Give back that Filet-o-Fish....

I love the new Filet-O-Fish commercial that McDonalds has. It has a catchy tune, and it just funny. They took those annoying motion-censored, hang-on-the-wall, talking bass, and made them do something awesome. I think that this commercial is doing its job well. It gets the point across of what the product is. And, it does it in a stupid and funny way. One of the things that I think makes this a good commercial is the fact that they don't have the newest rapper eating a sandwich trying to sell their product. They have a redneck wall decoration and 2 hard-working blue collar men selling it. This puts it down on most peoples level. All in all, this commercial makes a point and gets to it quickly. Filet-O-Fish.

Fandom...

I am a fan of many things. I am a huge fan of only a few. LOST is one those. I have mentioned it many times before in previous blogs, so it may be old news. My Wednesdays revolve around the 60 minutes that fall between 9 and 10 pm. The guys on my floor know that there are a group of us that when LOST comes on, nothing gets in the of us watching it. There have been times when a yelling match will occur causing us to miss the first 5 minutes. One could say that I am a little obsessed with LOST. But I am not nearly as obsessed as the people in Trekkies, and people that follow Hairy Potter or Twilight. I hate to admit this, but when the latest Twilight book was released I was at the midnight release party at Borders. Not because I was buying the book, but because a friend was meeting his girlfriend there because she was buying it. The whole hour I was in there, I was making fun of everybody. They probably wanted to kill me, but I think they had it coming, they dressed up like characters from a book. Strange, I know. This is when fandom crosses that line into the obsessed categorie. My liking of LOST is normal. But when people go to book release parties and have their picture taken with a cardboard cutout of the main "stud" character of the book, that is obsessed.

Beer commercial

I always find beer commercials funny. I just recently saw one advertising labatt blue light. They were trying to convince the viewers that it was from glaciers in the arctic. They flashed to a scene of all these beautiful women wearing tight silver low cut spandex jumpsuits passing buckets of beer from a glacier to a factory and then it goes back to the guys and the one girl that were talking about it. The guy then says if you put your ears to it you can hear a glacier melt. The girl is the one that puts it up to her ear. I think that this commercial is very degrarding to women. 1st it shows them dressed in sexy spandex suits passing beer. What American male wouldn't want to see that. Then to have the girl at the end be the only one listening to the bottle of beer for the sound of a glacier to me means that they are looking down on them. I see this commercial as advertising the product well, but looking down women.

Favortie Media Text

I am a huge fan of LOST. I think i have talked about it in blogs before, but it is worth 1000'x of blogs because it is so awesome. This is mixture of different genres. It is sci-fi, drama, romantic, action just to name a few. The show utilizes all of these genres well, and mix them together in a way that provides the viewers with something new to watch. I know that my view on the show is way different than a producers show. I am watching it to get enjoyment out of it. I think the producers are watching it to find out how to make it better, and to make it so more people will like it. I guess we are on the opposite side of the ball.

This probably won't work, but its worth a look...

So when asked to create a hybrid of genres for a tv show, the first two things that came to mind were family guy and old western cowboy shows, like gunsmoke and various others. I know this sounds like mixing oil and water, but i think it deserves a quick look over. First of all, family guy offers many things to this hybrid ( i am not saying i am a family guy fan, i do watch it every once and a while, but i am not obsessed). For example, there are many jokes directed toward minorities, and many sexual jokes. College aged males eat this junk up. You can compliment this crude humor with a good ol' fashion gunfight. I think this new hybrid show shouldnt be animated like family guy, because to me, having a real live person say some ridiculously rude joke is way funnier than a picture. And plus gunfights wouldnt be as sweet in cartoon. But as i think about this hybrid, it probably would be awful. For some reason i couldnt see a "your mom" joke coming out of John Wayne's mouth. Even if a station would pick up this tv series, i doubt it would last a whole season.

Media and Youth

I am writing this entry in a hotel room in Morgantown WV. My reason for being in WV is that I am attending a Youth Leader Retreat called SOY Retreat. This is where youth leaders from the friends denomination get a break just to relax and learn some stuff. I am a youth intern at my church, so qualified to come.
Anyway, now to what I really want to talk about. Being a youth leader you see the effects the media has on teenagers. Being able to share in this struggle, and blessing with other youth leaders has been a refreshing opportunity. I call it a struggle and a blessing for the simple fact that the media's influence can both help and hinder youth today. I see to many youth in my church that are being told who they are and what they think by the media. I would write a book about thi, but i am sure there is one already written. In today's society, media has erased parents from the equation and stepped in to take control and shape young people's lives.
However, being in youth ministry, media has its advantages. With youth ministry we try to think outside the box and relate to the kids in ways they know and their lifestyles. Whether it is communication through facebook to your youth group, or having a blog that posts reviews on bands, and things that your youth just has to check out can be very useful. As a youth leader, we need to play ball in their court, and meet them where they are.

1-second Commercial

I decided to analyze the Miller High Life one second commercial that was advertised during the Superbowl. I will state that most of these signs i picked out by pausing it, so the average watcher may not see them at first, but they are there.

1)The guy yells "High Life" with excitement and enthusiasm. As a viewer this could either get you pumped up and make you want the beer, or laugh at him and not want to waste your money.
2)The commercial is shot in a beer warehouse and there is floor to ceiling, wall to wall high life. This could communicate to the viewer that there is plenty of it and they want you to indulge in it.
3)In the background there is a football helmet sitting on a stack of beer cases. This was an appriote thing to put in there since it was during the Superbowl. I felt that this communicated that when you are watching football you need a high life.
4)Also in the background there were a couple trophies setting on beer cases. This could mean that high life is award winning, or that winners drink high life.
5)There is a couch off to the side. This could be a sign that high life is perfect to kick back with.

These were just a few signs that I noticed in the really short advertisement. Even though it only lasted one second, there were many messages being conveyed within the set and the acting.