Blogs: More Than just a Journal

Over the semester, blogging has become a whole new experience for me. I loved how easy it was to just write about my reaction to essays and ideas. The immediate-ness and casualness in blogging had relieved me of the pressure to worry about whether or not my ideas were good enough to share, or if my writing skills were going to fog how my thoughts were going to be portrayed. Instead, I was able to write out my thoughts as if I was in a informal discussion with my peers or professors. In addition, the use of photographs and video had made my arguments more concrete than having to write about intense analysis with citations. The use of other media in my bog also just made it more interesting.  Why do I need to write an extra paragraph or so about an idea when I can simply post a video or a picture? With our shorter attention spans due to the increase of technology use, my viewers would take in more information from my post with pictures and videos.

Before my own experience with blogs, I didn’t really think much of them. I only thought the people who created blogs were ones who hated the world or society and wanted to bash on it for everyone to see; and of course, there were those crazy middle-aged people who were just nuts about every subject and somehow believed people were interested in their thoughts. However, while I was reading my peers’ blogs and exploring the blogs on wordpress.com, I realized blogs were for every type of person. Yes, my original thoughts were backed up by a few unique blogs, but overall that was not the case.

When we had to first read the Andrew Sullivan essay about blogging, I was still not convinced blogging was the ultimate activity. I was aware the blogging would be important and it would become a unavoidable thing in the future, but I never saw myself as a person who would enjoy blogging. But I was very wrong. Blogging was an experience I will apply to the rest of my classes over the school years. By writing about my thoughts without the need to ponder on formal writing skills, I was able to even understand my ideas better–that was something I never thought would happen.

The Mixer Machine

Before school started I had very little to no skills in Garageband. I always wanted to teach myself so I could make my own mash-ups. However, it was harder than I thought. If the beats were not matched up perfectly then the song seemed overwhelming and mismatched. However, I started to understand the tools and abilities of Garageband during my digital class when we needed to create a sound that mimicked a dream-like experience. I started to play around with the equalizers and track volumes; it was all coming together.

By the end of the Dream project, I had a full sense of Garageband’s capabilities. Although I cannot make a perfect Mash-up song yet, I am almost there. Well, at least I thought so. When we were assigned the Podcast project in English class, I needed to teach myself other tools necessary for the sounds to come out properly. Garageband has this special song setting for podcasts, which I thought was going to make it easier for the transition between making general sound and having sound with voices..But I was wrong. It was too automatic for me. For example, when I added my voice to the female podcaster, it did sound better but not with the music. As I started to understand how the Podcast section in Garageband worked, I realized that the background music would jump as soon at a voice track had “dead air.” It make my podcast sound horrible. The pauses of thought now had music blasting instead of the soft background music. As a result, I set voices without any sound, and whenever there was a pause in me speaking, I put that silent section in between. Teaching myself Garageband worked out in the long run, and it is definitely a good skill to have.

The Real Housewives of Frito Lay: Ad Analysis

Only in a Woman’s World is Frito Lay’s advertising campaign that influences women to believe some snack foods will actually help them work towards a healthy diet and lifestyle.

 

The Cuervo Nation

Ira Glass’ Plan B was very interesting to me as a college student. Soon going out into the real world–only stuck with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts–I was never sure if I was going make it. Will I follow the path of my Plan A? Will I even follow the path of my Plan F?

Ira Glass organized this podcast into multiple interviews with different people and discussed their explorations through their variety of plans. Each person is different from the next and almost breaks down this one podcast into several episodes. No one would wants to listen to one just person talking or a single discussion going back and forth. This approach strengthens Glass’ overall message since it shows the reader plan-changing happens to all types of people who have entirely different jobs.

The portion I found most interesting was the interview with Ryan, the Tequila Man. Its use of music and field recordings had made this section to be most engaging for the podcatcher. In addition, a certain part of this “episodes” takes place in Long Island, in a college bar that is almost 25 minutes away from my house.

Compared to the rest of the other sections, this interview with Ryan had the most music and sounds. In other words, it keeps the audience enticed into waiting for what happens next. However, there were times when I lost a sense of interest. For example, there were parts when either Ira or Glass would talk too fast to really understand what they were saying; and after that, it took me several seconds to comprehend the story again.

As Ira talk about in his youtube video, a goal for a storyteller is to describe situations so the audience could feel they are there. In the Jose Cuervo part of the episode, the field recordings allowed me to think I was in the Hofstra bar scene, which intensified the universal effect.

 

The Podcast: Large, but not so in Charge

The audible realm had saved us in the beginning of the 21st Century by allowing us to download and purchase individual songs rather than having to buy an entire albums. Now we have the option to customize our radio experience as well. In 2005, podcast was the “word of the year” by The New Oxford American Dictionary, and will continue to be incorporated into our society in the future (Levy).

 

Podcasts allow people to chose what to listen to, where to listen to it, and whent.  A person is able to go on their computer download and subscribe to a podcast, upload it to their iPod, and listen to it as they please. Since the podcast are not live, a person has the ability to pause and play podcast, this form of “radio” plays around an individual’s schedule–no one else’s. The one drawback with this characteristic is that podcasts are not immediate and as frequent as other available applications, like the blogs. Adam Curry, the “Podfather,” had said “if they find Osama bin Laden, don’t go running to your iPod.”

There is a podcast for almost everything from knitting to scary stories. I did not have previous experience with podcasts, and not big fan of talk shows. I am usually the one who changes the radio station as soon as the hosts start talking for more than a minute. Yet, I looked into two podcasts: The American Life and  Hollywood Party Girl. When I listened to American Life, I began to appreciate another aspect of the podcast: the option to fast forward. Although I found some parts to be funny and interesting, I was not able to find myself engaged in the podcast. However, this could also be looked at as beneficial for podcasters since a person could still enjoy certain parts of his or her podcast rather than unsubscribing all together.

I can see myself listening to Hollywood Party Girl if I am in the mood to read the magazine but can’t since do not have the time or in a place where I can’t pull out a magazine. The podcast are quite long, so a person would most likely skip to the stories that interest them. This type of podcast could be considered an audible tabloid. With many magazines going bankrupt and discontinuing, this may be what magazines are evolving into.  

Look! I’m an M&M!!

For all you desperately awaiting my wonderful blog post… I am happy to say I am back in business. For the last 36 hours my account was deactivated because some hooligans decided to hack into my blog. If you are one of my hooligans reading this: YOU LOSE!

As technology continues to improve, our attention spans are doing the opposite. As a result, company’s must now incorporate games and interactive activities so a consumer will look at their advertisements for more than just a millisecond. It is pretty funny to think this had actually happened to our society. On the other hand, I was able to create my own M&M character as part of my homework–doesn’t seem too bad.

The overall goal of these companies when they create interactive advertisements is for the consumer to obtain a certain feeling when he or she take part in the advertisement. As a result, the consumer will develop a direct linkage between the induced feeling or emotion and the company or the featured product. Over the past two nights I have participated in multiple interactive advertisement; however, Become and M&M I found to be the most intriguing and the most addicting. The participant feels that have so much power and control in this application because the combinations of aspects for the M&Ms seem endless. This application also allows the viewers to create his or her character on a more personal level by allowing consumers to input names and birthdays for their M&M character.

This application will continue to have an impact on its consumers because of its fun and personal way to incorporate M&M characters with their consumers. For example, next time the Headless M&M commercial goes on air for Halloween, I will remember that I created my very own academic M&M princess on the M&M website.

The Rebellious Middle-Aged Man

In order to have a successful campaign, companies must fully understand their audience and consumers. Whether it is to please the stubborn men who will continue to wear the same clothing until countless amount of holes appear, or the rebellious “fashionistas” who wish to have some edge in their wardrobe. Once a company determines the audience, it is then a matter of pleasing them in every way possible.

Levi Strauss & Co. wanted to revolve Dockers promotions around the average everyday man, not pin-pointing a certain sub-category.  Their ad campaign emphasized the variety of men who wear Dockers. One of the most important aspects of this campaign was that the viewers of the commercial were never able to make a connection between the dialogue and a face. Naturally, when a person receives a lack of information, he or she would input pieces of their imagination to fulfill the missing data.  As a result, a man watching the commercial will use his mind to apply faces that are personally more pleasing and influential. This ad had proven to other companies that there is a specific procedure to get men’s attention.

The Edge and The Attraction

As for the Diesel ad campaign. The company’s approach is entirely different than the Docker’s campaign. TheDockers commercial stress a laid back life style which is applicable to nearly all men; however, the ads for Diesel address the people who wish to have a life that isn’t so laid back. The commercials are all about actions and edge and the print ads give a sense of mystery.

A Barbie Doll Can Sell Home Appliances. What has the world come to?

Among the ads in the folder, this ad had intrigued me the most. It may just be because I’m a girl and I do miss my childhood Barbie dolls. However, I find that this ad could be successful even with its “little girl” items. The colors are vibrant, yet they are also slightly unsaturated to ensure the picture is not too overwhelming for the viewer. Also each doll in the photograph is placed in a different position which develops variety and movement within the picture.

I think this photograph will distract many women while they flip through a magazine or a newspaper. Barbie dolls have been popular and infamous for decades; therefore, seeing an image of Barbie dolls, in what would most likely be a home or sophisticated women magazine, would be a refreshment or a curiosity.  The message soon becomes more relatable especially if that female viewer has a daughter. I pretty sure I gave my Barbie dolls a sink bath at least one month when I was younger to make sure they stayed clean and “prettiful.”

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Without the text, there are countless possibilities to what the company is advertising. Maybe the first life-size Barbie doll bath/jacuzzi tub. Who knows. However, the wording: the most unusual thing in this sink is a dirty dish, is witty and sarcastic which relieves the viewer puts them in a somewhat good mood. However, the position of the text could have been altered in order to make the advertisement more successful. I personally would have liked to have seen about half the words overlap onto the picture. This makes the reader aware that the text is ultimately part of the visual text.

Clutter, Clutter, and then some.

"It's impossible for a muddy thinker to write good English"

It is hard to say whether or not we are prepared for college writing. Who is there to decide that? Who should we take advice from? We try to learn from the professional, but their circumstances are so much different than ours. Most professional writer do not necessarily have a due date to follow or a Ctools to send their pieces to. As a result, college students are forced to take a shortcut on the suggested word-development process. And of course, the most important difference is that we are still young–naturally we will have far too much on our minds along with iTunes, the TV, and the Internet all at our finger tips.

Even though I found that I was not able to take in everything that the two writers had said, there were definitely some things that stuck. In the essay, “Simplicity,” Zinsser stressed that “it’s impossible for a muddy thinker to write good English.” This is certainly something I am in the middle of practicing. While writing my very rough draft,  I still had no idea what my essay was going to be about; which then led to an essay without a clear and functional topic. Although we cannot have such an extensive writing process, it is still important for us to take advantage of rough drafts in order for us to have a powerful and argumentative  essay.

Another point which is apparent in these essays is to remove the clutter. A wordy sentence could hide the main message or even distort it. In high school and middle school we were taught that a long essay always seemed more academic since it looked like students spent more time writing the essays. During my senior and junior year in high school, my teacher always used the example of FDR. During one of the press conferences, he apologized to his audience since he did have enough time to create a five minute speech; instead, it was going to be seven minutes. Clarity is a key element in writing an essay and it should not be over looked at.

New Media: The Audience is Taking the Stage

New Media has had a major impact on our society in so many ways. One of the most important features in the New Media realm is that the readers are now the writers and vice versa. We now have the ability to put out more information and take in even more. The previous video illustrates how much information is available due to the New Media Revolution.

But so many can question its effects on our world. Are these changes permanent? Will they continue?  Or will it simply become a fad? These are questions which so many experts are continue to be unsure of.

I believe that the New Media revolution will not pass over as quickly as other changes had. This one is ready to stay for a pretty long time, and the changes that happened recently are only the beginning. More and more people are slowly starting to understand and take advantage of new media. In the beginning, it was mainly for the younger generations who have more experience with the internet and its applications. However, many new academic and political interactive websites have been created and populated over the last year or two. These forms of interactive websites are actually addressed to older generations and the intellectuals of the younger generations.

It should be expected that New Media will broaden its audience even more in the next fews years by the creations of different websites and applications. Also, more and more senior citizens are starting to realize the importance of the internet and the computer. In the next year, one could expect to find interactive websites that are solely directed towards the senior citizens. The possible information available is so great. And very slowly, people are starting to understand its importance to our civilization. New New is here to stay and will definitely allow us to gain so much.