Snow Much Fun!

If we can remember as far back as this weekend, we had really nice weather.  Hard to believe considering the weather we had today, but that's Winnipeg, nothing out of the ordinary. 

Anyways the snow that did fall this past weekend was the best kind, it was snowman snow!  As I was driving home from my friend's house yesterday morning, I saw a family building a snowman together, like something out of a movie.  It was nice to see.  But that is not my main sighting for today's blog.  I went to my sister's house last night to do a  lovely "photo shoot" with her for my Electronic Publishing newsletter.  When I left her house, it was already dark.  I got into my car and was rearranging some items in my car.  When I lifted my head to look out the front window, a truck pulled up in front of me.  This is what I saw......

I thought it was hilarious!  It even had stick arms, though it's hard to tell from the picture.  He was just sitting in the back smiling at me.  The driver got out of his car and went into a house a few doors down.  I waited until he left before I took the picture haha.  I didn't want to seem crazy, but I think that's debatable considering he had a big snowman in the back of his truck.  But that sighting definitely added some joy to my day.  It's nice to know some people have a sense of humour and aren't afraid to let other people see! 

Unrealistic Reality

The topic of the reality TV show "Jersey Shore" has come up recently during in-class and out-of-class conversations.  I never really knew much about the show on MTV, but it was all the rage to people who watched it.  I decided to check it out last weekend and I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I watched eight of the seasons episodes in two days. I was hooked.  It isn't a quality show, it's about a group of young adults who live in a house on the Jersey Shore for the summer.  They party at night, "work" at a t-shirt shop on the beach, go after girls and guys, and get into fights.  So what is the attraction to this show?  I honestly don't know. 

That brings me to the question of how is such bad "reality" TV always so addicting?  It goes the same for all the shows in that category such as "the Hills" and "the Real World".  These people's lives are always so much more entertaining than my reality.  If I had a reality show, it would majorly bomb.  Who wants to watch me sitting at school or sitting at home doing homework?  E-X-C-I-T-I-N-G!  And how are most shows reality when their reality is living in a rent free house with seven roommates who are probably told to create drama or something along those lines. 

Who knows the answer to the draw of reality shows, maybe the reason is because they ARE so unrealistic that people can't turn away.  Whatever the reason it, they are going to continue popping up all over the TV networks.  I'm not complaining though, the shows always  make for a good conversation piece with people.  The reality shows are usually an escape from my reality, which is another reason I would never get a reality show.  Watching a person watch a reality show wouldn't make for good TV.  Too bad.

cast of "Jersey Shore"

image credit: chicagonow.com

Creative Writing Helps You Train Your Brain!

I am posting two blogs today because both of them we were actually assigned in CreComm and they so happened to fall on the same day.  In Creative Writing class, we are each given a day where we have to blog about a specific topic or item about Creative Writing,and today is my day!

This morning we had a workshop period for Creative Writing.  Our instructor, Karen, started off the class by asking us to think of an apple that we last encountered and describe it.  It was an interesting exercise, but I had no troubles thinking quickly.  It's kind of funny beause I have been eating a lot of apples this week.  I am dogsitting my sister and bro-in law's dog and she loves apples.  Whenever I would give her some, I would eat some of it as well.  It was very easy for me to describe the apple that I had recently eaten and I even had one in my purse this morning.  A second enjoyable part of the exercise was to try and redescribe the apple by not using obvious words such as crunchy, juicy, red, etc.  That was more of a challenge but definitely made me dig deep into my creative thoughts. 

We did another exercise similar to the apple one, but this time about our hand.  I liked that one too because, again, Karen wanted us to not use obvious words.  I tried to think of my hand as not a hand, but as an object that is constantly on the move. 

We then ended the class with each being assigned a random picture and we had to write a scene of what was happening with the picture.  That definitely got my creative juices flowing because I could have made up anything I wanted to.

All in all, it was a very successful creative two hours for myself.  And at 8am on a Monday morning, that is asking a lot.  It is definitely fun to be creative and think outside the box because it puts your brain to work and it needs exercise too! 

image credit: davepear.com

Today is About a Play From the Other Day

This past Friday evening I attended a play with some fellow CreComms put on by Theatre Projects Manitoba at the Rachel Brown Theatre.  The play encompassed two separate monologues coming together to create "In The Chamber 2010: Last Men."

The play opened with a provocative scene of a man and woman in bed together.  It lasted a short while and left me questioning the point of it's existance.  I didn't dwell on that thought for too long, as the actual first play began titled "Last Man in Krakendorf."

It was performed by a well-known local actor, Gordon Tanner.  The set still has a bed, yet this time the scene took place in a motel room equipped with a video camera, laptop, and projector screen.  Doug Turner was the character who was an engineer for Agrotech Industries.  He began to film a video directed at Warren Buffet, the head honcho of the business.  Doug's main concern was a hog barn fire that took place and killed thousands of pigs in the process.  He was trying to relay to Warren of the conditions that the pigs had to live and how inhumane it is.  This continued on for a full 50 minutes with Gordon finally ending his rant and departing from the stage abrutly leaving me to wonder if that was it.  I found the plotline to be a bit dry and I lost interest when it became more of a lecture than a play.  Nonetheless, there were times when a joke was made and I, along with everyone else in the audience, found it laughable.  There were also a few times when the older generation of audience members laughed while I was confused as to how it was funny.

Plotline aside, I found Gordon Tanner to be an exquisite actor.  He put a lot of passion and feeling into his character, which projected well into the audience.  He gave the play his all and stayed in character the entire time, which I found impressive given he was acting alone in front of a roomful of people.

After a short intermission, the second play, "Last Man in Puntarenas" began.  This scene opened on what appeared to be a restaurant.  The main table had five balloons attached to the chairs, which would make someone wonder their significance.  Steven Ratzlaff was the star of this monologue, playing honourary guest at a dinner party.  As the play began it became evident that the balloons represented the guests at his table, which I thought was very creative.  Ratzlaff played a man celebrating his departure from a job at the Health Sciences Center.  He pulled out a speech that he had written for the occassion and began to read it.  It included many stories about prostitution, meeting his now ex-wife, and his child dying at an early age from a heart condition.  Slowly throughout his speech, he managed to successful insult his "guests" who left one at a time by having the waiter (Gordon Tanner from the first play) swoop in and remove the balloons.  By the time all of the balloons had departed, Ratzlaff had still not completed his speech.  The waiter sat down to talk with him, which eventually closed the play, again, rather abrutly.  The audience found this play to have funny moments as well.  However, again it must have been the older crowd, as I did now understand many jokes that were said.

Steven Ratzlaff performed the play very well.  He, as well, put his heart and soul into his character, which was clearly seen.  He stayed in character the entire time and was quite comfortible talking to balloons as people.  

The end of the second play concluded the evening, yet left me wondering how the introduction scene tied in with both plays.  

Now I would have to say that this play was not exactly my cup of tea.  I enjoy plays with more action and I did not feel that this one catered to my age group.  The play consisted of two great actors who put in a good effort, but other than that, I was left feeling unsettled at the end of the night. 

Plan, Produce, Present!

Today in Journalism class, every one of us had to present our editorial idea for our magazines that we are creating. 

It was really interesting to hear everyone's ideas for the concept of their magazines. 

It was also very interesting to hear all of the different story ideas that people will be researching, interviewing, and writing. 

I think it is going to be so great to see everyone's finished product in April at the magazine fair.  Even though we are still in the planning process of our magazines, it won't be long before we are in the full swing of things. 

April is only 2.5 months away! 

And to think by then, each one of us first year CreComms will have a very cool collaborative magazine to present with our groups.

Something to look forward to and be proud of!

Good luck fellow CreComms with piecing it all together!

Attack of the Giant Snapple Popsicle!

This past week we have been talking about pseudo-events in our Public Relations class.  A pseudo-event is an event that is staged primarily so that it can be reported in the media.  Our assignment was to find a pseudo-event and write a blog about it.

Here is my finding:

This pseudo-event took place in June of 2005 at Times Square in New York City.  Snapple was coming out with a new line of frozen treats.  It wanted to promote its new product and decided to try and beat the Guinness World Record for creating the largest popsicle.  Snapple was going to unveil the popsicle in Times Square by having it elevated with a crane.  It figured that this would be a way to promote their product and get noticed in a big way.  The media would of course hear of this in advance and would want to be there for the big unveiling.  However, Snapple did not take into account some smaller details, such as the weather.  It was around 27 degrees Celcius that day in New York City.  As the crane operator began to lift the popsicle, it started to melt a lot faster than Snapple figured it would.  Strawberry-Kiwi juice began pouring into the streets, which caused the spectators to run away from the sticky mess that was starting to fill the streets.  The streets around Times Square had to be closed down and firefighters were called to hose down the mess that the melted popsicle created.

In theory, Snapple may have thought this would have been a great way to gain publicity, especially in a highly populated tourist spot.  However, June was obviously not an ideal time to have the unveiling.  Snapple did not think that the popsicle would melt as fast as it did.  But let's think this over for one moment.....large frozen popsicle + scorching heat = a big melted mess! 

Pseudo-events can be great publicity for companies or people.  However, no matter how much planning a company or person may do, there is always room for the unknown to happen.  This can be clearly seen in the Snapple popsicle fiasco.  Nevertheless, Snapple did receive publicity, just not what they were hoping for.

In the end, the popsicle was never raised high enough for it to be measured for the Guinness World Record before it melted.  However, reports state that it is the unofficial largest popsicle in the world.  At least they sort of achieved their goal.  And hopefully their new line of frozen treats sold well after that day.  Even though the giant popsicle was a disaster, no one got hurt and it's quite an interesting story.

image credit: msnbc.msn.com

Happy New Year!

Well, I have returned to my blog writing after a small hiatus over the holidays.  Although, the holidays were so busy that it didn't feel like much of a vacation, but needed nonetheless.

I am in the second day of the new semester and slowly adjusting.  I think it's going to take a couple weeks to get into a steady rhythm, but that's normal.

I don't have too much to say today, I just wanted to get back into the swing of things.

So I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

And to my fellow CreCommers.....cheers to new (and old) faces, new classrooms, new adventures, and a great new year!