More on storybooks

For years I have been trying to remember a book series that, as a young child, I was in love with. Deeply. I've never been able to recall the series name, but my sister and I would sit around and talk about how we loved those "Mr." and "Litte Miss" characters, crudely drawn and hilariously fun. I always said that I'd buy a huge stock of the books if I could ever get my hands on them. If the memory ever came back to me.

And now here I am, working with Nick in the background, and what pops up? The Mr. Men Show! Ah-ha!



I love the books mostly because of the cute illustrations, but also the stories, at least at that age, seemed well-constructed, highly entertaining, and the characters and their emotions and tribulations felt real. I felt annoyed that my faded memory prevented me from originally presenting this as my Show and Tell, but now I'm all smiles.

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I see you bubbling all over the place -- you're yeasty, and I think it's grand!

Words I DON'T like

Coming up with a list of words I like? It's like asking a kid to select a favorite candy. It can be done, but so many treats from which to choose!

 

However - coming up with words I dsilike: piece a cake.

 

utilize

finalize

fabricate

experiential

differentiate

modernity

feedback

condone

yeah

 

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I see you bubbling all over the place -- you're yeasty, and I think it's grand!

Show & Tell: Process

In addition to what I'll present in class, I wanted to share some other process examples I found. I don't imagine these are exceptionally obscure given that I found them via Google without navigating past the first page of results, but what the hell — I'll feature a few articles I came across from two websites: How To Do Things.com and eHow.

One thing these websites taught: wow, almost everything has been process-ized.

http://www.howtodothings.com/sports-recreation/how-to-be-an-astros-fan-in-2008

http://www.ehow.com/how_2203875_amuse-toddler-youre-working-idea.html

http://www.howtodothings.com/religion-spirituality/how-to-believe-in-god

http://www.howtodothings.com/religion-spirituality/how-to-be-a-good-atheist

http://www.ehow.com/how_2079713_be-prisoner-love.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2034170_apply-makeup-seventies.html



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I see you bubbling all over the place -- you're yeasty, and I think it's grand!

Storybooks That Inspire

Anyone who read my previous blog now understands my disconnect with fiction...or my zealous connection with nonfiction...facts vs. fantasy. Even still, I've read a lot on the whole and have a good amount of fiction both on my bookshelf and in my memories. For this week's Show & Tell, in lieu of a personal presentation, here's a short list of books I appreciate for one reason or another.

 

Sula - first of piece complicated literature that challenged me

She's Come Undone - this is an amazing story, period

Forever - my first grown up novel

Memoirs of a Geisha Girl - beautiful details

Caucasia - well-written, beautiful details

Sunnyvale - honestly-written (memoir)

Memory Mambo - complex intesection of race, gender, sexuality, and cognitive psychology

Breath, Eyes, Memory - again, beautiful writing

 

I don't live for fiction, but like and know a good story.

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I see you bubbling all over the place -- you're yeasty, and I think it's grand!

Gonna Have to Face It? I'm Addicted to Ads...

I can't get my mind off advertising campaigns. While I've always appreciated an ad well done, I've never been an ad person, per se—at least I never imagined myself designing ads; seemed so superficial. Now, I find myself overanalyzing ads of all kinds, especially TV ads, rewinding my DVR to nit pick at details—why the light typeface? why THAT jingle? how believable was that? who approved this idea?? And also, standing ovations for outstanding ads. Am I an ad junkie? (Perhaps, if a Chase Bank/Liberty Mutual/KIA ad triumvirate moves me, lol.)

My blogger mind exploded, overwhelmed with review, praise, and critique: so many campaigns, too little time.

For relief, I turn to Slate magazine; I'll let Seth Stevenson do the talking. He writes a column called The Ad Report Card, chock full of opinions about advertisements I've come to appreciate, even in disagreement. Stevenson covers popular, and exclusively television, ad campaigns for various products: auto insurance, deodorant, cars, soap, chips, beer, naming just a few.

Stevenson's best coverage, for me, rips apart the Unilever company, most notably responsible for Dove product campaigns and the infamous(ly cheesy) Campaign for Real Beauty. Read his latest Dove review, particularly interesting in that he incorporated commentary on a fresh, trendy topic in advertising: obnoxious consumer-generated spots.

http://www.slate.com/id/2161163


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I see you bubbling all over the place -- you're yeasty, and I think it's grand!

Cause & Effect: Urbanite Magazine

In working through my cause/effect concept and ad campaign, I chose Urbanite magazine as my publication. Being new to Baltimore, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to get to know one of its local publications. One thing I loved about Boston (or love) were its local reads: my favorite being The Weekly Dig. Urbanite reminds me of a hybrid between three Boston alternative weeklies: The Dig, as well as The Improper Bostonian, and The Boston Phoenix. It's a nice mix of social commentary, "ism" awareness, entertainment, and community.

 

So, I ripped my show and tell assignment from this mag—perfect! I found three ads, posted here.

 

The Associated:

I don't think this ads screams anything unique, particularly, but I thought the designer pushed enough of an envelope to grab my attention, as well as slipped in a couple of sly effects to seal the deal. I love that the designer went cliche with the type treatment: huge, bold black letters, jumping off the page. I say it's cliche because, I'd imagine, most savvy, up-to-date, hip media consumers (which Urbanite readers presumably personify) will likely automatically associate dramatic typography with some kind of "contemporarily-expressed" social message. At least I will—and dramatic typography alone will entice me. Then, of course, the first "line" reads: "Think Jews..." We, the audience, don't expect to read racial slander, but there something that sounds rude about the line, rudely intriguing. I would say the entire sentences achieves said effect. Nothing else about the ad attracts me. In fact, the last line nearly provokes me to cry: "The Baltimore Community is Associated." I understand why...but UGH.

 

I'm actually not sure this is a true cause and effect ad—not in the "hey you, this is a call to action" sense.

 

Urbanite Project:

The ad is sleek and modern, cool and hip, like the cool hipsters reading the mag and involving themselves in the project. It's a cute ad. The egg makes you wanna probe more, see what's looming, what's peeking through the shell. The image supports the ad's claim of what the designer wants us to do: "Expected the Unexpected," is the call to action, "Wait and see what's in store...find out or get involved (since it's a project??) implied. It's kind of a stretch, but I guess it works.

 

MAC:

This feels more like a cause/effect ad than the others in that the "call to action" component is clear. They want us to join their gym. "If you join our gym, you'll be stronger than your excuses...because we don't judge you and stand in your way...come as you are and you'll be stronger than your excuses." Enough said.

 

***

 

Visual drama matters—the ad MUST have a dramatic visual element, or what I'll call a center of visual impact. The issue matters and needs to be clearly expressed through the accompanying copy, but, and especially if the audience is diverse or the target publication is not specialized, it's an ad at the end of the day—it needs to have an immediate, and racy, visual impact on the audience. The image choice needs to be clear, focused, central, and able to emotionally provoke the audience. For my campaign, at least, I think it needs to. Rules are not rules when it comes to design. Rules are relative. 

 

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I see you bubbling all over the place -- you're yeasty, and I think it's grand!

LONG AWAITED: Compare/Contrast Show & Tell

As promised, I'm posting my last compare/contrast example. Better late than never.

 

I chose a story from Miranda July's anthology, No one belongs here more than you, called The Shared Patio. It's an eerie story about loving from a distance. The main character, the female neighbor, is in love with her male neighbor, Vincent, who is married to Helena, who the narrator feels is all wrong. The author (July) and narrator (whatever her name is) try to expose the fallacy of their marriage, cleverly using a basic compare/contrast structure to highlight similarities, differences, and, overall to tell the story.

 

Here's a link to the full story:

http://www.all-story.com/issues.cgi?action=show_story&story_id=292

 

As I mentioned in class, I spent last week in a writing whirlwind—analyzing my own and obsessing about others, leading me back to Miranda July, which I have not picked up since last summer when I bought it. In fact, The Shared Patio is probably the only story in the book that I've actually read from start to finish. Of all the examples of compare/contrast examples I found, this story fit best what I was looking for in that it doesn't just "utilize" compare/contrast—the story itself is a big compare/contrast, with the success of the plot based on its delivery and execution.

 

What's additionally interesting about her use of compare/contrast in light of two strangers loving each other is that, as the reader, you can tell when the comparison, or even the contrast, feels forced or stretched. July forces the reader to critically look at the narrator and think: "What a crazy bitch this person is. How pathetic." Yet, there is somethinng whimsical and childlike about the narrator's love that we sense through the "long shot" parallels, which helps us not completely hate the narrator, perhaps.

 

***

Examples of Compare/Contrast:

 

"He is my neighborhood. He is of Korean descent." - p.1

"Vincent has a wife named Helena. She is Greek with blond hair. It's dyed." - p. 2

 

"One reason Helena and  I would never be close friends is that I am about half as tall as she. People tend to stick with their own size because it's easier on the neck." - p. 2

 

"He is the art director of a magazine called Punt. This is an unusual coindence because I am the floor manager of a printer and we sometimes print magazines. We don't print Punt, but we print a magazine with a similar name, Positive. It's actually more like a newsletter." - p. 4

"Because we are in the same business, he didn't have to explain that "typo" is short for typographical error." If Helena had come out, we would have had to stop using our industry lingo so that she could understand us, but she didn't come out because she is still at work. She's a physician's assistant, which may or may not be the same thing as a nurse." - p. 5

 

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There are more, but I'm not getting into tricky copyright bullshit. Click the link above to find my examples and read more.

 

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I see you bubbling all over the place -- you're yeasty, and I think it's grand!