SPE-212 Blog #3

Better Homes and Gardens is a magazine geared towards people who want to know the latest cookie recipe, gardening tips, or for someone who wants to give their living room the a fashionable updated look. While reading this magazine one can find something that appeal to their taste. Better Homes and Gardens Magazine does a good job showing easy, inexpensive ideas to renovate your home all the way to spending a lot of money and modernizing your entire house. The advertising pages in this magazine do the same thing. There are ads for new foundation face makeup all the way to the newest Lexus luxury car. This makes the reader able to find something to relate to whether they are below middle class or are very wealthy.

The statistics to this magazine show that 100 percent of their readers are adults. Fifty-six percent of Better Homes and Garden readers are between the ages of 25-54 years old. The median age of the consumer is 48 years old. The median household income of readers is $63,542. This shows that the average households who buy and read this magazine are among the middle class. Twenty-six percent of readers make over $100,000 a year which is still a large chunk of Home and Garden’s income. Married couples take up sixty percent of readers, while each magazine copy is read on average five different times. Seventy-five percent of Better Home and Garden readers are home owners and the median home value is $192,293. College attendees and graduates make up sixty percent of readers. These statistics explain that Better Homes and Gardens magazine is mostly geared towards the middle class married couples who went to college and are middle aged.

As mentioned above the advertising in this magazine ranges from inexpensive to very expensive items. Every few pages there are ads throughout this magazine. They range from dog food, candy, to new windows. Most of the ads are for food companies like Velveeta cheese and Barilla pasta. This makes sense because all of these ads are for items Better Homes and Gardens magazine consumers may purchase due to there demographics.

To the left is a picture of a bedroom in the magazine. They explained that you can take this room from dark winter to bright spring just by changing the pillows, adding a fun bouquet of flowers, and lastly adding a colorful throw blanket at the end of your bed. It is interesting to see creative ideas anyone can do, even if you do not have an artistic eye.

On Better Homes and Gardens website (BHG.com) you can subscribe for a year which is twelve issues for $5.99 and two years for $11.98. This is rather inexpensive for a magazine subscription. Since the average consumer for Better Homes and Gardens is middle class this makes it reasonable for these magazines consumers to purchase.
            Overall, Better Homes and Gardens magazine is very interesting. There are tons of ideas to renovate your home and garden, while also making a delicious dessert in between. From there ads, to subscriptions, to home décor ideas that every adult can find interest in Better Home and Gardens magazine can find its way in most households today.

SPE 370 Blog Post #2



I chose this cow cartoon for my blog post because I couldn’t resist how cute he was! This cartoon is by Curtis D. Tucker. As I was searching online for the perfect cartoon this particular cow stuck out the most. I read about Tucker the cartoonist who drew this image. It was so interesting to read all the steps and processes that go into drawing this little cartoon cow. From deciding what to draw, to researching image, sketching, scanning on the computer, and much more, I never realize how much work goes into this art form.

After learning in class about art and lines and many more fascinating art facts it is intriguing to look at this cow cartoon. I see it in a new light. The gestural qualities are done very well. For instance, the tail really does look like a cow tail. He made this believable because of the gestural “jagged” tip of the tail. The contour line or the essential shape is rather smooth looking. The cow’s stomach and back look very soft. As Tucker mentioned on his website he did not want extremely hard edges on this cartoon and he worked very hard to try to make sure the contour lines were all relatively soft around the cow’s body. As for eye lines, it looks as though one eye is closed and the other eye closest to the viewer is open. I think Tucker tried to get the cow to look like he was blinking. Either way you look at this cow the eye is looking at you which I think is exciting and makes it fun to look at. When looking at this black and white cartoon cow I can see some texture. If you look where the cow’s skin stops and feet begin you can see a good divider between the two. For a cartoon drawing it looks extremely exceptional and gives the person looking at this cartoon a sense of where there feet are in relation to his legs. In class we learned about texture and we viewed a picture of two men in a field working with a shovel and we said how it looked calm because of the texture of their outlines. I feel the same way when looking at this cow cartoon. Since his texture is relatively smooth it makes him look like an overall friendly happy cow. When looking at this picture I see representational and non-representational. It is a cow and most of us would realize that right away which makes it representational but on the other hand it is not a picture of an actual cow (considering cows do not have hands) which would make it non-representational. I really enjoyed looking at this cow cartoon and breaking it down into sections and using new information I learned in class to analyze this cartoon.

Fun fact: this cow picture was originally made for a t-shirt company logo but was not purchased. It was later sold to an up and coming search engine website.



The picture above I found while researching a cartoon. I thought it represented positive and negative space very well. It is a picture of two zebras. The left side with the white background looks very calming to me and shows the zebras in a happy light. I believe this is because there is more negative space then positive. The right side with the black background is the same exact picture just with the black and white colors switched. I think the picture looks completely different. I see the zebras looking more dark and mysterious since there is more positive space. It is really neat to see the same black and white image and how it can turn into a completely new picture just by switching the positive and negative space around.

SPE 212 Blog #2

This weekend Whitney Houston passed away. Houston was a world known singer and released her debut album in February of 1985. She was known for her powerful voice but also her struggle with drug addictions. When I found out about Houston’s sudden death I knew it would be an interesting topic for my blog post.

When I first heard the news I went on CNN.com where they explained that Houston was only forty-eight years old and it was still unsure what the cause of death may be. As I continued reading CNN quoted Kelly Price who sang with Houston at a pre-Grammy party just two days before Houston died. The article made it sound like Houston was in good spirits and there was no sign of illness. CNN did a good job making everyone remember Whitney Houston in a positive way and not for her bad habits she also may be known for. CNN listed some of Houston’s awards and achievements and discussed how successful she was. Officials are still not sure what happened and it may take a few weeks for the toxicology results to come in. The only fact that CNN released was that Houston was found around an hour after she died in a bath tub at the Beverly Hilton hotel on Saturday afternoon. The article then discussed all the positive support that has begun since her death was announced. Singers and songwriters including Celine Dion, and LL Cool J, who was the host of the Grammys and many more, gave their condolences to the Houston family.

On Al Jazeera.com the story started by saying that U.S. singer Whitney Houston died in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and there were no signs of trauma or foul play. The article then discussed how Houston’s fans are mourning her death. It was said that people from her Newark, New Jersey where Houston was from to Beverly Hills, California are all paying tribute to her. Then the story discussed the Grammys Sunday night and how LL Cool J brought up Houston’s death at the opening of the award show by saying a prayer for Houston.

Both CNN and Al Jazeera commented on Whitney Houston’s death but they were very different articles to say the least. CNN was a lot more thorough and had more information about Houston. They discussed what happened from the Grammys, to how Houston’s family is doing. Al Jazeera’s article was to the point and did not talk as much about Houston’s success and how talented she was as a singer. I do not believe this is considered international or political bias because in the U.S. we are bound to be more interest in Houston’s death than people across the world reading Al Jazeera. This is also why I believe Al Jazeera didn’t have as much information and why the story was much shorter. Although, there were a few similarities I came across. Some of which were how Houston supposedly died and basic information like how old she was and her location of the tragedy.  It was very interesting to compare and contrast CNN and Al Jazeera as they covered Whitney Houston and her death this past weekend.

Overall, I believe CNN did a better job because they gave the most information but both news organizations got the story out and accurately (or as accurate they can for the time being). People who read Al Jazeera on a normal basis are probably just fine with knowing the information they reported on Houston’s death. And the people, who read CNN like myself, are most likely pleased with the information they reported on this surprising incident.

After discussing globalization in class it is intriguing to think about these two types of news organizations. I believe CNN and Al Jazeera did their job well. Even though both organizations are across the world from each other in distance they both made sure the news got out of Houston’s death rather quickly and everyone who reads each of these stories will know the latest information. I find it fascinating how fast news can travel around the world and now I see how globalization plays a role in it.

Blog #1 SPE- 212-010

As much as it pains me to say, I watch Keeping up with the Kardashians every Sunday faithfully. In 2007 the hit reality show aired on E! Entertainment television channel. I remember tuning in and not understanding why this family had their own TV show. As I watched each episode I found myself enthralled with such a glamourized lifestyle. The family is made up of Bruce Jenner who was an Olympic gold medalist and Kris Jenner who was formally married to Robert Kardashian. Robert was OJ Simpson’s attorney. After Robert passed away of cancer Kris Jenner and her three older daughters Kourtney, Kim, and Khloe decided to own and manager two clothing stores. This caught my attention because what young girl doesn’t want to be beautiful and own the cutest boutique in town?

Season one of Keeping up with the Kardashians came across as “real” reality TV to me. They aired the family during good times and in bad. Whether they were fighting or happy it seemed real. I did realize they were wealthy but I could still relate to their problems and everyday life. The first picture I posted above is the season one photo which shows the family in front of their California ranch. As the show became even more popular so did the family. The two youngest girls Kendall and Kylie Jenner are now 16 and 14. They have become a fixed part of the TV show as well.

As I got older and wiser I realized the show is not as “real” as it once seemed to be. The second picture I posted is of the season six photo shoot. It is a goddess themed picture and makes each of the women look even more unlike the normal "American family". There has been numerous spin off shows that have come from Keeping up with the Kardashians. The main one is called Kourtney and Kim take New York. The season just ended last week and with the finale, came lots of rumors. The recent information that has leaked is about Kim (The main Kardashian, partly because of her recent divorce from Kris Humphries). It was reported that Kim and her mom Kris reenacted a moment in the car that was supposedly recorded when they were in Dubai. The two women were spotted in the same outfits going into the same car in LA that was recorded previously Dubai. They acted out a scene of the two discussing Kim and husband Kris and how they weren’t getting along. It was later discovered that this was done in order to protect Kim and make her look better than her EX Kris Humphries.

This put the straw on the camel’s back for me. It was then I realized that for years I have been watching a reality show at its worse. This was an everyday family that got lucky with a TV show. They are making people believe that their lives are real and that it’s normal to wake up and be that successful and popular. I believe it is extremely easy to be seduced by the illusion of reality TV because as humans we get so caught up in excitement of famous people’s lives that we tend to forget that it is NOT the norm. After realizing the truth behind this particular show it makes me view the world in a new way. I tend to be more curious. I do not believe what I see right away. I tend to be more open to my surroundings now, which I think is a positive thing. In the movie we watched in class called Media Impact they discussed how influential a movie or TV show can be and now after doing this blog post I couldn't agree more with them.

SPE-370 Blog Post #1



I chose a four leaf clover to represent me. This symbol in many ways shows who I am as a person and expresses my past. To some people this is just a four leaf clover. They are found in green grasses in the spring time but after picked and considered lucky they are usually thrown to the ground.

 This icon is very special to me for a few reasons. I have a very strong Irish background and I am proud of where my ancestors came from many years ago. Another reason this icon represents me is because I was born on St. Patrick’s Day which is the day we celebrate the Irish decent. I believe it was gift that I was born on such a great day. My name is Jillian Patricia which is an extremely Irish name. The four leaf clover symbolizes me because my favorite color is green. When I was younger I thought all the green decorations on my birthday were for me, not realizing there was a national holiday going on at the same time. Green was always my favorite color and always will be.

 Lastly, I have four people in my immediate family. This includes my mom, dad, sister, and me. I feel that each clove on the four leaf clover represents each of my family members. I think it is special how all the cloves face into the middle almost looking like four hearts, and they all come together at the end with one stem. It makes me believe that even though each of my family members including myself are all very busy, and we each have our own lives we still always come back to the center just like the cloves do with the stem. We have a unique family bond that is as rare as finding an actual four leaf clover on a grassy hill. I believe that a four leaf clover icon will always represent who I am because there are so many significant meanings behind it. Seeing a four leaf clover makes me happy because it reminds me of where I came from.

In class we discussed Peirce’s 3 types of signs. A four leaf clover would be indexical because as a nation we know what a four leaf clover looks like and it was made by what it represents. In my mind it is symbolic because it represents something special to me. Now that we learned about vision and the eye it is interesting to think about how an icon such as a four leaf clover can represent a million different things depending on the person. I find that intriguing and I never even thought about that until this class.