This is an assignment for my Writing for Media class. It was supposed to be a feature…

Is Benny in need of a makeover?

–The mascot’s more recent look has him still scaring children

Parents clamoring for photos as they thrust screaming, crying children into the furry arms of a six-foot tall, scowling, squinting Beaver with its head alone nearly as large as the child itself. “It’s horrible,” winces the peppy and anonymous Oregon State student that brings its mascot to life.

Since Benny the Beaver, Oregon State University’s mascot, transitioned from a happy and gentle beaver to the ‘angry’ beaver in 2001, many have been asking if he’s too angry for the children that previously adored him.

“The size of [Benny's] head is bigger than it has ever been,” says the anonymous student who dons the Benny suit each game day. “The eyes have also been made more intimidating and mean.”

According to a 2005 story by Daily Barometer reporters Jeff Goodwin and A.D. Nealon, Benny’s head was damaged on the plane ride back from that year’s Insight Bowl. Instead of simply fixing the head, the athletic department decided to redesign and update the look because, in the words of Steve Fenk, interim director of sports information for Oregon State, “the old Benny was scaring children.”

The 2005 redesign may have helped, but children still seem to be frightened of the oversized, loveable buffoon we call Benny.

“I can see his eyes being meaner [than past Benny's],” says Marianne Egan, an Apparel Design Instructor in the College of Design and Human Environment. “Children notice the eyes first.” She recommends replacing them with “pretty, big eyes with eyelashes.”

This discussion no doubt brings up the issue of who Benny, or all mascots for that matter, are made for. Is he made for kids, rabid fans, or both?

A good mascot, according to the mascot manufacturer Street Characters, the world’s leading mascot creator and Benny’s creator, is cute and cuddly and must be especially good with children. They should represent the university and its sports teams while being approachable and fun for children.

“[Benny the Beaver's] primary purpose is for the kids,” says Edison Gold, a junior in Exercise and Sports Science. “The adults are there for the game. Kids will get bored, and what Benny does is keep them interested. If Benny wasn’t there the adults wouldn’t be affected.”

Not all students feel the same way about Benny.

Taylor Eastburn, a junior in Business, feels that Benny is geared more towards sports fanatics and “people our age. Kids get scared by a lot of stuff. I don’t think that enough kids get scared by Benny to change how he looks.”

Oregon State isn’t the first university to struggle with how to find the balance between cuddly child-magnet and intimidation in its mascot.

According to a 2008 Washington Post article by Susan Kinzie, George Mason University has had the opposite problem. Children flock mercilessly to their wacky green and monster-ish mascot “Gunston,” but older students and alumni have called for his axing due to a lack of intimidation.

It all may be just simply a case of ‘the grass is greener.’ “They should change him,” says Gold of Benny the Beaver. “Make the head cute and funny. The image is trying to look fierce, but it’s just not there.”

Gold may have a point. If one scans the website of Street Characters, the previously-mentioned mascot manufacturer, one would find tips and advice for interacting with children. From what type of mascot kids would rather hug, to the design of a suit that would allow movement for the necessary activities of “shaking hands and hugging kids.”

Oregon State isn’t the only university to follow the advice of Street Characters. New Mexico State University has also had a notable controversy concerning children’s reactions to their mascot.

According to the 2005 Fox News article “N.M. State’s ‘Pistol Pete’ Losing Pistol”, New Mexico State’s mascot Pistol Pete was stripped of the name ‘Pistol’ and had his gun traded in for a lasso. Reasoned NMSU President Michael Martin in an ESPN article from the same year, the Pete costume “is decades old and scares children.”

While critical discourse may be what gets the ball rolling, no tangible change will take place until the Oregon State athletic department is onboard.

When queried about Benny and whether there were plans in place to alter his appearance, Nikki Pruett, Benny’s boss and the Director of Promotions/Fan Development said, “There are no talks of changing Benny that I am aware of.” When further questioned on Benny scaring children, Pruett referenced the Oregon State Media Guide, which describes Benny as being “especially adored by Oregon State’s youngest fans,’ stating that ‘Benny is usually surrounded by kids.”

If the athletic department is unwilling to alter the appearance of Benny in favor of children, there must be something else they can do to endear him to Beaver Nation’s youngest.

‘If [children] can associate something positive [with Benny], that [could] really help,’ said Egan, also the mother of a three-year old. ‘Seeing cartoon images around town [of Benny may] help to associate good thoughts with Benny.’ She also recommended Benny handing out candies and other treats.

Maybe it’s just a case of having an imperfect figure, a mascot that is somewhat intimidating to appease those that would hope Benny to be fierce, and a mascot that is somewhat cuddly and cute to excite children.

Gina Hoppe, a junior in Animal Sciences, puts the situation in perspective. Benny may scare “some kids, but definitely not all. Some kids love clowns and some hate them, so what are you gonna do?”‘ And that is precisely the question facing the athletic department; “What are you gonna do?”

Meet Benny.

We think he’s about 4 months old. He’s a german shepherd x kelpie and I got him from SAFE (Saving Animals from Euthanasia).

He’s the biggest sweetie, but if he doesn’t get his daily exercise, he turns into a demon dog at night time and he still has razor sharp puppy teeth.

So far I already have got him toilet/house trained. To sit, to give paw and to stay down when we eat food.
He loves fetch, and going for looooong runs. (I’m more of a fan of the walking, the runs tire me out).

Lessingtunnel in HH-Altona

Klick hier um eine größere Variante zu bekommen

]]> http://thedetroitvampirechronicles.com/2009/11/22/chapter-6-searching-for-jude/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:23:29 +0000 Jude http://thedetroitvampirechronicles.com/2009/11/22/chapter-6-searching-for-jude/

He is so stunned that he freezes, staring into the darkness after her. Suddenly his adrenaline kicks in — FUCK! — and he starts running down Jefferson Avenue. He runs as far as he can, several deserted blocks, before he stops, panting, and doubles over. Stars burst in his eyes. His heart throbs so hard he can feel it pressing against his inner ears. He lowers himself to the curb, puts his head between his knees. (Isn’t that what they always tell you to do?) Grabbing fistfuls of sweaty hair, he groans.

Someone comes by; a homeless person maybe. Benny is aware of someone mumbling to him, but he can’t look up. Eventually the intruder shuffles on.

He’s not sure how much time has passed when he finally manages to stand, but it feels like hours. He is shaking inside his thin leather coat.

He walks blindly back to his apartment, not remembering the walk when he arrives. Without bothering to remove his shoes or coat, he lays face down on the couch. How could I have let her go? He wants to die, is dying, like all humans are dying, but his own death is more eminent somehow — is with him every day because of the disease.

He sits up, finds his book, sits back down again. The book is so old its crumbling, and smells of glue. It cost him over $200. He had to order it from a rare book dealer in London, waiting months for its arrival.

The section of vampires reads, “Vampyres can be identified by pale skin and inhuman eyes. They prey at night. They … ” but he puts it back down. He’s read this section so many times he could recite it.

He’s sure of what he’s seen. That beautiful woman with the luminescent skin, her eyes a deep blue lined with blood-red veins, the flecks of blood in the corners of her mouth when she smiled at him. She has to be one. Now all there is to do is find her.

Benny dari Universitas Gadjah Mada, Fengky Satria Yorestra dari Universitas Andalas, dan Nanang Sugianto dari  Universitas Udayana mendapat penghargaan Mondialogo Award dari Unesco dan perusahaan Jerman Daimler AG yang memproduksi mobil mewah Mercedez Benz, di Stuttgart, Jerman.

Selain kepada tiga mahasiswa teknik Indonesia berprestasi, Mondialogo Engineering Award juga diberikan kepada 60 mahasiswa berprestasi dari 28 negara, ujar Counsellor Sosbud dan PIPP KBRI Berlin Agus Priono pada 12 November 2009. Dikatakannya penghargaan tersebut terbagi dalam 30 proyek yaitu bidang pembangunan, pengentasan kemiskinan dan lingkungan.

Ketiga mahasiswa berprestasi tersebut, yaitu Benny dari Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Yogyakarta dengan proyek Zero Waste Production System in Small/Medium Industrial Cluster meraih medali emas. Sementara Fengky Satria Yorestra dari Universitas Andalas dengan proyek Evacuation Infrastructure from Tsunami for Coastal Communities in West Sumatra meraih medali Perak, sedangkan  Nanang Sugianto dari Udayana dengan proyek Development of a Transportable Bioreactor for Anaerobic Treatment meraih medali perunggu.

Proyek Benny, mahasiswa Teknik Kimia semester 7 UGM yang bermitra dengan Awqi Gibran dari Chalmer University of Technology, Gothenberg, Swedia dinilai dewan juri independen bermanfaat dan kreatif karena berhasil menciptakan sumber energi alternatif bagi perkampungan secara berkelanjutan.

Dewan juri yang berasal dari beberapa negara menilai proyek Benny memanfaatkan limbah industri dan biologi untuk memproduksi barang kebutuhan sehari-hari seperti sabun herbal, berhak meraih medali emas.

Penganugerahan medali dilakukan Pimpinan Puncak Daimler AG dan Mercedez Benz Walter Eldern dan perwakilan dari UNESCO Dieter Zetsche.

特別多謝 Kabie嘅製作
大家有無覺得男主角有D熟口面…?

It is dark when I wake up and go for a walk. For the fun of it, I’m dressed in a short skirt and a pair of fuck-me boots. Get-up like mine could get a girl in trouble. But I’m feeling mischievous. Up for a little fun, you could say.

It doesn’t take long. I pass a group of three guys, all slouch and shuffling manliness. One makes a comment I don’t like.

In a move so swift it almost surprises me, I clamp one hand on his throat and the other on his balls. I squeeze both hard. He starts choking for air while his buddies stand by, too shocked to do anything. I continue for a few more seconds and then throw him against a chain-link fence.

“Hey!” one of his friends says, and steps toward me. I punch him in the face so hard (with a satisfying crrrraaaack!) that he reels backward, blood pouring from his nose.

The third friend runs off. The first  is still laying on the ground, half out of it. I grab the one I punched and put my mouth over his gushing nose, sucking. After a minute he flops to the ground. His heart is still pounding. I turn to leave, and step over them both, my high-heeled boots clicking as I walk away.

I strode toward Hart Plaza feeling as virile as Joe Louis himself. I wanna see that fist, all fierceness and glory. No one is around except one guy, staring up at the statue. He’s lucky I’m not hungry, I think, and almost laugh.

He looks at me then, and on his face is a look of recognition so strong it sends a jolt up inside me. Somehow, I know that he knows, and it’s a relief. I feel so good — so high, powerful and beautiful and now I’m not alone — that I smile at him.

He’ll see me again but for now, I want to keep him guessing. Without looking back I disappear into the night.

At 11:00 p.m., Benny walks out of the Purdy/Kresge Library. He would have stayed longer but the library was closing and Rachel, his friend at the front desk, had the night off.

He coughs a hacking cough and worries. He spent the better part of last winter in the hospital thanks to a lingering case of pneumonia. His last T cell count was fine, though.

It is still a warm evening, but Benny wears an old leather bomber jacket. He is almost handsome; was very handsome, in fact, before he caught the virus. His face is thin now, and pale, but his eyes are as deep, and clear, and warm-brown as they ever were. He is approaching 30, which worries him, though he isn’t quite sure why. It seems he is always aware of time now.

Campus is quiet. Benny walks swiftly, his head down against a wind that isn’t there. He is frustrated. He can’t find the information he has been searching for over the past year. He’d even taken two trips to Chicago to visit the Newberry Library. Nothing of much use turned up.

He drives two miles home, but is too restless to go up to his apartment. He decides to take a walk. He likes Hart Plaza; likes the defiant forearm and fist that points across the water, toward Windsor. He starts on his usual path. He passes the Spirit of Detroit and then comes upon the monument to Joe Louis. For a while his thoughts are still as he looks up at the statue.

A woman comes near. Benny eyes her warily at first, thinking that perhaps she’s a prostitute. You don’t see many women walking alone in Detroit at night. She’s dressed provocatively — short black skirt and tall black boots. But something about her suggests she has money. Her black jacket is perfectly tailored, and she wears a thick watch.

When she passes under a street lamp, Benny gasps audibly. Her skin is so fair, she almost glows in the light. She hears him, and pauses. A knowing smile widens across her face. She looks over her shoulder for a moment as she continues on. His heart rattles in his chest and he feels a longing stronger than he’s ever felt.

He knows exactly what she is. An immortal. Something Benny has wanted to be since the day he was diagnosed with AIDS.

Anna kurz vor dem Kinobesuch

D40x mit der 35mm Linse, f2.8, 1/60 und Nissin Blitz mit Dome Diffusor
Nachbearbeitung in Photoshop mit selektiver Schärfung und Aufhellung

this is a friggen travesty. mtv has done it again. i stumbled upon this promo below. it is for a show called “jersey shore,” which features douchebag guidos taking over the bar/club scene for the summer. gag me. i saw these guys filming all over seaside this summer. and naturally, they were assholes.

as a jersey shore girl myself, i want to make a public service announcement. GO HOME. no offense to you north jersians and new yorkers (hell, i love ny!), but i don’t come to your neighborhood acting like a jerk and claiming i’m the local. sorry for the hostileness, but this is a sore subject for me.

if you bennies want to go to the clubs fist-pumping with your overly-geled hair and wife beaters, by means go ahead. helps the local economy. and i am not a big club-goer. but don’t go getting in fights with locals about how you own this town and blah blah. we don’t care. and please, just please, wear appropriate attire to the beach. skimpy barely-there bikinis are not attractive.

once again, i apologize for my candor on the subject, but all we ask is for you to be respectful, spend your money and then go the hell home. this post is long overdue and clearly pent up anger from this past summer when i couldn’t stop at a bar, the beach or drive to wawa without getting in some kind of argument (which reminds me–please DRIVE better).

love, sharon

ps. i will be boycotting this show until curiousity gets the best of me. consequently, i will hate myself for letting mtv get the best of me.

I am getting on my soap box again. But this time it isn’t about raging hormonal mid-twenty something females. It is about the testosterone OD-ing meat heads who invade the “Jersey Shore” with their orange skinned girlfriends.  

Let us allow all the TRUE New Jersey locals send out a HUGE thank you to MTV for further perpetuating the stereotype that people at the Jersey Shore actually look like what I’ve just described.  I’m sorry, last I checked, my base coated tan was, what Ricky Martin called, mocha. I pride myself in not having to look like Tony the Tiger after an unsuccessful attempt at self-tanner application. Yes, I wasn’t born here–or anywhere in the continental U.S. for that matter. But I am Jersey Local by adoption people! Through and through, skin to hair.  I don’t wear a poof in my hair. I don’t use a tanning salon or apply self-tanner.  Just because you have a “Summer House” down here, doesn’t mean you are from here! I don’t get into screaming brawls at bars every night. And I definitely do not frequent the types of bars these individuals do.  

I live here ALL YEAR LONG. I have never had a “summer” home in Lavallette or LBI.  I do not pay to get on the beach–I know all the badge checkers. I do not swim in the “Surf Only” areas because I don’t know what the Purple flags mean. I do NOT (and WILL NOT) go to D’Jais in Belmar…if you’re a true local, only you understand why.  I wear my flip flops all year long. I know where to find the best Pork Roll & Cheese sandwiches money can buy without ever going to 7-11.  I never went to Seaside Heights after my HS prom. And if you ever ask me where the beach is, I’ll point you west.

I’m sure this applies to anyone who lives where vacationers frequent and leave behind in their wake disaster and destruction to the once peaceful and almost serene location.  But this has eerked me to the core. These people go by the names of “Benny” and “Shoobies” in most areas.  I’d just as soon call them trash.  For that is all they leave behind, on the beaches, the boardwalk, the streets, and the front lawns of their shack-like beach rentals that they take over like locusts.  But this seems to be worse than one of the biblical plagues because it happens every year. Right after Memorial Day, it is impossible for me to be riding my beach cruiser down Ocean Ave without getting run over by a car donning a NY license plate and about 6 more people than the average size sedan should be carrying. They raid our beaches, our precious dive bars and favorite hot spots.  They then leave as quickly as they came after Labor Day, just leaving them enough time to re-pump some iron so that they can bulge out of their horrendous banana hammocks next summer.  

Just looking at the commercial for MTV’s new series premiering on Dec. 3rd, in which I will not be engaging in cable television, makes my stomach churn. It is revolting believing that MTV can continue to associate the “Jersey Shore” with these pieces of trash.  Get a life, get a job. Stop spending so much on the 90s clear gel to spike up your hair or the $30 per month it takes for you to maintain that Oompa Loompa complexion of yours and invest it in something like maybe a IRA because, something tells me you’re going to need it.

How much did you LOVE Mama Mia! The Movie?  Rumors of there being a sequel are finally confirmed by Amanda Seyfried one of the stars of the ABBA based film.  Amanda has also said:

“I know it’s still going to be Abba music, because what else would it be? Come on, I wouldn’t do Mamma Mia 2 without Benny and Bjorn.”

I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to hear more amazing ABBA songs.

gia got marrrrrrrrrrrrrrried.

hitched!

and my first wedding cake became a cake wreck.  V & G had to slam their breaks on 76, thus causing benny to slam her breaks to avoid rear ending them, thus causing the cake to smash into the cake carrier.  what was a beautiful 2 tiered chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, raspberry preserves and fresh fruit turned into, well… just look at the picture :0(

the cake wreck... recovered?

more pics…

a little dark, but Gia, Benny & Myself... the bridal party

i ruin all pictures

kaity face

smash!

Will the good Doctor’s indiscretion go unpunished? Was he talking to the Pamela from the other episodes or was this completed unrelated rubbish? Find out, only in the next episode of Pixel Street!

i’ve already had my first bridezilla moment.

i want both of my brothers in the wedding.   rusty and i are in a disagreement.  he thinks that he chooses the dudes and i choose the ladies, whereas i think we should be able to pick either and then they just move around for symmetry.  they’re my brothers!  want.  and it’s non-negotiable in my book.  everyone in the wedding party are up there to support us.  does it really matter what side they stand on?

oh, and i’ve already had my first meltdown.   saturday morning, benny woke me up (thank you!) and i didn’t have the stuff for the cake i had to make.  as i was getting ready to start my trek up and down broad in search of buttermilk, mom calls.  we get to talking about the engagement and my grandmother and how she would’ve made my wedding cake and how happy she’d've been for us… i was a little faklempt.  stop 1: walgreens.  no buttermilk or materials to make buttermilk.  stop 2: rite aid.  no buttermilk, but they had milk and vinegar.    i get home and couldn’t find my cake pans i wanted to use, rusty had left the water running in the kitchen (just gotten the exorbitant water bill), time to leave for prison was creeping up.  commence meltdown in 3,2,1.

right in the middle of the kitchen floor.  i just crumpled and started crying.  rusty, walked past the kitchen, saw me on the floor and sat with me till the moment passed.  it takes a special kind of guy to drop everything to hold me and let me cry on him.  anyways, he’s a little concerned with all of the crying i’ve done since we got engaged and offered to un-ask me.  NO!

it’s pretty much been chaotic since he asked.  i’m just getting over the flu, it was the end of prison season, i was making my first wedding cake, my grandparents less than lackluster response, grammie not being around, pms – and that’s enough to cry without the proposal!  i don’t like being center stage unless i’m physically on a stage.  i’m a behind the scenes person.  Add a boatload of new attention and you’ve just hit the emotional detonator.

any tips for managing the stress?  i’m all ears.

Swedish mens magazine Café likes the design of our Untouched by Chakana Red wine Baginbox. A novelty at Systembolaget in Sweden as of october 2009.

Shop for all of your Dora The Explorer building sets, action figures, toys, games, dolls and much more. These quality playsets are manufactured by Mega Brands Mega Bloks. Browse for all of your favorite products and merchandise like Buildable Boots Treehouse Adventure 3040, Buildable Berry Picnic Adventure 3049, Star Mountain 3013 and Wild West Adventures 3009. Your children are sure to love these popular toys.

Visit Our Main Site To View Complete Product Details