One of the main themes in Pattern Recognition, written by William Gibson, is the increasing impact of online social networks. Gibson shows us how the internet has become a huge part of people's lives by showing us an example of Cayce's role on F:F:F and how the forum "has become one of the most consistent places in her life". This shows us that people are displacing reality as the forum and is using it as their main source of socializing.
However, even though Gibson gives us positive outcomes from what is created on the internet, I believe that Gibson left out some negative effects that could have risen from being too friendly and opened on the internet. The internet can be sketchy and harmful to others because people can easily pose themselves as someone else, and therefore, true identity can be completely hidden and all the descriptions the person gave could be a lie. For example, Parkaboy tries to help Cayce receive the numbers that could lead to the locations of the footage by arranging a meeting with her and Taki in Tokyo. Taki, whom is really good with computers, was fooled by Parkaboy to hand over the numbers to Cayce in trades of pictures of “Keiko”, a schoolgirl that Parkaboy was impersonating. Parkaboy used his friend Judy’s picture as Keiko, but instead of using the raw image, it was photoshopped at the face and eyes to make the picture more appealing. After Taki sees this picture, he falls in love with “Keiko”, a petite Japanese schoolgirl that he has never met in person. From this, Gibson is probably trying to point out that technology leads a great cause-and-effect to people's judgement. However, in the end, Taki and Judy falls in love with each other, which I believe, is too optimistic for a relationship that started from the internet.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Defining Literature
Literature, and how we define it, has changed over the centuries. It has changed with different outlooks due to different times, and as time progresses, perspectives change and more ideas are created which broadens the creativity of literature. To me, any written piece of work that is useful in enriching life, escapism, luxury, or just something that can be used to pass the time can be defined as literature.
I find Alan Moore's Light of Thy Countenance to be an interesting piece of literature because illustrations and images are provided along with the text, giving visuals for the readers to see what exactly the writer wants the reader to see. I believe Moore's work is similar to a comic book because it provides words with pictures, which also reminded me of the digital story that we have read by Charles Cumming called "21 Steps" because Cumming was also creative with his work by adding images so that we can click on. Both Cumming's and Moore's work were entertaining and fun to read because I spent time looking at the pictures and trying to read the story through the pictures.
In Light of Thy Countenance, Moore was trying to show the negative effects of television and how it has the power to distract us from life. For example, there was a part in the book where we see the man giving his undivided attention to the television that he no longer gives recognition to the presence of his significant other. I believe that Moore's exaggeration on the negative effects of television and technology is somewhat true because I, myself, have experienced such things before. For example, when I would become a "couch potato" by sitting on the couch and watching t.v. all day, my mother would get irritated by the sight of this, and so she would assign chores for me to do, and yet, I don't listen to her and end up not doing the chores because I am so interested in watching what was on the television. Overall, I believe that advances in technology will lead to more distractions to humans.
I find Alan Moore's Light of Thy Countenance to be an interesting piece of literature because illustrations and images are provided along with the text, giving visuals for the readers to see what exactly the writer wants the reader to see. I believe Moore's work is similar to a comic book because it provides words with pictures, which also reminded me of the digital story that we have read by Charles Cumming called "21 Steps" because Cumming was also creative with his work by adding images so that we can click on. Both Cumming's and Moore's work were entertaining and fun to read because I spent time looking at the pictures and trying to read the story through the pictures.
In Light of Thy Countenance, Moore was trying to show the negative effects of television and how it has the power to distract us from life. For example, there was a part in the book where we see the man giving his undivided attention to the television that he no longer gives recognition to the presence of his significant other. I believe that Moore's exaggeration on the negative effects of television and technology is somewhat true because I, myself, have experienced such things before. For example, when I would become a "couch potato" by sitting on the couch and watching t.v. all day, my mother would get irritated by the sight of this, and so she would assign chores for me to do, and yet, I don't listen to her and end up not doing the chores because I am so interested in watching what was on the television. Overall, I believe that advances in technology will lead to more distractions to humans.
Monday, November 15, 2010
M. Butterfly
The play, "Madame Butterfly", written by David Henry Hwang, explores stereotypes between Eastern and Western culture and also between man and woman, and how these stereotypes affect social relationships. The play starts out with Rene Gallimard, a french diplomat, who was locked up in prison because he had been deceived by a Chinese opera singer. He mentions that he has fallen in love with the "Perfect Woman", which is the opera singer, but little did he know, this "woman" was actually a man.
In the play, the line, "The West thinks of itself as masculine--big guns, big industry, big money--so the East is feminine--weak, delicate, poor...but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom--the feminine mystique" (Act 3, Scene 1, p.83) describes how many viewed race and gender in the world. The West was viewed as masculine and strong, whereas the East was viewed as feminine and submissive. How the East was viewed didn't show any difference between men and women in the East, because to the world, as long as men were from the East, then they were viewed as weak.
Rene Gallimard believed that asian women were submissive and catered to men's needs, just like Rene's favorite opera that he had introduced in the beginning that was called, "Madame Butterfly". He described the asian female character, "Cio-Cio-San", who was also known as "Butterfly", as a woman who gave up everything to her man, Pinkerton, who was a US Navy. Rene described Pinkerton as a man who was "not very good looking, not too bright, and pretty much a wimp" (Act 1, Scene 3, p. 10). This shows us that because Butterfly is from the East, she probably views the men from the West as strong, and so she falls in love with Pinkerton, even though Pinkerton is viewed as a "wimp". Madame Butterfly could be Rene's favorite opera show because Rene probably had the same views as Pinkerton, and that perhaps, Rene is interested in finding a submissive lady from the East so that he could feel powerful. Because he was blinded by his beliefs, he was deceived by Song Liling, the opera singer. Song pretended to be a woman, and had fooled Rene into revealing important information that lead to his punishment.
In the play, the line, "The West thinks of itself as masculine--big guns, big industry, big money--so the East is feminine--weak, delicate, poor...but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom--the feminine mystique" (Act 3, Scene 1, p.83) describes how many viewed race and gender in the world. The West was viewed as masculine and strong, whereas the East was viewed as feminine and submissive. How the East was viewed didn't show any difference between men and women in the East, because to the world, as long as men were from the East, then they were viewed as weak.
Rene Gallimard believed that asian women were submissive and catered to men's needs, just like Rene's favorite opera that he had introduced in the beginning that was called, "Madame Butterfly". He described the asian female character, "Cio-Cio-San", who was also known as "Butterfly", as a woman who gave up everything to her man, Pinkerton, who was a US Navy. Rene described Pinkerton as a man who was "not very good looking, not too bright, and pretty much a wimp" (Act 1, Scene 3, p. 10). This shows us that because Butterfly is from the East, she probably views the men from the West as strong, and so she falls in love with Pinkerton, even though Pinkerton is viewed as a "wimp". Madame Butterfly could be Rene's favorite opera show because Rene probably had the same views as Pinkerton, and that perhaps, Rene is interested in finding a submissive lady from the East so that he could feel powerful. Because he was blinded by his beliefs, he was deceived by Song Liling, the opera singer. Song pretended to be a woman, and had fooled Rene into revealing important information that lead to his punishment.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Brainstorm, Pattern Recognition
Marketing
The main character, Cayce Pollard, is a marketing specialist that gets hired by Blue Ant, an ad agency, to help the business with marketing and advertising. Ironically, Cayce dislikes the duties of her job because she doesn't enjoy recognizing patterns in the social world. One would think that a person whose duty is to promote brand names would enjoy sporting material things. However, Cayce's reaction towards ads and logos is as if she is "allergic" to them; meaning that Cayce cannot stand the sight of logos. This could mean that Cayce doesn't agree with promoting brand names or material things but is rather interested in living the simple life with simple things where one is humble and not conceited or materialistic.
Internet and Social Network
Cayce spends great amount of time on a forum on the internet. Cayce's assignment is to find the person behind the mysterious videos that has leaked on the internet and has caught people's attentions. However, as she digs deeper into the searchings of this person, we find many other characters that pops into her social network life. The internet becomes a part of her daily life, as she signs onto the forum. This theme on technology depicts the lives of today and how we are all affected by the internet. Gibson is probably trying to point out that technology leads a great cause-and-effect to compare how people's daily activities have changed since before and after advances of technology.
The main character, Cayce Pollard, is a marketing specialist that gets hired by Blue Ant, an ad agency, to help the business with marketing and advertising. Ironically, Cayce dislikes the duties of her job because she doesn't enjoy recognizing patterns in the social world. One would think that a person whose duty is to promote brand names would enjoy sporting material things. However, Cayce's reaction towards ads and logos is as if she is "allergic" to them; meaning that Cayce cannot stand the sight of logos. This could mean that Cayce doesn't agree with promoting brand names or material things but is rather interested in living the simple life with simple things where one is humble and not conceited or materialistic.
Internet and Social Network
Cayce spends great amount of time on a forum on the internet. Cayce's assignment is to find the person behind the mysterious videos that has leaked on the internet and has caught people's attentions. However, as she digs deeper into the searchings of this person, we find many other characters that pops into her social network life. The internet becomes a part of her daily life, as she signs onto the forum. This theme on technology depicts the lives of today and how we are all affected by the internet. Gibson is probably trying to point out that technology leads a great cause-and-effect to compare how people's daily activities have changed since before and after advances of technology.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
In Tobe's POV
William Faulkner writes a short story, "A Rose for Emily", in a first person plural point-of-view, which gives us an idea of what not only the main characters think, but what the side characters are thinking as well. If this story were to be written in a first person singular, like in Tobe's point-of-view, then this story would change drastically.
Because Tobe is a servant of Miss Emily's, the story would have been more specific and in depth towards Miss Emily's life and daily activities. Rather than just hearing about thoughts from the town, we would hear more of Tobe's thoughts, and what he was dealing with by being an insider on Miss Emily's life. Through Tobe's eyes, the understanding of the relationship between Miss Emily and Homer Barron would be more clear. Comparing it to the original story, we only heard what the townspeople were thinking and therefore, Miss Emily seemed very mysterious.
Throughout Faulkner's story, Miss Emily was portrayed as a mysterious, serene, and antisocial lady. What would be more visible to the reader if Tobe was the narrator is Miss Emily's soft side when she is around Homer Barron.
However, even though both sides of the stories would give different perspectives, the theme that I took away from Faulkner would not change. In both sides of the stories, the thing that would not sound different is Miss Emily's deranged mind and belief of how death did not occur to the important men in her life. First, she denied that her Father was dead until three days later, she breaks down and brings the body out for its appropriate burial. Second, she kills Homer Barron, and still sleeps on the same bed with his decaying body as if he were still alive.
Because Tobe is a servant of Miss Emily's, the story would have been more specific and in depth towards Miss Emily's life and daily activities. Rather than just hearing about thoughts from the town, we would hear more of Tobe's thoughts, and what he was dealing with by being an insider on Miss Emily's life. Through Tobe's eyes, the understanding of the relationship between Miss Emily and Homer Barron would be more clear. Comparing it to the original story, we only heard what the townspeople were thinking and therefore, Miss Emily seemed very mysterious.
Throughout Faulkner's story, Miss Emily was portrayed as a mysterious, serene, and antisocial lady. What would be more visible to the reader if Tobe was the narrator is Miss Emily's soft side when she is around Homer Barron.
However, even though both sides of the stories would give different perspectives, the theme that I took away from Faulkner would not change. In both sides of the stories, the thing that would not sound different is Miss Emily's deranged mind and belief of how death did not occur to the important men in her life. First, she denied that her Father was dead until three days later, she breaks down and brings the body out for its appropriate burial. Second, she kills Homer Barron, and still sleeps on the same bed with his decaying body as if he were still alive.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Brautigan, "All Watched over by Machines of Loving Grace"
In the poem, "All Watched over by Machines of Loving Grace", Brautigan writes about his predictions on the effects of advancing technology and gives both an anti-technology and a pro-technology message using sarcasm and similes. During the time that Brautigan was alive, many technological creation ideas were just being brought up. Electronics and technology were futuristic, and in Brautigan's poem, he writes about how these inventions will effect the world. When I first read the poem, I only saw the pro-technology message. Brautigan uses a few exclamation marks, like "I like to think (and the soon the better!) of a cybernetic meadow(1,2), which made me think that advancing technology and making computers is a positive thing because I felt that there was a lot of excitement from the writer. The writer includes a simile, "like pure water touching clear sky"(6,7), to describe the positive effect of the future with computers. In the last stanza, the lines "I like to think (it has to be!) of a cybernetic ecology where we are free of our labors and joined back to nature"(16-20), I sensed a pro-technology tone from the writer because I know that many people would feel that it is liberating to not have to deal with labor.
Although I felt that this poem was pro-technology, I also sensed some negativity from it. After reading the poem several times, I started to notice patterns and interesting choices of lines that Brautigan had written to give me that anti-technology message. In the last stanza, I felt that there was a negative message after mentioning the good effects of computers. For example, people would content and "free"(19) with not having work, but having us "all watched over by machines of loving grace" is not a sight that will lead to comfort because machines have no feelings and are programmed to perform duties. In addition, machines and computers are not perfect and have glitches so they may not be trusted to do their job without having problems. In the first two lines of each stanza, the writer includes a message in parenthesis, followed by an exclamation mark, to display sarcasm. The second stanza stood out to me because it provided me with an image that seemed like the world would be in chaos if machines and computers were to take over. For example, having a forest filled with "pines and electronics"(11) and have deers "stroll peacefully past computers as if they past flowers with spinning blossoms" gave me a feel that computers should not be invented because it is out of place and does not belong in the forest. Also, having deers stroll by computers as if computers were flowers gave me an image that the world would become crazy because flowers do not have "spinning blossoms".
Overall, I believe that Brautigan is trying to send out a negative message about technology because the negative points overruled the positive points that I had made. Brautigan uses sarcasm with parenthesis to prove a point to us that technology cannot watch over us. We cannot live in "programming harmony"(5) because computers and machines lack emotions and feelings.
Although I felt that this poem was pro-technology, I also sensed some negativity from it. After reading the poem several times, I started to notice patterns and interesting choices of lines that Brautigan had written to give me that anti-technology message. In the last stanza, I felt that there was a negative message after mentioning the good effects of computers. For example, people would content and "free"(19) with not having work, but having us "all watched over by machines of loving grace" is not a sight that will lead to comfort because machines have no feelings and are programmed to perform duties. In addition, machines and computers are not perfect and have glitches so they may not be trusted to do their job without having problems. In the first two lines of each stanza, the writer includes a message in parenthesis, followed by an exclamation mark, to display sarcasm. The second stanza stood out to me because it provided me with an image that seemed like the world would be in chaos if machines and computers were to take over. For example, having a forest filled with "pines and electronics"(11) and have deers "stroll peacefully past computers as if they past flowers with spinning blossoms" gave me a feel that computers should not be invented because it is out of place and does not belong in the forest. Also, having deers stroll by computers as if computers were flowers gave me an image that the world would become crazy because flowers do not have "spinning blossoms".
Overall, I believe that Brautigan is trying to send out a negative message about technology because the negative points overruled the positive points that I had made. Brautigan uses sarcasm with parenthesis to prove a point to us that technology cannot watch over us. We cannot live in "programming harmony"(5) because computers and machines lack emotions and feelings.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
John Keats, "The Living Hand"
images: hand, grasping, tomb, heart, reaching out, death, love, warmth
In John Keats poem, "This Living Hand", Keat utilizes imagery to write about death, suffering, and holding onto love. This could be that the writer is heartbroken and wants the person, whom he is writing about, to love him back. The lines, "so haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights that thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood" expresses the writer's anger for possible rejection from the one he loves by saying that if the person doesn't love him back, then she will regret not taking the love that he is offering to her. She would regret it deeply to the point where she would want to die because her decision would lead to a constant reminder of how she should be with him. He then offers love to her in the last line of the poem and says that love will set her free: "And thou be conscience-calmed-- see here it is--I hold it towards you".
The lines "now warm and capable of earnest grasping" and "see here it is-- I hold it towards you" both ties together well because they both depict a strong sense of desperation. For instance, "grasping" gives an image of holding onto something dearly. As for “I hold it towards you”, it provides an image of the writer reaching out and hoping to get a hand, which represents love, back in return. Keat also uses symbolism to bring out the emotions and vibe of the poem. For example, in the line, "and in the icy silence of the tomb", Keat uses "icy" to relate it to the coldness and the feel of death. As for "silence", it represents darkness and death. "Icy" and "silence" provides an emphasis on the writer trying to get the person's attention by describing how awful death is.
In John Keats poem, "This Living Hand", Keat utilizes imagery to write about death, suffering, and holding onto love. This could be that the writer is heartbroken and wants the person, whom he is writing about, to love him back. The lines, "so haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights that thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood" expresses the writer's anger for possible rejection from the one he loves by saying that if the person doesn't love him back, then she will regret not taking the love that he is offering to her. She would regret it deeply to the point where she would want to die because her decision would lead to a constant reminder of how she should be with him. He then offers love to her in the last line of the poem and says that love will set her free: "And thou be conscience-calmed-- see here it is--I hold it towards you".
The lines "now warm and capable of earnest grasping" and "see here it is-- I hold it towards you" both ties together well because they both depict a strong sense of desperation. For instance, "grasping" gives an image of holding onto something dearly. As for “I hold it towards you”, it provides an image of the writer reaching out and hoping to get a hand, which represents love, back in return. Keat also uses symbolism to bring out the emotions and vibe of the poem. For example, in the line, "and in the icy silence of the tomb", Keat uses "icy" to relate it to the coldness and the feel of death. As for "silence", it represents darkness and death. "Icy" and "silence" provides an emphasis on the writer trying to get the person's attention by describing how awful death is.
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