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This ad boasts a motorcycle flying across the pavement- an experience that is probably a little excessively risky for the average purchaser, but certainly proves attractive in its powerful speed. Most buyers will probably never experience the rush conveyed in this ad, and thus this rush shown can be considered a bearer of false implications, which are establiched only to capture attention of consumers-stir about desire-without any hint of reality embedded.

Quarter 3 Books

i read 6 books, the equivalent of 6 books

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
Bite Me by Christopher Moore
Animal Liberation by Peter Singer


Animal Liberation
Singer proves that an animal has the natural right to not have pain unfairly inflicted upon them because and ONLY because that animal possesses the capability to experience pain. Singer's case is presented in such palpable logic it would be impossible to deny the validity of his reasoning without being unreasonable.

Quote

In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.

-Ivan Illich (1926-2002)


Capitalism is a consumer society, and indeed there may in it be a sense of contentment, yet does such satisfaction not prove to be hollow? Capitalism favors the establishing of enormous businesses and, in turn, an extremely wealthy class. Yet this class, however prosperous it becomes, seems to act continually in pursuit of furthering their wealth. Is it not ingrained in human nature to do so? And it seems that once the taste of wealth strikes one, it becomes nearly impossible to plunder from one the inevitable desire to have that wealth maintained, or, better yet, increased. Is it for the ego boost of possessing more? Or the familiarity of their possessions which catalyzes the looming threat that the consolation of it would possibly diminish? No matter, it is certainly true that such a desire is an addiction to which one can with tremendous ease suffer of. It is an addiction which one can fall slave to and prisoner of without even the slightest recognition of their imprisonment. And it inevitably siezes any whose prosperity is to any superior degree. Thus, the wealthy class can be claimed all prisoners. But who remains? The prisoners of envy, those who are not prosperous. In a consumer society, if there is a wealthy class, there must exist a poor class, the have-nots. And is it not true that the entirity of this group looks upon the wealthy with only jealous eyes? Who does not wish to be rich? They are the slaves of coveting, endlessly harvesting their envy.

Tim Burton Is Such A Capitalist

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a piece of anti-communistic, pro-capitalitic propaganda cloaked with the disguise of simplicity and a lack of completely blunt explicity. Nevertheless, the propaganda is obvious after the reasoning by which the plot progresses is contemplated. The movie portrays an individual, Jack Skellington, whose efforts to change himself ensue after he stumbles upon another individual, Santa Claus. Jack tries to become Santa Claus, but in the end the attempt fails and Jack realizes that who he was in the first place was perfectly sufficient for him. Jack sacrifices his desire to be Santa for the sake of what? Why does Jack want to become Santa Claus in the first place? The simple answer which the movie offers is that Jack is tired of being who he is. He is tired of the dull monotony that steers his life, controls his life, and is unrelenting. But Santa Claus emits an inspiration for Jack to change, to transform into the Santa Claus. But when Santa Claus is replaced, who is to play Jack in his Halloween town? His town needs him. This very scenario symbolizes the ultimate conflict of the world: the clash of the rich class and the poor class. Capitalism works only in that there lives a poor class as well as a rich class: these contrasting classes are the very product as well as the very basis of the functioning of capitalism. So, for capitalism to function, the rich cannot exist without the existance of the poor and vice versa, lest there be only one class and for that to be, the economy would be communistic. Now, in the movie, Jack symbolizes the poor class and Santa Claus the rich. Jack aspires to become rich like Santa, but cannot for that would terminate the poor class. Because the movie shows it to be true that Jack cannot become Santa, the theme is supporting the basis of capitalism and denying the basis of communism. Which is no wonder: Tim Burton is rich.

Groundhog Day.

Bill Murray presents himself as a man everyone can relate to in the heart-warming comedy Groundhog Day. His tale is a superb demonstration of the unwittingness we humans engange in when we find ourselves stumbling over the difficulty of learning to refine ourselves, to better ourselves, to improve our mentalities by means of becoming knowledgeable of those around us and of, in turn, the sympathy we can produce for them and manage to let flourish in our everyday behavior.

Bill's character, Phil, finds himself awakening every day to the same day, Groundhog Day, which he finds as much misery in enduring as the most dreary of pessimists could fathom. This trap, this torturous period of time that he has been cruelly stuck within, mimicks the monotomy of our reactions to challenges that we are presented with constantly and the results of these automatic reactions. We, speaking in a range inclusive of all humans, fall victim to our habits all too often, and fail to learn a thing. We allow ourselves to supress our better natures under some impression that glory is acheived through bitterness, heartlessness, depression. And this way of thinking becomes the worst plague of a routine, so ruthless in its addictive nature and so destructive to our own happiness and those who find themselves wedged in our presence, among our aura of disregard to sympathy and worship of destruction and pain. Yet we are ignorant.

However, Phil begins to alter his habits. Though the time required for his change was lenghty to say the least, as he clung to his mentality stubbornly, his reactions eventually, gradually changed. On the last day he was granted to wake to the holiday, Phil seized every oppurtunity he possibly could to aid the people near him; snatching lives from the ominous forms of pain and death infiltrating the town and making the day a perfect day for all those he could. This turn towards the glorification that shines righteuosly in opposition to old habits of bitter actions symbolizes the internal struggle we all have between the two, and the success, the victory, the prevailing reign of the righteous, which can be sewn into the soul by awareness and practice, despite the discouraging length of time it seems to take.

Reading Aspirations

Upon being nudged into deciding a few more new novels to plan on reading this quarter, I began a search for some that would really capture me. My inquiries proved somewhat futile as I was recommended books that either didn't sound at all appealing or are ones that are not currently available to me. So, I began to look at the available books I could borrow, and found a couple that really excited me.
The first one was "Catch-22". It didn't catch my eye, no. Rather, I was in avoidance of the book seeing as how I've heard it was too difficult a read. I was under the impression it would be dull, actually, until someone had the courtesy of telling me otherwise. So I turned over the novel and on the back found the claim that it is "the funniest book ever written." Needless to say, I was intrigued. And after reading the first page, I decided to give it a try.
The second book I discovered is called "Dumbing Down Our Kids". The title itself yanked me towards it, as I think I am rather opinionated on America's society becoming particularly dumber. Yes, I think America is getting much, much dumber, despite whatever the Flynn Effect seems to say.
The third book I recalled I already own, and have been attempting to get to it for a while now. It is titled "The Film Club" and is a nonfiction book about a boy being allowed to drop out of school to instead watch more films more frequently. I purchased this book in the curiousity of how the experiment turned out.
I have very high hopes and somewhat high expectations for all of these books.

Independent Reading Reflection

The past nine weeks I began determined to read a collection of books I'd been hoping to get to for a very long time..The majority of which were funny, yet could not be altogether deemed juvenile. Not to say I read Shakespeare for pleasure, but rather I wasn't reading books specifically targeted for teens. This, I came to find, was a most rewarding decision, as teen books tend to pose a threat to me, in that they probably decrease my attention span due to the fact that I so quickly think them dull and cannot grant much of my attention at all to the text. I mean no ill intentions; I am not saying I am too superior for teen books, but a book about more than jocks, nerds and cheerleaders does typically prove so much more enjoyable.

With that said, I must point out that it would have been even more beneficial had I read a couple more nonfiction books, as they are so vital to ap english as I've heard. Alas, I did read one, of a topic I knew would be my very favorite. This book was about slaughterhouses, and seeing as how I am most opposed to the horrendous places, I read it furiously, and I mean that as both quickly and angrily. Yes, it incited a fury in me. And whether it was indulging to be accompanied by such rage, I only have a vague idea; anger is, obviously, an upsetting, harmful emotion. Yet, I enjoyed the book particularly because I felt my anger was shared by the author, and that was such a beautiful justice. I plan on reading a plethora of books dealing with the same subject during this new nine weeks. Most will be Ingrid Newkirk's.

But, I did excessively enjoy the other books I read. I knew at the start they would be euphoric reads, considering most were Christopher Moore's, and he is a genius of a writer, every character and story of his being both the most unimageanable and believable once you have delved into them.


Despite my satisfaction in my reading, or perhaps because of it, I didn't write much at all in my reading log. Once a good story has enveloped me, I cannot emerge enough to recall that I need to be writing about it. That was too difficult, and terribly aggravating. In my annoyance, I was reluctant to halt my stream of engulfed thoughts and attempt to trigger any new ones regarding what I could write, although I must admit it seems awfully lazy of me considering it wouldn't have been that hard to write really. It was mostly because I didn't wish to waste my reading time writing things that really wouldn't be beneficial to me. I say the reading log is unbeneficial in utter honesty and truth. Copying thoughts is not necessarily going to make them any better than thinking deeper about them alone. Time-wasting, unhelpful and annoying was the writing, so I think there is justice in having neglected my log.

But, but but but, the reading was superbly fun, educating, and worthy of my time, and I shall be reading much, much more in my near future.