The Circle: A Review

I would actually like to keep this review of The Circle as general short, sweet, simple and painless as possible, because if I do talk about it in length, it will only turn into an angry rant that would do nothing for the integrity of the book.

So in general, it is a very interesting look into a Utopia turned Dystopia. Dave Eggers does a brilliant job in showing the slow sure decent into the utter madness that usually surrounds a Dystopia. The idea of technology going beyond it's own boundaries is creepy and chilling, especially when it seems, in some form, our own world would follow some of the steps that the Circle took in amassing their empire. It was a wonderful idea and a really eye-opener to our practices- right down to my own practices- with technology.

In all honestly, especially with the ending, I ended up not liking the book. Especially with main character Mae Holland. I get that it would have been too easy to end with a happy note, where everything gets fixed, but Mae just made the descent so maddening. Her naivety, and quite frankly, stupidity in her handling of relationships, and her life, outside and inside of the Circle was just absolutely aggravating, and that's putting it mildly. She had no personality no actual thought for herself, it seemed, by the end of the book. She was robot, just waiting to be programmed by the "right" people. The fact that she only had one single moment of clarity throughout the whole book, which she quickly dismisses just makes her worse in my eyes! She was too wrapped up in wanting and being apart of the company that taking it away from her own self was absolutely unheard of.

*sighs* Okay, I tried not to rant, I really did that doesn't mean I succeeded. In the end The Circle was in a general overview, a good book, but definitely not one I would pick up again any time soon let the irrational anger run it's course first... give or take a couple years. 

The Circle: A look at a Character

There are just so many characters I want to talk about: Mae, Kalden, creepy Francis...
But there is one I actually want to focus on for the sake of this response: Mercer.

Mercer is the ex-boyfriend of protagonist Mae Holland. They really don't seem to get along, and he isn't took keen on her new job, while she's just not to keen on... him.

I found a real problem with Mercer. He actually seems like an interesting person, and he was the only other person in the book that had some sense about him, though he seemed high minded about it.

But there lies the problem: His portrayal. It was what conflicted me most about his character. What he had to say to Mae and about everything that about her job and the modern age they were advancing into were valid points, but he is portrayed as this putrid human being. He's fat and ugly and not worth giving a damn about because he won't conform. Or this is how Mae sees it, and this is the only way we can see it. We can never see him in a view that doesn't have Mae painted all over it. I probably would have taken him more seriously earlier in the book if it wasn't for how Mae was so dismissive and rejecting of him from the get go.

I would have actually liked to know more about Mercer, and I'm actually  a bit sorry that I didn't get to see him beyond what we did see of him.

The Circle: Aphorisms

ALL THAT HAPPENS MUST BE KNOWN

It is one of the earlier aphorisms we see in The Circle, probably, as the story goes on, one of the least... unsettling (surprising, I know). It is here we start to get a feel of what The Circle (as a company) entails. The practices and words that seem to make them tick. It shows the reader just a taste of what we're in for (granted, the everything that happens afterwards doesn't compare, but still...).

To explain a bit further, it's all knowing every aspect in the world around them. It could be history, or it could be what's happening in the thrilling of little Timmy and his training wheel saga in the next town over. They don't care how large scale or small scale the information is, they still want to know, want it to be available for public consumption.

It's still a bit creepy nonetheless. I won't deny that. All that happens must be known? So if you really want to know if Kathy picked her nose, or if Amber broke a nail on her way through the turnstile? These are things that must be known?

Certain things, sure. But not all the things... Right?

Daily Create: Make A Creative Photo in an Unremarkable Place

Daily Create: Three is a Magic Number

 A rose by another name, would smell as sweet.

                                                      -William Shakespeare

Story Board for Chloe's first trip! (And Commentary)

Okay.
So, I know I was supposed to post this a while back, but things got a little hectic. It's a really simple layout some of the blanks that previously existed filled out with what was on the final project.

So commentary:
I originally had no idea what I wanted to do, but as ideas bounced around in groups, and it seemed like everyone was doing a personal experience, I thought: why not use a personal experience of my own? After I had that pegged, the next question was, which experience?
Then it just hit me: Disney World. And not just any random trip. My cousin's trip. Partly because I had a lot of pictures. Mostly because it got me thinking.

I honestly don't remember any of my first trips to Disney World (I had apparently went often as a kid. One time involved me sitting on a goat? I really couldn't tell you.) But my mother has all these memories of the times we went. And I began to realize with Chloe, I have those memories. I have that little chubby excited face imprinted on my brain as we went throughout the park. I remember her getting a free cookie because the ladies at one of the restaurants found her so adorable. I remember her "conning" me into getting her a baby zero plush doll, which, considering the price, turned into her birthday gift.

And I quite honestly love having that memory, more than trying to remember my own. Being able to experience someone else's first trip to Disney is really heartwarming, and makes you realize why it's considered  to be, the happiest place on earth.

Daily Create: Argument Time

So, today's daily create involved reading an article about social media and writing your stance on it's argument about the subject.

I chose this article which asks the question of whether or not Youtube is is a bad influence on society.

While the article doesn't exactly take a stance, I'd like to make one in the case that Youtube is actually a good influence on society. Thanks in part to having Youtube, you have people, across all generations, taking sides on today's political and social issues and making their voices heard.

People, of my generation especially, are showing that they can be taken seriously, that though the older generations like to write us off, we do have an honest and thoughtful (surprising, I know) opinion on the policies and practices that effect our everyday lives. We actually WANT that opinion to be known, to be able to say that yes, I want to make a difference, or I want people to know that I care just as much as that crotchety old dude down the block that sits in his rocking chair on his front porch day after day mumbling about roadkill. Or maybe we just want to say that Senator so and so from bible belt USA doesn't speak for me or my values.

Why should Youtube be put down for allowing us to have a platform, no, the power to speak our minds? Why is it considered something awful if we actually speak?

Newsflash: It really isn't.

My Digital Story

After many a trial and tribulation, I have finally completed my digital story.
Story board and thoughts will follow in a later post.
Hope you enjoy!

Daily Create: Lucky 7s

It’s like time slows down and your life flashes before your eyes.

All the things, big and little that brought you to where you are right now in that moment goes by in little spurts: Past jobs, past purchases, past decisions, the most recent of them being to spontaneously come to the casino and blow your last two hundred dollars. Who cares about rent? Or getting a plane ride back home? Why not let loose? Got to live in the moment right?

Live in the moment. The mantra for half the stupid crap you've done, particularly the stuff that caused you to end up in the hospital with a broken limb. The mantra that got you to ask out that one girl at that one bar at that one time, along with four shots of tequila for an extra boost of confidence. God help you if you actually remembered her name now. The mantra that reverberated through your mind as you lost dollar after dollar, whether it be to drinks, craps, or blackjack. You decide to spend your last bit on cheap beer and the slots, the only thing you could afford after the beer.

You wondered, as the world went back to normal speed, the past going back to being to the past, and the last red seven slid in to place, black line running through it and its brothers, how many more times you’d utter live in the moment, with a moment as bright and golden as this coming in to focus, into reality, before it all became more moments to flash by. 

Daily Create: What Matters Least?

Reality Television

“Did you see what she did on last night’s episode of…”

I sigh, turning on the volume to a level that could probably deafen me, but I still hear them. It’s “this celebrity did this or this one fought with that one and this one called the other a no good ratchet…, well you get the idea.

This is totally not what I come to work to talk about.  Like really, what is the point to watching one woman pull the weave out of another woman’s head? Or see one washed-up rapper’s ex become another’s baby mama. Like really? What makes reality TV so interesting? Where’s the substance? Where’s the role models?

What’s so wrong with watching a good scripted TV show? What’s wrong with watching fiction? Why should the good shows be canceled to make room for another show about America’s next whatever?

“Oh and I don’t know how she thought she could stay when she…”

Ugh. Time to turn the volume up louder. Hopefully my ears can take it.

Reality TV, I really care not for thee. 

Daily Create: The Most Famous Novel No One Has Ever Heard of

The Sorcerer’s Touch

Ella and Caleb made it through and back the Sea of Mirage by the skin of their teeth and the Jewel of Sight barely in their grasp, but their journey is still far from over. With tension and differing ideals growing between them, they now must come face to face with the Sorcerer of Melarn; one of the most powerful men in all of the Tales combined, and hopefully persuades him to join their cause. That’s if they can manage to pull together past their issues and pass his tests. It’s either that, or risk turning into extra ingredients for his spells, while simultaneously plunging all of Melarn into chaos.  Hey, who said getting back home was going to be easy?  

Alana Watson’s fourth novel, The Sorcerer’s Touch, is a thrilling and suspenseful follow up to Voyage of Visions and their predecessor, The Diamond Force. Readers will enjoy the exciting and darker twists that have yet to be seen in the Tales Saga. 

Daily Create: Nothing. Take a photo of Nothing.

I may not the best with a camera, but I must say I love the camera on my phone. And that this was the best opportunity. So This is my roommate's bed (picture taken with her permission, of course) and her newest painting.