Avatars are Avatars. Nuff said.

Avatars are creations that depict a certain person or event. Whether or not they are significant to an outside source varies from person to person. These avatars are able to be streamlined to fit a certain crowd (unlike advertisements) because their primary goal isn't to attract everyone's individual attention.

Avatars can also be deceiving. They aren't always true to their appearance. One avatar could show a grand festival in a local town dedicated to medieval Europe but when you arrive, there is only one attraction and the crowd of people shown in the picture has died down to 2 attendees.

Avatars don't have to be tangible either, they can be mental images. For example, a college graduate is wise and can hold their own in life. They will be successful due to their academic successes. I don't know about others, but since coming to college, my depiction of a fruitful life went from gliding through a major and scraping in my earnings to just trying to survive. In all honesty, the false hope given by the mental avatar is just another addition to the pessimistic outlook I have now taken on. I don't know what major I want to pursue, nor do I know what truly interests me. I have always been academically gifted and am able to give educated retorts rather than irrational hostile replies in an argument. Of the two, only one is a career path. Using my academic skills, I can pursue a major with a good payroll and be miserable for 40 years until I am near the brink of death. With "rational" arguing, I can be a hated politician or a guy in his mother's basement arguing online with incompetent buffoons on whether or not the United States dollar holds higher value due to lasting stability vs currently rising "price" value.

All in all Avatars are a depiction of something, not the actual something. Literal people will fail to realize this and will be disappointed the rest of their lives.

This is CJ Perkins and I approve this publishing.

Engrish Paypahs Are Dah Debil.

When having a normal debate or participating in a group analysis, I don't count my words and format each one of my words to fit a rubric. Instead, I attempt to match the intensity of my words and sentences with my own personal tone. I feel as though it enforces the point I am trying to make to the general group I am speaking with or yelling at. All-in-all I really don't want to continue this blog, just as I didn't want to continue my paper beyond normal speaking terms. However, I have to do so in order to please the overseer of our classroom. Short and concise seems to be my style while the conformists in the world take over with their "following rules" and what not. So yeah.

This is CJ Perkins, and I approve this publishing.

Being Fat isn't Phat; It's real.

When dove target's women of lower self-esteem, they do more than just degrade them and their mentality. In fact, they take young women to the lowest of lows so all the energy they have left is used reaching for the remote to change the channel when the commercial changes tone. Now instead of a degrading tone, it is one of reassurance. It is forged of pure sincerity. With this sympathetic outreach to the freshly wounded women, they are able to draw their attention to their products that can make amends to their previously gross, atrocious habits. Instead of being fat, they can be beautiful. Not just in their own eyes, but in the eyes of everyone. Orbach approaches the response to the ad with all of this in mind. Not only does her response appeal to the people curious of her response, but she makes it broad enough to where even the average woman, critic or standard civilian can read and connect to her words. I agree with Orbach on many of her points involving Dove, however, her most powerful points were the ones that drew a generic outlook from the wrongdoing of Dove's advertisements. She wasn't just responding on what she had seen, she was responding on what she felt and believed. That is where the strength lies in her argument, but it grows with her ability to appeal to all audiences.

This is CJ Perkins, and I approve this publishing.

Youtube vs Eyetube

Although the blog today was supposed to analyze multiple essays, I personally found that the short essay by Strangelove was concise yet true on many levels. Strangelove notes that watching goofy and seemingly redundant videos on the famous website "youtube" is not a shameful, time-wasting act. As Strangelove states, we see ourselves in the videos we decide to watch. Our natural instinct in both finding humor and humility is to find something we can relate to. Whether we watch a kid get sedated at a dentist's office and wonder "was I like that?" or watch a heavy-set woman fall from a table and think "oh man, that is embarrassing." we notice either our own actions or those similar to them being displayed in front of our eyes. The ties to this easily accessed media are unbelievable. Such a simple concept, yet it can appeal to everyone. It doesn't matter if you are in the mood for a laugh, a political recap over a speech or even the highlight reel from a football game, Youtube has become a phenomenon amongst all internet trends. How it made it was mass appeal and how it continues is just as simple. Strangelove is dead on when he says we can relate to these videos and he is dead on when he states it is an act with no shame involved. It just goes to show how any media can flourish with the right connection to it's viewers and we have to right our papers in the same light. We as students need to appeal to our audience. We must convince them beyond shadow-of-a-doubt that they can relate with what we are saying. This is the lock and our pens are the keys. We just need to find the one that fits perfectly.

This is CJ Perkins, and I approve this publishing.

Photographs: How wide is too wide of a lens?

You are already being verbally dragged into the family car by your parents, what else could go wrong? The moment that thought crosses your mind, your mom turns and looks you in the eyes. No matter which way you move, you can't escape her gaze. Take a picture. At this moment, you know what is coming. "Just force a smile" she says. "We are just going to make sure your grandmother is stocked up on groceries this week." You know that is code for "We will be there a few hours, but please just smile for your grandmother."

Ten years later you are riding in the new family car. This time you were ready. You had everything ready to go. Your emotions, your attire and most of all, your smile. As you arrive to the site of the funeral you remember each mental snapshot, but you remember one in particular. This mental picture wasn't the brightest, but it spoke the loudest. You having lived the picture know the surrounding area of the photo. Going to grandmother's was a dull experience to begin with but you always enjoyed hearing her stories whether or not you wanted to admit it. Then, you frowned but now you look back and smile. Take a picture. This time, with the lens wide open. The dark setting of the funeral home is now offset by your vibrant smile formed by looking at the picture.

If a third party were to view both mental photos in a large framed picture, they may not understand the scenario. Narrowing the lens isn't always the best way to fine tune a situation. In the first picture, all you see is a disappointed child. The scenario looks sad. Combined with the second picture, however, the lens in opened up. Everything makes sense. A once small child is now grown and appreciating the world around them. In the reading, it is made clear that pictures aren't always supposed to capture happy times, but instead, should be used to capture reality. No one wants to have a blindfold on at all times. No one wants to live a fake life. The pictures on the wall may say "happy family" when the lives around the picture are all about a father losing a job or a mother fighting sickness. In relation to the story above, it isn't always a bad thing to capture reality. We as people can look back and learn, appreciate and respect what we have in life.

This is CJ Perkins, and I approve this publishing.