Colossal U Ad Campaign

If you really look into the Colossal U ads you see on the bus, it’s really a great ad! HAHA

At first glance you would think, “WOW, What? That can’t be right.” And it’s true, it isn’t right. These ‘Colossal U’ ads use sarcasm or reverse psychology to get people’s attention.
Before checking out the website I thought that this school would never succeed in their attempt to create ‘cookie cutter students’. As a student at Mary Ward who loves every kind of art with a passion and is all about individual dreams and aspirations in each person, I really doubted this Colossal U’s legitimacy.

Clearly, an academic institute cannot possibly guarantee that all their students will turn out exactly the same. Students and people in general are meant to be different and unique. Everyone is supposed to find their strengths and talents as they go through life and eventually those aspects are the characteristics that they will be remembered for.
It is a fact that schools kill creativity through the ‘life lessons/ messages’ that we subliminally perpetually receive about always needing to have the correct answer, or being correct. This fear of making mistakes keeps students from being truly creative and using their imagination. Luckily, Algoma University, the actual university that this ad is promoting, emphasizes on teachers getting to know their students and making sure everyone plays on their strengths. At first, the Colossal University website was actually quite funny. There were tabs that said “Current Sheep” and “Shepherds” along with ads on the side about clone sheep. Haha. But it was really an illusion and eventually led the site to the University’s official website. It obviously directed everyone’s attention to the school and I guess that although Colossal U, I mean, Algoma University isn’t that popular right now, it certainly captured the right kind of attention.
Anyway, I thought that this ad campaign was brilliant.

Gaming Gone Wild!

As a young girl with an older brother I've grown up with a close male influence in my life. Most of the bonding time with my brother was spent on watching him and usually his friends play video games and only being able to play occasionally. Being able to hold the controller of my friend's PS2 and actually battle these boys was a way that I bonded and interacted with them. It seemed that endless hours were spent on fighting each other virtually. As I continued to watch my brother and his friends play video games with each other the more I learned too. If I think about it now, I know a whole lot more about video games than any other girl my age today. I'm don't know if it's really a knowledge I should be proud of or advertise but it does help in conversations with boys who do play video games.

Today I do still play video games like Guitar Hero, Assassin's Creed, Time Crisis 4, Super Smash Brothers , Mario Kart and many many more. I find that games really are a way to take your mind off of stressful things and relax you... Unless you're not so skilled at aiming and are frustrated at not being able to hit your opponent!

As the end of the school year continues to draw nearer I find myself playing less that I usually do (which is not very often in the first place). But as a person with priorities, school must come first. I'm one with discipline and so I personally know when enough is enough. Although, I know of some others like my brother for example and his friends who can't seem to get enough of the virtual world. They can spend countless hours staring at a screen that honestly, it can't be healthy. It isn't. Gaming really has gone wild. Teenagers need to know that there should be a balance between video games, TV, homework, and playing outside. Not all their time can be spent on one thing and one thing only. But as these huge companies persist on creating and developing new games, the buzz on these new, exciting and better games will keep gamers on their feet to be the best. It's a vicious cycle, alright. And with increasing technology and High Definition TVs, people will always be looking for the new, the hip, the cool, and the entertaining.

Yes, it does take up a lot of time. Yes, it may turn teens into mindless zombies. Yes, it does cause flaws in our duties and work. But NOTHING beats the feeling of being the fastest, conquering nations, mastering solos, saving humankind, coming in first and beating the game.

(Unless of course, you ace an exam...that would be awesome.)