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.

AT&T and Lowes

Recently I watched a Lowe's commercial that reminded me of the AT&T commercials. The ones that use buildings and people and a bunch of other stuff that resemble full service to advertise their "more bars, more places" line. In the Lowe's commercial it showed objects in the shape of a T placed at the end of the huge Lowe's sign. This made it say Lowest. They were promoting that they had the lowest prices and that no one can beat them. This message is similar to the message that AT&T is trying to convey. They are saying that they have service everywhere and no one can beat that.
I found it both neat and smart to advertise your company this way. First, after seeing the commercial it makes you start to look for the "service bars," and the "extra letters." I am constantly looking for these signs. Whenever I pick one out I gain a sense of accomplishment. This is a good trick on the part of the companies because they are being brought up in people's minds whenever they see these signs. Secondly, this way of advertising puts their company not only on the t.v. but also out in the real world.
I feel like this was good way of advertising these companies because the viewer become a part of it when they find these signs in their everyday lives.

Signs in a movie...

Recently, when I was home for a weekend, I was sitting on the couch bored out of my mind. I picked up the remote and began surfing the boob tube. Nothing worth watching was on, so i picked a channel at random and watched whatever was on it. "You, Me, and Dupree" was playing. I have never seen this movie, and I always thought that it was a chick flick, but it wasn't that bad. Besides any movie that has Seth Rogan in it is fine in my book. I will try t0 sum the movie up real quick. Two best friends get separated by the one getting married. The other one, Owen Wilson, then becomes homeless so they the newlyweds take him in. He begins to ruin their lives a day at time. The final straw was when he burnt half the living room down. Meanwhile the friend who was married was becoming stressed out with work because his father-in-law, who is his boss, is changing his project into something that he had intended it to be. I noticed one sign towards the end of the movie that I feel was an important part. Owen Wilson was helping his friend get his job back by distracting the secruity guard at his workplace. Matt Dillion, played Carl, was sneaking into try and speak his mind to his father-in-law. Owen Wilson was climbing through the ventalation system when he fell through into the office Carl was yelling at his father-in-law in. He lands right on the 3-D plans for Carl's project that his father-in-law had totally jacked, causing him to stress and freak out. He destroys it. I see this as a sign that a best friend is always there and will always stick up for you. I did kind of enjoy this movie, mainly for the fact that I laughed at Owen Wilson's ridiculous nose the whole time.

Sigur Ros "Hoppipolla"

I decided that for this entry I was going to look at the many signs that can be found within Sigur Ros' music video for "Hoppipolla." This is a great video accompanied by a great song. The title, "Hoppipolla," simply means, jumping into puddles.
Starting from the opening seconds to the last note of the song, there is non-stop semotics. For the first few seconds the camera is focused on feet and then slowly pans up to a group of four older people walking in an authoritative manner. This pan up, along with the music kicking in, gave me a sense that they were on a mission. Soon after this happens we see an old lady graffiting a building. She is painting birds in black paint. After watching the video, the birds i think were a symbol for the characters living free as a bird. Throughout the entire video you follow around this group of elderly people doing things that teenagers would do. For example, the grafitti, throwing firecrackers at people, knocking on people's doors and then leaving, and fighting with wooden swords in a graveyard. A scene that occurs a few times in the video is the elderly jumping into puddles, which just happens to be the title of the song. I see this scene as meaning young and free. They have not a care in the world. They end up having a battle in a graveyard with wooden swords. A sign that comes out in the battle is the enemy is wearing all black. I think that this is a color that media often associates with the enemy.
Like a stated already, this video is chalked full of semiotics, so check it out it is a great video!

Greenstreet Hooligans

So, I just sat down in my dorm room with some vegetable lo mein from Main Moon and started watching the movie "Greenstreet Hooligans." It was recommended by a friend so I borrowed it and decided to watch it on this boring Saturday night. As of right now, I am about 20 minutes in and so far I am really enjoying it. Elijah wood is the main character and he gets kicked out of school so he goes to London to see his sister who lives there. Within this first part that I have watched there has already been a brawl, a rally in a bar, a soccer game, and a gang fight. It makes it a lot better that everyone has British accents and they all talk in slang terms. This movie is all about how Elijah Woods' character gets introduced and becomes a part of the violent underworld of Futbol hooliganism.

Control vs Its Hard To Find a Friend

You probably would've guessed what this entry would be about by the title, if you are a Pedro the Lion fan. Pedro has been one of my favorite bands for a while now, as well as a huge influence on my songwriting. David Bazan, front man and mastermind behind Pedro, is so blatantly honest when it comes to writing lyrics. His songs have such deep meanings hidden within them, and once you figure them out, it makes the song so much better.

Now to the title of the entry. These are both titles to 2 of Pedro's albums. When I first started listening to PLT, I was hooked on Its Hard To Find a Friend because it had so many good songs on it. I could sit and listen through the whole thing and feel as if I was inside Bazan's head and actually experince what he was writing about. Then I started listening to Control. This is a more driving album, which I enjoy. "Rapture," the 2nd song on Control is about a man cheating on his wife. The lyrics in this song are so intense, and raw.

"This is how we mulitply, pity that its not my wife. The friction and skin, the trembling sigh..." this is the opening line to "Rapture." I love how in this song Bazan doesnt give a damn about what people think and he just writes whats on his mind no matter how sensitive the subject.

If you are a Pedro the Lion fan, could you give me your opinion on this "album war."

Coming of the Messiah in Cool Runnings?

The movie "Cool Runnings" is in my top 5 favorite movies. That might sound weird, but i love it. Learning about the different myths in media made me start to think what movies fell under what myth. The coming of the messiah myth is when a "messiah" comes to a group of people and change them for the better. He turns them around. I was thinking about what movie would fall under this myth, and I decided on Cool Runnings.
Cool Runnings is a moive about a group of Jamacians that try to start a bobsled team for the winter olympics. When they make the games, they are the laughing stock of the bobsled events. They then begin to prove everyone wrong, giving the nation of Jamacia something to be proud of. in the end they don't win, but the moral of Jamacia has been turned around, and they gained respect from the greatest bobsled teams in the world. I see the bobsled team as the messiah, and they changed the lives of their country.

The American Myth of Success

After reading this text many things were rushing through my head. I was pondering on how successful will my I be, and is today's society on pluck or luck side of things. Getting to read the history of the "American Dream" really opened my eyes to many things. Learning about how Ben Franklin came to be successful and how the Puritans gained success in a new land brought the "pluck or luck" theory to my attention.
I have never heard of pluck or luck and learning about it made me reflect back on something in my life that was a representation of each. A time in my life that represents pluck was when I was learning to play golf. I was horrible when I started (I was only 8, so that might be why i was so bad), but with practice and coaching from my Dad I progressed. I could see that all the hard work paid off when I graduated as a 4-year varsity letter man in golf. A time in my life that reminds me of luck was when I won the annual musical chairs event at the main event this year here at Malone. I had no intentions on winning, I was just doing it for fun. When I sat down on that last chair I couldn't believe that I won, I thought I was so lucky.

The Possibilities are endless...

Media is a part of practically everybody's life. From the moment we wake up until our head hits the pillow, we as Americans are surrounded by media. From the internet, to television, to movies, etc. Reaching the masses with media has many great possibilities. A great example of these many possibilities can be found in the recent election. Campaign adds flooded the media trying to convince the viewer to sway their way. The media was an easy way for the candidates to reach the masses.
However, there are some problems that can be found in media that reaches the masses. In today's society people have very strong beliefs and are easily offended by others that have an opposing view. If you are presenting a view to the masses that offends people, then there will no doubt be some kind of negatitve response. When you have the masses in the palm of your hand it is crucial to keep them hooked and coming back for more.

The website that I spend way too much time on.

So there is this website called www.fixedgeargallery.com. It is a site all about fixed gear bikes, its pretty much a fixed riders' dream site. There are daily blogs, videos, photos, and links to more than enough websites relating to bikes. Some of you are probably wondering what a "fixed gear" bike is. Well, it is a bike that has a fixed gear, you have no ability to coast. The sprocket is connected directly to the hub. Whenever the rear-wheel is turning, so are the pedals. usually these bikes have no brakes, and in order to stop you resist the rotation of the pedals.
This site, like I said, is a fixed gear riders' dream site. If i ever have any questions about how to fix my bike, or want to know a place to buy some sweet threads, or even look at the crazy and whacky paintjobs people do with their fixies, this is the site I turn to. If you are a fixed rider, or just interested in the wonderful world of fixies, then check this site out. You won't be disappointed.

This is only test

Check 1, 2, 3.