Visual Essay

My topic for this visual essay is consumerism.

before i start i want to say sorry for this being meg late lol :) well enjoy :) ...

Alrighty so where to start.. I chose this picture because it immediately reminded me of the book. This is how i imagined them looking; sick like on the verge dying, not to mention pretty damn stupid looking, and the feed screaming so many different things at them at the same time. This picture was perfect.

This picture represents the kinds of advertisements thrown at us everyday. Companies provide these "deals" which of course just make us buy more because we think its better.

First off, squint to see the picture more clearly if you can't see it now. You can see a whole bunch of brand and company names in the body. Okay. I really liked this picture because it explains what consumerism is; it is and illusion that we are drawn in by time after time. We see something and want it so we buy it but what we get isn't really what we saw. The product is shown as perfection and companies don't show any of the flaws because if they did we wouldn't want it. But yet we keep buying and buying. We just never learn. Yes, it is free choice of what we want or "need" but not necessarily. Companies will sell a version of one item and then sell a new version not months later and you must have the new version or youre just not good enough, its not your choice. There is a ton of pressure involved.

http://thebreakfastclubclan.org/graphics/cartoons/cartoons_bloom_county_runaway_consumerism_01_mall_walkers(1000x332x256).gif

http://thebreakfastclubclan.org/graphics/cartoons/cartoons_bloom_county_runaway_consumerism_02_velveeta(1000x331x256).gif

http://thebreakfastclubclan.org/graphics/cartoons/cartoons_bloom_county_runaway_consumerism_03_salad_scooper(1000x330x256).gif

While surfing for pictures to help get my message across I found these three comic strips. If you take the time to visit these links this further proves my last thought from the previous picture.

The reason i didn't put these in my blog directly is because they were not clear at all. But go have a look. :) They're funny in that oh-my-god-that-was-so-stupid kind of way. :)

I'm glad I found these two pictures I think they tell the perfect story of consumerism. We buy and buy more then we actually need and think we need more but in the end we never needed it at all and we end up "throwing it up". We get rid of what we never actually needed. What a waste...

Okay so I will admit this is kind of a depressing way to end the visual part of this essay but this picture is so true. In the end everyone dies and it doesn't mater who had the most you're still dead. A dead millionaire is just as dead as the dead guy who lived in a van down by the river. There is no difference between the two except that the millionaire might get buried with some of his crap but then again who wants to buy all that stuff just to have it thrown in the ground in the end. See i just don't get it but that's just me. Its really pointless to buy buy buy because in the end it doesn't mater.

Reflection part:

I guess the message of this blog is to show that the idea of consumerism is horrible. My blog focused more on the anti-consumerism topic because to me there is no good aspect of consumerism. You spend all this money to buy things you don't really actually need just to be trendy or simply because you want it. But there really isn't away around buying things. You need to buy things to A) live and B) not be bored off your ass all the time. I chose all you those picture because they all prove a strong point about consumerism and why in my opinion its horrible especially if you cant control yourself. Throughout my life my family has helped me the most develop the values that i have today about some of the topics in FEED some of them include consumerism, individuality or conformity, and media. My family has always told me to be a "smart shopper"-only buy what i absolutely need and every once and a while its okay to go on a little spree just as long as i don't let it get out of hand. I mean money is there for you to use it but not to waste it. I try to stick to being a "smart shopper" but sometimes its nice to know that because i have been a "smart shopper" i can buy more what i want than what i may actually just need. With individuality vs. conformity my family has always told me to be myself and to never change for others. I think its such a vital lesson that some people just don't know, which is really sad. I think its stupid to change yourself for others and if your not going to just be yourself in life then really whats the point.

second feed blog ;)

So this is the second blog for the book FEED. This book keeps getting better and better. I love the new points that the book keeps bringing up and how the characters are developing its pretty fantastical (yes it's a word, don't question me) right now. :) anywhoo now to the prompts...

----The feed is described as knowing what you need before you do-is this really what the feed is doing?

--I believe that the feed is advertising to them what it believes they will want before they know they want it but I also believe that because the feed is doing this it had shaped them into a personality that's easier for it to advertise to. The only way the feed really "knows" what they want before they know it is because the feed has shaped them into liking what it chooses for them. So i guess the feed does know what you want or need before the actual person does but only because the feed has created your personality like that, so technically it's not your personality and you might not actually want that. If the feed was used to try to guess what a new person wanted or needed it would probably be wrong because it hasn't had a chance to shape their personality yet.

----The author dedicates the book "to those who resist the feed." What does he mean by this? What is "the feed," in a real-life context, and how can it be resisted? What are the benefits and drawbacks of doing so? In what ways do you "resist the feed"?

--I think he means those who are always themselves and who don't get sucked into all of these influences that are around today. In my opinion i believe that the feed is referring to all of the advertisements in society today. We see advertisements for EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING there is EVERYWHERE and we see all of these different ways to advertise now-and-days. We see it on the Internet, in the paper, on TV, in movies, billboards, music, etc. I think it's important to resist it. By resisting in and making your own decisions your more of a real person not just somebody who agrees with what somebody else says or does what everyone else does. It's crucial to be yourself otherwise you fit in with the crowd and nobody will every notice you or care because your just like a billion other people and then whats the point to even try. I think it's quite sad to see but it happens. I think by doing my own thing, THINKING FOR MYSELF, making my OWN decisions can help me and anyone else not be sucked into all of the advertisements we see on a daily basis.

I liked this picture because its a good picture to represent standing out from the crowd. The one standing out is smiling and all happy and bright and the other ones who all look the same are sad and dull. idk i like this example :)

----“This is my project.” Explain Violet’s “project” (p.81+). What does her willingness to do this say about her personality? Do you know anyone like her? How are they like her? What does Titus’ response to her “project” say about him?

--Violets project is to create a personality by going into different stores and places and asking for the most random things she can think of and then the most random use for the object and then resist the urge to buy it. This "project" will confuse the feed so much that it will not be able to decide what is right to advertise to her, she will become "invisible"(page 98). I think this says a lot about her personality and how strongly she feels about resisting the feed. This proves that she doesn't want the feed to control her anymore and i think it also shows her natural curiosity about life. Violet's personality reminds me of a few of my friends personalities. They are very original and are very very very individualized individuals. They are so different from "normal" because they don't want to be like everyone else and they try to live by what they feel is right, they certainly lead themselves and don't follow others. They think for themselves and always take responsibility for their own actions. When I read the book i can almost picture them in her shoes. I believe how Titus responds to Violets project just proves that he follows along with things even though he doesn't know much about the entire situation.

First Feed Blog :)

Okay so when I first started reading Feed By: M.T. Anderson I didn’t know what the hell was going on. But as I read more the book started to make sense and I started to understand the writing style more. Now when I read it I can put the damn book down. :) This week for the first blog I chose to just stick with three of the prompts. I hope its not to boring to read . :) oh and for my second prompt I actually put two of them together because I felt that my response sort of answered them both.. hope that’s okay , ENJOY! :)

Prompt1: “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck”. How does this sentence set up the novel?
- I believe that this opening sentence sets up the novel in a way that gets our hopes up for something exciting and then its a HUGE let down. It gives the novel a very depressing feel. It also disappoints the reader as well. The feeling of disappointments stick throughout the beginning of the book. When they first arrive at the moon they cant get in to any of the "cool" places and their minibars were locked because they didn't have their fake ID's. On top of that their hotel that they're staying in "was a pretty crummy hotel"(page 9). Then when they were all excited that they were gonna get some "fancy nutrient IV" drink from room service they drink it and all get headache's. Then they decide to go to this club that's suppose to be super fun and cool and it turns out to be closed down. Throughout the book we see how there's all this hype for an activity and it all goes to hell. There's lots of little disappointments throughout the book with all the characters. One bigger disappointment we see is Violets trip to the moon, "he saved up for a year to send me. Then i went, and that stuff happened"(page 103). This was Violets first trip to the moon and she gets attacked by this weird hacker guy and it ruins her trip. The opening sentence sets up the entire mood of the book.

Prompt2: "What is it like on the moon? Why is it a popular destination for young people?” AND “Feed begins on a Friday, when out of boredom, a group of adolescents decide to spend Spring Break on the Moon at Ricochet Lounge. In what ways does this spring break compare with what you envision when you think of spring break?”
- As described in the book “…the moon turned out to completely suck”(page 3). “…the moon was just like it always is, after your first couple of times there, when you get over being like whoa… theres just the rockiness, and the sickness, and the craters all being full of old broken shit, like domes nobody’s using anymore and wrappers and claws.”(page 4). I believe the moon was such a popular destination for them to go because it gave them a place to go when they wanted to get away from their normal home and all the same people they are around everyday. There are dance clubs on the moon and it low-grav. I think being away could have also given them a sense of freedom as well. They went there for spring break. When I think of spring break I think of just getting away from EVERYTHING. All I want to do on my spring break is have fun and forget about any of the problems that I might have at that time. When they decided to go to the moon they knew what they could expect because they had been there before and had lots of fun but after awhile the novelty wore off. It’s just like with me and my friends, we’ll be hanging out and we won’t know what to do so someone will be like “lets go to the park” and even though we have all been there like 9 million times we go anyway. I don’t necessarily think its about where you go I think its about who you go with and what you do when your there and I truly believe its about getting away from your normal day-to-day life.

Prompt3: “What do you notice about the language Anderson uses? What is his purpose for doing so? How is it effective?”
- When I first started reading this book the way it was written was very hard to follow. But as I read more of the book I began to understand why it was written like that. They way he writes make the characters sound very uneducated and there is a lot of futuristic slang, I guess. For example “meg limp” is translated into super lame or something else along those lines. They use the word “unit” in substitution for dude. When the characters talk you can tell when they are speaking for themselves or when the feed is speaking for them. When Titus first sees Violet I know what type of language he uses and when he says the word supple I automatically know it wasn’t him and that it was his feed. I believe Anderson writes like this to give the readers a little more insight on how uneducated these people are without their feeds and how much they rely on them. When I saw how the kids were talking with each other I assumed that the grown ups would sound a little more educated but I was wrong(sad face). I saw this when Titus’ father spoke to him in the hospital, “She’s like, whoa, she’s like so stressed out. This is…dude. Dude, this is some way bad shit”(page 55). I believe this is a very effective way to show us how much having a feed puts these people at such large disadvantages.

FIRST BLOG!!

muahahah my blog cherry has been popped. idk uhh i know we didnt have to blog but i felt like i should. I cant wait for spring break and softball to really start! our first game got cancled because the feilds weren't ready.. so that really BLOWS!!! i cant wait for our next games. anywhooo thats it for now i guess. bye bye
~~alEx