Magizine ads

                The ad I chose to analyze is a jewelery ad from a Teen Magazine. The jewelery is designed by Kimora Lee Simmons, and she is modeling the jewelery in the ad. When looking at the ad it is a half body shot of the model only showing her from the waist up. Kimor Lee Simmons is in a profile position naked with her forearms pressed against her chest. The jewelery designers forearms are then completely covered with the green beaded bracelets she is trying to sell. Kimora Lee Simmons represents a very powerful and wealthy women in the celebrity world and the mood set in the ad makes you will feel that you too can be sexy and be powerful like Kimora if you have one of these bracelets. What was strange to me was the written part of the article was more serious and down to earth, whereas the photograph is sexual. The caption at the bottom of the ad is saying that these bracelets were made from biodegradable elements of the earth and fifty percent of each bracelet will be donated to a Diamond Empowerment Fund in Africa to help those who mine for diamonds. I think that this ad is drawing in the wrong crowd. If the visual portion of the ad was done more tastefully it would draw in more of the adult crowd, who are more likely to purchase these bracelets to help the foundation. 

                  The second ad I chose is an bicycle advertisement. The center focus of the ad is suppose to be the brand of bike, but instead your eye focuses on the attractive women next to the bike. Awkwardly the women is wearing an evening dress with her hair and make-up is completely done, but yet she is holding a mountain bike with flames running up the frame. On the side of the ad is written text that says "Perfect fit". These words make it seem that the women is a perfect fit for the reader, but it is really intended the the bike is a perfect fit. This ad is awkward with the way they tried to use a women's sex appeal to get readers to purchase a mountain bike. But I think the bike company is trying to make a point that this bike can be a perfect fit for anyone who purchases it whether it is an athlete or not.

           The third advertisment I chose was an magazine advertisment for a mens magazine called Che. In the ad, the main focus is on the attractive women centered in the ad wearing only her undergarments. She is laying on a bed with her forearm resting underneath her to help support her into an upright position. The women's right arm is then draped over her right leg. The model has a look of lust on her face with her tossed hair falling over her eyes. The only unusual part of the ad is the video-game controller sitting directly in front of model. Insteadof the controller being hocked into a video-game receiver, it is connected to the women's belly button. In the lower portion of the ad is written text that say, "keep dreaming of a better world." This inscription is saying that the "better world" consist of men controlling the women. What the photograph is saying is by having the women hocked up to the video-game control the man can use the controller to make the women do what he wants, like a robot. This ad is also trying to saying that if you purchase and read this magazine it will help you move toward the fantasy of a "better world".

Album ad

Stay at home mom

When looking at the historical advertisements, I chose to look at the ad of a women eating icecream with her two children. At the bottom of the advertisement is a quote that states "What idiot coined the term stay at home mom?" Then, if you look closely in the background there is a sign that says "Fiftys". At a first glance of this ad, the Fifitys sign is blured in the background and looks like that is the name of the store the women purchased the ice-cream for her kids. But I think there is a deeper meanind to the sign in the background. Back in the fiftys women didn't work. It was in consittered normal that the wifes staied at home with the children, made sure the familys needs were met and kept the house in mint condition. To answer the quote at the bottom of the ad, it was the era of the fiftys that coined the term "stay at home mom". Nowadays, wifes and mothers are frustered with the term "stay at home mom", because they are not recognised for all they do. Most people think the term "stay at home mom" literally means they stay at home and do chorce around the house all day, and thats it. By this ad showing a mother out of the house with her children, is stating a point that there is more to the lable "stay at home mom". There are statistics that say a mother that stay at home and does all the household chorce, grocery shopping, arons, planing events, monitoring the household expence and bills this is an equivalence to having a full-time job. But most women are frustered because nobody acknowledeges this, and this is what the advertisement is trying to state.

Analyzing ads

Joe Camel

Back in the 90's, magazine advertisements for promoting smoking cigarets were everywhere. More often then not, it was difficult to identify what the ad was trying to sell from the caotic surroundings. The only small clue you were given was the large package of cigarets photoshopped in the corer of the ad and the small cigaret in the persons hand. The article I am analyzing is against smoking. This negative advertisement for smoking is a photograph of "Joe Camel" in a hospital bed. Joe Camel was a very popular advertisement animal for Camel cigarets. Except this time the camel is miserable lying in his hospital-bed. His eyes are sunken in, he is sickly skinny, and he has no hair on his body indicating his is going through Chemotherapy. In this advertisement instead of the words Joe Camel posted at the top of the ad, it says "Joe Chemo". There is a small caption at the bottom of the ad stating, "The Surgeon general warns that smoking is a frequent cause of wasted potential and fatal regret". In contrast the camel is sitting in the hospital bed sadly staring down at his sunglasses. These sunglasses, represent his past and how he used to have a great paying job and life, except he regretfully destroyed his life by smoking cigarets. He had so much potential in life, and the ability to life live to it's fullest, now he can't. This advertisement is saying that it is no longer considered ''cool'' to smoke, and if you chose to smoke you are wasting your life away with a guarantee to be diagnosed with cancer.

The mood created in the advertisement is depressing and I don't think it has a very big impact on the reader. Since this advertisement is a cartoon drawing of a camel with cancer, I think most people don't take smoking very seriously. If the artist was to incorperate family members of the camel, like children, I think ads like these would help guid people to stop smoking.

Cell Phones

       In the article, "When your brain is outside the car," Dave Downey states a very good argument about cellphone usage in cars. Downey explains that when a driver is talking on a hands-free headset, the drive is just as likely to get in a accident whether he or she is holding the cellphone for or not. I strongly agree with Downey in this article, a drivers full attention is on the conversation and not on the road. 

     In the second article I read, "Reining in cell phone use," Derek Moore discusses the uselessness of hands-free headsets. Moore argues, like Downey, that wireless handsets are just as dangerous. Moore goes into more detail about the dangers in regularly using a Bluetooth headset, the argument was, wireless headsets may encourage cancer or other negative side-affects. Bluetooth headsets causing cancer is something that has always crossed my mind and it scares me that scientist are fearing the same thing. 

      The third article I read, "Look who's talking" written by Howard Rheingold was an article different from the others I have read so far. Rheingold discusses the lifestyle of the Amish and how their live completely with out technology, with one exception, cellphones. I found it a little unusual that the Amish are against electricity, but yet they use cellphones. Another thing I found strange was in the Amish schools, it is a concern if a student raises their hand in class. By a student simply raising their hand, they are showing signs of individuality which is a sin. Even-though a few households are sharing one cellphone, when one wants to use the cellphone that person must go out the the fields to use it, in a way isn't that showing individuality?

      The fourth essay I read "The affliction" by Jose Astargo. Jose Astargo explains that people who have cellphones life for that contraption. Most often then not a conversation is interrupted by a cellphone call or text-message. Astargo explains that he too owns a cellphone but makes a point to keep it on vibrate so conversations with other people are not interupted. Astargo one day felt his cellphone vibrating at his waist, but when he ritched for it is was not there. Astargo soon realized that it was his stomach growling that gave the same sensation as his cellphone vibrating. This article shows that even those who know how ridiculous cellphones are can get caught up in the mayhem.

The First Technological

The First Technological Revolution and it's Lessons

Peter Drucker the author of "The First Technological Revolution," discusses the progression of technology and how it started out from a now simple notion of writing and has evolved into government, social class and institutions. Drucker shows his readers that the irrigation civilizations were more than just advanced kingdoms or empires, they were fully structured societies.  These large cities had fully established systems of living, crop rotation, irrigation, sewer, and an hierarchy of living. Drucker is trying to show us that it is because of these civilizations that we have had a blue print of how an society should be run.  It was frustrating for me to read this article because of how vague Drucker was, if I didn't already know about irrigation civilizations from history classes I would have been very irritated. I also found that is was hard for me to make the connection between our modern day life and that of a Mayan culture or city structure.  There is no doubt that irrigation civilizations were superior to that of other tribes in that time period, but relating it to present time is very hard.

        

Favorite American Vacation Destinations

    After watching the movie clip, "The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disneyland" I notice that the park looked like nothing had changed since I was last there. I thought it was interesting that this film was made in the 1970's, and the last time I was at Disneyland was the early 1990's. In my opinion, I think it is great that the Disneyland park has stayed almost the same for so long, I think people appreciate Disneyland more because it has gone unchanged for so long. As people continue to return to Disneyland they are able see the park just as they had left it and have everything exactly like they remembered. I am sure that Disneyland has changed a few things over the years, but they tend to keep the key attractions the same. For example, the famous "Teacup" ride and "It's a small world" ride will always be the same because that is what people want. 

       I also think our economy has become smarter with how to sell things to people, for example, the Reeses candy. This candy has been around for years, but whenever companies are selling their product to long they think it is time to change it is some way. So soon enough the market comes out with a new Reeses candy with white chocolate. The point is is that this altered version of the old Reeses candy is not selling as well because people want the old Reeses that brought back old childhood memories. I have noticed that no matter what age a person is in they will always smile and feel like a kid again when they see something from their past. I am bringing up this point about the Reeses candy because Disneyland in a sense is like the Reeses candy. People of all ages want to come back to Disneyland and remember everything and be able to have the same childhood feelings. 

Video # 1

        While watching the video "Canoeing on the Charles River," I noticed that every canoe that sailed by had a designated man controlling the canoe. Every man controlling the canoe was dressed in a white long sleeved shirt and some were even wearing ties. I thought it was out of the ordinary to be wearing a suit on a river, but then I realized, this must be one of the ways the people in the canoes traveled from one destination to another. I also realized then the nicely dressed men were controlling the canoes must have been the tour guides. They way the men and women dressed while traveling by canoe is very different from the way we dress today when we are in canoes.

         One thing that surprised me when watching this film was the women on the canoes. Since this film was made in 1904, I was not expecting to see any women on the canoes at all, but surprisingly I did. 

Video #2

          When comparing the video "Automobile race for the Vanderbilt cup" to current races today, I noticed the raceways are very unorganized. The people that are watching these races are eagerly crowding the raceway trying to see the oncoming race cars. Some of the viewers were swarming onto the racetrack, but our raceways today do not allow people this close to the road because it is dangerous. I also noticed that women did not attend these races, which I did expect because back in 1904 women did not attend most events men did.

Video #3

         When comparing the video "The ball game" to baseball games today, I noticed that the stadium in the video was much smaller than modern day stadiums. Also the players uniforms were not as flashy as they are today. Some other things that I noticed was the lack of safety for the players, considering the batter was not wearing a helmet. Lastly I observed that there wasn't any advertisement on the stadium, today that is a big part on how teams and the park get their funding.

" Why we travel" response

              In the article, "Why we travel" Pico Ayer makes a very unusual point about traveling. Ayer starts by explaining the difference between a traveler and a tourist. Pico Ayer says that a tourist complains about the environment they are observing, but a traveler indulges their surroundings. I agree with Ayer's in this point. When ever I think about a tourist i think of people that rome around all day aimlessly pointing at structure without knowing to meaning behind it. Tourist to me usually spend more money and time booking a room at a five star hotel than observing their surroundings. Then when I think about travelers, I think of a person that doesn't worry about the hotel their are sleeping in, they want to spend more energy on their sight seeing and taking as much as knowledge as they can. A traveler is someone that sees their surroundings with all of their senses, and interprets everything in a new way. 

               Ayer next  brought to my attention, that in order to be a traveler you don't have to go to a foreign country, Ayer explains that many people travel in their own cities. San Francisco for example, many people that live in this city have to walk ten blocks just to get to work. What Pico Ayer made me realize, was that in those ten blocks to work, you are seeing different cultures, structures and lifestyles. People don't need to travel to Africa to whitness poverty, you can simple venture down the street and examine your own community. My definition of traveling, before I read this article was, leaving your life and problems behind you and venturing to a new country. But what Pico made me realize is you don't have to leave the country you live in to be considered a traveler.

              An interesting comparison that Pico Ayer made was the notion between traveling and a love affair, these are completely different ideas but have the same meaning. Ayer proposed that a love affair can be like a journey to a foreign country. You can't speak the language, and you don't know where you're going, and you feel lost but in the same sense you feel complete. I have never related traveling in this aspect, it made me think when you travel you are in a different state of mind. You suddenly don't think about the past or future when you are traveling, you are only thinking about that moment in time, but you also do this when having a love affair.