Everything Is Real, But It's Also Just As Fake: Pattern Recognition

So this is it, the last blog post. I just want to say it has been a real pleasure writing this and for all of your great comments.

The other day in class a conversation about body image was brought up and it struck a never with a few of the female students in the class. This heated debate was in regards to the passage in William Gibson's Pattern Recognition where Parkaboy describes how he and his friend, Musashi, transformed the body image of Judy into "Keiko" using Photoshop. "What we did was up the wattage for Taki, aiming to maximize libidinal disturbance, we shot this long tall Judy and reduced her by at least a third, in Photoshop. Cut 'n' pasted her into Musashi's kid sister's dorm room at Cal. Darryl did the costuming himself, and then we tried enlarging her eyes a few clicks. That made all the difference. Judy’s epicanthic folds are long gone, the way of the modest bust nature intended for her. . . and the resulting big round eyes were pure Anime magic. This is the girl Taki's been looking for all his life, even though nature's never made one, and he'll know that as soon as he lays eyes on this image." (PR, 129.)  

Everything that was said in class by the women in class I agree with 150%. I cannot even imagine how hard things are for women this day in age with our hyper sexualized American culture. That video we watched of the model being transformed in Photoshop like what was described in William Gibson's novel really freaked me out. Seeing how fake everything is that we see is strange to process. This is real life, but everything we see on a daily basis has been distorted and changed so much that it's fake. It really is like we are living in The Matrix. There is no real anymore, only what companies and big business perceive to be real juding on what they think men and women want. I know this distortion of women happens a million times more then men, but I still feel like there is a standard a lot of women hold on men to look like. I mean go to a American Eagle or Hollister and look at the 10 foot pictures of the guys on the wall, a ripped 12 pack abs, huge muscles, super good looking. At least for me I know it sucks to see things like this, to see this is what people see as "attractive". Same goes for movie stars. OMG RYN GOSLING AND CHANNING TATUM ARE SO HOT. Where's the love for the Steve Buscemi's of the world? 

                                                                           
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Again, let me reiterate, this is still a way worse problem for women in America. I don't know how to change this because this is the way society has been moving in for a long time now. It's hard to change the ways of thinking of million's of people, especially when they see these fake images that  are plastered on every billboard, clothing store, magazine, film, ect. in America. I wish things were different and I wish I was in Zion instead of The Matrix, but this is the world we live in. As long as there are companies around to tell us how to think and manipulate our minds we will continue to be sheep and go along with the flow. Fake is the new real. 

9/11 From a 9 Year Old Perspective.

So 9/11, a day which will live in infamy. To all of America it was just a normal day, but as we all know that changed pretty quickly. I don't really remember much from that day. I was in 4th grade I know that, and all that I remember is another teacher coming into the classroom and whispering something to my teacher. She paused for a moment and informed us that we would be getting out of school early because of something that was happening. As 4th graders this was the best news ever, half a day of school! I remember waiting for a while for the buses to come and get us, whenever anyone asked what was going on to teachers we only got silence. We got loaded onto the buses and we were mixed with middle school/high school kids and I remember very vividly an older kid saying "someones are blowing stuff up." Everyone was talking loud, but i didn't really comprehend what was going on. I got dropped off at home with my 7 year old sister and we raced inside. My parents cars were home which I thought was weird because they should've been at work. I ran in and said a smart ass comment to my sister and I yelled that I was home. The next thing I saw I will never forget. My mom was in the living room on the couch crying with her hands on her mouth and my dad was just starring silent at the TV. They both turned and looked at me and those looks definitely let me know something was truly wrong. My mom sat us down on the couch and we just watched the news. i wasn't really scared of what was going on until a week or so later.

One of the scariest days in my life by far was the week after 9/11. My father is a volunteer Fireman back home. he has been for most of his life. The week after 9/11 was all a blur, but on one particular rainy night. my dad's fire department had a service for all of the fallen NYC firemen. We were outside at a flag pole with all of the members dressed in their uniforms. There were people crying as the rain fell on us. After the service my dad came up to me and my sister in his uniform and he knelt down to are level and proceeded to tell us he was going to NYC to help out with the clean up. I remember my sister started crying and I got angry. I was angry at him because i was scared what happened to all those other poor people would happen to my dad. I cried and begged him not to go, but he said he needed to help. That was his job. I hated him at the time for leaving us and i feared he wasn't going to come back home. He left for a week with a few other members. He stayed on a battleship on the Hudson river and for a week straight he helped those in need in NYC. Looking back on it now I'm proud of my dad, but back then I didn't see it that way.

As I got older we learned of the dangers in the air that Spiegelman talks about in "In the Shadows of No Towers." "Asbestos, PCB's, lead, Dioxins, and body parts...." Learning his now and how many people have been affected by this, workers, firemen, construction crews, getting cancers and other diseases scares me. I'm afraid that one day my dad will come down with something because of government lies. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I just hate to see something bad happen to such a good man like what has happened to other good and noble men and women. 9/11 definitely changed how I see my father as a man and I've seen how it's changed me.

"Things will never be the same" - Tupac

Arrow!

Style: Televsionwithoutpity


Ever since the release of Marvel Comics 2008 hit film Iron Man the world has gone bonkers for superheroes. There's no question about who is in the lead in the superhero market. Marvel has paved the way with sequel after sequel leading up to the big payoff with the billion dollar earner, The Avengers. With more sequels announced, more stand alone films, and two more Marvel "phases", Marvel has left comic rival DC in the dust. That is until the CW decided to stand up to Stan Lee and begin to pave the way for more DC characters that may lead to the big screen in the future.

The CW's "Arrow" follows the tale of billionaire playboy Oliver Queen, who after getting shipwrecked on a deserted island for 5 years gets transformed into a bow and arrow badass. Long story short Oliver gets rescued and uses his new badassery and bow skills to clean up his city from the 1% who are using their power to others disadvantage as Green Arrow! The Episode I have chosen to focus on is Season 1 Episode 3 titled "Lone Gunmen"

The episode begins like all of the others, TRAINING MONTAGE! Accompanied by deep inner monologue about who Green Arrow's next target is. Of course Oliver is shown with out a shirt on while he is in his Arrow Hideout. I mean who lifts a bar stacked with cinder blocks stacked on it fully clothed? And this being a CW show EVER character is extremely attractive, yes even the homeless people. As Oliver lifts heavy objects his mumbled and gruff monologue tells the back story of a one, James Holder, who put faulty fire alarms in his buildings causing innocent civilians to die. Arrow is not cool with this at all! So he drops the heavy blocks sending them crashing to the floor as he storms out of the Hideout.

Between the inner gruff monologues and all the shirtless training montages you kind of forget you're watching a superhero show, but trust me it gets better. To enjoy Arrow you just need to sit back and enjoy all of the campiness. I mean it is based off of a comic book. So anyway Arrow shows up to James Holder's house and demands that he pays for what he has done to the civilians! James is shaken by the scary vigilantly, but before he can react, BLAM, he gets shot dead in front of Arrow. SNIPER! Arrow fires some arrows into the dark night and in the process he gets shot in the shoulder, oh no! He escapes without any more harm and heads back to his Arrowlair.

Back at the Arrowlair, Oliver attends to his wound with his shirt off AGAIN! He  delivers another cheesy inner monologue saying that a man like Holder of course has more than one enemy. And he crosses his name out in his Arrow hit list. But what's this! A side effect! The bullets been poisoned!!!!! Oliver starts to feel woozy and rushes over to his secret kit and pulls out some grass stuff and eats it and passes out. He awakens fine, it's a good thing that grass in his secret island box cured that exact poison or I don't know what would have happened.  The episode cuts to one of Oliver's island flash backs and we are filled in with another piece into his secret backstory. The scraggly asian man who shot Oliver with an arrow in the last episode feeds Oliver the same grass and pulls the arrow out of his shoulder. I need to get me some of this grass because apparently it can do everything and anything.

And we're back in the present. Arrow uses his mad scientific skills to deduce that the poison that was on the bullet that shot him is only used by on specific assassin. I have no idea how Oliver learned how to do all of this science stuff because before he was stranded on the island he dropped out of four different colleges and I'm pretty sure there wasn't an equivalent of MIT on the island. At least we haven't seen yet.... As Oliver is piecing together the pieces about who this assassin is we are shown a buff man tattooing James Holder's name onto his body with an abundance of other names on his body.

The story jumps for Oliver to a Detective who is working the Holder murder. All of the other detectives are saying that Arrow killed the man, but Detective Lance is not convinced he too thinks something is fishy.  Anyway Arrow finds out the assassins name by searching an Interpol database and discovers his name is Deadshot, because he never misses! Arrow takes this new info to a Russian Mob person who is covered as a Mechanic? Oliver, in Russian, explains to the man he needs to find an assassin and gives the man the information and tells him to find this Deadshot for him, the man agrees after Oliver shows him a tattoo on his chest and says he's a captain in some Russian Mob syndicate. This story is getting very complicated.

The Russian Mob boss delivers the information and Oliver heads to Deadshots hotel room. Oliver gets all dressed up in his green hood and heavy raccoon makeup, I'm still not sure why he just doesn't wear a mask? Anyway he heads to Deadshots hotel where he busts through the door arrows a blazing and Deadshots bullets a blazing. Neither of them hit each other which is also weird because Deadshot NEVER MISSES... Deadshot gets away and Oliver gets his computer.

Oliver takes the computer to his own family company, and has an IT person, look at an assassins computer that is riddled with bullet holes. Oliver proceeds to say that he spilled coffee on hi laptop and it's broken.....so much for being secretive Oliver. Anyway Oliver finds out there is a larger plot that a company wants to assassinate his Stepfather for control for more stocks and money or something that is way to complicated for the CW. Arrow realizes that he can't save everyone from being assassinated on his own so he asks Detective Lance, in a rather Batman esq. way, for help. He gives Lance the laptop and vanishes into the night.

Oliver shows up to the stock auction thing in support of his stepfather and mother and sister. The place is swarming with cops and everything seems to be safe as Detective Lance checks in with all his patrols. As Patrol Five checks in we see that is not in fact a cop, but DEADSHOT! He puts the radio down and steadies his rifle cross hairs aimed at Oliver!!!!!!!!! As Oliver walks to his stepfather Deadshot's cross hairs move from Oliver to his stepfather. Deadshot turns his laser sight on, and gives himself away. Detective Lance sees the red dot on the stepfather and pushes him out of the way just in time. And while Detective Lance saves the stepfather he gets a poor innocent waiter killed because the bullet now hits him. Deadshots killing people left and right and Oliver runs to go get his costume on. He busts into Deadshots perch and an epic CW fight ensues! Arrow fires a couple bows and Deadshot shots a bit. Arrow tells him to throw down his guns, but of course he doesn't listen. Arrow turns and shoots an Arrow right through Deadshot's eye. He defeated evil once again. Everything seems fine as Arrow approaches Deadshot's body but there is a noise behind Arrow. He grabs his bow and quickly turns revealing his, Oliver's, body guard. He has been shot! Arrow rushes him to his secret lair to save him! He feeds Diggs some of the same magic grass and he passes out. When Diggs awakens Arrow has taken his "disguise" off revealing to his new friend that he is the masked vigilante! Oliver says. "Hey" Diggs passes out again and the episode ends! CLIFFHANGER

Rating: C+

Anarchist Folk Punk

Music is one of the greatest gifts that humanity has ever given back to planet Earth. With music you are able to to preach your ideals and make people feel very deep emotions in just a couple of minutes. I find it fascinating that musicians are able to make people rise up in protest, cry, get angry, be happy with just some lyrics and a few strums of a guitar. Music is a very powerful thing.
This brings me to some music that I find very moving and thought provoking, anarchist folk punk. Anarchist Folk Punk, or Anti-Folk, is rooted with the same ideals as folk from the 1960's. Bob Dylan preached against the government, to end the Vietnam war, and for everyone to get along. That is exactly what Anti-Folk artists of today are doing except a little bit more angry. Johnny Hobo and the Freight trains was an Anti-Folk band that formed in 2000 by lead singer Pat "the Bunny" Schneeweis. Pat "the Bunny" was a homeless, train hopping youth who traveled across America with nothing more than a guitar and a back pack full of possessions. He hopped train to train meeting other transient musicians and they began to make music with one another. Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains songs are rough sounding that echo the lives these men lived. They preached of an anti-Bush government, government in general, anti-religion, anti-police and authority of any kind. With all of this hate they preached there was also the message to respect your fellow man, and be kind to others. A lot of people who are against this type of music only see the hate and rebellion against what is "right" with our country. They never focus on the good.
Greil Marcus talked about this in his essay "The Old, Weird, America" where he stated, "

When I first ran across those words they almost made me dizzy."The old free America''- the idea, the words themselves, seemed all hut natural, coded in the inevitable betrayals that stem from the infinite idealism of American democracy. I don't hear any irony in those words. But while I respond helplessly to them, I also recoil-because those words cast Americans out of their own history." This is what Pat "the Bunny" was preaching in his lyrics. America has betrayed the people and you should stand up and fight against the oppressors that are keeping you down. They make you question everything you know and challenge your beliefs and I love that. This is what music should make you feel. Not some shitty Justin Beiber/One Direction bullshit love song, but songs that make you think about what the government is doing is right. Protest songs of the 1960's aren't gone, people just choose not to listen and that is a sad thing. I'll leave you with a Johnny Hobo song and I hope it gets you thinking about what you believe in. Also if you like Johnny Hobo check out Pat's other bands The Wingnut Dishwashers Union and Ramshackle Glory. 

 

 

Magic All Around

Hello blog, we meet again.

Today was a special day for we as college students had the opportunity to go on a field trip! I had the greatest time today walking around in the woods and listening to the vast plant knowledge that Professor Titus offered enhanced the hike by ten fold. I don't know what it is about nature, but I feel so much more connected to it than to the hustle and bustle of a big city. If I could I would build a log cabin in the middle of nowhere, catch and grow my own food, and write sad, sad music/poetry like Bon Iver and Henry David Thoreau did. But sadly I have responsibilities and cannot be the next Grizzly Man. I'm getting a little off topic, but like I was saying nature, just gives me this feeling in my stomach like there's so much out there to explore and find and it's a great feeling to not know what's out there.

I kind of feel that is like some of these early Americans felt exploring the wilderness before there were roads and highways and even railroads. You just packed up your family to head west in a wagon and just went, the unknown always at the back of your mind. They would have to live off of the land to survive, picking plants they may have never seen before and using them in weird ways for the first time. Like we were saying about the Pulpit plant, how did the Native Americans know that if they boiled and treated that plant they could ingest it? People found all of these new and interesting plants like we did on our hike and said hey that looks like it could cure my stomach ache and it worked and I find that so fascinating.

 And, I feel like that fascination of the unknown also helped people to sell product at medicine shows. You advertise this plant that most people who may have never even heard of it before and people are bewildered. What is this plant? Can it really do what they're saying it's doing? I'll take five! The unknown gives us a child like wonder and I can really see how people fell for some of these sometimes scams and or medicines that actually cured.

21st Century Racism

I've never really used anything like a blog before, so this is a whole new experience for me. I look forward to free writing and being able to get somethings off of my mind that we talk about in class.

Growing up in a small town I didn't have to think much about race growing up. I live in a predominantly white town, went to an almost all white school, and hung out with all white friends. That all changes when you get to college though. Your small town world shatters and you are exposed to so many different cultures and races that weren't present in your world before. My parents raised me to be open minded and accepting of others, no matter who they were, what color they were, and all that jazz. I guess that's why I have the friends I do today at SUNY Fredonia. i mean one of my best friends here now is a transgendered Puerto Rican woman. I don't judge others, and I know none of my friends do either. The world is too small, and life is to short to worry about someones skin color, or why they dress the way they do, or talk the way they talk, or where they come from. I just guess that's how I felt everyone felt, especially at a liberal arts college, but I was wrong.

That leads me to my instance where I really thought about my race as a white male. I went to a party one semester sophomore year. It was the kind of party that was a friend of a friend of a friend thing. Before I go too much farther I'll just let you know that I've changed the names of the people in this life event just for safety's sake. So my friend tells me were going to this kids house and he's obtained the nickname from them of "Racist Ben". I just thought that the kid had a Confederate flag and listened to country music like a lot of the kids at my high school, so I really didn't pay much attention to it. That was until I walked into the house that the party was at. Sure enough there was a large Confederate flag on his wall, and as the night went on "Racist Ben" got very vocal about his opinions on  different ethnic groups. My friends girlfriend was there and her father is from France. He proceeded to destroy her father by calling him every nasty way to call a french person known to man. He even threw in a few other racial slurs that were used for other ethnic groups which made no sense, but that's just how bad this kid was. The worst part was whenever this kid said something that made my skin crawl all of his friends would uncomfortably cheer and laugh feeding into this kids sick views on others.

At one point later on in the party a group of friends came in the door and one of them was African American. "Racist Ben" did not like this one bit. He shot the poor kid dirty looks, wouldn't talk to him, and at one point he changed the shitty country music to rap and he mockingly pretended to be a "gangsta". This got so bad that the group of friends left the party, and as did we. Enough was enough. I guess "Racist Ben" was acting like the Blackface Minstrels in the reading. He was mocking this poor kid for the way he looked for a cheap laugh from his friends and it made me sick to my stomach to think that people were really still think like this in the world. People who hate others so much for no reason other then the color of their skin. In a way I felt bad for "Racist Ben", I'm sure he was taught to be like the way he is, and say the things he says. And I felt sorry that the only way he thought he could have friends, or make people laugh was to stoop so low as to insult others just for being who they were. Needless to say we don't go to that house any more, and every time I see "Racist Ben" on campus I still get that sick feeling in my stomach.