5-1 Weekly Blog

EHarmony – Match made in computer heaven

Gone are the days when your parents arranged to have to married off to the neighbor’s son or daughter. If you were lucky to have sons, you could expect a nice dowry from the parents of the bride to be. At some point people decided that they should be the one to choose who they married, based on love instead of your parents whim. So now we all live happily ever after, right?

I choose EHarmony for my weekly icon. People who fought for the right to break away from their parent’s ability to choose their mates are now relying on a computer program to find them their soul mates. They offer a scientific matching, relationship 29 points of compatibility questionnaire and “guidance”, all for a small fee. But how can you put a price on true love?

Why has this become such a current pop culture phenomenon? Can people not really find their soul mates by trial and error like so many of us do? Am I sour about this because I did it all on my own and I wonder how bad these people have to be to pay for a system to match them with others?

I don’t have all the answers, but I do have an opinion. I believe that matching people based on how they answer a 2 hour quiz would get at the likes and dislikes of people. That’s a good start. But it can’t measure the spark or chemistry that is needed for true love. I believe this has become so popular because people have no time. They don’t have time to date, to mingle to go out there and look for that one person to complete their lives. I think some people have been really hurt in the past and think this offers a solution to wade through all of the bad apples. I think that some people will believe and try anything not to be alone.

I do have a huge problem with services like these. You have to be accepted. For those lonely people who sign up for these services, presumably as a last resort, take all of the tests and screening just to be told that they are not accepted into the program can be devastating. Not only do they feel they haven’t been lucky in love on their own but now a computer program is telling them they can’t help them. The only thing that’s worse is being rejected on a reality TV show where you are fighting for your change to marry the millionaire. At least you get dumped in person that way..but that’s another blog…

Jounal Article Analysis 1-3

Assignment 1-3
Journal Article Analysis
‘‘Back in My Day, Son’’: Dialogical
Constructions of the Cowboy Code of Justice


What better pop culture icon to write about then the cowboy. The cowboy is an interesting icon in that he or she is recognizable by the hat, the horse and the sun setting behind them. It’s not just one person, with one name – they are just cowboys.
This was a very interesting article about breaking down the 2003 hit song Beer for My Horses (BFMY) song by Toby Keith and the cowboy imagery it depicts with the lyrics and video in comparison to cowboy myths and stereotypes.

The article starts out by looking at how we came to stereotype cowboys and what types of images and values come to mind when we here the word cowboy. It pulled examples from old movies like High Noon staring Gary Cooper and The Virginian staring James Drury with their good looks, delivery of justice, honesty and politeness.

The author writes, “Films such as The Virginian and High Noon perpetuate the cowboy as provider of justice in a savage world, a world in which the only one
that can save us is the cowboy.” Back in My Day Son 2009
BFMH uses all of the cowboy imagery it can fit in, in both the lyrics and the music video, with the theme of justice or rather the lack of justice in modern society. The video uses imagery like the cowboy hat, guns, and horses to bring us back to a time where justice was serviced quickly and the bad guy never got away. It goes on to show us how in modern society is lacking in justice and very disrespectful of human life.

The article goes on to describe the video which shows contrasting times with the same basic plot. The plot of yester-year has the cowboy catching the bad guy while in the modern plot, the bad guy gets away from the police officer.
More importantly the video also has Willie Nelson as the older and wiser police officer hell bent on teaching the young police officer the way things used to be and should be, back in the time where cowboys always got their man.


Jensen, K. 2009 "Back in My Day, Son": Dialogical Constructions of the Cowboy Code of Justice The Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 42, Issue 1 (p 90-102)
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121654506/PDFSTART

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wikiopedia.com


HUMN341-E1WW : Popular Culture Assignment 4-1


What better way to bring a town together then to invite them all over to your house and then have them tear it down. You of course hope that they will rebuild it, with a little help from Ty and the crew from abc’s Extreme Home Makeover. The current pop culture topic that interests me for this week’s assignment is Extreme Home Makeover.

Extreme Home Makeover was first aired as a television special on November 3, 2003 and was made into a series in 2004. This show takes a deserving family who has less then adequate housing arrangements and sends them off for a week. During that week, their house is torn down and rebuilt (with all the bells and whistles), landscaping is done and in some cases money is raised for their special needs family member.

I believe this show has become such a huge hit and a current popular culture icon because it makes us feel, it makes us cry and it makes us proud. It makes us feel because it tugs at our heartstrings. Fire fighters who lost their wives and have 6 children that are all sleeping in one room, the couple that adopt special needs children who are unable to get around in their current home and the stories go on and on. For some it shows us how lucky we are to have what we have, for others it opens our eyes to how other families struggle to give their family everything they can, and sometimes all they have is love. In most cases that is enough, but then the kind hearted neighbor sends their names in as a deserving family. Each hour is a mini movie where a family is down and out; the town comes together and gets them back on their feet. It’s always a happy ending.

This is one of the shows that make us cry. I have yet to see an episode where I didn’t get a little teary eyed. The husband or wife who lost their life in the war and the other parent is doing the best they can, the child with a disease that will eventually kill her yet she spends all of her time helping others. During the 2005–2006 seasons, the show went to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina and helped communities to rebuild themselves with help from other organizations. (Wikipedia 2009) Those are the same reasons that make us proud. As a viewer, we almost feel like we had a part in helping. Not everyone has the financial means to help families they may know that face those types of challenges. This show gives some a sense that they were there, they felt for the family, they cried as the story unfolds and were happy at the end reveal. I would guess there are quite a few people who yelled the shows catch phrase, “ Move that Bus”, when it was time to show the family their new home.

Having a reality show that showcases several heroes, the family that struggles, the good neighbor who sent their information in, the community that came together to rebuild the home, the sponsors and contractors that donated time and supplies and Ty and his team made this show a pop culture icon.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Makeover:_Home_Edition

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HUMN341-E1WW : Popular Culture
Assignment 3-1

The typical working man and women today say they spend too much time in the office or at work. Gone are the 8 hour days, the norm is trying to get in early and stay a little late. Companies are running a bit leaner and now your find yourself doing the work of 2 or more people. What better ways to keep you working after hours than to have the company provide you with a gift? That gift would be the Blackberry!
www.blackberry.com

I choose this current icon because I have a love hate relationship with it. Before my company provided me with one I was always annoyed with the people who had to constantly be checking it and doing thing on it when they should be doing other things. How rude and annoying. Is your company not enough for them? What is so important that cant wait until they get into work the next day? Sure, it was shiny and looked interesting, but I didn’t need one so why did anyone else? Maybe it was just Blackberry envy.

Then work bought me one and I understood everything. It was all so clear. How did I every live without it? Yes, I became one of the annoying people who used it where ever I went. My companies plan had worked. I was doing work at night and on weekends. The worse part was that I didn’t even realize it and I was having fun doing it.
The honeymoon was soon over when I moved on and took a position with another company. I had to give my Blackberry back. It was a sad day. How would I keep connected? How would I keep up with my emails? How will I find my way without the GPS function? Well I am here to tell you I lived. Not only did I not pass out and die from lack of the Blackberry, but my husband finally admitted that it was nice to have my full attention again.
The Blackberry is an icon of how far we have come and a glimpse as to where we might be going. There are those that can’t live without it, and others that find that it was better to have loved and lost, then to never have loved at all. Will I get another one? Yeah, I have been pricing them. If I do get another one, I will remember there is a time and place for everything, I hope.

BlackBerry 2009. Retrieved on September 6th, 2009 from
www.blackberry.com

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Assignment 2-1



Gieko has done it not once, but twice. First there was the Gieko gecko (say that fast 3 times) who won our hearts with his smooth accent and innocent ways. Mascot or icon, either way we all know who he is and what he stands for. If that wasn’t enough, Gieko started their caveman commercials. Why are they so popular? What made them icons? And what are people saying about them?

First a little history. According to Wikipedia, the most reliable source on the internet, ( that was typed with a grin), The GEICO Cavemen are characters and are trademarks of GEICO in a series of well-received television advertisements for the auto insurance company GEICO, that have aired from 2004 to present. The premise of the commercials is that GEICO advertises that using their website is "so easy, a caveman could do it"; and that this slogan offends several cavemen, who not only still exist in modern society but live as intelligent, urbane bachelors. Why is this even funny? What part of that made them icons? Why did they even try to make a tv show out of it? There are fan sites, on-line FAQ’s, and they get millions off hit on you-tube.

I believe part of this phenomenon is that that representatives from Gieko roll with the joke about the cavemen. In 2008 the Gieko caveman commercials won the most popular American advertising icons award. Ted Ward, vice president of GEICO marketing was quoted as saying, “I called to congratulate the Cavemen for their win, but they weren't very excited. As you may know, they don't like us all that much."

Maybe it’s that part in all of us that knows what it feels like to be insulted. Maybe it’s the actors whose expressions say a thousand words. Maybe it is like a car wreck, you know you shouldn’t be watching but you cant help yourself. Whatever the reason, they are icons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F3qzfTCDG4

Assignment 2-2
Icon Analysis

Three icons. Only three. There are a millions icons. No problem. Picking three that mean something to me, not so easy. I choose to highlight three very important women in music, Janice Joplin, Tina Turner and and Cher.Three different women with very different sounds.

It was the best of times, it was the worst, nope it was still the best of times. Sex, drugs, rock and roll. Free love and spread it around. Out of a time where Hendricks was king and Woodstock was making a muddy mess on some guys farm came a plain looking women with a soulful voice. Some say she couldn’t carry a tune, but I say Janice was just pouring her heart out and sometimes that can be pain full. I choose Janice because she was larger then life and didn’t seem to care. To be an icon and loved by so many for her carefree attitude yet she always was true to herself. What Janice means to me I a time where there was less worries ( well no one really worried even if they should have) and a time where people were starting to express themselves – not always politically correct, not always clean and certainly they didn’t always care how they looked. Janice was no beauty but when she sang, she was beautiful.

Tina Tuner started with nothing and ended up with the world. Some of this she accomplished with the help of her husband, but I think her best work was when she went out on her own. To me she is strength and perseverance. I choose Tina because of her strength and her need to be her own women. So often women feel they cant do things along or are too afraid to leave a bad situation. Tina is still making music and looks great, even though she is in her 60’s. I choose Tina’s strength and her ability to change with the times. She is always true to the type of music she wants to sing but can change it to fit each music era as it goes by.

I choose Cher because she is larger then life. Again, another female artist who has withstood the test of time and has been doing her thing for 40 years (and doesn’t even look a day over 40 I might add). Cher is a different kind of icon – she is adored by millions and worshiped by the gay community. This icon to me represents a woman who had always been teased as a child for her Native American and Armenian background. Not only did she spend a short time in foster care but also suffers from Dyslexia. To me she is another woman who overcame many obstacles and never gave up on her dreams.

Three very different women from three very different times. All became icons but doing what they loved. I choose these women not so much because of their music, but because they never gave up or gave in.

Assignment 1-4

Twilight. There I said it out loud. How did this happen to me? I had heard the whispers, I had seen the posters, and I know that there was a large group of fans out there calling themselves Twilighters, Twi-hards and they started hundreds of fan web sights. I didn’t have time for such foolishness; if I wanted to read a good vampire novel then it would be back to Ann Rice for me.

That was before I managed to get a sinus infection, an ear infection and bronchitis all at the same time. I was home and very bored. So I flip through the pay per view movies and see Twilight. I have never read the books but I thought maybe I would watch the movie. This of course is a big no-no according to the Twilight pop culture. But if nothing else, maybe it would put me to sleep. It didn’t. I was glued to the TV. I didn’t even think about how sad it was for a 30 something year old women to be daydreaming about being a high schooler and in love with a vampire. After the movie I had to get the book. Well not just THE book, but the whole series. I read them ALL in 10 days.

Why did Twilight become part of pop culture? It’s the new Romeo and Juliet of the times. It’s the chance to pretend you are someone else. It allows you to think that there are men out there that will boil your blood, and might even drink a bit of it. It brings back the fantasy that unnatural things exist. I believe it was the next pop culture phenomenon after Harry Potter.

I believe that SJWilson said it best in her ALLVOICES report said it best, “And hence the appeal of such novels: they will remind you, or make you live summer days spent reading in a hammock, believing all the while that hidden worlds reside right in your back yard.”

SjWilson retrieved on August 23, 2009 from http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3829183-why-twilight-is-so-popular