Moonshoes Analysis

From late 1980 to early 2000's, Moon Shoe ads have been presenting kids with another toy, specifically made for foot wear, that deliver the astronaut vibe straight to elementary school children. The toys are colorful, the ads show everyone bouncing around, and the music is there to oomph up the fun on screen.

I guarantee that any owner of these toys, whoever's brave enough to admit they owned them, will tell you how awful the device turned out to be. Anybody in their twenties or thirties may have tried a pair and hopped right out of them after harming themselves, damaging property, or being unable to jump higher than without the Moon Shoes on. Why did kids buy into this in the first place?

The same reason why kids buy any other toy or product, good advertising. These overpriced pads with springs popped onto TV with such ferocity and passion that no kid without curiosity wouldn't at least annoy their parents to the toy-isle. It didn't matter what they said, no matter how advised it may be, the shoes looked awesome on screen.

If you watch ad's aimed for children, you'll spot a pattern that marketers have in place. Fast cuts, fun music, and interesting people. Moon Shoes follows this formula with a rock-pop song, lyrics that advise but not essentially matter to why the kids should buy them, and visuals that engage even the most inattentive of children. An article by Melissa Dittman from the American Psychological Association, titled Protecting Children from Advertising, discusses the effects of children introduced to ads. While interviewing Dale Kunkel, professor of communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Dittman and him discussed what effects ads have on children.

"That lack of adult interpretation is a concern because young children tend to accept ads as fair, accurate, balanced and truthful, Kunkel says. "They don't see the exaggeration or the bias that underlies the claims," he says. "To young children, advertising is just as credible as Dan Rather reading the evening news is to an adult.""

If there's anything to take away from Moon Shoes, it's that ad's, as clear as day to be fake to us, may be another part of reality to children. When the child sang, "Man these shoes defy gravity," it sounds like she really means it. Kids eat this stuff up, just as marketing has eaten up everything in the folds of the parent's wallets.

Notes on Moon Shoes Commercial

Here's how we get the gravity shoes: Moon Shoes!
Jumpin' up and down like a kangaroo! Moon Shoes!
Going ahead honey I really fly, me and friends jumping really high.
Man these shoes defy gravity, gotta get those shoes it's a necessity!
Moon Shoes!

________________________________________________________

* Every kid is wearing moon shoes in this commercial

* People have fun watching others use moon shoes

* Kids using moon shoes with ease

* Girl jump roping with moon shoes laughs and points at the camera, involving the audience

* Commercial is similar to various other kid toy commercials attempting to assimilate children into toy culture.

* One of the lyrics state that getting the shoes is a necessity.

* Also states that shoes defy gravity, obviously don't.

Page 175; Answers 1-4

1.) Heather Havrilesky's insight on Mad Men is that it, "...resonates so clearly at this point in history." She goes on to describe this opinion upon the hit AMC show by elaborating on its' characters and their metaphorical existences to the idea of the American Dream. "While Mad Men's detractors often decry the empty sheen of it all, claiming that it has no soul, clearly that's the point. The American dream itself is a carefully packaged, soulless affair."

2.) She asserts her authority from the entirety of the Mad Men reference. She cites the scenes she talks about, has a well grounded sound about what she's talking about, and speaks of the 'recent' premier of the show. She's as up to date as any viewer could be, giving her the authority over other's unaware or ill-informed of the show.

3.) She talks about the desperation of Americans, or people striving for the American life style, and relates it to the reality of our lives. "Instead of staying connected to the divine beauty and grace of everyday existence -- the glimmer of sunshine on the grass, the blessing of a cool breeze on a summer day -- we're instructed to hope for much more." She brings in idols of many ages such as, "Snow White, Pokémon, Ronald McDonald, Lady Gaga..." and presents their cases to us in a way that reveals the absurdity of everyone sharing the same social status.

4.) Well, I wanted to watch the show before. Now I know something awful happens with a lawn mower, so I'll cringe any time that's on the screen when I binge watch the entire series. From what I know, it sounds like she's talking about the show I've seen on ad's or from interviews.

Summary of 141-159

The selection of pages 141 to 159 cover the different ways to tackle an analysis paper and what mediums will complement what formalities of writing such a paper. It covers the casual, formal, viral, physical formulas and oddities that come with creating an analysis paper for the specific audience the author chooses to address. A graph has to be complemented by the following text, explaining its purpose and defining the figures. Graphics attached to the paper have to correlate to the topic and the surrounding text. Not only are non-narrative figures covered, but sources are valued variably through different levels of formalities. If a formal paper is reviewed by an academic crowd, it’s near impossible to have your position be heard without credible sources and statistics. If merely blogging or talking to someone you’re comfortable around, you’ll not be as hard pressed to present your sources. The selection covers five characteristic features commonly featured in analysis papers: “A question that prompts you to take a closer look,” “Some description of the subject you are analyzing,” “Evidence drawn from close examination of the subject,” “Insight gained from your analysis,” and “Clear, precise language.” These categories are covered as the text runs through various examples of analysis papers in different mediums.

Analysis on Life and Media

Today, I chose to eat a bowl of cereal with milk. Because of that choice, I've left home with enough food to choke out hunger pains for a few hours. This week, I chose to wait to do laundry. Because of that choice, there's a stockpile of dirty clothes in my hamper. This month, I chose to wait until the 30th to revisit a screenplay I've finished. Because of this, the screenplay will feel slightly alien and allow me to criticize it better. This year, I chose to go to a community college. Because of this, I have more time to anticipate my future career and take the correct steps with a college level education. What all of this information displays is a strong restraint on both motivation and self-confidence, or that I'm lazy in different ways.

In comparison of the Lenovo and Asus websites for laptops, I've decided that Lenovo offers a better display of products. The images are laid out in stylish and neat manners, the devices' specifications are easier to find than Asus's, and it offers various products that work better in their select fields. Asus could have a better marketplace than Lenovo by providing more information about their laptops and streamlining the shopping process.

Composing Paper #1 and Paper #2

Difference in formats and subject were jarring, to be blunt. Paper #1 was a narrative, a short story with a message at the end, whereas Paper #2 was a research paper, discussing a subject, my position, and a call for action. The first was a study on farts, where the second was a study on the death penalty. I can whip out a paper like nobody’s business, but I enjoy creating narratives much more than debating topics in reality. There’s no real way to question the story I present, nothing to fact check or research besides my other works or myself, depending on how well you know me to start with. In a research essay, there’s everything that can go wrong when presented to an audience. Someone may have evidence refuting your points, have a great lead, first-hand experience, or maybe smarter than you. Narratives are fun to compose because there’s no formulaic way to compose them. If you want to look broadly, you can see a rough line of where to head, but each story is presented differently. Individuals live separate lives, learn different ways of writing, structuring sentences, describing scenery. In a research essay, Paper #2, there’s a pretty obvious composition formula required for presentation. You can use fancy hooks or attempt to flip the reader on their heads, check if they’re reading or skimming, but you always need to format your paragraphs in the same way. You can only make your research so entertaining before you hit the walls cemented in MLA papers, then it’s up to the reader to keep going or not.

Scribe 11/4

In response to the first question, whether we were convinced by Spriggs and how she established the importance of her topic, it was resoundingly negative. Several of us agree upon buying local, but it wasn't nearly as Hollywood she was making it. Some of her sources were literally just CNN, generally CNN, i.e. she watched an interview and nodded along. Her omnipresence of buying local was pretentious and off putting to just about everyone. For the second question, she gave an awful counterargument that took all of us out of the essay she had presented. Child labor in Bangladesh isn't a negative, loosely attached global economics isn't a rebuttal, and her idea of grounding local food markets as global empowerment was extreme and under informed. We've noticed a pattern, more of a theme for question three, that she lacked real background information to give the "facts" credibility. On question four, she uses photos, nearly all from "IStockPhoto", to visualize her points and give the reader some form of perception upon the topics she's subscribing.

Scribe from 10/30

Herbert
gave explicit position
gave evidence but gave it with generalizations, not good
big emphasis on authoritative tone
clear indication  of why topic matters- you can't advance in jobs without a college degree
didn't give more than one point of view
his tone was subjective to his point of view
he does appeal to readers values, but only if you value education


Evergreen
no explicit position besides you should watch the documentary and the 502 initiative is an important vote
did a good job of giving more than one point of view
a lot of manipulation in the trailer
gave no authoritative tone

Positional Paper Draft

Christopher Bryan

11/02/2014

English Composition 101

Abolishing the Death Penalty in Washington State

Since 1849, 110 convictions were carried out in the Death Penalty, and nine are currently waiting on death row (“Offenders”), despite Governor Jay Inslee refusing to sign any death warrants while in office (Jenkins). “If a death penalty case comes to my desk for action, I will issue a reprieve... The use of the death penalty in this state is unequally applied, sometimes dependent on the size of the counties budget involved where the crime occurred (Jenkins).” Even though his actions have deterred the final procedures sentenced to inmates on death row, a future governor still has the ability to reverse the reprieve and continue the procedure. For some relatives of victims, this may be a blow to their anticipated closure. Frank Holden's 12-year-old daughter was murdered, causing him grief for over twenty years. “I think his decision has prolonged my agony, not shortened it,” he responds to Austin Jenkins, “It's opened a lot of wounds.” For the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, this is a strong start to ridding the state legislation of future Death Penalties. In response to Inslee's statement on the Death Penalty, they've digitally stated, “Please take a moment to thank the governor for stopping executions on his watch (“Say”)!” Even with begrudged relatives and fierce emotions surging for the Death Penalty to march on, I must plead with the abolishers and ask for this old-fashioned resolve to end in the 21^st century, a time far too late for it's departure. It's not only morally unsound, but it's financially erroneous in comparison with life imprisonment and valueless in deterring crimes.

For the murders of forty-eight women, Gary Ridgway was sentenced to 48 life sentences in 2003, which was stacked to 49 after the remains of another missing person was discovered seven years later (Sullivan, 2011). He is currently incarcerated in Walla Walla, Washington, Washington State Penitentiary (“Find”). Now it isn't hard to find various hangings, followed by few lethal injections for 1^st degree murder cases, throughout the 20^th century. Wouldn't 48 aggravated murders lead to 48 Death Sentences? In some counties, it doesn't matter whether the case can be sentenced with the Death Penalty or not, because, “If we had a death penalty case, and had to pay $1 million (in legal costs), we’d go bankrupt (Martin).” According to Jim Jones, the administrator for Clallam County, including several others, that perusing the death penalty can cause an entire county to spiral into financial despair, so some cases may be passed the Death Penalty while others have the budget to use it. A quote from the article Jonathan Martin wrote on the Seattle Times, “Jones would know about these extraordinary costs: Clallam County spent $1 million in 2013 on the retrial of death-row inmate Darold Stenson, who was first sent to death row in 1994. It was enough to cause a “budget emergency” for the county’s court budget, according to the Peninsula Daily News. The county during this time was so strapped it cut staff by more than 15 percent, with annual $1 million budget shortfalls.” There's not only a lack of consistent moral application of the Death Penalty, but a financial blunder involved with each case.

The cost of the trials itself, just to get sentenced for the Death Penalty, is roughly $470,000 (“Final”). This does not include additional costs, such as court personnel, appellate defenses, and personal restraints, which stacks up the price another 250K. In the USA, between 1982 and 1997, the cost of capital trials was $1.6 Billion (Baicker). Two cases still in progress in King County have already spent nearly $7 million in investigation and preparation, before any trial, sentencing, or mandatory appeals have been made (Sullivan, 2013). If the Death Penalty was ended in Washington state, we'd save $2 million each year in prosecution, defense, and expert witness cases. That's money to fund highways, education, police and fire departments.

“It seems that in the end, however, it is the only fair way to deal with certain criminals past the point of moral reason. It is truly the only way to show that in this country, murder and terrorism will not be tolerated (Gary).” Now, lets look past American-eccentric ego and out to the global community. 140 countries have abolished the Death Penalty, many of them being our allies and members of the United Nations (“The Death”). Fellow members of the permitted Death Penalty club include Afghanistan, North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and us, specifically the United States. There is a different way of resolving crimes and not tolerated terrorism without sentencing human beings to death, life imprisonment without parole. Nobody gets out of it, unless proven innocent with credible evidence, and this isn't the movies, where jailbreaks and bombings coincide within a one and a half hour time span; this is reality. We live in a society that still permits a fading image of justice, because rationality is left-handed and vengeance is our strong suit. In Washington, we can continue to influence other states by abolishing the death sentence and ridding the US of further barbaric practices.

Citations

"Offenders Sentenced to the Death Penalty." Offenders Currently Under Sentence of Death. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

Jenkins, Austin. "Washington Governor Won't Sign Death Warrants." NW News Network. 11 Feb. 2014. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

"Say ‘Thank You!’ to Governor Inslee." Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

Sullivan, Jennifer. "Attorney: Ridgway Likely to Plead Guilty to New Murder Charge." The Seattle Times. 7 Feb. 2011. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

"Find An Offender - Ridgway, Gary L.". Washington State Department of Corrections. 4 Nov. 2014.

Martin, Jonathan. "How the Death Penalty Can Bankrupt a County." The Seattle Times. 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

“Final Report of the Death Penalty Subcommittee of the Committee on Public Defense.” (2006, December 1). Retrieved November 4, 2014.

Baicker, Katherine. "The Budgetary Repercussions of Capital Convictions." NBER. 1 July 2001. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

"Multiple Agency Fiscal Note Summary." 5 Mar. 2013. Web. 4 Nov. 2014. <https://fortress.wa.gov/binaryDisplay.aspx?package=34902>.

Sullivan, Jennifer, "Legal costs near $7 million for defendants in 2007 Carnation slayings," The Seattle Times, September 26, 2013.

Gary, Jordan. "The Death Penalty Should Not Be Abolished | Neon Tommy." The Death Penalty Should Not Be Abolished | Neon Tommy. 1 May 2013. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

"The Death Penalty Worldwide." Infoplease. Infoplease. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

Outline of Positional Paper

The topic: Washington State Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty organization's goal to dismantle the death penalty in Washington.

Position: I agree with their position to abolish the death penalty in Washington.

Reasons: It's morally unsound to kill others when they no longer pose a threat to society
                It's financially erroneous to go through the legalization of the death penalty when life imprisonment has proven to be a better solution.
                It's valueless in deterring crimes.

Buying Locally

1.) She hasn't convinced me that it matters, but I can see where she comes from. She used statistics from various sources linking global dilemmas with agriculture. Issues such as pollution, fuel depletion, and the farming market can be resolved by choosing to produce food locally. Transportation will be cut down and more organic and natural methods of farming can be practiced.

2.) She considers the child labor in third world countries being depleted by buying locally, even going to lengths to show how certain boycotts in internationally manufactured clothing affected third world labor, but refutes that by showing how the U.S. can set an example for the global community in acting environmentally sound.

3.) On Page 98, she fails to see the information on the page as possibly horrific; or troubling in the least. Acknowledging opposing arguments, she states how 50,000 children in Bangladesh lost their sweat-shop jobs due to a boycott in the U.S. I feel that Katherine Springs could of examined this disorganized morality and used it as not only attention to more than one point of view, but a stronger stance on the issue of buying locally and a greater indication of why the topic matters.

4.) The photos included in the essay help the reader visualize the text without while minimizing a biased statement based on the images. For how they're involved, they work with Springs by giving definition to her argument.