Blog #10: Class Evaluation

In this class I've truly learned the importance of literature and books.  Without both of these, our society could easily turn into any of the terrible societies that we read about in the novels we covered this semester.  After this class I plan on making more of an effort to pick up more books to read, especially books that I normally would not have read on my own.  I really liked the set up of this class, how we were able to discuss the books in class and were not taught at, only nudged in the right direction.  I feel that I become a more critical reader when I had to analyze the books I read myself, instead of being told what the books were supposed to mean.  This is a great new skill because before I could not analyze a book to save my life, I could never see the deeper meaning and never knew how to go about looking for that deeper meaning.  This class has been one of my favorite of my college career and I am likely not to forget what I have learned in this class.

Blog #9: Censorship

A world without books would be a terrible place, the world would be filled with ignorant, dumb people who are addicted to TV just like Montag's wife.  Everyone would be so plugged into technology, more so than they are today, that they wouldn't even notice the world around them.  I would miss having books around so much, I really like reading in my spare time and for relaxing.  I would probably still try and read books and try to hide it if I weren't allowed to anymore.  Whenever Hollywood makes a movie out of a book they are metaphorically "burning books", because the movie is never as good as the book, it lacks detail and takes away the reader's imagination.  One of my favorite parts of reading books is being able to create an image in my head of what is going on in the book, but whenever I go see the movie of a book I read it never looks anything like what I imagine.  Movies and TV ruin the imagination that reading sparks, if we were to ban all books our society would become simple minded and there would be no originality.

Blog #8: The Hunger Games

I thought the plot of this book was highly disturbing, but I was so enthralled by it that I couldn't put it down!  Which was even more disturbing...  It reminded me of reality TV and how we do the same.  We watch really dumb shows like "Jersey Shore" where we can barely stand the character but we love it!  And I still don't understand why.  I thought this book was very good, as disturbing as it was.  It was definitely my favorite book we've read so far.  The theme of the book was pretty similar to the rest of the books that we've read in class in that it's about how society can easily go by the wayside and become a dystopian society.  While reading this book it reminded me a lot of the TV show Survivor and how people seem to act a certain role instead of being themselves in order to win the game.  Like in the case of Judd aka Fabio, who played up his role as the "dumb blonde" who everyone loved and thought was hilarious.  Which he eventually won the game because he went the entire game without making any enemies.  In the link posted below Fabio shows how "dumb" he is by peeing in the pool and acting like everyone does it.

Survivor: Fabio

Blog #7: Reality TV

For the purposes of this blog I decided to watch an episode of "The Jersey Shore", it just so happened to be the season finale.  This episode was more tame than other Jersey Shore episodes, but there was still a lot of drama in the episode since it still is the Jersey Shore.  The beginning of the episode started with the couple in the house who are always fighting, indeed fighting like usual.  Ron and Sammie were fighting over a boy that Sammie had dated 3 years before the episode,  thought it was the dumbest fight ever! Who cares who Sammie had kissed 3 years ago? Does it matter? No, but they love drama and make everything dramatic because that's what we like to watch on TV.  And that also includes me, I thoroughly enjoy watching them fight about dumb things that don't matter.  The second part of the episode was pretty boring since they were all getting along with each other since it was their last day at the shore together.  Which just goes to show that reality TV is only entertaining because it is dramatic and fun to watch people argue.  Which is also why half of "The Jersey Shore" is probably somewhat scripted just to make sure it stays entertaining.  I'd assume that about half of what happens on the show is real, but I'm sure the producers tell them to do things to cause drama in the house with the rest of the cast.  What I think is "so darn entertaining about reality TV" is that you get to watch the drama unfold, but not be dragged into it and be involved.  Being a spectator is the draw to reality TV.

Jersey Shore Season Finale Highlights

Blog #6: "Big Brother"

Whenever I think of "Big Brother" I think of the "Uncle Sam Wants You" posters for some reason.  I guess it's because in both posters there's a creepy guy looking at you? Lol I have no idea why.  But that also makes me think of the government as "Big Brother" because they regulate everything that society does and keeps the order.  Whether it's the President of the United States, or a local police officer, the entire government is in charge of running our country, and part of that is keeping tabs on the people who live in this country in order to keep it safe.  Especially with possible terrorist plots, it is extremely important that our government know what is going on inside and outside of this country in order to prevent catastrophic incidents like 9-11.  It is because of incidents like these that I believe that we should sacrifice a part of our privacy in order to be able to feel safe in our own homes.

No Electronics Blog #3

So this is the last day of not using any electronics and I must say it's been a pretty long week.  I can't wait to catch up on all my favorite tv shows and check my facebook and text my friends! Going the whole week without electronics wasn't bad, just knowing that I can now use electronics makes me realize how much I've missed them.  I've kept myself busy with school work and reading and trying to go outside when the weather isn't terrible, but now I can't wait for mindless entertainment.  I think the first thing I'll do is catch up on the episodes of How I Met Your Mother I've missed, that's my favorite show.  Oh and I should probably call my parents so they know I'm still alive haha.  But all in all, this week went pretty well.  I'm very surprised by myself :)

No Electronics Blog #2

So far so good! The nice weather really helps with the whole no technology thing, I've been doing a lot of stuff outside the past couple days.  Friday I went camping, the weather was beautiful but that night it got pretty cold because it was so windy.  But to make up for that we woke up early enough to go watch the sun rise on one of the out crops on the side of the mountain.  The view was amazing! I took a panorama of the view Friday right before sunset.  It was even more beautiful Saturday morning watching the sun rise over the valley.  I thought that was pretty ironic since we had just talked about when the last time we saw the sun rise in class last week.