cabaret

As in Cabaret, "money makes the world go round," but coincidently it can make it stop too. I’m surely not from a very well off family, especially by SMU standards. But we have done all right for ourselves and I’ve still been afforded great privileges, including a private high school education. I have to be very conscious about money all the time. It’s pretty much always on my mind. I think often about people’s personal spending. I wonder if people think about how they could help aid others by spending less on personal luxuries and contributing more to charity and different donations. Many students at SMU are very comfortable financially to spend a few hundred dollars on a purse to carry their books in, or sunglasses, or even just on rainboots. Of course I can understand that its nice to have nice things (credit the movie Blow), but I feel like if we all could just do without one of these luxuries and contribute to the Red Cross to aid those who can’t afford or don’t have access to healthy food and water, or even to a fund for abused children if you think those people should fend for themselves, whatever your politics, there is someone you can find to help.
And we all avoid the tables like the plague outside Hughes Trigg that are raising money for various causes. But what are you going to really miss out on by donating a dollar? A dollar truly is so minute in your scale (I presume), but can be such a large contribution in the long run towards a project, perhaps for Darfur. So much needs to be done across the globe and within our own country. I was personally very impressed with McKenzie’s hard work in pulling together such a large and effective fundraiser for Darfur. Truly impressive what one person can do.

colbert as pres

With a comedian running as president, what's next? And is he serious? Most think its just another comedic act. But, I think that he's really in it to expose the truth, or more so, the lies behind the candidates and their positioning. With no real intent to be elected, but with his strong backing and fan base, he may be extremely effective in bringing a whole new exposure to an election. He also would be a big pull for younger citizens to get involved with politics and educate themselves enough to vote. But, at the same time, if he takes votes away from honest (oh the irony) candidates, it could cause trouble. At the very least, it’s great exposure for Colbert. Some might take offense to his running, as an insult to the political system. I don’t really think it is something that one should get worked up about. He couldn’t do too much harm beyond bringing humor, pop culture and a little exposure of truth. He gets my laugh.

Plum Punner

It is a little amazing how advertising influences our culture and vice verca. We can talk about a commercial and imitate characters and actions very frequently. Most often it is younger audiences that adopt what they see. I even find myself imitating what one would think of as common commercial dialog when talking and making jokes. Today I made a long commercial-like speech about the "Plum Punner". Any thing you can think of, she can make it into a pun... about plums. Infact, I would give her two plumbs up! haha. It resembled the copy write of the beer commercials where they salute heroes.


For AT&T's run of commercials of what happens when a call is dropped, it would be funny if a son was calling home from the jail for his one phone call asking to be picked up, and the call is dropped after he asks his mom to come get him. So, he ends up thinking she is just going to leave him there and she doesn't know what happened to him.

thought of the day & Cheese

muffin and cupcake tin are the same thing. i suggest we call them muffin cakes. - thought of the day

But on a different note, I was recently introduced to the fact that there is a new drug spreading quite rapidly through middle school and high school aged kids called Cheese. It apparently is a mix of heroin and over the counter drugs like Tylenol, ground up to be snorted. There have been handfuls of youth overdosing on this and dieing. It seems to be mostly concentrated in the Dallas area for now, but I've been reading that the police are concerned it will spread throughout the nation quickly if it is not controlled right away here. The most startling thing I read was that police found usage in kids as young as 10 years old. TEN YEARS OLD AND DOING HEROIN! I feel like they don't have any idea what heroin is at 10 years old. Not to an educated extent to be aware of how serious and dangerous it is. 10 years old, that puts them in about 4th grade. I still thought boys had cooties then. I am just vastly disturbed. I imagine they have noo idea what they are doing to themselves and the danger they are putting themselves in. How does this happen? And now that it has, how can it be stopped? I'm afraid it is going to be near impossible.

Print Advertisement

Assignment: Upload a print ad to your blog and identify at least one signifier & explain it's signified meaning using Pierce's semiotic categories of meaning.

This ad is meant to have you compare the audi to the camel, even though nothing about the camel is stated, its clearly the focal point. The comparison is the distance an audi can go on a full tank of gas and how far a camel can go on one "tank" of water. The camel is a symbolic sign.

Unsettling Spoof

So speaking of not wanting your advertisements to become available to the public for their own editing use. I came across this Bryer's spoof. A bit disturbing and a good example of why it is important to be precautious about how accessible your brand images/ads can become.

As you can see this pushes a lot of buttons by what it suggests.

B Happy?

Throughout Dallas on the sides of the Freeways are Billboards that I cannot place what they are marketing. The billboards are solid Black with a White (or maybe yellow) block font that reads "B Happy" and there was also another that encouraged you to "B" something. Every time I see them I try to find an indication of what it represents, but we are driving past and still I do not understand. I've seen at least 3. I don't understand why a series of billboards would be purchased when the source does not come across. If you know what they are for, PLEASE help me out here.
This reminds me of very first reveal of cingular. As I recall, for a month or so at least, Cingular ran ads that never revealed it was a cell phone company. It would run a happy spot, then show the orange icon guy and maybe even say "raising the bar," but it wasn't until the Superbowl that they had a big reveal to show what cingular was actually a cell phone service provider.
Anyway, back to the billboards... let me know if you seen them or know anything about them!

Time is not your friend, or mine

I cannot find this commercial on the internet because it was a small spot ran just for a specific Chicago area... but man oh man did I hate it. It had the premise of Psycho... a woman showering and someone coming into the bathroom with creepy noises. Except, it was a grandfather clock they would shoot coming closer and closer to the bathroom and then finally once in the bathroom, it flushed the toilet. The woman screamed and words flashed "Time Is Not Your Friend". I don't even recall what the ad was for (not good), but it was for some sort of sale that they were marketing you were running out of time to get to. I'm not sure what I disliked about it so much. It wasn't until the second run that I could understand the clock flushed the toilet, causing hot water to skald you in the shower, therefore it is not your friend. I mean, the idea itself isn't fantastic, but it could have been developed much better than it was. When ever I think of the commercial I can't help but to slightly cringe.

Vegetarians are getting Provocative

This ad for PETA was designed by one of India's biggest advertising agencies. It is supposed to remind us that humans and chickens share the capacity for pain. I like how the leg can slightly resemble a chicken wing.


This commercial for vegetarianism was banned in Houston, TX for its content. It was banned to avoid upsetting viewers. It was chosen to first air in Texas because Texas is repeatedly ranked as one of the least healthy states. Could their also be reason for Houston banning the ad because of their beef industry and cattle raising?
It's Tejas, and it's beef... what's for dinner.

just bought a cadillac

When I walk home past the soccer intramural field, I always pass a row of rather upscale cars parked in-front/near the fraternity houses. The other day there was both a Cadillac Escalade and another fancy 4 door Cadillac. I couldn't help but to think about how when I was younger, a joke was always made about how old people (little old ladies) drive around in their big o' cadillac. Now, Cadillac is an image of a more youthful high class. People 20-50 years old are eager to drive a Cadillac. Rappers are even proud to sport and flaunt this vehicle... even rap about them "just bought a cadillac." They have really been able to reinvent their market. I think by doing so they have increased their sales potential immensely. Their iconic nature has total been reformed. I'm very impressed they've been able to do this.