TOW #26: Micromax Mobile Advertisement

In this day and age, the market for electronics, particularly cell phones, is quite competitive.  As a result, numerous companies, such as Micromax Mobile, a credible Indian electronics company, have started to make new innovations to both their phones and their advertisements.  Micromax Mobile’s purpose is to persuade its audience, people in need of a phone or future phone buyers, to purchase the Micromax A70.  This purpose is successfully accomplished by the advertisement’s use of mockery of the iphone and the coloration.

What this advertisement does relatively successfully is convince people to buy the Micromax A70 by mocking how expensive Apple’s iphones are.  The first way in which this is done is at the top center of the ad.  In black writing, “i” and “phone” are written separately.  However, there is an orange arrow between the two words pointing up to more orange wording that reads, “can afford this”.  The end result is that unlike the iphones which are ridiculously expensive, people can actually buy the Micromax A70 because it is reasonably priced.  The iphone comparisons also extend to the next line of the advertisement where Micromax A70 is presented as “the affordable android”.  By placing the text write underneath the iphone wording, Micromax Mobile is trying to promote their product while mocking Apple’s extreme prices.

The coloring of the advertisement attracts viewers, therefore attracting people and might buy the phone.  The background of the ad is gray and white, a rather dull coloration.  However, the black phone and its bright screen contrast with the white background and pop out more, thus attracting viewers.  Around the phone and its side view are little, colorful arrows that point to words which highlight the good feature of the Micromax 70.  The bright colors of the arrows and wording also contrast with the white and gray background, making the likeable features become highlighted to consumers.  Therefore, the result of the coloration is that people become more attracted by the ad.  Since people get attracted to the advertisement, the purpose of the advertisement is accomplished.  

The Advertisement

http://www.technologymint.com/micromax-a70-mobile-new-iphone-review-and-specifications/

TOW #25: "Beats Music's First 100 Days: A Bumpy Start" by Yinka Adegoke and Alex Pham

Yinka Adegoke and Alex Pham, two continuous contributors to Billboard’s, a famous name in the music industry, discuss in their article, “Beats Music's First 100 Days: A Bumpy Start.” how Beats Music is faring since its recent launch.  Beats Music is a music streaming service started by two notorious people of the music business: Jimmy Lovine and Dr. Dre.  However, even with such talented folk running the show, Beats Music is currently a disappointment since it is still relatively unpopular.  According to the article, Beats Music is not necessarily reaching its intended audience but this article achieves its purpose of demonstrating the progress, or lack thereof, of Beats Music to an audience of music lovers by using referring to references and quotes made by others and by comparing the company’s progress to Spotify’s.  

Adegoke and Pham’s use of quotations from people of the music industry add extra insight into how Beats Music and its owners, Lovine and Dre, are truly faring in the first 100 days of the music streaming service’s existence.  In response to the company’s disappointing numbers, one senior executive said “Jimmy is finding out this is tougher than it looks.  This business takes time.”  Even though Beats music has accumulated some buzz and some describers, this quote demonstrates that the service is not running as well as its owners had hoped and that it is a struggle to run and maintain.  Had this quote and other similar ones not been included, the audience may have thought that Adegoke and Pham were exaggerating the failure of Beats Music; but they’re not.  

Although, Beats Music might seemingly be failing, Spotify, another music streaming service, is not and will soon become a tougher competitor for the fledgeling company.  Since Spotify has been so successful, many people of the music industry and Adegoke and Pham compare the two services.  The authors wrote, “Some label sources say Beats Music should scrap its original advertising-led approach and give away more free music. ‘We've learned from Spotify that you have to fund free for a length of time with users investing time, creating playlists and getting used to the service,’ says one senior executive.”  Neither Spotify or Beats Music were instant successes, but Spotify had a plan that catapulted the brand into being one of the top music streaming services.  Therefore, Lovine and Dre should take notes if they want Beats Music to progress at a faster pace.  

Lovine and Dre: The Creators of Beats Music

http://thesource.com/2013/05/15/dr-dre-and-jimmy-iovine-donate-70-mil-to-u-s-c/

4th Marking Period IRB Intro Post-"Love is a Mix Tape" by Rob Sheffield

Many people believe that there is at least one song that can capture their emotions at any given moment.  Many people also believe that music can change and shape lives.  In the case of Rob Sheffield, a writer for Rolling Stone, it did.  Rob Sheffield’s ardent love for music eventually led to him meeting his future wife, Renee, and building a beautiful connection filled with lyrics and melodies.  The two lovebirds got married after graduate school and both became music journalists.  They were wed for five years when Renee died on Mother’s Day in 1997.  As a way of reflecting on his lost love, Sheffield shares in his book, Love is a Mix Tape, the mix tapes that he and his lost love created during their time together.  Put together from famous tracks of the 90s, the mix tapes represent both the wonderful musical era and the depth of Rob and Renee’s relationship as they demonstrate a connection that only two halves of the same whole can share.  In essence, Love is a Mix Tape has the purpose of showing how meaningful music and life can be.

The Book

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Is-Mix-Tape-Life/dp/1400083036

TOW #24: “Republican Governors Vie For Adelson Support" by Zeke J. Miller

Writing Goals:

• analyze rhetorical devices effectively

In “Republican Governors Vie For Adelson Support,” Zeke J. Miller of Times Magazine, a credible source since the magazine has been producing stories for years, describes a Las Vegas Conference where three possible Republican candidates spoke in front of the Republican Jewish Coalition in order to gain the support of Sheldon Adelson, a mega-billionaire.  Those three candidates were Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and Governor John Kasich of Ohio.  Miller accomplishes his purpose of demonstrating how the governors vied for Adelson’s support to his audience of the general public and politically involved folk by using a cause-and-effect method and by simply sharing parts of the speakers’ speeches meant to entice the fat cat.  

Two days before the conference, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida was well-received by Adelson after saying he was against American passivity under President Obama.  As a result of this knowledge about Adelson being strongly against Obama, the governors decided to also share their distaste for the President.  Miller wrote, “Catering to the pro-Israel crowd at the RJC’s leadership conference, they brought heavy criticism of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy to the high-dollar donor conference.”  By speaking about subjects that they knew would be favored by Adelson and the RJC, the governors heightened their chances of gaining the billionaire’s support.  Miller’s purpose gets accomplished because he shows how the governors tried to get Adelson to invest in them by describing how the wealthy man’s opinions caused the governors to have specific talking points.  

Other talking points used to gain support from the RJC and Adelson included self-promotion and discussion of their own Jewish values.  According to Miller, Walker, “said he lights a ‘menorah candle’ every year with his Christmas tree and that his son Matthew’s name derives from the Hebrew for ‘gift from God.’”  Walker specifically spoke about his supposed Jewish values as a way to appeal to his audience.  Christie used a similar ruse to appeal to the audience.  Miller’s purpose is accomplished because he shares how the governors had specific talking points in order to cater to Adelson.  

Sheldon Adelson

http://dyn.politico.com/tag/sheldon-adelson

TOW #23: "Phillies' issues go beyond Rollins" by Jayson Stark

There has been news in the media recently revolving around disputes between Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies and the team’s new manager, Ryne Sandberg.  Rollins has been benched by Sandberg for most of the games during spring training and there has even been talk of trading Rollins, an older and seemingly unreliable player, to another team.  Jayson Stark, a credible author since he’s writing for ESPN, the company essentially linked to all things sports, however, accomplishes his purpose of proving to his audience of sports fans that although Rollins might be a problem, he’s not the biggest one of the Phillies right now.  Sandberg accomplishes his purpose by using statistics and comments from credible sources.

Besides Rollins, Stark lists 5 other players who are of greater concern to Sandberg and the future of the Phillies.  They are Ryan Howard, Jonathan Papelbon, Domonic Brown, Chase Utley, and Cole Hamels.  Stark backs up his claims of how much of a threat these players pose to the success of the team by using facts.  For example, Stark wrote about Howard, “The first baseman went into Thursday with 15 strikeouts and three walks in 40 at-bats.”  Those stats are horrible.  Howard is supposed to be a player who can hit a homerun when the Phillies need it, but he’s clearly falling short.  

Stark also uses quotations from baseball scouts in order to prove his point that Rollins is not the main concern of the Phillies this year.  Regarding Papelbon’s lackluster performance in the bullpen and on the mound, a scout said, “His fastball is 89-90 [mph]. His split does nothing. He’s got no out-pitch. I know it’s spring training, and maybe he’s just trying to get ready. But his body language is awful. He’s got no energy at all out there.”  As can be seen, the Phillies have a pitcher who is not doing what he’s being paid to do; win the games.  Rollins on the other hand has proven through quotes from other sources that he wants to play.  Anyway, Stark successfully proves that Sandberg needs to focus on more than Rollins.

Phillies' Shortstop Jimmy Rollins

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/4258/jimmy-rollins

TOW #22: Sailor Moon Picture

Sailormoon is one of the most classic and ionic animes to have ever existed, and now, it's coming back and will hopefully be better than ever.  Toei Animation, a credible source since it has been known to be involved with the production of Sailormoon for years, has just recently released the first image for the new series.  The new series, which will premiere in July of this year, will hopefully show both a revamped but still similar Sailormoon to the original series.  Anyway, the image uses bright coloring to attract people to it and strategic placement of smaller images in order to attract attention and convey possible hidden meanings in addition to getting people excited for the new series.  .  

The picture itself uses very distinct and bold coloring in order to garnish attention.  The background is mainly dark but the main figure, Sailormoon, is highlighted by the light from the bright moon and the flower above her head.  Sailormoon is in her costume consisting mainly of red, white, and blue.  Her golden hair twirls throughout the entire image.  There are also rainbows enhancing the coloring of Sailormoon.  Basically, just seeing the image would get anyone’s attention but would also attract its intended audience of Sailormoon fans because the coloring is very recognizable.

For the people who have read the Sailormoon manga or have watched the anime, they know that there’s a lot of symbolism.  That symbolism is also shown with the placement of smaller images.  For example, on Sailormoon’s broach and chain coming from her collar are four circles of the colors red, orange, blue, and green.  Those colors represent her four teammates, the sailor scouts.  Not only do those circles represent the sailor scouts, but they were not on her old uniform, signifying a change in Sailormoon’s costume.  Behind her in the dark solar system are the planets that also represent those sailor scouts.  The flower above Sailormoon’s head is the Illusionary Silver Crystal in the state it was during the movie “A Kiss from a Rose”.  These imagery placements are truly for the knowledgeable Sailormoon fans.  

Revamped Sailormoon Advertisement

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-03-13/2014-new-sailor-moon-crystal-anime-1st-image-story-intro-posted-online

TOW #21: How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg (IRB Post)

    The author of  How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous is Georgia Bragg, who has written three books, all of which demonstrate details about the lives of notable people such as Cleopatra and King Tut.  In the book, Bragg describes how the aforementioned notable people died.  Although I said in a previous post that Bragg wrote the book “in order  to show the medical conditions of the world at the times when the celebrities died as well as to convince her readers how lucky they are to have modern medicine,” that purpose has yet to be conveyed by any means.  As of now, Bragg’s purpose is mainly to inform her young readers of how the nineteen “celebrities” met their deaths, a purpose that is accomplished by the use of an informal tone and diction as well as repetitive structure.  

The use of informal tone and diction helps keep the subject matter light enough for Bragg’s young readers to enjoy while also providing them with the knowledge of how the “celebrities” died.  Bragg wrote, “Caesar went to Egypt to take over the place, but he met Cleopatra and his plans changed.  He kind of liked her, and he really liked all her gold. ” (12).  This quote neglects to show how serious an attempt to take over land is while also neglecting to portray the sexual depths of the relationship between Caesar and Cleopatra because Bragg uses words and concepts that are understandable to young children.  

The repetitive structure of all of the chapters helps Bragg never deviate from her purpose.  Almost every chapter is the structured the same.  First, there is a cartoon of the deceased, then a brief history of the beginnings of their lives, then the story of how they died, and then an extra section describing unique traits related to their demises.  By having such a repetitive structure, Bragg is able to swiftly achieve her purpose in each chapter.

    In conclusion, the purpose of recounting how nineteen famous died is effectively accomplished.  

The Woman Behind the Death

http://www.keenreaders.org/georgia-bragg