Hw 21- Who Says Music Cant Be Art?

If the playlist is not working, try this: http://www.playlist.com/playlist/18408908043

I was unsure about what kind of “art” project to do. This idea might seem a little weird but it’s worth a shot.

I picked 7 songs that I liked and I thought about the parts of the songs that had lyrics that could be interpreted to connect to "being digital"

I've figured that alot of people have a compulsive "I NEED MY DIGITAL" syndrome. And in turn have forged a type of dependant relationship on them. I've provided lyrics for the songs I've chosen (at least the most important lyrics). And I'll explain what they mean to me in the "digital sense".

Song 1. Love's Not A Competition (But I'm Winning) By Kaiser Chiefs
For full lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kaiserchiefs/lovesnotacompetitionbutimwinning.html

"I won't be the one to disappoint you anymore...
The trick is getting you to think that all this was your idea.
And that this was everything you've ever wanted out of here"

When I think of those lines and how dependant we are on our digital things and vice-versa it makes alot of sense. I'd like to believe that our digital toys don't want to let us down, and we depend on our phones, ipods and TV's to work for us all the time. What we don't realize is that these products are designed to keep our interest and our attention. Our products trick us in to thinking that we need them to have a life and to have fun.

Song 2. In One Ear By Cage The Elephant
For full lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/cagetheelephant/inoneear.html

" So it goes in one ear and right out the other
People talking s**t but you know I never bother"

This song kind of makes me think about Feed. The lead singer is talking about being a kid, and having people look down on him because he is young. He says people basically keep talking but it doesn't bother him. I would imagine that the people talking about him are adults who look down on his style of lyrics or clothes etc. It makes me think of Titus and the attitude that he took with most of the book, "in one ear and out the other".

Song 3. You And I By Anarbor
For full lyrics: http://www.6lyrics.com/music/anarbor/lyrics/you_and_i36.aspx

"We're always stuck in repeat day by day
Watching time drift away as we burn away"

I feel like that's a great line for alot of teens today. No matter what new things come out and what new shiny things are invented we are always and forever moving in a circle. I think we live very routine lives, we may try and mix it up every now and then but in reality we aren't really doing anything new.

Song 4. Consoulers Of The Lonely
For full lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/raconteurs/consolerofthelonely.html

"Haven't seen the sun in weeks
My skin is getting pale
Haven't got a mind left to speak
And I'm skinny as a rail.....

Conversations getting dull
There's a constant buzzing in my ears
Sense of humor's void and numb
And I'm bored to tears"


These lyrics are very interesting. The singer is admitting that he lives his life on the inside. Which when it comes to digital matters alot of us do retreat in to our bubbles, forgetting to think, blink and as he says eat. When he says "conversations getting dull" that reminds me of Feed too. Because there weren't any conversations in the book that were about anything important or meaningful except for when violet was around.

Song 5. Blue Light By Bloc Party
For full lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/blocparty/bluelight.html

"If that's way it is
Then that's the way it is"

This like makes me think of the truth about how things are with teens today. We are addicted to our gadgets. Its like no one can change the way that we think and the way that teens today operate. There have been books, new reports and articles on how the teens today are being lost to the screens. But as you can see nothing is really happening.

Song 6. Maintain Consciousness
For full lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/relientk/maintainconsciousness.html


"Our concentration it contains a deadly flaw
our conversations change from words to blah, blah blah"

This song is pretty simple and pretty straight forward. He's singing about how he and he his friends can't concentrate on anything. he goes on to say that since he was 17 he's been living in routine, that nothing has changed except the fact that he can't pay attention.

Song 7. Make Out Kinds By Motion City Soundtrack
For full lyrics: http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/motioncitysoundtrack/makeoutkids.html

"Hooray for the madness, we are better by design"

I think this line is very fitting. Some would call this digital overflow and our constant dependency on screens madness. This line reminds me of praising the chaos. "We are better by design" makes me think of how alot of teens would fight the people who are against them, by saying that they are "more advanced"

Questions

1. I think that this is more like a mirror because it reflects the "truth". I feel like a hammer is more threating and to me I think a piece of art that connects to a hammer would have to wake people up. I don't think that these songs are going to wake anyone up I think that they will just reflect what people see in themselves already.

2. These songs make me feel okay. I don't really see a problem in the way that I use the digital things in my life. I don't really want to make an impact on anyone's digital life right now. I really love music and I try to get out of it what I can. These songs don't wake me up, they just help me to understand and to agree.

3. The most interesting thing about this project was actually finding the right songs that I could use. It was harder than I thought it would be. I think the hardest thing was finding the right lyrics and the right site to use. It was interesting to actually look up the lyrics to these songs, since I rarely have to look up lyrics to songs.

I Was Just Thinking...

I have been thinking about why this stuff matters as a closer to the whole digital thing. I think I've been really morbid about this whole thing and I think it makes me see it a little clearer. With the whole "thinking about life" thing going on in Manley's class I've figured something like being digital strikes me as insignificant and I think its silly now to discuss it further because people will sit here and talk about how bad digital things and and blah blah blah shame on you, but they won't do anything abut it. Its like knowledge going down the drain and it seems like a major waste of time.

Of all things to talk about, why this? No one is going to change, everyone is going to absorb...maybe.

Hw 20- Additions, But Still Pretty Solid To Me

I think my paper is okay. I liked it and I was being honest in all my arguments. There weren't any comments and I didn't think it was necessary to chase people down. I think the only thing I needed to work on was this part.

Opposing View Johnson (Incomplete)

Technology is not bad, it is something that is looked down upon. But it is possible that it is good for us. What if technology was here first would there be a whole new view on how much time is spent in front of screen?

I feel like Johnson in a way mostly agrees with Anderson but he is saying "you could also look at it this way" Its like Johnson is the nice uncle that all the kids run to when all the other adults are being jerks. But when the kids go to sleep he complains to all the other adults about the kids whining.

When it comes to all that Johnson said I feel like we [teens] can't really take all that he says to heart. I feel like if i agree with him it makes me feel even more stupid, I feel like I'm saying something like "OOOOh see look, we aren't stupid after all!" All of this makes me think that when it comes to being digital there isn't another side to it there is only truth. We are dependant on the things that should not be significant.

I just realized that after all of this it has only made me aware of how much time i spend on my gadgets, I don't really care what it says about me.

I honestly don't care anymore about the image.

For full paper see hw 18 please, thank you

Hw 19- Let Me Help You Out

Comment to Ian, Paper


Hopefully I can offer some help. So I'm assuming your thesis is:

"The digitilization has become a major tool to further change our values to make us better fatter more complacent cattle"

I love that, but I think that you should remove 'The' and just start with digitilation. Also I think that you should include something taht connects to cattle in the thesis as well. Maybe something like:

"Digitization has become a major tool that makes us much like animals, corporate media is slowly changing our values to make us better fatter cattle"

Its just an idea :]

I like how you start your paragraph here, talking about how we are tuaght that everything is supply and demand and everything is about buying and selling and making profit!


What i'm getting is that being digital is making it eaiser for us to be the puppets that are controlled by corporate media?

Great point i completely agree. Maybe a posible out line could be:

1. You explaining how we are already born being taught that we need to buy and sell to make a living
2. How corporate pours their lies in to our pockets to get the money out of our wallets.
3. How we continue to beocme more and more obiedent since we constantly depend on corporate to invent new toys
4. Tie in how we are fed garbage, thus making us animals and you can connect finally how the cattle metaphor works.

I hope I helped. Let me know. I'm really excited to read your paper!


To Sarah:

Sorry I took so long. I liked your paper alot.

I feel like you have a bunch of information everywhere and you just throw it in wherever you see fit.

I'm assuming that the question "What over looked damage is the obsession of technology leading to?" is the question you are trying to answer.

I think its very interesting but I was unable to find a thesis of some sort that you can connect all your info to.

Something like : Many may see technology as advancement but in reality it's setting us back.

And from there you can incorporate all of your ideas which seem to be:

1. Health problems
2. Connecting to yourself
3. Global problems
4. History
5. Conclusion

I think thats how your paper flows. Which is great.

I think you should divi up the paragraph where you talk about yourself. Maybe you want to connect yourself to other parts of your paper?
All in all Sarah, this is a very interesting paper and its backed up by tons of evidence.

Maybe you should think about making it a little more personal, because it sounds really general. Just an idea.

Hw 18- Somewhat of a Big Paper

INTRO
When you talk about digital things I feel like it becomes a little personal. This unit is targeted toward us, so let’s talk about it from a teen’s perspective. We like our ipods, our Mac’s or plasma’s, our blackberry’s and our sidekicks. The thing is when we use what this great nation has provided its leaders of tomorrow we get ridiculed! How is this possible? We are like the little obedient lab rats. Corporate says “Here try this on for size” and us with watering mouths waiting to be fed more corporate bull. I believe we think that there is no choice. I think that corporate is scared of a technological regression, and we are too oblivious to notice. If there was no progress then what should be done as a pastime? We must live up to the expectations to be better, to be futuristic. Out of fear of regression there must be blind progres

ARGUMENT 1: Using Teens Attention Spans To Market

In a poll taken by Teenage Research Unlimited (TRU), teens in 2004 spent 169 billion. Well guess what? Corporate knows this, they know what appeals to us poor teens and they know just how too keep us staring at their clever commercials. New products come out so quick and so often there is little time in between products so naturally, the “new” things that come out are just like the old things that barely had time to collect dust on the shelves.

Look at ipods for example, when the ipod came out in 2001 it had a mechanical scroll wheel and had up to 10 GB in memory, when the 2nd ipod came out in 2002 the scroll wheel was touch sensitive and the USB port was covered this ipod was also available in 10 GB, the 3rd ipod was released in 2003 was slimmer and still had a touch sensitive dial and was also available in 40 GB. The 4th, 5th and 6th ipod’s were all the same basically but were made slimmer and were available in 80 GB and in a new color! … Grey. Apple shook it up in 2005 with a new design, the mini. The mini came in 4 GB and 6 GB and in several different colors, but it was still the same touch sensitive dial and small square screen. Basically they all do the same thing, touch sensitive and available in black, grey and only specific colors of the rainbow.

We as consumers don’t see it as the same old song and dance we see, advancement. We see something new and better. We teens have such short attention spans that when the new toys come out we completely ignore the old. I’ve done it, and when I think about it I can’t figure out why. Its like we are just following in the foot steps of corporate. I stopped playing my old x-box just because I had gotten a new one. There was nothing wrong with the old one but something in me just told me to reject it and forget about it, because corporate had forgotten about it. But when I really think about it the X-box 360 does the same thing that the X0box did…plays games, movies and you can go online. Same thing just more expensive.

I think that companies also use peer pressure to get teen consumers to buy the crap that they put out. Everyone knows that if Kid A bought the new Jordan’s that Kid B is going to eventually want the new Jordan’s thus starting the chain reaction. It’s the same way with digital things, its like a virus infecting us and then passing on to a new host and we don’t notice we keep sharing drinks and coughing and touching subway polls. Where would we be if production stopped at that first ipod? No one would complain, but the burning question of “what’s next?” will always be at the back of our minds and that’s when we get mindless products. We have been taught to think that nothing is ever enough.

ARGUMENT 2: Digital Overdose

We love our toys so much that we don’t notice when our face has become contorted in to the shape of a mindless zombie. What is mind boggling is that some of us know that we are slowly turning in to puppets. We think that it is okay to completely zone out in front of a screen. We have been taught to trick ourselves into thinking that all we need to have a life is a charger and a screen and we are mistaken. No one realizes that sometimes the digital toys are things that are bad for us.

I don’t think people realize that we have basically forged fake lives for ourselves. We can shop, communicate, travel, and download all from a chair. We can be totally different people from the comfort of our own homes, how great! Because of the mass rapid production of digital things there has been a large dependence on digital products and people think that it is okay. I didn’t realize this until I asked people what they thought of their digital products and how much time they thought that they spent on them. Surprisingly many people admitted to spending 12+ hours in front of screens knowingly and being okay with it.

I saw a banking commercial a little while back and one of the people in the commercial said that technology is making us better, which is something that took me by surprise. People agree that more screens is what we need.

ARGUMENT 3: Anderson

Teenagers are the ones being made fun of and talked about when it comes to technology. I think its because we are the digital puppets and we abide by what is being sold, I bet that if you asked a teenager why they buy the things that they buy I bet they wouldn’t know what to say. Anderson does a good job in Feed talking about how teens are so easily told what to do and how to do it and in the end we don’t even see why.

In Feed the teens don’t bother to think about what is happening around them they are only concerned about the things that are happening in their heads (nice) because a lot of teens are self centered and a lot of us only care about something if it only directly has anything to do with us. If we were to rebel then what, will we go back to caves? We are scared to see what would happen if the teens of today stopped being so obedient and stopped spending every cent we earned on something with a screen.

Opposing View Johnson (Incomplete)

Technology is not bad, it is something that is looked down upon. But it is possible that it is good for us. What if technology was here first would there be a whole new view on how much time is spent in front of screen?

CONCLUSION:

This is becoming a bit redundant. I feel as though nothing is going to change, we are going to be stuck in the same digital circle for a long time. There might be a few teens who think about it and wonder about it but nothing drastic is going to happen. More books about stupid teens will be published, but who cares? da da da

Works Cited (So Far)

Feed
Everything Bad is Good For You
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod
http://www.window.state.tx.us/comptrol/fnotes/fn0508/teens.html

Hw 17 Outline Comments, Well Kind Of

To Ian:

Wow, the thesis was the thing that pulled me in to be honest. I've never read anything like that before it was interesnting. I like how you compare humans to animals (correct) that are constantly manipulated.

I think that it is clever how you mention that we must fit in to the roles that we are given and therefore we buy the stupid shit that fit our roles.

Your paper seems like it will be funny, interesting and metephorically true. Its going to kick major cattle ass.

Hw- 16 Possible Outline?

Possible Thesis: We must live up to the expectations to be better, to be futuristic. Out of fear of regression there must be blind progress.

Topic One: Using attention spans of teens to make profit.

The majority of people who are entranced by tiny screens are teenagers. We, (well most of us) continuously buy different models of basically the same product just because we can. Teens keep feeding in to the idea that we need to be kept up in the know. The advertising schemes are catchy enough to keep us interested and shielded from the fact that everything is the same. Corporate is afraid of what would happen "God Fah-bid" there was a pause in production.

Topic Two: Digital Overdose

We have been programed to need our fix of digital drugs...or else. Interviewing people in the street shows how we as a nation have become overly dependant on the digital things that we buy. Its like we in a way have also become like our products: temporary and rechargeable.

Topic Three: Anderson

Feed, the book we all know and love... Talks about how we teens are so dependant on our toys that we don't realise the things that are around us. (More ideas to come)

Topic Four: A lesson in Romantics

We have lost touch with the things that are around us. We have forgotten that there used to be things around us that made us happy that did not have screens and flashing lights. Which feeds into our rapid stupidity and our desire for small plastic things.