Monday, May 23, 2011

Iconic War Photo Taken At Iwo Jima in WWII


Imagine if you were over seas and fighting a war that had true meaning to "fight to the death." This is the story of these five brave marines fighting for their country. The name of the photo is called "Raising The Flag On Iwo Jima." A famous photographer named Joe Rosenthal in February 23, 1945 took this photo.  This picture has many myths associated with it. It has the signifier, the signified and the sign. This photo has more meaning to then watching five brave soldiers holding up a flag after a deadly fight on Iwo Jima in World War II. 

Mr. Rosenthal had probably no idea how popular his photo taken at this time would really be. In 1945, Joe Rosenthal was dedicated to receive one of the most prestigious awards for this picture taken. The Pulitzer Award will be stitched in his family for the rest of their lives. Although, this picture was taken in the middle of the war only three people survived after this picture was taken which gives true meaning to this iconic photo.

Someone can always say a picture is worth a thousand words and in this case words can be speechless the fight these brave soldiers lived through. The American flag has much significance to it. Integrity, Honor and the American dream all symbolize it. There was much causality on both sides that died in order to conquer such a defeat but for these brave marines came true. The Island the United States Marines scaled was 546 feet tall. Many Japanese fighters that would do anything to guard their territory surrounded this island.

The Marines that survived and made there way up the rigid deadly mountain surrounded by mortars and automatic machine guns showed how skill full and how powerful American soldiers really are. On this day the soldiers will go down in history for defeating the Japanese on their island and make it United States territory. This picture does not tell you the whole story but tells a person how courageous U.S. soldiers really are. Not only the soldiers drove the Japanese off the island, but was the first Japanese homeland soil to be occupied by the United States.

Iwo Jima was an island for the Japanese to see of any American planes was coming. If a plane were coming the Japanese would radio for that they are about to get hit. This island was an early warning sign if there were enemies coming. It was a great advantage that the United States planned on taking this island but many lives were taken in the process.

When taken this picture someone can't see the expressions on these soldiers’ faces but I bet it is priceless. It really tells a person how determined Americans are when it comes to war and in this photo it really shows you how important it was to put up the American flag.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

National Student Advertising Competition

10 students from Portland State University come together each year and compete for awards such as people choice awards and trophies. This year the team got 4th place out of all the schools that competed. The theme that all the schools used was to promote J.C. Penny’s. The team came up with a slogan called "Moxie." The first part of the teams work is to come together and present a plan book. That consists of research, media and teamwork. The second part is a 20-minute presentation to be presented to 5 different J.C. Penny judges to determine which campaign has the best fit for them. This year the team came up with a challenge to target 20 to 35 year old women. The teams had 100 million dollars to complete their missions. 

The teams slogan at Portland State used  "Moxie Movers" which consisted of confidence, determination, know how and energy. The communication strategy they used was awareness, interest, engagement and action. The team also used a social media context to get their commitment out on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. They also used popular companies such as Starbucks, 24 Hour fitness and Transit. Also they used popular magazines such as "People," "Vanity Fair," and "Cosmopolitan" to target a certain age group to get young women attention. 

The Portland State team also used strategies for inside J.C. Penny as well. They came up with the idea of "Moxie Scan" which consisted of using your smart phone to take a picture of certain clothing and used it to pick out something that matches or that is something similar to what you have in your hands. Another strategy the team came up with is to take a picture of an item and use the "Moxie Scan" to chose certain scenery for your house. 

Over all the presentation was very good, but I would of liked to see what other schools did differently to persuade the judges that their campaign will be the perfect fit for J.C. Penn. It would be really fun to witness one of these competitions because everyone has their own interpretations what they like the best.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Trimet Fares. People Are Outraged By The Proposal


Now that the media has unveiled a problem that Trimet is proposing a 5-cent increase in fares by September 1, 2011, there is entirely bigger conversation when it comes to people voicing their opinions. After looking at many news organizations such as KATU News, Trimet, OPB, and Fox 12 News. I would say that KATU News has the biggest impact of all the news organizations.

The article by KATU News is simply about how disabled people are not very happy with the proposal that may take away the term LIFT by Trimet. According to Margy Lynch of KATU News said, "Trimet is also talking about dropping its monthly pass for its federally mandated LIFT service that helps disabled and elderly riders get around." This is a growing problem and many bloggers that have written about this article say it is not fair because disabled people usually need to go more than one place to get around. Now that if the proposal goes through by September 1, 2011, disabled riders will be paying an extra 40 cents per ride. Most of these people are on a fixed income and this will be a major burden to them.

http://www.katu.com/news/local/120830309.html#idc-container

In an article by Trimet.org said, "The increase helps offset the additional cost of providing service and rising diesel prices, as well as helps provide some service restoration to respond to overcrowding." In many people’s opinions I have found that they will pay the extra 5-cents per ride, but are still going to see the overcrowding of busses. There are going to be more people riding busses and trains due to the gas prices rising. Some people wrote that if you think a 5-cent increase is bad think of food prices, which are going up as well. There is a growing problem and to get a better sense of what people are writing about this growing problem is staggering. Trimet is planning to have a board meeting on May 25, 2011 to discuss these issues. Anyone is welcome to come to this meeting.

http://trimet.org/news/releases/apr26-fare-increase-reading.htm

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Aliens Hives (Dark Horse Comic Books 1992) Series 4 of 4



Alien Hives is the series, created by both Jerry Prosser and Kelley Jones. Two very iconic creators came up with an idea that was copied from the box office and put into the hands of young children that can follow the series if they were watching it from the theatre. This series 4 of 4 was very interesting in an ideological way. The ideas that are set in this series are simple, not to get killed by Aliens and to get off the alien planet a live. 

This comic book follows a similar story line that gives one main goal. The goal is that aliens are trying to defend their planet and humans are just curious what is on the planet.  The humans find a green ant-like creature and find out it has a hypnotizing affect on people. There are the same characters in the comic book that relate to the main characters of the series of movies that were released by director James Cameron. The cyborg actor, female actor and the actor that is portrayed as the evil character trying to sabotage the ships and its crew, are the main people in the series. Creators use their own interpretations so they don't follow exactly from the movie, but put more of a colorful perspective for a children’s approach to read and look at the pictures.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

The Three main news stories for Portland, Oregon. April 25, 2011


When people log on to the web cite OregonLive.com, they can find stories from the most important to the least important stories. The most important topics differentiate from sports, school dropout rates and TriMet raising their ticket fare by September 1, 2011.

When someone opens up the page, they will see the most important topic at the top left corner of the web cite. People can always find a certain article that pertains to the Trail Blazers. The article explains how important game five was and how the Trail Blazers needed game five to win the series. Although, game 6 is back in Portland, it is evident that who ever wins game five has better chances at wining the whole series. 

http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2011/04/trail_blazers-mavericks_game_5_2.html

Secondly, when someone clicks down further on the web page, someone will find a topic that deals with school and why high school students are not graduating. According to Hammond (2011) said, “In a class that included nearly 50,000 students, just 33,000 got diplomas with in four years while 4,400 stuck around for a fifth year of high school and about 11,600 dropped out.” That is just an alarming figure that many students do not take education very seriously.

http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2011/04/one_in_three_oregon_high_schoo.html

Lastly, by clicking further down on the web page, someone will find a topic that deals with TriMet. Although, TriMet is a least favorite topic compared to sports and schools, it needs some attention also because there are many people that ride transit to work, school and other places. This article mentions that TriMet plans raising fares to a 5-cent increase due to increasing gas prices.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/2011/04/trimetfare_hike_hearings_a_crc.html