Mission Impossibly Successful!

I think our project went really well. Especially after we all reached a consensus on what our project should be narrowed down too. I would like to think I played a part like everyone else by suggesting certain topics for our game & bringing what I hope to be a helpful positive attitude to the group. I feel we had the best reaction to our game in the sense where everyone was wanting to say something. True it was the usual suspects who spoke, but others kind of came out of their cocoon because they knew the material and wanted candy. I felt like it went so well we could have easily done all of class time. I think for future reference that maybe mission impossible should almost be combined with bond as a group topic. We all found it to be a little hard to watch. Boring almost because we've seen things like this done before only more amped up.

The Romantic Comedy or Rom Com.

In class we started discussing the Romantic Comedy or more currently known as the "Rom Com".  These types of films relate to both men and women but certain films lean towards the female gender and vice versa.  We talked about what false hopes or what things do you get from these types of films.  One classmate had mentioned that when watching these films love is for everyone and then my professor remarked back saying that if love is for everyone then why don't you have someone.  These films also give you a "happy ending" or the even the "Hollywood" ending where everything is splendid and showing that these two people will enviably end up together.  In our culture or society that's what people want to see.  The cute guy, the pretty girl, their issues, the happy ending.  People want to escape and watch something end up perfect because things in real life don't always end up like that. 

The film were currently viewing in class kind of breaks that formula a bit.  The lead character George has a woman that loves him but he is going through a mid-life crisis and treats her more like a friend.  All of the sudden he sees this other woman on her wedding day and is instantaneously attracted and must find out everything about her.  We haven't finished the film but his character reminds of Julia Robert's in Eat Pray Love.  Both characters are unsure what they want but Julia's is in my opinion more cruel by deciding to end her marriage without even consulting her husband.  Both films have broken the popular concept for these films.

I think the biggest film to break this perfect ending was 500 Days of Summer.  Not to spoil the film because its a very good story but they don't end up together.  She loves him but is not IN love with him.  He thought about marriage and a future with her but she ends up with someone else.  The "Rom Com" serves a purpose with audiences but I believe the concept we have known for a long time is changing.  Some people now prefer reality as opposed to fiction.

Superhero!

Superhero's to me have always been Spiderman, Batman, Superman etc.... The thing with them is, they live in crime stricken cities.  They fight the bad guys and they have a plethora of them.  Captain planet from the 90's fought for the planet's Eco-system and it's future for generations to come.

My superhero would....well I don't know what he would do.  The Charismatic Crusader has fellow citizens of  Boom City raving about his adventures.  Men want to be him & ladies swoon and faint at the mere mention of him.  He fights cry with a wink and a gun.....finger gun that is.  He schmoozes with evil doers until they are compelled to become a model citizen.  He'll give you a pep talk, flash his pearly whites and says his infamous phrase "I don't need luck for my charms."

Elephant Man

Have seen clips from the film and heard quotes and other dialogue spoken over my lifetime but have never took the time to sit down and read it until now.  I don't want to give the story away but it's a fascinating tale of a man John Merrick who developed facial distortion in his youth and became an outsider or outcast among society.  All he wanted was to fit in with said society but in doing so he changed his unique qualities in a sense to become like us.  What's so special about us?  There's kind of a similar reference to this in the book between Treves, Merrick's friend & Gomm where Treves asks is there something wrong with us?  It kind of highlights the fact that we ourselves are not that fantastic meaning we are human, we make mistakes, we are imperfect. 

I think the book highlights Merrick wanting to fit in to society but truth be told he really is like everyone else in society.  Other than his deformities and probably being denied a proper education because of them, he is just like everyone else.  They saw him as something different and to most different can be or is scary and therefore people steer away from it or make it a negative thing.  He's probably your favorite character in the story aside from Merrick because it kind of had a Of Mice & Men feel like Lennie & George.  You feel for Lennie's disability & George's frustration in keeping George safe and taken care of.  Merrick just wanted a "normal" life.  To lay with a women, have friends and be treated as an equal.  To a certain degree he was treated like an equal with presents and his "friends" who would visit but it seemed more like charity then true kindness.  The book is a great read and what's even more interesting is that your reading true tale so that brings the content of the book to a higher level in terms of understanding how thinking was back then and has it changed that much?

I recommend this book highly and I think the next step for myself would be to see this in actual play format.  To see this performed live would be a delight. 

What makes advertisements attract attention?

On Monday my professor had brought in advertisements from several magazines and wanted us to answer questions pertaining to our ad.  I wanted to pick one a part a little bit.

Who is this ad trying to reach?

It didn't reach me.  The cap of the bottle is pretty but that's about it.  Who is the girl holding the bottle?  Is she significant, or a model?  Does she work or model Marc Jacobs & if you love/know the brand then you know who she is?
The ad is trying to reach teenagers in my opinion and why I say that is because of the girl who looks like she is 16 or 17 years of age holding a very colorful bottle.  If the girl was 25 or 40 and the bottle was black then I would say an older audience they are trying to reach.

Usually ad's for perfume are sexy, provocative or have star power with Beyonce, Charlize Theron, etc... In this case in particular it has none of those and sometimes with a teenage audience you don't need anything flashy.  Just a girl your age you can relate to with an attractive product.

Last year the candy brand known as Mike & Ike announced separation.  As a gimmick Mike's name was scribbled out.

Now in 2013 they relaunched the reunion of Mike & Ike with a mini movie commercial. 

Why did I bring this up?

Mike & Ike are known by my parents, grandparents and younger cousins.  The company has been around for 70+ years and for a company to stay in the game that long especially in today's time you need something to keep it fresh and new.  This was their advertisement to keep people laughing and thinking about it.  Not to mention the ad they made for the reunion was a mini movie that is really entertaining and appeals to buyers both young and old.  In this scenario you needed something flashy because you can't just have an ad or article that says their back together and that's it.  That would have been boring and you'd be wondering why they split and how they got back together.  Also this opens the door for these two actors who are now the "faces" of Mike & Ike for future ad's.  It could be a mini movie montage for a while which would appeal to those who loved the first mini movie commercial. 

Companies have to, I believe put a lot of thought in to their advertisements and marketing because you have to know what will attract your buyers and specifically what buyers you want to attract.

Elaboration on Ideology.

At first the meaning of Ideology escaped me or better yet I was having a hard time piecing it together in my mind, so bare with me on the following.  A dominant group, power wielding organization or even one influential individual proposes an idea to their small town, local community etc...  In some cases what they say goes if enough hype is provided to the masses .  To highlight a bit of this fact our professor showed us a clip from the musical The Music Man.  Showing that the main character needed to create a negative in the town he was in, in order for him to propose a positive being him starting an all boys band to sell and teach musical instruments. The main character was using the negative response for his own personal gain.

One of our discussions during the first few meetings in class was about who are the people telling us what's in & what's out.  Is it people who are older but know how the public works and what they would like and not like? Is it a boardroom made of older gentlemen who just happen to know what today's youth is in to?  Is it a younger generation close to the demographic in age and taste?  Truthfully I don't know.  What I do know or believe is that "they" whomever there are, are using the power of suggestion to get us to buy things we already have but a tiny bit more upgraded.  Better yet to buy things, music, shows, clothes we would not normally buy but they tap in to our likes & dislikes to get us to buy.  They could advertise until your sick of seeing it and have to see what all the fuss is about.  Highlight special guests music/actors in are in this film or on this album.  Put your favorite band on the cover of rolling stone and now you must buy the issue but it has less than four pages of material.  In the media that is ideology to me. 

Ideology in the schools to me is a little different.  Book banning for one is a tough nut to crack.  I'm not talking about certain school districts or states, I'm talking more about nationwide book banning.  One that comes to mind is Catcher & the Rye.  It's been banned for it's teenage drug use, language and some of the content involving sex.  However Flowers In The Attic has not been banned from schools or at least wasn't when I was attending and that has child abuse, rape and incest.  Who makes these decisions?  Is it the school board, parents, maybe the faculty because they refuse to teach it or don't want to add it to their curriculum.  What if it's the parents?  Could they do a permission slip like for rated R movies in the class?  The parents that don't sign, could have their child assigned another book to work on independently. The reason I feel like it is difficult because every book, or scenario is different depending on the current school year and what book it is. 

I've highlighted ideology as the power of suggestion because it is powerful.  With the right person or force, the results are endless.

The Mass Hysteria Involving Babies.

Anyone remember these?

Beanie babies from the company known as TY, was a huge phenomenon from the mid 90's to the early 2000's.  I never caught Beanie Baby fever but my younger cousin Conlee had six plastic tubs filled to the brim with them.  Funny thing was she not only collected them but played with them as well on a regular basis.  People were buying these cute stuffed animals for high prices & even the defective ones went for a high dollar amount.

T.V. poked fun at the craze with a popular sitcom called 3rd Rock From the Sun.  The main character Dick discovers a Fuzzy Buddy in his meal at a food establishment and you must collect them all.  Dick does just that.  By going overboard and spoofing on how some of the Beanie Baby collectors were eccentric and would go to any lengths to get what they needed.

 Also if Google Beanie Babies several stories have dropped currently.  Folks donating them to a hospital and one family losing it everything because of their collection.

Here's article from back in 1997 where the writer discusses among other things how the company would retire certain characters on specific dates and therefore made them more valuable or in demand to get them before they were gone. 
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-12-08/news/9712080067_1_beanie-babies-glendale-heights-flea-market

Now in recent years TY has given us Beanie Ballz which appeal to the now generation.  Your favorite animals or characters in the shape of a cute fuzzy fat ball.