Journal #12

This week we are working on our "How does Advertising Effect Us?" projects that we will eventually be presenting to the whole school:|. Anyway, my group decided to do Product Recognition, which is basically how companies use symbols and logos that will stay with us and eventually become instantly recognisable. And then we are doing a part that is kind of what we know (like product logos) vs. What we should know (like presidents, provincial flags, etc.). Anyway, this project is opening my eyes to how much the media and advertising does affect me, because I know more big logos and companies than i do about m,y own country:|. Hopefully with this project in some way we can help raise awareness about what advertisers are doing to us, so maybe we can awaken that unconscious part of our brain that allows this to happen. Anyway, I don't want to give too much away, but I think it will be a pretty successful project.   :)  

Journal #11

This week in journalism we watched the 11th Hour. This movie wasn't too bad, but way better than the 'Inconvenient Truth'- now that movie was ridiculously, and painfully boring. But this movie was presented in a way that appealed better to me, it kind of played on my emotions when it was showing the animals that won't make it if we don't change our ways.. I feel bad for the penguins. Oh! And that poor seal that got clubbed:( that was sad. Anyway, I can't give too much away, because I have yet to do my movie review:P.

Journal #10

So I guess I was one journal short. I was a little stuck, I didn't know what I was going to write about for this week, but then I realized I could use stuff from journalism too!

So last week we started talking about Steve Glass, this very talented journalist who worked for a major magazine company called New Republic. Everyone liked Steve, he was nice, talented, and not to mention.. very creative! No one could see anything wrong with this young rising writer, but the truth was his stories were good, just a little too good. Steve was making up facts, sources, quotes, people, and events. Steve was eventually caught for this after writing the story 'Hack Heaven". Even I read the story, and had to admit, the lead was perfect! But, it did seem a little too good to be true, and some of the quotes seemed phony. 

Anyway, I could never imagine doing that for myself, I would get tangled in my web of lies and lose which way is up, did I mention I'm a losey liar? ha ha. Plus, I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt. But, I have to admit, he was smart. That was a good idea, just had some down sides to it in the end. Yikes! 

Journal #9

This week we are working on a brand new project. We were given groups to work in and a specific object that we are meant to create means of advertising it. This is the practice before we do our big presentation in a conference style.

My groups product was jeans. My group came up with the "Canadian Beaver". It's kind of a mockery of "American Eagle". I have to say though, if this was a real product, I'd probably buy it. I mean, where else can you get jeans that identify you as a Canadian for the low, low cost of $20.99?! 

This project was a good exercise so we can learn how advertising companies think, and the process they go through to try and sell us their project. It's not as difficult as I thought it would be on one hand, then on the other it's not as easy:|. Jeans are a pretty difficult product to advertise because there are so many competitors. But, I think my group did a very decent job of doing so. **Watch out American Eagle.. Here comes The Canadian Beaver!

Journal #8

All this week we did presentations from the pop-culture project, so yet again there isn't very much to talk about. 

But I will talk about how much more aware I am now of manipulation via advertisements. I never really thought about how much the media really effects us. But if you really think about it, you can't escape advertising, no matter where you go. Think you can escape it by relaxing and watching your favorite t.v show? Think again. Television shows, movies, and even a walk around the block, you can't escape it. What with all the "Product Placement" now days. I have to admit, "product placement" is one of the most clever ways to advertise something, I never notice it. I'll be watching t.v after school and see one of the characters on my show drinking some pepsi, or eating a type of chocolate bar, and all I want to do is go out and buy one because all I can think is how good that would taste right now. Even just walking around your town there are ads. Right now walking around the small town of Oromocto, every corner I turn, I see an ad for eligible candidates to "VOTE FOR....". I guess it doesn't matter where you are, or who you are, you will always be influenced by advertising. Here is a clip from Wayne's World, I thought it was pretty funny because they are mocking "Product Placement".

Journal #7

This week in class we presented our project on different pop-cultures from different eras, so we didn't really have much to talk about. But we did watch a few videos on advertisments for Ameriquest insurance. And I have to say.. you were SO right, when I went to tell my family about these commericials I forgot the name of the insurance company:.
I have coe to the conclusion that some commercials can be funny and entertaining, but really in the end all we remember is what was entertaining about the commercial, but not what the commercial is for. At first the "entertainment" tactic seems like it would make sense, but what is the audience getting out of this besides a good laugh? Nothing really. These commercials that we were shown had absolutely no information about the company itself, and no way to contact them, all it gave us was that they wouldn't judge, but really what good does that do them if with no information about them in their commercials so no one can contact them, hence no customers.
I believe there should be a way for companies to make their commercials entertaining and still provide the necessay information about the company for a consumer to make a decision, or be influenced enough to purchase this product. For example, I find that the Dairy Queen commercials do just that:

Defining Canadian Moments [ Journalism ]

October Crisis- FLQ

The October Crisis was a series of dramatic events triggered by two terrorist kidnappings of government officials by members of the Front de libération du Québec in the province of Quebec, Canada, in October 1970, which ultimately resulted in a brief invocation of the War Measures Act by Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau and the deployment of the national army in Quebec and in the national capital Ottawa.
The Premier of Quebec, Robert Bourassa, and the Mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau, requested that the Government of Canada invoke theWar Measures Act. The act provided for far-reaching powers for police. Therefore, Prime Minister Trudeau invoked it in October of 1970 leading to arrests of any individuals the police thought to be separatists, and to their detentions without bail.
At that time, the federal government refused to differentiate the members of the FLQ, extremist separatists, and those of the PQ who advocated democratic ways of achieving independence. Following that crisis, under Prime Minister Trudeau's directions, this led to a series of scandals surrounding the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, particularly to the RCMP's illegal break-in to steal the Parti Québécois's member list in its offices in 1973.

Bathurst

The Bathurst High School basketball team was returning from a game on the night of January 11, 2008 after a basketball game against a Moncton rival. In the early hours of January 12, the van traveling northward on Route 11 was approaching the city limits and in front of the Miramichi Avenue exit when the van driver lost control of the vehicle and collided with a southbound transport truck. Only moments before the accident, Nathan Cleland, one of the passengers, called his parents to let them know they were only minutes from home, Cleland's parents stated that the boys were laughing and having a good time before the accident. Cleland was one of the 8 killed in collision.

**Everyone of us remember where we were when we heard about this tragedy.

Canada Versus Russia Series

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YzHG88B8Qo

Vimy Ridge

he Battle of Vimy Ridge was a military offensive of World War I by the Canadian Corps against the German Sixth Army along the Western Front in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, from 9 April 1917 to 12 April 1917.
The attack on Vimy Ridge was part of the opening phase in the wider scaled Battle of Arras, which served as a diversionary attack for the Nivelle Offensive.[2] The immediate objective of the Canadian Corps was to take control of the German-held high ground that dominated the Plains of Douai to permit the southern flank of the Arras offensive to advance without being fired upon in enfilade.[3]
The success of the Canadian Corps in capturing the ridge and surrounding area is largely attributed to a mixture of technical and tactical innovations, powerful artillery preparation and meticulous planning. Noted as the first occasion on which all four divisions of the Canadian Corps attacked as a composite formation, the battle quickly became a nationalistic symbol of achievement and sacrifice. The former battleground is now home to the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.

By: Courtney Burns, Brandon Knox, Nathan Milligan, Gregg Dempsey, Tyler McCarthy, and Jordan Heather.