Nintendo went with the materialistic appearance to allow the viewer to determine their own meaning, instead of relying on words. A bright summer day was spent by a child losing himself in a video game, while a sea of fish swims under him. Lighting in the picture is focused on the child to draw in passing eyes, also onto the fish to keep the viewer's attention. Fish is used as a metaphor as the child's imagination, given the fish are only under him and not in the surrounding waters. Centered away form the main object gives the image a more artistic approach and causes to search the ad for clues as to what it means. This technique is used   Bountiful trees are spread in the background to provide a peaceful aspect to the scenery. A peaceful scenery is essential to any past gamer who could have stumbled onto the image, because this is an often expressed emotion gamers feel when playing video games. The lighting also fades from left to right and from top to bottom; again, to focus on the child and his game, this produce an emphasis to the rustic scenery and their product. Nintendo is basically, selling happiness with optical illusion, calming emotions and childhood nostalgia.

Microsoft had a very crafty way of implying that sometimes reputations are not the best judge of character. Two sentences boldly expressed their claim, using cheeky history references as a metaphor to boost your curiosity. A pilgrimage ship sails across the bright sea, sure to catch the eye of any to pass this ad and hold your attention to reflect the statement they made. A sure fire way to make the reader laugh and think, "Hey, maybe I should get the facts."

Finding Yourself In The Sea Of Ad Space

The topic today was to find three images that remind me of home. Each picture shares a connection to my past, either the product was always around in my life or the picture represents events that I held dearly.  

The Microsoft ad was very amusing to me, because I grew up with the operating systems and watched them evolve. As an user, I can connect with the message the advertisement is portraying:Popular belief suspects that our product is incompetent, the product is better than what you would expect. Which is understandable, Microsoft has had a bad rep for a lot of their products and once the reputation sticks, people are hesitant to change their minds. This ad wants you to think for yourself, and not because of other's opinions. I was taught from a very young age that it's okay to question the mainstream and to form my own opinion. Majority of my comfort comes from independently thinking and deciding what is best for me.

One of my favorite memories with my family was spent at the dinner table full with wonderful food, great conversations, and pleased faces. The ad is trying to recreate the memory I had with other families, while also luring in moms who have children with busy lifestyles. Nutella is really advocating to the family orientated, like myself, to spend time with each other with delicious food. 

Anything is possible with imagination and your Gameboy Advance, or at least that is what Nintendo is trying to pursue. A child playing a video game at the summer dock, as his imagination runs free as the fish that swims in the lake beneath him. Most children, and adults, unleash their imaginations when playing video games, as I did when playing my video games. While my parents where working and I was home alone, I had to entertain myself, I spent hours in bliss with my handheld and my imagination. There was nothing better than loading another game and even now, hearing the music from the games takes me back to such a simple and peaceful place, which feels entirely like home. 

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Usually home is defined as a physical residence, a place where mom and dad will always have a wide open door and a warm bed, just for you. The same place you learned to walk, ride a bike, or even the numerous ridiculous birthday parties. Here you grew to be the adult you are now. What happens when the materialistic property leaves us? Sometimes the old house you grew up in can feel far from home, I believe home is where your heart is. For me, home is a feeling of security, knowing that I'm understood, wanted, and loved. My home resides in more places far from the random small town I grew up in; I feel at home when I'm around my family, friends, or even when I am alone. I am at home, when I am able to freely express myself in an unrestricted way.  


Expressing myself in words is not my strong suit; writing any amount of text takes multiple revisions until I find it acceptable. As your quote states in your syllabus: “Writing is easy. You only need to stare at a 
piece of blank paper until your forehead bleeds"', this is exactly  how I write anything over two hundred words. I stare and think of my main points and how to word them, eventually, after painful hours, words seem to emerge onto my page. It's very time consuming, and probably inefficient, but I have to go with what works. Hopefully this course will be a major improvement to this fault. 


As for myself, I am currently majoring in pre- pharmacy as a freshman. My favorite subject is biology, more specifically present day anatomy in humans. My hobbies include staying up to date in the latest gadgets and occasionally the latest pop culture references.  I hope this class to be a fun experience due to the unique approach to an English class.

Benjamin Glover