When I'm bored I like to try and make the world a more interesting place. I regularly go to the "Missed connections" section of craigslist in random cities and post vague but extremely strange messages about personal encounters. I attempt to be extremely vague about what sex I am while writing and I always give very specific directions to the reader...I honestly believe I have left many people wearing Dr. Suess Cat in the Hat hat standing in the middle of corn fields with chili dogs. I hope to one day get two people to meet per instructions I leave that have never before seen each other in their lives. What happens from there is hilarious no matter what. Maybe they fight, maybe they walk away, maybe they fall madly in love and get married in a hot air balloon. Who knows?
Another fun one is to leave strange notes around the city. Notes like
"I am time traveling and if all goes according to plan at 9:17 Tuesday afternoon I should rematerialize right in front of this note. I am leaving this only as a precaution so that no one is standing here at that exact time. If it's about that time and you are standing here reading this please move now. Failure to do so could lead to your atoms and my atoms being fused together in space and time. And I don't want your atoms in my atoms...no offense, it's just a personal thing I have. But seriously if our atoms are fused we'll have to go see my uncle Dave to get them separated and he lives all the way across town, and it's a real pain to get there because there's a bunch of lights and some construction right in front of his neighborhood so you have to go in through the back and I always get lost when I do that. Do you know how to navigate his neighborhood? Cause I swear you have to make like 12 lefts and 32 rights to get to his house..."
-Syd
I have yet to try this idea but I think it's genius. I need a desk and an elevator. I want to put the desk into the elevator, then whenever someone opens the door I'd be sitting behind the desk and say "Do you have an appointment?"
-End
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Responding to readings
I honestly have next to nothing to say about these readings...at least nothing nice. I have pretty much focused my problems with these reading (and the book as a whole) to a very simple statement. It's a high school writing book with better vocabulary. Reading the "I say" sections of this book became mind numbing. It's uninteresting (despite their attempts to lighten the mood with "funny" comics) and the use of their own templates to argue a point just pound home how boring the book is. I think I'm done here and to finish this blog I think I'll just give my own thought on how to present one's own views on a subject.
To avoid how boring and pointless the templates in the book get I'll pick one subject, assume that the method I use can be extrapolated and adapted to any other argument or issue and stick to it. The issue I'm choosing is cultural vampirism.
First start out by giving a very clear example of what your discussing. In conjuncture with my chosen topic I'm going to use Lady Gaga. I start by explaining my example. There is a group of people who we will call artists and who act in a manor that most members of society find at the very least odd, if not offensive. The artist do strange and provocative things like dyeing their hair bubble gum pink. Not to impress anyone but to do it because they enjoy it. Then there are cultural vampires who seem to have almost no personality of their own and suck the blood and meaning out of actions of artists for their own personal gain and social standing. Lady Gaga claims to be an artist and do the borderline insane things she does because it's her way of expressing herself but in fact she is a cultural vampire. She leeches on the growing number and sudden popularity of artists in the world and uses these resources for her own self gain. Lady Gaga wears a bikini made out of raw meat not to express a point about animal activism but for the publicity and added joy of seeing herself talked about. This is not unique. One girl at school sees someone out in the world with a Mohawk, decides she likes it so sports one too, then a cultural vampire sees all the gossip and interest caused by said girls new hair style and (the vampire) decides to sport a Mohawk too. Thus causing much more interest in themselves by others and slowly killing the significance of the original Mohawk girl's action. The following is an image of exactly what happens when cultural vampires (in mass) grab hold of a movement:
http://www.eatliver.com/img/2007/2408.jpg
The use of several examples and definitions, coupled by images help to express a better understanding of the topic at hand. Instead of citing a brief paragraph of a much larger piece from the work of other it is much better to create one's own examples and go from there. Continuing by adding premises subtly to an argument works much better than a template that blandly sets up a point you wish to make. Use of off beat terms and ideas, or forms of expressing such also makes an argument much more interesting and easier to follow. I think I'm done now...
To avoid how boring and pointless the templates in the book get I'll pick one subject, assume that the method I use can be extrapolated and adapted to any other argument or issue and stick to it. The issue I'm choosing is cultural vampirism.
First start out by giving a very clear example of what your discussing. In conjuncture with my chosen topic I'm going to use Lady Gaga. I start by explaining my example. There is a group of people who we will call artists and who act in a manor that most members of society find at the very least odd, if not offensive. The artist do strange and provocative things like dyeing their hair bubble gum pink. Not to impress anyone but to do it because they enjoy it. Then there are cultural vampires who seem to have almost no personality of their own and suck the blood and meaning out of actions of artists for their own personal gain and social standing. Lady Gaga claims to be an artist and do the borderline insane things she does because it's her way of expressing herself but in fact she is a cultural vampire. She leeches on the growing number and sudden popularity of artists in the world and uses these resources for her own self gain. Lady Gaga wears a bikini made out of raw meat not to express a point about animal activism but for the publicity and added joy of seeing herself talked about. This is not unique. One girl at school sees someone out in the world with a Mohawk, decides she likes it so sports one too, then a cultural vampire sees all the gossip and interest caused by said girls new hair style and (the vampire) decides to sport a Mohawk too. Thus causing much more interest in themselves by others and slowly killing the significance of the original Mohawk girl's action. The following is an image of exactly what happens when cultural vampires (in mass) grab hold of a movement:
http://www.eatliver.com/img/2007/2408.jpg
The use of several examples and definitions, coupled by images help to express a better understanding of the topic at hand. Instead of citing a brief paragraph of a much larger piece from the work of other it is much better to create one's own examples and go from there. Continuing by adding premises subtly to an argument works much better than a template that blandly sets up a point you wish to make. Use of off beat terms and ideas, or forms of expressing such also makes an argument much more interesting and easier to follow. I think I'm done now...
Early middle late
Well I'm late doing this blog, but still in the early process overall. I'm still gathering all my sources, but not to far away from having everything I need...I wonder if the library has a copy of the DSM-IV...I think I might drop the sociological aspect from the paper. It's beginning to appear I'd need a large number of different sources to do a large scale look at society in relation to my topic. I probably have the majority of my sources already though and have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to write about so maybe I'm in the middle or early middle...late early? Who knows....
I guess overall I'm at a pretty good place considering just how early it is in the semester. I'm still waiting for one book to get in and I'm really hoping that Grant Morrison doesn't mess up my evaluation in the coming months with his current run. That would kind of suck to write a great synopsis of who Batman is from a philosophical and psychological viewpoint and then have Morrison reveal his entire life has been just a wild fantasy just moments before a pathetic death, or something stupid like that. I love the guys work but damn he is just really unpredictable sometimes.
I'm not really sure what else to say here...I'm just in the process of writing this paper and that's all I can think to say. I'm not sure what an early middle or late process is...Early to me means you just have a vague idea, or literally just started the paper, middle is like saying your actually writing the paper right now, and late would be (like I am right now) just finishing up the paper that you are writing.
I guess overall I'm at a pretty good place considering just how early it is in the semester. I'm still waiting for one book to get in and I'm really hoping that Grant Morrison doesn't mess up my evaluation in the coming months with his current run. That would kind of suck to write a great synopsis of who Batman is from a philosophical and psychological viewpoint and then have Morrison reveal his entire life has been just a wild fantasy just moments before a pathetic death, or something stupid like that. I love the guys work but damn he is just really unpredictable sometimes.
I'm not really sure what else to say here...I'm just in the process of writing this paper and that's all I can think to say. I'm not sure what an early middle or late process is...Early to me means you just have a vague idea, or literally just started the paper, middle is like saying your actually writing the paper right now, and late would be (like I am right now) just finishing up the paper that you are writing.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)