One Bloody Mary please! (COM)

TGIF! really...I have been running on negative energy...I am in a bad debt of sleep, and energy deficient. Egg Head, I don't think I will be able to attend ur finals singing competition tomorrow, or go out the stage to give you flowers! lol.. but i wish that you would do really well and have fun. In other news, I am planning to indulge in lotsa comfort food this weekend, starting with freshly cut sashimi, fresh juicy oysters, live poach drunken prawns and many many more. God, I can't wait...in other news, my grandpa thinks that he's drinking coffee when it's water in his mug. And keeps adding more "coffee" from the flask, when it is actually water.I wonder if he was to be given actual coffee, would he think it's water? hmm..shld try. haha, god bless him. And so we were walking aimlessly that day, sharing a moment of peace from the traumatic world, and I caught sign of a poster that was pretty "stunning". It was at night, and it wasn't a very pleasant sight.And I shall give you an indepth analysis of it today.

Well, well do have a close look at this. This was taken from the Singapore Police Force Crime Prevention News Letter. This was put up in conjuction with the recent festive seasons whereby there are a higher chances for drink driving to occur.

This poster was put in place, to warn people, not to drink and drink. This is suppose to reach out to the masses. It is relevant to all the different cultures in Singapore, as it mostly common across all of them to consume alcohol during social festive gatherings. Furthermore, being in a collectivist cultural society, it's no doubt that many people would take part in social drinking in a group, rather than to be left out. As in such a cultural society, we practised high level of conformity and readiness to coporate with members around us. Nevertheless, being in set in such a difficult position, it's not wrong to take a few drinks, but the key is not to drive after that. Even though, there are many who drives to the venue with the intentions of not consuming any alcohol, but end up taking on a few drinks. These are the people who shouldn't be driving back. And because we are in such a high context cultural society, whereby politness and 'face-saving' precedes over the truth, and people always say that they are not drunk, and can drive back. This usually leads to fatal accidents.

The advertisement here uses the concept of pathos to appeal to the viewers emotions, on the fatality in an accident. The potraying of the victim drenched in blood attempts to scare most people that this could be what would happen to them if they drink and drive. Thus by inducing fear, the police force hope that this image would be imprinted on the driver's minds when they wish to drive after drinking, hoping that it would deter their actions. Besides, you can find these posters everywhere, at bus stops, train stations and malls. Thus with such high frequency, it's also naturally that peole would select this poster to see over others, and remember it better. A high level of gore and blood is used to show the intensity of fatality and danger involved in drink driving, which is what the police force wants to tell the public. If we do take a more in depth look into the figure and ground of the poster. Whereby the figure, is the accident victim which exerts most of the influence, and the ground is a scene of where the accident actually took place. But why is the scene so blurry? Well, this is because it wishes to potray how the road or surroundings would look to a person under the influence of alcohol. At the same time, to show the fast movement effect, on probably the tremendous speed at which the car was travelling. We can also see part of the wreckage in the back ground.

One thing that appeals to me, and to most of us, is the use of the term bloody mary. It appeals to our logic here. Whereby bloody mary is an alocoholic drink, at the same time, it also describes a woman with blood on her. So, in the poster, they use a lady that is involved in the accident and stains her with blood. They call her bloody mary, at the same time, they use the fact that she consumed the alcoholic drink bloody mary that caused her tragedy. As a result, being aware of the alcoholic drink, our cognitive schemata aka our brain would be generally link it to the reason why the lady ended up to be so bloody. Therefore, I am sure that many of us would have a deep impression of this. And of course, the words on the poster explains it all, using a intensity of vocab that one don't normally use in everyday conversations to warn the public.

Well, other than bloody mary, Singapore Sling is one of the all time favourite cocktails here. Though I am now imagining what they can do with that term, and what would be the result of the poster.Hmm, a singaporean flying out from the car upon impact and landing on a hammock sling concidentally? LOL..I don't know...just my wild imagination. Good nite folks.. Don't have nightmares because of her...

Greed........(COM)

Well, this week has been a fairly fruitful week....i guess...it's my birthday week, and under the legal law, I am officially an adult...hmm..*thinks*, what's so great abt it? well it definitely gave me a REASON to party more, splurge more and feast more, but doesn't an older age come with greater responsibilities? Furthermore, it signifies the degradation of your body. Decrease in metabolism, wrinkles etc. of course not so sooon for me, but i mean, that i will get there one day. But i guess birthdays are the day when you know who likes you, loves you truly or doesn't care for you. The copious number of greetings written on my facebook wall, and the SMSes i recieved meant something to me. And I am currently suffering from an overdose of birthday cakes, but i guess that happens only once a year, so heck it. Regardless, my heart is still heavy, and I haven't decided whom yet. Nevertheless, I would like talk about advertisements today.





Advertising and commercials play a huge part in our everyday lives. Their purpose is to deliver their message across in its most effective manner, and hoping that the viewer would have a lasting impression of it. So, I would like to share a review with you on one of my favourite commercials on our local TV. Here's the link-


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chbjc-XDKLw





It's basically a commercial to warn the public on the problems caused by gambling, and to excercise caution. The logo of the Nation Council on problem gambling is shown at the end, to inform the viewers that there's a government organisation available to seek help from if such problems still occur. This commercial has effectively delivered it's message across to the audience with the re-enactment of the father and daughter, leaving vivid impressions on people.


Being a commercial, it's a linear model of communication, whereby viewers are passive target of the message, and regarded as a source centred process of message transmission. Thus its very important for advertising companies to get the message across, as there's no opportunity for audience to provide feedback.





The commercial appeals to the emotion of audience. At the start, the camera focus on a middle aged Chinese man who appears to be talking to the camera. The background displays a portion of his house, which depicts it, as simple and basic. Potraying that he isn't very affluent. And the fact that he isnt well dressed, and looks very haggard, catches most of our attention. This a concept of figure and group as a brain attempts to organise the information being displayed. The figure is the man, and the ground is the house. And the figure exerts a large influence on our perception of the whole commercial. As base on our selection process, this is a novel stimuli percieved by our brain. This approach is rarely seen on TV commercials. Our personal prototype of commercials are bright colours, catchy songs, good looking people and extravagance, which is clearly not seen in any case here. I think we should applaud the acting of the Chinese man, I say he does potray his character really well. Through the tone of his voice, we can infer that he's very desperate and down.There isnt much body language throughout only till he emphasises the fact that he be given one more chance to try, and sticks out his finger one. We can see how verbal and nonverbal work together, as he repeats his emphasis of one more try, before stretching his hands to get the piggy bank. There's a lot of pauses and fillers within his speech, as we can see that he's trying to get his message slowly across to his daughter, hoping that she will buy it. Furthermore, his pitch and volume is subtle, with a tone of begging. The intensity of his words used draws audience to select this commercial consciously.Nearing the end, we see a little girl carrying a piggybank with disappointed looks on her face. The physical object potrayed which is the piggybank, links the information in the viewers brains, and finally answers the question of what the Chinese man is asking for. And with the nice gentle tone, and strong eye contact, we can infer that the girl is probably his daughter. A further emphasis by the advertising company is done, whereby, it says " Often the people who suffer from gambling arent the gamblers" This is to illiterate the point that loved ones are affected in the process. Thereby, potraying scene of how a father loses control of himself, and turns to taking money from his own daughter's savings appeal to our emotions, and leaves us to ponder over this issue. Beside, the ingeniuity of this commercial is the fact that, when it was first played, many people didnt wanted to leave their screen when it was showing. The idea of having an emotional chinese man that just started talking of stuff that seemed irrevalant made people want to know more about what's going on, and eventually sit through the advertisement. The uniqueness and contrast of this approach stands out from the rest. And during the period of time he's talking, viewers are constantly trying to figure what to link his conversation to, with whatever perceptual sets that they had before. Because of the commercial constantly being shown during prime time hours, it's high frequency has allowedthe image and message to sink deeper into their memory. I believe that this commercial has done it's job on educating the public on the dangers of gambling.





From my point of view of gambling, well firstly I believe that the greatest brains are behind casinos and gambling machines. This is because they work on the greed of human nature to make their living. Banking on the fact that one can win money effortlessly through some games, attract a large number of people to their 'playing ground'. And why the brains? Because gambling is a cocktail of calculations and probability. And the chances of one winning is very very slim, but it's human nature whereby one feels the thrill of attempting to win, and wish to savour the triumph of eventually winning. Some people do it for the ego as well, they want to win the banker, they want to succeed in winning the house. Doesn't the catch phrase " the house always win" explain a lot? If casinos were a charity ground, whereby the public could easily win cash, then Steve Wynn wouldn't be travelling around in limousines and private jets. I think those people who are weak in the mind are very susceptible to the dangers of gambling, and those who do not excercise much self control over themselves. Have I gambled? Yes, I have. Just for the fun and experience of it. I feel that people who wish to have some fun and entertainment may juz take out a small amount of cash from their pockets to try their luck. But I feel that it's a "past time" or activity that is mainly catered to the rich tycoons and socialites. How does one stop himself from wasting cash on gambling? Well, firstly I would place bets on games with high odds on winning. Upon winning, I would take 1/10 of my profits to bet again. And if i won, I would take double (1/10 + 1/10) the fraction of my profits to bet again. If I lost on the 2nd round, when i bet with 1/10, I would still have 9/10 left. I can always choose to con't betting or leave with 9/10 of profit. Nevertheless, I will always leave with either a fraction of profit or leave upon all the profit has been lost back but cost still covered. This equates to breaking even. Thus I wouldnt have lost nor gain any money from the casino. But at least I had some fun, and made some new friends around the table! maybe this advice should be subscribed into a commercial! haha..





Well, that's all about it. It's the weekend, time to let my hair now and relax. Got some movies i really wana watch, but not sure if i have the time... anyway, happy birthday to me! Oh well

=)

Let's Turn The Clock Back.....(COM)

Well, it's almost closing to the end of the week, and boy am I feeling drained or what, just by the workload piled on me. Furthermore, I have come to made certain decisions in my life the past few days, it took me quite sometime to think through about it, and I am still wondering if I have made the right choice. I am just very tired of the things happening around me, and I guess what I need is the motivation, care and affection from you! As I try to manage the things around me, I feel dreadful to live up to the so many expectations, but I would try to hang in there.



Nevertheless,in the past month, we have seen an influx of movies in a theatre. And today I shall critically analyse a small part of this bold upcoming movie - Valkyrie.









This movie is basically set in the time of the Hitler regime. It depicts the story of how Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg a loyal officer in Germany, plots a cunning strategy to attempt to overthrow the Nazi government and assassiante Hitler, before the tyrant actually destroys germany and Europe. With everything in place, the future of the world lies in one man's hands. Basically, Tom Cruise starrs as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg which is also one of the main reasons why many would want to catch this movie, having an A-list actor in it. Here's the short part i would like to talk abt-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hDW90AfQDY&feature=related



This scenerio depicts how Colonel Claus colleague is warning him that his efforts would be sucidal by going against the Nazi regime, he urges Clause not to prevent Hitler from carrying out his plans, as he wouldn't wish to be anyway involved in his mutiny against the leader.

This scene basically shows the interpersonal communication existing between Colonel Claus and his colleagues. It takes on the form of a qualitative approach of dyadic primacy, where we can see a series of exchanges between 2 persons. Their communication is based on a colleage relationship, however conflict occurs due to differences in perception whereby Colonel Claus takes on the idea of hatching a plan to bring Hitler down, whereas his colleague, wishes to do as he's told in the force. There's also a difference in motivation, whereby Clause wishes to save the europe and germany by eradicating hitler, whereas his colleague probably wishes to stay alive. Thus the factors in both can be dysfunctional for them.

Just at the start of the scene, we observe the paralinguistics of his colleague, whereby he takes a serious and hostile tone, yet keeping his voice to the minium to warn Claus to stop pushing him. He varies his quality of voice as a non-verbal cue to highlight to Clause that he's not welcoming what he's doing. It's also very obvious that Claus saw this coming, as we can see that his reaction was calm and subtle, with a very formal tone and not even showing eye contact to his colleague. This was definitely not greeted well, by his colleage, because we can see an immediate change in tone and loudness of his voice. The non-verbal cue of kinesics is displayed too, which means his body language. As he strides over in great steps, we can infer that he's actually impatient and frustrated with Claus take on the situation. He raises his voices and shouts to him. At the instant, Clause makes " an eye" contact with me his colleague for the first time, and keeps it that way as they speak. Whereby both officers try to make their point across to each party.

As their conversation goes on, I would like to bring your attention to the time frame of 0.30 of the scene. Do notice that how the camera zooms in on him washing his hands in the toilet. Are they trying to potray the artsy way of washing hands? Or how did the germans Nazi people wash their hands back then? Or to show us how his beautiful his hands are? Nah, I doubt so, i think my hands would probably be nicer.haha. Anyway, my point here, is that i believe the director wanted to potray a metaphorical meaning to this, he's trying to indirectly say that his colleague is 'washing his hands off' Colonel Clause, and would cease trying to persuade him not to carry out his plans of Hitlers. assassination. Thus the camera zooms in just on the washing of hands for a few seconds before panning back to Colonel Clause. See the link? Or maybe the other meaning could be, his colleague tries to cool down and distract himself by washing his hand, and keeping his mind occupied with that. I think this is something to keep u thinking for the day yea? haha.. Well do let me know your comments on that too. I guess I would like to catch the whole movie this sat if time permits. And I would give you the reviews next time. Have a good evening ahead!

Going Green....(COM)

Well, it's almost coming to the end of Chinese New Year, and my supply of pineapple tarts and bak kwa are indeed depleting. This is absolutely astonishing, when I haven't got a chance to reach out to them due to my busy schedule. Must have been my grandpa then. I always feel that we should have longer holidays for CNY and X'mas as we spent weeks preparing for this festive ocassion, and it just boils down to nothing after a day or two. I spent hours sending out greeting cards, and decorating up my room every year, so I think a longer holiday would do me justice! haha, and I am sure most people won't mind either. Actually left my folder in the lecture theatre today! How frustrating it is, to reach home and to realise that all my notes are not with me, and at the expense of the caretaker's mercy! I pray that she's nice this as it's chinese new year, and just leave it where it is,so that i can collect it tomorrow.

In other news, I came across this comic strip that I would love to share with all you people out there.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/arctic-circle/?urldate=20090201

I found this pretty hilarious, especially the one with the botox. We all know that in order to project a good image, people who are chosen to appear on magazine covers or posters are often subjected to the extreme-makeover treatment. They get their hair done up by famous hairstylists, face done up by beauticians, sponsored with designer clothes. We can actually infer that the writer's perception is that anyone whom is to appear on adverts or posters have to look 'perfect' and extremely attractive.This can be clearly seen through the ways she potray Grath going through all the makeovers. However, I believe its also partly due to the mental workframe of humans that we are wired to assume that all people on posters should be good-looking. And its our selection process that would occur in us, whereby we would subsciously discard posters that are appearing all around us, until someone goodlooking appears in it and we would take a closer look. We humans clearly have the perception that models appear on posters, which we have the prototype or idealised versions in our mind, that has been embedded in us, that models = goodlooking.And even if Grath isn't a model, he would be subjected to all forms of 'torture' to make him goodlooking enough to be poster boy. If not, nobody would bat an eyelid when they come across the poster, and the poster wouldn't be able to deliver it's real message. However this is the secondary message that comes across this comic. The primary would be discussed soon enough.Nevertheless, we are understand that the walruses are fat juicy creatures with lots of insulating fats all over their body to keep them warm from the cold climate. The excess skin to store the fat is actually what that caused the wrinkles, and not due to old age.

Though we can all have a good laugh at this comic strip, I think there's a very important messeage brought forward to us, which to play an active role against global warming. There are many methods in communication for environmentalist to get the messeage across to people. The first method is to hit on the harsh reality by bring on the bare facts to readers, this is usually appealing to the people's pathos and logos. For example, how most of the coral reef around the world is dying, how the amount of NON-BIODEGRADABLE rubbish is piling up and nothing is being done about it and many more, which points the finger back at us. These facts are supported by gruesome terrifying photos that leave deep impressions. 1 year back, Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore produced a documentary film called An Inconvenient Truth. It depicts the constant damage humans are doing to the environment. Armed with statistics and bare facts, he definitely left an important message to audience leaving the theatre. He made the film to educate, to leave a message, and not to entertain. And he did communicate effectively using a social constructive perspective in which viewers have not been able to understand the drastic effects of global warming through direct experience.Only expertise in their various fields or victims of tsunamis etc would have gone through it. Thereby he brings the facts to us, and process the information for it to be easily understood across different cultures and races. Similarly this comic strip, would want to touch on the lighter note of our emotions. With humour and entertainment, it wants to tell us that it is possible for Garth to be extinct in the near future if we do not do something to global warming. By applying humour, she's able to break the barrier of culture, race and religion, regardless who you are, as long as one understands the eng language, she is able to relate and communicate her message across effectively,as humour is universal,and everyone can laugh to it.Looking at the natural disasters in the past few years, we know that there's something wrong with the climate. And many people are still not bothered with it. Well I can understand to a certain extent that many people around the world are having problems with the economic crisis, and medical problems etc. They are so pre-occupied with handling problems and making ends meet, that caring for the environment would be the last thing on their mind. In our education system, all students are required to study geography which teaches about pollution and global warming. Strangely I believe many students do apply or practice what they learnt, they are studying it to make it through the exams! I have seen students throwing drink cans away into dustbins, when the recycling bin was just next to it. Is there a failure in our education system, that many are just studying to PASS and move on the NEXT LEVEL of education? I truly agree. In Singapore, I truly believe that most people would be able to make sense of what this comic strip says, or the meaning behind inconvenient truth, simply because they were EDUCATED about it before. But it would just slip off their mind the next minute.

I think this happens because our government is not putting enough effort to fight climate change. They are not encourage people to do so, and definitely not promoting the ways to stop global warming. This is results in their own people, us, not bothering much, despite the fact how well comics, movies posters, are able to commuicate their meaning across to us. Firstly, we don't see commercials on local TV to cut down on the use of energy, rubbish or paper. Ironically we see celebrities endorsing food products, cars, air-conditioning; items that are constantly adding to our carbon footprint, and not telling us to take public transport to cut carbon emission or say NO to plastic bags etc. The Land Transport Authority limits the import of diesel automotives, and place high road taxes on anyone who wishes to purchase a diesel vehicle.Is this a way of promoting environmental friendliness? Let it be know that diesel engines emit less pollution and enables vehicles to travel further per litre.It gives more power and torque too! If i were to purchase a car, it would definitely be hybrid or diesel. In europe and US, citizens get to choose whether they want vehicles in petrol or diesel drive. And majority choose the latter as it is more economical and environmental friendly! You have diesel driven Volvos to Toyotas and Mercedes. And they claim that road taxes and ERPs are meant to reduce the number of cars on the road, which is good for the environment. I think both platforms don't address the situation because people would still get cars, and introducing such would just make it more difficult for them to make ends meet in this high cost living country. First step of a green environment would be cut cost on public transport, and make hybrid/diesel vehicles more affordable to the masses. The other thing that I use to laugh about is the fact that they introduced the system of paying for plastic bags on wed. I mean I applaud the idea of doing away with plastic bags, but the fact that is put forward here is, " bring your own bag, or pay 10ct to get a plastic bag". What are they trying to mean here? Why can't we just do away with the plastic completely? The irony here is, well it's ok..just pay 10cents, and you get a plastic bag, and just forget about saving the environment. I think knowing how affluent Singaporeans are, $2 worth of plastic bags would mean nothing to them. I think it would be more appropriate to up the rate to $10 per plastic bag, that would be more effective. I feel that thanks to education and the media, people are environmentally aware of what's going on here. But the crux is you can't just be mentally aware to stop climate change! you have to be environmentally active too! And this can only be achieved if the government promotes and encourages this in various forms of media and campaigns. They have to start with changing the perception of the people, in order for more progess to be made.I hope more things can be done. For now, i will just wait and see. Well, I have got to go tol Cold Storage to get some groceries now,and of course I won't forget my biodegradable fibre cloth bag! Hope you bring yours the next time too! =)

One more comic strip below to cheer YOU up for the day!

Use Paper Wisely!