Reading Blog #5 - Labeled

I always looked at the Xbox 360 logo as very persuading.  I have a beanie (knit cap) which actually has the Xbox 360 text from the logo on the hat, and surprisingly, I get a lot of good compliments from it.  This has shown me a boom in the gaming industry, shifting from avid gaming to the more casual side of the electronic world.  Most of the people who compliment me on my hat are not the gamers I see on the Xbox Live network every day.  They are usually the people who are just starting out and found someone they might be able to connect with on the Live network to play games with.

The second logo is known by almost everyone in the country.  If you went to school, used a computer at a local library, have a laptop, desktop, even some phones now, they all start-up with one of the few operating systems, and Microsoft has had the forefront of this industry for decades.  I would say that the microsoft logo is a household logo, due to the fact that most people in one household have their own personal computer to do schoolwork, online chatting and gaming, shopping and the list never ends.  In my opinion, the Xbox 360 logo is more noticeable than the Microsoft logo, oddly.  More people look toward an Xbox for excitement and entertainment, while the Microsoft logo on their computer isn't all that appealing because of the 5 page essay they have to type up.  Which logo would catch your attention more?

The Consumer in Me

The consumption of the card game, Magic: The Gathering, is a hobby of mine.  Starcitygames.com has always been a really nice site for such a hobby.  As you go to the homepage, you will find an advertisement for the newest set of cards, to be released on October 1, 2010, named Scars of Mirrodin, and you can see a variety of different packages for the new set.  To the uniformed, these prices may seem a bit high, but if you are familiar with the game and/or play the game, you can understand the advertising on the homepage hits home.  The beginning of this month, they started to release the price range for the new set little by litte.  When I came to the site one day and seen the "fat packs" for only $30, it made me smile.  The usual price is $10 more.

I also chose to write about this site because of the hobby itself and how it pertained to the chapter in the book.  Though a card game like MTG may not be extremely popular to everyone, or even known for that matter, the nerd world around them is very excitable to the notion of new cards.  One aspect of MTG that keeps me as a consumer is the artwork on the cards.  Each individual card has separate artists who create amazing displays of fantasy and give the game a good amount of aesthetic value.

Hegemony - Stay Cool

If you have ever watched her show, you can see that Ellen is a great person within the media realm, but she is also a really big contradiction.  Her show gives people something to smile about, positive attitude, and great insight.  This is fine, but does she really stand up for a positive world?

Hegemony relates to Ellen through the actions she takes to keep her mass crowd.  She does have her great ways, but are they all great?  I think not.  If she is always trying to keep a positive outlook on life and helping others, why would she be giving people in the crowd free commodity all the time?  She gives away free cars, gift certificates to all kinds of different commercialized restaurants, salons, etc.  Her crowd is based off of a positive attitude, followed closely by commodity.

The confederate flag is another good example.  This symbol of southern culture in America holds certain values based off of old times, but today, this flag is used more as a symbol of inidividuality.  Around places like here, in Ohio, I see this flag a lot and know a lot of people who wave this flag.  These people have never lived in the south and do not have the values of a confederate.  They use this flag as more of a symbol of their country style and there are many others who do this same thing.

Research Blog - Internet Trolls

An "internet troll" is a person who deliberately pisses people off just to get a response out of them.  The only way a troll works is when a person responds to them with heavy attitude, disgust, and many other negative reactions.  For example, and troll would go onto a feminist forum and say such things as:

- "Women are tools."
- "Women need to go back to the kitchen."
- "Women cannot do the things that men can."

These statements not only are negative, but they are brought on for their own personal amusement.

I chose to research the internet troll because I play a game that is LOADED with them.  World of Warcraft is one of the easiest places for internet trolls to sit around and piss people off.  Women, men, asian, african-american, indian, the list goes on and on.  My point is, this game is so populated by diversity it brings a whole new meaning to "internet troll" because they have multiple targets.

And as of prior knowledge of them...I am one.

Commodity Fetishism - How It Rules Your Wallet and Social Behavior

There is not one person in the world who could say that these two girls are not a large part of the new craze of commodity fetishism.  They are portrayed to be innocent girls and beneath their plastic smiles lies a good amount of womanly potential, but that is not what the corporate wigs want you to know.  Corporations, such as Disney, have been exploiting the media for years to make money off of the audiences, whomever the media is aimed at, lining their overflowing pockets of money with even more, due to the ignorance America has settled into.

Mass Culture - The Worlds Within Our World

Mass media has a great influence on the type of consumers you find.  These consumers brought together gives everyone a view of what sort of counter cultures and sub cultures there are.  The game World of Warcraft, produced by gaming giant Blizzard, is a great example of mass culture.  Within the game, players can not only take adventures throughout the large area, known as Azeroth, but they can also connect with people through the game.  Chatting with the others within this game brings people from all over the earth together into one area to share their love for not only gaming, but for popular culture in general.

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