The Arctic Monkeys album Whatever People Say I Am Thats What Im Not and the reality TV Show Popstars

The Arctic Monkeys album â€Å"Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not† and the reality TV Show Popstars: The Rivals which produced the band Girls Aloud used innovative but very different marketing techniques to sell themselves to their target audiences. How have those strategies changed from previous techniques to make music more accessible to audiences? The music industry is a worldwide business covering many genres and it is hard to define it as one single thing. Within the music industry are a large range of different markets, all targeting their products and musicians to very different audiences. There are many aspects to the music industry that need to be considered in terms of image, audience, audience size and genre. These will all affect the way a band is marketed to its audience. It is well known that â€Å"making it† in the music industry as an artist is no easy task. Over the past 40-50 years, many bands have tried and failed spectacularly. However, some have flourished and made their mark in music history, such examples include â€Å"The Beatles†, â€Å"Queen† and â€Å"The Rolling Stones†. Audiences that need to be considered by music marketers are divided into a wide range of categories such as age, gender, occupation, social grouping, region etc. In order to target specific audiences effectively, bands may need to be branded in a certain way. Branding is usually described in terms of products and is where the product is given a certain image and personality traits in order to appeal to its audience. For example, the brand Levis describes itself as â€Å"Sexy, Original and American† therefore personifying its products. In terms of bands, branding should incorporate image and music style, especially when targeting niche groups of people. Over the years, there have been clear differences in audience, shown by their different personal images e. g. Punks, Mods, Grungers, Goths etc. Marketing of bands has to adapt and be completely specific to the typical audience of that music genre and so must be presented in an appropriate style that will sell their music. People are eager to buy into the brand of a band by incorporating that certain image into their personal appearance and lifestyle. For some bands, promotional tactics must fiercely focus on image to sell the product to that particular audience who are themselves branded a certain way. This effort by record labels to promote bands by appealing and emphasizing a certain image is becoming increasingly popular. Scissor Sisters are one example of a band who's image is a central focus of who they are and what they do. Their image is evident of records companies efforts to appeal to particular audience niches. Although in the USA Scissor Sisters have had much less success than they have had in Britain (many main stores such as Wal*Mart did in fact refuse to stock the first album due to their image and portrayal) they still vigorously emphasize their happy, camp image. In their videos they have used varying techniques to play on the ideas of sexuality in our modern society, thus creating a new and varied piece which is not comparable with anything from the past. They frequently use a colourful range of backdrops which are sometimes quite cosmic or fantastical (e. g. in the videos for â€Å"I Don't Feel Like Dancin'† and â€Å"Take Your Mama†. in one of their earlier videos for the single â€Å"Filthy Gorgeous† MTV were forced to eventually stop showing much of the content of the video as it contained sexually semi-explicit scenes. This did cause some controversy as complaints were made about the content of the video, this only sought to increase popularity and radio air play of the single which eventually achieved a chart position of number 5 in January 2005 and number one in the dance chart. Scissor Sisters although new in terms of its topical coverage of sexuality also dates back to the era of glam rock, their influences are also seen to be varying e. the Bee Gees, Duran Duran, Queen, David Bowie etc. Therefore they may appeal to some of the older generations as well as to members of the gay scene, for whom they have become a major symbol in British society. They have also broadened to reach a younger audience through their success in the UK Charts and frequent air play on radio stations aimed at the 11-25/30 age group such as Radio 1. This in itself shows how the branding and image of a band is adamantly important if people are going to want to relate and buy into the music and values of that band and why i t is such a major focus for record companies. A major tool for music marketers in recent years has been the Internet. From vinyl to cassettes to CD's to downloading files, music has developed with technology over the past 40 years. The increasing accessibility for people to music was brought about originally by the increasing numbers of record stores and increasing interest in different music. In the early 1970's, for example, Richard Branson originally ran a mail order service for buying records, this then developed into â€Å"Virgin Megastore†, a high street chain that made music readily available to a larger audience. The development of access to music continued steadily throughout this period with the introduction of more music extravaganzas such as festivals and in the 1980's, the launch of MTV, the first television channel to be entirely music orientated. The development in technology allowed widespread access to different audiences, as nearly every media division began to cover aspects of music e. g. TV, Radio, genre specific magazines etc. It fast became difficult to avoid exposure to music and its marketing. The rise in popularity of the internet as a promotional medium today demonstrates this idea. In recent years, the Internet has become far more accessible to more people. This has led to increases in Internet marketing as a new way of letting everyone know about an artist. It is reasonably cost effective and the audience is a mass one, spanning the entire world (the number of people using the internet worldwide (as of November 27th 2006) was estimated at 1,076,203,987) A recent positive example of Internet marketing can be seen in the rise of the band â€Å"The Arctic Monkeys† to fame. The bands marketing strategy has been clear-cut in showing the importance of fans to a bands success. This began in 2003, after several gigs, the Arctic Monkeys decided to burn their tracks onto CD's to give away for free to fans. Due to limited copies, many of the fans ripped the music onto their computers in order to share the files with others through mediums such as instant messaging, e-mails and forums. The band did not object to the increased sharing of files, although this was technically illegal, as it led to increased popularity of the band, as they became better known. This can be identified through an article and chart written by Heather Hopkins (Director Of Research for Hitwise UK website), November 11th 2005, shown in Figure 1 in the appendix and supported by the following quotation: â€Å"The first chart below shows that in April, when the band was virtually unknown, visits to www. arcticmonkeys. com came from chat rooms and blogs. Search engines became a more important source of visits in June as the band's name recognition grew. † This clearly demonstrates the importance of viral marketing to the success of the band. Many mainstream music brands are slightly wary of viral marketing, despite its benefits it can prove quite negative and can also lead to illegal sharing and music being leaked onto the Internet prior to its official release, for example in 2002, Eminem's album Encore was leaked on to the internet and the promoters were forced to bring the date of official release forward. As much as bands can gain high acclaim and popularity through forum and chat room discussion, there is also the risk they could gain a lot of negative criticism, which would discourage people from buying their music and merchandise. Another example of effective Internet marketing, also used by The Arctic Monkeys and many other bands, are sites such as My Space and Yahoo music. My Space offers bands own personal pages where people can easily leave their own comments on the songs and the bands performance at recent gigs as well as listening to the songs free of charge or accessing previews of up and coming releases. Many bands also publish their tour dates on My Space. My Space has generally appealed to a mass, younger audience from around 13-30 of both sexes, this is typically as a lot of the music promoted by My Space is new and there are fewer My Spaces for some of the older bands and therefore there is little to interest older audiences. It is also widely believed that todays young people are of the â€Å"technological revoloution† and the general acceptance is that computers are of more interest to them than some other older audience members. The popularity of My Space is now leading to other websites such as Bebo and Xanga being formed which offer similar services. This again broadens the scope by which music promoters can publicise their musicians to different audiences. Rupert Murdoch, the owner of BskyB, The Times, News Of The World and The Sun recently purchased (through his international company News Corp. ) the company Intermix Media Inc which own My Space among other themed social networking websites for $580 million. Murdoch is often seen as a dominant figure in British Media, and rightly so as he owns two of the leading newspapers. He is thought to be partially responsible for swinging to the side of the Labour party in 1997 and there by causing the election of PM Tony Blair, who soon became a close ally of Murdoch's, much like Thatcher before him. Many British citizens feel threatened by Murdoch's media power, yet still many of them buy into the My Space idea and the revenue continues building as more and more diverse and newly established bands start using My Space as the beginning of their steps to promote music. Increased hits on the site means more powerful companies advertising in association with My Space, therefore leading to higher annual revenue for Murdoch. This shows evidence of the importance of internet advertising to modern business. Yahoo Music is another excellent promotional tool, which has a wide variety of music videos available free for public viewing. It also runs special features on certain bands as well as exclusive interviews and performances. This has proved extremely popular with bands and promoters alike, as it is a cheap form of marketing which is also highly effective. It requires little advertising as most fans of the bands are already aware of the bands website and they are usually linked to their My Space etc. Viral marketing acts as the main promotional form behind the internet promotion phenomenon. Viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use existing social networks to increase brand awareness, they may include many internet based mediums such as blogs (many bands use blogs to create on tour diaries e. g. Watford based band Mohair. ) chat rooms and instant messaging are also forms of Viral marketing. Throughout the 20th century, technology has experienced many developments and decades of technological advance, in particular in more media orientated areas. For example, the 50's became the era of the television. More and more families owned television sets in the UK and this was clear when 20 million tuned in on the 2nd of June 1953 to watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. This showed just how popular television was becoming as a medium for broadcasting what was going on in the world. This technological revolution continues today as we go through what has become widely known as â€Å"The digital revolution†. Television has expanded further to include more and more channels, which can appeal to smaller, niche audiences. This has been of great value to musicians and their promoters; they can now target their audience more specifically. For example, a band like the Arctic Monkeys who have become more of a â€Å"mainstream† rock act may be promoted through general chart music channels such as TMF and The Hits who appeal to those interested in that area of music. On the other hand, acts like Marilyn Manson and Iron Maiden may be promoted on Kerrang! As they are aimed at a more niche audience and are not so much part of the chart music industry. Kerrang! Is already an established brand in itself, the magazine from which it originates was first published in 1981 and originally covered a lot of new wave British metal. If people have certain expectations of a television channel, they can make the decision as to whether it interests them or not and if it does the niche audience for that genre can be targeted effectively by the music promoters. The increase in channels has led to a wider variety in television broadcasting. As a result, to keep the publics interest, terrestrial channel corporations such as the BBC and ITV have realised they need to develop newer more innovative programmes to keep up their audience figures. This is particularly important for Channels 4, 5 and ITV, Who unlike the BBC receive no public funding and gain all their income from advertisers. In order to increase viewing figures and boost profits, the channels have tried many different tactics and one of these has been the increasing development of Reality TV. Reality television is a genre of programming in itself, which usually presents unscripted pieces and may document actual events or people. The use of real people instead of actors has led to a real explosion in the use of reality TV since around 2000 when Big Brother began in the UK. Comparatively to 10 years ago it is now much easier to become a celebrity, and in a society that is becoming more and more celebrity obsessed, this has increased the popularity of reality shows where normal every day people are documented. The audience almost craves the â€Å"fly on the wall† type documentary where they are able to perceive and form their own judgements of others through surveillance. Simon Fullers â€Å"Pop Idol† originally kicked off the music and talent based reality television we know today. Simon Fuller was well know already in the music industry for being the manager of the Spice Girls during their highly successful mid-1990's period. He was also responsible for the band S Club 7 who were formed to appear in the children's television series LA 7 and Miami 7. The idea for â€Å"Pop Idol† proved exceedingly popular in the UK as hopeful singers entertained the nation with notorious displays of â€Å"talent† on our television screens. Fuller went on to develop this idea in other countries such as America. The first series of American Idol was highly successful and was responsible for the discovery of Kelly Clarkson, now a hugely popular international pop star. The basic format of the programme has led to various spin offs including more recently X Factor and in September 2002 â€Å"Popstars: The Rivals†, which resulted in the band Girls Aloud. The show aimed to whittle down the thousands of contenders that auditioned to just two 5 piece groups of boys and girls, One True Voice and Girls Aloud. The current success of Girls Aloud has proved that even manufactured bands can succeed in the record industry if they are promoted and marketed in the right way. A manufactured band is a group of people put together by a record company, or in this case a television show in order to make a profit and give publicity to the medium through which they are published. Manufactured bands are often selected because of looks rather than actual talent in an attempt to appeal to a modern society where beauty and appearance is clearly adamantly important. In relation to Reception Analysis however, not everyone reacts in the same way to the presentation of these manufactured bands, although younger audiences may seem them as figures they can aspire to be, critics often think of manufactured bands as being damaging to the music industry and synthetically artificial. In the 1960's, the first manufactured band â€Å"The Monkees† were brought together as the central focus for a television show of the same name in LA, California. However, the real era of the generic manufactured â€Å"girl/boy bands† began in the nineties. In an attempt to focus on a younger audience, record companies compiled different individuals with certain images in order to appeal to different segments of that audience. Bands such as The Spice Girls, Atomic Kitten, Take That, N*Sync and Backstreet Boys all enjoyed chart success in the nineties and many critics have now built a formula of these bands that is easily recognisable. The media critics and the public have developed a definite dislike for these manufactured artists. Therefore it is questionable as to why Girls Aloud have been so successful. Girls Aloud have been innovatively marketed right from the start of their careers in 2002. They began as contestants on a television show and viewers watched their progress all the way to the final. The Uses and Gratifications theory suggests that for a television show to captivate its audience, it should incorporate certain methods that allow the viewers to interact, relate and enjoy watching the characters in the programme. In the case of Girls Aloud, following their progress allowed viewers to develop personal relationships with the girls as they were regularly featured on an almost daily basis between September and December of 2002. An added benefit to the band was that their first single â€Å"Sound Of The Underground† was put up against their rivals One True Voice for Christmas Number one that year, this in itself generated considerable publicity for the band. In Chart history, the Christmas number one shows a true landmark for an artist and to reach is considered a yearly achievement. Girls Aloud succeeded in gaining the Christmas number one position for that year pushing their opponents to one side. Again, the idea of â€Å"Girl Power†, originally an element of the Spice Girls in the nineties was some what revived which may have given the band further appeal, especially to a younger audience. The beginnings of Girls Aloud and the Popstars: The Rivals show generated a lot of media interest especially from the tabloid newspapers. Particularly, the scandal involving potential band mates being disqualified from the show, or in the case of Nicola Ward, refusing to sign the contract. This proved to be good for the group and initiated promotion of the bands image, even before the television series ended. When Girls Aloud then officially began their career as a band they had effectively been given a boost already by the television shows and so they already had an established fan base, giving them much advantage over bands starting from scratch. This was a similar tactic to that used by â€Å"The Monkees† 40 years previously, however developments in technology and increased television ownership and availability of channels made this all the more effective for Girls Aloud. From these origins, Girls Aloud have been marketed using many different media forms. The girls themselves are seen as the typical models of female perfection that are such role models to young girls. They are regularly featured in such gossip magazines as Heat, Closer and OK! And so they are a central focus in today's modern celebrity obsessed society. Girls Aloud have been described as remaining â€Å"constant tabloid fodder†. Suggesting their marketing strategy is to gain as much press attention as possible in order to increase their music and merchandise sales. In June 2006, the band successfully generated a large amount of press coverage through a variety of stories and scandals in the tabloids and celebrity magazines. One such example was the press coverage of Cheryl Tweedy's relationship with Ashley Cole and her holidaying with the â€Å"WAGS† at the World Cup. This was a frequent feature throughout the summer months in all the gossip magazines and red top tabloids. Although not planned as such, this also acted as a promotional tool for the band as Cheryl, as their representative, was showing a more glamorous, rich image. Her association with well known celebrities e. g. Victoria Beckham also meant that she was receiving more media attention for the band from a larger audience which could potentially increase their international scope of fans and record sales. This increase of public interest may have also been part of the plan to further promote the bands other promotional tactics, for example their â€Å"Fly-On-The-Wall† Documentary â€Å"Girls Aloud: Off the Record†. Image is of course a central focus of the Girls Aloud current marketing strategy, they have a large male fan base and so their portrayal must be one that emanates both beauty and sex appeal as it is common media knowledge that â€Å"Sex Sells†. A recent criticism of bands like Girls Aloud and other popular female media figures is that they are projecting a bad image as role models to younger females. Society has quickly become celebrity obsessed, especially as it is now more easy to become a celebrity than ever and the â€Å"perfect body image† has never been more important in the media than it is now. Eating disorders in young females are increasingly being blamed on the media as people strive for â€Å"perfection†. This problem has been largely illustrated recently by the decision by Milan Fashion Week to not include the so called â€Å"Stick thin women† and also Spanish fashion Week â€Å"Ban on skinny models†. However, anorexia is still proving a continuing problem in this country. Another flaw in the bands representation was in January 2003 when Cheryl Cole became involved in an altercation in a nightclub with a toilet attendant, Cole was subsequently charged with racially aggravated assault (She apparently called the toilet attendant a â€Å"black bitch† among other racial insults) and later convicted to a i500 fine and 120 hours community service. This story was a major one in 2003 for all the tabloids and gossip magazines and did little to enhance the girls image as a whole. Four years on from this incident, the girls have been constantly striving to move away from this negative press to gain a more positive image, but one that still exudes beauty and sex appeal. Through promotion of the band Girls Aloud, the image focus means that they are always expected to have a certain glamorous look, if this is not achieved they are likely to receive criticism. However, music promoters must be careful in how they deal with the sensitive issue of eating disorders in relation to their band members in order to keep the press happy and in order to keep fans satisfied. Certain expectations are put on major female media icons appearances, and as suggested by the hypodermic needle theory, if the audience see these icons, they may connote certain beliefs about their image. The hypodermic needle theory suggests that the audience are passively fed these values and ideas and as today's society's obsession with personal image becomes stronger, it is clear the issue needs to be tackled delicately by celebrities and bands such as Girls Aloud. Berger suggested that â€Å"Men act women appear† and this is true to some extent in the case of Girls Aloud, despite their appeal to a younger audience, they often flaunt their sexuality to gain media attention and attention from fans. However they are in some control as they conduct the publicity and their ultimate aim is to entertain fans and make a profit. Figure 3 (See Appendix) is from the magazine â€Å"Arena† published by company EMAP. The magazine is promoted as a more male adult read than â€Å"Lad Mags† such as FHM and Maxim and may focus on more of a B, C1, C2 audience category. It runs a variety of articles on food, films, technology, sex, fitness, music etc and this cover is taken from the March 2005 issue. This front cover features two members of Girls Aloud; Sarah Harding and Cheryl Tweedy. Many connotations are immediately apparent from this cover, connotations which demonstrate the ideas behind their image focussed promotional strategy. The stance of the two girls and their clothing immediately gives suggestion of sexual innuendo, the girls are selling the magazine on this image as it is likely to be the first thing someone will see when they pick it up. The colour of their outfits, black again fits in with the idea of sexual connotations and the fact that Sarah seems to be holding on and in control of Cheryl acts as another sexual suggestion. The image has been taken at a low angle and is lit quite dimly, the lower angle may seek to show their features as well as portraying them as quite domineering and women of sexual prowess, the dim lighting adds enigma to the scene which fits with the subheading â€Å"Warning: contains scenes of an adult nature! and encourages the reader to buy the magazine to see what's inside. Although not typical of all Girls Aloud promotional tactics in written media, this front cover focuses on one segment of their target audience effectively. A more recently developed promotional technique for many celebrities are so called â€Å"Fly on the Wall† documentaries, popularised by programmes like â€Å"The Osbournes† and â€Å"Newly Weds†. Girls Aloud were quick to follow in the footsteps of these programmes when in April 2006 they launched the six-part series â€Å"Girls Aloud: Off the Record† on E4. This promotional tactic was a little different to conventional tactics used by bands for many years, such as posing for magazine covers. It aimed to show the realities of life within the band and in contrast to their image based promotion, it showed the regular ups and downs of the band. This insight into the band could have varying affects on audience members, the idea that they are â€Å"plucked from obscurity to become Britain's most successful girl group ever† could induce personal identity with the band members. There is a realisation here that they were just ordinary people before they formed the group, therefore the audience may better understand their hectic lives and can relate to that as members themselves of our fast paced modern society. The idea behind this promotional tactic would have been to increase awareness of the band and to also encourage people to re-form personal relationships with the band members as they may have done during Popstars: The Rivals. Again, showing the realities of life in the band, like Viral marketing, may have a negative impact on the audience, but it still generates publicity. The opening sequence of Episode One â€Å"Girls Aloud: Off The Record† demonstrates and connotes some of the ideas and values at the base of the bands formation. The opening shot shows the girls being introduced on a stage type setting, with curtains slowly drawing back to reveal them all dancing, this is then quickly followed by some fast edited shots of some of their promotion e. g. press taking pictures, performing, photo shoots etc. The colour and clothing codes used here are very glamorous and colourful and are likely to appeal to the younger trendy female audience that are often seen as one of the bands targeted fan bases. The image of glamour and of the girls having a good time is then balanced out by some more negative portrayals which show Girls Aloud in a contrasting light e. g. showing them swearing, some of the tabloid headlines are shown about them, arguments etc. This juxta-pose of two images acts as a teaser as to what is to come in the programme and even for those unfamiliar with the band, they may still be drawn in to watching the show. Syd Fields theory, although more generally applied to film, can still be applied here and demonstrates the importance of the first 5 minutes of a programme being essential for captivating an audience. In order for marketers to successfully gain fans of the band, the captive audience must be able to gain both surveillance and personal relationships to keep them interested. In this case, the use of voiceovers, talking head shots and the non diagetic sound of one of there popular singles in the background seeks to intensify the audiences curiosity. The interviews and shots seem a very random selection of clips and are enigmatic enough to encourage viewers to keep watching. Although the band is shown in two different lights here, it is clear the glamour could still potentially appeal to audience members and encourage them to relate and therefore like the band. In the past, other bands have also generated publicity through television appearances, on shows such as Top of the Pops, Later With Jools Holland and Friday Night With Jonathan Ross. These are seen as more covert promotional tactics used by PR not to necessarily directly advertise the band to the audience, but to target those who do not necessarily normally take an interest in celebrities and the music industry and who can be reintroduced into that idea through general television viewing. Some of the less conventional techniques used by bands have succeeded in generating the most publicity. One such example is the well renowned incident of punk rock band The Sex Pistols appearing on the early evening broadcast of the â€Å"Today† programme on the 1st of December 1976. Having taken full advantage of facilities backstage and following copious amounts of alcohol, the band caused outrage amongst viewers by openly swearing and being offensive to the equally drunk host Bill Grundy, whose career ended abruptly as a consequence. This â€Å"Filth and Fury† prompted increased public interest in the UK punk scene that was developing at the time and although it led to hostile press and local authorities cancelling gigs, it generated much publicity and for the band and reinforced the rebellious punk image. The bands continued antics built them a reputation which increased their popularity amongst teenage audiences, who were eager to rebel against societies codes and conventions of that time. This proves that even risqui promotional tactics such as that of the Sex Pistols can prove hugely successful and they are still a world renowned band to this day. Music promotional techniques have expanded in recent years with the development of new technology and trends and continue to be highly innovative. The â€Å"Digital revolution† has played a major part in this with new areas for advertising such as the Internet and more Television channels aimed at different market segments. The strategies have developed from some earlier successful music promotion tactics to effectively portray musician image and to also target more specific, niche audiences. The internet is likely to remain core to this developing range of promotion and with increasing numbers of people downloading songs online, and it may well dominate all future marketing techniques.

Fool Chapter 2

TWO NOW, GODS, STAND UP FOR BASTARDS![11] I found Drool in the laundry resolving a wank, spouting great gouts of git-seed across the laundry walls, floors, and ceiling, giggling, as young Shanker Mary wagged her tits at him over a steaming cauldron of the king's shirts. â€Å"Put those away, tart, we've a show to do.† â€Å"I was just giving ‘im a laugh.† â€Å"If you wanted to show charity you could have bonked him honest and there'd be a lot less cleaning to do.† â€Å"That'd be a sin. Besides, I'd as soon straddle a gateman's halberd as try to get a weapon that girth up me.† Drool pumped himself dry and sat down on the floor splay-legged, huffing like a great dribbling bellows. I tried to help the lout repack his tackle, but getting him into a codpiece against his firm enthusiasm was like trying to pound a bucket over a bull's head – a scenario I thought comical enough to perhaps work into the act tonight, should things get slow. â€Å"Nothing stopping you from givin' the lad a proper cleavage toss, Mary. You had 'em out and all soaped up, a couple of jumps and a tickle and he'd have carried water for you for a fortnight.† â€Å"He already does. And I don't even want that thing near me. A Natural, he is. There's devils in his jizm.† â€Å"Devils? Devils? There's no devils in there, lass. Chock full o' nitwits, to be sure, but no devils.† A Natural was either blessed or cursed, never just an accident of nature, as the name implied. Sometime during the week, Shanker Mary had gone Christian on us, despite being a most egregious slut. You never knew anymore who you were dealing with. Half the kingdom was Christian, the other half paid tribute to the old gods of Nature, who were always showing promise on the moonrise. The Christian God with his â€Å"day of rest† was strong with the peasants come Sunday, but by Thursday when there was drinking and fucking to be done, Nature had her kit off, legs aloft, and a flagon of ale in each hand, taking converts for the Druids as fast as they could come. They were a solid majority when the holiday was about, dancing, drinking, shagging the virgins, and sharing the harvest, but on the human sacrifice or burn-down-the-King's-forest days, there was none but crickets cavorting 'round the Stonehenge – the singers having forsaken Mother Earth for Father Church. â€Å"Pretty,† said Drool, trying to wrestle back control of his tool. Mary had commenced to stirring the laundry but had neglected to pull her dress up. Had the git's attention hostage, she did. â€Å"Right. She's a bloody vision of loveliness, lad, but you've buffed yourself to a gleam already and we've work to do. The castle's awash in intrigue, subterfuge, and villainy – they'll be wanting-comic relief between the flattery and the murders.† â€Å"Intrigue and villainy?† Drool displayed a gape-toothed grin. Imagine soldiers dumping hogsheads of spittle through the crenellations atop the castle wall – thus is Drool's grin, as earnest in expression as it is damp in execution – a slurry of good cheer. He loves intrigue and villainy, as they play to his most special ability. â€Å"Will there be hiding?† â€Å"There will most certainly be hiding,† said I, as I shouldered an escaped testicle into his cod. â€Å"And listening?† â€Å"Listening of cavernous proportions – we shall hang on every word as God on Pope's prayers.† â€Å"And fuckery? Will there be fuckery, Pocket?† â€Å"Heinous fuckery most foul, lad. Heinous fuckery most foul.† â€Å"Aye, that's the dog's bollocks,[12] then!† said Drool, slapping his thigh. â€Å"Did you hear, Mary? Heinous fuckery afoot. Ain't that the dog's bollocks?† â€Å"Oh yeah, the dog's bloody B. it is, love. If the saints are smilin' on us, maybe one of them nobles will hang your wee mate there like they been threatening.† â€Å"Two fools well-hung we'd have then, wouldn't we?† said I, elbowing my apprentice in the ribs. â€Å"Aye, two fools well-hung, we'd have, wouldn't we?† said Drool, in my voice, tone to note coming out his great maw as like he'd caught an echo on his tongue and coughed it right back. That's the oaf's gift – not only can he mimic perfectly, he can recall whole conversations, hours long, recite them back to you in the original speakers' voices, and not comprehend a single word. He'd first been gifted to Lear by a Spanish duke because of his torrential dribbling and the ability to break wind that could darken a room, but when I discovered the Natural's keener talent, I took him as my apprentice to teach him the manly art of mirth. Drool laughed. â€Å"Two fools well-hung – â€Å" â€Å"Stop that!† I said. â€Å"It's unsettling.† Unsettling indeed, to hear your own voice sluicing pitch-perfect out of that mountain of lout, stripped of wit and washed of irony. Two years I'd had Drool under my wing and I was still not inured to it. He meant no harm, it was simply his nature. The anchoress at the abbey had taught me of nature, making me recite Aristotle: â€Å"It is the mark of an educated man, and a tribute to his culture, that he look for precision in a thing only as its nature allows.† I would not have Drool reading Cicero or crafting clever riddles, but under my tutelage he had become more than fair at tumbling and juggling, could belch a song, and was, at court, at least as entertaining as a trained bear, with slightly less proclivity for eating the guests. With guidance, he would make a proper fool. â€Å"Pocket is sad,† said Drool. He patted my head, which was wildly irritating, not only because we were face-to-face – me standing, him sitting bum-to-floor – but because it rang the bells of my coxcomb in a most melancholy manner. â€Å"I'm not sad,† said I. â€Å"I'm angry that you've been lost all morning.† â€Å"I weren't lost. I were right here, the whole time, having three laughs with Mary.† â€Å"Three?! You're lucky you two didn't burst into flames, you from friction and her from bloody thunderbolts of Jesus.† â€Å"Maybe four,† said Drool. â€Å"You do look the lost one, Pocket,† said Mary. â€Å"Face like a mourning orphan what's been dumped in the gutter with the chamber pots.† â€Å"I'm preoccupied. The king has kept no company but Kent this last week, the castle is brimming with backstabbers, and there's a girl-ghost rhyming ominous on the battlements.† â€Å"Well, there's always a bloody ghost, ain't there?† Mary fished a shirt out of the cauldron and bobbed it across the room on her paddle like she was out for a stroll with her own sodden, steaming ghost. â€Å"You've got no cares but making everyone laugh, right?† â€Å"Aye, carefree as a breeze. Leave that water when you're done, would you, Mary? Drool needs a dunking.† â€Å"Nooooooo!† â€Å"Hush, you can't go before the court like that, you smell of shit. Did you sleep on the dung heap again last night?† â€Å"It were warm.† I clouted him a good one on the crown with Jones. â€Å"Warm's not all, lad. If you want warm you can sleep in the great hall with everyone else.† â€Å"He ain't allowed,† offered Mary. â€Å"Chamberlain[13] says his snoring frightens the dogs.† â€Å"Not allowed?† Every commoner who didn't have quarters slept on the floor in the great hall – strewn about willy-nilly on the straw and rushes – nearly dog-piled before the fireplace in winter. An enterprising fellow with night horns aloft and a predisposal to creep might find himself accidentally sharing a blanket or a tumble with a sleepy and possibly willing wench, and then be banished for a fortnight from the hall's friendly warmth (and indeed, I owe my own modest apartment above the barbican[14] to such nocturnal proclivity), but put out for snoring? Unheard of. When night's inky cape falls o'er the great hall, a gristmill it becomes, the machines of men's breath grind their dreams with a frightful roar, and even Drool's great gears fall undistinguished among the chorus. â€Å"For snoring? Not allowed in the hall? Balderdash!† â€Å"And for having a wee on the steward's wife,† Mary added. â€Å"It were dark,† explained Drool. â€Å"Aye, and even in daylight she is easily mistaken for a privy, but have I not tutored you in the control of your fluids, lad?† â€Å"Aye, and with great success,† said Shanker Mary, rolling her eyes at the spunk-frosted wall. â€Å"Ah, Mary, well said. Let's make a pact: If you do not make attempts at wit, I will refrain from becoming a soap-smelling prick-pull. What say ye?† â€Å"You said you liked the smell of soap.† â€Å"Aye, well, speaking of smell. Drool, fetch some buckets of cold water from the well. We need to cool this kettle down and get you bathed.† â€Å"Nooooooo!† â€Å"Jones will be very unhappy with you if you don't hurry,† said I, brandishing Jones in a disapproving and somewhat threatening manner. A hard master is Jones, bitter, no doubt, from being raised as a puppet on a stick. A half-hour later, a miserable Drool sat in the steaming cauldron, fully-clothed, his natural broth having turned the lye-white water to a rich, brown oaf-sauce. Shanker Mary stirred about him with her paddle, being careful not to stir him beyond suds to lust. I was quizzing my student on the coming night's entertainments. â€Å"So, because Cornwall is on the sea, we shall portray the duke how, dear Drool?† â€Å"As a sheep-shagger,† said the despondent giant. â€Å"No, lad, that's Albany. Cornwall shall be the fish-fucker.† â€Å"Aye, sorry, Pocket.† â€Å"Not a worry, not a worry. You'll still be sodden from your bath, I suspect, so we'll work that into the jest. Bit of sloshing and squishing will but add to the merriment, and if we can thus imply that Princess Regan is herself, a fishlike consort, well I can't think of anyone who won't be amused.† â€Å"‘Cepting the princess,† said Mary. â€Å"Well, yes, but she is very literal-minded and often has to be explained the thrust of the jest a time or two before lending her appreciation.† â€Å"Aye, remedial thrusting's the remedy for Regan's stubborn wit,† said the puppet Jones. â€Å"Aye, remedial thrusting's the remedy for Regan's stubborn wit,† said Drool in Jones's voice. â€Å"You're dead men,† sighed Shanker Mary. â€Å"You're a dead man, knave!† said a man's voice from behind me. And there stood Edmund, bastard son of Gloucester, blocking the only exit, sword in hand. Dressed all in black, was the bastard: a simple silver brooch secured his cape, the hilts of his sword and dagger were silver dragon heads with emerald eyes. His jet beard was trimmed to points. I do admire the bastard's sense of style – simple, elegant, and evil. He owns his darkness. I, myself, am called the Black Fool. Not because I am a Moor, although I hold no grudge toward them (Moors are said to be talented wife-stranglers) and would take no offense at the moniker were that the case, but my skin is as snowy as any sun-starved son of England. No, I am called so because of my wardrobe, an argyle of black satin and velvet diamonds – not the rainbow motley of the run-a-day fool. Lear said: â€Å"After thy black wit shall be thy dress, fool. Perhaps a new outfit will stop you tweaking Death's nose. I'm short for the grave as it is, boy, no need to anger the worms before my arrival.† When even a king fears irony's twisted blade, what fool is ever unarmed? â€Å"Draw your weapon, fool!† said Edmund. â€Å"Sadly, sir, I have none,† said I. Jones shook his head in unarmed woe. We both were lying, of course. Across the small of my back I wore three wickedly-pointed throwing daggers – fashioned for me by the armorer to be used in our entertainments – and while I had never used them as weapons, truly flung they had spitted apples off the head of Drool, nipped plums from his outstretched fingers, and yea, even speared grapes out of the air. I had little doubt that one might find its way into Edmund's eye and thus vent his bitter mind like a lanced boil. If he needed to know he would know soon enough. If not, well, why trouble him? â€Å"If not a fight, then a murder it is,† said Edmund. He lunged, his blade aimed for my heart. I sidestepped and knocked his blade away with Jones, who lost a bell from his coxcomb for his trouble. I hopped up onto the lip of the cauldron. â€Å"But, sir, why spend your wrath on a poor, helpless fool?† Edmund slashed. I leapt. He missed. I landed on the far side of the cauldron. Drool moaned. Mary hid in the corner. â€Å"You shouted bastard at me from the battlements.† â€Å"Aye, they announced you as bastard. You, sir, are a bastard. And a bastard most unjust to make me die with the foul taste of truth still on my tongue. Allow me a lie before you strike: You have such kind eyes.† â€Å"But you spoke badly of my mother as well.† He put himself between me and the door. Bloody bad planning, building a laundry with only one exit. â€Å"I may have implied that she was a poxy whore, but from what your father says, that, too, is not breaking the bonds of verity.† â€Å"What?† asked Edmund. â€Å"What?† asked Drool, a perfect parrot of Edmund. â€Å"What?† inquired Mary. â€Å"It's true, you git! Your mother was a poxy whore!† â€Å"Beggin' your pardon, sir, poxiness ain't so bad,† said Shanker Mary, shining a ray of optimism on these dark ages. â€Å"Unfairly maligned, the poxy are. Methinks a spot o' the pox implies experience. Worldliness, if you will.† â€Å"The tart makes an excellent point, Edmund. But for the slow descent into madness and death with your bits dropping off along the way, the pox is a veritable blessing,† said I, as I skipped just out of blade's reach from the bastard, who stalked me around the great cauldron. â€Å"Take Mary here. In fact, there's an idea. Take Mary. Why spend your energy after a long journey murdering a speck of a fool when you can enjoy the pleasures of a lusty wench who is not only ready, but willing, and smells pleasantly of soap?† â€Å"Aye,† said Drool, expelling froth as he spoke. â€Å"She's a bloody vision of loveliness.† Edmund let his sword point drop and looked at Drool for the first time. â€Å"Are you eating soap?† â€Å"Just a wee sliver,† bubbled Drool. â€Å"They weren't saving it.† Edmund turned back to me. â€Å"Why are you boiling this fellow?† â€Å"Couldn't be helped,† said I. (How dramatic, the bastard, the water was barely steaming. What appeared to be boiling was Drool venting vapors.) â€Å"Common fuckin' courtesy, ain't it?† said Mary. â€Å"Speak straight, both of you.† The bastard wheeled on one heel and before I knew what was happening, he had the point of his blade at Mary's throat. â€Å"I've been nine years in the Holy Land killing Saracens, killing one or two more makes no difference to me.† â€Å"Wait!† I leapt back to the lip of the cauldron, reaching to the small of my back with my free hand. â€Å"Wait. He's being punished. By the king. For attacking me.† â€Å"Punished? For attacking a fool?† â€Å"‘Boil him alive,' the king said.† I jumped down to Edmund's side of the cauldron – moved toward the doorway. I'd needed a clear line of sight, and should he move, I didn't want the blade to hit Mary. â€Å"Everyone knows how fond the king is of his dark little fool,† said Mary, nodding enthusiastically. â€Å"Bollocks!† shouted Edmund, as he pulled the sword back to slash. Mary screamed. I flipped a dagger in the air, caught it by the blade, and was readying to send it to Edmund's heart when something hit him in the back of the head with a thud and he went bum over eyebrows into the wall, his blade clanging across the floor to my feet. Drool had stood up in the cauldron and was holding Mary's laundry paddle – a bit of dark hair and bloody scalp clung to the bleached wood. â€Å"Did you see that, Pocket? Smashing fall he did.† All of it a pantomime to Drool. Edmund was not moving. As far as I could see, he was not breathing either. â€Å"God's bloody balls, Drool, you've kilt the earl's son. We'll all be hung, now.† â€Å"But he were going to hurt Mary.† Mary sat on the floor by Edmund's prostrate body and began stroking his hair on a spot where there was no blood. â€Å"I was going to shag him docile, too.† â€Å"He would have killed you without a thought.† â€Å"Ah, blokes have their tempers, don't they? Look at him, he's a fair form of a fellow, innit he? And rich, too.† She took something from his pocket. â€Å"What's this?† â€Å"Well done, lass, not so much as a comma between grief and robbery, and much the better when he's still so fresh his fleas have not sailed to livelier ports. The Church wears well on you.† â€Å"No, I'm not robbing. Look, it's a letter.† â€Å"Give it here.† â€Å"You can read?† The tart's eyes widened as if I had confessed the ability to turn lead into gold. â€Å"I was raised in a nunnery, wench. I am a walking library of learning – bound in comely leather and suitable for stroking – at your service, should you fancy a bit of culture to go with your lack of breeding, or vice versa, of course.† Then Edmund gasped and stirred. â€Å"Oh fuckstockings. The bastard's alive.†

Bikin for Bruises

â€Å"Oh man,† my friend moaned. â€Å"Look at her bike!† He motioned towards a girl in a bright yellow running shirt, obviously one of the more experienced bikers. She was walking a shiny, expensive blue bike through the parking lot. But the entire left pedal was shattered†¦completely gone, except for a stub of black metal. â€Å"Geez†¦are you sure we’re up for this?† I ask. It was our first time mountain biking. We had no idea what we were getting into. â€Å"I dunno, man,† he said. â€Å"Let’s try it out. How hard could it be?† I climbed into the back of his beat up, silver pickup to unload the bikes. â€Å"I think we might need these,† he said, emerging from the truck with our helmets. â€Å"Haha, I hope not.† After making sure the strap was tight enough, I climbed on my green Trek and set off down the beaten path. The forest rushed past as we bumped along the dirt trail. For a half-mile, my eyes were set on my friend’s back tire and the occasional rock. Then, the trail got narrower and the turns became sharper. The first hill rose ahead, its top barely visible through the foliage. But after sweaty palms and burning thighs, we finally clambered to the summit. â€Å"You ready for this?† I ask, observing the trail ahead. It was no more than two feet wide and followed a slight curve with rocks, roots, and squirrels all over. â€Å"No turning back now, bro. Ladies first.† â€Å"Ha, funny,† I said sarcastically, â€Å"See you at the bottom†¦if you’re lucky.† I pushed of the forest floor and started down the slope. The trees raced past as I picked up speed. I felt every rock and root through my bike, through the seat and through the handlebars. Suddenly, I was jamming the brakes the whole way, doing everything in my power to not wipe out. Standing o n the pedals moved my center of balance forward, so every bump threatened to buck me off. Finally, the end of the hill approached. The ground flattened and I stopped accelerating. I could hear shouts of adrenaline as my friend started the decent. In the middle of the path, about 20 feet ahead, there was a stone. Three inches in diameter, it was no different than all the others on the way. I ignored this particular rock, because I figured I could handle it. It was just another bump. But this was a BIG MISTAKE. I hit the rock, still crouching on the pedals, close to the end of the hill. And then I went right over the handle bars. The world spun as my bike vanished beneath me. Somehow I ended up clearing the bike and landing on my feet—perfectly fine, but shaken. My friend cheered. â€Å"Hey, you okay?† he asked. â€Å"That looked nasty from back here.† He sounded concerned, but I can tell he’s still laughing on the inside. â€Å"Yeah, I’m alrigh t. Let’s do it again.† Whether on the mountain bike course, in the classroom, or at work, I bring a strong work ethic, adventurousness, and, most importantly, the ability to get back on the bike and keep going.

Follow up to S6W4Dq Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Follow up to S6W4Dq - Assignment Example However, critical analysis reveals that its implications may not augur well especially in view of the vast interest United States has in the global arena. Taking this into consideration, it is worth noting that the suggestion of intensifying economic and political negotiations, while moderating U.S.’s military presence in foreign countries is the most feasible alternative. In the debate leading up to the 2012 U.S. presidential elections, Mr. Mitt Romney acknowledged the need of â€Å"strong allies† to serve as a deterrent to would-be aggressors. In addition, he was quick to warn that U.S. must be more prescriptive in the manner it deploys its military force on foreign missions. Echoing the same sentiments was President Obama. Obama insisted on the need of U.S. to concentrate â€Å"on alliances and relationships† in order to assist the foreign partners to improve their ability to defend themselves. In this, President Obama suggested initiating security training programs as well as equipping them to contain regional conflicts (Robert, 2012). In conclusion, I find it feasible for U.S. to increase its economic, political and diplomatic ties with other nations. However, its military presence should be moderated to only advisory and training purposes. Also, by working in conjunction with international bodies such the United Nations and African Union, U.S. can save itself from shouldering the financial burdens as the sole promoter of global democratization. Bremmer, I. (2008, summer). Supposing the United States becomes isolationist. Retrieved 3 29, 2013, from europesworld:

The nurses responsabilties in prevention of medication errors Research Paper

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Ming dynasty - Research Paper Example Although it also saw a lot of problems and setbacks, the Ming Dynasty is considered to be one of the greatest eras of solidity and affluence in the history of China. Based on historical evidence, although there were other contributing factors to the success of the dynasty, this time of great progress and flourishing of the life in the country can be largely attributed to the effective governance and prudent reforms of its numerous emperors. The Mongols were the ones held power before the formation of the Ming Dynasty. It was the first emperor of the Ming, Emperor Taizu, who led the rebellion against the foreign rulers and overthrew the Mongolian power in China, leaving the locals to rule their own country. Immediately after the establishment of the new empire, he set out to make reforms that changed all aspects of Chinese life for hundreds of years. Also known as the Hongwu Emperor, he began a great feat to reform China and he did so successfully, starting with the revival of the economy. Great efforts were made to improve the yield of the fields and farms, such as the reconstruction of ditches and watercourses, which were managed poorly and disregarded during the previous dynasty. Many neglected lands were also brought back to life by restarting cultivation and agriculture there. Many other agricultural attempts to restore stability and progress in terms of agriculture were made. This included tree-planting programs a ll over the provinces. As a result, the agricultural yield in the entire nation steadily tripled in only less than a decade. (Twichett et al, 264) Hongwu also made these reforms not only to increase the agricultural production of the country, but to also make efforts that would benefit those who were suffering in poverty at the time. In order to allow the peasants to gain opportunities to better their lives, he made many migrate to other areas, and also tried to equalize the distribution of property to many

Is Iran Seeking Regional Hegemony Research Paper

Is Iran Seeking Regional Hegemony - Research Paper Example This Islamic republic has a set of claims indicated by the supreme leader and the existing guardian council and does not take into account the perception created by the opposition parties or the media. Thus, the Iran government is more capable of coming up with long term strategies aimed at achieving its goals. Financial support, diplomatic activity, trade and the diplomatic activity is an important part of the core strategy of this country as a hard power. However, its efforts to brand itself as an Islamic world leader have not been successful. Its aspiration to undertake regional hegemony and recognize its lead in the overall international status is mainly invented from its large population and territory, its geographical location, its central status at the central of the Islamic-Shiite world, its overall history as a respected regional empire and its economic and the potential of its military. In the recent years, the country is making an effort to expend its overall regional and international territories. This is in line with the Mearsheimer’s hegemony theory which indicates that the existing conflict between the great powers will never end. Iran is seeking regional hegemony through controlling Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah and Houthis Group. According to Mearsheimer, various states are always looking for opportunities to gain high power over other nations who are their main rivals. He indicates that states pursue power due to the anarchic system where they operate (Ottolenghi 2010, 67). In the international politics level, there is no single hierarchy to seek for help or protect one state when they are attacked by another. Thus, states are always relying on themselves for security and expand their military, geographical and economic power to ensure that their security is enhanced. Moreover, Mearsheimer indicates that a state derives power to thrive in international politics and derives the strength of its

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Clinical mangament plan and nurse prescribing of patient with urinary tract infection - Essay Example In terms of the development of nurse prescribing, the progress track and rationale is straightforward; when there is a fundamental need within the healthcare system, someone must step forward to meet that need. Given the demands placed on doctors by increased patient populations and the need to prioritize toward acute or emergency cases, it was a natural solution to begin to utilize nurses and expand their role within the system. As the professionals who have the greatest level of one-on-one contact with the patients, nurses are a logical and necessary extension of the primary care physician. To simply expand their capability to prescribe medications under a doctor’s supervision is not a great leap forward in terms of logic; particularly given the amount of efficiency it brings to the overall healthcare system. Within the clinical environment, however, there has been conflict within the medical community as the technical nature of treatment modalities has increased and, with a large nursing staff presence, there has been the opening for nurses to take on greater and more difficult medical duties than were previously associated with nursing. The profession itself has â€Å"striven for many years to throw away the handmaiden mantle and get itself [sic] recognized as a profession, independent of doctors† (Brown, Crawford, & Hicks, 2003: 348). The primary issue facing nurses in general—and nurse prescribers particularly—is that many doctors see a nurse’s ability to prescribe medication as an infringement upon their territory. As with any polarizing dynamic, this is an unhealthy situation for the patients. While there are traditional and legal boundaries between the duties and practices of doctors and nurses, it is unnecessary to engage in an outright turf war; only the patients will suffer. In the UK, there continues to be the development

Evening News Essay Example for Free

Evening News Essay News is information or a presentation about current events and is reported by a variety of means such as newspapers, periodicals, radio, television and websites on the Internet. The reporting of news falls into the field of journalism, which are typically written or broadcast in news style. Most news is investigated and presented by journalists and can be distributed to various sites via news agencies. On the other hand, according to a web encyclopedia, â€Å"Short for Web log, a blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.†(par. 1). A blog is a mixture of a persons experiences in life and what is happening on the Web. It is like a kind of a personal diary-cum-guide site. There are unique types of people, thus, there are as many unique types of blogs as well. 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However, news is considered a traditional media while blog is connoted as internet type of media. It is a platform to communicate what anyone may wish to let anyone know within reach of an internet connection. In traditional media, you are first defined by your medium. There is some constraint on how the contents are delivered physically or digitally which is determined by your medium. According to Maverick blog article, â€Å"There is a cost versus time versus interest versus access series of constraints that determines who your audience is, how you reach them and what they expect of you. Over time, those constraints have evolved our media into very defined roles†(par. 3). Blogs are different. There is no cost constraint. It costs nothing to create a blog. There are time constraints, but much less than traditional media. Bloggers are not pressured   to publish or create an article on a schedule. Blogging is basically personal and this is where the paths of blogging and traditional media diverge. Traditional media is business, thus it has become exclusively corporate while blogging remains almost exclusively personal. However, some bloggers have started to make money from their blogs but what they put in their blogs is all up to them which gives them satisfaction.   Members of traditional media are employees. They get hired for a specific job and they have to do that job. They get hired by a corporation that is most likely public, which means that their employers are concerned in getting their stock price up above all else. Thus, they write news and articles that is dictated by subjects perceived to make more money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In comparison to mainstream media, blog gives anyone the freedom to write about anything. They can write opinion. They can report facts. They can ask questions. They can write any topics they want. Individual Web surfers post their own eclectic and varied thoughts. Still, others such as known political parties, religious and professional groups, businesses, and media organizations have created their own blog sites too. A report by Snow states that, â€Å"audience for blogs in general is more than 3.5 million strong, and growing. One group that surveys political blogs believes between 20,000 and 25,000 people are regularly talking about political topics on Weblogs. These days people from every corner of the country are finding each other on screen. The impact of all this dialogue is hard to gauge, but it is clearly shaping politics and media coverage†(par. 16-18). Wright also presented that â€Å"Blogging grew from the ground up as a grassroots effort. What started as a few people conversing about common interests via real-time Internet postings has become a continuous conversation among millions of   bloggers and readers. With millions of bloggers expressing their thoughts, experiences, and information they’ve learned in their fields of interest, this medium has become a worldwide forum†(3). Another interesting development of blog in comparison to traditional media is that even news agencies have created their own section termed newsblogs. Auty argues that â€Å"newsblogs supplement and work alongside traditional news media by filtering and reporting news. She praises the growth of personal diaries and eyewitness accounts (such as those that sprung up after 9/ 11) but overall sees blogs as being a new way of distributing and collecting the news rather than a new source of news itself†(341). The rapid pace of technology is changing the nature of blogs as well. The popularity of digital audio players such as the iPod has spurred the growth of blogs with audio content. People can download a wide range of audio files like music and listen to them at their convenience using a PC or a portable media player. The rapid adoption in the use of cell phones with built-in digital cameras and wireless Internet connections is also changing the face and pace of blogging. Bloggers armed with these tools can snap a picture, writes a short caption and then post it on a moblog or mobile log, regardless of time and place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, with these conveniences brought about by blogging and the personal satisfaction they give on people, it is not surprising that future generations will no longer subscribe to traditional media. As Wright argues, â€Å"blogs have the power to create businesses, change the course of political history, and transform the way the mainstream or traditional media looks at itself.†(2). BIBLIOGRAPHY Auty, Caroline(Editor). Politics and Government in the Age of the Internet. Bradford, , UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2005. p 341. Blogging Vs. Traditional Media. Blog Maverick Website. May 13, 2006. 27 Oct. 2006http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/05/13/ Snow, Kate. The Power of the Blog. ABC News website. Sept. 26, 2004. 27 Oct. 2006http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2004/story?id=123452page=2 Webopedia. The No. 1 Online Encyclopedia dedicated to Computer Technology. 26 Oct. 2006http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/b/blog.html Wright, Jeremy. Blog Marketing. Blacklick, OH, USA: McGraw-Hill Companies, The, 2005. p 2-3.

Essay on Silence and its Importance

Essay on Silence and its Importance The key aim of this research paper is to draw attention to the importance of silence in general, for students in particular. Thus, the introductory part of this research is devoted to the definition of silence and its important in our noisy world. The second section focus on the key powers of silence as located by the Irish writer Tony Cuckson, the importance of silence for students, how could we improve our relationship with silence? And examples of when can we use silence. Finally the third part consists of the analysis of the questionnaire data and summarizing the key ideas of the research. What does silence mean? Literally speaking, the word silence comes from the Latin word silens meaning to be still, quiet, or at rest. In English, it still maintains some of these meaning as most modern dictionaries define silence as the condition or quality of being or keeping still and silent, the absence of sounds, stillness or as a period of time without speech or noise. However depending only on these definitions we just learn silences first fundamental sense. Hence the silence is more than the state of being silent; entire absence of sound or absolute stillness. The silence, this research paper is concerned about, is the silence that enhances concentration, promotes meditation and allows us to be in touch with our inner. In other words, the silence that has the power to get people to think and to act. The word silence has become associated in our minds with passivity boring and inactivity. Moreover, we see silence as intrinsically dangerous, anti-social or abnormal. We fear and hate silence and we do everything possible to avoid it. In her book A Book of Silence , Sara Maitland stated*: instant and constant verbal communication is experienced not so much as a pleasure, but as a necessity. Background music, even in shopping malls where there is already a great deal of noise, so that no one can actually hear the music, is ubiquitous. The length of an acceptable silent pause on the radio has been reduced steadily over the last decade. Silence in public places, like libraries or churches, is increasingly considered oppressive rather than valuable. The silence of mourning is being replaced by cheering. In this statement, Sara Maitland has tried to draw our attention to our strange fear-hate relationship with silence. She gives us some habits that we unconsciously used to do in the everyday life to avoid silence. Sara Maitland has also noticed that people try to fill the void of silence with needless chatter, with TV, with Music, with noise of some kind. She noticed that Silence has become disconcerting and make people feel uncomfortable and alone, thats why -according to Sara Maitland- the world is filled with TVs that have been left on when nobody is watching it, for just a background noise. Yet people forget that the great forces, by which we live, are silent. The vast immensity of space is silent, because sound waves, unlike light or radio waves, cannot travel through a vacuum. Gravity electricity, the warmth of sunlight, the turning of the tides are all silent. Organic growth, life itself, the division of cells is silent. Society just forgets about these facts, Sara added. To sum up we could say that we hate or fear silence because we do not perceive its true meaning. Silence is not a mere absence of sounds or noises, it is more than that. Silence is a natural phenomenon that could be a source of creative energy that we should all use and benefit from it rather than simply avoiding it. *Sara Maitland is an English writer. Born in 1950, she grew up in Galloway, studied at Oxford University and currently tutors on the Distance Learning MA in creative writing for Lancaster University and is the Mentor Co-ordinator for Crossing Borders. She has undertaken writer residencies at HMP Ashwell and at Lincoln Cathedral The importance of silence in a restless world (noise pollution) It is obviously clear that we are living in noisy word. Unwanted sounds and noises pursue us everywhere we go. In the street, restaurants, supermarkets and even in the places where silence is considered as a necessity like schools and hospitals are not exceptions. From the early morning we step out home till we come back, we encounter variety of terribly noises. Our lives nowadays tend to be so busy that we have become accustomed to a constant barrage of tasks, inputs, and general noise. How often do we come home only to turn on the T.V. just so we can have something going on in the background? We used to not esteem the value of silence in our lives. Mike Moore* has described this phenomenon in his book Living Life Fully by saying When you add lawnmowers, snow blowers, leaf blowers, jack hammers, jet engines, transport trucks, and horns and buzzers of all types and descriptions, you have a wall of constant noise and irritation. Even when watching a television program at a reasonable volume level you are blown out of your chair when a commercial comes on at the decibel level of a jet. A recent study conducted by the Cornell University** about the impact of noise on employees in an open area office space where people are constantly exposed to fax machines, telephones, office chatter, shredding machines, etc revealed that workers in an open area had high level of adrenalin*** in their urine. When these employees were compared to those in quiet offices the results were startling. Workers in quiet offices did not have the same high levels of adrenalin in their urine. Besides, they were much more relaxed and less stressed. Moreover, a puzzle demanding attention and concentration was given to both groups of employees. The results revealed that the open area workers were found to be less diligent in the solution of the puzzle. They easily frustrated and gave up much earlier than the employees from the quiet offices. Another striking results found by the study are about sleeping, digestion and the psychological state of the employees under study. The study has revealed that workers from the quiet office slept better at night, had better digestion, were much less irritable at home and felt better at the end of their workday than employees from the open area offices. It seems clear from the results of such studies that noise does not only affect our focus and productivity but also impact our physical and psychological balance. Noise pollution tends to increase stress levels which in turn can result in increased frustration and anger. There is no doubt that the results of this study should push us to revise and re-establish our relationship with silence. In other words, we must begin to establish a friendship with silence. *Mike Moore is an international speaker and writer on human potential, motivation and humour. You can check out his website at www.motivationalplus.com **It is an American university ***Is released by the body when under stress. It prepares us for fight or flight. The key 4 powers of silence Till now, we have seen and known -from the introduction- the type of silence this research is concerned about and its true meaning. We have also recognized the importance of silence in a terribly noisy world showing some startling facts and striking recent studies. In this chapter, I have managed to devote it to the key four powers of silence as located by the Irish writer Tony Cuckson*. In fact, Tony has located seven powers but I have chosen the most important ones that everyone could experience regardless of his/ here possibilities or where s/he lives. In his valuable article Enjoy the Silence Tony has summarized the benefits of silence by saying that: silence is creative, silence promotes the inner and builds trust, silence gives rest, and silence allows listening. In this chapter I will try to explain these powers of silence respectively. 1 Silence is creative: In his article, Tony has defined creativity as creating unprecedented and unexampled things into being. He expressed that Creativity is not found within the known. Creativity means to bring the new into being. * Tony Cuckson is a writer on learning to be enough in the 21st Century. He is author of the ezine -an electronic magazine- Irish Blessings Subscribe to Irish Blessings Matter ezine a FREE weekly input of inspiration to lift the heart and heal the soul. With this sense creativity is a required quality in all fields. We need creative employees, creative writers, creative teachersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and more importantly creative students. Man is creative by nature; however, we often destroy this quality by some unhealthy habits. For instance, doing a task, homework or writing an assay while listening to music or television, surely will affect our concentration and consequently will affect the quality of the work that we try to accomplish. Yet creativity needs silence and quiet environment. A quiet environment allows the creative person to develop his talent and to think deeper. Inspiration always comes in silent environment. For instance, intellectuals, thinkers, poetry writers, inventors and creators in all fields always seek absolute silence and quiet environment so that they could work comfortably and get inspiration. Imagination also springs from silence. Silence and quiet are to an artist, an author or inventor etc, what fertilizer is to crops. In conclusion, it can be said that Silence and creativity are one Tony asserted. By relating silence to creativity, he has insisted on the idea that silence is the wellspring of creativity. 2 Silence promotes the inner and builds trust: When we silence we turn our thoughts and focus inwards and gain the power we need to refuel our minds Steven Aitchison* has stated. Our ego** is temporarily switched off or at least made to be quiet for a bit, and we start to see the real world as it should be (he continued). Our thoughts get in the way of our reality sometimes and we dont see the beauty of the world around us. When there is silence there is time for introspection and to allow your true-self to speak, not the ego, not the conscious mind but the true-self connected to the flow of energy around us (Steven added in his online Blog). Tony Cuckson agrees with Steven Aitchison by saying that through silence we could trust our selves. Silence enables us to listen to our inner voice and to detect our unique methods of thinking. It gives us a chance to understand our selves better. Consequently, we improve and re-establish our relationships with our selves. We simply used to think that others know better than we do. We have been taught this for most of our lives. Listening silently to the promptings of our hearts we begin got know our own voices. We become our own masters. To put it more simply, we could say that silence helps us to find our values, understand our strengths, identify our tendencies, acknowledge our limitations, set our goals and then establish our direction. * Steven Aitchison currently lives in Scotland working as an Addiction Worker, helping clients with alcohol and drug issues. He has a degree in psychology, a sense of humour, and a down to earth approach to self help. ** The self of an individual person; the conscious subject 3 Silence gives rest: The lack of silence in our modern life results in lack of comfort. Anuradha Vashisht* has expressed this idea by saying: The fidgetiness, the restlessness we see in the majority of people these days indicates how far removed they are from the silence of the body Anuradha wants to say that people nowadays cannot be still or calm in one place for a considerable period of time mainly because of the hyperactivity phenomenon. The problem of hyperactivity is increasing as most people constantly need a prop for their bodies like shuffling feet, shaking a leg while sitting in a chair, swaying their bodies, inane scratching, constantly doing something with their hands, asking for tea or coffee to get over boredom, and so on. Most of the physical activities that have been described above often reflect the clatter and the noise one has in his mind which would prevent him from enjoying his rest. To overcome this hyperactivity we should devote a considerable period of time for silence in order to give ourselves a deep rest. In silence the *Anuradha Vashisht, Delhi-based journalist, researcher, writer and media professional, has over 15 years experience in the media. Having trained as a journalist with the Times of India Group, some of her major assignments were with Financial Express, Indian Express and The Pioneer. body slows. The rate of breathing slows. Our heart rate drops. We just forget about the past and future to live the present moment. We enter our essential self. There is no need to go anywhere. There is no place to go. This is our time for relaxation. This is our time for simply catching a breath and recharging our batteries. 4 Silence allows listening: Silence gives us the opportunity to listen to others and more importantly to ourselves. When others speak or during a conversation, silence could be used as sort of politeness and respect that would make the communication successful (we will tackle this idea in depth in the next chapter (Examples of When to Use Silence)). Yet the inner-silence also is very important. Since, it gives us a chance to listen to our inner voices. It helps us to turn our thoughts and focus inwards and live the present moment now not the past not the future. The inner-silence enables us to save our minds from the inane thoughts and eliminate all mental noises. Thus we make our minds calmer. Consequently, we can work and study more efficiently and our productivity will increase. The mental silence should be the prime goal in our daily life. If we can be mentally calm we can solve many problems of life and find ways to do difficult tasks. Finally, we could say that by listening to others we will gain respect and by listening to ourselves, we will not be afraid of the battles of life, because internally we will be very strong. By developing the virtue of inner silence, we should be broad like sky (tolerate others thoughts) and deep like ocean (where all life problems will be sunk). The importance of silence for students Besides all the silences powers that we have mentioned earlier which all are so important for all people, students can get much more from silence. As we know, our education system encourages students to get ahead of their competition and to get excellent marks so that they could conserve their chance to get a respectable job. Naturally when we are competing each other we can never be at ease. We become bound to be stressed and this pressure will keep on increasing with every passing day. Silence and meditation are the perfect tools to release this pressure and feel at ease with ourselves. In fact today every student- whether from engineering, management, business or arts- needs meditation more than ever. Connecting with ones deeper self leaves him refreshed and regenerated so that he can move forward in life without being exhausted or stressed. As any other part of our bodies; our minds need rest too. We must just think what would happen to our bodies if we keep on working for example for 16 hours or more per day and never get a chance to take repose? Automatically we will be tired, exhausted and unable to master any kind of work. Same is the case with our minds, they need break likewise. Thence, we could say that silence and meditation are more essential to students in particular as all their tasks demands great mental efforts. It can be concluded from what we have seen till now that silence is not mere an absence of sounds or noises but also a technique and a therapy that all people and students in particular are in-need of. After recognizing the key powers and benefits of silence, the question now is how could we reconcile and re-establish our relationship with it? This is what we will see in the next chapter. How could we improve our relationship with silence? Before starting this chapter we have to remember that people do not have an absolute control over all the noises they hear daily in the street or in places where they work, study etc; however, they do have control over their own private environment. In this private environment we can reorganize ourselves, reconsider our habits and attitudes towards silence. In our private environment we could cultivate a good friendship with silence following several steps. In this chapter, I have selected from Mike Moores advices the most important, simplest and applicable ones that we could -as students living in Meknes- easily follow. Firstly, we should change the negative image that we have in our minds about silence. In other words, we have to learn about and extend our knowledge about the value of silence. We can do that either through reading psychological books, asking the psychologists or searching in the internet about the benefits of silence. To put it more simply, we should prepare ourselves morally and mentally for practicing Mike Moore steps. After changing your attitudes towards silence, you should try to change some of your habits. For instance, when walking to school avoid using your MP3 player or any other such devices and try to walk in silence. When you read a book or prepare for an exam, do it in silence. If you used to read, write and prepare for exams while listening to music or watching television you should try silence. You will find it much helpful. When you are alone in your residence, try to turn off all noise sources for a specific period of time. Begin with fifteen minutes of silence a day and gradually increase the duration. If you succeeded to change your habits and attitude towards silence then you should enlarge your experience with silence by learning how to meditate. Attempt to schedule a ten minute for meditation and contemplation period once or twice a day. Then extend your meditation time gradually. Mike Moore concluded by saying: Soon you will begin to cherish the periods of silence you have built into your day and long for more. You will quickly discover that you are becoming more relaxed and less tense even in the midst of our noisy world. You will have made an invaluable new friend of silence, a friend which can comfort, heal and soothe your spirit. What a gift you will have given yourself. In conclusion, it can be said that if we followed Mike advices we would reconcile our relationship with silence and certainly would discover the restorative power of silence that students are in need of it. Examples of when to use silence Silence is often mis-characterized as unimportant or awkward. As a result the modern conversations become chaos in which two or more people racing to see who can speak more without paying any attention to the other. Yet, people forget that silence can be used as a technique of communication, kind of respect and as an anti-gossiping. I- Silence as a technique of communication As a technique of communication silence could be used in daily conversation, during arguments and job interviews. To get a better conversation, one must use brief pauses to give the other person a chance to think, get better understanding of the topic and then react effectively. Just as he needs in return a chance to absorb and process all that information the other person has just said. Another best time to use the power of silence is during an argument. For instance, when someone is shouting at you, looking for an argument you can literally take all the power away from him and save all your energy by simply looking back at them saying absolutely nothing. Yet it is extremely difficult to do but very powerful. Students also can use silence to their advantage in job interviews. Students often do not consider silence as one of the most valuable interview techniques that can be used both by the job candidates and the interviewers. For many interviewees, the silence of the interviewer is seen awkward because it tends to imply that they have been found lacking and do not satisfy or fit the interviewers standards. However, good interviewers use silence when listening attentively to what the interviewee is saying; so a job candidate should not be frightened if the interviewer does so. Also, a job candidate can use the same silence to demonstrate critical thinking skills and an ability to remain poised in difficult situations. Here are a few tips* to help you use silence in a job interview to your advantage. A Use brief pauses (no more than 15 seconds) when you need to collect your thoughts, recall the information the interviewer requested B Introduce a silent pause when several questions are asked in rapid succession before you have had a chance to answer the first one. Repeat the first question and answer it; then request the interviewer to ask subsequent questions. C Avoid any urge to fill the silence with unsolicited information about your background or experience. Many interviewees have lost the job by impulsively blurting out details that led the interviewer to ask questions for which the interviewees were unprepared to answer. D Finally, do not forget to remain mentally alert during the silence. *To get more information about how to use silence in a job interview follow this link: http://www.ehow.com/how_5093570_use-silence-advantage-job-interview.html 2 Silence as kind of respect Silence could also be used to show respect in many occasions. It has long been recognized by many religious groups as a key component of an ascetic path to spirituality. For example, we as Muslims we silence when we hear someone reading the Quran. We also recommend silence in the funerals. Moreover, silence has become a universal practice used in all over the world. As we used to held one minute of silence as a remembrance of the people died in a natural disaster or an important person died recently. During conversations silence also may be used to express admiration and esteem. Just let people talk and listen to them and use your facial expressions and movements to acknowledge that you are listening. Thus, you will imply that you are respecting them and you will gain their respect in return. In contrast, when you do not listen to or interrupt people before they have finished, you are essentially indicating that the other persons thoughts are not that important. What could be considered as a kind of impoliteness and discourage him/her to continue talking. 3 Silence as an anti-gossiping When there is a crowd of people in the workplace while the boss is absent or in classroom before the coming of teacher there are always gossipers who speak about other people. What makes gossiping dangerous is that it is contagious. When we dont like someone and someone else starts speaking about him we naturally tend to voice our opinion, Ive done it lots of times and have to stop myself. Try and stop yourself from catching the virus of gossiping and use the power of silent whenever it occurs. If you are a gossiper yourself and people around start to notice that you are not your usual self, do not give an explanation just ignore them or say that silence is golden. Be still and know the restorative power of silence. (Ideas we should keep in mind) Besides, isnt it nice to say nothing when you have nothing to say? We need to rediscover the power of attention and we do that through silence the concentration that we use in prayer can be used in everyday life, THE QUESTIONNAIRE 1-In few words, what comes to your mind when you hear the word silence? 2-Silence is golden Agree? Silence is boring Agree? Golden Boring 3-Do you find sometimes that you are talking just to break the silence? Answer options Never Sometimes Always 4-Do you think that silence is important for your health balance? Absolutely not To some extent yes Of course, yes Could you justify your answer? 5-Have you ever thought to get regular periods or moments of silence? Never I have 6-Do you actually allocate regular periods from your time for silence? Absolutely no from time to time weekly daily If you do not answer by no, could you explain why or for what purpose? 7-Do you prefer silence while preparing for exams or soft music? I prefer silence Soft music It depends on the subject being prepared

Adults in Salingers Catcher in the Rye :: essays research papers

The adults that Holden appreciates As a general consensus, children are raised to trust adults. However there are some sinister and eerie adults out there that exploit the childish and test that trust. Children are taught that the principal is their friend and that the police men are there to help. As a child one is taught, protected, and cared for by their parents. As those parents become older, there is a regression where the parent almost becomes the child and the child the parent. In J.D. Salinger?s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the adults whom Holden Caulfield appreciates are childlike and helpless. While Holden was attending Pencey Prep, he formed a relationship with his history teacher, Old Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer was really the only teacher that Holden liked. While Holden was getting ready to go into Mr. Spencer?s bedroom, he said, ?His door was open, but I sort of knocked on it anyway, just to be polite and all.? (7). This showed his respect for Mr. Spencer and his privacy. It also showed that Holden had manners but had enough of a friendship with Old Spencer to talk with him in his own home. However, Holden felt a little uncomfortable with the situation when he actually saw Mr. Spencer, started talking to him, and felt a lecture coming on. Holden often thought about Mr. Spencer. While walking to Mr. Spencer?s room, Holden thought, If you thought about him too much, you wondered what the heck he was still living for?. But if you thought about him just enough and not too much, you could figure it out that he wasn?t doing too bad for himself.? (2-3). Holden saw Mr. Spencer as childlike and helpless which made it easier for him to form a relationship with an adult. Holden also found the same qualities that aloud him to appreciate certain adults in the old Secretary at Phoebe?s school. When Holden was arranging for his note to be passed on to Phoebe, he started talking to the secretary in the office. When the lady said that Pencey was a good school, Holden thought, ?Even if I?d wanted to, I wouldn?t have had the strength to straighten her out. Besides, if she thought Pencey was a good school, let her think it.? (202) Holden didn?t want to correct the old lady and embarrass her. At the same time, Holden thought, ?You hate to tell new stuff to somebody around a hundred years old.