Empty Space

30GB, 80GB. Do we really need that much space for music? I don’t know, I only have 340 songs in my iPod. Only. I’ve come to realize that this new trend of the 80GBs has unleashed a competition among MP3 owners.

Everyday, I hear conversations that ago along these lines:

“I have x song sin my player”

“Really I have y in mine”

~~where x<y bu a significant amount.

Later on, the person with x number of songs will go and download as many songs as possible to reach and perhaps surpass y.

I’m trying to not fall into that contest, music loses its value.  But not it’s monetary value…

It seems like people are suddenly very open to music tastes, don’t take me wrong, I like open minded people but now buying music is done just to fill up those empty 80GBs. Good strategy by the music companies. Create a demand and the means by which to fulfill th demand.

Customer: I must find a way to fill up all this empty space! I ca’t let it go to waste, after all I spent 200 dollars on it

Seller: Well I can fix that. We have a large variety of songs available in different formats. Take three Beatles albums, and don’t forget the Platinum Deluxe Edition of Beatle Hits. It doesn’t matter that some sogs are repeated, it’s Platinum, remember? Still got empty space? Have some videos! Useless? Nah they’re hialrious. Besides think of the benefit it will fo you to watch them in a tiny screen! Ok? Well i see you have empty space still, come back next time and we’ll fill it up. Ok, buh bye!

Rachel’s Blue: “How 2 Read Lit Like A Prof”

After my little reflection on Foster’s How to Read Literature Like A Professor, the idea for this comic came to me.

He was right…

A year ago, a little book called How to Read Literature Like a Professor crossed my path. I read it. I was satisfied, the book did live up to its claims to have the keys to the kingdom of the lit world. The patterns Forster (the book’s author) claimed to be in all stories are true. Some of them are pretty apparent, like the quest archetype, or the diseases as metaphors motif. Others are more subtle like the political messages and the eating together scenes.

After reading the book, I agree with Foster on the fact that copyright is apparently violated over and over again in literature whether subconsciously or not.All stories come from each other, there is not one original true work of literature. They are all connected in some way or another. There is not one original hero anymore, they all share the same qualities, and desires. Perhaps their backdrop is different, the princess they are trying to rescue has a different name, perhaps they don’t use a sword but a wand…

I forgot about the book, recalling it’s lessons and commandments only when I sat on my English class. Apply the book’s knowledge to the novel or play we were reading at that time. But I did not realize how right Foster was until yesterday.

I was going over my my NaNo from ‘07, when I realized I had done some of the things Foster says writers do. When A character goes south, some thing’s bad is going to happen. Uh-oh, my main characters travels south towards the desert, a trip that catalyzes a series of disasters. Another character wishes he could fly, paralleling his desire to free himself from his family.

I can’t believe it! I was in such a rush to finish the 50k words in the time alloted that I did not consider giving it those little things that add up at the end and give the story layers.