It is said that when we are born we have to sense of self. There is only the world and unity of everything in it. As we grow older we begin to realize self. We realize that we are individuals just as everyone else are indiviudals. This is the source of our emptiness. Since we are diffrent from everything we need to establish who we are. We do this by seeing what causes people to react postively. "He is simply aware of the mother and what she thinks about him. If she smiles, if she appreciates the child, if she says, "You are beautiful," if she hugs and kisses him, the child feels good about himself. Now an ego is born. Through appreciation, love, care, he feels he is good, he feels he is valuable, he feels he has some significance." (Beyond the Frontier of the Mind, Osho). We learn to get the responce we want from people. By getting responces from people it shows us that we matter. If i realize that when i say hi to a person they ignore me, but when i say good morning sir i get a responce, i am more likely to start saying good morning sir because it gets me the responce i want. Becuase of this coolness is hand in hand with our ego. We need to show people what kind person we are. We are the smooth chill guy, so we do what ever we need to to project that image. The basis of cool is getting the responce you want. If you want people to look at you and think you are chill, you will wear untied nikes with a hoodie and a tilted fitted. while if you wanted people to think you were classy you would wear suits. You get rid of the emptiness inside by feeling significant. To feel significant you need people to see you, act as though you matter. Cool is just a way to get people to get the responce you want from people.

While watching Merchants of cool all i could thing was "thats smart". The fact is that these guys are just doing what they are being paid to do. There is nothing evil about it. They arent conspiring to destroy the world, they are just trying to sell some cloths. I think anyone who gets angry at them is just mad that they are being played. I know if i had their job i would be doing the exact same thing. There is a saying, if you are stupid enough to be scammed you deserve to be scammed.

Another reason that these people arent evil is because in reality the buisness they are in isnt really that important. The fact is that they are selling cloths and music. in our consumer culture we find that important but the truth is it isnt. If they were selling drugs or something that would damage the youth that would be a little more problematic. They even say in the documentary that trends come and go. To get mad at these people because they are good at selling trends would be a waste of time and energy, there are a lot more important things to worry about.

The most successful marketing technique from the movie was when they talked about how sprite got into the peoples lifes. I was able to connect to this with Gatorade. Gatorade recently launched a new approach to marketting. On the side of Gatorade bottles they put words like "no excuses", on top of that they launched a website with a mini series about atheletes trainning hard to be the best. Gatorade went from being just a drink you picked up at the store, to be your own little modivation coach. Suddenly Gatorade has new meaning. Its fuelling you and inspiring you.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/cleveland-is-the-reason-lyrics-kid-cudi.html
This is cleveland by kid cudi. In this song he talks about how living in cleveland made him cool and all the ways he is cool. In this song he takes on the persona of the smooth player guy.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cool

The main theme in this link is indiffrence. It mostly talks about how someone whos cool he relaxed or doesnt care much. the word can also be used when you dont care about something but you need to respond.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff44/coolestcouple/boondocks.jpg

A common way to look cooler is to put your image to copy that of the famouse scarface image. Scarface is seen as a unholy gangster who does what he wants and get money. By putting ourselves in the image instead of him we are saying that we are gangster too and shouldnt be messed with.

http://www.wearyourbeer.com/images/Notorious_Where_Brooklyn_White_Shirt.jpg
Another way to be cool is to be proud of where your from, especially if where your from is considered tough. we go along with the idea that you are a product of your enviroment, there fore someone who is from the bronx is tougher and cooler then some one from upstate new york.

http://dressingroom.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/kanye-glasses.jpg
Sometimes the way to be cool is to dress uncool. By dressing in a way that seems against the norm it makes it look like you dont care what you wear and that you are expressing your self. creavity is considered cool, the more creative you dress the more cool you seem.

Me: On a scale of one to 10 how cool are you
Girl: 8

Me: In highschool who is considered popular
guy: who ever goes with the flow of the popular kids.

Q: How did you pick your style this morning.
A: Well i started off with the girl then i based the rest of my outfit around it.
Q: How do you feel wearing this outfit.
a: I feel diffrent, i feel like im my own person.




Q:How much did you pay for the whole outfit?
A:Well i bought parts seperate from one and other so im guessing around 120.
Q:Was it worth it?
A: yea i guess, they arent the fancyest clothes i wish i could afford better (laughs) but i like what i have

responce to peoples posts

The thing i realized about the stories people wrote is that all the characters kinda sounded like them. Chloe's clothing choice sounded like hers and while the rest were harder to find examples of, they all gave the image of someone who was like them but alittle better. I have yet to decide if this is us being narcastistic saying "look at me im cool" or if this is us showing the image that we are trying to be.

I think are like the people who copy famous paintings. We see this painting, this image that we find perfect and we want to copy it. We want to come as close to this image as we can. So when we write these stories we are ask to think more completely about the image we want to copy.

my story

Johny threw out his water bottle as he walked into school, earphone dangling from one ear. "Your late again" The security guard smirked. "Well I got a sandwich and i had to take time to enjoy it." The security guard blankly stared at him. "look man" johny said calmy "im gonnna be in this academic factory for the next few hours, leave then come back tomarro for the next few hours. So excuse me for not trying to enjoy the few happy moments i get." "Coming into school this late makes it seem like you dont even care." The security guard stated. "If I didnt care about school, why would i come in the first place?" The security gaurd shook his head. "how are the kids?" Johny asked with a smile. "The kids are fine, Sid in is the school play." "thats good to hear" replied johnny. "tell him i said brake a leg". With that Johny made his way up the stairs to his second period class.

#23

The desire to be cool is a quest to be accepted. It is our animal instinct to be part of a group, there is safety in numbers. To be part of a group we find a idenity and stick to it. It is rare that you will find a kid whos favorite rapper is 50 cent, but also likes ACDC. we make choices and have opinions to fit into a specific group. Even the people who go against conformity will listen to anti-conformity music and where uncool clothing along with the un-conformist friends. We decide whats cool depending on what group we are in or want to be in.

Another part of being cool, is keeping up with the cool. Once you are set into one group it is hard to change groups. If you have gotten your self into the bob marley loving rasta group, you probably cant have a sudden intrest in the lyrics of Immortal Technique. Joining a group is like becoming a puzzle piece, you can only work well in that group; you cant be the one bob marley loving person who also listens to slayer because that doesnt fit. And when you dont fit you are seen as wishy washy and not really part of a solid group. you become a loner.

Another part of the cool is preventing people who are deemed unworthy entrance to your group. By deciding what is cool, you can determine who is not cool. If you are into wearring Urban outfitters and other bright clothing, chances are you will not chill with a goth kid. By making the statement that you are a person who wears bright colors you are saying that you think that is the way to live and that anyone who disagrees is uncool. The nerd will never eat lunch with the Jocks because they are making two diffrent statements.

my art project response

I think my video was a mirror. I used comedy to bring a current problem to the extreme. In my video Neiville is alone because everyone is indoors on the computer. This is a clear representation of all the time people spend in doors. In my video i dont tell anyone what they are doing is wronge, i just show them a idea and let them respond in their own way.

I thought my project was pretty funny if i say so myself. By taking the main idea of I Am Legend and tweeking it abit, i was able to show an perspective in a way that was fun to watch.

I found the editting of the video the most interesting. While filming it was fun it was the editting that really set the mood. I used the captions and the music to set the mood, which help got the point across. I feel like if i had use a diffrent song alittle more upbeat the video would have a totally diffrent mood and part of the message would be lost.

my art project

I did a spoof on I Am Legend. Instead of the city being empty because everyone is a zombie to a diese, everyone is inside a zombie to their screen.
My camera is broken so the video is choppy but visable

http://www.vimeo.com/7633234

kevin outline comment

kevin. your main ideas are good. in your outline you should include what quotes or evidence you should use. You have the word ipod that shows that you will talk about ipods but you should be more specific.

The first Tv was invented in 1934, and ever since then we have been on a slippery slope. What the television aloud us to do is create a world outside our own. We could stare at a screen and still feel feelings such as happy, sad, and scared; with out having to do anything. It was like we had emotions on demand. more then 70 years later, that world has becomes alot more complex and luxurious. We can now enter that world and do alot more then have emotions. We can now talk to people, send mail with in seconds, read the newspaper, and so much more. It has gotten to the point where the digital world has begun to slip into the real world. Now basic things such as sending mail, listening to music, and readding news articles are being done in the digital world. What this means is that we have become dependant on the digital world. We can no longer understand a world where there is no digital technology. We are trapped in the digital world because we know of no other world.

the movie WallE tells the story of a clean up robot stuck on whats left of earth. The humans have moved into outer space, till the robot is done cleanning up all the trash that they have left all over. Up in space their whole lives are digital. The are carried around on floatting chairs, with little screens infront of their faces, while robots serve them. They spend 24/7 in the digital world. When WallE, the robot, goes up there he accidently bumps into a womans chair, which turns off her screen. For the first time she finally sees the non digital world and she is amazed but what she sees. "we have a pool?!". This is what our lives are becoming. We no longer look at the real world. We come home after school do our homework (or not) then jump on the computer. some people even do their homework while on the computer. We spend so much time in the digital world that we dont see the real world as much. The other day I was watching my step sister play her Gameboy. She was sitting on the window still and on the other side of the window, not even 6 feet away was a hawk. This hawk was sitting there eatting a squirll, but my step sister was clueless. She was so wrapped up in her little game that she didnt see the hawk. We are losing touch with the real world because we are spending so much time in the digital world.

I mentioned in the beginning how digital technology, such as the tv, can bring us emotions when we want them. These days it has gotten behond that. We how take emotion we feel in the real world, and bring them over to the digital world. There is a site called tumblr where afew of the students go to blog their feelings and events. If you fallow these peoples blogs, you realize that they are pretty up to date. It is clear that the days of personal journals and dairies are over. We now take what has happened in our real life and bring it across the line to the digital world. We now use the digital world to help deal with our emotions. This was also true in the book Feed. In the end of the book Violet is pretty much dead, and her dad informs titius that it was his fualt. In responce to that Titius sits in the middle of his floor naked and buying the same pair of pants over and over. He is used to having the feed make him feel better, expect this time it isnt working. After buy the pair of pants he doesnt feel better, so he tries again and again. He no longer knows how to deal with real world feelings because he is use to dealing with them in the digital world. The digital world has become so big in our lives that we are losing the ability to deal with things in the real world.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IFCAoth0080/SsVbnrqTv4I/AAAAAAAAA-s/vD_cAY89BkA/s400/dan_page_igeneration.gif (technicall difficulties, fallow the link)

It has gotten to the point where parts of our real life are dictated by aspects in our digital life. Recently the government announced that there would be a switch from analog signles to digital and that our tvs would stop working if we didnt get the little converter box. With out question millions of people went out and got the box. People bought the thing because with out it their Tvs would go blank, and that just couldnt happen. This was also seen in Walle. While the people sat in their chairs advertisements told when what to buy. At one point the big screen told the people that the blue suits were the new fashion, and just like that everyone pressed a button to change their suits blue. We have given the people who lead the digital world so much power. We accept what they say or do because they are the amazing people who have blessed us with sites like google and facebook. When they tell us to jump we ask how high. President Obama was praised for his use of technology while running his champain. He was twittering and always on his blackberry. Most of the things we knew about the canidates we found out over the internet. We are letting the digital world dictate the real world. We have become use to find out how to live our lives with articles and videos, it has gotten to the point where if the internet shut off we would not know where to get the same information.

Another huge problem with the digital world is that even though we know what bad about it, we cant stop using it. Recently in class we did a expirement were we had to change one aspect of our digital lives. Some people got off the digital earlyer at night and said that because of it they had better sleep. I am willing to bet that only weeks after making that discovery, they are back to texting and instant messaging all night and their sleep patterns are back to being screwy. The problem is that we dont want to leave the digital world because it is too convenient. The digital world is an easy way to feel emotions that you wouldnt feel at ten oclock pm right when your about to go to sleep. Before the digital world took over 10 oclock pm was a peaceful hour. People were probably readding or getting ready for sleep. There wasnt much excitement or crazy emotions. But now at 10 we can watch Tv, talk about the latest gossip, or play a game that puts us in world war two. There is no longer anything stopping us from getting the stimuli that gives us these emotions. Who wants to read a book when they can watch what happens on One Tree Hill. It has gotten to the point where if we lost the digital world, we wouldnt know what to do with our time. The digital wold has taken over the real world by making stimulus so easy to come by.

We are trapped in the digital world because we know of no other world. We are live a hamster in a cage. The cage can be big and fancy with all those crazy tubes, but it isnt the outside world. It has all the things the hamster likes food, water, toys, with out having all the basic struggles of everyday hamster life. As time goes on the digital world gets more and more complex and we get sucked deeper and deeper into it. When will it end? Will we realize what we are missing and begin to limit our digital life? Or will it get to the point were we no longer have to get up and everything we do in life will be online? We are letting ourselves be sucked into a fake world, and we arent doing a damn thing about it.

The arguement could be said that we are fully aware of the outside world. People will say that we only spend part of our time in the digital world and that most of our time is spent living life free of technology. While we dont spend all day on the computer and we do spend a considerable amount of time moving around and "living life", we are rarely ever fully disconnected. If you are out in the park with your friends playing a pick up game of soccer and your phone rings; will you keep playing or will you stop the game to pick it up. The average person would stop what ever hes doing to pick up his or her phone when it rings. The ringing of your phone can bring you your whole day to a pause. So even though we dont spend all day in front of a screen, we are rarely 10 feet away from a digital device; and when that device calls for our attention we will stop almost anything to give it that.

Now that it is clear we are plugged in enough to be called neo, the question is why does it matter? The more you understand what the problem is the easier it will be to decided what to do. The fact is while the digital world has made things easier, it has began to make things to easy. This does not mean that young people today are worse or shallower than young people in the past. It does mean they get less help. People once lived within a pattern of being, which educated the emotions, guided the temporary toward the permanent and linked everyday urges to higher things. The accumulated wisdom of the community steered couples as they tried to earn each other’s commitment." (David Brooks. New York Times). Understanding the kind of world we live it will help when we try to live better.

Intro
-invention of elecrity = starting point
- hamster in a wheel
- Theis: we are trapped in the digital world because we know of no other world
Pharagraph 1
We have become oblivious to anything besides what our digital world tells us.
-WallE: fat lady in the chair "we have a pool?!"
Pharagraph 2
we rely the digital world to deal with our emotions
-tumblr
-the ending of feed when hes trying to make him self feel better by buying shit
pharagraph 3
we can no longer imagen a world where we dont have digital
-peoples expirences digital free. even after they got more sleep, they are back to textin
pharagraph 4
-converter box, we had to buy something to continue with our lives
conclusion

Kevin:
Hi
First i wanna say that i like your down to earth way of righting. You dont try and use big words that you dont understand or try to sound deep and fancy. You say what you think in the kind of language that i would hear you use in school.

What stood out the most was the end of post #12. Its easy to be a hater and call our generation stupid. but you put more thought into it and brought up the idea that while we arent stupid, we are lazy and preocupied with less important things. This reminds me of a quote from V for Vendetta where he says "[if you want to know who to blame]you need only look in the mirror". The fact is we are the ones responisable for what happens to us. There is no super beam going into your heads and sucking out our intellengence.

I think the second pharagraph in #12 could use expanding. You begin to talk about the bubble but then you end it short. I think that if you went more in depth with that idea you could bring up some good ideas.

Reading this posts makes me think about the things that i find important. I wonder how much of my priorities are really just me being worked as a puppet. I realize that i am also lazy and i dont really think about the things that i find important.

Good job
you earned yourself some chicken




Kareem
what up

I liked the opening pharagraph in #13. It had an easy going and optimistic tone to it, which is kinda hard to have in Andy's class.

In the third pharagraph of #13 you make a good point. You say that feed is more then a book and that it is a window into how we live. I think this is a good point. I agree with you in the sense that M.T. uses this book to get at something much bigger then just a nice story.

The second pharagraph reminds me of the quote "I just opened the door, its your job to walk through it" The author didnt write the book to tell us what to do. At no point was he like do this. All he did was show us what was wrong in the way we lived, he opened the door for us. In that same pharagraph you talk about how when we had little technology we wanted more, now that we have more we have too much. it reminds me of the quote "the biggest lie you can tell yourself is when i get what i want I will be happy"

in the third pharagraph you mention these huge metaphors, what are they. I think that if you talked about the metaphors alittle it would make that pharagraph stronger and back up your point.

Your writting has made me think of ways we can solve our digital problem. The author shows us the flaws in our life, and to some extent just by understanding the problem we have begun to solve it. But what do we do now? it would be a waste to realize the issue in our lives and not try and solve it.

keep up the good work (and use spellcheck)

there are acouple things to be said about the artistic choices of Feed. first is the fact that its a book. while this seems basic it actually can hold alot of meaning. I think if offered, the author would turn down the oppurtunity to make this book into a movie. By having keeping this book a book, the author prevents the story from being digitalized. since the Book is a critizism of the digital world slowly taking over the reality world, turning the book into a movie would send mixed messages.

the age group that this book is meant for is alittle tricky. It's not meant for adults because they spent to much of their life before the digital era, and have a hard time relatting. but these kids who have spent their whole lives in a digital era are usually too younge to understand the book for what it is. Thats why i think this book was meant more for kids in the near future. The Author wants kids who spent their whole life plugged in to read this book and see their life for what it really is.

the idea that i think will work with me most when i make my project is the false sense of support we put into technolligy. the main character of the story was use to having the feed make him feel better. but at the end when Violet was down to 4% the feed couldnt help him. He spent all night buying the same pants waitting for that sense of comfort he was use to getting from using the feed, but it never came. The fact is he no longer knew how to deal with those emotions. My project will most likly be about the false sence of secruity that the digital world gives us.

There were some key diffrences between my life and the book but most of it was the same.

I connected the feed the most to the internet. I am constantly checking my facebook, even through my phone. It gets to the point where much like the main character in feed i feel disconnected when i dont have my phone and i havent checked in awhile. Also Like the feed I now rely on the internet to get most of the information i dont already know. So my life is part dependent on the internet as theirs is to the feed.

At the same time I think the Author of Feed sometimes took the analogy too far. Their were times in the book where the friends would chat through the feed instead of outloud. While I am partly dependent on the internet I would much prefer a conversation in person. Also I didnt quite get the part where they were going into Mal, i didnt understand what the author was trying to portray.

never doing that again

for my expirement i skipped muay thai and went right home.
By 8 i was incredibly bored. Usually i get home at 830 so i only have afew hours before i go to sleep. I get about 2 1/2 hours of comp time. by skipping muay thai i had 6.

Im not even sure what people do for this long. i feel like i have been in a daze for afew hours. my mind hasnt really had to comprehend anything to complicated. I just feel dull

Responding to Kevin/kareem

Kevin: It was kinda funny watching your video. You were comfortable as hell. You had your headpiece on, the tv on, and food on your lap. It seems like you are naturally atracted to your sreen. When you got your food you deffiently walked past your dinning room table where you could eat at a table, to go to your room where you ate off your lap. I could tell that you could spend all night there. If only that seat had a toilet.

Kareem: Since my computer is slow i couldnt stream the video. What i could do was pause it then click random parts and see the screen shot for that moment, what i saw was interesting. Most of the shots were exatcly the same. You had the same facial expression and you barely moved. I couldnt view the video, but I can safely assume what the video was like.

Some body warn Victor

http://www.dailygaming.net/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=158

A study showed evidence that Playing World of Warcraft, a popular online role playing game, decreased the IQ of the player. In this piece a scientist wondered how people could be so stupid. If some of the smart people in our country get so confused about why we are wasting our time on stupid shit that the use the word "unadulterated" shouldnt we listen?

So while this piece was pretty biased, it did point out a interesting point; people are putting to much thought into stupid shit. As the digital worlds opens up, the real world becomes smaller and smaller. Suddenly having the right phone becomes more attention worthy then third world countries. Why is this? Mabye because in the digital world we have control. We cant control the people starving to death, no matter how much you give more will keep dying. In the digital world on the other hand you are in full control, you can change ur profile pic, pick a cool screenname, or have what ever phone fits you.

We want to feel powerful in a world where we are nothing

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0816/is_6_21/ai_n9772319/

The article Is just a basic review of video games in our current society. It brought up some interesting facts (no sources though). It stated that some major companies are desighing video games for preschoolers. Their are already digital learning devices for kids such as Vtec and Leap Frog. This is a double edged sword. On the one hand these can be a fun way to learn the basics. I remember having the leap frog multiplication game and playing it alot. These toys can help kids who are unmodivated to learn. On the other hand these devices are pludging the kids into digital lives earlyer then ever before. It is hooking the kids into video games early so they spend their whole lives playing, the same marketting tactic is used with cigerettes. These kids will grow up only knowing digital devices. Is there a age where we draw the line? Or will new borns be given little screens that when they touch a letter it makes the approriete sound. Will there be a day where all people will ever know is screens?

When i watched my video I realized that I wasnt really that interested. I kinda watched the show just to have something to do. I have becomes to rely on the computer for entertienment. At the sametime i was emotionally dulled until i realized that my computer wasnt plugged in causing me to suddenly snap into action. I think the wii is suppouse to prevent the dull blankness. Its suppouse to have you more interactive in the game, but it fails. Now instead of sitting down at a screen typing with a blank expression, im standing up swinging a stick with a blank expression. The movement changes but the mind stays the same.

people on the street

me:Do you think that technology is dumbing us down?
buisness man: Yes it is disabling us.
me:So are the omish smarter then us, since they have no technology?
BM:Well um, no because they dont have the resources we have today.
me:But you just said..
BM: Wow, um. I dont know.

(best friend)
Me: mac stop being a dumb ass and help me with this
MAc: fine what do you want
me: How is the digital world effecting our social life
Mac: It puts to much empathesis on how many friends we have instead of how good they are. people only care that they have 600 friends on facebook, not the fact that half of them couldnt pick you out of a line up. is that good enough
Me: umm yea actually

family questions

me: much time do you spend on facebook and sites like that?
mom: I limit myself to only 20 minutes a day, other wise i could be there for hours.

Me: whose fualt is it that so many kids spend so much time on the internet.
Ed: its the kids fault but at the same time the parents fualt. the kids should have some idea that this isnt a productive way to live their life. At the same time the parents are more wise then the kids and should understand that part of the reason the kid is wasting his or her time is because they are letting them.

thoughts

The other day andy brought told us that we would not be able to digital stuff for afew days. It took me afew seconds to realize i wouldnt be able to do it. The simple fact is that we have relied so much on computers, tvs, and cellphones we dont know what else to do. I currently have no computer and have to wait for one of my parents to finish on theirs so i can use it, and while i wait i am extremely bored. I have become to relient on computers i dont know how to pass the time alone without one.
I also realize my social life relies on computers and phones. I make my weekend plans on facebook and through texting. With no way to contact people i am down the river with out a paddle.

With all that being said the question remains, will we ever be free of the digital world. we all know that in one way or another our addiction to the digital world is bad, but we have built a world that relies on it.
Its our entiernetienment, our news source, its now even the way i do home work.