Spoofing

Spoofs are all over the place, especially on Comedy Central, but what I'm wondering is how spoofs influence people. They say any press is good press, so is any mockery good mockery? It'll still be in the news, on tv or on YouTube, that's a good thing, right? I thought a good example to use for my blog this week were spoofs of the commercial that I did my ad analysis speech on. So as a refresher here's the original commercial:

This next clip (which is terrible quality and I apologize for that) is from an episode of South Park that aired in November. Cartman uses the "LeBron James technique" on his mom. Watch:

This was one of the two times that South Park made fun of the LeBron commercial last season. Is this good for LeBron, or does it make him seem less legitimate? Does the actual commercial lose its value?

This next spoof is a YouTube phenomenon and is a poser Brett Favre doing the LeBron James commercial from a Brett Favre prospective. *This might be thought of as offensive to some people, so watch with discretion*

This mock commercial is another poke at the LeBron James commercial, although it is more of an attack on Brett Favre. So my question remains: is any spoof a good spoof?

It's All About the Idioms

Today in my Spanish 100 class we were taught how to use a bilingual dictionary. You may be thinking that a bilingual dictionary works the same as a regular dictionary, and you would be right. My textbook and professor insulted my intelligence with their assumption that dictionaries are too complicated for me. While my teacher was explaining how to use a dictionary, he brought up figures of speech that are particular to one language, idioms if you will.

The example my teacher used was "kick the bucket." He asked a girl in my class who is not a native English speaker what her first impression of the idiom was and she said that she literally thought it meant someone kicked a bucket. I never really thought about things like this that we say all the time.

Like someone saying "I'm all thumbs" when they mean that they're clumsy. That sounds so normal to a native English speaker, but if you said it to someone else they would probably assume you were crazy.

Or saying "I brought everything but the kitchen sink". That would make you sound completely insane to someone who did not grow up speaking American English (and probably even some native speakers!)

It was really interesting for me to think about the crazy things that we say that are completely normal to us.  Who would've thought that learning how to use a dictionary would be such a thought provoking experience?

...I'm Going to Count to Five...

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon I babysit for a family that goes to my church. For the first 3 hours, it's just me, a 20 month baby and a three year old; for the last three, we add a six year old. More words here.

When they're being smiley kids and we're having fun, my words make everything better. For instance, today we were playing carnival and having a blast. I was the "ticket-taker", which meant that the two older kids had to go into the toy box and find me matchbox cars to count as fare to ride the "rides" (which were actually just the couch cushions). I say "Enjoy the ride" or give the generic ride warning, "Please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times" etc., and the kids’ faces light up with excitement.

When they're hitting each other or throwing things, my words are not quite as fun. It is unreal how much a simple: "I'm going to count to five, and if you don't stop doing this you're going on time-out" can affect a child. I get to four and they instantly stop hitting, throwing or breaking.

And don't even get me started about words of praise. If I tell the three-year-old that I'm going to tell her mother how "big of a helper" she was, her mood is instantly infinitely better.

It's amazing how powerful words can be.  Sure, I'm not swaying an audience of intellectuals, but I am changing the mood of a trifecta of wonderful kids!

Clean your what?!?

I've been paying attention to commercials since we got the ad assignment in class Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised last night at my PHREE meeting (yeah, that's basically all I do, hence citing it again)  when we started talking about advertising.This ad is where the conversation led: 

 

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This ad is legitimately one of the most crude, offensive and disgusting things I have ever seen. I cannot believe that a commercial like this was made. If the target audience to it is fifteen-year-old boys, then the producers really hit the nail on the head. But if this ad is honestly able to run on American television, it really shows how far we have sunk.

I understand that the intention of the ad was to be funny, but I can't see any humor in it. I actually watched this with my jaw dropped (and that was with a warning of what I was going to see!). If you think about it in terms of a rhetorical situation, it is nothing but a joke. 

Chronos - I don't even want to think about the history of ball cleaning. 

Kairos - has getting balls clean ever had a time in the spotlight? I sure hope not.

The ideology? Every guy wants clean balls? 

The commonplaces? Balls are hard to get squeaky clean? Balls can look different?

 Target Audience - Clearly males. Probably pubescent males. 

I found this commercial so appalling, degrading and offensive that I thought it needed to be shared with all of you.