Epilogue – COM443 Reflection 4

COM443 is officially ending…tomorrow! There will be no more late nights, frustration, arguments and headaches for all of us. WHOO HOO!

Winsome pretty much summed up  the sentiment of my team. We started off pretty bad as a team, but over time we worked better together. The research project which we bombed was our turning point. After that, there were no other ways to move except…UP (we did better for our later assignments). It was hard for an introvert for me to get to know and talk to people, so in a way, I’m really glad to be in my team and got the opportunity to work with and get to know them. Truly, it’s been a great experience. =)

And, here’s something I’ve observed – it seems to me that that each group may have adopted some trait of their client country. For my group, it seems that we are more serious, objective and focused on work (a bit like the Germans). We don’t have fancy skits or demonstrations in class (although it was very tempting to put Vincent into a sausage suit for our viral video). Other groups like Kaleidovision are very different in group dynamics. They seemed to me, really very much like the Italians – energetic, dramatic and boisterous. (But I could be wrong,  I did not have the time to spend time with the other group. This is just something I observed between the two groups I spent the most time with.)

The class as a whole also changed over time. The degree of competitiveness rose to an all time high until, a more common enemy was identified…But I guess it’s to be expected. Our class was kind of modeled after Project Runway. But I think, the cut-throat competitiveness I experienced in class is not too far away from the real world of advertising.

Advertising is also extremely consuming and tiring. It sucked out a lot of time and energy from me, and I got burnt out by the never-ending late nights, tight deadlines and incessant assignments. I complained to my brother about the tight deadlines that I have and how tiring it is…and he,  who is currently studying Animation in LASALLE said, “Welcome to the Creative World!” That made me think…and my earlier thoughts of not getting into advertising is now greatly reinforced.

Yes, that’s the main thing I’ve learnt. I am not cut out for the advertising industry. Or rather, it’s just too tiring for my liking. However, never say never (the irony!), we all never know where we’ll end up working. Who knows what the future lies? Somewhere, sometime later on, I may or may not be in advertising (I always seem to end up in a job where a work like an ox, according to my mom).

Overall, COM443 has been a real crazy rollercoaster ride. I’ve some regrets in not taking political com last semester, because if I did take that, I’ve would have be spared the agony of burning out. Yet, at the same time, I’m glad that I took this module. In COM443, I’ve acquired new skills and improved on some. I learnt that I’m not that bad at sound editing, and I can do some photoshopping. Besides that I have rediscovered the world of websites and servers which I have left a long time ago in poly.

In addition, I’ve understood that making a good ad (or an attempt to do so) takes an incredibly huge amount of effort. It’s not only the creative side but the technical side too. You have to be crazy, wacky, and think out of the box, but also be very careful with words, for advertising has its conservative side too.

Finally, I guess, COM443 has made me more of a ad connoisseur. I now notice and appreciate good advertisements more.

So, it’s only fair for me to end off my last COM443 reflection with this fantastic advertisement about advertising:

Julie & Julia – COM443 Reflection 3

Julie & Julia is a great movie. At first I was a little dubious of it, as its poster was not very enticing to me. However, it was highly recommended by my lecturer, Professor Bob Armstrong, and so casting my doubts aside, I decided to go watch the movie.

And, in the end, I must agree. Julia & Julia is a great movie! I have heard of Julia Child before, but never really exactly knew who she was. This movie showed me how Julia Child learnt French Cooking and published her famous “Master the Art of French Cooking”. The movie also showed the story of Julie Powell and her rise to fame through her blog.

Blogging has grown a long way since it started off as simple online diaries. They are no longer a tool just for self-expression and sharing of thoughts and ideas.  Somewhere along the line, we discovered that blogs can also be used for advertising too.

Popular blogs like Julie Powell’s draw many people to them, creating a high amount of readership, which is what advertisers like. A more local example is Xiaxue, who is a full-time blogger and she earns money via advertising products on her blog (http://xiaxue.blogspot.com).

It seems that advertising on the blogsphere has  grown quite a lot with blog advertising communities being set up (this is something I didn’t know about before, guess I am that oblivious). Again, here’s a local example blog advertising community – Naffnang Singapore.

In my opinion, advertising on blogs will continue to grow because of a mutual beneficial relationship that they have – blogs are free, they also don’t cost that much to maintain and advertisers are constantly looking for places to advertise their products.

Just for fun, here are some fun facts about my blog, plus other thoughts about Julie & Julia and blogging:

1) Like Julie Powell, I started blogging because I was bored at home, nursing a wisdom tooth extraction.

2) I’m a laggard in regards of technology at times. Stubborn me resisted blogging and facebook for quite a while because I didn’t want to do something just because everyone else is doing/having it.

3) It’s funny to see in the movie how Julie is throwing a silly tantrum on the kitchen floor. Actually, I felt like slapping her to stop it…because it’s extremely silly!

4) I never understand why people apologize for not updating their blog. Maybe that’s because they have an audience to cater too? Or something else?? *scratches my head in puzzlement

Yet another video game movie that sucks…

I reminded a friend about a video game movie that sucks.

And now I’m reminded of it too…haha.

I found the trailer again. Here it is, prepare to dig your eyes out in horror:

For those unfamiliar with the KOF series, here are some of the character profiles and how they look like:

Mai Shiranui

Kyo Kusanagi

Iori Yagami

Rugal Bernstein

Terry Bogard

Mature Picture | Profile

Vice

My ranting starts here:

1. Kyo Kusanagi doesn’t use a katana to fight!!

2. Why are all the hair styles and costumes so different from the KOF characters?

3. They don’t look anything like the KOF characters! >.<

4. Terry and Rugal in the movie are not blonde, which they are supposed to be.

5. Rugal in the movie…looks…so weak and flickable. Game character Rugal can kick his ass and send him flying to oblivion!

6. Why is the movie plot based on science-fiction instead of one of KOF plotlines? KOF is not in another time-dimension..argh

7. Kyo Kusanagi is not a super hero…no one in KOF is a super hero. They are just characters with super powers that fight…they are not super heroes. Period.

And…I could go on and on forever…so I’ll cut to my conclusion now.

Low budget movies, Hollywood and video games franchises don’t mix well. This movie will just be another addition of mangled and butchered anime/video game names to this years horrible Legend of Chun Li and Dragonball Evolution. My advice to the producers of such movies -> Change the name of the movie completely and don’t ride on the video game name. Your movie will have less expectations to live up to, and it may really be considered as a not-so-bad/decent movie.

Time will only tell if the Tekken movie will be doomed like KOF and the rest…but for now, it seems that the casting are much better than the rest of its video game movie predecessors:

I’ll wait till I see the official trailer and the I’ll make final judgment of whether it sinks or swims. :/

Advertising is Everywhere!-COM443 Reflection 2

Advertising is everywhere!!  Or maybe to be more exact, I’ll say almost everywhere (because I’m hoping there are some places without advertising).

This thought jumped at me yesterday when I was in the toilet at Plaza Singapura. After sitting down comfortably on the carefully chosen toilet bowl of my choice (sorry for the graphic nature of this post…hehe), I found myself face-to-face with a HUGE ad on the toilet door, promoting “The Face Shop” and its products.

I suppose that advertisement is a nice change from black marker scribbles saying “For a good time call Jane at…..” or  “Pauline is a b***h”…but still, I found that ad rather irritating. Why was it irritating?  Because I’m starting to find that advertising is becoming very intrusive.

Almost everywhere we go, there are commercials and ads screaming out to us. My brother once did an assignment for his graphic design class a few years ago (he has since switched to animation), that required him to count how many ads he could see from the time he went to school and back home at the end of the day. His result: 400 ads.

I think if I were to replicate that assignment now, it would definitely be more than 400 ads. After all, we have ads inside and on our buses, taxis and MRT, bus stops, MRT stations, inside and on buildings i.e. shopping mall, and of course now we have ads in the toilets as well.

I remember those nostalgic times where the buses did not have large adverts on them that obstruct your window view, and everyone had some quiet time without MobileTV around, the taxis did not have small noisy TVs in them, our MRT stations did not have noisy TVs in them….and my list could go on and on.

And so, I conclude that ADVERTISING IS EVERYWHERE (or almost everywhere, or so I’d like to think)!

Perhaps next time I’ll try to explore why they are everywhere and in funny places like in the toilets.

But right now, I just want to say that I like my toilets clean…with no advertising.

Good Ads and Bad Ads-COM443 Reflection 1

This will be my first entry for my Advertising module COM443…I’ve found some good ads and bad ads that I’d like to share!

Let’s start with the bad first, so that there’ll be no bitter aftertaste left in your mouth after you read this post.

BAD Ads: Swensen’s Ads

These ads come from and series of ads by Swensen’s that was screened on TV last year, and attracted much attention about it in the news debating of  the ads taught the wrong values to children: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20080712-76204.html.

What do I think? I think these ads are bad because it’s a failed attempt at humor, or perhaps, like the news article said, humor is subjective. I mean, I don’t find it funny to see children at the beck and call of their mother with super trained obedience. If anything, it’s freaky to me.

This “Smart Kid” commercial below is the one which most parents are concerned about – the promotion of lying and cheating.
I find that it’s kind of cute actually (maybe because the boy looks cute with his chubby cheeks) but apart from that, I don’t  feel like I want to go Swensen’s for a meal. And for parents, I understand their concern as children do pick things up very fast from TV, especially when they see other children doing something. Although, I don’t think that the music, blue background and the picture of ice-cream at the end of the ad  is something that children wants to lie or cheat for.

Finally, the poor guy standing in the rain, courageously shielding his girlfriend from the rain without any thing for himself except “I’m so going to Swensen’s!”…which makes me wonder if he is shielding his girlfriend just so she’ll bring him to Swensen’s? But from her expression, he doesn’t look like he’s going to Swensen’s soon.

Overall, to me,  Swensen is trying to portray an image that the food there is so good that people will do all sorts of things just to eat there and also that it’s a place to go when you feel like rewarding yourself after a day of hard work. Food wise? Where are all the nice pictures of delicious food? That would get me going there if the food looks good. In addition, according to the news article:

“A Swensen’s spokesman told The New Paper: ‘As a family restaurant, Swensen’s is committed to enriching the family dining experience with warmth and fun.’

The spokesman said the commercials were launched ‘in the cheerful spirit of engaging families’ and were ‘laced with light-hearted and mildly exaggerated humour, to gently nudge our valued customers that it will always be a treat to dine with us’.”

Family dining experience with warmth and fun? This element is definitely not in the ads. They should take note of Macdonald’s ads, which are very successful in portraying that image in their commercials. ” To gently nudge our valued customers that it will always be a treat to dine with us”… I think they are nudging customers the other way – away! I still don’t see why I have to eat at Swensen’s from the ads or bring my family there. And I really don’t find these ads funny.

Now, we shall look at some good ads

I love these ads! The ads draw a lot of attention by making people curious about what is the “Anything” and “Whatever”.In “Whatever”, there’s the plot twist at the end which is hilarious.

In “Anything”, you’ll be as perplexed as the shopkeeper to the customer’s request for the mysterious “Anything”.

In short (Yeah, I ran out of time now,  I need to go prepare for my club stuff), I would say that “Anything” and “Whatever” ads are very successful. They are able to grab the attention of the viewer and create strong interest in their drink products of “Anything” and “Whatever”.  I actually did buy a can of “Anything” and “Whatever” each after watching the commercial ^_^

Sickish Start to the New Semester

Yeah, I officially start school on Tuesday, but I’m sickish.

What a way to start school >.<

Sickish, you’re kinda sick but then you’re also not that sick.

Oh well, off to the doc’s tomorrow, need to get more cream for my heat rash anyway. And to trim my hair. Hopefully the hairdresser doesn’t mess it up.

Yeah yeah, change hair dresser, etc…but I’m too stingy to go find another one that costs more. My money goes into other things more justifiable like…food, toiletries….and other stuffs.

And you know that I’m really bored when I start mumbling and rambling about stuff here. Which may not be that true…I just feel like filling this space up for the fun of it..teehee.

Sickish, tired, irritable, woozy, blur and bored.

Should be doing some work, but my brain’s only processing with half the RAM. And that’s why I can’t even shoot zombies properly today…and those are really stupid bots!

Sigh, why are my bots in L4D always so dumb? They kept getting themselves killed and seldom gives me enough cover >.< But then that’s what happen when you take point…

But unbelievable. All 3 bots were standing right in front of the witch today like silly deer in headlights. They just stand and stared at her…and made her angry. Oh well, it’s another just day with the L4D bots, as usual.

Dumb bots!!! Argh! *shakes my fist at them

Last Week of Summer Holiday

Wow, another semester gone, and my holiday’s down to my last week.

Been pretty busy, but this holiday is less tiring than the previous one.

I’ve been busy with my club stuff, AMCC’s planning competition, recruitment, etc.

Happy to have gotten a costume for Student Week today at Pan-In-The-Box. Got the Rukia kimono costume =) No need to wear wig! Easy! I just need not wear my glasses…still afraid of wearing contacts. So, I’ll be walking around with blurry vision, I guess.

Apart from that, I’ve been catching up on games…L4D new maps, campaigns…but I still haven’t finished Infamous! Sad!

We went to Illuma to try out the new LAN shop there. Rates are EXPENSIVE >.< $3.50…and it’s for non-peak hour I believe.I still prefer going down to Clementi to play. Cheaper~ Plus, I’m a lifetime member. Mwahahaha!

Hmm…what else? what else? Tomorrow, I’m going to meet up with my ex-colleague(s). Been pretty long since we met up. Well, I haven’t been meeting up with people. This hermit apologizes for the lack of contact!

Got my grades for previous semester. Glad I didn’t get a C for PSY333, or my gpa’s going to drop real bad! Only two modules left for next semester…and then I’d graduate. Faster than I expected! Will have to start being on the lookout for jobs soon….

One other thing, I’ve just learnt how to play Magic. Magic, the Gathering. Interesting, but I’m still confused over certain things and still unsure how some things work. Need more practice…

Taking some time to think about my relationship…my boyfriend, my other half, my significant other, my beau, my beloved (yeah, I’m just trying to show off my vocab, I was wondering what other words can be used to replace “boyfriend”)…things been so great, well, that’s ‘cos he is great. Haha, I’m gushing (laughs at my silly self). I’m just happy =D

Holiday Finale

This weekend will be the final two days of mt school break before the new semester starts. I wish that my holidays didn’t end so soon, but at the same time, I think school will be a good break from it. This holiday, I’ve been more busy than anything. Many things have happened and I’ve been caught up in a huge whirlwind of activity.

First of all, I’ve been assigned the position of Secretary for my CCA club, AMCC. The Vice President  and Video Game Head just pounced it on me when we went out for my birthday. I guess it was a birthday gift from them? Haha! Hopefully, I’ll be able to do as much as possible for the club. We just ended a recruitment drive for AMMC. And, I realised that Guitar Hero World Tour gives me a VERY BAD headache >.< That is one game I cannot play on a regular basis.

Next, I got introduced to Dungeons & Dragons, Cthulhu and other interesting games of sorts. I should get my dice soon…at the rate that I’m playing these games. I’m happy to say that my Druidess in D&D kicks ass! She has an awesome bear who can eat the rest of the party…hehehe. She now has Spider Climb, which is really cool. She can climb on walls and ceilings! Now she just need someone to do the spiderman movie kiss with her…

Lastly, the most significant event. As most of my friends know by now (or not), I am currently attached. Yup, I’m in a relationship with someone really great. Since I am in a good mood right now, I shall spare you my gushing about him and just summarize to this: =D

And now, I shall continue to enjoy my holiday to its fullest by play more games while I still got a bit of time to slowly savor them. Die you irritating zombies!! Argh!!

Disparity

There’s great disparity between yesterday and today.

I am upset, very.

But I should stop.

Today I turn 24 (argh getting old).

Time to make a change.

To be thankful.

To be stronger.

To be better

To be wiser.

To follow my heart.

To be happy.

To smile.

To be alive.

I am happy to have the wonderful chance to leave aside every care and just enjoy…(thanks guys!).

“The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain.”

Study Week

Rushing assignments and essays are over! Today is the start of the study week.

Will be mugging for exams…I need to do really well for my finals! I’m not very confident that some of my assignments will get a very good grade…sigh.

The past week was interesting…and I discovered that I’m really getting old…I don’t have that much stamina for going on with very little sleep. I crashed badly after my last paper was handed up and its presentation done >.< Was literally snoozing in class, or was trying anyway (should have stuffed more books in my bag…it was too flat to be used as a comfy pillow. Got pretty bad neck ache).

Went to play Left4Dead too. On Friday, we played for fours hours straight o.O Eyes straaaain. Actually, we’re training for a L4D tournament. I played as Louis this time round…with better results! I shot Bryan a lot less. Although, when I got tired, I started getting kan chiong and began pressing the wrong buttons. Argh.

Caught the Departures on Saturday. It’s a great film, I’m really glad I went to watch it. The story, acting, filming…everything was great! The only thing wasn’t great was that I started tearing, because parts of the film reminded of my late grandma and her funeral……but nevertheless, I still recommend it. If you can’t catch it in the cinemas, go get the DVD!

Got trashed at the arcade too. I’m truly rusty at KOF. Argh. Tried Tekken 6, it’s pretty good. Will definitely get the game when it comes out for PS3. Got a workout at the arcade too. Played a game where you’re supposed to shoot some bad guys while moving one side, bending or squating down to avoid from getting shot by them…and avoid injuring innocent bystanders at the same time. My legs and thighs were very wobbly later on, the game really worked my leg muscles…I think I should get it as an exercise machine.

Last thing…I had a weird dream the night before. Dreamt that the whole place was kinda zombie-like-attacked, we (me and a few other people) had to survive, run and avoid zombie-like people. Plus, the Manageress from Detriot Metal City was the leader of them all, and was constantly on our tails. S-C-A-R-Y!

What a weird dream, don’t you think so?