Copenhagen 2

During the protests in Copenhagen 200 activists were arrested, one times reporter amongst them. All but 13 were released the next day, however the demonstrators complain about the harsh police treatment. However it was justified in some cases as some riots broke out amongst the 40 000 demonstrators and vandalism occurred.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/copenhagen/article6954981.ece

Copenhagen

For the climate conference in Copenhagen it is not clear if it will be a success since there are problems between the US and China. The draft is that at least 50%, 85%, or 95% of the emissions are cut by 2050 compared with 1990. US does not want to give any money to China and other developing economies since they have large money reserves. China however demands the money since it argues that the West has the duty to provide money and technology. The EU also took an important step in trying to make the meeting successful by offering 2.4 billion Euros a year for developing countries for emission reduction

Original article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126053354299387331.html

Haiku

The soul of the earth,
Murdered through the hand of Adam,
Falling into darkness,

Calm lakes of green
With a golden spark
Of incredible depth

Ready for the last blow
Is the fading assassin,
With the breath of life.

Learningstyle

Reflective Learner: 7

Active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it--discussing or applying it or explaining it to others. Reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly first

This is certainly true or me, since I prefere to think about topics and questions first before discussing them.

Sensing Learner: 5
Sensing learners tend to like learning facts, intuitive learners often prefer discovering possibilities and relationships.
I certainly tend to be a sensing

Visual/Verbal: slight preference towards visual but otherwise very much in the middle

Sequential Learner: 5

Irony ELIC

1.

“And then, all of a sudden, it made perfect sense. All of a sudden I understood why, when mom asked where I was going, and I said ‘Out,’ she didn’t ask any more questions. She didn’t have to, because she knew.”

The fact that the mother knew all the time that her son was looking for the key is ironic, since it is the opposite of what one would expect from a mother. Of course the reader asks him or herself how it is possible for the mother not to see that her son is wandering through New York, but it is actually not expected that she knows and therefore it is irony.

2.

When Oskar finds the owner of the key it has nothing to do with his father but has to do with the father of somebody else. It opens a safe deposit lock, but is irrelevant for the reasons why he was looking for the key. The reader expected the novel and the quest to make perfect sense when the key was found, however it turned out that this is not the case

3. When the grandmother writes down her life story for Thomas Sr. she only gives him white pages and he and the reader assume it is because the typewriter is broken and she does not see anymore. Later on the reader finds out that that was on purpose, irony, since it is unexpected.

4. Oskar is a very knowledgeable boy, even smart, but at the same time he is incredibly naive, such as in some of the theories and strategies he develops in his search.

5. The fact that on his search for his father he actually finds his grandfather. Clues such as the name written in the drawing shop lead to his grandfather.

3 paragraph ELIC

“I am more interested in the future than the past, since I intend to live in it. “ These true words spoken by Albert Einstein are very much of concern to the main characters in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The primary protagonists, Oskar and his grandparents, are not able to let go of past in order to live a normal life in the present and future and them being trapped in the past is one of the main motives throughout the whole novel. Oskar is trapped the day his father died, especially in the moment he did not dare to pick up the phone, not allowing him to live the life of a normal nine year old boy. He keeps remembering the last moments with his father, such as the bed time stories and the phone calls. Only when he learns that his mother has spoken to his father before the building collapsed he starts accepting his life in the present. With the quest being the only purpose in Oskar’s life, he skips school and French classes for it; he lives only for the past. He cannot let go of time his father was alive, he keeps revisiting that time in his thoughts. The purpose of the quest is alone to find out more about his father, isolating him more since he starts to have problems with his mother as well, because he cannot accept that she is moving on in life. The fact that he hides the messages from her adds a component of guilt, so Oskar moves away from human relationships. The important key moment that helps him to accept that the past is gone is not the encounter with the owner of the key, but the conversation with his mother about the phone calls. From there their relation is restored and Oskar can even start to accept Ron, so there is still hope that Oskar can fully leave the past behind and return to a life that is as normal as possible for him.

In contrast to Oskar, who can carry on with life, his grandfather, Thomas Sr., has greater problems with letting go of the past. For him the shocking events in Dresden are marking the time he is caught in. Through the horrible experiences he made he was unable to free himself from that time and could not live a normal live with his wife. In almost every chapter about Thomas Sr. Anna, his fiancée who he lost in the bombing at that time is mentioned. During the bombing of Dresden he lost her, his family and his unborn child and he was not able to live a life with human relationships. His marriage was ruined by his incapability of leaving the past, his wife constantly reminded him of Anna and he could not love as the women she was but only as the sister of Anna. The daily life routine was designed so that they did not have to remember the time in Dresden, but this desperate attempt pushed Thomas further into isolation through the past. When Oskar’s grandmother told him that she is pregnant this reminded him even more of the situation in Dresden and he leaves her behind. He loses his voice, the opportunity of a happy marriage and the time with his son because he cannot leave the past and ruins his live until he gets to know Oskar.

While Thomas Sr. does little to escape the curse of his past, his wife does everything she can to life a normal life and as soon as her husband leaves her she actually manages to, but just like her grand son and husband she sometimes also haunted by the ghosts of the past and the events of Dresden in 1944 and she suffers under the memories of the bombing and the loved ones she lost. For example she has times in which she thinks back to Anna instead of letting the dead rest. Nevertheless she works hard on forgetting by first establishing rules and then by forgetting her husband. During the years of their marriage one of the problems is that he cannot forget and she wants to forget. The result of this problem is an obscure set of rules, but she cannot let go completely of the past, the daily routine is just an artificial image to try to create this new live that she does not want to be influenced by the past. However only when her husband is gone she can let go completely of Dresden, since he always represented the memories of that time. All the years of his absence her life is normal and when he returns she first does not want him back because she is afraid that he will bring back the past into her life. In the end she is not strong enough to keep the past completely away because she allows him to become the renter. The tragic events she, her husband and Oskar lived through had great influence on their lives, simply with different effects. Oskar is on the brink of recovering, while Thomas Senior, who ruined his life by living in the past, found a bit back by meeting Oskar. The grandmother clearly is the connection between those two and is the one who can let go of the past the best. Eventually it takes simply a different amount of time for everybody to heal their wounds.

ELIC paragraphs

3 paragraph outline

Paragraph 1

Hook:

Thesis: Oskar is trapped the day his father died in 9/11

Examples: Keeps revisiting the moment his Dad phoned
Bed time story of the sixth borrow

Explanation: he can not carry on with his life, first has to finish the quest, important moment when he learns that his mother spoke with his father before he died

Paragraph 2

Thesis: Grandmother is also trapped in the past, Dresden, however not extremely and tries to find back into normal life

Examples: Thinks about good time with Anna
Does not want Thomas Sr. back

Explanation:
• Still thinks about Dresden and her time with her husband but attempts normal life by forgetting,
• many rules with husband to guarantee normal life (forget German)
• Does not want her husband back because he brings up the past
• Cannot completely detach because he become the renter


Paragraph 3

Thesis: Grandfather is trapped the most and unable to live a normal life

Examples: Keeps mentioning Anna, marriage fails because he can not detach from Anna

Explanation:
• Bound to the past so he cannot have a normal relationship
• Lost the most, future wife child family
• Not knowing his child

Wall Street Journal article

Wall Street Journal article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125380346993137737.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125422153960048893.html

collection of articles:
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/financial-crisis-one-year-later.html

Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast
“The loss of space happens inside an individual; it is colonization not of physical space but of mental space.” (Naomi Klein). Both the documentary of Merchants of Cool, as well as Naomi Klein’s book No Logo put emphasize on the marketing strategies of companies towards the youth trying to take over the mental space. Two important factors were mentioned, cool hunting and marketing teen rebellion. In cool hunting researchers follow teenager’s everyday life to find out what the next cool is going to be. Companies hire cool hunters to make their product cool and The Merchants of Cool even follow one of these cool hunters on his work. He goes and talks to teenagers in their homes; they show him their cloth, video games and talk about their personal life. By learning everything, starting with the time they get up, to the places they go out for dates, these cool hunters can analyze the teenagers, predict what the teenagers are going to find cool and therefore sell them what they want, packaged in a way that the teenagers think it will be cool. Those teenagers who refuse to accept this packaged cool create subcultures, such as the Rage Rock mentioned in Merchants of Cool as well as Woodstock 94, as noted by Naomi Klein, the place where Rage Rock was commercially marketed. The corporations pick up theses subcultures and market them, slowly turning them into one of their products without the rebellious teens noticing it and simply selling it back to them. Bands of Rage Rock signed label contracts and suddenly they were in the charts, street hockey events were sponsored by beer brands and there is no more room for a youth culture created by the youth itself. With all the marketing around them teenagers have no chance of establishing their own space, because their mental space falls victim to colonization.


While both mediums agreed on cool hunting and teen rebellion, there are other marketing strategies where to opinions are going apart. No Logo displays the ironic view of companies on their own product as another successful marketing strategy, for example with Showgirl, while The Merchants of Cool finds it rather short lived. As a matter of fact teenagers are not stupid and after constant bombardment of advertisements they are bound to ask themselves why they should believe what the media tells them. A way of solving this problem is mocking the product, however this can backfire after a while when the teenagers start realizing that it is simply another form of marketing and therefore then rejecting the product. Certainly this also depends on the product itself whether this tactic works or not. Also as shown in this example No Logo focuses more on the companies while The Merchants of Cool view the effect on the teenagers. These two ways of looking at the same topic give if both considered a good overview on youth marketing and that there is not really a way of escaping it.

Le Parkour

Video of le Parkour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjQxIRWZu0c


Websites:
http://www.urbanfreeflow.com/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1939867.stm
http://www.3run.co.uk/

Chapter 3 No Logo

In her high school years she had discussions with her friend that everything had been done already and if one stepped off the main groove one was going to end up on another one. Similar with the merchants of cool, even teen rebellion gets marketed.”It seems that the eternal urge for escape has never enjoyed such niche marketing” Media companies are marketing everything and reselling it to the teenagers. Everything from street hockey to Woodstock 94 was marketed; however there were voices that spoke against it. Not physical space but mental space is being colonialised by the companies and marketing itself became a part of youth culture and any resistance is marketed again.

Before the brand crisis companies were not too concerned with youth culture and there was no mass marketing behind the subcultures. However as the baby boom started to decline and the former Woodstock attendees turned into “yuppies” there was a need for new markets in the early nineties. The teenager population was growing and teen orientated brands were doing better in the recession than other companies. As a result companies changed their target group using peer pressure. They remarked themselves with the music styles and views of the teenager in the nineties. They went back into the schools observed and advertised to market the question “Am I cool?” Only the brands that could link themselves to cool were successful.

However companies had a problem, the leaders of these companies were mainly over 40 years old, so there was a need for young people to make the business successful. In order to sell cool a company needs cool people. Cool hunters are people both addressed here and in the merchants of cool, researchers are sent out to find cool and bring it back for advertisement. They go in and become one of them knowing their daily routines their closet and their social behaviour, a big advantage over focus groups. The new cool often comes from the poor such as hip hop and rap, used by Nike and Hilfiger. For many super brands cool hunting means black culture hunting, from jazz and blues to rock and to rap. Adidas first sceptical made big profit of the association with Rap and Nike uses bro-ing. When Hilfiger associated itself with the ghetto its sales went from 53 to 847 million dollars within 7 years. A successful strategy is also to go underground, for example with pirate radio stations. Another strategy to get even the sceptical is to display you with irony in order to sell, just as Showgirl did after it flopped in the cinema. Furthermore just like Sprite in the Merchants of Cool, companies hire young people to spread the word about their product, the best advertisement there is for them.

Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann owns five major companies: RTL, Random House, Gruner und Jahr, Avarto, Direct Group

RTL


Medienruppe RTL Deutschland, RTL Television, VOX, RTL II, Super RTL, N-TV, RTL Crime, RTL Living, Passion, UFA Film & TV Produktion, UFA Fernsehproduktion, UFA Filmproduktion, Teamworx, Grundy UFA, Grundy Light Entertainment, Phoenix Film, UFA Entertainment, RTL Radio, 104.6 RTL, Antenne Bayern, Radio Hamburg, Radio NRW, 105.5 Spreeradio, Radio21, Radio Regenbogen, Big FM, Hitradio RTL Sachsen, Hit Radio Antenne, Antenne Meckleburg Vorpommern, Radio Brocken, 89.0 RTL, Antenne Thüringen, Radio Ton, Rock Antenne, Sachsen Funpaket, Oldie 95, Radio Top 40, Universum Film, Cologne Broadcasting, UFA Sports, RTL Interactive, UFACinema, Groupe M6, M6, W9, Paris Premiere, Teva, Serie Club, TF6, M6 Boutique la chaine, M6 Music Hits, M6 Music Black, M6 Musci Club, RTL 9, RTL Radio, RTL 2, Fun Radio, RTL L’Equipe, Fremantle media France, Home Shopping Service, M6 Web, M6 Interactions, Societe Nouvelle de Distribution, Fremantel media, Talkback Thames, Five, Fiver, Five USA, RTL Nederland, RTL 4, RTL 5, RTL 7, RTL 8, RTL 24, Radio 538, Blue Circle, RTL TVI, Club RTL, Plug RTL , Bel RTL, Radio Contact, FremantleMedia Belgium, RTL Tele letzebuerg, Den 2.RTL, RTL Radio Letebuerg, RTL Radio , CLT UFA, Broadcasting Center Europe, European news Eschange, CLT UFA International, Media Assurances, RTL Newmedia, RTL Televizija, Fremantle Productions Croatia, RTL Klub, Magyar Grundy UFA, Ren TV, Klub 100, Russkiy Illusion, Illusion Plus, Detskiy, Zoo Park, Grupo Antena 3, Antena 3, Antena neox, Antena Nova, Onda Cero, Europa FM, Grundy Producciones SA, Movierecord, Alpha Media Group, Alpha TV, Kanali9 Thessaloniki, Alpha 98.9, Palmos 96.5, Plus Productions, Grundy Italia SPA, Fremantle Media Australia, Blu, Fremantle Media North America, Fremantle Media Latin America

Random House

Crown Publishing Group
Amphoto Books, Back Stage Books, Billboard Books, Broadway Crown, Crown Buisness, Crown Forum, Clarkson Potter, Broadway Business, Boubleday Religion, Harmony Books, Potter Craft, Potter Style, Ten Speed Press, Three Rivers Press, Tricycle Press, Shaye Areheart Books, Waterbrook Multnomah, Watson Guptill

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Alfred A. Knopf, Anchor Books, Doubleday, Everyman’s Livary , Nan A. Talese, Pantheon Books, Shocken Books, Vintage The Monacelli Press: The Monacelli Press

Random house Publishing Group
Ballatine Books, Bantam, Delacorte, Dell, Del Rey, Del Rey/Lucas Books, The Dial Press, The Modern Library, One World, Presido Press, Random House Trade Group, Random House Trade Paperbacks , Spectra, Spiegel& Grau, Villard Books

RH Audio Publishing Group
Listening Library, Random house Audio, Random House Audio Assets, Random House Audio Dimensions, Random House Audio Roads, Random House Audio Voices, Random House Audio Price less
Random House Children’s Books
Kidsandom (RH Children’s Books)
Golden Books

G+J

Art, Avto magazin, Blickpunkt film, Brigitte, Brigitte woman, Capital, Comopolitan, Mobil auto revue, Baby world, Börse online, Brigitte blance, Bühne, Capital, Claudia, Cosmopolitan spain, Cuisine actuelle dogs, Dvdpremiere, Essen und Trinken Für jeden Tag, Ebay magazine, E Biz, Elle Slovakai, Elle Dekor, Elle Hungary, Elle Dekor Hungary, Eltern, Eltern Family, E media, Emotion, Essen&Trinken, Femme Actuelle, Femme Actuelle Jeux, Femmes, First, Flora Garten, Focus Poland, Focus Italy, Focus Brain Trainer, Focus Domande&Risposte, Focus Extra, Focus Historia, Focus Junior, Focus Pico, Focus Storia, Focus XINZHIKE, Format, Gala Deutschland, Gala Litauen, Gala Poland, Gala France, Gala Syria, Gala LBN, Gala Style, Gala Biografia, Gameshop, Gamesmarket, Geo : Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Estonia, Czchech Republic, Latvia, Lituania, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Slowenia, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Russia, Finland

Geo Epoche, Geo Histoire, Geo Kompakt, Geo Saison, Geo Saison Extra, Geo Special, Geo Traveler, Geo Wissen, Geolenok, Geolino, Geolino Extra, Glamour, Glamour, Golfrevue, Guide Cuisine, Gusto, H Magazine, Häuser, Heathy Living, How to Spend it, Impulse , In, Jack, Jan, Joy, Jantje, Kidshop, Klink, Lea, Leon, Lisa Serbia, Lisa Slovenia, Lisa Hungary ,Lisa Carolija Okusa, Lisa Carovnija Okusa Slovenia, Lisa Moj Stan, Lisa Moje Stanovanje, Lisa Zivot Sa Cvecem, Living at home, Lufthansa exclusive, Lufthansa magazine, Lufthansa Woman’s World, Mama, Management, Marie Claire, Men’s Health Serbia, Men’s health Slovania, Mia , Mia Belleza, Mia cocina, Mia horoscopo, Moj Lepi VRT, Joj Lijepi VRT, Moja leba basta, Moje Dijete, Moje Gotowanie, Musikwoche, Muy Historia, Muy Interessante, Mux interessante junior, Naj,
National Geographic: Croatia, Germany, Poland, France, Netherlands, Serbia
National Geographic Junior, National Geographic Traveler (Croatia, Netherlands), Neon, News, News leben, News Exklusiv, NG World, Nova, Parents Fumu, Playboy Slovania, P.M., P.M. Biografie, P.M. Fragen und Antworten, P.M. History, P.M. Intelligenz Trainer, P.M. Logicals , P.M. Logiktrainer, P.M. Kreativtrainer, P.M. Sudoku, Prima, Prima Cuisine Gourmad, Prima maison, Profil, Quest, Quest Historie, Rayli Fuschi Meirong, Rayli Jiaju, Rayli Xianfen, Rayli Yi Ren, Rodzice, Schöner Wohnen, Sensa, Ser Padres, Stars, Stern, Stern Fotografie, Stern Gesund Leben, Story: Slovania, Croatia, Serbia, Swarovski magazine, Tele Loisirs, Tele2 Semaines, Top Girl, Treffpunktkino, Trend, Trudnoca, TV Grandes Chaines, TV Media, Videomarkt, Videotipp, View, Voici, VSD, VW Matazin, Woman, Wunderwelt Wissen, Xpress, Yachtrevue, Yo Cocino

Avarto

Avarto Services
Avarto print
Avarto digtal services
Arvato Systems

Direct Group

Audivle.fr, Belgique Loisirs, Bertelsman Club Schweiz, Bertrand Livreiros, Bol.it, BuchGesichter.de, Chapitre.com, Cirulo de Lectores, Circulo de Leitores, Der Club Bertelsmann, DirectGroup Portugal Publishing Business Unit, Donauland, Doubleday Australia, Doubleday New Zealand, Euromedia Group, Family Leisure Club Russia, Family Leisure Club Ukraine, France Loisirs, France Loisirs Suisse, Glaxia gutenberg, Grand Livre du Mois, Ikar, Liverias Bertrand, Medienshop.de, Mondolibri, Neue Schweizer Bücherwelt, Nionex GmbH, Photocite, Place du Livre, Praxiel, Quebec Loisirs, RobinBook, Swiat Ksiazki, viaSol Reisen, Voyages Loisirs