Comparative HL - NES Launch Article and NES Poster

Text A: http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs24/f/2008/021/9/5/NES_Advertisment_by_dxprog.jpg
Text B: http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/10/1018nintendo-nes-launches/

The two texts I have chosen to compare are a Nintendo advertisement poster and an article titled "Oct. 18, 1985: Nintendo Entertainment System Launches." Both of these texts are associated with the success of the multi-billion dollar Japanese gaming console Nintendo; however, they are both very different in the way it is conveyed. The first text, a poster taken from Deviantart, is to celebrate Nintendo's 20th anniversary and to encourage people to buy the re-re-release of the Nintendo Entertainment System. It reaches out to all ages but particularly the young avid players of Nintendo through it's cartoon illustrations of classic videogame characters. The second text, an article, is written to inform about the history of Nintendo 25 years after the phenomenon began. It describes how in 1985 the American videogame market was not prospering but Nintendo's president was intent on spreading it there. It was published on October 18, 2010 exactly 25 years after Nintendo's launch, on wired.com a popular website for techno-holics so the audience that the article wants to reach is readers who are interested in finding out about gaming and technology.

Text A, the advertisement poster is direct and powerful in persuading the viewer to buy the product. It contains a slogun at first stating, "Celebrating twenty years of classic gaming" demonstrating to the audience that this is something Nintendo has been doing for a long while and it is part of their experience as a trusted gaming console. Next, this text only features 2 sentences in the caption, reading: "Twenty years ago Nintendo released a console that revolutionized the gaming industry. Relive the glory days with the re-re-release of the Nintendo Entertainment System." Just by using strong word choice such as the console "revolutionized" the videogame market and relive the "glory" days implies that excellence of the product and persuades people to buy it. On the other hand, the article from wired.com simply discusses how Nintendo had to undergo some struggle in order to become the huge success that it is. It explains how they had not sold even half as much of the products they had manufactured but still carried on and ended up spreading nationally. The writer, Chris Kohler, maintains a formal tone throughout and his voice is seldom portrayed in phrases like, "In America videogames were dead, dead, dead" and humour such as "anything that just played games and couldn't do your taxes was hopelessly backwards" (Kohler 1).

Text A contains a visual of a Nintendo console as a birthday cake with a candle atop it surrounded by classic Nintendo characters such as Super Mario, Luigi and others. This visual would attract the viewers' eye and cause them to read what it is about as the console representing a cake is quite interesting. There is also minimal text so it would not bore the viewer and could be easily read and understood. Text B contains a visual of boxed sets of Nintendo videogames namely Pinball, Mario Bros and Kung fu. It also contains a list of the 17 games that Nintendo had launched immediately. The visual aid and list is there to inform the reader as well in regard with the text.

Ultimately, the first text is a celebration of Nintendo's huge success twenty years later and to encourage people to purchase it whereas the second is to enlighten readers about the success story of Nintendo and how it went from being a small Japanese preneur to "the most influential videogame platform of all time" (Kohler 1). Despite the different purposes, both the texts pertain to the amazing success of Nintendo and to convince people how influential it is.

Paper 1 Analysis of "Lola" - The Kinks

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kinks/lola.html

"Lola" is a song originally written by Ray Davies and performed by his band The Kinks, originating in North London and taking the world by storm as a British Invasion band. Their song titled, "Lola" was released in 1970 and is about a man who realizes that the girl he had been dancing with the entire night in Soho London and had started to like is actually a man, too. He reacts horribly at first but then accepts it and "she" takes his hand by the end of the song.
Ray Davies has written the song in first person but it is not an event that took place in his life. He was inspired by his band manager who had gone through this scenario and wrote a song based on his point of view.
The rhyme scheme of the song is not consistent. The first verse is A-B-B-C-B-B whereas the chorus is A-A-B-C-C-B and so forth because the writer has deployed different rhyme schemes for each section of the song. There is also use of alliteration such as "Oh my Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola" and repeated use of that in between and at the end of verses.
The introduction starts off with the man meeting Lola at a club in Soho where she asks him to dance. The second is when he starts noticing the characteristics that confuse him about her. Some of these include, " When she squeezed me tight, she nearly broke my spine" and "I'm not dumb but I can't understand why she walked like a woman and talked like a man." Here he has now become confused by how she behaves. Here, the person listening to the song gets a hint or simply wonders why Lola is like that. The next verse describes how they had drank too much cheap champagne and were dancing in the electric candlelight and when Lola "picks me up and sat me on her knee/ She said dear boy won't you come home with me?" immediately implies that there is indeed something wrong. A woman would not simply pick a man up and make him sit on her knee.
Upon realizing that Lola is actually a man, he pushes her away at first but then he looks at her and she at him and he states, "girls will be boys and boys will be girls/ It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world except for Lola." Clearly, he sees Lola as an exception now. The conclusion at the end of the song is "Well I'm not the world's most masculine man/ But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man/ And so is Lola." This is where the song ends with the feel that he has accepted Lola. 
The song's genre is folk rock, and the voice is mellow. just as if he is telling a story about what took place one night at a club in Old Soho. He recalls how he felt about Lola at first, his flabbergasted reaction when he found out, and lastly how he disregarded it and still remained with her.

Oral Entries - Tank Code and A Speech by Prince Harry

Oral Entry - Tank Code

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/llog/TankCode.gif

Comparative HL - ZitsGender comic strip and Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps excerpt

Text A: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/llog/ZitsGender.gif
Text B:http://khalidrafiq.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/0/3/2603611/why_men_dont_listen_and_
women_cant_read_maps.pdf (Chapter 1 Same Species, Different Worlds, "Some things are obvious" (Page 19))

The two texts being compared are a comic strip from Language Log and an excerpt from a book titled Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps. Both the texts are about how men do not pay attention to minor details whereas women do. However, the second text is also about how women fail to see the big things which is something not evident in the first one. The purpose of Text A is to criticize men for being so unobservant of things that are important to girls. This is conveyed through a comic strip that is condescending towards men. In contrast, the purpose of Text B criticizes both for their individual negligence of certain aspects through paragraphs as a chapter would be like.

The first text comes from a Language Log from upenn.edu targeted towards its students and faculty and those who can access it online. The second text is an except from a book Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps which is written by Allan and Barbara Pease and published in 2001. The specific section I chose as a text is titled, "Some things are obvious" from Chapter 1. This book is targeted towards readers online and those who have it on paperback that only see things one way, blaming men for what they avoid saying or women. The chapter offers a different approach where it shows both sides; women criticizing men and vice versa for things they fail to notice and understand.

The first text features two characters, a man and a woman, where the woman is accusing the man of being "clueless" and not "acutely aware of his surroundings." She asks him a series of questions in the four panels, with her hands over his eyes such as what she's wearing and what he is wearing, to which he only responds with "uh.." and "um"s implying that he does not observe or pay attention to such things. The second text just had various scenarios where a man and woman would argue about trivial topics such as men would criticize women for not being able to see a red flashing light but be able to spot a sock from 50 meters away. The author demonstrates that it depends on their interest. Women prefer being organized and are observant of little things and not of the things that men find essential such as reading maps and seeing red danger lights. "Men think they're the most sensible sex. Women know they are," shows that in all circumstances they each accuse each other of not being "sensible" enough and disregarding these things.

In terms of literary techniques, the first text is humorous. The comic strip mocks women because it demonstrates how high-strung they are and care about things that are trivial to men. It gets downright ridiculous when the woman demands, "Okay, tell me who you're talking to" because that is the extent to which the thinks he is clueless. She also interrupts him just as he begins speaking with "um" to which she brings up another question. The other text is a little more realistic of scenarios where this actually happens and women are not acutely aware of directions or men with where their clothing is. The examples are still amusing such as men can never find their socks but their CDs are in alphabetical order, or that women talk too much without ever getting to the point. Overall, both with their respective humour convey the purpose that women may accuse men of being unobservant, and in the second text the additional purpose is that this could also apply conversely, and both genders tend to think the other is careless in things they rate as important.

Analysis - Teen slang: What's, like, so wrong with like?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11426737

"Teen Slang - What's, like, so wrong with like?" is a magazine article by Denise Winterman published in the BBC News Magazine. Winterman opens the article with stating that Emma Thompson, an Oscar-winning actress gets aggravated when teenagers use the word 'like' and thinks it makes them sound stupid to the extent where she feels she's going "insane" (Winterman1). However, Winterman's argument is that the word 'like' is actually useful in our daily use of language and not as big of a "crime" as Thompson seems to think it is (Winterman 1). Linguists find that the reason we use the word 'like' so much is because humans have adapted to try and make their language flow as much as possible. We use fillers such as "like" to pause and think because as non-linguists we are not as capable in terms of lexicon and grammar and especially as teenagers, we need to stop and think.
For teenagers, the word "like" has become very versatile. As a conversation filler first, it is also used as a quotative "And I was like, and she was like to him..."and to indicate a metaphor, "He like got burned when she was like..." Winterman states that the origin of "like" is from America and particularly The Valley Girl slang but has spread to the UK through means of media such as American films and television. Winterman lastly argues that "like" is a way to identify with one another for teenagers. They feel as if they belong when others speak like them and it's a form of comfort zone that differentiates them from adults. The linguist then says that in their profession, they also have acronyms that make them a community so why shouldn't teenagers outside their school life? 
Winterman as a language expert maintains a formal register throughout the article but does get her voice across. She attempts to relate to teenagers by using quotes from language experts that contain the person pronoun "we" quite frequently such as"we all stall for time and historically always have" to demonstrate that it is human beings as a whole that do this, and it is not unusual for teenagers to pause for time by adding a filler. Similar to this one, Winterman has included other quotations from language experts that do not oppose the use of "like" and using these references help to strengthen her argument that it is indeed nothing to get so angry about as the actress does. She uses some figurative language that makes her article interesting to read. An instance where she does this when she states that the actress was getting "hot under the collar" or essentially, very irritated. She has also used a metaphor to display the use of "like" as an indication of a metaphor such as "I, like, died of embarrassment when you told me to stop using slang."
This article from BBC News is helpful in conveying her argument. As it is a trusted source and there are various references to linguists such as Dr. Groves and Professor Upton, it makes her point strong.

Gender roles in Archie and Friends [Written task Prep]

Growing up, I would love reading comics lying around the house. One of the series I enjoyed most was Archie which is an American publication from the 1940's and its various spin offs such as Betty and Veronica and Jughead. I enjoyed the humorous characters present in the comics and looking back on it, I decided to reflect on some of the gender roles portrayed by them throughout. 

Firstly the primary character is of course, Archie Andrews. He is a redheaded, freckly, lanky boy who manages to attract a variety of girls throughout the series despite the fact that he is not the bold, strong man that girls would stereotypically like. What is more is that he plays Rugby even with his less than fibrous physique and has a huge interest in cars that he cannot afford. His constant rival is Reggie Mantle; the boy who supposedly has got everything: athletic abilities, wealth and striking good looks. Reggie embodies the title of the perfect man and competes to win the affections of Veronica Lodge against Archie. There is always a sense of competition between the two but despite the fact that Reggie "has it all", he often loses to Archie when it comes to girls. This provides a different emerging insight regarding males that their physical attributes are not as important as their personality because while Archie is affectionate and sensitive, Reggie is arrogant and impervious automatically making Archie more favourable.

The two other main characters are Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge. Betty is the everyday girl who is willing to help whenever needed making Archie take her for granted as a result of that. This demonstrates that when a girl is too nice, men realize they will always have her around. She does all her work by herself and does not rely on anyone, however there is a dependency indicated by her struggle to find a boy and to impress Archie Andrews hence she is willing to do anything for him. In contrast, Veronica Lodge is the pampered, rich and beautiful girl who feels she can get anything she wants with money. She relies on her father Mr. Lodge to buy her everything she desires. She does not take responsibility and has hired people to do all her work for her unlike Betty Cooper. Veronica also strives to retain Archie's interest in her. As she is not very kind like Betty and has an unattainable aura about her, Archie clings on trying to "win" her. However her violent personality and desire to always be correct repels Archie frequently making him turn to Betty. Despite the girls' differing personalities, they develop a strong bond with each other and if it happens that Archie likes someone other than the both of them, they mutually gang up against her.The girls are also there for each other and act together as if they don't need a man, demonstrating a sort of feminism. In spite of that, they do contradict it when both of them are after Archie Andrews and have different schemes throughout the series to pursue him. Betty Cooper has a very polite tone to complement her personality whereas Veronica's language demonstrates vanity and complacence. 

Another big character in the series is Jughead Jones. Although he is a male character, he has anti-masculine interests that men are not commonly associated with in society. For instance, he loves reading a bit too much, women don't draw his attention and he does not like sports unlike the other males in the series. Despite this, he is popular among both boys and girls. With his witty sense of humour, Jughead often outsmarts Reggie Mantle, the perfect boy.The writers may have used the character Jughead to open up the eyes of people in the 40's and to show that it is completely okay for men to not be restrained by typical male interests.