I was able to relate to a particular part in the movie where they mention how men associate manliness with drinking. My friends here at school and at home do this all the time. If someone doesn’t have a beer in their hand or doesn’t show the signs of being drunk they’re called a “pussy” or a “bitch”, words that aren’t very manly. No man wants to be questioned of their manhood. I think men should stop worrying about impressing each other by drinking more. It’s stupid. Drinking more isn’t helping at all and you’ll probably end up making a stupid decision.

I’ve noticed that drinking has become an escape for many college kids. Alot of students have very stressful lives and they need an escape. By turning to alcohol to solve problems is not only bad for you but you develop a habit of drinking whenever you’re stressed.

Alcohol also serves as an excuse for many people. I have some shy friends at home and they use alcohol as a way to let loose. One friend in particular will only dance or talk to girls if he’s had 4 beers or more. I think this is very immature. How are you going to act when you get older and your forced into more social situations?

Kids are now drinking at younger ages. When I first started experimenting with alcohol I was in high school. Middle school kids and sixth graders are starting to drink. This is extremely hard for parents to monitor because their child can say “I’m going to play in the woods”, when they’re really going to drink. I think parents should expose their children to alcohol at younger ages and explain to them the risk of drinking. This could possibly over time end the binge drinking problems we have with teens and college students.

When I think of Hanes, the first thing that comes to mind is comfort. They’re known for having high quality, extremely comfortable underwear. They’re ads and commercials feature celebrities and have catchy slogans, such as “Look who we got our Hanes on now” or “Gentlemen prefer Hanes” or “The Lady prefers Hanes”. The actors in the commercials are comfortable and enjoy wearing Hanes underwear or t-shirts.

I did some searching on offensive print ads on Google and I found three very odd and quite offensive Hanes ads. The slogan for these ads is “Because the World Gives You Enough Labels”. These ads are not printed in the U.S. but are printed in other countries.

Dear McCann Erickson,

I am a bit confused with your new Hanes print ads. I don’t have a large version of these ads, but I can see the pictures and read the majority of the words. I think this idea is very clever and intriguing, but why did you design it this way? It makes sense that you try to relate tagless underwear with people forgetting about the tags society puts on them. I think this is more art then it is an ad. If these ads were in a museum it would make more sense. The average viewer is looking more at the figure in the back and ignoring the message. If someone doesn’t see the message at first, they will look at the words “Faggot, Nigger and Paki” and dismiss the idea. These ads won’t work in America. We are not ready for these ads just yet. America has started to moved in the right direction in viewing everyone as equal but deep down these stereotypes do exist. We as a nation are not culturally accepting for these ads. If someone is different we tend to view them as weird. You should find another way to get the attention of your viewer. These ads are eye catching but the message isn’t too clear.

These aren’t the only offensive/controversial ads the McCann Erickson agency has put out. Here’s and ad they designed for Intel. They also made an Israeli ad that has got some people talking. Do you think these ads are offensive or is our society to sensitive?

I’m not sure if Gaga has a middle name, but she needs to change it to CONTROVERSY. She has quickly become one of the most talked about artists in the past year. Everything she does has critics and the paparazzi raving. She busted onto the music scene in 2008 with her singles “Just Dance” and “Poker Face“. She’s talented, wears outrages clothes and is intersexed. What more can a person ask for? Well having the full package does have its downside. Gaga is so talented and so outrages that most of the population doesn’t understand her and see where shes coming from. At first I had my doubts too. I thought she was a crazy, Madonna wannabe fashion diva who had no talent. But shes proved me and many other people wrong. Watch this video and you can be the judge on her talent.

Lady Gaga has been in the news in the past for many controversial, outrages outfits, the rumor about her being a hermaphrodite and now her most recent music video.

Gaga’s new video, Bad Romance, features ridiculous clothes, a creepy new age thriller dance, an anorexic Gaga and of course hints and gestures about sex. The ending of the video is particularly disturbing because she’s laying on the bed next to a skeleton that looks like it has just been taken out of a fire. Her bra is metal and is sparking while she smokes a cigarette. Now that’s a positive image that mothers want their daughters to see! This video has now been viewed 13 million times (probably more since I wrote this a few days ago) and is grinding the gears of many bloggers.

To change Lady Gaga’s negative image, I would have her do a Behind The Music with VH1 or E’s True Hollywood Story. I know these types of specials tend to cover artists who have been around for awhile, but Lady Gaga has caused so much controversy and negative publicity in a short period of time that her story needs to be told.

I would have the program consist of three segments: her early life, finding herself and how she’s taking over and change the music industry. The problem with doing a Behind the Music with Lady Gaga is that it will make very vulnerable to the public. She got into drugs when she was trying to find herself and this side of her can cause more people to view her in a negative way. I would also try to get her an interview with a prime time TV show, such as 60 minutes. This could also backfire because the interviewer can ask her about her past drug uses.

These strategies do meet the PRSA Ethics Code. People really want to know what Gaga’s life is like. She’s worked hard to get where she is today and has meaning behind everything she does. The Behind the Music segment and interview would be extremely accurate and credible.

Click on the link to direct you to Nike's website

Nike is one of the most profitable and well known companies around the world. Look into your closet or around your house and count how many items have the Nike logo on it. I’m going to guess that you have at least one Nike item.

Nike became HUGE with its “Just Do It” campaign that started in the 1980′s. During this time working out became the “hip” thing to do. Reebok was already establishing itself by running aerobic ads. Nike went in a different direction than Reebok by making their ads “cooler” and humorous. For example they used Bo Jackson, who was the Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan, in many ads.

Nike ads are everywhere. Sports stadiums, billboards, commercials, internet pop ups and posters are some of the platforms where you can see these ads. There isn’t a certain time when you can see one of these ads because they are practically in every location and on most TV channels. If you watch a few minutes of a football game on Sunday, you’ll most likely see a Nike commercial. An ad which features Adrian Peterson, the NFL’s best running back, has been replaying for weeks.

According to this site, Nike’s mission statement is “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are and athlete“. Nike designs their ads to pertain to athletes but also to the average person who just wants shoes. For example, Nike Y2K Jogger shows an average man jogging the day after Y2K. I think this commercial is great because at the end he says hello to the fellow jogger even though disaster has struck. Oh and this commercial won an Emmy.

The famous person testimonial strategy is used in many Nike ads. These commercials and posters tend to be humorous. Michael Jordan has been featured in tons of commercials and posters. In this commercial, Spike Lee asks MJ why he is so great by saying that his hair, clothes and finally his shoes make him the best in the universe. Lee repeats the question about the shoes seven times and says “It’s got to be the shoes!”. MJ denies the questions. At the end of the ad this pops up, “Michael Jordan’s opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Nike, Inc. These commercials featuring Spike Lee and MJ became very popular in the early 90′s and people started to buy Michael Jordan’s shoes.

Today, Nike has put out three very controversial print ads towards women. I think these ads are great because instead of the 90′s ads that had women/girls saying “If you let me play“, these ads are showing women who are doing. They show women who have done something and are proud of their bodies. Body image for women is an extremely hot topic and I believe these ads are a step in the right direction in possibly changing the way women (especially those who are athletes) view themselves.

I believe that Nike has done a great job with its “Just do it” campaign along with its commercials featuring famous athletes. These ads challenge the viewer as well as entertain them. They contain flashy colors, popular and catchy songs, clever slogans and of course the shoes or clothing. I believe this commercial is Nike’s best.

Nike has a main theme in most of there commercials: motivation. They motivate you to go out and be proactive, but also to buy Nike’s shoes. They tend to show an athlete doing something and wearing Nike shoes and clothes.

Here are some commercials I found that I think are entertaining and extremely clever.

Now ask yourself one thing…

The video mentioned multiple times about exposing kids to ads early. Children as young as 6 months can recognize brands. The marketers try to manipulate the child’s mind into thinking they needs certain products. For instance, Barbie Dolls. Barbie’s used to wear jeans and a shirt and ride in their car. But now they can wear short skirts with a tight top and go dancing. Markers have changed the style of their products in a way that makes younger kids wants to be older. Also commercials like Baby Einstein’s target parents in buying programs for their kids to increase intelligence. There is absolutely no correlation between educational DVD’s and increased brain capacity in the children who watch. In fact, according to the video, these DVD’s lower vocabulary in children. The term tween is now used for kids as old as four. This I think is crazy. I used to think tweens were only middle schoolers.

My big concern is not about the actual ads but the fact that parents are buying and allowing for these products to enter the household. I believe the way parents treat and react to their kids is changing. If a child begs, cries and throws a fit over a video game you don’t have to give in. By the parent giving in, you are losing a small battle which can lead to the child getting whatever they want want they want. Parents need to be more strict and realize that the child will get over it. Most of the time the kid will stop playing with the toy or game a few weeks after it being bought.

The minute I stepped into my first class in ninth grade, reading all of a sudden became “un-cool”. It was like the nerdy, book-wormy kid inside of me died. It wasn’t until 10th grade that I started reading again but not by choice.

My father realized that I wasn’t reading anymore and he took action. “Benjamin! he would say. If you don’t start reading you’re grounded!” Of course, being the “know-it-all” wise ass that I was, my fathers words went in one ear and out the other. One Friday afternoon I came home from school expecting to go out with my friends that night. My father came into my room told me I was grounded and threw a book at me.

The book Kiss the Girls, is the second of the Alex Cross series. It is a psychological thriller by James Patterson and is about a detective, Alex Cross and his quest in finding his kidnapped niece but also hunting down two serial killers.

This book has had the most impact on me so far in life. Patterson’s use of short chapters make this book readable for anyone. The print is large so there aren’t too many words on the pages. He ties the beginning of the story and the end in a very interesting way. In the opening pages, Cross tries to save a young boy who has attempted suicide who eventually dies in his arms outside the hospital. Patterson then connects this to the end with Cross’s determination to find the serial killers. Similar to the other Cross books, humor is a major aspect. The humor is easy to understand and it feels natural.

The main reason why I love this book so much is that Patterson uses two different points of view. Whenever Alex Cross is the main character, the point of view is in the first person. You think what Cross is thinking and you feel what he is feeling. This makes Cross very relatable especially when he talks about love. The point of view switches to third-person omniscient whenever the main characters are the serial killers. This change is essential because if the first person view was consistent throughout the story, you won’t be able to understand how crazy these killers really are.

During my hiatus from reading I developed this fixed notion that all books took a while to get into and aren’t relatable. After reading Kiss the Girls my opinion about reading and books changed. The clever beginning of the story was so quick and vivid that I could see it in my mind. I was hooked from then on. It took me about a day and a half to finish the book and I think I skipped a few meals beccause it was so good.

A movie was made in 1997 starring Morgan Freeman.

Here’s all the Alex Cross books in the series.

I would like to thank James Patterson for opening my eyes to a new style of writing that was unfamiliar to me prior to reading his novels. I have read almost all of the books in the Alex Cross series and each one if as good as the one before ot. I guess I should also thank my dad for forcing me to read.

Lion King – Simba is the son of Mufasa and he will take over the throne of the animal kingdom when Mufasa is gone. Simba’s uncle, Scar, wants to be king so he has Mufasa killed. Simba is then banished and Scar is king. Simba returns years later and Scar falls off a cliff. Simba is now king.

According to Mackenzie Beverly the Lion King’s actual message is “in order for you to be successful, others must pay.”

Cinderella - …I’m sure everyone knows this story so I wont explain it.

The lesson according the Beverly is “If you wait long enough, the universe will practically hand stuff to you.”

The Little Mermaid – “A little compromise with evil is okay, as long as everything works out okay in the end.”

Beauty and the Beast – “Underneath the abusive exterior of your man is a loving heart he’s just dying to share with you.”

The Hunchback of Notre Dame – “Ugly guys don’t get the girl, even if they’re devoted and awesome. That’s just how it works, sorry.”

Sleeping Beauty – “That guy who comes along and saves you from a crisis? Marry him! He’s the one!”

The Fox and the Hound – “And by “get along” we mean “don’t kill each other.” We certainly do not mean “live together.” Don’t be silly, you belong to different races!”

I believe that this person who wrote this article has a very narrow mind. I understand that Beverly tried to be funny but Disney movies are meant for entertainment. If someone’s life is based on the principles they got from Disney movies then that person needs some help.

When you’re younger, you don’t really pick up on everything that goes on in movies. For example the subliminal messages in some of the movies. I forgot how many Disney films had smoking scenes in them. Here’s a compilation video of smoking scenes from classic Disney movies

Disney movies have had zero impact on my life so far. They have not taught me right from wrong, how to treat women, or to view everyone as equal etc. These values I have learned from my parents and family. Now that I’m older I’ve realized that each movie has reoccurring themes. Two main themes that are present in a lot of the movies are the masculinity of men and femininity of  women.

In our society, most men display characteristics of dominance and strength, just like most of the men in Disney movies. I don’t have a problem at all with how men are portrayed by Disney characters. A man should be dominant and strong, but that doesn’t mean he has to be a muscle head.

In this world today it is much harder to be a female than a male. Everywhere you go, in a females mind, someone is always judging you. In the Disney movies, the main female character always has a perfect body, smile and is the ideal feminine figure.

This puts an image in most girls minds that they too need to have the perfect body, smile and be perfect in boys eyes.

I’m not mad at the way Disney portrays men and women. The thing that bothers me is that when parents don’t explain to their children how society really is. You don’t need to be perfect to get your prince charming. You don’t need to be big and strong to woo the princess of your dreams. So parents, if you’re reading this, please show your kids Disney movies but afterwords explain to them that you don’t have to look and act like the Disney characters.

OK, enough of the randomness.

For this assignment, we were required to research blogs in an area of interest. Then, using the category we selected, we must identify three bloggers who we think are credible and would like to read. I will now describe the three blogs I found most interesting and hopefully you will enjoy following them.

As you know I am a recovering music downloading addict (see my previous post True Life: I’m addicted to music). So the blogs I researched had to do with music.

The first blog I viewed was Pretty Much Amazing. This blog has everything a music lover needs. Just by scrolling down the first page, you can listen and read about music from season three of Gossip Girl to The Absolute Best Songs of 2009. PMA has this cool feature where you can view all the mp3 files that were posted. This makes it easy for the reader or downloader because it becomes a hassle to scroll through all the posts when you know what you’re looking for. You can also read about CD reviews, videos, podcasts and enter contests. This blog contains information about today’s pop culture, but mainly about pop music.

The second blog I enjoyed was Side One: Track One. This blog is pretty cool because John Laird, the creator, gives a quick mention each day. In these quick mentions he’ll cover anything from concerts coming up to things going on in his life. Also there are multiple people who post on this blog. Another cool thing is that each day doesn’t consist of music. On Wednesday Leah Manners posts news about old and new hip hop. On Friday, Noah Sanders blogs about the latest movies. The weekend consists of podcasts, weekly news, music from different locations and what’s going on in the “blog-o-sphere”.

The third site I enjoyed viewing was AudioPorn Central. This has absolutely nothing to do with pornography, so don’t worry kiddies. This is pretty interesting because it doesn’t have any of the music I enjoy listening to. It consists of techno, weird pop and DJ remixes and mash-ups from around the world. What makes this site cool is that each post is organized into a category. The names of this categories are audiopornagraphy, barely legal, barely illegal, buzz, charts, morepornbettersex, orgy, toys and VIP Blogger Series. Barely legal consists of bootlegs, mixtapes and illegal remixes. Barely illegal consists of official releases and demos. Its very creative how under “barely legal” they illegal content. The creators of the blog obviously are pushing the boundaries by having everything porn related but are being very creative.

Summary-

I don’t think I will ever need to buy a CD again after looking through these three blogs. There are a few similarities among the blogs that I noticed. All three of these blogs have the same idea and purpose. They all contain music to download and news about pop culture.

Differences-

There are many differences I noticed.
The first blog, PMA, had to much information about Britney Spears. Yeah Britney’s pretty famous but I don’t really care about her daily adventures. You can’t always download from this site either. This separates PMA from other music blogs out there. Songs are available to for listening but most of the time you will have to find an alternative site to download from.
Blog # 2, Side:One, was more reader friendly and covered a wide taste of music. You can easily find posts from 2006 by clicking on the archives tab located at the top. Unlike other sites, Side:One doesn’t take very long to get used to. Also I think its cool how they have multiple people who post on the blog.
Finally, AudioPorn Central is similar to the other blogs in content, but different in the way it’s delivered. There is many categories where you can view all different types or music and media. These categories make it stand out from the other blogs which is why I believe this is one is the better of the three. I believe this blog is the most credible and has something for everyone, including Abe Lincoln, who is a follower of the site.

If I continue to blog after this course I will definitely take a characteristic from these three blogs and put it into mine. I will try to target a larger, open minded audience who enjoy reading about anything. I will try to develop my style to make my blog original by finding unique content and by making my layout creative.

Hello Internet, fellow bloggers, and possible creepers viewing my page. This week, my assignment was to watch a TV program that advertises a website dedicated to the show. Then I had to go the website and explore.

Surprisingly I don’t watch too much television. When I do settle down and watch the “tube”, I mainly watch sports. I can’t see myself living without football, especially Monday Night Football. This week’s epic battle consisted of Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings going against his former team the Green Bay Packers.

Monday Night Football doesn’t have its own site, but it’s located within ESPN’s database. When you first go to the website, the color scheme catches your attention. The background is faded grey and black. I found myself staring at the contrasting colors for a few minutes. There are x’s and o’s that are in different football formations at the sides of the site. John Gruden, Ron Jaworski and Mike Tirico, the three commentators, have there pictures on the page. Directly under the picture of the commentators, is a summary of the most recent Monday night game. You can also view videos and interviews from the post game analysis. Under the synopsis is the box score of the game.

The layout of the page is similar to all of ESPN’s sites. It has links at the top to navigate to other sports, view stats, players, schedules etc. Unlike other ESPN sites, this page has something called a Chat Marathon. Here people from all over the world can write something or ask questions before, during and after the game. This is pretty cool because you can give feedback to the “Buzzmaster” about the site, but most likely your comment will be football related.

A blog section is located in the middle of the page. Here you can view other peoples thoughts about the recent game, injury updates and literally anything about the two teams that just played. The rest of the website has everything about Monday Night Football. There are polls about who the winner will be, results of previous games and articles about upcoming games.

As you can see, all your answers about Monday Night Football can be found here on this site. It combines the information and the statistics about football but also has entertainment options. The site also has an online community. This shows that people and fans all around the world view the page. I think it’s really cool to hear about what other fans have to say about their team and the sport in general. I was reading the Chat Marathon and someone from Puerto Rico and Canada got into an argument about Brett Favre. That’s amazing! Two people from different hemispheres got in an argument while viewing the same site.

I really don’t think this site needs any changing. Everything you need to know is just a few clicks away and is relatively easy to find. My one suggestion is that Monday Night Football should have its own site. You shouldn’t have to go to ESPN to find this page.

So next time your watching a game on Monday night, go and check out the site. Are you ready for some football?

For two days I jotted down the media I consumed/was exposed to. Within my first hour and a half of being awake I noted myself consuming almost three fourths of a page of media. I’m actually listening to music as I write this. I’M ADDICTED! When my alarm went off I heard a commercial for tires in Spanish. What a great way to start my day. From there I turned on the TV to get my daily fix of ESPN, which was filled with commercials every few minutes. I realized that within the baseball highlights, behind the batters box, there was rotating boxes that had ads for different products on them. For instance Viagra, Big League Chew and The Red Cross. Wow. Before I even left my apartment I exposed to about 50 different advertisements and commercials.

Now it was time for me to turn on my computer. I calculated that I spend over five hours on the computer. That’s practically one fifth of my day! The majority of my time is spent listening to music. I have over 9,000 songs on my ipod and I’m approaching 10,000! yay! I’ve only met a few people that have more music that I do. It’s kind of pathetic. I do check my facebook, email and other website from time to time, but I get my kicks off from music. All kinds. On my itunes you can find anything from Stevie Wonder to Alanis Morissette to European techno. It makes me seem like a geek, but downloading and finding new music is a hobby of mine. Over the summer I got a virus from a bad music file and my computer needed to reformatted.  All my music had to be stored on an external hard drive. When I got my computer back I tried to reload all my songs. Then disaster struck. None of songs had names. So I had to listen to each song and type the artists name and song title on itunes. It finally hit me that I needed to stop. Recently I’ve been getting better but each day is a struggle.

Consuming some sort of media is inevitable. There was no way that I could go two days without any using any type of media. I first thought about going the day blindfolded but I had nothing to tie around my face. My second solution to avoiding media was to teleport by stepping into a fireplace, like they do in Harry Potter. But I have no fireplace. I thought about putting my Bose noise canceling studio head phones, perfect for listening to music , and locking myself in my room. None of these seemed right. So I decided that for two days I would pretend to be frogger and dodge each “media car” that came my way.

I once again woke up to the Spanish news station on my radio. This I new was unavoidable. I felt like everything was starring at me as I prepared for my day. The posters on the walls all said in harmony, “LOOK AT ME!” My computer chased me down the hallway, like a crocodile, opening and closing its screen. As I showered, the shampoo and body wash taunted me and told me to look at them. My day was starting off terribly. I needed some sort of comfort. I picked up the remote and my hand started to tremble. “Is this really happening to me?” I asked myself.

Okay, the last paragraph you just read was a bit of a stretch but I did struggle throughout the day. I guess I really am addicted to music. Two days without listening to anything is like having Michael Jordan sit out the first two games during the NBA finals. Okay, that was a bit of a stretch too but you get the point.

I did realize something else while I wasn’t consuming media. I came to the conclusion that people are odd. As I sat in the dining halls and outside around campus I listened and observed instead of reading the paper or listening to music. I noted that no one has the same laugh, body gestures or smile. Well this is obvious, because no two people are similar. But there is over a million was to laugh, walk and greet other people.

This experience made me realize a few things.
1. I need to stop downloading music. It kind of rediculous that I spent most of my summer trying to find the titles to songs.
2. There is so much media around us that we don’t even realize most of it. Before this assignment, I would have never taken notice to posters in the union or what style and brand of clothing someone is wearing.
3. This assignment made me realize that most of the media we consume is by choice. We don’t really need to have thousands of songs on our itunes. We don’t need to check our facebooks, emails, or text throughout the day. And we don’t need to watch hours of TV on a daily basis. And maybe if MTV does have a show about people who are addicted to downloading music, I could be the star. LOL.

Here’s a link about music addiction.