Wikileaks comment on a comment.

Jul 28 2011: Change the educational system to accomodate fostering creativity aside from intelligence like Sir Ken Robinson suggested.
This is not just about education... by stressing on creativity it focus on what the student like.. passionate about... when what you want and passionate about is channeled.. you WILL BE happy. Happiness brings out the best of people.


Someone by the name of Judge Pau shared this comment on behalf of answering directly the question at hand (Name ONE idea that you think has the potential to make your city/state/country/ 'our
world' a better place?). I decided to comment on this comment (and yes, I did have a hard time debating if I should answer another comment) because it's a topic that I have thought about, as a student, for a long time. In general I feel confident to say that I enjoy learning, that is, about the topics which I am passionate about. To me it feels like there are many topics which I learn at school which should be optional. I end up spending hours craming information which I frankly do not care about and eventually making me unhappy. If I were to focus on what I am really passionate about I could get a deeper understanding of what is interesting to me and be happy at the same time. There is a down side to this, what constitutes a mandatory educational topic? Who gets to decide this?

News Analysis 2 (Norris 5)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060977/UK-weather-Britain-basks-sunny-weekend-mild-weather-temperatures-hit-18C.html

Informative
Accurate and Truthful
Objective
Insular
Weighted

Content Analysis for Community

After breaking down the characters from one of my favorite shows, Community, I noticed the trend of stereotypes the media conveys including that blondes are clumsy, old people are old fashioned, and that African American men are good at sports. This variety of a character mix makes for a range of different angles of humour, whether it be dark humour, stereotypical humour or slapstic comedy.

ame of Character	Jeff Winger	Britta Perry	Pierce Hawthorne	Shirley Bennett	Troy Barnes
Gender	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
Was this character the main..	Yes, one of the main ones	Yes, one of the main ones	Yes, one of the main ones	Yes, one of the main ones	Yes, one of the main ones
Occupation	Student at Community College/ Ex Lawyer	Student at Community College/ Active Protestor	Student at Community College/ Family Inheritance	Student at Community College/ Single Mother	Student at Community College/ The Jock
Level of education	Community College	Community College	Community College	Community College	Community College
Race	White	White	White	African American	African American
Marital status	Single	Single	Divorced 7 times	Divorced	Single
Age	Mid 20s	Mid 20s	Mid 60s-70s I assume	Mid 40s I assume	Low 20s
Number of children	0	0	0	3	0
Appearance	Smooth Talking, Brunette, Good Looking,	Blonde, skinny, pretty,	Old, well dressed,	Old fashioned,	Handsome,
Body type	skinny, tall, muscular	skinny,	A little overweight, wide,	A little overweight, short	Skinny, muscular, athletic
Personal Characteristics	Smooth talking, witty, pompous	Not very clever,  clumsy	Racist, out of style, bad sense of humour	Very religious, unwelcoming of other faiths, old fashioned,	Not very clever,
Role of the character	One of the main characters, part of the Spanish study group	One of the main characters, part of the Spanish study group	One of the main characters, part of the Spanish study group	One of the main characters, part of the Spanish study group	One of the main characters, part of the Spanish study group

Dove Evolution

I have acctually seen this video before and instantly recognized it just by looking its thumbnail. What shocked me most about this video was the photoshopping segment of the video. There shouldn't be anything surprising about a model getting her hair and makeup done before a photoshoot but to me when photoshopping is involved its almost as if they are lying to the audience. Achieving these looks is impossible, even for the models therefore giving false hope to many young women who are surrounded by these advertisements.

Community

Community is one of my favorite shows of all time however I failed to notice all the racial stereotypes it conveys until now.

Who is communicating?

The show is about a group of diverse people who have their own characteristics and backgrounds.

What about Who?

The single black male coincidentally plays the athletic one of the groups, the blonde plays the clumsy, not-so-bright "wannabe" social activist, the young white male plays a macho, smooth-talking individual, the only black female plays a divorced mother of one who has religious morals and puts her catholic faith infront of anything she does, and lastly the eldest of the group plays an old fashioned male who can't seem to blend in with the younger generation.

Why is it that Way?

It's this way because the diversity causes for very interesting plots and different reaction plus the more diversity the higher chance audiences will relate to at least one character.

Review Comparisons

According to the reviews does Spurlock convey product placement under a bias light?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/pom-wonderful-presents-the-greatest-movie-ever-sold,1180695/critic-review.html
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-04-21/entertainment/sc-mov-0419-greatest-story-ever-sold-20110421_1_movie-gag-ads

Intro
-Ironically even though both articles have a negative bias for product placement the Washington Post believed it made him feel better about it whilst the Chicago Tribune believed it showed it under a negative light or even under no light

Paragraph one - Sao Paulo
Chicago Tribune - how its bad we reveal this materialistic world to kids at such a young age
Washington Post say "surprising results"

Paragraph two - neuromarketing
Washington Post closes by talking about how neuromarketing is very similar to brainwashing

Paragraph three
The plain fact that these ads are agreeing to help Spurlock out makes the Washington Post feel that these companies are infact good natured

Exposure to Advertisements

 

Tuborg beer

What was the advertising medium? Product Placement in a Music Video
What is the product? Alchoholic Beverage

Is the advertising explicit or subtle? Subtle
Who might be the target audience? The "younger generation" 18+ teens and twenties

How might the ad influence your decision to purchase this product or service? By the looks of this music video, it seems like most of the participants are having the time of their lives. The product has a little advertisement at the beginnig, it lasts barely enough time for me to understand what is happening, however the drink itself appears in many many parts of the music video, as if the central reason for everyones happiness. Here is a link to the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWk0vlLFbQs)s

פיס (Pais)

What was the advertising medium? Billboard

What is the product? Gambaling/Lottery buisness/Bank/TV channel

Is the advertising explicit or subtle? Explicit
Who might be the target audience? All ages

How might the ad influence your decision to purchase this product or service? Extremley surprisingly, I noticed this billboard on Sunday inside a gym of a school during a volleyball game. As I was preparing my shoes I looked up to notice a large billboard that explicitly promoted the company. It didn't really offer a reason to why I should choose to use the company however it did make me think about it, interesting

Old Spice Shower Gel

What was the advertising medium? Video Advertisement

What is the product? A shower gel

Is the advertising explicit or subtle? explicit
Who might be the target audience? Men of all ages, probably older than 16

How might the ad influence your decision to purchase this product or service? This ad has earned much attention on the internet due to its creativness and humour. If I saw old spice at a store I wouldn't buy it because I truly enjoy it as a shower gel, which could be the case, but mostly because the ad is so memorable and funny. Here is the advertisement (http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=uLTIowBF0kE)s 

I am not sure how many we were supposed to do as there is nothing posted on moodle as of right now. I will edit this post later on when I find out.

The Corporation vs. Ad and Ego

“The Ad and the Ego goes beyond deconstructing individual advertisements to reveal the economic and political dimensions of living in an advertising infused environment. In our “new world order” of diminishing resources and devastating pollution, this film makes the critical connections between the rise of consumerism, environmental degradation and our blind commitment to economic growth at any cost. It forcefully demonstrates the link between our debased public discourse and a media culture that defines freedom as consumer choice rather than democratic participation.” – The Ad and the Ego web site

What do you think is the impact of consumerism on our /your life? (Make an attempt to tie your response back to the statement above)




We live a world in which obtaining the newest gadget is just a click away. This intricate system, consumerism, creates the illusion, through advertising, that you need the newest piece of clothing, or the new hairstyle in order to fit in. This idea that you can simply buy happiness is plaguing our modern society.  After being exposed to Ad and Ego and The Corporation, I have become enlightened by this corrupt system in which  advertisements exploit the human biological desire to fit in. I am currently attempting to hold back on the latest materials in order to prove to myself that one cannot simply buy happiness. After all, the "new world order" implicates the need of large corporations to maximize profits and the human desire to fit in and fosters the exploitation of one another.

Corporation Movie Response

The term "corporation" was never perceived as a negative connotation to me until I watched the documentary in class. The fact that Corporations have such immense power over what we see, what we do, how we do it - absolutely everything. What most stood out for me in the documentary was the statement that went roughly along the lines of "many people have tried to escape the power of corporations, but they then realized they can't". I'm frightened; our world is under total controlled and we are too blind to see it. It seems too late to do anything about it.

Who Owns The Media Response

Today's class was interesting yet a little disturbing. The idea that a big chunk of our cultural influence and economical influences are controlled by these few companies surprises me. The fact that they have such a large control on society means they can steer our universal culture or economical situation.

19/08/11 Media Log 1

I decided to pick Friday because I knew ahead of time that I will be going out during the evening, exposing me to advertisements and billboards. As I turn my alarm clock off I walk into my bathroom and notice brand names and symbols surrounding me. The red and white toothpaste tube with the Colgate logo that is so ingrained in me is the first thing I notice every morning. I then glance at my deodorant which shows off the unmistakeable white bunny logo of Playboy. After a shower and getting dressed I make my way into the kitchen where I reread all the advertisements on the back of my favorite cereal Captain Crunch. I look over at the Fruity Loops box so I can reassure myself that I can complete the puzzle on the back, again. As I ride to school I smirk as I notice the 20 foot long Spartacus poster on my way to school and begin to recap my favorite scenes from the show. As I start to fall asleep I decide to try to guess car companies in order to stay awake, I spot Audi, BMW and Porsche. At school I see my fellow students, who are in fact are all walking advertisements for AIS. Every class that day I would try to see if the majority of the students used an Apple computer or a different kind of computer, the consensus was Apple. On my way home I fall asleep as usual. As I get home I turn my computer on just to be flooded with advertisements and special offers. I take a nap before my Shabbat dinner at my grandmothers. After I wake up I take a shower and head to the closet where I shuffle through my clothes deciding which brand I should wear, I grab an HNM shirt. Our topic of conversation at the dinner table was sparked as my sister laid down her Iphone on the table. My grandmother insisted about how revolutionary it was as my uncle tried to back up all the Blackberrys on the table.

It boggles me how much a simple logo can affect what you think about or what you talk about. These things become such a normal habit that they become engrained in our heads unnoticeable, for the good or for the bad. I look forward to see what kind of brands are revealed in my next log or what brands are re-revealed.

Practice Posting

This is an exercise to practice my posting skills, hopefully overtime they shall improve.
Love,
Tal.