Week...aww hell, I've lost count already.

How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live

1. Johnson's thesis is that, while at first glance it may seem unnecessary and superfluous, Twitter is changing how we live and how business is done in our world through what Clive Thompson calls "ambient awareness".
2. When talking about the educator's conference, Johnson says that Twitter "brought a wider audience into what would have been a private exchange". I have to agree with him on this point, because that seems to be one of the main purposes of Twitter. It is a means for getting a message to a larger audience, in a wide array of settings, from business meetings to concert information to punctuated beliefs regarding the benefits of low-fat mayonnaise.
However, following that, he claims that the tweets resulting from this conference built something substantive, "like a suspension bridge made of pebbles". I would like to point out that suspension bridges made of pebbles DO NOT WORK. Likewise, I have trouble believing that people who are communicating in 140 characters or less are unable to form substantive thoughts and effectively convey everything that they would like to express. From my personal experience, I find that it is very difficult to hold a productive conversation when all parties are limited to how much they can say.
I can agree with the point Johnson makes about the up-to-date-ness of Twitter. Whereas Google and other search engines do better in terms of discovering articles that have garnered views, and, arguably are therefore more reliable (though this could also be debated), Twitter seems to succeed better in a society where gossip plays a large role in social situations. However, this doesn't necessarily contribute towards the overall health of our society.
I also disagree with Johnson on his point about the search usefulness of twitter. While there may be some merits, I feel that what you are going to find is heavily dependent on what your friends are interested in. Therefore, it narrows the range of what you can search for. Worse, it narrows that range with arbitrary boundaries that may be unknown to yourself, the "tech-savvy Twitter user".
3. Do I use twitter? No. I've sworn that I won't start a Twitter account, because I'm one of those primitive people who thinks that it is completely superfluous. I have followed my friend Sam's Twitter, however, while he was hiking the Appalachian Trail last summer, as it was the only way to find out how he was doing, and where along the trail he was.

Ad Nauseam
The biggest thing that stuck out to me from the last two sections came from the article "The Idiot Consumer". I'm amazed at how ad agencies have been conspiring against the general public with a view of superiority. Equally amazing to me is how this view has adapted to changing times and tactics. I find it hard to comprehend how, not only does the advertiser get away with reverse psychology in the "You're smart, you're not going to buy into cheap advertising gimmicks" schemes, but the average consumer still buys into it.
The entire last section of the book made me quite gleeful. As an avid fan of pranks and things that shake up the general doldrums of day-to-day life, seeing so many pranks being pulled in a productive manner always makes me smile. As Jello Biafra (former frontman for seminal punk band the Dead Kennedys and outspoken political activist)(as a sidenote, Biafra's first name, Jello, shows up as being spelled correctly, yet this blog doesn't recognize the word "frontman" as a real word) once said, "A prank a day keeps the dog leash away".
In particular, coming from the last section, the article "MeBay!", by Joe Garden, makes a vivid statement in my mind about just how consumer-oriented our culture is. The fact that people are actually bidding on some of the things Garden puts up, such as his DNA, his friendship, and a peanut butter sandwich, shows just how out of touch we are with our own natural environment, and how an environment of the Internet and consumerism has replaced nature as our primary life surroundings.
My question for section 5 is "Where does the idiocy of the average consumer end, and the manipulative qualities of the advertiser begin? It appears that much of the consumer responses to certain marketing techniques, such as subliminal advertising, are being fed to consumers by the advertisers themselves."
My question for section 6 is "How can the pranks that are currently being pulled to open people's eyes be made accessible for all ranges of social structures, on both the creative and receptive spectrums?"

The Merchants of Cool
1. The cycle of marketing to teenagers and taking marketing advice from (unknowing) teenagers who are deemed to be "trend-setters" and "influencers" scares me to no end.
2. Until it was pointed out to me, the idea of the "mook" as a common male character on television and in the movies passed completely over my head. It wasn't until I started thinking about it, in addition to what this film said, that I realized how obvious it was. Like any stock character, it is prevalent in so many different mediums. Off The top of my head, I can think of about 5 or 6 different shows based entirely around this stock character, as well as "mooks" in other shows, such as Gob in Arrested Development and Zach Galifianakis' character in Out Cold.
3. The ties between all forms of industry becoming clear...Sprite plus Hip-hop. The Vans Warped Tour plus energy drinks plus shitty pseudo-punk bands endorsed by said energy drinks.
4. Sexuality is becoming accepted at younger and younger ages. This was made clear to me when I worked at an amusement park a few summers ago, and would see ten- and eleven-year-old girls wearing shoulderless shirts and miniskirts.
5. "market research" is disgusting.

I'm still recovering from a weekend in New York City. The overt consumerism is absolutely revolting, and yet so fascinating at the same time. More on this in class.

Peace. If you're gonna support a record label, make it an independent one!
Nate