49. Directive: Reflect. My mind wanders about…Barbie’s Memoir

Book Cover for Barbie’s memoirAn excerpt:

“America has changed. I am very proud to say that I lived to see all that. Change is what fuels our country. Things have changed for the better. When I was young and just coming out in the late 50’s, I held jobs that only women could have – teacher, ballet dancer, model, etc. There is absolutely nothing wrong with those professions, in fact, I enjoy them very much. But in the late 50’s, there was a limit to what jobs women could have. Men were lucky – they could and still can do anything they wanted. Now, I can show girls and women everywhere, we can do whatever we want! Our time is now. Let’s chase all our dreams, no matter how small or big they are.”

Idea:

When I think of “Reflect”, I think of looking back into the past. I know you shouldn’t but I always analyze changes – changes within myself, changes within people, differences between time periods, during x amount of time. I compare and contrast differences, changes, and similarities. Maybe it was always all those AP writings (analyze this, analyze that, compare and contrast similarities and differences, etc) I did that was the impetus. Or maybe it’s just my own curiosity and observation.

For the past 53 years Barbie has been around, she went through many changes. Facial changes, career changes, fashion changes, new relationships, etc. I thought it would be interesting if there was a book about the changes of Barbie and how she became the woman she is today. I also thought it would be interesting if it was from her point of view.

Credit:

Barbie- Then and Now picture:  http://abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/209800/

48. Directive: Reflect. My mind wanders about…How has Barbie inspired me?

I always talk about how Barbie inspires girls and how she does it. But I never really thought about how she inspired me as a woman, how did it shape who I am today? I don’t think it directly, fully in my face impacted me, I didn’t have one of those moments Sarah Kay had, like when the tall girl told her that she was good at spoken word. I feel like it’s subconscious, I have to look closely at who I am and see how has playing with Barbies affected me today.

So I decided to make a collage, to represent how has Barbie personally affected me, in the shape of my mind.

Pictures –

Creation of Adam: I decided to put this, because I love art. The Creation of Adam is one of my favorite pieces.

A doctor: I am an aspiring Occupational Therapist (They aren’t doctors, but the clip art is a Doctor, But OT’s dress similarly). It is one of my future goals and I hope to achieve it one day. Barbie is always encouraging you to go after your dreams.

Pink: I have loved pink since the day I played with Barbies and watched Power Rangers.

VCU logo: I love VCU. Without VCU, I don’t know where I’d be. VCU is a beautiful school. Giving me chances to go after my dreams!

Girl in the purple dress sketch: I love Fashion. It is one of my passions and interests. I love to dress up daily (or as much as I can). I look at all my old Barbies and they were all dressed so nicely! Guess that stuck with me today.

Womanhood: Barbie is symbol of women and empowerment. I believe in being an independent woman.

Picture with my parents and family: My family always supports me. Maybe they don’t always show it, but I know they do. I am happy that they are proud of me. I hope to always keep them proud. I am happy they aren’t one of those families that force me to go through a certain profession.

Volkswagen commercial screenshot: I love ads. Hahaha. 🙂

Albert Einstein quote: I love knowledge, but I think imagination is SO important. I have always kept a wild imagination since I was a kid and I never want to lose it.

World Map: I want to travel the world and see infinite, different things.

Pictures with friends: They are my support system like Skipper and Stacie was for Barbie.

Credit –

Brain outline – http://www.clker.com/clipart-4348.html

Fashion sketch – http://fashionsalon.blogspot.com/2011/04/guide-to-fashion-sketches.html

World map – http://linkstoourpast.com/iframe.html

Picture from Volkswagen Commercial – http://badassdigest.com/2011/02/07/lets-talk-about-that-volkswagen-star-wars-commercial/

Albert Einstein Quote – http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/ij/imagination.html

Creation of Adam Picture – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam

VCU Logo – http://www.aaiep.org/schools/show/62/english_language_program

47. Directive: Reflect. My mind wanders about…a Class Reflection Poem

Lyrics:

So I took this class in college,

Learned so much, gained advertising knowledge.

We had the coolest teachers, Scott and Will,

They taught as more creative skills.

Curiousness is the name,

Can’t believe it’s over, what a shame.

Our big assignment Project 54,

But it magically turned into Project 49.

Centered around Barbie, the doll.

It sort of made people want to bawl.

3-5 blogs per week,

From creative ideas that your mind speaks.

We had directives to give us some sort of direction.

So the brand and idea had to have a connection.

My favorite is the ID and opposite.

Sheep and Sandwich just plain sucked.

I am so used to science classes and order,

Each class was so fun and weird; I always needed a video recorder.

From the first day, where the guy

Was dancing…interestingly

To on Halloween, Slenderman creeped on us,

To Brandon’s inspiring lecture.

Each class was spontaneous and taught me so much,

Each little thing, my mind will clutch.

Curiousness let me explore my creativity,

I can’t wait to take my new skills to the next level.

I am going to have much more progressivity.

Thank you Will and Scott!

For sure. WORD.

IDEA:

Excuse my awkwardness, I am naturally awkward haha.

So I tried to channel my [virtually non existent] inner poet for this. Btw, did you know Barbie was a rap musician?
Well I tried to channel all of the poet in me for this. Sarah Kay is so good at this stuff, I commend her!

I wanted to end this project with something fun and to show how I really enjoyed “Curiousness”. Non of the classes in my undergrad career was anything like “Curiousness.” I loved the spontaneous and the constant laughter, it reminded me of Elementary School. All creativity, have the mind of a 5 year old in that class, no judgement. I also learned so much – how to improve my creativity, where to find inspiration, and about the aI was previously a pre-nursing student and all I took was science classes. It was all about order and strictness.

I hope my creativity has improved. I learned a lot from Curiousness and everything I learn, I will take with me throughout my advertising career.

Enjoy 🙂

46. Success…My mind wanders about…Republic of Barbie.

Republic of Barbie fun facts:

• Founded on March 9, 1959
• Barbara “Barbie” Millicent Roberts is the first and current President
• Important crops are corn, potatoes, and grain
• But Republic of Barbie is plentiful and abundant of a variety of crops to sustain their population.
• Republic of Barbie is one of the wealthiest countries of the world.
• “Diamond Island” was previously owned by another country. Republic of Barbie is so wealthy, in 1975 (a record number of diamonds were mined), they used the profits from the diamonds to acquire the island.
• Republic of Barbie mines diamonds, gold, emeralds, and rubies. There is speculation that there are more jewels and such to be mined around the country.
• Paradise Beach and Crystal Cove Beach are famous tourist locations and are world famous for their pink sandy beaches and crystal clear water.
• The unemployment rate is 1%.

Idea:

So I was generating ideas for “Success” and one of the things that came up was a literal map of my mind and connect places, cities, rivers and mountains to what I think of success. But it didn’t really connect to the brand. So I furthered my idea and wondered, “Hey, what if Barbie had her own country?” I imagined a very successful country. A successful country to me is, more than enough food to feed the population, low unemployment rate, plenty of crops, plenty of resources, large, lots of water, a nice beach…Barbie had mostly every career, except World Leader. If I can imagine any toy running a country, it would be Barbie. She’s perfect, ambitious, and good at everything she does.

I guess we can add another career and honor to Barbie’s Resume – President (of Republic of Barbie) and Founder of Republic of Barbie.

45. Directive: Success. My mind wanders about…How to be Simple

How to be simple (and have a child like mind)-

1. Play with Barbies. (or G.I. Joes or toy cars if you are a man. If you don’t care about gender differences, play with both! I did as a kid)
2. Eat a cookie. Or two. Or 10, no big deal. With milk.
3. Color in a coloring book.
4. Take a walk.
5. Go to the playground.
6. Drink hot chocolate with whip cream and marshmallows.
7. Make a snowman.
8. Make an indoor fort.
9. Draw something!
10. Don’t look at your cell phone all day.
11. Hug your family!
12. Hug your friends.
13. Roll down a hill.
14. Paint something!
15. Cloud watch.
16. Watch the nostalgic tv shows you watched as a kid.
17. Go on the swingset.
18. Watch the sunset.
19. Run around outside!
20. Make a snow angel.
21. Read a picture book.
22. Or read a book.
23. Don’t go on the computer all day unless you are playing a really fun game.
24. PILLOWWWW FIGHT!
25. Toy fight! (Me and my family friends, when we were kids, had a toy war and we just threw toys at each other. It was so much fun!)
26. Smile while you walk.
27. Smile at a stranger.
28. Eat a cupcake.
29. Don’t spend money all day.
30. Write a short story.
31. Make origami. I like stars and paper cranes.
32. Wear something crazy that you have always wanted to but never could.
33. Listen to music and just dance!
34. Scrapbook.
35. Look at old pictures.
36. Capture new pictures.
37. Make a lego tower.
38. Watch a movie.
39. Take a nap.
40. Create a home made card, just cause.
41. Befriend someone new.
42. Go on a hike in the woods.
43. Pretend-camp in your backyard.
44. Collect flowers from outside.
45. Climb a tree.
46. Ride your bike to somewhere new.
47. Watch a 3D movie.
48. Drink coke.
49. Eat cake and ice cream.
50. Hug your teddy bear. Or all your stuffed animals.
51. Take pictures a funky photo booth.
52. Go to Chuck E. Cheese. (That place is the bomb!)
53. Go for a nice swim.
54. Run through the sprinklers!
55. Play a board game, like Life, Clue, or Monopoly.
56. Play “Go Fish” (the card game)
57. Do a new craft project.
58. Tell your family and friends you love them.
59. Do something new!
60. Be happy and have a positive outlook 🙂

Idea:

When we think back as kids, we were genuinely happy. We did not have inhibitions and we felt free. We did not judge and we did not get judged by others. It’s ironic as adults, we have lost that and we constantly seek that. Success for me, is basically simplicity. The simplicity of a child. Childhood is a lucky time and I will forever cherish that. I sometimes think I retained many qualities from when I was a child. I still think I am the same person, just more mature (well, upfront haha).

I hope this list will help my imagination, relieve stress, and take me back to my childlike mind. This list is things we all did as kids, and enjoyed to our hearts content, but cannot now.

This relates to Mattel, because their toys are aimed at kids, not adults. Kids like to have fun and enjoy pleasure. Genuine pleasure and fun, is so hard to find in our busy lives!

44. Directive: Success. My mind wanders about Barbie’s Resume.

Dang, look how intensive Barbie’s resume is. And I am pretty sure there is a lot more to it.

When I think of success, I think of a resume. A resume is a representation of yourself and I have the connotation that you must be pretty successful if you have a bunch of things to put on it (I know there is a quality vs quantity type of thing that goes into resumes, but at first glance, a long resume seems pretty impressive). Barbie has been around for about 53 years. We all know she had a bajillion careers, but what exactly are they? What has she done for the past 53 years?
I created this resume to dispute all the negative projections of Barbie. They say she’s a bad role model, she’s too skinny, she’s too this, too that. But overall, I love what Barbie can do. She can be a role model for kids. She can teach little girls, it’s okay to be whatever you want. You can do whatever you want and not be judged for it. Little things like that can be the impetus for  a young girl to pursue her dreams and goals.

I decided I wanted to post this around campus for fun!

This is at the bulletin board at Temple (near the water fountains)

Credit:

Barbie picture – http://blog.compete.com/2012/10/12/traditional-retailers-are-barbie-shoppers-dream-house/

Information from: Barbiemedia.com

37. Directive: Sheep. My mind wanders about…”Pony”

“Pony” – Barbie

Song Lyrics:

I am just a Barbie,
Wanting a new best friend.
Someone who understands me,
talks to me all night long.

Gotta be friendly,
Goes on adventures with me.
Forever friends till the end.
I promise we will make each other better.

[Chorus]
I found you, my best friend,
Yes you, my pony
Her name is Dancer,
She has lots of energy.

I found you, my best friend,
Yes you, my pony
Her name is Dancer,
She has lots of energy.

Waiting to compete,
Our nerves are building.
I believe in you, Dancer.
We can get the gold medal,
Barbie & Dancer,
Best friends forever,
We will make it together,
Whatever the result, we’ll have fun!

[Chorus]
I found you, my best friend,
Yes you, my pony
Her name is Dancer,
She has lots of energy.
I found you, my best friend,
Yes you, my pony
Her name is Dancer,

She has lots of energy.
Jumping every hurdle together,
The wind through our hairs.
Riding together is fun,
Our equestrian adventures,
Playing every day,
We won the gold together!

[Chorus]
I found you, my best friend,
Yes you, my pony
Her name is Dancer,
She has lots of energy.
I found you, my best friend,
Yes you, my pony
Her name is Dancer,
She has lots of energy
[repeat and ends]

(Yes, Dancer)
(My best friend)

So in class the other day, we had a class acapella of us doing the background beat for, “Pony – Genuwine”. I thought Abba (I apologize if the name spelling is incorrect >_<) and Pam, the front singers, were sort symbolic of sheep herders and the rest of the class were sheep. I must admit, our class initially did a bad job at singing acapella, but I understand it’s very difficult to coordinate a large class.

I personally knew of the song but not of the artist or the name. I decided to look up the lyrics and music video. Whenever I listened to the song as a kid, I didn’t really listen to the lyrics but listened to the catchy beat. So when I looked up the lyrics, and I became…scarred cause I didn’t know the song had such a sexual meaning o_o. So I decided to replace the lyrics and make it a kid friendly song. It was a bit hard at first to create lyrics, because I had to correctly match the rhythm and lyrics to the original “Pony” song.

I decided to write a song about Barbie and her best friend, a pony named Dancer (who was actually Barbie’s first pet!). They both have fun adventures together, like entering competitions and just being there for each other no matter what. I like little songs like that, especially as a kid. Then when you look 20 years later, your heart is filled with nostalgia. I am filled with nostalgia when I look back at the old shows, movies, and music I watched and listened to as a kid.

Image Credit: http://www.amazon.com/Mattel-Barbie-Forever-Tawny-10-Inch/dp/B000ELIXAY

43. Directive: Success. My mind wanders about…What is success to a successful person?

For me, Barbie is very successful. Barbie is very ambitious, she has a long resume of impressive jobs, like doctor, astronaut, president, teacher, nurse, figure skater, and many more. She has a big house, a jet plane, a nice car, a beach house, etc. She is very financially successful. Barbie also has a loving family, friends, and boyfriend who readily support her at whatever she does. She is successful with her social life. Barbie represents the modern woman to me. Barbie is ambitious, do-it-all type of gal, intelligent, well rounded, and has time for all her loved ones.

One of my sorority sisters, “K”, also represents a modern woman to me. Even though she is my age, I look up to her. She is an A student, an honors student, a pre-accepted/future Med school student, an RA, a TA, the treasurer of my sorority, a VP of the business fraternity, volunteers at a local free health clinic, volunteers at the local elementary school, and many more. I wonder how she does all of this and manages to hang out with all her friends and family, and well, have a life outside all of those. I personally could not juggle all that. So, I was very curious to see into her mind and see what a successful person defines as their “personal success” (sans finances). I used the question we received as a 4 minute write up before, “Define success (Without finances).” I decided to add something more to the question and added, “using all 5 senses”

She put down: Staying positive, good family, friendship, marriage, smelling good, having a dog, good grades, reaching goals, dreams, ambition, good ideas, and being a good role model as

42. Directive: Success. My mind wanders about…Barbie and Ken’s Awkward Couple Portraits

So, when we did the 4 minute write up session about what is “success” to me, sans finances, I thought about how having family, friends, and happiness is all I need at the end of the day for me to be successful in life. I mean some of my goals in life are to have a big house one day with a pool, travel around the world, etc. But honestly, I would not be happy having those things if I didn’t have my family or friends to celebrate or enjoy those things with. My family and friends are everything to me.
So this idea was inspired by awkward family portraits. I had to do some awkward portraits for my friend’s project and this is where I was inspired from. I think as much as awkward family portraits are very awkward, I think they are cute and somehow represent a family’s love for each other cause at the end of the day they will all laugh together about these little memories. They will be connected by the littlest things and take joy in it. I thought this is a good idea to represent how family/friend/romantic love is success to me.

I took the pictures of Barbie and Ken with my camera and I edited the photos via photoshop.

Sidenote: I do not have any awkward family pictures, but I wish I did so I can laugh ah

41. Directive: The ID. My mind wanders about…”The Girl & Toys” Comic

 

What does your head think of when you see this?

For me, I thought: