Up all night, sleep all day…

Net neutrality is a new concept describing Congress trying to push a law that would abandon our freedom of Internet use.  It will limit our Internet freedom and allowing big corporations to dominate the Internet, preventing our ability to choose what we want to do on the Web.  This corporate control would reduce our choices, ideas, and freedoms.  The issue pits companies such as AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. against a grass roots campaign joined by some of the nation’s biggest Internet success stories, such as Google and eBay.  This is just another way the government messes with the little guy and pleases big corporations.  It’s also become an issue of the “Internet’s First Amendment”.  If those who run the network are allowed to discriminate against Web traffic based on which sites pay them the most, it will strangle the Internet’s hands-off, democratic nature.  I am definitely against this, and here is my poster for it:

The first definition of a “hero” in the dictionary describes one in the mythological or legendary sense, but the idea of a hero being “A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life” is more fitting for the examples I’m going to use.  Heroes are all over and take many forms.  Firemen, police officers, parents, musicians, celebrities, and teachers, are all examples of heroes.  Firemen and police got even more in the public eye as heroes after 9/11/01.  The following examples are a television show and a movie that have real life heroes. 

I watched an episode of “CSI: Miami” on Friday night (10/7/06).  The main heroes in this show are Lieutenant Horatio Caine, investigators Calleigh Duquesne and Eric Delko, and Dr. Alexx Woods.  The episode I saw, called “Slow Burn” involved two murders in the Florida Everglades, one of a hunter, and one of a young woman.          

The show starts with a huge fire occuring in the Everglades, and a ranger brings Eric and Alexx to examine the body of a hunter that he found who was shot dead.  They are nearly burned alive when the supposedly controlled fire suddenly rages out of control and traps them.  They are only saved by covering themselves and the body with a fireproof blanket. 

Another body is discovered, this time it’s a young woman who is partly burned from the fire, and looks to have been beaten.  Solving both murders turns out to be a bit of a task, but eventually they figure it out by discovering clues and questioning certain people. 

The hunter’s murder is solved by questioning one of his hunting buddies.  The investigators notice he has blood on his vest, which they test and see that it’s actually mountain lion blood (meaning they were really poaching, not hunting) – but there is no human blood.  They then search the hunter’s truck and find a rifle with bullets matching those found in the dead man- the rifle actually belonged to the dead hunter.  Of course this makes him the main suspect.  He also has a fat lip, so they question it and he says they got into an argument, but he didn’t kill his friend.  In the end it turns out that his dog- who they brought on the hunting trip- is the one who actually shot the hunter.  As weird as it sounds, when the men were arguing, the dog was running around and barking, and hit the rifle which was propped up on a chair.  It was a freak accident, and the friend didn’t want to tell the CSI the truth because he was afraid they would put the dog down.

The beaten woman’s murder was a bit harder to solve.  Their first suspect was a man named Dale who denied everything of course.  The CSI found tire tracks in the everglades that they matched to his car, so they brought it in and searched it.  They found a gambler’s card with the name Julie Bryant on it, as well as a blonde hair on the seat that matched that of the dead woman.  Dale told them that when he drove off with Julie, they stopped to fool around on the side of the road when a man pulled up and started hitting the car with a baseball bat.  Julie ran out of the car and hid from him in the Glades while Dale drove off.  This made the CSI go to the casino to find the owner of the card, and found Julie’s abusive boyfriend playing a card game- he was the next suspect. 

They brought the boyfriend in for questioning, and he said that he grabbed a flare and tried to find Julie in the Glades, but he fell and got tired so he left.  His dropping the flare is what began the fire in the first place.  The investigators then show him photos of the woman’s body, and he tells them that it isn’t Julie.  This is where they get confused. 

Later, they use a spray on the outside of Dale’s car which shows blood stains.  There was a large splatter of blood on the passenger door which turns their suspicions back to Dale.  Dr. Alexx then examines a piece of the woman’s forehead and notices a ring imprint in her skull (from being punched so hard and repeatedly). 

They match this imprint to the large ring that Dale has been wearing, and then find out that the woman is actually Sandy Wilusz who has been reported missing for 3 years.  In the end, it turns out that after Dale left Julie, he picked up a hitch hiker, molested and killed her, and then left her in the Everglades.  Case closed.  One of the other investigators asks Horatio if he wants to go grab a bit to eat, but he tells them he needs a few minutes.  He then calls Sandy’s mother and tells her that her missing daughter was murdered.  You could tell how upset he was having to do this, and you can tell that even though he takes pride in his job, it’s really stressful when they can’t help someone like Sandy.  He wants to be able to protect people and be the hero, and I guess in this case though he wasn’t able to prevent Sandy’s death, he was able to give her justice and put her murderer behind bars so he couldn’t hurt anyone else.             

Another version of a hero in a movie can be found in Alfred Hitchcock’s film,
“Rear Window”.  James Stewart plays a man named J.B. “Jeff” Jeffries who becomes confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg.  Being stuck leads him to become obsessed with watching his neighbors as they play their lives across the courtyard.

Jeffries is a photographer who feels helpless from being stuck in his apartment for weeks.  One week before his cast removal he thinks he witnesses one of his neighbors, Mrs. Thornwald, getting murdered.  He then feels he has to solve the mystery since no one else seems to be trying to.           

One night, Jeffries is looking out the window and sees Mr. Thornwald leaving the house in the rain in around 2am.  When he leaves the house he takes his briefcase, which Mr. Jeffries find odd.  Jeffries on the other hand thinks he was smuggling something out of the house, but his nurse thinks he was doing business.             

Later Jeffries sees Thornwald cleaning out his briefcase and putting jewelry in it.  This is proof that he really was smuggling something out of his house.  Jeffries continues to put clues together to prove that Thornwald killed his sick wife.           

In the end, Jeffries is seen as the hero.  He felt that although he was confined to a wheel chair and unable to work, he could still help people.  Even though people such as the detective tried to tell him that the murder never happened, he never gave trying to help.

As you can see from these examples, normal people can be heroes.  Whether you grew up with superheroes such as Superman and Batman, read books where the hero saves the kingdom, or played video games where you have to save everyone from evil, we all have a desire to try to be heroes ourselves- even if we don’t have super powers.

This is a brand new ad for the Volkswagen Beetle that I saw Thursday night.  It definitely caught my attention because they’re using Slash (guitarist for Guns n’ Roses and currently Velvet Revolver) for their new promotion- buy a VW, get a custom First Act guitar that you can plug into the car sound system, turning it into an amp.   This appeals to musicians, Slash fans, and anyone who has been wanting to buy a VW but wanted some incentive.  It did actually make me want to buy a VW for a split second, haha.  Once again, this is a well known company using a celebrity to give their product a glamorous and cool feeling. 

“In a groundbreaking new collaboration, First Act has teamed up with Volkswagen of America, Inc. to present the First Act GarageMaster guitar, an innovative guitar that plays through the audio system of select VW models. As of October 3, each new Jetta, GLI, GTI, Rabbit, New Beetle, and New Beetle Convertible will come with the custom-designed First Act GarageMaster guitar.

Owners of new VW models can transform their cars into mobile amps, with a newfound freedom to rock in the driveway, play at outdoor parties, or shred in the beach parking lot. New rockers will hit the road with a First Act GarageMaster guitar in the trunk, ready to stop and dispense riffs wherever the mood strikes.

The Guitar and The Car

The key to the guitar’s unique design is a special built-in pre-amp that allows the guitar to plug directly into the VW model’s auxiliary jack. The pre-amp was developed with First Act’s proprietary V-Stack Technology, a revolutionary analog modeling technique that emulates the tone of sought-after vintage guitar amps.

The guitar comes in four VW-complementary colors. An engraved plate on the back of the headstock features the same Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) as the newly purchased car.

The Partnership

“The partnership with First Act is the next iteration of Volkswagen’s longstanding history with music,” said Volkswagen’s Director of Brand Innovation, Kerri Martin, “The Volkswagen brand is culturally known for its celebration of music and all things creative, this exciting collaboration makes a statement that Volkswagen is much more than just a car but a brand with innovative ideas and an unparalleled ability to create unique and appealing connections with its consumers.”
“We are excited to be working with Volkswagen because of what our two brands can generate together. Like Volkswagen, we value technological innovation and inspired design,” said Bernard Chiu, First Act’s Chairman of the Board.

“Through this partnership, we have created a revolutionary way for players to perform,” added Jeff Walker, First Act’s Vice President of Marketing.

The Promotion

Volkswagen’s supporting ad campaign includes TV spots featuring John Mayer, Slash of Guns N’ Roses, and Christopher Guest (as Nigel Tufnell of Spinal Tap), with original music produced by Josh Abraham and CJ Vanston. The First Act/Volkswagen promotion runs through December 31, 2006. For more information, visit vdubsrock.com“

So I was cleaning my room this morning and listening to the radio, and the song “I’ll Wait” by Van Halen came on.  For some reason when the line ”Are you for real, it’s so hard to tell, from just a magazine.  Yeah, you just smile and the picture sells…” came up, the idea of photographic truth came to mind.  So I ran out of the room to write down that line…and now I’m posting it here! 

Photographic truth- As images produced by the mechanical device of a camera, photographs have the power to project images of the truth and to be seen as unmediated copies of reality.  The myth of photographic truth means that photographs are understood to be evidence of actual people, events, and objects of the past, even though they are relatively easy to manipulate.  The truth value of photography and camera imaging is the subject of ongoing debate, one that has been heightened by the introduction of digital imaging techniques.

This is an ad for the SONY Cybershot camera which ran about 2 years ago.  Here, they are using Steven Tyler in a setting that makes the camera seem really useful and quick.  It also plays into the hype that comes with being a celebrity, as you see these women basically destroy their table- “Get the camera!”- just to try to get a quick snapshot as he walks by.  Of course the only one able to grab their camera and then take a clear shot (promoting the anti shake) is the woman with the SONY.   I actually thought this was a really cool commercial and did want the camera after I saw it…but I didn’t buy it.  Again, this shows a company using a celebrity to give their product a “cool” (while also appealing to Aerosmith fans and concert goers who want to have a great camera to catch those priceless shots).

This is another famous GAP commercial.  Here, they are using Steven Tyler and Joe Perry to advertise the easy fit jeans.  If you’re an Aerosmith fan (which I am), or even just a music fan, this will definitely catch your attention.  This gives the GAP a kind of hip rock and roll feel which makes viewers either want to buy the jean, or at least lets them identify with the brand.  

I love this new GAP commercial.  The music catches your attention (especially if your an AC/DC fan), and the whole sequence makes you want to dance and imitate Audrey Hepburn.  GAP is a company that is known for having great TV ad campaigns that usually leave people singing and remembering them even after they stop airing.  Using Hepburn also adds a certain glamour to the “skinny black pant”, and in doing so can invoke a desire in people to want to buy the pant.  I for one, love the ad, but wouldn’t buy the pants…haha.