Although I have never read it, the first thing that came to my mind was Kat Von D’s book, High Voltage Tattoo. I’m sure those from another generation, specifically and older generation, would not see the beauty, originality, or meaning behind tattoos. I don’t think any of them would agree with it either. I know my grandmother would not see the reasoning behind marking up your body with a bunch of pictures.
I don’t really know how people of her generation expressed themselves like people do today. Expressionism in her time wasn’t as accepted as it is today, as now a cardboard box can be considered art. I think the first thing I would have to do is explain that even though the tattoos may look like just a picture to an outsider, that symbol may have a significant meaning to the person wearing the tattoo. Having it then tattooed on their body is a way in which it will always be close to them or a part of them. It isn’t like having it printed on a piece of paper, or made into some type of statue. It is an expression of who they are as a person. Something completely different than anyone else.
Kat Von D may be an extreme case of individual expression, and I'm sure some of those tattoos can actually be taken at face value, but I don’t have to let my grandma know that.

I think Soonseeahray’s death is a typical Hollywood death. Hollywood seems to glamorize death and dumb it down to being a band-aid on any problem. It always brings feuding families together – pan away to estranged father with his arm around daughter – or the understanding sigh of an old person quietly passing away after their battle with Alzheimer’s. No mind all the work and distress for the family after the person so peacefully slips into their eternal rest. That’s not really a big deal, because who really wants to watch a movie where the widow has to call the funeral home, make plans for a cremation, break the news to all the family members. We would rather stop the death scene on a happy note so we don’t have to feel the uncomfortability (I know it’s not a word but I think it should be) about the reality of death.

I like to think of Brave New World when I think about death. Not that I agree with it, but just the way they handle death. It’s just kind of a matter-of-fact type thing. They don’t glorify it, or dwell on it. They just accept it for what it is.

I do think though, that death is a time that brings families together. Just a shame that this is the only reason they’re together. Hollywood’s play on this is that all the “family-distance” problems are then solved in a pale yellow light with soft music. However, anytime someone in my family has died and it brings distant relatives together, it takes longer than those first few moments for everyone to be able to talk about the deceased with a smile. I think this also shows Hollywood’s uncomfortability (yep, there it is again) with death, and there cleverness to know that people want to see the yellow light and hear the music. I don’t know whether to applaud or shake my head.

I don’t want to say I would agree that The Daily Show is the most trusted provider of news in the United states, but just like any comedian, they tell the truth no matter how stupid or funny it may seem. You can trust that a comedian is going to say something crude about a public figure, even if it does cross the line, if it’s true. I think in that sense that John Stewart can be seen as a trusted provider of news. He doesn’t censor himself or limit his reports, but, because he is seen as a type of comedian, can get away with it.

I humor that is ironic in some way. As dirty and ridiculous as Dane Cook is, I still think he is hilarious. There is a teenage comedian who started out on YouTube named Bo Burnham that I think is the funniest guy ever. He isn’t stupid humor, or just use women and sex and beer to be funny, and he doesn’t use physical violence to be funny. He uses words and irony to make fun of situations and all different types of people. I guess because I’m an English major I think the use of words is fascinating. He’s different than Dane Cook because I don’t think Dane Cook is as smart as Bo, but the fact this kid can think of all these lyrics blows my mind.

I think that all these comedians that I like cross the “comfortability” border, as well as walking on the line of, “should he really have said that?” Bo makes fun of all different types of ethnicities and backgrounds and doesn’t limit himself when talking about those who are handicapped. The things both comedians say are funny because a lot of the time there’s so much truth in them that no one wants to point it out because it may embarrass someone, yet these comedians are brave enough to use it in their skits. I think making fun of reality is the funniest.

I honestly don’t know how these mythical figures form into the history of the European colonization of America. The only thing I can connect with is maybe the story telling aspect, the lack of respect for elders, maybe a realization of self? Did we even talk about that though?

To me placing the Mad Hatter in the story was like trying to have the characters deal with their own personal problems, or problems in their world, while dealing with this other figure who doesn’t seem to really fit into the story, yet poses a disturbance or another layer or problems the characters must deal with as well.

I guess that’s how I viewed King Death as well. The narrator and Leonard had the problem of dealing with cleaning up their house and getting it ready to sell, then this man who at first seemed like just a problem in their world, became someone who was then given a mythical name and a somewhat elevated status. He is now on the same level as the Mad Hatter because, like Leonard said, it was like he was being haunted by a piece of the past that never happened. His essence went from the physical to the metaphysical, and now no longer just a problem on the first level, but just as the Mad Hatter not physically taking a role in the story much, yet his presence still adding to the layer of problems for the narrator (his violence, rage, threats). Now does the bum become more than a person when dubbed with the name King Death.

These figures are there though for the characters to learn something about themselves or some important lesson that could not just be told to them straight forward, but learned through some kind of message. 

First reaction: 11 tweet updates while I scrolled down to the bottom of the page and back up.

Total elapsed time: 30 seconds.

I chose to look at a thread that was in the most popular threads for the week. I figured since it was obviously one that people are talking on, it would probably be a good one to look at. It’s a thread called, “#beatcancer,” although I’m not really sure what the number sign is for. Since my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and it’s breast cancer month, I found this topic to be of interest to me. The first few posts I saw didn’t really have a common theme ironically. Everyone just kind of puts whatever they’re thinking, not necessarily responding to other’s posts. This is the opposite of what I usually see on comments on online newspapers or articles. Everyone there usually comments on someone’s article, or another person’s post. However, there are always those random people whose comment has absolutely nothing to do with previous posts or the article.

Aside from tweets about breast cancer, I have found a lot of “RIP Kanye West Balloon Boy” …? whatever that means. I’ve also found that it’s hard to read with all the … html text? Whatever it is with all the numbers and symbols. I wonder if that has something to do with the number sign in the title …

Alright, found a conversation on breast cancer now as opposed to the beatcancer. This one doesn’t have as many number-symbol-nonsense posts, but again, no one is really commenting on anyone elses posts. It also seems like many people are using this as a bulletin board; putting up their links to other sites and articles without saying anything. I guess when you’re only allowed something like 130 characters you can’t really say all too much. 

I must say, my favorite post so far is from a man named BarberBruce and his post that said, “I have to say, I am LOVING my Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Snuggie and Itty Bitty Book Light. Walgreens $14.99” I know if I got a pink snuggie and tiny book light for the super low price of $14.99 I would be excited too. 

There are some posts that I do find interesting though. One of them said how a basketball team is taking action against breast cancer and has a link on the post that leads to the Winnipeg Sun website, a Vancouver newspaper. The article the post is linked to talks about the Manitoba Bison’s women’s basketball team. 

Sidenote: From that newspaper, I found a n article about best car commercials, and the new Honda one is pretty bomb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh97oYCJ-Ok

Anyway, the posts on this page range from early detection, treatments, hope, fundraisers, and things of that nature. I will see how many thousand posts I miss when I look at it later today.

Yep, thousands. Who would have thought? Most of the posts seem to be along the same lines they were before. No one is really commenting on other’s threads, just kind of putting their own information out there to get their voice heard. Although, I wonder if some of these people are using some type of “bot” like the people using virtual worlds, because a lot of these tweets remind me of spam. Like when someone gets a virus and it sends out some link with some explanation and an exclamation point.

What I find confusing is if you click on someone’s name or the @something, it takes you to a whole new conversation. This website confuses the hell out of me. I don’t think I could handle all of it.