Cheetah - Speed
Cupid Heart - Love
Horseshoes - Luck
Dove - Peace
Uncle Sam - USA
Hat and Wand - Magic
Horseshoes are considered a good luck charm in many cultures. The shape, fabrication, placement, and manner of sourcing are all important. A common tradition is that if a horseshoe is hung on a door with the two ends pointing up then good luck will occur. However, if the two ends point downwards then bad luck will occur. Traditions do differ on this point, though. In some cultures, the horseshoe is hung points down (so the luck pours onto you); in others, it is hung points up (so the luck doesn't fall out); still in others it doesn't matter so long as the horseshoe has been used (not new), was found (not purchased), and can be touched. In all traditions, luck is contained in the shoe and can pour out through the ends.
In some traditions, any good or bad luck achieved will only occur to the owner of the horseshoe, not the person who hangs it up. Therefore, if the horseshoe was stolen, borrowed or even just found then the owner, not the person who found or stole the horseshoe will get any good or bad luck. Other traditions require that the horseshoe be found to be effective.
One reputed origin of the tradition of lucky horseshoes is the story of Saint Dunstan and the Devil. Dunstan, who would become the Archbishop of Canterbury in AD 959, was a blacksmith by trade. The story relates that he once nailed a horseshoe to the Devil's hoof when he was asked to reshoe the Devil's horse. This caused the Devil great pain, and Dunstan only agreed to remove the shoe and release the Devil after the Devil promised never to enter a place where a horseshoe is hung over the door.
Also some believe that if guests come to a house where a horseshoe is above the door. If they enter through that door they must leave the same way or they will take the luck from the horseshoe with them from your house.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Self Reflective Post
It is amazing how an author can articulate words and change the point of view of things. Authors do it in order to transmit certain emotions, thoughts, or feelings to the readers. When writing the positive and negative sides of the same thing in the anterior blog, I’ve tried to use this ability that the authors have in order to reach the purpose of my assignment. As I was in a good mood when I was writing, it was much easier to write the positive side of sit in front of the GC than the negative one. To write the negative side I had to take a breath, give a walk through the campus, think in bad things such as bad grades, cheating, don’t go out on the weekend, and finally try to get me in a real bad mood. I’ve tried to see things in a shadowy perspective. When the intention is transmit peace, happiness, pleasure, normally vivid and intense words are used. In my case I used words such as: great experience, pleased, pride, wonderful, among others. But when the intention is transmit the negative side of things, authors make use of dark, strong, and sad words. In my story I used the words: terrible, annoys me, impossible, and others. Besides the mood of the author when he is writing, it is also important to care about the rhetorical context, and the message that the author wants to transmit when writing that; his purpose. All these aspects together form the basic requirement to write a good essay. These were aspects that I tried to use when writing the previous blog.
The two sides of the same story
Positive
Sit in front of the GC in a sunny day is such a good experience. I feel myself so pleased to be here. Sited here I can experience the sun and the really soft wind typical of Miami in this period of the year. I feel the panther pride when the sun shines on the walls of GC. Hundreds of people get in and out of this building every single minute. The GC is like the center of the university. This is the place where students have classes, they can have their meals, they have beauty saloon, and others. As you can find everything here in GC, here you also will always find someone that you know. Every single student passes through here at least one time a day. Its location is also a spectacular thing because it has a garage right in front of it. It is a tremendous privilege for those who have classes there. Normally the buildings on the campus are a little bit far from the parking. The GC is my favorite building in FIU. It is so great have the opportunity to see the variety of things that a single building can proportionate. If I could I would sit here every day for a couple of hours. This place is wonderful. It is the main heart of the university. Here is the place where you can see the different people that attend FIU. You can see the abilities and disabilities of these people. Here you can see life!
Negative
Sit in front of GC in a sunny day is such a terrible experience. The hot weather of Miami makes you sweat in seconds. The wind is so soft that you can not notice it. Sometimes I may say that there is no wind at all. There is any pleasure in sit here, not even for five minutes. The garage right in front here annoys me. The sound of the engine of the cars going up and down on the garage looking for a parking doesn’t let me concentrate in anything that I start to do. Study here is an impossible task. Together with this crazy sound there is the bell. It rings every hour to announce that one more hour has passed. Come on. Isn’t the noise of the car enough? The answer seems to be no. More and more things that increase the noise in this place are implemented during the days. The bell doesn’t have a simple ring. It plays some ridiculous music. May I ask for whom? Does the university think that students between seventeen and thirty years old care for this kind of song? People are interested in study, in popular songs, in party, not on this strange sound. Another disgusting thing of being here is that so many people pass through GC every moment that you feel lost in the middle of a crowd. You don’t have privacy here. There is so many people, so many languages, and so many sounds here. Oh my god, I think that I’m going to get crazy if I stay here for one more second.
Sit in front of the GC in a sunny day is such a good experience. I feel myself so pleased to be here. Sited here I can experience the sun and the really soft wind typical of Miami in this period of the year. I feel the panther pride when the sun shines on the walls of GC. Hundreds of people get in and out of this building every single minute. The GC is like the center of the university. This is the place where students have classes, they can have their meals, they have beauty saloon, and others. As you can find everything here in GC, here you also will always find someone that you know. Every single student passes through here at least one time a day. Its location is also a spectacular thing because it has a garage right in front of it. It is a tremendous privilege for those who have classes there. Normally the buildings on the campus are a little bit far from the parking. The GC is my favorite building in FIU. It is so great have the opportunity to see the variety of things that a single building can proportionate. If I could I would sit here every day for a couple of hours. This place is wonderful. It is the main heart of the university. Here is the place where you can see the different people that attend FIU. You can see the abilities and disabilities of these people. Here you can see life!
Negative
Sit in front of GC in a sunny day is such a terrible experience. The hot weather of Miami makes you sweat in seconds. The wind is so soft that you can not notice it. Sometimes I may say that there is no wind at all. There is any pleasure in sit here, not even for five minutes. The garage right in front here annoys me. The sound of the engine of the cars going up and down on the garage looking for a parking doesn’t let me concentrate in anything that I start to do. Study here is an impossible task. Together with this crazy sound there is the bell. It rings every hour to announce that one more hour has passed. Come on. Isn’t the noise of the car enough? The answer seems to be no. More and more things that increase the noise in this place are implemented during the days. The bell doesn’t have a simple ring. It plays some ridiculous music. May I ask for whom? Does the university think that students between seventeen and thirty years old care for this kind of song? People are interested in study, in popular songs, in party, not on this strange sound. Another disgusting thing of being here is that so many people pass through GC every moment that you feel lost in the middle of a crowd. You don’t have privacy here. There is so many people, so many languages, and so many sounds here. Oh my god, I think that I’m going to get crazy if I stay here for one more second.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Conclusion
The same product can be exposed in various ways in order to reach different people just like the examples here cited about the brand Dolce & Gabbana. The ads have more influence in our lives that we can imagine. They estipulate how should we follow our lives, when, and where. What define us as rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, cult or stupid. Some advertisements are more aggressive, some are more angelical; all depends of which public they want to reach and what message they want to transmit.
Marketing is a smart approach that marketing people found to rule the population’s costume and habit. It has more influence in our lives that we can imagine. Through advertisements the market stipulates the society way of life and wants. It stipulates what can be considered beautiful or ugly, rich or poor, in or out. You can notice this intention of control when you see that two different merchandises can be presented to the market in different forms. It happens because marketing wants to reach all the population, and as nobody has the same style, attitude or thoughts, the marketing make different ads to reach these different society groups. The ads in general can be shown in an aggressive way or softer; all depends of the purpose of the; what image it wants to give, how efficient, and why. This technique is used looking for having a total control of the population under their wants to better control the market production, consumption and their supply.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Revisisng paper 2
ADVERTISEMENT: THEY RULE THE LIFE
In these days it is common have to wait around two or three minutes on intervals between parts of our favorite show in the television watching gorgeous people driving expensive cars, fat reducers advertisements, enormous houses being sold easily among other or even when looking at a magazine we can find hundreds of companies selling their products between articles. This is the era of the merchandising; people are surrounded by advertisements everywhere, all the time and they have their life ruled by it unconsciously. Lately, advertisements are not willing just to sell the product, but also domain, rule, create, and make tendencies of market. When we look at two Dolce & Gabbana advertisements we can understand it.
In one ad, the brand explores the aspects that transport us to an old world. The day is in transition with the night, transmitting a bucolic sensation. The people present on the ad seem to be located in a place that can be associated with the gardens of a medieval castle, with beautiful sculptures on it and the ground seems to be sand. The trees are in a dark green, and the flowers are open, letting us assume that is spring time. The furniture present in this garden is classical; expensive fabric chairs in gold details. Four women and two men are shown in this add. Two women are lying on the chairs. Those two women have the expression on their face like they are not feeling well; by some reason they are shocked and one of the man present is rescuing and taking care of one and one woman dresses as man is taking care of the other. These lying women are dressed in beautiful light and long dresses with a belt around the stomach. There is a woman lying on the ground, apparently she is fainted, but looking further we can see some pillows under her, transporting our imagination to the fact that she is not fainted but just lying on the ground and disappointed as the other two women. She is the only woman that is without partner. She is wearing pants but either ways she is wearing fancy shoes. All of them are looking at nowhere.
Looking to the men in the advertisement we can notice that all of them are with a women; actually one of them are represented with a woman and one of them is grabbing just an arm. This one is wearing gray shirt and pants and black boat over the pants. He is looking in a weird way to the guy that is on his knees on the sand. This guy is the only one that is not blond. He has brown and short hair, differently of all the other, and he is wearing only a plant crowd around his head; no clothes at all. Apparently this is the fact why all women are shocked. In that time it wasn’t normal be naked in front of others. Dolce & Gabbana is trying with this advertisement reach the adults with the argument that they know the past, and they know the new. They understand both, but they follow the fashionable, and it is not fashionable anymore. Dolce & Gabbana wants to bring the new to the old people.
The second advertisement of D&G is more provocative. Looking to reach young adults, the ad stereotype the ideal male’s body as strong arms, well shaped abdomen and short hair. There are four men in this second ad and one woman. Differently of the first one, in this ad everybody has dark brown hair. All men are looking to the woman that is lying on the ground in a provocative position with her hips elevated. The woman is wearing a black suit; her legs, arms and shoulders are totally free of clothes. She is using red lipstick, what makes allusion to seduction, and black heals, that putting together with her outfit gives her a sexy look. She has a gorgeous and skinny body and long hair. Two of the guys and shitless, and the other two have their shirt open, having their abdomen visible. They are swelling. The advertisement takes place during the day light and a blue sky with some clouds is shown, giving the allusion that they are in the sky. One of the guys is holding the woman’s arm on the ground. The position that they are can be considered sensual. This ad appeals to young adults’ ego. It appeals to the desire of these people of being recognized, beautiful, and to their hormones that at this age are burning (where the sexual appeal takes place).
The same product can be exposed in various ways in order to reach different people just like the examples here cited about the brand Dolce & Gabbana. The ads have more influence in our lives that we can imagine. They estipulate how should we follow our lives, when, and where. What define us as rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, cult or stupid. Some advertisements are more aggressive, some are more angelical; all depends of which public they want to reach and what message they want to transmit.
In my revising process for the second paper I am supposed to “re-see” my analysis and ads. When I think in doing it a question comes out; how should I do it? Well, first of all I need to take a look in the ads that I chose and observe them deeply. Check the highs and lows of the advertisements, see if it is an ad that has a lot of images that would help me to do a better description and further on a good analysis. The second step is read my draft and check if all possible characteristics of the advertisement are listed. If not I should include them. The characteristics are really important because through them the reader can visualize the ad while he is reading the essay. Looking at the characteristics of the ad I should think in what the purpose of the characteristics there presented is. This is procedure is called analysis. After doing that I should look at my draft, and look for my analysis of the ad and their characteristics. I should correct if there is something wrong, missing or over. Every single detail is very important because through them the reader can have a clear image of what you are talking about, and understand better the “so what?” question. As many details and explanation you give in the essay, better it is. The essay gets more efficient, well structured and have a good flow. The revising process in this second paper should be done at least twice. As many you do it, more mistakes and lack of information you avoid and more clear and concise you get.
In these days it is common have to wait around two or three minutes on intervals between parts of our favorite show in the television watching gorgeous people driving expensive cars, fat reducers advertisements, enormous houses being sold easily among other or even when looking at a magazine we can find hundreds of companies selling their products between articles. This is the era of the merchandising; people are surrounded by advertisements everywhere, all the time and they have their life ruled by it unconsciously. Lately, advertisements are not willing just to sell the product, but also domain, rule, create, and make tendencies of market. When we look at two Dolce & Gabbana advertisements we can understand it.
In one ad, the brand explores the aspects that transport us to an old world. The day is in transition with the night, transmitting a bucolic sensation. The people present on the ad seem to be located in a place that can be associated with the gardens of a medieval castle, with beautiful sculptures on it and the ground seems to be sand. The trees are in a dark green, and the flowers are open, letting us assume that is spring time. The furniture present in this garden is classical; expensive fabric chairs in gold details. Four women and two men are shown in this add. Two women are lying on the chairs. Those two women have the expression on their face like they are not feeling well; by some reason they are shocked and one of the man present is rescuing and taking care of one and one woman dresses as man is taking care of the other. These lying women are dressed in beautiful light and long dresses with a belt around the stomach. There is a woman lying on the ground, apparently she is fainted, but looking further we can see some pillows under her, transporting our imagination to the fact that she is not fainted but just lying on the ground and disappointed as the other two women. She is the only woman that is without partner. She is wearing pants but either ways she is wearing fancy shoes. All of them are looking at nowhere.
Looking to the men in the advertisement we can notice that all of them are with a women; actually one of them are represented with a woman and one of them is grabbing just an arm. This one is wearing gray shirt and pants and black boat over the pants. He is looking in a weird way to the guy that is on his knees on the sand. This guy is the only one that is not blond. He has brown and short hair, differently of all the other, and he is wearing only a plant crowd around his head; no clothes at all. Apparently this is the fact why all women are shocked. In that time it wasn’t normal be naked in front of others. Dolce & Gabbana is trying with this advertisement reach the adults with the argument that they know the past, and they know the new. They understand both, but they follow the fashionable, and it is not fashionable anymore. Dolce & Gabbana wants to bring the new to the old people.
The second advertisement of D&G is more provocative. Looking to reach young adults, the ad stereotype the ideal male’s body as strong arms, well shaped abdomen and short hair. There are four men in this second ad and one woman. Differently of the first one, in this ad everybody has dark brown hair. All men are looking to the woman that is lying on the ground in a provocative position with her hips elevated. The woman is wearing a black suit; her legs, arms and shoulders are totally free of clothes. She is using red lipstick, what makes allusion to seduction, and black heals, that putting together with her outfit gives her a sexy look. She has a gorgeous and skinny body and long hair. Two of the guys and shitless, and the other two have their shirt open, having their abdomen visible. They are swelling. The advertisement takes place during the day light and a blue sky with some clouds is shown, giving the allusion that they are in the sky. One of the guys is holding the woman’s arm on the ground. The position that they are can be considered sensual. This ad appeals to young adults’ ego. It appeals to the desire of these people of being recognized, beautiful, and to their hormones that at this age are burning (where the sexual appeal takes place).
The same product can be exposed in various ways in order to reach different people just like the examples here cited about the brand Dolce & Gabbana. The ads have more influence in our lives that we can imagine. They estipulate how should we follow our lives, when, and where. What define us as rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, cult or stupid. Some advertisements are more aggressive, some are more angelical; all depends of which public they want to reach and what message they want to transmit.
In my revising process for the second paper I am supposed to “re-see” my analysis and ads. When I think in doing it a question comes out; how should I do it? Well, first of all I need to take a look in the ads that I chose and observe them deeply. Check the highs and lows of the advertisements, see if it is an ad that has a lot of images that would help me to do a better description and further on a good analysis. The second step is read my draft and check if all possible characteristics of the advertisement are listed. If not I should include them. The characteristics are really important because through them the reader can visualize the ad while he is reading the essay. Looking at the characteristics of the ad I should think in what the purpose of the characteristics there presented is. This is procedure is called analysis. After doing that I should look at my draft, and look for my analysis of the ad and their characteristics. I should correct if there is something wrong, missing or over. Every single detail is very important because through them the reader can have a clear image of what you are talking about, and understand better the “so what?” question. As many details and explanation you give in the essay, better it is. The essay gets more efficient, well structured and have a good flow. The revising process in this second paper should be done at least twice. As many you do it, more mistakes and lack of information you avoid and more clear and concise you get.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Title + Intro
Recently, during the summer term here at FIU, I have done a research paper titled Pursuit of Spaces. The intention of the ambiguous title was to capture a bigger range of readers. At first impression the title could be associated to a personal pursuit of space in the world, in someone’s life, in the market; but the real meaning of it is to expose the parking problem at FIU. The introduction of the essay let explicit the original idea of the title. The audience that I was expecting was mostly the students, specifically from the University Park campus, the faculty, staff, and the administration from FIU. Also, the story would be directed at anyone that is interested in the university matters. The initial interests that would lead my readers to keep reading my essay would be that if they own a car, probably they would be related to the topic, considering the long waiting time for a free parking spot that all of us are submitted to. Others may like the polemic subject. About attention-grabber, I think that I have it because I start the essay by exposing results of some interviews, letting clear that the essay is based on real facts and researches, not only in personal experiences. Towards the end of my introduction, I state my thesis, where I say that FIU should give more attention to parking in order to avoid current and future problems. Along the essay I explain these problems, expose some of own and other people’s experiences and give some ideas of solutions. The intention was not to write a boring story, but aware people about things happening outside the classroom.
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