Weekly Written Analysis Week 5

Michael Thomas
Bratz Dolls New Popular Culture Icon
Assignment 5-1 Weekly Written Analysis
HUMN341-E2WW
February 5, 2008

I chose to write my weekly written analysis on the Bratz Dolls (MGA, 2008). Bratz are the new craze among young and pre-teen girls. These dolls, accessories, and play sets are competing with Barbie and her gang of friends (Mattel, 2008).

If you have ever perused the local toy store aisles you can see all the different Bratz dolls, play sets, movies, clothes, doll accessories, cars, and bicycles that are out there for girls to play with. The price ranges from $10 to $150 on all these different toys.

The newest doll MGA entertainment has added is the Be-Bratz doll. This doll is interactive. Your child can go to the Bratz website and create a new doll and play with it on-line. This doll is nameless until your child picks its name and different characteristics for it.

My two oldest daughters have a collection of these dolls and accessories. They are always dressing them up and playing with them. My wife has commented on how much easier it is for younger girls to dress the dolls and play with them. This is one reason she likes them better than Barbie (Mattel, 2008).

Our daughters have Bratz and Barbie and my three year old has so much trouble changing Barbie and getting her shoes to stay on. Yet when she plays with a Bratz doll she can dress her with ease, she gets so excited because she doesn’t need help.

Could we see Barbie and her gang coming to an end after so many years, or will Mattel find a way to keep Barbie from being a doll of the past? I think these dolls are a new popular culture icon and will be for years to come.

References
Barbie Retrieved on February 1, 2008 from http://www.mattel.com/our_toys/ot_barb.asp
Bratz Retrieved on February 1, 2008 from http://www.mgae.com/
Images Retrieved on February 1, 2008 from http://www.bratz.com/

Cake Mania

Cake Mania
Michael Thomas
Assignment 4-1 Weekly Written Analysis
HUMN 341-E2WW
January 28, 2008

I chose to do my analysis on the art of cake decorating this week. Cake decorating is one of the forms of sugar arts. You use icing and other edible decorations to give a cake more eye appeal (Wikipedia, 2008).

How many different occasions do we have in our culture that need a cake for the celebration? I know from my own personal experiences I have had several different occasions when I have needed a cake. Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and graduations are just a few occasions I can think of that need a cake.

I chose this topic because my wife Misty started making our children cakes for their birthdays and for school parties. She has also made a few for my birthdays over the years.

Some of the cakes she has made for the kids are Scooby Doo, a farm, hot air balloon, Barbie, a Game Cube, haunted house, Dora the explorer, Elmo, Sponge Bob, a beach ball, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, and due to special request from our daughter a Little People cake for her 3rd birthday, in February. She has also been tossing around the idea of trying her hand at making wedding cakes.

Misty has never taken a class on cake decorating, she taught herself. She does a wonderful job and she enjoys making these works of art.

Cake decorating is becoming popular in our culture. The Food Network airs a show called Ace of Cakes (food network, 2008). The show is about this awesome decorator Duff Goldman and his bakery Charm City Cakes. It is interesting to watch him and his team create such awesome pieces of edible art.

References
Ace of Cakes (2008) Retrieved on January 27, 2008 from http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_db
Cake decorating (2008) Retrieved on January 27, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_decorating

Different Faces of Reebok

Weekly Written Analysis 3

How many of you are familiar with this phrase “I am what I am” (Reebok.com, 2008) does it make you think of Reebok? This is Reeboks slogan. For those of you not familiar with Reebok or you just want to learn more about the company read on.

Reebok was founded in 1895, with the original name Mercury Sports (wikipedia.org, 2008). They changed the company name to Reebok in 1958. Reebok was owned by two brothers, until Adidas bought them out in 2006 (wikipedia.org, 2008)

Reebok has had many different types of shoes over the years that have been made. Some of the most popular from the 1980’s are the Freestyle, which women bought like hot cakes during the aerobics craze. They were also worn as street or casual shoes because they were so comfortable (wikipedia.org, 2008). One of the types of shoes I am more familiar with is the Reebok Pumps. I had a pair that I thought were the most comfortable pairs of shoes I ever owned. Reebok Pumps came in high top or mid top, they had a built in air pocket that you pumped up to give your ankle more support (wikipedia.org, 2008).

Over the years Reebok has had many celebrities and pro sports players endorse their shoes here are some names you might remember: Allen Iverson, Donovan McNabb, 50 cent, Snopp Dogg, Xzibit, Manny Ramierez, and Shaq (McCarthy, 2005) are just a few of Reeboks endorsers.

Reebok also supplies the shoes for the NFL and MLB. They hold the rights to make and market athletic apparel for the NFL and CFL (wikipedia.org, 2008).

Most shoe stores and department stores carry Reebok shoes and apparel, so this brand is relatively easy to find. I think Reebok will continue to be a big part of the fashion world for many years to come.

Everyone can enjoy a pair of Reebok whether you are a baby, toddler, teenager, or adult Reebok has a shoe for you.


Reference
McCarthy, M (2005, July, 5). Rappers sample athletes’ turf. USA Today
Retrieved on January 21, 2008 from http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2005-07-04-rap-endorsements_x.htm
http://www.reebok.com/ Retrieved on January 21, 2008
Reebok Retrieved on January 21, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reebok
Images Retrieved on January 21, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reebok_Pump and http://www.alleniversonlive.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&cid=4&pid=68

Assignment 1-3 Journal Article Analysis

Analyzing a Gangster and a Samurai
Michael Thomas
Assignment 1-3 Journal Article Analysis
HUMN341-E2WW
January 19, 2008

After reviewing the article Family Values and Feudal Codes: The Social Politics of America’s Twenty-First Century Gangster By: Ingrid Walker Fields, I concluded the audience is intended to be for a general audience. I chose general audience instead of specialized audience because she referenced books, movies, television shows, video games, news articles, and music that pertained to with the twenty-first century gangster.
Yes there are subject-specified vocabulary terms, concepts, and theories. The following are examples of vocabulary, concepts, and theories. Don is used through out this article. A Don is the head of a mob family. Kingpin is also used to describe a mob boss. Wise guys are yet another example of a vocabulary term I came across. While reading about Ghost Dog she used samurai to explain what he is. One concept I read about is the concept of a Don. The concept of a Don is they show loyalty, friendship, and respect but also use those things as weapons. A Don will be generous, but at the same time will use violence to get what they want. Another concept is of a samurai. The concept of a samurai is to live and die in an honorable way. Some of the theories is this article are the twenty-first century gangsters are made out to be like the characters in The Godfather, The Sopranos, and Ghost Dog. The movie and television characters are the romantic myth that everyone portrays real mobsters to be like.
Summarizing this article is a little difficult for me, because I kind of got lost reading it. From what I took Ingrid Walker Fields is trying to show how the twenty-first century gangster tries to follow the old school rules that the family is supposed to follow. She compares The Godfather to The Sopranos. In The Godfather, Vito Corleone immigrated to America and worked his way up to where he was. He never tried hiding the fact that he was the head of a mob family. In The Sopranos, Tony is an upper-middle class American, but he always tries to act as if his business is legitimate. Tony also tries modeling himself after Vito Corleone. Ingrid Walker Fields also talks about a movie called Ghost Dog. She compares the main character Ghost Dog, who is a samurai, to street gangstas. Ghost Dog wants to live his life as a samurai and have revenge on the people who harmed him. He wants to exact his revenge and die in an honorable way. Ghost Dog and street gangstas are described as both being street warriors. Both Ghost Dog and street gangstas want to die in an honorable way.
In my opinion I don’t think this article was written in a logical order. I think Ingrid Walker Fields jumps around too much in the article. She starts out with one topic and jumps to the next. The main ideas are kind of unclear to me. She puts too much information in and makes reading this article more complex than it needs to be. I didn’t think most of the article was easy to read, it was too drawn out and made it more boring than interesting. Some of the points in the article were easier to figure out than others. I think if she would have stuck to her topics instead of moving from one topic to another so rapidly and not blended everything together it would have been a lot easier to understand. She starts out the article talking about real mob families and how they are not too much in existence anymore because of RICO statue and the FBI cracking down on them, then jumps to The Sopranos and Ghost Dog. Then she goes back to talking about Gangsta rappers and street gangs. This was a very difficult article for me to read.
The key idea that I took away from reading this article was movies and television shows try to make the mob lifestyle look exciting and glamorous, instead of violent and immoral. Another idea that I took away is she looks at the movie Ghost Dog and compares the samurai to street gangstas and the values they hold. If there were any other key ideas in this article I did not pick up on them. I had to reread this article a few times just to pick out these key ideas.

References
Family Values and Feudal Codes: The Social Politics of America’s Twenty-First Century Gangster Ingrid Walker Fields Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 37, Issue 4 (May 2004) p 611-633

Assignment 2-2 Icons

Three Very Different Icons
Michael Thomas
Assignment 2-2 Icon Analysis
HUMN 341-E2WWJanuary 17, 2008

I chose three very different icons to do my analysis on. The three I chose are Terry (Hulk) Hogan, Yoda, and Al Capone. My icons are very different but yet are the same in the way of how they accomplished their goals. All three of my icons fall under the Good vs. Evil myth in popular culture.

Hulk Hogan is a wrestling icon of the 80’s. He wore the signature yellow tights and shirt with the red lettering that read “Hulkamania.” Hogan was notorious for telling kids to “Say their prayers and eat their vitamins.” I chose Hulk Hogan because he was my favorite wrestler when I was a kid. He was someone that was larger than life back in the day. What Hulk Hogan meant to me when I was a kid, was someone I looked up to and admired.

Yoda is my next icon. Yoda is a 900 year old master Jeti, who talked backwards. He trained Jeti knights when they were young children. I chose Yoda because he represents that to do anything you have to believe that you can do it. If you don’t believe you set yourself up for failure. An example is when he tells Luke “Do or Do Not. There is no try.” What Yoda means to me is he is the man of infinite wisdom, and if you believe you can achieve anything you set out to do.

Al Capone is my last icon. Al Capone was a gangster from Chicago in the 1920’s. Al Capone wanted the American Dream. He didn’t care what he did to reach that dream or how he got it. He wanted it all money, power, respect. He had all three. He was also most notorious for the St. Valentine’s Massacre on February 14, 1929, and for being tried and convicted of tax evasion. I chose Al Capone because, he wasn’t afraid to go after what he wanted. In my opinion you have to respect someone who is willing to go after what they want regardless of the risks. What Al Capone means to me is he was a man of great power. He took the risks and paid the price for the risks he took.

References
Famous Cases Alphonse Capone, aka. Al, Scarface Retrieved on January 13, 2008 From
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/capone/capone.htm
Hulk Hogan Retrieved on January 13, 2008 From
http://4dw.net/wwfhogan/home.html
Star Wars Databank Retrieved on January 13, 2008 From
http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/yoda/index.html

Assignment 2-1 Weekly Written Analysis

America’s Greatest Pastime the BBQ
Michael Thomas
Assignment 2-1 Weekly Written Analysis
HUMN341-E2WW
January 20, 2008

I chose to do my weekly written analysis on BBQ in American culture. BBQ has been apart of our culture since George Washington’s time, but it has become more popular over the years. How far would you travel for good BBQ? David Plotz traveled to two of the four regions trying to find out whose BBQ was the best. Some people have traveled anywhere from a few miles to several thousand miles trying to find out who serves the best BBQ.

When we talk about BBQ most people think of a backyard BBQ putting steaks and burgers on the grill and having a quick great tasting meal. However authentic American BBQ is a pit that cooks pork, beef, sausage, or ribs slowly at a low temperature, giving the meat a smoked flavor.
Everyone has their own taste and what they like when it comes to BBQ. There are four main regions that serve BBQ and they all say theirs is the best. These four regions are the Carolina’s, Kansas City, Memphis, and Texas. Each region has its own distinct taste for BBQ.

Both Carolina’s like pork for BBQ. Depending on what area you are in determines what part of the pig is used, some like to use the whole hog, others use just the shoulder meat. Usually the meat is cooked over hickory, chopped or pulled apart, and then served with sauce.

Memphis BBQ uses pork shoulders and ribs for their choice of meat. The meat is cooked over coals and is served either wet or dry. Serving wet ribs means they are covered in sauce, and serving ribs dry means they are covered with a dry rub.

Texas BBQ meats are beef, pork, ribs, and sausage. Texans cook the meat over post oak or mesquite wood. Seasoning the meat is very minimal using only salt and pepper. Texas BBQ is usually served sauce less, they want you to taste the meat not the sauce.

Kansas City is the last region. Kansas City’s style for BBQ is they want you to taste the sauce and the meat. Meats cooked for BBQ are beef, pork, and ribs. Cooking methods are oak, hickory, and charcoal. The meats are either served wet or dry depending on what you like.

Personally I like BBQ beef or ribs best. I love them smothered in sauce with a side of coleslaw. BBQ is growing more in popular culture. There are so many BBQ competitions people compete in every year to see who really has the best BBQ.

References
Plotz, D. (2005). An American Barbecue Pilgrimage. Slate.
Retrieved January 13, 2006, from http://www.slate.com/id/2118542/entry/2118537/

Assignment 1-4 Weekly Written Analysis

I chose to do my analysis on the Nintendo Wii. Did you ever want to go back and play the old Nintendo games with characters like the Mario Brothers and Zelda? Now you can with the Wii. Not only can you play new games, games with the old characters, you can also play game cube games. The Wii’s controllers (remote) have a new design to them that makes it easier to hold and use. The controllers are wireless giving you the freedom to move around while playing your games. There is also a numb chuck control, steering wheel, and golf club that hook to the Wii remote to use for games like boxing, racing, and golf. Another feature is the Wii is able to be connected to the internet via WiFi. You can also upload pictures and saved games to the SD card, which is an external memory card, in the front of the Wii console. The Wii is fun for the whole family. You not only get to play games, but you get your exercise while playing. wrestling, golf, bowling, football, baseball, and tennis are a few examples of the games you get your exercise while playing. You are up moving while playing these games as if you were really outside taking part in a real game.
According to CNET.com, the average consumer rating of the Nintendo Wii is 8.2 out of 10. That rating is based on 700 users. The most common opinion that consumers had was the Wii is family oriented, reasonably priced, and user friendly.
In my own personal opinion, I find the Wii very family oriented. There are more child friendly games to play. The graphics are great. I like the fact that Wii is backward compatible, so we have the option to play all our game cube games without having game cube. I think this is the best game console Nintendo has created.
After analyzing the Wii, if I didn’t already own one I would be more inclined to purchase one. If you are looking for a game console for the whole family to enjoy this is the one for you.

References
Greenwald, W., & Falcone, J. (2006). Nintendo Wii. CNET Editor Review.
Retrieved on January 9, 2008, from http://reviews.cnet.com/consoles/nintendo-wii/4505-10109_7-31355104.html

Assignment 1-2 Popular Culture Artifact

My understanding of popular culture is anything that is popular with a small or large group, be it now or from the past. Popular culture is anything from television, music, books, movies, fashion, celebrities, historical events, internet, and technology. Some of the artifacts/icons I can think of are: music went from Elvis and The Beatles to Godsmack and Fergie, television goes from The Brady Bunch to The Soprano’s, movies from Star Wars to Harry Potter, technology goes from the typewriter to computers. Popular culture to me is things that are popular with society for a long or short time. Each decade seems to have trends that are popular culture artifacts.
Popular culture is relevant to me in a business environment due to technology is always changing. Any business needs to keep up with technology to run more efficiently. For example my boss wanted me to update the company website for him, by knowing the new technology to do so I created a more effective website for my company. Another example would be fashion in the business world. You need to dress appropriately for interviews and the type of job you hold, if you were to show up for an interview not dressed for that position you may be looked over. In my future employment popular culture will continue to shape what goes on in any business. Keeping up with technology will get you further ahead in your chosen career because technology is always changing.
An example of a popular culture artifact that I chose was Tupac Shakur. In the 1990’s Tupac was viewed as one of the greatest rappers of all time. There was much controversy from the media calling Tupac’s music gangster rap. Many people who weren’t fans said his music promoted drug abuse, violence, and sexual behavior. If you have ever listened to his music you can see the two different sides of it. One side is the hard street life side expressing how hard it was for him growing up as a young black man such as in the song “If I die 2nite.” The other side is the softer side praising women for being strong such as in the song “Dear Mama”. It all depends on your objectivity to listen to the music and hear the real meaning of it. I chose Tupac because I listened to his music and various artists like him when I was growing up. Tupac is still a part of popular culture today and will remain so through the music he wrote.