The End

I hate blogging. Why is my teacher making me blog? I don't enjoy this experience at all. I want to feel good about getting my writing out to an audience but this isn't my thing. I don't want to blog anymore. I have more important things to deal with. Blogging is pointless, no one would even be reading my blog if it wasn't required so its not worth my time. This is the last blog entry I will write. I tried blogging out, and I have realized that its not for my style of writing. When I write I want to feel proud and like I accomplished something. I don't get fulfillment out of blogging.

I can make you GOD

What makes an idea stick? Are there reasons that some ideas are remembered and others are forgotten? Yes there is. According to the research done by Chip Heath and Dan Heath creativity and good ideas can be taught. Their book is entitled Made To Stick and it seems to hold the answers. If you are interested in the ideas they have presented in their own words you can find a summary of the book at http://www.madetostick.com/excerpts/.
"Great minds think alike." How many times have I heard this and thought how ironic, isn't the concept of greatness suppose to mean that you have found a way to rise above everyone else. To stand out and be remember envokes the idea that you are able to perform and think like no one else. Why would all minds think alike? Well the answer seems simple after reading the thoughts of Chip and Dan Heath. You need to apply a set of six simple principles to your presentation of ideas.
Simplicity is key, if you don't over complecate the situatution people can understand what you are saying easier and if the audience understands what you are saying they can recall the importance of your statement. In simplicity people find comfort. If you can summarize an entire idea in one sentence, then you stand a better chance of being remembered.
Unexpectedness can help you captivate your audience. If you scream in a crowded room that is silent, people are bound to listen. "We need to be counterintuitive." This is a brilliant statement, say the unexpected. Suprise people and they'll thirst to have more. This is how we get people's attention and this is also how we keep them entertained.
Concreteness carries itself. You have to give your ideas enough to stand on their own. Humans process information based on their experiences. Give them and example that they can visualize, help them mentally picture the point you are trying to make. Most people get caught up in statistics, which can be helpful but it doesnt always leave an impact. No one wants to hear a speach that they could just read online, let them use their sensory inputs to relate to the matter on hand.
Credibility means everything. You have to let your ideas prove themselves to your audience. Give them a reason to believe what you are saying. Let your audience challenge and question your ideas and let them find the truth in your words. People arent going to believe you just because you speak or write something down. Give them a reason to believe and if you allow them to feel like they found the answer it will have more impact to them. Don't try to force them to beleive, let them find the truth in your words.
Emotions make the world go around. If you can tap into people's emotions then you'll go a long way. We are made to feel things for other humans, not abstact ideas. If you expect to inspire an audience you have to make them feel something.
Stories are remembered. If you tell someone a story they will learn more about your ideas put into practice. Mentally rehearsing a situation is proven to help us perform better. So give your audience a situation to practice their ideas.
Well I can't walk you through everything you will have to do to have your ideas remembered, just use these six factors to help you on your way. Put them into practice and I am sure you will be able to convince more people your ideas are the right way. Just make sure you are telling the truth.

Stalking like a creeper.

Well I was asked to do a very strange thing by my teacher, she wanted me to stalk a person at the library and fill out a worksheet with the information i gathered. She wanted to know what the person was wearing, what they were doing and other important information that you would want or need to know about a person you are stalking. Well I felt a little wierd at first because i was doing something most people think of as creepy. I felt like this the entire time and I dont know how crazy fans stalk famous people. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Oh well there are a lot of crazy people out there. Thats besides the point, I am writing this because I just wanted to comment on how this can help me as a writer. For starters paying attention to even the smallest detail can come in handy. This will help you be aware of how the world works and help you describe activities and physical items in better detail. You have to become aware before you are able to describe a scene. This also helps us create more interesting stories because we can draw more from our experiences as long as we remember all the details that we notice. So this is streching our ability to notice and be aware of our surroundings, our audience, our characters actions, their speach, the details of events and soo much more I can't possibly list them all out. So use your imagination for the rest. Just remember be aware of what's going on and who you are writing to.

Its ALL about PRESENCE!!

I just read Malcolm Gladwell's "What the Dog Saw" and wow. I am almost speachless at the ideas i have just recieved. The whole human and dog interaction concept was completely broken down and right there in front of me in words. The idea that your body language is very important never even occured to me. It says alot about a person's mood, or atleast it is suppose to but most people have lost this ability. Only the really intelligent people who know that their gustures mean just as much if not more than what is actually being spoken, especially to an animal that can't understand english. Our tone and the way we carry ourselves into a room can tell a dog alot about our intensions and what we may be capable of doing. We need to be non-threatening so the dog will allow us to get close to him/her. Once the defense is down we attack in sense just so the dog knows who is in control, and that is you. Well you are suppose to be the one in control, but most of you probably aren't actually in control. You have to do repetative motions because this can be soothing to the dog, animals find comfort in repetiton.
Human and human interaction isn't much different than human and dog interaction. We can get a different feeling about a person depending on how their body movements are. For example if a person has their arms crossed then they are in a defensive mood and may feel as if they are being attacked or have the possiblity of a threat present. The way we move, how fast we move, how relaxed we look can tell a person alot about what we are feeling but a lot of the time our actions don't match up with our message. People don't know how to effectively use body language like we should, its just as important as the words that are being spoken. The meaning of our words can change drastically. If we scream something we can be mad, happy, frustrated, or enraged. The tone and what we are saying helps determine what emotion the person is probably experiencing. So our movements and how we present ourselves has a lot to do with how people read us and react to us. So make sure you arent sending out mixed messages, show us you mean what you are saying and believe in it fully.

I've got the answer you are looking for

Will novels eventually be considered something of the past?


I don't think novels will ever become a thing of the past, i feel like they are timeless. Yes it is a hastle to collect all the books in a library, and you constantly have to maintain the libraries but I feel like they're always going to have books. We might also make books available on a large data base that we can access from any where but we will still make books. I much rather flip through a book then scroll through endless amounts of text. Also you can guarantee that books won't loose information on you, but information can easily be lost online. Just because you go to a webpage one day doesn't guarantee that it will be there the next time you go online. If we were going to stop writting books i feel like we would have already stopped by now. I hope I am right about this because it will be a sad day for me when books become a thing of the past.

I have some questions for you Stitch Bitch

1) What were you thinking when you wrote "Stitch Bitch"?

2) Do you enjoy reading this to yourself? Because I didnt.

3) What possessed you to write this?

4) Was there a point beyond the fact that hypertext can be confusing and loose the author's true meaning?

5) Have you written something worth reading all the way through?

6) Did you try and organize your thoughts at all?

She was right about one thing, she's a bitch.

WHAT? Are you trying to bore me completely or did you want me to get completely lost in your words? I couldn't even finish reading "Stitch Bitch" by Shelly Jackson because the writing was horrible. I didn't connect to the writer at all. She didn't capture my attention at all. She made me want to loose focus and not pay attention to the words placed on the page. The class discussion helped me realize this was one of her point, that hypertext can be confusing. The problem I have with writing online is the fact that our words are loosing meaning everyday. We try to abreviate and shorten everything so much that we loose the magic of words. That's why I hate writing online, and blogging. The only reason I am writing online right now is to get a good grade in my class. I absolutely despise writing online, i feel like a sell out or a fake. I realize that my words can be easily misinterpreted even more than ever before. Also I don't want to take part in the demise of the english language. Anyone who is reading my blog stop, don't continue. Stop reading right now. Click the x at the top of this box and never return to this web page. If you want to hear what I have to say then do what your parents use to do. Go to the store and buy my book. Any idiot can write online but not everyone can write a good book. At this point I have not written a book, but in the future I hope to do so. If I can manage this daunting task then you will have the luxury of actually reading something worth while. Most of you probably continued to read on even though I told you not to and I am insulted. A good reader listens when being spoken to. Oh well, it's not like we respect the english language anymore so I am essentially wasting my time right now.

w/e idc ne way
Maybe you'll understand that line a little better than the rest.

I fucked up

I fucked up. I was wrong. I was suppose to come up with six questions for my teacher about Billy Colins' poem "Litany" and failed to do so. Now she asked me to answer one of those questions but I still don't have even a single question for this man. I agree with him completely that love is a made up emotion, it only weakens those who possess it. Some people would call me a pessimist but I would disagree. I don't go out of my way to put a negative spin on things it just happens sometimes. I try to see things for what they truely are and I try not to get blinded by misguided intentions of others. I take everything into account and emerge with the best possible answer I can. As a whole the human race is a very greedy and once we get a taste we always want more. So if we can obtain love then we will always want more than we have, and the only plausible way to obtain that is to get love from a vast array of people. So the fact that I know i will never be content with any amount of love makes me think "why even pursue love?" The fact i believe love is made up helps me out a great deal. I don't think about it anymore than i would think of a unicorn or a fairy. Why do we have to be in love, isn't it enough that we are happy. Why do we always have to categorize and place titles on everything? Why can't we just be happy for once not knowing the answer to some questions. Some doors are better left unopened, we are just too greedy to realize that.

We've all been told that knowledge is power, but I'm starting to disagree. Knowledge corrupts in ways we couldn't even begin to imagine. Look at Albet Einstein for example, he never even dreamed that his research would be used to destroy so many lives. Knowledge isn't power but ignorance is bliss.

Do you want another hit? I have plenty of influence left.

"But the truth is that with artists pulling on one side and corporations pulling on the other, the loser is the collective public imagination from which we were nourished in the first place, and whose existence as the ultimate repository of our offerings makes the work worth doing in the first place."- Jonathan Lethem

People write to influence, draw to influence, dance to influence, speak to influence, sing to influence, play music to influence, skate to influence, surf to influence, paint to influence and many other actions just to influence the people around them. Influence is a major part of being human, we take from others in order to give back. Most of our actions are us trying to influence other people with our ideas and motives. The corporations are trying to take the art we are given to make a little bit of money. When I say a little bit of money I really mean a lot of money. This isn't to benefit the masses but to help a few people get rich. What Lethem is trying to say is we are all influenced by other people whether we admit it or not. When someone "gives" their art to society we should all be able to use the ideas and concepts they have worked so hard to give us. This idea of a give and take relationship is collective public imagination. It is the collection of all our ideas and achievements. We should have easy access to collective public imagination so creativity and the imaginations of our youth can grow to new hieghts. The corporations are making it harder and harder to access this. The artist are battling to influence us and the corporations are trying to limit our use of these influences. The reason art is worth doing is the satisfaction of knowing other people will use it to grow and expand. We have to take a step back and ask ourselves what is more important, fame and money or a more beautiful world? The decision is all yours.

I have some influence, want to get high?

"Today, when we can eat Tex-Mex with chopsticks while listening to reggae and watching a YouTube rebroadcast of the Berlin Wall's fall—i.e., when damn near everything presents itself as familiar—it's not a surprise that some of today's most ambitious art is going about trying to make the familiar strange."- Jonathan Lethem

This is an absolutely brilliant concept Lethem presents to us. This quote was taken from his work entitled "The ecstasy of influence." Through out this entire article he is constantly ridiculing the direction this society is headed. We are so obsessed with owning objects, concepts, ideas, trademarks, cartoon characters, logos and everything else in this world we forget to think about the consequences this has. We are limiting the creativity of artists to take the many gifts this world is presenting us and more importantly the progression of our intelligence as a whole. If we cannot use other text, ideas, concepts and art in general without it being labeled plagiarism then won't this cause our artists to hold back. I believe this will. We are too worried about making money to be concerned with what is best for the whole instead of a few individuals. Art is about sacrifice, who cares who gets the credit as long as we advance farther in intelligence and creativity. We have grown so much as a society, and as humans in general that we have explored a vast majority of the ideas and concepts already. The only thing we have left is revision and reinvention. As Lethem put it, we are just trying to make the familiar strange. Yes it is wrong to steal from someone else but when the item is given to you to use, then you mine as well take advantage of it. Why explore territory that others have already written a map for. Try to bring your art some where people haven't been, and if you can't do this on your own let other people's work help you.

Follow the bread crumbs home through the woods? No let's get lost in the city

The at&t commercial about the two kids, Hansel and Gretel, getting lost in the city is brilliant marketing and nothing more. The message they are trying to get across is the fact that their phone and service is the one you want to buy because its timeless like the stories we pass on through our children. The story of Hansel and Gretel has gone through so many generations and is still going strong. The people making the commercial just used the baseline of the original story, threw the kids into a modern city so we could relate and then made the children rely on their product. See now your kids can be safe any where they decide to wander off too. The only reason the marketers made this commercial was to sell the product and make a profit. As a society I believe we over analyze everything and look for meaning behind every corner. If you look hard enough you will find the answers you are looking for, even if you have to make them up. I can write the most meaningless piece of work then tell my readers before they read it to dig deep and really try to understand the points I have hidden in the text. I guarantee you the readers will be able to connect my random pointless ideas to something "meaningful." The only problem is most of the readers will find completely different ideas, and more importantly they will make up my intentions for me. Sometimes we have to take what we see for face value and not try to look for a deeper purpose or meaning. The commercial is made with the intention of making money and nothing more.

Why should I??

I was told by my teacher to write six questions on my blog about Billy Collins' poem entitled "Litany." This seems rather absurd to me because I have no questions to ask this man. What he did was genius and takes true literary talent. He got his idea across to the audience very cunningly. Love is about exaggeration and over elaborating, giving it your all. Collins gave himself to the audience but decided to retract himself as quickly as he gave himself up. He mocks the people who believe in true love, and even the lovers themselves. He believes he is better than the people who fall into the false hope of true love, and is not afraid to say it. He says at one point, "I also happen to be the shooting star." Collins called himself a shooting star, how is this man not full of himself. A shooting star symbolizes hope, and the chance to make your dreams come true. Also they don't come around very often, maybe once in a lifetime is what we are told when we are children. So he is saying you missed out, I am all that is great in this world and you will never get a chance to share my love.

When he calls the person the bread, knife, goblet and wine he is referring to a Christ figure. He doesn't want to be this person because he knows in order to love you have to sacrifice a part of yourself and hope the other person will do the same. Collins is not going to sacrifice himself for anyone, why would he when he feels superior without love. He does everything to avoid love. He is mocking the romantic ideas our society has given us to use.

Love blinds us.
Love makes us content.
Being content blinds us.
Being blind causes us to crash around this world, hurting not only ourselves but others as well.
When we are blind we don't realize when we are lost.

Mark Twain's the man

Mark Twain is a remarkable man way ahead of his time. He once wrote in a letter to Emeline Beach, on the 10 of February 1868. "To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought onto the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself... Anybody can have ideas-the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph." Everyone should take these words to heart. We need to stop ranting endlessly, stop over complicating, stop procrastinating, stop boring our audiences with pointless words and stop wasting time. The key to success now a days is to get right to the point, stop adding all the bullshit just to fill space. Everyone is way to busy in this fast paced world to sift through all your shit. Language is a beautiful thing when you know how to use it, just don't over use the words or your ideas will get lost.

You are taking my BLOG virginity

So here I am at Hofstra, and I am blogging. Writing online makes me feel like I am not very important, after all who is going to find me in this massive place we all like to refer to as the Internet. The chances of me loosing my work forever aren't that high unless we run out of ways to power this planet. I meant to say these massive cities we have errected to stand way above the land for our convineince, and to save a little space. We have to look out for Mother Nature some how. At least with books you feel important because you can physically see all the copies you have produced and just imagine all the readers that are going to read your words. That must be a hopeful, and exciting feeling to possess. I don't want to bore you with my first blog so I'll make this one short. Peace out.