off to change their hair styles based on what their feeds say is popular. It just shows that our obsession with the media and looking “cool” is so obvious now, that it is predicted to take place in the future as well.

Homework 13 Feed B

Although the story focuses on Titus and his friends, the author still find ways to sneak secret messages into the book that show that even tough Titus and his friends are happy with the feed, not everyone is. During the beginning of the book, Titus and friends are on the moon in a car and they drive past people protesting the feed, they pay them no mind. "they were protesting all these things, some of them even were protesting the feed. They were shouting, "chip in my head? I'm better off dead!chip in my head? I'm better off dead! " Loga rolled her eyes and was like, "Omigod' page 32. After this they aren't mentioned again. I like how the author includes the other side of the story by including the people who aren't conforming to the feed in the story. However, he only gives undertones of this, I think it's a nice way of showing how most of the population has already gave in and became a part of the feed now.

Another part I enjoyed was when the author shows signs of how nature is dyeing off is during the hospital scene were Titus and Violet are looking out at the dead garden. "Outside the window there was a garden....a long time ago the glass celling over the terrarium had cracked, and so everything was dead, and there was moon dust all over everything out there. Everything is gray" page 62. Titus has no reaction to the dead garden other then its beautiful. What I think the author was trying to show was that nature had been dyeing off due to the excessive technology use.  No one had even cared to replace the flowers that had once been there, They have been dead for years. Nature seems to be losing importance in the feed world.

My last argument is when Titus is looking at an older persons feed post. He writes about a time when Eagles were around and there were forests. This implies that in the feed world, there are no forests. "I remember as the last forest fell...at about that time, we would see hawks and eagles in the cities. People walked outside more, back then. The temperate usually didn't get about a hundred. There were streets in the cities, and eagles flew over them, wobbling without moving their wings.." page 94. This quote indicates many economic problems the feed world has been going through. Obesity seems to be up since it is stated that people get less excursive, global warming rising because the temperate is rising, all the forests are gone and hawks and eagles are extinct. Of cause, Titus pays this no mind and says its just an old mans rants. They do not know how bad their situation is. I think the author slipped this piece in to just the message across that the over run of technology has ruined to economy of this city.

Homework 12 Feed A

     I think the teenagers of Feed take digital addiction to a new level. Today, technology takes over a lot of younger peoples lives in many ways like through T.V, computers, cellphones, I pods, Social networking and etc... but it doesn't make up our whole lives. The kids of Feed are very similar to us but I feel their whole lives are just focused on their feeds. There is a possibility that his book my be a grim glimpse of our future. The feed provides all the things most Americans are interested in today, just in one convenient package . Tidus and his friends literally use their feeds for EVERYTHING, IMing, calling people, watching popular T.V shows, finding out the latest rends and etc...There feeds update them on the latest celebrity gossip, hairstyles, music, basically all updates in recent pop culture.

     Somethings I thought were weird were the effects the feed was having on the characters in the book. One that I found VERY weird was the fact that when Titus's dad came to visit him in the hospital, he talked just like Titus. He was using all the popular slang, he sounded just like one of the teens. "(Titus) How's mom?" "(father) She's like, whoa, she's like so stressed out. This is...dude" he said "Dude, this is some way bad shit" (page 55) I don't see many adults doing this now, my parents do sometimes and they pick it up from me and my sister. I think the result of his fathers weird speech may be from two things. The feed is ether producing so much new slang that the kids are using and now his fathers using it, or his father can go straight to the feed and learn the new slang so he can be "hip". I don't know why but when adults try and say stuff like "mad", it freaks me out which is kind of mean. They should be aloud to say it too, its just that it sounds bad enough coming from a kids mouth it just sounds worse coming from an adults.

     Another thing I noticed is that they all were going into withdrawal when they couldn't use the feed. When Titus is in the hospital, he begins to think of life before the feed and compares the feed several times to vital organs. "I miss the feed. I don't know when they first had feeds. Like maybe, fifty or a hundred years ago. Before that, they had to use their hands and eyes. Computers were all outside our bodies. They carried them around outside them, like if you carried your lungs in a briefcase and opened it to breath" page 47. I think it's very disturbing how Titus is comparing technology to something you need to live. He doesn't need the feed, but because it provides everything for him and its in their brains I'm assuming their all getting addicted to it. He also sounds so lazy saying we had to use our eyes and hands for our todays technology. Why would you ever want to lose ability to use one of your body parts?

     I think both of these elements are elements of tragedy. Human's rely on technology that much were they limit the activity of their EYES? Sight is a gift, I have no idea why you would want to waste it. Also it just seems like all this dependancy on technology is making people dumber. The father talks like he is some 15 year old kid which just makes him look ridiculous. How can you take someone like that seriously when they sound so dumb. Also Titus is complaining about how people had to use their hands to operate things like cellphones and such which just makes him sound so sad because they have taken technology to the next level were its becoming dangerous towards their health. I'm  not saying modern technology now isn't damaging towards health but I'm sure if we had feeds now, the obesity rate would sky rocket. For me, the feed would be something I personally wouldn't want. The feed seems meaningless to me. All the things it provides would not help me in my daily life, it would just slow me down. I could careless about celebrities lives, hair styles or the latest American Music since they have ling lost my interest.

Hw 11

Since this was the first experiment we are doing in class, I decided to take it slow. I chose to start with not using my cell phone for a full day, a task I felt would be easy but turned out to be incredibly hard. Without my phone, I couldn't go anywhere because I couldn't call anyone, not even my family. I also noticed how incredibly addicting my phone is. Once I had put it down I felt tempted to constantly read or send text messages to my friends, it was all I was thinking about. It was disappointing to see how hard the day was for me without my phone. Now that I actually couldn't use it, I felt like I NEEDED it. For me, I think the phone is a form of entertainment especially since mine has a T.V in it (which I didn't know when I bought it and personally think is stupid) and without the phone, I felt board and the day seemed longer. What I find even worse is that when I couldn't depend on my phone for entertainment, I turned to other electronics like my T.V or my computer instead of going outside and being active. Once I had noticed that, I went outside to draw for an hour or so, but unfortunately that wasn't very satisfying. The drawing in the park was very relaxing, I felt great actually going inside and gathering inspiration from actual people and not from images off my computer, but the day wasn't nearly as fun because of the parks location. The park near my house is a beautiful strip full of trees and grass, but its right in between two busy streets that are ALWAYS full of cars. Enjoying my alone time became difficult when all you can hear are the various noises of several cars like them driving, loud music blasting from them, and honking. It just felt like I was surrounded by technology again. This caused me to cut my drawing time short and I ended up back at home watching Television. What I am thinking of doing for my next experiment is a full day outside without any electronics. I want to go somewhere peaceful were I can't hear the loud noises of the city, so I am thinking an all day hike maybe in Inwood park. I really thought that giving up a piece of my technology would bring me closer to nature, which I believe my next experiment can properly provide.

Research on my interests in technology

Something that has interested me for years is do video games really make kids violent? Growing up, I loved fighting games and I would always played against my sister. We would get angry when we lost, but no one ever got violent! We still play them and its been the same way for years. Thats why I think this whole violence and video games thing isn’t true and that is why I choose to research what evidence they have on the subject.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Violent-video-games-making--children-aggressive:-study/136114/

Most interesting quote: “Teachers of 600 children aged between 13 and 15, said children who spent more time playing such video games were more hostile than others. They are also more likely to argue with authorities and peers.”

“......However, long-term effects are as yet unclear.”

“Playing games with violent moves such as karate kicks, for example, leads children to use these moves in real life. Another study showed that playing video games using flame-throwers and automatic weapons made them more “mean and angry” afterwards.”

Ok, I think this article was a bad source not only because the article is so short, but because the evidence doesn’t seem reliable. This is why I chose to write about it. I think any real evidence of video games having violent effects on children are inconclusive and that all the information provided on this website is the only evidence any news source has! For the first quote, I feel that the test should have been done on children of younger agers. Now a days, children get into video games quicker so a study of maybe 10-15 would be more appropriate. Also at the young age of 13 through 15, most children argue with authority figures, its just mood swings. The second quote is where I think researchers would get most of their information. For the best results for this experiment, future studies of the gamers violence increasing or decreasing because of video games would be great evidence. If the violence follows them into adulthood, then it should be considered a problem. As for the last quote I think it just sounds stupid. What is their definition of “mean and angry”? Saying the child acted that way after playing video games that  include using weaponry doesn’t explain much about physical violence or really how they responded emotionally. I guess I can also see what they mean though. I like video games, but I am not one of those people who really get into them , like when Chloe mentioned her boyfriends behavior in class. When she said her boyfriend gets so into games that he takes like 5 minutes to reply to her I couldn’t help but laugh because my dad does the same thing. Now if kids get that into video games, then I could see how people are concerned of them adapting violent behaviors. But I don’t think they have strong effects on older people because their brains have already developed. Also it depends on the kind of video games kids play. I don’t play a lot of violent games, maybe thats why I’m not violent.  

Another thing I wonder about is art. I love to draw and some day I wish to be a real artist. I really don’t no what kind or what I’ll do, but I fear my dream won’t come true. Almost all jobs requiring art now involves graphic design which I see as a form of cheating. I’m not saying  design isn’t hard, but its much easier to make something look perfect on photoshop then using paint or professional markers like I use. That sounded cocky and mean, I’m not a great artist but I want my art to be just as respected as one made on a computer. I found a great article about this topic.

Source:http://everything2.com/title/digital+art

interesting quotes: "I'm not blind to the old-fashioned joy of merely pushing paint around nor the need to decorate blank walls. But the rest of the art world has embraced high tech as its weapon of choice in battling the ugliness, indifference, injustice, and hatred in the world, why is it that painting still persists in trying to do so, only to fall flat on its face in elephant dung." 

~ Jim Lane, The Future of Painting

“Assuming we compare two identical works, one created digitally and another painted traditionally, the only difference is the physical presence of the traditional piece and the lack of physicality of the digital piece. Yet this difference seems enough reason for some people to write off digital art entirely. Why? The answer most commonly given is that the viewer feels detached or distanced from the artwork because of its lack of physicality. But is that what makes art? Whether or not you can feel the surface of a canvas? Was the same thought and feeling not invested in the digital piece? Of course it was. To demerit an artist's hard work and thought simply because "I can't touch it" shows both laziness and closed-mindedness in the viewer.”

"If a digital artist chooses to create a limited edition of his or her prints, once the prints have been completed, the file may be destroyed so it may no longer be used to create prints from." 

~ Shelley Eichholz, Whoring in the Art World: The Digital Art Debate

“But what about digital art that is displayed online? It is true, the market for these pieces is virtually non-existent, but since when was a big price-tag a pre-requisite for good art? I think that digital artists who display their work online have purer intentions than most of the art world's big names. Artists who are making art for a living are obviously making art to sell. Online artists make art simply to have it viewed by other people. Their intentions are not sullied by deadlines, curators or gallery conventions.”

I think digital art is kind of a waste. I don’t see how you can connect to your piece when you can’t actually feel yourself working on it. I’ve tried using photoshop and it feels empty using a mouse instead of a pencil or  a brush. I don’t think you can really connect to your work with a mouse. The first quote I totally agree with. Art for me is the escape from reality that most people get from technology. I don’t really see the world as a thing of ugliness, in fact I draw inspiration from it but when Jim says that the new generation has “embraced high tech as its weapon of choice in battling the ugliness, indifference, injustice, and hatred in the world” I couldn’t help but agree with him. Digital art makes something look perfect, I love how in traditional art you can see all the nics, damage, misplaced lines, and all the mistakes it just makes the peace more real. And when he questions “why is it that painting still persists in trying to do so, only to fall flat on its face in elephant dung." I could really connect because it is a sort of sad feeling when people admire digital art more then a painting. There is a website called deviant art a friend of mine showed me and it’s FULL of digital work. I’m one of the few people who has a piece up thats done with traditional tools. 

In the second quote, the author makes me feel bad about ridiculing digital artists. “To demerit an artist's hard work and thought simply because "I can't touch it" shows both laziness and closed-mindedness in the viewer.”. I don’t mean to say that digital artists aren’t really artist, or that their art is to be disrespected. It should be respected, but I don’t think more then a painting. It really depends on how hard someone worked on it. A 10 minute doodle on a drawing tablet shouldn’t be more respected then the something like the Mona Lisa or some of Picasso’s work. But another thing to take into consideration is how much effort and heart the artist put into their work.

This third quote I just found interesting because I don’t know if its true or not. I don’t see why they would have too. I guess its because painters sell their art and don’t have an extra copy for themselves, but then that just feel like there are rules for digital artist. I don’t think any art should have rules. 

The fourth quote really made me think. Maybe most digital artist don’t expect to do this as a living but only as a hobby and a way to make some quick cash. With this in mind, I apologize for saying all the negative things I said about digital artist, especially talented one or ones who are practicing. 

response to video comments

Dear Larche

Haha, yes zombies are entertaining :P first off thank you for all the lovely comments! I like how you actually made me laugh and the comment wasn't just following the abcdef format thing, I know mine sounds like that >< Yea I agree, I should have posted that video it would have fit the project better. And don't feel sad your video was a great example for this project! There was so much to say about yours! What you said about the wii was exactly what I was thinking. People should stop pretending their really working out, my wii fit just makes you do a bunch of stretches and hoping around which isn't much exercise. I basically feel we had the same thoughts in both our posts. We all use unproductive technology and your right It is making us lazy. I use my phone to check the time all the time! Just last week in class I was signing out to the bathroom and I checked my phone for the time and the teacher said why cant you use the class clock? I hadn't even noticed we had one because I use my phone all the time, and the even sadder part is that when I turned to read the clock I couldn't remember how for a split second. It was a personal moment of embarrassment :/ I think something we can both think about it what other parts of our lives do technology make lazy or lazier? Thanks again for the great comment hope you enjoyed mine :)

Video comments

Dear Sam,

I would first like to say I'm sooo sorry for posting this SO late. This is honestly something I thought I had posted before, but I had forgotten my computer crashed before it sent. I'm sorry I jeopardized your own work because of my clumsiness. Now to get to your video, I loved the scenario you filmed yourself in. The whole thing just felt real since you were relaxed and in your PJ’s and in what I assume is your room. The setting just looked comfortable and not awkward because you know the camera is there, I know mine looked that way. 

Your point about advertising was very interesting too. I always felt like advertising didn't effect me, but after reading your post I noticed that advertisements for electronics effect me. I don't know if its just me, but they seem more appealing like the ipod commercials that distract you with cool "hip" music, vibrant colors, and wild dancing. And like the PS3 commercials with the slogan 'it only does everything". Both commercials drew me in because I had liked what I had seen and they weren’t full of cheesy acting and lame jokes, they were just full of excitement. Now I'm kind of embarrassed to say I own both of those things. 

When you had questioned what your day would be like without your phone, I had thought the same thing. After watching a few peoples videos I began to question, why are they so important and would communication be easier without it? I myself use my phone A LOT for texting. So I guess if I didn't have a phone for a day, it would be harder to get in contact with people. How would we be in contact with out phones? Would we have to go find the person we need to see?  

Something I found very interesting about your post was the part about your little sister. I would have liked to hear more about how technology can effect younger children. I had always seen it as a negative effect because I’m always seeing like 7 year old kids on the train using ipods when they could be talking to their parents. But in your sisters case it seems more like a positive effect because your dads trying to make her happy, not block her out.

Your video made me think a lot about how technology can be used positively. Abusing  phones or ipods  has always seemed like a waste of time to me but in your video, The main thing you are doing is reading a book which I feel is a lot more progressive then reading a text. I liked how you mixed technology with actually doing something productive, and It made me think a lot about how I should do the same and not just choosing between the two. Great video, hope to read a lot more of you posts ^^ 

Dear Larche,

I am soooo sorry this post took forever to put up. While posting this, my computer crashed and I had forgotten the comment never sent >< I’m sorry I jeopardized you completing your own homework because I was careless >< But about your video, I liked how honest you were about it. Instead of making a bunch of excuses, you admit you use both your ipod and phone a lot and that for you it's a little escape from reality. I like that you didn't BS your response :P I think one of the main things about your video and something I also noticed about mine is how people get so into technology! When you said "While texting and listening to my ipod was entertaining to me, at the same time for someone watching me it might seem like I'm kind of being hypnotized by the objects in front of me." I just thought Wow! Thats exactly what I was trying to say. I had said zombified but hypnotized describes it way better since your eyes get glued to the screen your focused on. Your video made me think a lot about how a lot of my day is music and phone too. My phone isn't really an escape from reality to me but music is. I usually blast music from my speakers while I do anything boring like homework or cleaning my room because it just makes things a lot easier! Something I notice that my friend and I do is that we both sometimes picture our selves in  a music video for the song we are listening too which is a total escape from the real world. Loved your post can't wait to read the next!