A paper I wrote as a Personal response for Manufacturing consent.

Manufacturing consent

A personal response

In class, we watched the film Manufacturing consent a book-cum-movie by a gent by the name of Noam Chomsky. In this movie, he tries to explain the evils of mass media, and the way that we're all being duped by the same corporations. Additionally, he seems to emphasize the idea that there is a group of capitalists sitting around a table in some underground complex who pull every string. You don't sneeze without them knowing about it, etc.

What Noam Chomsky tries to do, is inform us about a very legitimate issue. He's right that the media is quite “in-your-face” about everything they do, and there is a certain amount of spin doctoring going on within the media that could raise concern. However, this is a complete over reaction to what has been going on for centuries. Ever since the first leader, people's opinions have been biased. Humanity is not perfect, no one can approach a situation from a completely unbiased side.

However what Chomsky's theory seems to need, what it has to include to function, is that the world is full of people who cannot think for themselves. He even outlines this theory with the “Political class” and what would seem to be the Proles from 1984. That is where his theory is flawed, in my opinion. He states that their role is to “Follow orders and not to think”, and I must admit, there are people who do that. The problem arises with the fact that there aren't as many as all that, as Humanity is a curious creature, that asks why.

What I learned from this documentary is that there are certain techniques the media uses to influence how they appear to the public. I learned that the media itself selects topics, emphasizes certain points more than others, I learned that they filter information out of given materials.

Essentially, the media is given full control of what they produce, however that isn't actually the thing I feel I learned the most. I feel that the movie presented a very poor image of humanity, based on the fact that he's essentially segregating people into Stupid and Not Stupid. Of course, that's a rather weak claim in today's society, however I feel it's true regarding this subject, and the views of Noam Chomsky.

Some random stuff.

Tricia and Kara, two extremely hot girls, are laying out in the quad.
Tricia: Oh my god, Kara, take a look at Henry Popper over there laying on the bench.

Kara: Wow. Look at that healthy, full gut. He must be like, totally well fed and wealthy.

Tricia: Seriously. He must get to eat rich, dairy-based foods and meats, like, all the time.

Kara: Compared to Biff Ryland over there playing Frisbee, all sinewy and shirtless.

Tricia: Effing gross. Look at those abs and well-defined delts. Uhh, can you spell "field laborer?"

Just a funny thing. Hat Tip to Erin for the link, rest is here: http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1755201

Additionally, I suggest looking up Movie Typographies in Youtube, some are quite cool to watch:

Wisdom Teeth and the lack there of

I got my wisdom teeth out a few days ago, and I'm not quite sure of the results. I mean sure, the headaches are going away, but that leaves the blistering pain from my jaw, and the ultimately pudgy looking swollen face. Mum has been commenting on how one of my friends who got her wisdom teeth out earlier in the month, was only down for a day, before she was back up and moving, going so far as to sing in a children's theater production.

Well, glad to know I can get judged on the fastest recovery time, and then feel bad when I don't recover that fast myself! =D

In other news, the guild is beginning to shape up again after a guild party and a run through the Fabled Underworld, a place that eats my manhood for breakfast, and still has enough room to eat all the other people in the party with it.

We're attempting it again tonight, and we'll go in a little more prepared than last time.

Name game?

1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother & father's middle name)
Ann O_o;

2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad)
John William

3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Rusvi

4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Red Dog

5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Kendrew Toronto

6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning)
The Black Milk. ... Wtf?

7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Vion

8. GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Quadruple Chocolate Fudge Chocolate chip

9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pets name, current street name)
Xander Selkirk

10. STRIPPER NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy)
Red Zone Peanutbutter cups... (Bet I'd be exciting!)

11. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on)
Midnight Glenburn

May the blogfest begin!

I'm making my triumphant return to blogging today... Well, I'm making a return to blogging, time will tell if it's Triumphant. As far as the name goes, I'm not quite sure myself, however I'll be ranting a lot on this blog, so maybe I'll be a hammer?

I guess I'll start off small but strong with a little problem I had today. I've had an increasing headache over the last few days, but I woke up this morning, and it was gone. I remember thinking a very loud "FUCK YES!" as I got ready for school sans headache. On the bus something kept bothering me, not sure what though. I felt a little... Sluggish. I arrived at school, where several of my friends had gone to different areas because one person doesn't like the other half of the group. This is where the headache begins again, and at a full new force. I step outside and start talking to the other group, when suddenly I'm dizzy, and almost falling over.

Thankfully, no one notices this little moment of weakness, but I felt very odd after that. I head towards French class and take my seat, and it feels like EVERYTHING is against me. My head was hurting in absolutely every direction, and I had trouble focusing. One of my Immersion compatriots, James, and a girl named Madison started talking about Baseball. Oh joy, the most amazing sport known to man. I apologize to baseball fan readers, because the niceties stop here.

Go on, close your eyes.

I'm serious, I don't want to offend anyone here.

So anyway, Madison goes on about how she's not playing baseball this year. James laughs and passes a comment, and I suggest playing soccer instead. This is where things get nasty, 'cause she laughs at the mere idea of stooping to filthy standards of playing soccer, that sport where someone breaks a nail and cries! (Bloody Italians giving us a bad name!). At any rate, my head is throbbing, and I'm about ready to murder, when suddenly James agrees with her, saying we're all a bunch of divers, and there's no challenge to the game. Excuse me? Excuse me? This coming from a guy who's idea of physical exertion is running from white base A to white base B? That's more challenging than soccer? Blow me away, baseball MUST have a lot of nuances we dirty uninitiated types are unaware of, because baseball is possibly regarded as the most boring sport there is!

At any rate, it's around this point that the nausea sets in. The room starts spinning a bit more, and my head feels like there's a nuclear war going on. I struggle through the rest of class, including nearly needing to do a presentation involving singing in front of the class. I wander down towards homeroom, when suddenly... I went bowling if you'll allow the term to be used. I stumbled out of the bathroom and headed for homeroom, not quite sure what to do. I get to homeroom and act natural for the most part, my head threatening to give out any second and simply explode. It's at this point that my neck starts to hurt too. After a fairly uneventful homeroom, I head to English class, and collapse on my desk with a groan. I imagine it was pretty pathetic looking, but I asked Ms. Young to let me go to the office to call home. She agrees quickly, and lets me leave.

A phone call later, and I'm sitting in the school office, realizing that there really are some interesting types that frequent the office. I'm sitting beside some Italian guy with slicked back hair, looking cocky and smelling like way to much hair gel. I relax a little bit too much and let my head roll back, only to hit off an edge of a display case, giving me a very unfriendly reminder that my head is ready to go on strike. I groan and the dumb kid chuckles at me! I was ready to start something at this point, but didn't have enough energy to even look at him, instead, opting to glare straight ahead to see if I could ignite the desk infront of me with my eyes.

No dice.

A car ride later, I'm sitting at home, and that's how the rest of my day went, sitting at home, doing nothing. It's actually just more that I've lost the will to keep writing at this point.

To summarize the above in a "tl;dr" statement: Baseball sucks, being sick sucks, and I hate headaches.