Blog 39 - Saturday's Halloween

By Friday night when I got back to my room I was done with Halloween, at least the partying-going-out aspect of it. I wanted Saturday to be more low key and relaxed. Most of my closer friends hadn't gone out Friday night though, so they wanted to go out Saturday. I decided to go out with another friend of mine that I've been dating for a while...I don't know if its boyfriend yet, but whatever anyway I went out with him for dinner and to watch Inception. And as you all know, and if you don't, look at blog 28, I'm a huge Inception fan, so I was really excited to watch Inception with him. It ended up being a really great alternative to going out and I'm so happy that I had a great night. 


Today is actual Halloween, and my best friend who goes to school in Denver has a unicorn costume. I had wanted to go as Agnes from Despicable Me for Halloween earlier, but my roommate didn't want to be a unicorn, and she hadn't watched the movie. I was so excited because now I got to dress up as Agnes and skype my best friend :) I didn't have the right yellow striped shirt though, so I took another striped shirt of mine with horses on it and took sparkly felt and taped on horns onto the horse (haha...so ghetto). Anyway, I was just happy to have an excuse to go around wearing this costume and potentially saying "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!" 

Blog 38 - Friday's Halloween

So I'm not really the type of person that likes to go out to parties and such very often. It's usually just not something I find that much fun, and I prefer to do something a little more personal and sociable than going out. I figured since it was Halloween though, that I should go out. Little did I know that Halloween was going to be as crazy as it was. I mean, I knew Halloween was a huge party night, but I wasn't expecting such a chaotic hubub. I also was just super surprised by how crazy and drunk some people were. This one guy was standing and all of a sudden just started to lean to the left and proceeded to fall into this orange fence netting and it took 3 guys to help him get up. This same guy was also creeping on me for a good 15 minutes so I spent a good time of my night trying to avoid this guy. This other guy also elbowed me in the nose, so that was great too. Too many people, too hectic, and too much just going on in general for me to handle. Halloween night is definitely not my thing, I just like dressing up for it haha. Either way, from now on I don't plan on going out on Halloween, and if I do, I'd prefer to go to a smaller house party or get together instead. I like things to feel a little more personal and sane.

Blog 37 - Halloween Timeeee

Halloween. Brings back memories of trick-or-treating, which really should just be called treating because no one ever does tricks anymore, scary movies, pumpkins, costumes, all that jazz. I have to admit though, I'm not an avid Halloween fan. As a kid I did enjoy the fact that I could literally walk up to a house and they'd give me free candy, but as my love for candy diminished, so did my love for Halloween. I guess now that I'm a little older, Halloween is more about just dressing up and going out. I feel like so many girls use Halloween as an excuse to dress up like sluts and whores though, and to me, that's honestly just such a bad excuse. "Oh it's Halloween so I can justify why I'm wearing such a skanky costume.".....NOT. If you're going to be a skank, secretly or an open one, be one. Don't use Halloween as an excuse to be one. Revealing costumes aside, there really are some great costume ideas that get tossed around. Last year I saw someone be balloon boy, that boy from the news who supposedly got lost in a hot air balloon but was really hiding in the garage the whole time. Creative costumes like that make Halloween so much fun, and I always appreciate a good costume. I also think Halloween is a fun time to wear something that isn't "normal." This year, me and my roommate are going as Mario and Luigi. Not that original, but still fun nonetheless. I've got hats with a sewn on M and L, suspenders (we couldn't/didn't want to get overalls that we'd never use again), cut up shirts, and jean shorts. I'm excited, but definitely not looking forward to the fact that I'm probably going to freeze my ass off tonight. Oh well, all in the spirit of Halloween, right?

Blog 36 - All Asians Are Smart, Right?

Personal Anecdote

"Oh, you're Asian so that must mean you're smart. Help me with this math problem."

Yeah. Like I haven't heard that one before. Sure, it's really a "compliment" so that isn't necessarily a stereotype, right? When you hear people tell you this all the time, I don't think that's really the case. The thing is, people tell me this all the time and they think that it's really a compliment when really, it's a bit of a jab. Sure the statement seems to be a compliment but it underhandedly tells me that I should be smart and that if I'm not, then I'm not a "real Asian." Let's add to the list of Asian stereotypes by telling me that I'm a bad driver and have slanty eyes too. What I've realized is that stereotypes really lead up to racist remarks, and when it comes to being racist I think many can agree that racism shouldn't be tolerated, so why should stereotypes? I realize now that my personal anecdote really isn't one story about what happened that one time, but that's because this kind of situation has been tossed into my face so many times that it's all become one big blur. 

Hypothetical Situation

A lot of us can relate to a certain type of stereotype. The jock, popular, emo, scene, class clown, redneck, creep, nerd, punk, white trash, gangster, dumb blonde, you name it. And no matter who you are, there's no doubt in my mind that you've been categorized into one of the many different types of stereotypes. If you havn't, then I'll be damned. 

Imagine yourself as me. I'm an American born Asian, but on the outside all you see is just Asian. You don't know where I've grown up, what I've done, or who I really am, and you go into class where the teacher is teaching something, lets say math, and the concept is a little bit difficult for you. You hear from someone next to you that they don't really understand the material, but they know that you do since you're Asian. In actuality, however, you're just as confused as the next guy. How are you supposed to respond? You have this "title" to uphold as being smart and you've been put on the spot to prove it, but really you can't because you have absolutely no idea whats going on. So, what you do is you tell the truth. "I don't get what he's teaching, sorry." As you say this you kind of have this sinking feeling for two reasons: 1. You have to admit your faults, that you don't have a clue, and 2. You're a little upset that this person assumes you know the material because of your race, not because you've been known to be a good student or because you've done well on past exams.

It's upsetting. Just like every other stereotype does, it forces this image onto you when you haven't even been given a chance to prove who you really are and what you're really capable of.

My friend put this on my fb wall, and I died laughing.

Blog 35 - Commonplace Article

Let me say from the get go that I honestly couldn't find the right commonplace website for a good five minutes until I finally caved into finding the file on how to purchase commonplace on Carmen. Anyway, the article I want to talk about is titled "I Can See Stupid From My House." When I saw it on the site I knew right away that it was based off the SNL spoof from their presidential debate specials, which I loved. The article talks about how a lot of people are misinformed by the information they are revealed to, and that they use this very minimal knowledge to make inferences on important issues. The writer was trying to say that in such a society where so many people know little about important issues, it would be better to have a world where there were few experts instead of many uninformed. He used Tina Fey's spoof on SNL from one of Sarah Palin's interviews where Tina Fey says "I can see Russia from my house!" and references a poll that asks those who voted whether or not they knew who said the quote. The poll shockingly revealed that 87% of the people who heard this quote thought that Sarah Palin had said this, not Tina Fey impersonating Palin. Now, I'm not a big fan of Palin myself, mainly because I don't think she's qualified, but it really is shocking that some people can be so clueless as to not know the source of the information they hear it from. If you are going to make an argument or reference something you've heard about, you better be damned sure of what the argument really is and where it came from, otherwise you look just like clueless fool.

Blog 34 - Stereotypes

I've decided to do my essay for Commonplace about stereotypes. My main paper is about the series Dollhouse, which is a show where there is this company that has this technology to erase your memories and "install" new ones. The people that undergo this procedure are called dolls, and their memories prior to joining Dollhouse get erased too so they never know who they are. I thought that this is kind of similar to how people lose who they are due to the images that people force onto them. Stereotypes are just that; they're an image that gets forced onto a certain type of person. Although there are some truths to stereotypes, for the most part there are so many other things to people than the images that other people forced onto them, or even just on the surface of who they seem to be. I definitely can relate to the effects of stereotypes (everyone can, really) because, being Asian, I have the stereotype of "Oh you're Asian, that must mean you're smart." Even though that's probably one of the milder stereotypes in the sense that it seems to be a positive stereotype, it gets really annoying sometimes. I'm not just my schoolwork.  There's also the stereotype that all Asians are these slanty-eyed, small-penis, bad driver, good with electronics people who go around saying "Ching chang chong." And yes, I really do have to deal with that stereotype everywhere I go. What people don't realize is that I'm not just Asian, I'm also American. I was born in the US, I know about and lived through American culture as much as, if not more, about Asian culture. Anyway, I'm actually looking forward to this essay topic mainly because I can relate to it more and I'm also a lot more passionate about this topic.

Blog 33 - Taylor Swift

Most exciting day of the week: TAYLOR SWIFT'S CD SPEAK NOW RELEASED!!!


I am a huuuge Taylor Swift fan. I love all of her lyrics, always feels like she's speaking right from her heart and I can always connect to what she has to say. She really knows how to write songs that are relate-able to her fans (most which I can imagine are girls). I had preordered this CD mid September and was so excited, thinking it would arrive in the mail today. On the contrary, it didn't arrive. Fed-ex told me it would be arriving Wednesday. WEDNESDAY!? I wouldn't stand for it, so I went to find it online to listen to until then. I have to say, she hasn't let me down. Love the CD so much, and I can't wait to learn all of the lyrics for the songs (yes, I pretty much know every single lyric to every single song she's released. Devoted, I know). 


Something about Taylor Swift's music is just really great. It's not like I only listen to her candy-pop songs that are on the radio like Love Story and You Belong With Me. Not to say that those aren't great songs, because they are, but she has so many other great songs that never get played on the radio. My favorite ones are actually ones that never get played on the radio, and I think a lot of people who are big fans of musicians usually find their favorite songs never play on the radio. I think my favorite thing about her songs is that they always tell a story. It's never a repetitive set of lyrics that don't really develop, and they always are a meaningful story to tell. 


Can't wait for my T-Swizzle CD to get mailed in :)

Blog 32 - "You don't need God to create the universe"

Controversial title for a blog huh? During the summer, close to about 2 weeks before school started, Stephen Hawking was on Larry King Live to talk about his new book, The Grand Design. Basically, the book talks about how he's come up with new math and physics formulas that prove that the universe can be created with the environment that it has been provided with, aka, God doesn't have to be the one that created our universe, though he still could have. This was a very controversial book, and so Larry King interviewed Stephen Hawking for the first 15 minutes, and then for the remaining 30 minutes he talked to three people. The first person is the co-author, Leonard Mlowdinow, a spiritual guider, Deepak Chopra, and a priest of a Jesuit church, Robert Spitzer. It was very very interesting to see these three very different perspectives talk about the same subject, and even more entertaining (at least for me) to see these three men at each others necks trying to prove their points. What was surprising was the fact that the spiritual guider seemed to have a pretty sound argument. I had thought he would kind of be a wish washy kind of guy talking about spirits like a palm reader of sorts, but really the things he has to say (which was a lot, by the way) made a lot of logical sense to me. Anyway, I thought this interview was SO interesting, and for any of those who enjoy this kind of "what-if" kind of conversations, this is perfect for you.

Blog 31 - Circleville Pumpkin Fair

This past Wednesday my friend took us to a pumpkin fair near her town called Circleville. Apparently this fair is one of the biggest things during the year, so I was pretty excited to go, especially since I actually had the time to go. Usually I'm so busy during the week that I don't have time to ever go out. Anyway, we went and there were tons of rides and pumpkin related foods and fried foods and goodness gracious it was fantastic. I love fair food, and while I was walking I saw this woman pass by with a plate that had this flowery shaped fried onion on it and I flipped out and was like "What is THAT?!" My friends just kind of gave me a look and were like "...a blooming onion...you've never heard of a blooming onion?" "NO!! I WANT ONE!!!" So I proceeded to run around like mad until I found a place that was selling them. I bought one, and oh. my. god. it was so delicious. OK, so maybe my cholesterol and chances for a heart attack went up 500% but it was so worth it. I also had pumpkin ice cream, which was absolutely delicious. There were so many other foods I wanted to try but with my small stomach and it's low food capacity I wasn't able to eat as much as I'd like. That wasn't the most interesting thing of the night though. My friend took us to see the largest pumpkin pie, and while we were inside a reporter from ABC came in and asked if I could answer a question about the pie. Of course, before I could reply, all my friends had bolted out the door because they didn't want to be put on TV. So I answered her question, and lo and behold later that night on ABC I was on TV for a 3 seconds. A little embarrassing, but definitely a good story to tell haha. Anyway, if any of you get a chance to go to that fair in the future you should definitely go -- so fun!! 

Blog 29

So as for my essay, I've decided to take a different direction from what I originally planned. Luckily the information that I wrote about previously can still tie into the point I'm trying to make. Either way, I started the intro paragraph and I know it needs some more work. My main point is that people shouldn't have their memories taken away from them because 1. its something personal and having them taken away is like having things we own taken away 2. it's an invasion of privacy, especially if it's stolen and 3. you need your memories in order to survive because without remembering, you can't learn, and if you can't learn, you can't survive. Here's what I've got so far (the italicized and underlined thing is my thesis):

If one were to ask a large group of people “What is one of the most important things in your life?” there would be a large list of things people would categorize as important. Depending on who you ask, there will be various answers due to their lifestyle, location, and many other influences in their lives. One common thing that every person can agree on is that they cherish their memories. Not many people would answer this question with “memories” simply because it is something they know cannot be taken away from them, unlike an object, and it is also not something that can be ruined or disappear like a relationship. Items such as a home, car, computer, baby blanket, or relationships with friends and family only exist if that particular object is still around. These things are special because of the importance they play in our lives. If we have no memory of these objects or relationships, however, they are irrelevant and their sentimental value diminishes. Memories are precious, and they help us determine what is truly important and what is simply material. They do not depend on the existence of other things because they reside within a person’s mind. Would the answer to this question change if memories could be taken away from someone as easily as taking candy away from a baby? In the episode “The Target” from Joss Whedon’s TV series Dollhouse, the dolls not only get their memories taken away from them, but are also also stripped of their basic human rights to privacy. 

Blog 30 - Inception Discussion -- MAJOR SPOILERS

I'm surprised with myself -- I can't believe how much I've written about Inception but at the same time I've barely written a fraction of the things I've thought about for this movie. Another example of how this movie really affected me and all of the audience that has watched the movie. Anyway, here are some great sites I found about Inception. Great explanations, and very helpful in explaining the facts that went on if you were confused when you watched the movie:

http://screenrant.com/inception-spoilers-discussion-kofi-68330/
http://techland.com/2010/07/19/the-great-inception-debate-alive-dead-both/?cp=2#comments


Some facts to refresh our memories:

Since I just wrote blog 28 and I'm on a roll with the greatness that is Inception, I figure I might as well write this blog now. Now, there are two very popular endings for inception (both arguments are really dumbed down to the basics as for now):


1. Cobb is really in limbo. The whole thing is a dream.
2. Cobb makes it back to reality and is finally reunited with his children.


Me? I'm a little torn, and I bet everyone is to some extent since both endings are so possible. Keep in mind that the last scene of Inception is the top spinning, but the clip is cut to a black screen as soon as you see the top quivering, possibly about to fall. The two times I watched it the whole audience moaned "AWW!!" when this happened. Quite the reaction! So why don't we discuss it some? 


The whole thing is a dream

• When Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is teaching Ariadne (Ellen Page) about being an architect and creating dream worlds, he tells her something along the lines that people don't ever really remember how a dream starts, they just remember what happens and usually how it ends. Similarly, the movie starts with Cobb washed up onto a shore. We don't know how he got there, why he's there, or what happened prior to that event. 
• Cobb's children look like they're the same age, wearing possibly the same clothes. Then again, we don't know how long he's been away from home.
• We never see the top actually fall. So, it's still a dream, right?

Cobb makes it back to reality

• In limbo Cobb is never able to see the faces of his children, but now he can. He can even embrace  and interact with them.
• All of the members of the team wake up on the plane, they all acknowledge each other confirming the success of the mission.
• The top was about to fall...right?

Of course, the very, very, VERY few things I've listed are just some of the arguments for both sides of the story. There are other theories out there too, so for anyone that would like to bring those up please do! Discussion about Inception is always fun, challenging, and exciting. By all means negate every single thing I've just said. 

Nolan very intricately lays out the storyline, and does it so mindblowingly. He successfully taught the audience all of the rules of the dream world in great detail but at the same time carefully left loopholes for us to not notice until the final "conclusion" of the movie. Talking about Inception really makes me want to go watch it for the third time. The union is going to be packed, but I'm determined to get back there and watch it again. Did I also mention that Inception is still in theaters? Amazing. 

Whatever you decide, you can't deny the genius of Christopher Nolan. The best part of the whole movie is the fact that the whole audience experienced inception themselves -- Nolan plants the idea of the whole concept and movie into us. You got me Nolan, you got me.

Blog 28 - Inception

Inception. Honestly, best movie I've seen all summer, all year, and in a long time. I'd have to say that Star Trek was a really great movie too (released in 2009) and for anyone who is reading this, I'm telling you to seriously go watch it. I'm not a trekkie, never watched the series before, and honestly it's one of my favorite movies of all time. I've watched it probably 8 times and it still hasn't gotten boring. It has the same feel as Transformers in the sense that it's supposed to be something kind of nerdy but the director made it cool. But that's not what I want to talk about is it? Let's get back to Inception.


First of all, if you've never watched this movie go watch it NOW. It's playing at the union Wednesday Nov. 17th so go and watch it because its free AND its a great movie (http://ouab.osu.edu/view_event.aspx?id=631). Now fair warning, I probably will have spoilers after this point, so if you don't want to know about the ending or any details of the movie I'd leave this page immediately. 


Inception was surprisingly funny! I had seen the commercials for it throughout the year and thought to myself "Huh that doesn't look too bad. Maybe I should watch it." Clearly, my expectations and the outcome of the movie were not on the same page at all -- the movie was fantastic. The whole hype on the internet was crazy -- I havn't seen any other movie create such a reaction from the audience. This is probably because Inception's ending was so ambiguous, and smartly done at that! If the top's final "action" I suppose is the right word, had been a finite answer, the movie would have been just good. Mediocre. The fact that Christopher Nolan left the ending up for the audience's interpretation really made this movie. That night after watching I immediately went home and looked up all of the reviews about the movie, trying to find out what the ending really meant, just like the millions of others who watched the movie. Of course, everyone is entitled to what they think happened, but what's great is that Nolan made the ending so ambiguous that the two main possible endings are pretty much split even among the fans. 


So, for those of you who've watched Inception, what do you think the ending is? I'm going to write another blog about exploring both of the most popular endings, so if you'd like take a look at blog 29 too :)


My love for Joseph Gordon-Levitt exponentially grew after watching the movie <3
Here's some funny pictures about Inception:

Blog 27 - Anyone Know a Fun Easy Class to Take?

So I found out that my date to schedule for classes is November 4th. I know what classes I need to take and have all of them picked out already, but unfortunately even with four classes it only adds up to 14 credits. One of those classes is only 1 credit because it's a lab class, and the other two engineering classes I am going to take are only worth 3 credits. My last class is my math class, which is thankfully 5 credits. Sigh. It's really such a pain that engineering classes are such low credit hours despite their difficulty level being more like 5 credit level. I guess this is why it takes engineers 5 years to graduate instead of 4. Anyway, back to the topic, I want to take a 5th class. My biggest fear is that if I take on the challenge of a 5th class I'll be so swamped with work that I'll be forced to drop whatever class I'm going to add. One of my friends suggested that I take one of those fun 1-2 credit classes like skydiving. I thought that was a great idea, and I really would like to do it. The only problem is I have no idea how to look up these classes!! I emailed my advisor but she only gave me 2 or 3 suggestions. I guess she doesn't exactly know where to look either, haha. So, for anyone that reads this blog, any suggestions for a fun silly class that's not too time consuming?

Blog 26

Over the weekend I had gone out to my friend's cousin's house. When we were walking back, I heard this loud echo of breaking glass. About 200 feet later we saw three boys yelling at this other guy across the street. A couple more people came out to the street to see what was going on. Apparently this boy in a green shirt had been walking around smashing cars and breaking windows in the middle of the night. I was shocked, one because I had never witnessed any sort of vandalism before, and two, I just couldn't believe how stupid this person really was. Whether or not he had been drunk that night, it's completely rude and disrespectful of other people's property to be going around ruining it -- especially a car! This really made me question what his true character is. What kind of person would be so motivated as to go around and cause trouble for innocent people? Even if this man had been drunk, he is still responsible for all of his actions. Even so, there are plenty of drunks who still know their proper etiquette and respect other peoples' property. This man even sober probably has a lot of issues to work through. Either way, we called the cops on this guy and he is hopefully paying the fees for the damages he caused and disruption of the neighborhood. Although this night was really disappointing in the sense that some people can really be so bad, it also confirmed my belief that there are a lot more good people than bad out there, since so the five or six people that had been seeing what the ruckus was about all joined together to get this guy out of the street and the innocent man whose car was smashed to justice.

Blog 25 - Obama Comes to OSU!

I was so surprised when I heard Obama was really coming to OSU. I had seen the facebook group and thought it was a fluke. Obama? At OSU? Unheard of! I thought maybe it was going to be some sort of screening of his speech on the oval or something along those lines. When I saw that he was actually going to be here in person, I thought to myself "NO WAY. That's incredible!" Ironically enough, one of my friends goes to school in D.C. and has never had Obama come to his school, yet he decided to come to OSU instead! Of course, I can understand why he'd come to the Buckeyes..we are the biggest and the best! :)

I had gone at 5:15 since gates opened at 5. Definitely a lot of people, though not as many as I had anticipated until one of the speakers announced that there were 35,000 people in the crowd. I guess I was way closer than I thought! I'm not that  big on politics, but the fact that I could even experience the presence of our president giving a speech was something I couldn't pass up. This was going to be something I would tell my kids and grandchildren about. How many people get to say that the president of the United States went to their college?!

What I found surprising was how informal Obama's speech was. I had always been so used to his speeches on TV, but as different as it was from what I was expecting, I found him very relate-able. I think there really is an air to not only Barack, but Michelle too. They effectively speak in a way that feels very at-ease, yet at the same time informative and authoritative. I was also surprised by how funny and witty President Barack Obama was -- very unexpected, but charming. 

Blog 24

So I'm watching the game right now. As excited as I was, as well as the entire school, about OSU being the number one team in the US as of last week, I was really looking forward to the game this week to uphold our number one title. Unfortunately it looks like that isn't going so well right now...


I don't consider myself the biggest football fan. I watch if its on, and of course I watch the games during this time of year, but I'm not one to really look at the stats and know the players, coaches, and other information about sports. I had missed the first quarter, but when I came into the game and found that we were down 13 to 0, i was so surprised -- this was supposed to be our time to shine! Unfortunately, it hasn't taken the right turn in this game. As the 2nd and 3rd quarter, we were able to come back and really make some great plays. Now, in the 4th quarter, losing 18 to 31, it's looking pretty bad. I can only pray that by some miracle of God that we get into overtime and make this number 1 title last more than simply a week. If we lose this game, we'll go down to number 8...that's not the OSU that I know. That's not the OSU that has so much pride, wearing our scarlet and gray!


Surrounded by people in a room of very depressing and gloomy people, I can only hope that this game won't bring us down too much.


Go Bucks!....

Blog 23

So for the past week I've been studying like mad for my math 415 class. This is supposed to be the most difficult math class for engineers, so I've really been wanting to well. Like a lot of my engineering classes, there aren't a lot of girls in my class. For some reason, this has really made me motivated to work harder and do better in class. I guess the fact that there are so few females in engineering gives me more drive to do well just to prove to everyone else, as well as myself, that I'm capable of being just as good if not better than them. I took the midterm and felt really great. Fingers crossed I got an A...because if I didn't I might flip out because I honestly know I did really well on this midterm.

Friday was also my first real interview for a company called Belden. They're a wire and wireless information transfer company. I had gone to the engineering job fair last week and talked to one of the representatives at the booth earlier and dropped off my resume. I didn't really expect any calls or any form of contact from any of the companies I had talked to, mainly because the whole event was just so hectic and full of people swarming in every direction. Either way, I was thrilled that they were interested in seeing if I wanted to be a part of their internship program. The interview was a little bit nerve wracking, especially the days leading up to it, but it went pretty much as well as I thought it would -- not the greatest, but not too bad either. An alright start for my first real interview. We'll see if they want to hire me within these next few weeks...

Blog 22 - Abstract

Background information: 

Dollhouse takes place in a futuristic world where an underground company called Dollhouse makes the impossible possible; they sell the services of “programmable people made to order.” This company has developed technology that can wipe a person’s memory clean, as well as plant new memories for the ones that have been erased. With this cutting edge technology, Dollhouse employs a series of “volunteers” who undergo the process of memory wiping, where all of their past memories are erased. Their job as a doll is to complete any given assignment requested by an employer. This is accomplished by the company scientist and programmer, Topher, who imprints memories of required information such as personality type and skills into a doll, who then proceeds to complete the given task. Once the engagement is completed, the Topher wipes the memory of the whole mission clean, and so the process repeats for each proceeding engagement. 

Developing thesis:

Throughout our lives, we ask ourselves who we are and come to define ourselves through a series of events where we discover our likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, and interests. As life goes on, we develop and experience incidents that shape us into the people we are today. In the series Dollhouse, directed by Joss Whedon, Echo cannot identify with herself because she has no memory of who she was in the past. Because Echo is always a copy of another person, she never gets to discover who she is as an individual. Her lack of individuality almost makes her seem robotic in the sense that she isn’t alive. “She isn’t a girl. She isn’t even a person. Just an empty hat, until you stuff a rabbit in it.” Echo cannot feel or express like other people can unless she has been imprinted to do so. This limiting quality that the dolls have makes them extremely vulnerable when they are not imprinted with another person’s memories. Without memories and the ability to learn and infer from past experiences, people become sitting ducks, easy prey for others.  

Blog 21 - Quote Integration

In order to learn, one must be able to make sense of the information they are exposed to. Referencing previous memories can help to develop new ones.  Without knowledge of previous events, it is hard to understand and learn from new and current situations. When in the infant stages of life, children learn by seeing and remembering new things. If they cannot remember, however, they cannot learn and as a result do not gain the skills necessary to survive in the real world. “Since early acquired information is the foundation for new memories and may be linked to many more new memories, such memory is less subject to change and/or loss.” Dolls in dollhouse are like infants after their memories have been wiped clean; they do not remember anything and as a result, cannot learn new things.  If an adult is as clueless as an infant, they will not be able to defend themselves when the time comes to do so. 

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f97/projects97/Warren.html

Blog 20 - Quote Integration

One cannot live without survival skills. The way humans survive is through learning. Humans use their memories, “a process of information retention in which our experiences are archived and then recovered when we recall them,” in order to decide how to approach new unknown challenges. The dolls in Dollhouse can never learn because their memories are always erased. Their inability to learn, unless they have been programmed to do so, hinders their ability to survive. So when Echo must escape from Richard’s deadly arrows in order to prove that she is worth the life she has been given, she has to use her memories and past experiences. Echo was able to escape from Richard using the information from the memories she had been imprinted with If Echo had been in the state in which she had been wiped clean of her memories,  she would not have been able to run away from Richard died in the forrest. Echo has no memories of her own, so she has no survival skills. But what happens when her memory is wiped clean? Will she be able to survive then? Would any doll be able to survive without imprinted memories and skills for survival? 


http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f97/projects97/Warren.html

Blog 19 - What Defines You?

Since Dollhouse deals with a loss of identity, I think it is important to cover the question that we all ask ourselves: who are we? How do we define ourselves? What makes you you?


This article talks about what really defines someone as a person. Often, we let other people's opinions shape what we define to be ourselves, but most of those things are superficial. The things that people use to describe who we are are usually things that result from our personality. So, what is it that really characterizes our personality if it not these things?


The article goes on to talk about how it is difficult to really understand who we are because it is hard to be honest to ourselves. This is probably a result of fear; fear that what we might find won't be something we want to be. Though if one really takes time to look deep down and sort through the feelings we feel whenever we experience things, we can discover who we are.


We cannot control a lot of things that happen in our lives, so what we do in response to these things is what really defines us. How we handle the situations life throws us into; that is what defines who we are. There was a saying I read once. It was something along the lines of "You can judge a true man's character by what he does when no one is looking." 


The following quotes are also similar to the one I just mentioned. I think that it is very true. What you do when no one is looking defines who we truly are more than when someone is looking. When you have to perform for someone, you want to be perceived in a certain light, to perform better than you are, or worse in other cases.


J .C. Watts:
Everyone tries to define this thing called Character. It's not hard. Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking.

Thomas B. Macaulay:
The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.


http://ezinearticles.com/?Ask-Yourself-This-Simple-Question---What-Defines-You?&id=1448411

Blog 18 - Personality Theories

It was hard to find research about personality that really related to how the mind works. Since I had taken psychology this past summer I do remember some things about personality types an genes, but even then I don't remember ever really learning about the link between personality and mind. I found this site that is part of a book that talks about personality theories.

This article is more of an introduction to what personality and psychology are, and how to conduct research regarding those two things. Boerce talks about how personality is something that is very hard to conduct experiments on because everyone is so different. He questions whether or not it is possible to measure someone's personality traits, such as shyness, by a test on paper. Boerce also talks about the many different ways research can be conducted to measure these traits, but admits that each has its own flaw. When it really comes down to it, personality is measured relative to other people's personalities. There are always extremes of a certain type of trait, and so in order to measure it, you must have a wide range of subjects to test on.

Because personality is difficult to conduct experiments on, many talk about personality theories rather than "facts." Boerce also makes sure to differentiate between what people normally define personality to be, which is usually the likes and dislikes a person has, and what personality really is, which is "the broader issue of 'what it is to be a person.'" This is precisely the answer I need in order to discuss more about Dollhouse in my essay. Though there are many many definitions of "what it is to be a person," I do believe that there are a special few that are important to cover. One, what your life experiences are, such as where you grow up, who you are influenced by such as your parents and people you encounter, and what kind of setting you are in when you grow up. Two, your cultural background, which can influence your way of thinking. Three, your genes.

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/personalityintroduction.html

Blog 17 - Amnesia

Again, since Dollhouse deals with memory as well as the ability to erase memory, I figured I should do some research about amnesia, which is a form of memory loss. Though amnesia is not quite the same as "erasing memories," per say, it is the closest and most similar thing I could think of to associate with this phenomena aside from short term memory loss. I will discuss short term memory loss in a future blog.

Amnesia is a disease where one has major memory loss. Amnesia also makes it difficult to recall memories, which is the main problem for amnesiacs. This relates to the fact that in Dollhouse  the dolls are unable to recall past events that have been erased. Also, like the dolls, when amnesiacs have bad memory recall, they are still able to retain their muscle memory and functions, though their memories of past events that are non-muscle related are forgotten.

Retrograde amnesia is when one forgets all the memories prior to the event that caused memory loss. This usually is caused by some sort of head injury.Anterograde amnesia is more common. It hinders someone's ability to create and remember new memories. Another common name for this is Alzheimer's disease.Transiet global amnesia is temporary loss of all memory. This is rare, and does not usually last long, usually for a few days. This is also like Dollhouse, though the memory loss for the dolls is more permanent.

The rest of the article talks about different types of vitamins and other ways to retain good memory.

http://www.lef.org/protocols/neurological/amnesia_01.htm

Blog 16 - Memory

I decided to first start looking at research that related to memory, since Dollhouse uses peoples' memories to imprint into dolls. I figured I should first find out how memory works. I had taken a psychology class this past summer, so I do know of some types of memory. This article mostly discussed the types of memory we have, that being short term and long term memory. Though scientists aren't sure about where the memories are exactly stored in the brain, they have been able to study the process which we go through in order to remember things.


The bulk of this article discussed short term and long term memory, the storing process, and the recall process. What I was interested in was how we are able to recall some memories and forget about others. This is important to my essay because Echo is able to recall snippets of her old memories even though she is supposed to not have any recollection of them.


More interesting than that, however, was the discussion at the beginning of the paper where the writer discusses the importance of memory and how we use it. I quote, "Memory has been variously characterized as 'a process of information retention in which our experiences are archived and them recovered when we recall them.'" This quote is exactly what I need to strengthen my argument about how your memories are made of experiences from your life, and that through your experiences you are able to learn and shape your personality. There are plenty of other memory related articles referenced on this page, so I think I will take a look at a few of those papers as well.


http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f97/projects97/Warren.html

Blog 15 - What Defines "You" ?

In all honesty I'm not sure about what kind of research I want to conduct. I figure that a lot of the things I want to discuss on my paper are psychological or pertain to memory. In this case, it would be good to start looking for sources that relate to memory and psychology. Also, since the dolls in Dollhouse don't have an identity of who they are, it would be good to do research on what defines someone's identity. A lot of the information I will put into this paper is more of an opinion than actual fact, so it will be difficult to find sources that can help back up my statement, especially since the definition of who you are is so general yet at the same time, so specific to each person.


There's many ways it can go though, one being that I look at research pertaining to survival of the fittest. Another field that would connect to my topic would be research about memory loss and what happens to people after they've lost their memory. Specifically, retrograde amnesia would be a very good place to start on, since retrograde amnesia is when someone has memory loss of everything prior to the event that caused their loss of memory.  I can use the information about when a person can't remember their past to connect to the dolls, who have their past memories wiped multiple times.


The more I think about it, the more I realize that writing about the definition of who you are as a person will be the best approach to my essay.


Possible resources:


IGNELZI, RJ, and LR SQUIRE. Recovery from Anterograde and Retrograde Amnesia after Percutaneous Drainage of a Cystic Craniopharyngioma. 1976. PDF.


"Retrograde Amnesia." Neurological Disorders - Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Neuropathy. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://neurology.health-cares.net/retrograde-amnesia.php>


Word, By The. "Survival of the Fittest." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_fittest>.


Hayes, Mitch. "Ask Yourself This Simple Question - What Defines You?" EzineArticles Submission - Submit Your Best Quality Original Articles For Massive Exposure, Ezine Publishers Get 25 Free Article Reprints. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://ezinearticles.com/?Ask-Yourself-This-Simple-Question---What-Defines-You?&id=1448411>.


"You | Define You at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/you>

Blog 14 - Dollhouse Episode 2

I decided to rewatch the second episode of Dollhouse, "The Target." I really enjoyed this episode because it starts to open up the problems with Dollhouse and the flaws within their system whether it be technology, their employers, or the dolls themselves.


There are a couple scenes that I find particularly important. The first is the scene when Langdon discovers about Alpha, a killer doll that used to be part of Dollhouse. He is told by Topher that Alpha was part of an experiment where they imprinted survival skills into the doll, but as a result, the survival skills were used to kill many other members of Dollhouse.


The second scene is when Echo is with Richard, and he tells her while he is trying to kill her that she has to "prove [she's] not just an echo."


The third scene I found important was when Langdon is talking to Topher about the doll he is assigned to. Topher asks "So, what do you think of your new girl?" In which Langdon replies "She's not a girl. She's not even a person. Just an empty hat, until you stuff a rabbit in it."


These three scenes all relate to the fact that the dolls in Dollhouse are merely empty carcasses waiting for memories to fill them up. The dolls have no mind, personality, or traits of their own: they are what they are programmed to be. And, if they are lacking the imprints to have survival skills, like the dolls inside the headquarters that had wiped memories who were killed by Alpha, they are completely useless. This leads to conclude that people are entitled to their own memories. Without them, you lose who you are, your life skills, and your meaning to the world. If you are only a copy, an echo of someone else, you really aren't anyone at all.

Blog 10 - Dollhouse Episode 5

In this episode, I am going to focus on another member of Dollhouse: Sierra. In the episode, you find out that she has been showing signs of trauma and has not been acting like her "usual" self, that being of the normal doll. As the episode goes on, we find out that Sierra's handler, Hearn, has been raping her. This was accomplished by an operation initiated by Langton, who happens to be Echo's handler. Throughout a series of events, Sierra gets her justice and Hearn is killed.


This episode reminds me a little bit of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, which is one of my favorite shows to watch. In SVU there are lot of rape cases, and as exciting as these types of shows are exciting and makes you sit at the edge of your seat, it also makes you realize how sick some people really can be. It is after I realized that some of these rape cases actually happen in real life that I really became scared and in shock. It really does amaze me how some people can be so violent and disrespectful to others. It is interesting that this episode uses a doll to be a victim of rape. If Dollhouse's mind swiping capabilities are so great, how is it possible that even if you memory is wiped clean of all the rape that Sierra has been experiencing still show through? This brings me to the conclusion that the memory swiping system really isn't all that it claims to be, and that the flaws in the system are there for a reason: people are entitled to their memories and should not and cannot be wiped clean of them. 

Blog 13 - Dollhouse Episode 4

In this episode, Echo is imprinted as a blind woman. Her mission is to become involved in a very secretive religious cult as she is held against her own will. Her eyes, though she herself will believe she is blind, will be able to become their own video camera's for an undercover government agent so that they can see what is going on in the cult. Echo is imprinted to believe that she has been brought to the cult from a vision by the cult's leader, who is a shady character. When this leader becomes dangerous, Echo is the one who intercepts and becomes the heroine for the day.


This episode, like many of the other episodes of Dollhouse so far, is a dangerous one where many peoples' lives are at stake. This recurring trend brings me back to the last episode where one of the men who works for Dollhouse as a protective squad tells Echo after her memory has been wiped that she tends to cause a lot of death. This man asks talks to Echo and mockingly asks her if she can really feel. He proceeds to answer himself, knowing that Echo is only a copy. She is never a real person who can actually think and talk for herself unless she is imprinted. The fact that Echo really does seem to get into deep danger in each episode makes me wonder who she was in her past, and how she got into Dollhouse's business in the first place. I feel that as the series continues, we will find out more about Echo's past, and it should be very interesting to see how she came to be part of Dollhouse.