Entry #7: Paralympics and NCT

Just 2 months ago, I watched and followed almost every Olympic event on TV. Coverage on the event was plentiful, updated frequently. Being hyped up by the media coverage about the major sports event, I was excited to watch many sportsmen in their various expertise. Gymnastic, synchronised swimming, diving, triathlon, windsurfing, boxing, weight-lifting and so much more...

However, after Olympics ended, Paralympics was supposed to be next. Isn't it? Flipping through the newspapers and channel surfing did not excite me so much as Olympics. Coverage were minimal and Paralympics seemed to be forgotten. In fact, many people were sharing the same feelings of media hegemony as me. Some wrote to the sports editor of NYtimes online to express their disappointment, as linked here - "IN-BOX; With Games Over, Paralympics Deserve Attention"

I do feel somewhat unjust for the Paralympians, considering the greater effort made to achieve in sports despite their disabilities and inconveniences. As quoted from this journal, "The games should also serve as a reminder of these athletes’ courage and perseverance, not to mention a celebration of their athleticism." Nevertheless, it is true that the stigma and negative stereotypes of these athletes are slowly changing for the better. And perhaps the gatekeepers of the media would, by then, be convinced to show equal media treatment for both major sporting event every quadrennial.

On a lighter note, thanks to the development of new media, we can still find some reports about Paralympics. For that, I am able to learn more about our local paralympians for their commendable feat to obtain 1 Gold and 2 Silver from Paralympics. Their successes had laid the first steps to gathering interest and attention from media and masses. Like what Mr Loh mentioned in this comment, it is indeed better if masses get opportunities to view the live telecast of the action in the Paralympics events.

Perhaps the time would come for us to experience and be inspired like journalist, Ms Sim, from her experience in covering the Paralympic event. The difficulties and passion from the Paralympians to overcome physical and mental obstacles show how powerful the human spirit is. In fact, local stereotypes, that sportsmen usually come from the elite group, serve to be a discouraging factor for some late sports bloomers.

Henceforth, with the nearing of Youth Olympics in Singapore, more exposure to all forms of sports like the Paralympics should be encouraged. Aspiring young athletes may even be inspired by the humble human spirit to pursue their sports dream. The inspiring stories from the events should also serve to be purposeful in reflecting on ourselves. What is your take on this?

Entry #6: Beer culture in Japan

How does mass media influences you?

In this survey, http://whatjapanthinks.com/2008/10/09/advertising-beer-in-japan/, the aim was selected to find out if beer TVC hold influences on the beer drinkers. Gathering results from 15,367 members of the MyVoice internet community, it is found that beer advertisements influence the desire to drink and the type of beer brand preferred. Apart from that, the desire to drink a particular (favourite) brand of beer is also seem to be reinforced, especially after watching their favourite beer TVC.

Beer is said to be introduced in Japan since the early Meiji period from Germany. Since then, beer has been the most popular alcoholic drink in Japan. Japanese-style commercial brewing has also been exported to much of southeast Asia and factories spread throughout the world.

From beers in vending machines to seasonal beers, this culture of beer-drinking is prevalent throughout the country. In fact, Japan ranks 32th in the world for beer consumption per capita as cited here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_beer_consumption_per_capita

Personally, I feel that the media play a significant role in reinforcing this drinking trend in Japan.
Beer advertisements are common to Japanese, which can be found in huge posters like this below.

I do believe the media affects how we live and experience the world. Through various platforms, messages are transmitted everywhere.












To sum up, preference for beer stems from Japanese historical culture from the Meiji period. But without efforts from the media and breweries, people may have do away with the drink and turn to other available options over such a long period of time.

Thus, beer advertising do have an impact in guiding masses' choice of alcoholic drink. Be it a business meeting, gathering at the pub and such...

Entry #5: Group Communication

One of my interest is watching band performances. Unlike commercial entertainment bands, school bands and professional bands perform musical pieces for learning and competing. Entertaining audiences is not the priority for these bands. Instead, they are there to compete with other similar bands in terms of sound, level of difficulty performed, creativity, overall synchronisation and many more. As I'm unable to post the videos in my blog, below is the link to a video of the percussion section from University of Hawaii.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jayni5VA-uM&feature=related

In the beginning of the clip, you can actually hear some of them shouting a cue in unison. These members are the initiators of this segment and they help to get the drumline started. All of them will then contribute by playing their required parts on the drums.

By grouping themselves according to the instrument they play, they are able to share a close interaction. This helps them to focus their overall sound and be in sync with one another, and also with other instrument. (ie. the snare drummers with the bass drummers and the tom-tom players) It will help to prevent them if missing out on the tempo and quality of tone. If you also notice, grooving up and down to their beats is another shared behavioural standard here. This further enhance their collective identity as a percussion section of University of Hawaii.

However, if I were to be hypercritical, there would be some imperfection about their performance in the video clip. At times, the overall beat doesn't sound perfectly synchronised and the loudness also seem to vary...Maybe the group will be playing more optimally if the group selects the best players among them and narrow the group size to about 5-7?

Here's another percussion group from this link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c_giB0Ivoc

Like the theme suggested in the beginning of the clip, synergy is obtained from the well-synchronised rhythms of the performance. As we can see, everyone takes on a different instrument. Thus, a high level of concentration and commitment is required from the players. They seem very confident of their parts and are able to share trust and support to do well.
Like the previous group, they dressed in similar uniforms to portray their collective identity to the audiences.

In conclusion, I believe different levels of synergy is present in different groups. Depending on the amount of training they received, the amount of effort spent in coordinating the group can they slowly work their way to perfect their musical skills.

Entry #4: Love and resemblance

Shakespeare in Love's Labours Lost, 1588:

Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean,
Needs not the painted flourish of your praise:
Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,
Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues

In the third line of the stanza above, it is mentioned that 'Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye'. I believe many would agree that both beauty and love is very much determined by the eye of the beholder. Interestingly, I chanced upon an article in BBC to find individuals with tendencies to select potential partners who are similar to their parents. This might provide explanations for how the 'judgement of the eye' comes about.

In this article as linked, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7593336.stm,

many women and men alike, tend to select spouses who resemble their opposite-sex parent. As quoted, "Significant correlations between young men and their fathers-in-law are found especially on facial proportions belonging to the central area of face - nose and eyes." On the other hand, lips and jaw correlate for women and their mothers-in-law. Personally, I believe this kind of stimulus generalization can be justified, reason being that a sense of familiarity will arise in trying to associate similar appearances to our personal constructs. This perception of 'parents imprinting' is evident in women who have good relationships with their fathers and lost in women who have poor relationships with their fathers. This goes to show the impact physical appearance has in the introduction of a relationship.

On the contrary to selecting partners, have you wondered how we can appear to more attractive to others? Surprisingly, 'declaring love boosts sex appeal', quoted in http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7603530.stm.
Reciprocity and liking to believed to have positive effects such as making eye contact and smiling. Such social cues are agreed upon in playing a crucial role in attraction. I would believe such 'validations' of reciprocity of liking do help people to have more confidence in starting a relationship.

Similarly, it was suggested that we can avoid wasting time on individuals who appear unlikely to reciprocate. In my opinion, understanding that others are not interested also minimizes chances of embarrassment and lost of self-esteem for individuals. Maybe one of the ways you learn your level of attractiveness is through how other people behave towards you. Hopefully, when we learn and understand more about such social cues, it will better us the abstract study of love and relationships. What do you think?

Entry #3: Oculesics - "Windows to our (professional) soul."

As quoted from a Yiddish proverb,"The eyes are the mirror of the soul." More often than not, our social behavior are largely influenced by eye contacts and facial expressions made during interactions.

The eye conveys our thoughts, emotions by assuring and also disagreeing. It is one of the most important nonverbal channels for communication and connecting with other people. "A person's thoughts can be ascertained by looking in his or her eyes." This is yet another proverb that can been traced back in English to 'Regiment of Life' (1545).

Personally, I feel that oculesics is an effective and necessary tool in the acting and modeling industry. Actors and actresses take upon different roles in a script. By putting substantial effort and importance in training themselves on facial and bodily expressions, they are able to convey many different scenarios from a plot to stir emotions among audiences.

An example is as shown in this picture below with Keira Knightley in movie, 'The Duchess'.
(click on the picture for more on the movie review from Los Angeles Times)

In the picture, apart from the staggering headgear and spectacular gown, the portrayal of seriousness in this scene is brought about by Knightley's widen eye and still facial expression. This helps to give audiences an idea towards her character as Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of Devonshire.

Another example in movie, 'Nights In Rodanthe' illustrates a sense of assurance and love through their mutual eye contact in the scene. Richard Gere and Diane Lane takes upon character roles as Dr. Paul Flanner and Adrienne Willis.

Likewise in the modeling industry, models generally have to express emotion in their photographs with their physical appearance. Not only that, the ability to form various postures and body movement adds on to how they would want to instill an momentary action to the overall picture.

Although intentional kinesics such as affect displays are commonly used by fashion models in the execution of their job, I still find that facial expressions and the eye give a significant cue to one's overall character as shown for Vogue's August '08 magazine cover.

All in all, our eyes and body movements do help us achieve our professional task roles should we follow a similar career path like these people mentioned. Interestingly, experts on deception tell us to observe leakage cues on the body such as guilt, anxiety and excitement to determine if someone is lying. Doesn't this make us hold admiration for actors and models, since their job requires conscious effort to control such natural actions from hindering the course of their job?

Source of article "Keira Knightley talks about 'The Duchess,' getting wigged out" from,

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2008/09/keira-knightl-1.html

Entry #2: Personal response for Apple's iPod advertising campaign

Topic: 'Apple is never poisonous' (except Snow White's)

Hi there, once again.

Read my title for this post above, and you'll wonder if I'm writing about 'Snow White and her dwarfy friends'. X)
But with a twist to that, my topic of interest this week revolves around my honest comments about the new Apple's 4th generation iPod nano.

So, this is the latest series of iPod nano launched this September as shown...
NANO-CHROMATIC

iPod nano's 4th Generation (2008)

(I do like the pun on the word "monochromatic" for this)
Oh, you may follow this link to Apple's website for more information about their products in case you are attracted to it too *laughs. There's a whole iPod family with iPod shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Touch and other iPod accessories available.
'Okay', not that this iPod nano is new to anyone. Its thin and slim form is recognized by many as a somewhat familiar but modified, 'widened' and 're-painted' device from Apple's 2nd generation's nano.

iPod nano's 2nd generation (2006)

Although they may look similar, but you can find the screen being 'lengthened' in the latest series. The variety of colours are also increased from five to nine hues (which may reminds you of ROYGBIV)
Many argued that Apple lacked creativity and surprises in the latest series but despite reading a considerable amount of negative reviews about this series of iPod nano, I must say that I'm still keen and enthusiastic about Apple products as before.

Why?
Not that iPods are the most fascinating product on Earth, it is the overall impression
(i.e. packaging) that stands out.

On the whole, many nonverbal cues attracts me to Apple products.

Just like how you're attracted to a person in your initial meeting, I was very much impressed with this American company.

1. First, it has to be the use of colours which appeals to my pathos and logos. I have to admit that I'm a sucker for most of the creative visuals advertised by Apple.
(Especially so, with the use of colours)
The common use of light metallic white used in most Apple products, shouts 'clarity', 'purity', and 'cleanliness' to me unanimously...Therefore,it forms a strong mental image in me, that Apple products are pleasing, clean and user-friendly to me. No doubt, I'm aware about differences in people's perspective on colours. For instance, white looks simple and sophisticated to me. But in others' perspective, it may only increase their worries that this particular colour may seem more prone to dirt, dust and stains.

2. Secondly, it was the initial stylish (first) impression that attracts me.

The brand name, Apple, has its uniqueness that projects a sense of simplicity yet daring approach in its choice of name. Previously, names of companies and partnerships take after personal names, newly-created names and such. It appeared that simple words formation like, 'Apple' and 'Cat' lacks sophistication and establishment. However, that daring personality stands out from the rest as we observe now.

3. Lastly, creative advertisements captivates me.

Printed, interactive advertisements or not, the creative flow of the message is clear. "Buy me" or at least, "try me". The availability of media resources also play a significant role in getting my interest. Updates about new products and services will be send to my email every now and then. It constantly keeps me informed about their latest line of goods through their RSS feeds and subscription to their web page. This interactive model keeps me involved, decoding the advertisements, products and information.

In short, it's the interaction between verbal and nonverbal cues that works together to get Apple's marketing message across the board. Well, perhaps I'm a sucker towards aesthetic products as such (and the way I select information in the process)
But I do agree that influences of my selection in the perception process come from the mainly my network of friends who are as enthusiastic as I am.
How about you? Is it a love/hate relationship with Apple? =D

-Which iPod do you like?

Entry #1: Perception and our community

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