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Apparently, "The Cat in the Hat" does not translate well from English to Russian, because when I translated it back, it turned out as "Tomcat in the Helmet." Well. Whatever.

ERIN I CAN'T DO THIS NOW MY FEET HURT.

Okay.

I'm going to do a character analysis essay of the Fish.

The Fish is the grown-up one. I think it's funny that they made him have a British voice in the movie, because that's really what I would've pictured him having. He's quite stuck up. He's the superego to the Cat's id. In fact, he's sort of directly the opposite of the Cat. The Cat comes barreling into the house and runs around like a crazy man and is physically large and mobile, while the Fish is pretty physically calm and doesn't do much (probably because he's a fish...) The Cat seems to DO things, while the Fish SAYS things. So my argument here is that the Fish is the authority figure, the one who tries to calm everyone down. That's his job in the story. Breaking up the fun.

The Fish says "No!" a lot. That seems to be his job. From that, you can see that he has some amount of control, or would like to have some. Also, he doesn't like chaos, he doesn't like breaking the rules, he doesn't like strange cats invading his house. He can't do much on his own, since he's a fish, but he wants to be in charge. From what he's saying no to, you can also figure that he's more mature than the rest of them. He figures out that the Cat shouldn't be in the house almost as soon as the Cat walks in the door, while the narrator and Sally apparently have trouble realizing that.

For some reason it seems like the Fish doesn't have much of a will of his own, while the Cat has a lot of personality. I think that's because the Fish kind of represents authority figures, the one who comes to break up your party or tell you to quiet down. The wakwakwak voice in the Charlie Brown movies. He's the police or the hall monitor or the park rangers. They have authority, but only because someone else gives it to them, so it isn't their will acting, it's the will of the person who gave them the authority to arrest you or suspend you or throw you out. The Fish is the "babysitter." He was told to take care of the kids (authority) by a high power (Mom.) Okay, probably not really, but it ends up seeming that way. On the other hand, the Cat clearly is just doing what he wants to because he wants to do it. Maybe he honestly does want to help out the kids by entertaining them, but nobody HIRED the Cat to do it.

The Fish even seems physically more mature and calmer than the Cat. While the Cat is obviously ridiculous (a giant cat wearing a red and white striped hat and bouncing on a ball...right.) the Fish is just...a fish. Sitting in a bowl of water. Very calm. Much more realistic, despite the fact that he's talking. Once again, the Fish is the adult. Which sounds really weird. I think I need to stop now. That's 500 words, right?

EL BLOGGO NUMBAH DOS.

Question one. "The New York Times...etc etc etc. Why is this genre so popular? Why did she chose this format? What does the visual aspect add? Have you read other graphic memoirs? How is Persepolis similar/different? How does Persepolis compare to other comic books? Is this really a comic book? Where would you place this book in a bookstore?

Well, by all rights this should count as more than one question, since it's actually eight questions, but...whatever.

Why is this genre so popular? Because it's easy to read. You can plow through this thing in about an hour or two if you're slow. This would be much less entertaining as a book. The pictures aren't amazing or anything, but they do make it easier to understand as well. Pictures help. With history. And stuff. Yeah. You know. I could never understand the Iranian revolution before.

I've read Maus. Because everyone has, you know. Persepolis is obviously much funnier, but on the other hand not as many horrible things are depicted in it. In comparison just to other comic books, you can't dismiss all other comics with just "SUPERHEROES AND STUFF WHATEVER," because some of them are as good or better, despite the fact that they're made up. So is Persepolis really a comic? Yes, duh, of course it is. Like that cheesy comic said, comics are a genre, not a topic. Comics mean a story told with pictures and words, not superheroes.

Where'd I put Persepolis? Probably with the memoirs, though. Not the comic books. Nobody in a bookstore ventures into the comic book section unless they're looking for superheroes and violence and sex. More people would pick it up in the memoirs, too, thinking, WHAT A COMIC IN THE MEMOIR SECTION?????????? And so they would be interested. I'm a real business shark.

Enough use of caps and question marks.

Question three. In an associated press interview...etc etc. How does she go about challenging this myth? How does Persepolis dispel or confirm your views on Iran? In what ways does reading this book deepen your understanding and knowledge of Iran, and the current situation in Iraq?

Before I read Persepolis, I didn't know anything about Iran. Like seriously. I'd read the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, but those are Afghanistan, and they're not really the same thing. So my views on Iran were pretty much "It's a country full of Muslims and they don't let their women go outside or do anything except have sex with their husbands every four days." Which is actually Afghanistan again. My knowledge of Iran was limited to A) they have oil there and B) they used to be called Persia, and they didn't like that 300 movie.

I never really would have guessed that up until recently, you were totally allowed to go about freely without the veil and what not. And I never considered the fact that people continued to wear western clothes and have parties despite the fact that they might be shot.

Wizened me right up.

Question eight. What kinds of captivity and freedom does the author explore? What stifles people from being completely free? How do they defy the rules imposed on them and attempt to live ordinary lives despite revolution and war? Give some examples of their small acts of rebellion.

Let's be clear here: By ordinary lives, we mean lives like WE live. Western ordinary. Because you could totally argue that different cultures have different norms, and wearing full length clothes in the desert is totally normal.

But I'm not going to argue with it, so we'll say that America is normal. Freedom is normal. What stifles it, then? The Islamic regime, clearly.

Of course people don't go along with it. I don't know why it never really occurred to me before that people living under this regime would probably rebel. I mean, Jews rebelled under the Nazi regime. Why wouldn't the people of the middle east do the same? They still have parties and drink and make fun of their teachers and have their own minds.

So they're technically not free, but it seems like they ignore it quite a bit. I'm sure this isn't everybody, it's probably fairly unique to her rebellious parents and their friends, but they aren't totally oppressed, even though they are.

This is my graphic novel story thing.

So I get asked to prom over Facebook. Which probably should have clued me in a little. Not that I like this guy or anything either. He’s short. And not-so-cute. And annoying. And there’s this whole other mess about how he’s actually dating this other girl, and she can’t go with him so he asks me and actually this other girl too, and all three of us are in his former confirmation class at church. And I didn’t even find some of this out until the pre-prom dinner.

But I say yes for whatever reason and so he shows up at my house, and puts on of those flower things on my wrist, and we go out to his car. And his dad is driving. Despite the fact that my date is eighteen? He doesn’t have his driver’s license. We go out and eat dinner, and he keeps making weird comments that are clearly supposed to be flirtatious, but actually just sound like cheesy pick-up lines.

Then when we leave the restaurant, still half an hour before the prom starts, turns out his dad’s been waiting in the parking lot the whole time. How lame can you get. What are we, ten?

Since the prom doesn’t start until seven, and it’s only six-thirty, we think, hey, we should go to a movie in our prom clothes, won’t that be funny. But his dad says, no way, you can’t walk around! And I’m thinking, my parents would let me do this, and aren’t you supposed to be emancipated at 18?

So we compromise, get dropped off at the library where my friends are hanging out which happens to be about a quarter mile from the event (and even this took some persuasion,) but that’s a no-go too, because my date shows a remarkable lack of conversational skills. It’s boring, so we walk to the movies anyway. We watch most of Knowing. Nicholas Caige. We leave before everyone dies, though.

Finally, it’s prom! The most magical night of your life, right! Of course! Not! Hahahaha!

When I walk into the room full of white people that I don’t know from the suburbs grinding on each other, that’s when I really start to realize how dumb this is. Pretty much everything I hate in one room? Dancing, crowds of people I don’t know, suburban kids, country music, I swear to God they played country music mixed in with all the top 40 rap from the past two years, and a date who is really starting to get on my nerves. And probably plenty of Republicans, although I didn’t ask anybody.

But I do try. We dance. A little. Neither of us wants to, him because he’s one of those people who are too embarrassed, me for the same reason plus I don’t really want to touch him that much. When we give up on that, I try to talk to his friends, but they all apparently think I’m a crazy lady or something, since none of them will really talk beyond grunting. And some of them are totally hotter than my date, who has somehow grown uglier as the night goes on, and they’re either dateless or their dates have ditched them, and since I actually have no loyalty whatsoever to my date? I would totally ditch him for someone who’s actually taller than me. But since I’m apparently too weird to talk to. I have to sit. With my boring date. For about four hours.

Eleven o’clock. That’s when our ride gets there. We try to get them to come at ten, but they don’t show up until the very end of the prom. By that time I am so abso-friggin-lutely bored, I’ve danced to Soulja Boy, tried to teach my date how to waltz, and am considering making out with him just to do something. But luckily my ride home saves me. Not that I’m super enthusiastic about said ride, since it consists of my date’s mother’s friend’s daughter, who apparently was nine months pregnant at her prom, or so she declares, and a guy who is probably high. The high guy is driving.

Oh well. We make it home safe. Date guy walks me to the door. But I escape before he tries to kiss me.

I go to bed.

The #1 Persepolis Blog!

I'll just do this one straight up style.

Question 2: Written as a memoir, is Persepolis more powerful than if Satrapi had fictionalized the story? Why or why not? Compare this book to other memoirs you have read. What are the benefits and drawbacks of memoirs?

The only other memoirs I've read are the weird ones, and my total memoir reading to this point is: Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman, Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut, and Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. All of them were awesome. In a completely different way than Persepolis.

Maus and Maus II (excuse me if I stop the italics, they seemed to be getting excessive) were probably most like Persepolis, since they were all graphic novels. Personally, I liked Maus better, just because I'm more interested in WWII than Iran, but both were excellent.

As a memoir, Persepolis is much, much better than as a fictional story. As just a comic, I'd have zero interest in it. The fact that it's true, or mostly true, makes it much more better. Real life stories are always more exciting than fake ones, like I'm sure you can tell by all these fake memoirs that keep popping up. Why do they publish them pretending they're real? Because they don't think they'd get published any other way. (And they're probably crazy, too, you know.) Real life stories are automatically more interesting, because it REALLY HAPPENED.

Question 5: Describe the writer's voice. Is it appealing? Which aspects of Marji's character do you identify with or like the most, the least? Did your reaction to the little girl affect your reading experience?

When I first read it, I was a little annoyed by her. She was too annoying. She didn't understand anything, but tried to act like she did. She was loud. She didn't respect authority. She showed off too much. I dunno, but I kind of have changed my mind? I like her better now. And I think she shows some character development, if you can really say that about a memoir. I like how she always wants to understand more and more about the war, even though she's just a little kid, and kind of like how rebellious she is. Because it shows how you can be totally normal, even though you live in an oppressive regime. And stuff like that.

Question 9: "In spite of everything, kids were trying to look hip, even under the risk of arrest." How did they do this? What do you think you would have done had you been a child in this environment? What acts of rebellion did you do as a teen? In what ways is Satrapi just a normal kid?

It's kinda funny to ask us what acts of rebellion we did as teens, since we're actually still teenagers. But. Whatever. The kids in the book, they kept doing the cool thing, the Western thing, even though they could get arrested. Not just in trouble. Arrested. Possibly tortured.

Now see, me, I break the rules but only when I think I won't get caught. So here, I would for sure not be doing anything wrong. Because I wouldn't want to be arrested just so I didn't have to wear some clothes. Even if they were hot, unattractive clothes. But I guess they rebel stronger because the rules are stronger, so that makes Marji just a regular kid. A little more rebellious than most, but. Still pretty normal. I think she was just raised rebellious. Her parents are pretty crazy that way too.

愛國者 Patriote Patriot Πατριώτης Patriota 愛国者 애국자 Патриот

So I made this cool animation thing but apparently it isn't working, so this is what you have for now:

http://lifeistechnicolor.deviantart.com/art/Patriotism-122833335

It's the picture, minus animation. I'll put it in the post once I get home.



You all remember what our wonderfully former president did after 9/11, don't you?

He told us all keep shopping.

You remember what they've been telling us the whole recession, right?

"Keep shopping.

It's our patriotic duty."


When I started making this, I was planning on putting American flags along with logos to show this whole idea. I put the flags all right, and then I started looking for logos we'd all recognize. It didn't take too long before I started to notice a trend. Almost all the logos I was looking at were red or blue.

This shopping as patriotism thing? It isn't just an idea, you guys. Companies are playing off it. They've been playing off it since way before terrorists hit New York and the economy went in the toilet. It isn't just coincidence that the logo for almost every major company I looked at incorporated red, white, and blue.

So what does that say? That consumerism is American. That to be a consumer is patriotic, and everybody wants to be patriotic, right? Yes. You do. Of course you do. So Ford and Pepsi and Walmart and CNN and AIG and Burger King design themselves as red and white and blue and so if you buy them, you're not just supporting their executives' vacations to Honolulu. You're supporting America. Of course you are.

But what scares me is that I never noticed it before. It wasn't until I put five or ten of them beside each other that I noticed it, and I'm a pretty thoughtful consumer, as that goes. This is the stuff that all of our "feeds" have. Stuff you see every day of your life. But you don't realize these patterns. Which scares me a little. What else is there?

It'd be easy to become a conspiracy theorist.

So maybe it isn't terrible that companies are playing off our patriotism. They play off everything else. Sex, money, greed, cute. It's all marketed. But to advertise with patriotism is like saying that buying things is a duty. That it's your responsibility to consume. And I think there's something wrong with that. Because in Feed? That's what America has become. Consuming. Nothing but. So if it's already our patriotic duty to buy things, how much farther is it until we become as addicted to consuming as the Feed people?

There's another part of my picture, which is the figure made out of things. That basically represents what my "personal feed" would be. Let's go over it.

The Hello Kitty represents a couple of things - how I'm a sucker for cute and how I'm a sucker for Japan. Which is basically what Hello Kitty is the epitome of.

The computer is a computer. I'm sort of addicted to the computer. I would've stuck a TV on there too, but there wasn't any room. Let's say it represents that, too.

The arms are a pencil and pen - drawing and writing. They would have to be part of my feed, because that's basically my life. With writing also comes reading - yes. Such a nerd.

One of the legs is a sock - that's how I like clothes.

The other leg is a LEG LAMP. Because I just like quirky weird things. And it looks sexy, and everybody likes sex.

What does this say about me? That I like stuff a lot of other people do, which is no surprise. What does this say about my individuality? Hey, we're all unique, just like everyone else. You can be plenty individual even if you buy the same things everyone else does. You just have to keep thinking things no one else is. As soon as you stop that, then you're in trouble. That's when you turn into Marty and Link and Calista.

Let's summarize: Consuming is not necessarily a bad thing. It's just when you stop thinking about it that's bad. As soon as you stop noticing how much you're consuming, you might as well be in Feed-land. Just keep paying attention. Keep writing things down. Don't just buy something because George W. told you to and don't ignore how you're being advertised at. Be patriotic. Buy a flag, but only if it's made in America. In short, watch yourself, see yourself. Pay attention to what you're doing instead of just doing it.



Sorry it turned out kind of long. I had a lot I wanted to say.

Één Dag

Is Dutch for "one day."

So this right here is my visual essay. I know it might take some explaining.

It's a visual list of all the things I used in one day. Not quite, because I forgot to take some pictures of things and deleted one so I could get a square number. But it's rough estimate.

Everything I used. From the lights I turned on to the cars I rode in to the freakin' toilet.




Total: roughly 81 things used in roughly 13 hours
Electric? 20 out of 81 things or about 25% of all the things I used in a day ran on electricity.
Modern? Meaning, something that your great-grandma wouldn't have taken for granted. Including indoor plumbing. 43 out of 81 or about 53%.

This is a little skewed because I went to Macy's and tried on like a ton of clothes that I didn't pictures of because I didn't want them thinking I was gonna steal it or something, but it's kind of evened out by that fourth row which is a bunch of pictures I took photos of and only counted as one electrical thing. In case you cared. Anyway.

Fifty three percent of the things I used in a typical day were things that a couple hundred years ago? Didn't exist. Or only existed for the very rich.

And almost none of these things existed in the form we know them today. Like I would for sure not have been able to go downtown and shop for a couple hours back in pioneer days. No way. There wasn't even a downtown here. Or a town.

So what's my point? That things change, I guess. There's stuff in Feed that seems freaky and weird and like "Holy shit they just went to a BEEF FARM." Gross. But if you took a hair straightener to Laura Ingalls Wilder? I bet she would freak. Like we'd freak if we saw someone with a feed.

And I bet she'd think we are lazy as all get out.

Basically, I'm not entirely sure if I'm trying to say that it's okay when things change, or if we live in a consumeristic society. Both, maybe. We consume like nobody's business (hello dress shopping for two hours) but that doesn't mean that "modern conveniences" are so bad. I mean, who decided that working for everything is a good thing? Who decided that? I don't think my life would be boring without chores.

And we're smarter than ever - at least our rate of change is progressing at an ever faster rate - at the same time that we're lazier than ever. That's an interesting thing to think about, right?

блог 2 питания

Is how you say "Feed blog number two" in Russian. Or actually, it means "[Blog] of 2 nourishments," according to Babelfish. Close enough, yeah?

Question one: The boat picture.

I thought this was an awesome question since I thought the exact same thing while I was reading. What I figured was that he's so used to having everything "fed" into him, right, that any moment of inactivity is completely null, unit. He can't stand actually having to THINK about something. What a crazy idea. Maybe it really is a totally boring, stereotypical picture, and maybe it's a friggin' Picasso, but either way he'd probably find it boring, since I doubt he could tell the difference.

Question two: "Like if you carried your lungs in a suitcase and opened it to breathe."

Another one that struck me while I was reading it. What pretty much jumped to mind was that he sees the feed as something necessary for life. Not to mention totally natural.

Neither of which it is, by the way. Breathing doesn't make your skin fall off.

Question three: "Dude!"

I thought it was kinda funny how Titus's dad used "our" slang, like how our parents use "their" slang. Like, totally retro, dude. Ohmigod!

It seemed weird, like he wasn't talking like a normal parent, and I thought at first it had something to do with how they're all immature now. Which they are. But I think also he's trying to show that the dad IS older, because he's like "dude!" instead of being all "unit!" like the rest of them. Basically.

This is a weirdo song I found while searching youtube for Feed-related stuff. I think it fits. Kinda. Anyway, it's weird. It sounds like something Titus would listen to. Maybe you've heard it.

Hey, it's Feed.

So. Titus. Let's talk about him.

He's smarter than the rest. We already said that in class. So? He doesn't really use his smartness. It's like a girl dumbing herself down to get a guy. He thinks more than the rest, it's pretty obvious. The only other one who might have a brain is Loga, but she's never in it. And then we've got Violet, obviously. Titus isn't good enough for her.

Violet is the kind of character that usually annoys me, but compared to the rest of them she's great. At least she has freakin' opinions on things. And it's hard not to like her when you hear about the lesions and the fake birds and the nodule shirts and all the stuff the rest of them are doing. It makes you wonder, why does she even go for Titus when she's so much smarter than him?

It also makes me kind of wonder, why is technology always evil, right? Like you never read a book where technology is a good thing. Robots get aware of themselves and become evil and kill everyone. People become too reliant on technology and start to become retarded. Nuclear war.

Not that I'm saying everything with technology is awesome, but. Do we all have to be Luddites? Why is hating technology the smart people thing to do? Is it just some kind of automatic rebellion against whatever's new?

I also like how it's the Americans who turn into feed-bots. Seriously, who else would be that dumb. Even Canadians have more sense.

Another topic? Let's see, the dedication.

To all who resist the feed. The feed's a metaphor for consumer culture taken to extremes, so he's saying everyone who resists not thinking for themselves. Really look at those advertisements. Watch what you're watching. Think about what they're telling you to think. It's the smart people thing to do.

I think that's three topics.

Okay, youtube it! This has nothing to do with Feed. Really it doesn't. But I really really like this song. So listen to it?

I'm in Science class.

Yes I am indeed.  And I don't really have anything to say, but I'm bored because we finished researching our project.

So MCAs are done, which is good. Except I have to go back to gym class tomorrow. But I'm really glad they're done.

-So Ashley give me something to write about.

-Um. Writing about thrilling experiences during MCA testing.

-I didn't have any.

-Oh. I'm sorry about that. I thought you enjoyed Erie Canal one.

-It was funny. I'm writing down our conversation.

-I know. That's really really awesome uploading. Look it look it lookit. Oh it ended. 

-Interesting.

-It's not loading anymore. It's irritating me. Oh frick, I think it froze.

-The word frick looks really funny when you write it down. Are you just not saying anything now?

-I like that word. It's a good word. I hate this computer though. It's fricking nasty. Oh NOW it works. 

And I'm done. I KNOW THIS WAS SO INTERESTING YOU GUYS.

OH NO NOT MORE.

I...can't stop writing...Hetalia fanfiction...

But I thought this one was cute enough to post here, since it's fairly understandable even if you don't read Hetalia.

I'll try not to make my whole blog this stuff.

______________

Feliciano isn't really an idiot.

He knows perfectly well what crawling into bed with someone means. He's Italy. He’s done it to enough women before.

And he really doesn't just give roses to anyone. Especially red ones. Especially on Valentine's Day.

The hugging? Not really as thoughtless as it looks.

The kissing? (On the cheek, only on the cheek!) Even less so.

And all of the stupid running around after him grinning like, well, an idiot? That's to preserve his image. Of being, well, an idiot.

And he knows that anyone else would have given up on him by now. After all the battles he's lost. And all the times he's been captured. And all the...oh, you understand. (Weak. Idiot. Not exactly the same thing.)

That's probably why he feels the way he does.

Why no one has realized by now is a mystery to him, but he likes it this way.

He doesn't smile all the time because he’s an idiot. He smiles because he likes being in love.

__________________

If you've read this far you get to find out a secret (haha not at all). This is WWII era Italy talking about, er, WWII era Germany. OMG NOW ERIN THINKS I'M A NAZI TOO.