Toby Keith's website

For my musician choice I chose Toby Keith. I like his music and what he stands for. I am putting his website up front in this so you can go see for yourself before you finish reading. http://tobykeith.com/ . When you first open up his site, you are hit with a big picture asking you to vote for him for the CMT Male Video of the Year and for Video of the year awards; which is empowering to the user as it gives them the ability to help Toby achieve these awards. You can also become a member of his elite fan club by merely clicking on the available button. There are also links to follow him on Twitter and sign up for mobile alerts which will keep you informed of all of his happenings. All of the choices you can make are put right up in your face with big fonts, bright red colors and a huge cowboy smile. You get bombarded with his latest hits of Red Solo Cup and Beers Ago that are both followed with links to purchase them. The website appears to be put together great with plenty of opportunities to purchase items for, from and about Toby Keith. I think the website promotes his image of an all American guy that drinks beer and raises hell. Even the main picture of himself portrayed on his website is of a bearded Toby with hair that could use a trim and a baseball hat with sunglasses on the brim. He does not appear to be some make-up-wearing meticulously made up person that is not within reach of the everyday person. He is one of us, he is a piece of Americana.

 He has a multitude of pictures of himself and the troops deployed from his various USO tours. He clearly doesn’t state anywhere on his website that he is either for or against the war; that doesn’t really matter what his stance is. He supports the troops! Whether you are for or against the war effort, everyone either knows someone over there or knows a family that has someone deployed and also wants to support them. There are also links to his restaurant, Toby Keith’s I love This Bar & Grill, which is taken from one of his songs. His restaurant is furthermore promoted by the fact that he donates a complete meal to each and every service member. At the bottom of the website page are several huge links to again his restaurant, a new Wild Shot Mezcal, the Toby Keith Foundation and Show Dog Music Corporation. I am most impressed with the Toby Keith Foundation in that it is designed to assist children going through cancer treatment with a place to stay for their duration of treatment.

All of his upcoming tour dates, cities hosting the show and the ability to buy, not just regular show tickets, but VIP packages. The VIP packages are again, another ploy to make the user feel elite and have the ability to meet Toby personally.

Altogether though, I feel the marketing and advertising strategies that are utilized on his website are well thought out. Everywhere you can link to has a great heart-warming picture of Toby coupled with the user’s ability to spend some money. While you are spending your money, you are feeling good that you are helping out America by enabling Toby to support our troops, our children with cancer and the USO.

My Tweeps

Throughout my 23 years in the military I have had the honor and privilege to work with some of the branches most skilled operators, from Army Special Forces, Navy Seals, Marine Expeditionary Units and Coast Guard Law Enforcement teams. I considered myself extremely fortunate to have had these experiences, but the lacking part for me was the specialized training they all went through that was not afforded to me. Don’t get me wrong, it was my choice. I chose my wife and kids over the long schools and even longer deployments. As much as I complained about being from home…….those guys were gone even longer. So the past couple years there have been a multitude of “survival” shows airing on TV to help me try to fill that void of self reliant training in the wilderness. So I chose the hosts of two of my most watched and realistic shows in my opinion, Bear Grylls and Mykel Hawke.

For my first tweep I chose Bear Grylls. Bear is a former British SAS Commando for three years and was injured during a free fall jump in Africa and thus ending his military career in 1996. After intensive military rehabilitation he went on to become one of the youngest people to climb Mt. Everest and even made it into the Guiness Book of World Records. He has authored 11 books, some fiction and others about survival. He is a family man with a wife and three sons. He is best known though for his survival show Man vs. Wild, known as Born Survivor in the UK. He has also done some smaller run shows such as Worst Case Scenario in which you see ways to survive in hypothetical settings within the suburban areas that you might encounter in your home or workplace. He has also done Escape to the Legion where he went through some serious training with the French Foreign Legion. This show was actually the one that catapulted his TV career into the spotlight. His latest show though, Man vs. Wild is the one that I enjoy and actually learn from the most. The premise of the show is that he is basically dropped off, sometimes parachuting in, to remote places throughout the world and is to survive until he reaches some sort of civilization or is rescued. He has survived in some of the worst places imaginable like the Moab and African Savannah deserts to the frigid regions of Alaska and the European Alps. To me the show stays real due to the fact that he has actually done shows in Arizona, Nevada and Mexico. His show demonstrates how to keep yourself alive in precarious situations if you are lost or stranded; even when it comes down to drinking your own piss(his signature survival tactic). He constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat and always keeps a positive attitude throughout it all….even when injured. For more about the Bear, check out his website at:http://beargrylls.com/

The second Tweep of choice was Mykel Hawke. He also has a survival show, but his has a twist to it. He survives with his wife Ruth on a show titled Man, Woman, Wild. Mykel is a former Army Special Forces survival expert and his wife Ruth is an Australian TV journalist. Mykel has published a book, titled Mykel Hawke's Green Beret Survival Manual: Essential Strategies for Shelter and Water, Food and Fire, Tools and Medicine, Navigation and Signaling, Survival Psychology and Getting Out Alive! His real life experiences of training U.N. Peacekeepers in Africa, establishing a Combat Medic school In Azerbaijan and running search and rescue missions in the middle of the Columbian drug warzone.

 

 I enjoy watching his show, because unlike Bear’s, he demonstrates how to survive with someone else in tow or tandem. He shows, again in remote parts of the world, how to forage for two, making shelter for more than just yourself and motivating the person or persons with you to survive. He has authored several other survival books and is the host of One Man Army, a show that pits SOCOM operators and Law Enforcement Elite against each other in an urban type survival setting. For more about Mykel Hawke and his endeavors look at his http://www.mykelhawke.com/

Magazine Review

For my magazine I chose UTV Off-Road Magazine. We have owned a side by side RZR 4 for a while now and this is the most informative magazine I can find in our area. At first glance on the cover it clearly states “World’s best selling magazine for the off-road enthusiast”. Enthusiast is defined as someone that is deeply involved in something. This magazine statement clearly defines its readers as more than just a toy owner or a novice….your involved. Involved means that you are on the cutting edge, in the know or simply ahead of someone else that is a newbie. The cover also depicts the newest side by side, the RZR XP 4 900, which demonstrates that the magazine is also a credible source for information as they are the ones testing it out. The picture shows an extremely aggressive action shot of the vehicle being put to the test.

 

As for the inside of the magazine, there are a lot of advertisements that depict equipment and gear that will make the consumer better than the next guy out there. By being faster and having the newest gear you, as an owner, are one step ahead of the guy next to you on the trails.

 Or with the essential gear you will be the fastest up the hill, best handling around the corners and the best looking guy or gal in the big sandbox. If you purchase the right tools you may even be able to not only win a championship race, but be as frugal as can be.

I liked this ad for the Joyner Trooper due to the large red font and the caption ANYWHERE-ANYTIME-ANY TERRAIN. If you are to purchase the Joiner then you are able to get away from it all any time you want. It allows you to escape the hum drum life of work and boredom. You drive this machine and all the worries are gone and you have the freedom to do whatever you want.

I wanted to include this page from the magazine because it pulls at the heart strings of all Americans whether you are for the war or not. The entire article does not support or oppose the war, but it supports the wounded warriors that do.

I have also included the magazine’s website: http://www.utvoffroadmag.com/.

The website is slightly more fulfilling in the information it offers, but it has the same selling points that you will be the better rider for choosing their products and riding the vehicles that they propose.

            To summarize the advertising ploys perceived by myself in this magazine are that they show you what kind of rider you strive to be and that is the fastest and best looking rider out on the trails. The magazine gets it credibility from several sources to prove their selling point, such as: the use of nationally recognized and trophied riders, completely outfitted rigs that are all race ready and the use of dyno testing to show how much horsepower and torque you will gain by utilizing their advised products. The only real popular selling technique I didn’t see was sex. There were no scantily clad models or bikini wearing women strewn over any advertised vehicles. All in all, a good magazine with some good information that I will continue to subscribe to.

Poster Comparison

The Italian Job

I chose the movie The Italian Job for my movie poster comparison for the main reason that really liked the remake. I found it very interesting to see that the movie had several diverse posters for their different timeframes of release in theaters and some in different countries.

So let’s start with the older posters from 1969 and then from the rerelease in 1999 of the same movie. In the American released poster, I can see where the stand out eye catcher is the woman dressed in a bikini with her back to you. In 1969 there would have been no way the movie ratings industry would have allowed her to have her scantily covered front side to the poster. You then have Michael Cain in a cutting edge fashion for that timeframe in a turtle neck with his hair is a purposeful mess, almost in a stoic Marlboro Man type pose. The captioning is cutting for its time with some yellow aura around it and throughout the poster. You also have some action in the background in the form of police in riot gear with batons and two mini cars rushing down a stairwell giving some intrigue and showing that this will be an action-packed film worth seeing.

                       I found this poster that was released in 1969 in Italy completely fascinating in that it showcases some serious Roman type architecture in the background that would be found locally lending to the credibility of the name of the movie. There are no sexy selling points on this poster, but it has flowers and lots of color throughout the poster. It looks like the fashion in Italy at that time would have been a long sleeve button down shirt with a vest which leads to a very serious note. Even the border around the picture is serious as it looks like it is a map with no nonsense fonts.

                                     This poster appears to have been released in Japan. It has the sexy girl in it alongside a seriously American gangster looking Cain complete with a cup of tea and a gun. The gun being the epic American Tommy Gun which lends an action from the western civilization that was rarely seen in Southeast Asia. It has a lot of automobile action with the car rushing towards you in the tunnel and several vehicles chasing each other underneath Cain in his leather office chair with my grandpa’s golf shoes on.

                                   This poster looks to be a rerelease from 1999 in the U.K. It has a newer shadowed font in the foreground and the entire poster is comprised of both the English and Italian flags. It again has the stoic Cain looking serious and the cars racing towards you through a tunnel. I find it interesting that there is a huge red arrow pointing to the cars and on the arrow is written “This is the self preservation society”. Not sure what the saying means, it may be something indicative to the location in the U.K.

                              Now for the recent remake posters, this one was the main release poster that I remember from the theaters. Nostalgic that it has the same yellow hue from the first poster in 1969. That’s about where the similarities end though. This poster has everyone dressed in black showing the villainous serious side of them. Wahlberg is in the forefront as the leading actor with Charlize Theron and Jason Statham at his side. Theron has her shirt unbuttoned to reveal her cleavage and that is the sex sales pitch for this poster. Donald Sutherland is in the background which lends a time honored credible actor to this movie. The bottom half has a helicopter, which were not prevalent in 1969, and Mini Coopers, which were ever so popular in 2003 when this movie was released. Then there is the phrase “Get in. Get out. Get even.” that to me means that this will not be some long drawn out movie, but rather a quick paced, action packed film.

                                   I just wanted to include these two posters I found because they exude sexual content. Obviously the one with Theron is intended for the male audience. She has this smoky erotic look like she is in a dream. It is such great idea on the advertiser’s part to put a poster out with Statham for the female demographic. He has that rogue bad boy look that will play to the emotions of women.

                                    

I believe the great variations in movie posters for The Italian Job is due to the fact that we as movie goers have evolved a lot since 1969. The main selling point in 1969 was that it was a serious action movie and since that era our movies have evolved into a more sexy and definitely more comedy filled production. I can see where there are vast differences in these posters as the different time frames themselves would bring about the latest cars, the brightest stars and the hottest fashions. The fonts could not be any more different between the two ages and I believe this to be that in 1969 the viewing public would have wanted more description of the movie in the poster to sell it to them. Also the earlier edition was directed by Peter Collinson (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0172772/) who was famed for making action movies; the 2003 version was directed by F. Gary Gray (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0336620/) who was more into comedies, music videos and some action movies. Whereas in 2003 the movie goers would be relying more on their intuition to read into the movie and with less lettering it leaves room for more action photos. The older ones seemed to rely more on the fonts and shadowing whereas the newer poster have a straight and succinct lettering to them which I believe to be due to the fact that photos in the earlier days were not as glamorous as they are today and in the newer posters we don't rely on lettering to sell us a movie through a poster. There are still the voluptuous women in both posters, but in the older poster her back to us is indicative of the demure views of the general public and having her face forward would detract from the main role of Cain who was the main action selling point of the movie poster. The newer one with Statham plays to the sexual desires of women and in the 1960's that would be completely unheard as the men of that era were the ones to pick out the movies and also pay for the theater tickets; chivalry was still alive in 1969 so I am told. The original posters were designed to be showcased in several different countries with each one specific to that country. The newer ones maintained the same pictures about them throughout distribution as far as I could tell.

Then and Now

Dad-21 years ago

I chose to interview my dad, he has a different point of view than most other people I know. He is the son of immigrant Italians and has a strong work ethic and sense of family and he is about 21 years older than me. So 21 years ago pretty much takes us back to 1991 & 1992.

The popular culture as he remembers:

        VHS Tapes & cassette tapes, CD’s emerging- these were popular as you could record or buy the movies you wanted instead of going to the theater.

     Family TV-Dallas and Cheers he began to watch-TV was different back then as to the graphic content and the morals and values portrayed. Families actually sat down together to watch a show and this way before cable, so you only had about five channels to choose from. MTV was only starting to emerge and it was all videos...no commercials or reality shows

          Blockbuster rentals-this was the way that people could stay at home, save money and spend “quality family time” at home. It made watching movies so much more convenient.

         Beepers/pagers-this era was obviously prior to cell phones and almost all of your contact away from home or office was through a pager. The problem therein lies if you were away from your home or office you had to find a pay phone and have some change. It’s hard even now to find a pay phone….you gotta look really hard.

        

    

    Desert Storm ending, country uniting, parades-this was important for him  as I was coming home safe from Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Also the country hadn’t seen a war since Vietnam really and this fight didn’t last long and there weren’t as many casualties as Vietnam. The country really came together; there were parades everywhere and I can see where the proponent for all the festivities came from the Vietnam vets that had gotten a crappy return from America after the war.

                          

Seattle Grunge music-dirty flannels and greasy hair-my dad says that he    can remember this music coming out and some of it did appeal to him, but mostly he didn’t understand the look of the “greasy bed head of hair” and flannel shirts. But he could see how the music swept through the country and changed not just the music scene, but how kids of the younger generation changed their clothing and appearance.

      

       

Terminator 2 & Silence of the Lambs & Dutch(my dad still has it on VHS!)-movies were a lot different 20 years ago as there was no PG-13 and the movie ratings kept a lot of the sex and nudity out of the theaters or at least contained it to being rated R.

Rodney King –my dad can remember the whole thing unfolding as America became black and white, literally as there was a divide among the color lines throughout the country. This effected his business as he was to be working a few jobs in the L.A. area and when the court found those officers not guilty and the race riots began, he just let those jobs go. He can remember there being some protesters down in Phoenix, but nothing to the extent of what happened in California with the looting, vandalism, arson and eventually assault and murder.

Here are the current Popular Cultures in our family:

1.     Internet-it is pop culture in that I am not sure how I would survive without. It has streamlined my life in ways of communication (Skype & Yahoo messenger from when my wife was in Iraq, it was our only way to communicate a lot of the time), banking, FB(which allows me to see other family and friends and what is happening in their lives.)

2.    Netflix/Roku-we got a Roku system last Christmas and we can now stream movies from the internet to our TV. We are actually thinking of completely disconnecting our satellite TV provider because of the ease and cost effectiveness of the Roku. We have a multitude of channels like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, several weather and sports channels. Some are free and some have a small fee, but regardless we can sit down as a family and watch shows that we choose to watch.

3.    RZR 4-I know it is not mainstream pop culture yet, but for us it is. We surround ourselves with people that also own them and take their families out camping. We spend a lot of time out in the sand dunes with this adrenaline junkie community, this is our version of quality family time. The best part for me is that we have four seats, so my wife and two sons can ride and spend time in the outdoors with me.

4.    Music-what can I say, we listen to the recent popular music in our house from country to dance to rock. With 7 kids ranging from 21 to 1, we get a copious amount of music playing in our house. Although it is funny to watch the 3 year old sing “I’m sexy and I know it” while my 1 year old son does his best “shuffle” to it.

5.    Reality shows- we mostly watch the cooking type reality shows such as Top Chef, Kitchen Nightmares, Iron Chef and the girls like Cake Boss and I like Bitchin Kitchen. We do a lot of cooking and the whole family spends time in the kitchen so we get some good ideas on what to cook next as a family from some of these shows.

Deadly Fad

Deadly Fad

                To me I see the video game fad as of lately becoming the most detrimental in our society today. The games have become so realistic that it seems there are people becoming “lost” in these fantasy games. There have been a multitude of deaths and suicides directly linked to these games by the gamer themselves by either their own admonition or through their suicide notes. The even bigger problem in my eyes is that these games keep the youth of our generation glued to the couch or monitor. There is such a lack of motivation to do anything else but sit and game all day and night. The lackadaisical attitude goes hand in hand with a poor diet and missing, sometimes altogether, physical exercise.  Then, the lack of exercise and poor nutrition lead to a multitude of physical illnesses such as diabetes type 2, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder(COPD), congestive heart failure(CGF). These previously mentioned ailments are just the biomechanical issues, what about the mental and emotional issues that are becoming more prevalent in these gamers; they are becoming rapidly more anti social. Look at the high rate of growth in online dating and dating from chat rooms. This is taken from Articlebase online “Online dating is more popular than it has ever been, and the numbers are growing. The number of people signing up for free dating sites is growing, and the number of marriages attributed to online dating with it. In 2008, over 100,000 marriages were credited to free dating sites, that is a lot of people who have found love online! Recent statistics show that over 30% of all Americans have either used an internet dating site or know someone who has. There are over 300 million people in the United States, That means over 90 million people have dove into the world of online dating!”

            That’s great that so many people are making that “connection” online, but where are their social skills? Gone! According to enrichment journal on the divorce rate in America:
“The divorce rate in America for first marriage is 41%, the divorce rate in America for second marriage is 60%, the divorce rate in America for third marriage is 73%.”

                All in all, I can see where there are a multitude of gamers that are responsible and do have jobs, relationships and are positive members of their society. I feel the breakdown is in some gamers inability to manage to have an equal balance in their lives and they would benefit greatly from becoming unplugged for a while.

5. 13-Year-Old Murders Woman for Subscription Money

In 2007, A 13-year-old boy named Dinh The Dan killed an 81-year-old woman and stole her money in order to fund an online gaming addiction. Vietnamese police report that Dan strangled the woman with a piece of rope, then buried her in a pile of sand in front of his house. Owing to his age, he was not sent to prison, but to a reeducation camp from which he will be released after good behavior.

4. Man Kills Toddler Over Broken Xbox

Tyrone Spellman, 27, played long hours on his Xbox. So, when his 17-month-old daughter pulled on some cords and tipped the Xbox to the ground, breaking it, he become completely enraged. He struck her with such force that it “cracked her skull several times.” The autopsy, too, revealed a broken arm that was at least two weeks old which social workers had failed to identify previously.

3. Daniel Petric Kills Mother Over Halo 3

After his mother and father took Halo 3 away from him, Daniel Petric, 17, unlocked the safe in which they’d hidden it. Also in the safe was a 9mm pistol. He then took the game and the pistol to his parent’s room, asked them to close their eyes because he had a surprise for them, and shot them both in the head. The father survived with critical injuries, but his mother died instantly.

2. Toddler Beaten to Death with Game Controller

Darisabel Baez, the 2-year-old daughter to 19-year-old Neida E. Baez, was beaten to death with a video game controller by Neida’s then boyfriend, Harve L. Johnson, in April of last year. Bizarrely, the girl was brought to her mother unconscious and soaking wet because Howard had tried to revive her in the bathtub. He refused to tell police his reason for beating the girl.

1. GTA-Inspired Cop Killing

There is little doubt that Devin Moore’s cop-killing spree and subsequent theft of a police cruiser were inspired by the ultraviolent video game series Grand Theft Auto. Moore took one gun from an officer, shot three others with it, and fled the station in a police cruiser. Moore was a obsessed with the GTA series of video games, and, once captured, he told police "Life's like a video game. You've got to die sometime."