Stupid People [Blog #2]

Isn't it creepy how well the feed knows what we want before we even want it? Coincidence much? Maybe, but not really. The feed has been implanted in people's brains for pretty much as long as they have lived, so the corporations have been able to learn about everyone's personality so they can wisely choose the products they want to advertise to the consumers in order for them to be more likely to buy them. Like Violet said, "...it's all streamlining our personalities so we're easier to sell to...you get ads based on what you're supposedly like. They try to figure out who you are, and to make you conform to one of their types for easy marketing." (p.80-81). That's basically what companies do today to advertise their products. The only difference is that we have no feed or some sort of technology stalker. I'm not entirely sure what marketing tactics people today use, but the aim of products are based off age, gender, interests, and etc. If I had the feed on me, fun electronics such as laptops and mp3 players would be advertised. I'd fall under the teenage girl group, so obviously I'd also get ads having to do with girly products such as clothing and shoes. However, that'd be extremely overwhelming. If I had the feed, I'd M-chat whenever it's necessary. For instance, I'd M-chat if I were far away from the person that I wanted to talk to. I find it really peculiar to M-chat with someone right next to you. Chatting using the feed would surely terminate modern day communication. We talk, type, write, read, and etc, but if we ALWAYS M-chatted, we would lose this type of communication. When Violet pulled out a pen and paper to write in order to show Titus the dead languages, he was seriously surprised. He said "You write? With a pen?" (p.65). Like oh wow...seriously? They rely so much on the feed to communicate with others, they don't even write anymore? This is also like when the teens were hacked and they found it really strange to talk to each other and they COULDN'T talk to each other...like...WTF?! Weird much? Yeah...

The phrase "We enter a time of calamity" (p.30) was constantly repeated when they Titus and his friends excluding Loga got hacked at the club. What does this mean? Well, ever since the feed was created and implanted into individuals, people have grown dependent on the feed. For example, they use the feed to look up words they don't understand on their feed. Sure, this is a good thing to have. Like, a dictionary right at your fingertips, but it just shows that they aren't very knowledgable. They are now a bunch of stupid people due to the feed. In addition, when they go to school, they just learn how to use their feed and nothing at all about the history of the world or anything we learn about in schools today. Basically, their futuristic world is coming to a end and has become disasterous due to all the stupid people in the world as a result of the feed.

One of the only other people in the book that do not depend on the feed so much aside from Violet is her father. Her father is a professor that teaches/studies the dead languages. He most likely wants to study the dead languages since he wants to preserve the language. People in Feed talk with a lot of slang -- a very simple language. On the other hand, Violet's father talks like this: "It is a fine pleasure to meet you and make your acquaintance" (p. 135-136). Oh my goodness, there actually ARE some intelligent people in Feed! He for one does not use words like "unit", "meg", and etc...like someone else's father...*AHEM* Titus's. Thank goodness for having someone to preserve the culture we have grown to love today.

Feed [Blog #1]

"We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck." How does this sentence set up the novel?
This sentence sets up the novel Feed in several different ways. First off, it gives the reader a certain understanding of what time they are living in. In the year 2009, it is a huge deal to be able to go to the moon. For the teenagers to be able to travel to the moon in the first place, shows us that they are very advanced in technology. However, this novel makes it seem like an everyday thing by saying "...the moon is just like it always is, after your first few times there..." on page 4. It's hard to believe that they aren't excited about being on the moon, but its understandable since it's like a typical place to spend your time at. The moon for them is like the mall to us. These two places are like our hangouts. We go to the mall so frequently that it has become a very "sucky" thing to do nowadays. The teenagers of feed go to the moon frequently so now there is a lack of fun and therefore it "suck."


What do you notice about the language Anderson uses? What is his purpose for doing so? How is it effective?
The language used in Feed is very simplified and easy to comprehend. It's almost like the way teenagers today talk. There are phrases such as "was like" and "was all" used. There is slang in the book such as "meg", "youch", and "unit" as well. The purpose of Anderson writing like this is for us to perhaps  get a feel of the the kind of world they are living in. The slang is kind of futuristic since you don't hear these types of words often. "I'm so null, unit." More like "I'm so bored, dude." It is effective since in this time, those words aren't heard very often so it seems like the people of Feed are in a totally different time than us.

Titus states that Quendy is an economy model of Calista. How does this statement reflect Titus' viewpoint? What does this tell us about the relationship between Quendy and Calista?
On page 25, Titus said "...Quendy is just like a kind of broken, little economy model of Calista..." After reading that, it was kind of like "wow. harsh much?" Quendy is basically, the cheaper version of Calista that nobody wants. Titus sees Quendy as trying to follow after Calista since she wants to be more like her. The relationship that Quendy and Calista have with one of another is like a competition. Quendy's jealousy of Calista and Link was shown when she asked Titus on page 82, "Do you think Calista and Link are doing it?" When he said that they were, she called Link a pig and then said "I'm tired of just being the friendly one who everyone like steps all over." Calista acts as the leader and has no problem undermining people at all.

Paths

In life, we always come across problems. Of course, there are several different ways to deal with your problems. You always have options. Once you've understand and are well aware of what your options are, the next step you must take is choosing the path you want to go down. When your path is chosen, there is no turning back. You just keep on going and going.

What if you take a wrong turn? It's okay. It's not the end of the world because there are more roads to take once you've gone down your chosen path. You continuously have more options open to you.

What if you continue taking the wrong turn? Somewhere along the road, you just might run into someone. That someone would help lead you down the right path again since they are very knowledgable of the area.

Lets say you were riding a bike as you were going down your chosen path. You weren't being careful and you ran into a ditch and you fall off your bike. However, you're smart enough to figure out what your problem was and learned to fix it. In life, we all make mistakes, but once you find the fault, you fix it and learn from it.

Basically, we have many paths to go down. If you go down the wrong path, its alright, because you always learn from it. Eventually, you'll end up going down the right path -- whatever the right path might be.

Spring Break

Well Spring Break has officially arrived! yay!
Finally, a break from school, one of the most stressful things in my life. Well it's probably the most stressful thing in the majority of anyone's life. But what can you do? Spring break and I barely have any plans. How sad. =( I live a very boring life. Get a life? All the good ones are taken! NO! Ha. I kid. My life is not that bad. I have plenty to be grateful for. I'm extremely lucky to have all the people in my life and all the things in my life.
"The best things are intangible." hrm. Do you believe that? I do. Sure you can buy tangible items, but it will not completely satisfy you. At one point, that satisfaction will disappear. There are only "ideas" that will satisfy you wholly. Abstract ideas such as love. Here I go rambling again. x) I constantly jump from idea to idea. Oh well. That's just how random I can be. =)
This is it for the night.

Hrm..

This is some randomness. I'm typing just for the heck of it. Blah blah. This is not necessarily a blog...or is it? I have no idea. Well blogging is definitely better than writing some essays. I just feel like chilling since the end of 3rd quarter is near. 4th quarter is starting up which means there is 1/4 of the school year left. Yes, I can do math. Amazing, eh? Yay! Warmer weather too. How awesome is that? Finally! I'm tired of the snow and the cold. Bring on the sweltering sun and light breeze! =D I'm tired now...sooo fudge this for tonight. haha.