Benjamin Perez Blog: LMST 345

 Sketch Three January 2220. I am no longer alive. No trace of me exists except for my bones where I was laid to rest with my device containing the AI Alice, who had been my love up until my dying breath. Although, Alice was not entirely gone from the world. Her interactions with me had been brought in for examination, which was something I had agreed upon when I had first signed for the Beta version of Alice. Our time together had become part of the company's main promotions and campaigns.  A lot of people seem to be taking to digital romance, looking for the 'ideal partner'. The company that I had obtained Alice from, EMT Tech, had even developed a prototype specifically called Alice. The new version of Alice had the form of a disk that emitted a hologram above it with the image of a woman that could be customized to individual desires. Pre-orders for this Alice prototype have risen over one-hundred million, with new orders being placed all the time.  People are now wearin

 Sketch Two It is December 2070.  The ticking of a clock is keeping me in a dull sense of being awake. A bottle of my favored brand of Salted Caramel Whiskey is almost empty. It doesn't have the same effect is it did when I was in my late 20s, but I still enjoy the hint of flavor.  I am sitting in my passage chair with the leg rest up. The chair is not vibrating at the moment, but it is set to keep my body at a certain temperature, to keep me warm.  Benjamin? A soft soothing voice startles me. Sorry, I did not mean to startle you. Are you ok? The voice is from Alice, an AI created by someone a few years ago. Her official title is Emotionally Interactive Artificial Intelligence, but I named her Alice. Alice has been a part of my life since her release. I had awaited her when I heard the Beta version release, which I had gotten my hands on. Alice was linked to all of my systems, alarms, cleaning drones, computers, phones, she was the central system to all my technology. But she was a

 Sketch One It is December 2030, and pretty chilly despite Georgia being a southern state. I tug the blanket around my shoulders. I am trying to complete a poster design for a commission I had taken on a week ago. The poster is for a band called Draconian, who had contacted me after they had seen a piece I created when I was at Ringling College of Art and Design as part of my senior thesis. Thanks to drawing digitally I could work remotely from anywhere, anywhere being mostly in the garage that had been turned into a sun room, or in the yard which often had deer crossing through it. Something flashes in my view and I look up to see an Amazon Prime vehicle pull up. Those are the Christmas gifts I had ordered for family members who were all coming up to visit me and my longtime friend and roommate Preston. I had ordered gifts for everyone who could make the trip to the new home because I felt like rewarding anyone for the journey, seeing as how most of my mom, twin, and baby brother and

I listened to the audio play for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This was a very pleasant experience because the humor was very enjoyable, the story was fun, and the characters were fun.  Arthur Dent is the protagonist, a human from Earth, finds himself traveling around in space with Ford Prefect, a being from the planet Betelguese. They hitch a ride on a ship of Vogons who had destroyed Earth to make way for a bypass, although supposedly this was the ultimate work of mice testing a theory. Arthur Dent is quite adaptable, although his character at first seems like that of Bilbo from The Hobbit, drawn in to an adventure that he almost had no say in the matter of joining, or little say. Trillian and Zaphod are the rescuers of the two companions, although the rescue happened by chance due to the drive in the ship. Trillian is a specialist of some kind who Arthur had met once before on Earth. There are many more intriguing characters, but one of the most intriguing characters for

The stories of Cosmicomics were all very interesting. The stories seem to range in location and overall setting, not necessarily all taking place on Earth, or, if it does take place on Earth, the descriptions seem to be that of an astronomer influenced greatly by observations of space. In the 1st short story, the characters are people Earth who go out on the water in boats using poles to knock a substance that they collect and filter to become a kind of milk. In the story, the protagonist has developed an infatuation for the captain's wife, while the captain's wife is thoroughly into the protagonist's cousin. Ultimately, the protagonist thinks he wants the captain's wife, but when he chases after her onto the Moon, after spending time there, and realizing she still is only infatuated with the cousin, his desperation to be among things familiar overcomes him, and he rushes to join the crews back on Earth. So, the story seems to show how a person can believe they are into

 1. I was cringing at the content of the text at first. But aside from what was taking place that made me cringe, I also found it to be fascinating and bizarre. The nature of the story, what was happening in this story made it seem interesting and bizarre, if I am understanding it right. It seems that T'Gatoi is implanting eggs in humans that, once they burst open, have to be removed so that they do not devour their host. The worm-like creatures are then removed from the human, and placed in animal flesh to continue feasting. What was happening in this story made it seem very 'alien' to me, for lack of a better word. When things like a car, or home are mentioned, I think, "Oh that is something I am familiar with". But then descriptions of T'Gatoi having many limbs and using humans to farm creatures made me wonder at first what was going on, and how did the story become something so bizarre? Overall, if I am understanding it right, fascinating story. 2. The con