Jamie Oliver Chocolate Cake, H&M Drops Kate Moss - Essay Example

?Jamie Oliver Chocolate Cake This writing on Jamie Oliver Chocolate Cake is about preparing a chocolate cake at home from left-over ingredients or easily available at-home food and consumable items. This informational piece of writing has been written to help readers learn making the chocolate cake at home just by reading this piece of writing. The writer desires to attract the niche audience of home-makers who want to relish preparing a chocolate cake just as easily, as the writer has explained to the food-lovers, especially those who relish eating a chocolate cake and won’t hesitate making one such cake after reading the writer’s instructions thoroughly. The writer catches the quick attention of the niche readers by stating that the chocolate cake is ‘wicked’, as no baking is required. It details the method of preparing the cake by first mentioning the ingredients required to be put in a bowl. The next procedure of mixing chocolate and butter in water for heating is given afterwards. Oliver has pasted a picture of the cake to be put in a container after spreading the cling-film for comfortable turning and firming of the cake when kept in the fridge. One can see for oneself the thickness of the slices cut after taking the container out of the fridge. Inspiring lines about the way to keep and preserve the cake for added flavor help those who relish eating chocolate cake to try their hands by giving a serious reading to the ingredients, given at the end of the writing. The writer seems to be succeeding in inspiring the readers to go for this chocolate cake at home. The image of the cake is the lead inspiration to taste this cake after making it and not baking it at home. H&M Drops Kate Moss The content of this news has been written by Claire Cozens, press and publishing correspondent of Media Guardian, UK. It is about the high profile celebrity Kate Moss, whose advertising campaign contract with the leading high street fashion line, Hennes and Mauritz has been cancelled because of the reporting that she had taken illegal drugs. This piece of news information has appeared in The Guardian to cater to the niche audience of the Newspaper, very keen to know about the happenings in the lives of popular celebrities like Kate Moss. The purpose of taking the services of popular celebrities by using them in advertisements is to popularize the brand, in this case, the clothing retailer. Popular brands such as H&M pay due attention to adhere to their corporate social responsibility, which in this matter relates to H&M’s anti-drug initiative. If the leading actor, propagating the use of H&M clothing line, such as Kate Moss, is exposed in the public for consuming cocaine, the corporate purpose of H&M fails for non-compatibility with the drug-free propaganda. That’s why it distanced itself by announcing the cancellation of the advertisement campaign with Kate Moss. Later, a change of mind occurred because the actress offered its apologies to the brand. IT is an informative writing, telling about the whole happening and other related information that Kate has been endorsing other make-up brands like Rimmel and fashion houses Burberry, Chanel and Dior. The writer has been successful in getting the point across by quoting from the company officials and Kate Moss about giving another chance to the celebrity after her regret and promise not to repeat the use of drug in future. Chanel and Burberry Dump Kate Moss This text is about Kate Moss whose advertisement contract with such brands as Chanel and Burberry has been terminated because of drug abuse. The purpose of writing this news by the online newspaper, Mirror, has been to to bring to the notice of its readers who would like to know about the responses of High Street brands over Moss’s cocaine use in the public. Celebrities have a niche audience of their own who are admirers and fans of actors and actresses and expect to follow on their lines. The writer, Steve Purcell, brings to the fore the reaction of the police department, taking the issue of drug use seriously by ordering an inquiry into the incident, as fashion-house, Chanel took a decision not to renew the contract with Moss, about to expire soon. This news was followed by another fashion brand Burberry, to cancel its business relations with the super model. The writer informs about the termination in sequence in the background of earlier boycott of Moss by H&M clothes store. The writer describes in detail the happening of drug abuse by Moss, how she inhaled cocaine five times in 40 minutes while she was in the company of her lover, Pete Doherty at a recording studio. The writer differentiates between the severe reactions of Burberry and Chanel with that of H&M’s mild response by not withholding the campaign, using image of Moss. Complete detail of H&M earlier reaction and later u-turn for not ousting Moss from the advertisement campaign because of her regret over the unfortunate incident helps the writer in making the point across, how the Company management took time in evaluating the situation. The whole incident is described through the first-hand experience of Kate’s friend who was present at the big bash at Jade Jagger’s house. The friend’s remarks over Kate’s behaviour create a feeling of pity for the actress who was not in her proper mood on the fateful day, helping to win favours from her clients not to shun her out from the brand campaigns. The story-line ends by informing Kate’s decision to go to rehab as a last resort to save her career. The writer has been successful in bringing across the viewpoints and decisions of critical stakeholders. Dead Men’s Path This writing “Dead Men’s Path”, the work of famous Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe, has been one of his popular writings. It describes the enthusiasm of Michael Obi, after becoming headmaster of Ndume Central School. The purpose of this writing is to express that past rituals, customs and beliefs are hard to die; these beliefs cannot be easily discarded by the masses because of religious faith. All attempts of the headmaster to give a facelift to the school by decorating the compound variously, his hard work of years comes to the ground when villagers, strictly forbidden by him not to use the path for taking the dead, take violent action by destroying all that is beautiful, “the flowers trampled to death...”, leading the supervisor to remark negatively about ‘the misguided zeal of the new headmaster’. This is a literary writing, which the students of literature or English subject would be given in their text books to read. Otherwise, magazines can also print such literary works. Achebe has been more than successful in getting his point across that certain situations demand compromises rather than strict disciplinary action. When the issue at hand is related more with the religious and spiritual beliefs, beautification of a school compound is of no importance. The writer has succeeded in deriving the lesson that preserving the dead men’s path is critical for the generations to come. Discursive Writing for Dead Men’s Path Introduction Dead Men’s Path is a story that tells that old traditions and practices cannot be erased easily from the conservative minds, whatever element of modernism prevails at a given time and situation. The zeal and fervour of the headmaster, Michael Obi, to modernise the Ndune Central School brings about a positive change in the ways of modern teaching and beautification of the school. But when his enthusiasm comes in the way of adherence to century-old practices to take the dead to their burial place through a specific path, adjacent to the school compound, superstition wins, as the wrath of villagers upon the death of a pregnant young woman, taking the closing of the ‘Dead Men’s Path’ as a bad omen, turns into mob attack, erasing all the signs of modernity, brought about by the headmaster. Michael Obi became headmaster of Ndune Central School in 1949. Before becoming the headmaster of this school, he was a teacher who had grudges against the way school headmasters used to manage the functions of schools. He took this opportunity to bring about a total change and make-over of the school, previously run by aged headmasters of conservative outlook. Obi had this opinion that young blood at this post of headmaster could bring a positive change in the school overall environment. Obi was not alone in breeding this perspective that school should be managed by a headmaster having a progressive outlook. It was the decision of the mission to appoint a relatively younger and vibrant person, a ‘pivotal teacher’, to the designated position of headmaster. The other reason, which Obi felt proud within was that he was relatively highly qualified than previous headmasters. He was upfront in his criticism of the old way of managing school by the older headmasters. Obi’s wife was equally enthusiastic when he shared the news of his becoming headmaster. She also was supportive of beautifying the school garden and providing it a new look. One can understand the zeal of both, Obi couple. After all, innovation and change is the rule of nature, therefore, any change for modernisation needs to be welcomed. Obi had been earlier practising innovative ways of teaching, which were highly appreciated by his wife. Rightly, his wife saw this opportunity to support actively her husband in the modernisation initiative and enjoy a different feeling of becoming a partner in the lift over of the school premises. Obi’s wife, Nancy, forgot her womanly feeling of showing superiority of her rank to the wives of other school teachers when Obi revealed to her that all teachers were young and unmarried. It needs to be appreciated that the beautification of the school was not the only concern of the Obi couple; they were equally concerned to raise the educational standard of the school. Their hard work was rewarded when the school garden started blossoming with various flowers, with the coming of rain, giving Obi a feeling of pride in walking in the garden in-between the beautiful flower-lines of hibiscus and Allamanda hedges in red and yellow colours. But things were destined to move for the worse. Once taking a scroll, Obi noticed an aged woman using the school compound as a short-cut to reach the other side in the village. Obi came to know that villagers have been using this pathway sparingly whenever they needed to take the dead bodies from the village shrine to the burial place. Within no time, Obi ordered cordoning off the area to erect new barricades with sticks and barbed wire. The village priest tried his best to bring Obi nearer to reality by telling that the path has to be preserved, due to the practice of taking the dead men through that path only and Obi should bow down to the past religious rituals and traditions. Obi remained adamant, nevertheless, to close the path for villagers’ use. The priest argued that the path had been there even before the headmaster’s father was born. Further, the priest was right in his argument that the dead people of the village were taken through that path to the burial place. He further argued based on the traditional beliefs that new births were also taking through that path. So, this was a question of life and death for the villagers. On the contrary, headmaster Obi was adamant not to allow villagers to pass through that path. He countered that the purpose of education was to create awareness to stop illogical age-old practices, as these. He offered to construct a new path, understanding that souls of the dead won’t mind ‘the little detour too burdensome’. Death of a pregnant woman triggered the unexpected rage in villagers who smashed the whole compound of the school into debris, besides an erected building. Not only that, as it was not enough, the visiting supervisor also put he blame and onus of ‘tribal-war’ like situation arising between the villagers and the school on the ‘misguided zeal of the new headmaster’. Conclusion This story takes all the readers to the conclusion that some signs of old customs and practices need to be followed, and not sacrificed in the name of modernity. Neither the school headmaster, Obi, nor the priest of the village are wrong in their approach to the issue, which could have settled down but the untimely death of the child-bed young woman reinforced the desire in village people to settle score with the headmaster who created barriers to the ‘dead men’s path’. The end of this story is negative; giving the message that due respect needs to be given to age-old practices, not sacrificing them in the name of modernity. But at the same time, the perspective of the headmaster needs to be understood in the right spirit. The headmaster rightly remarked that the purpose of education is to get away from old superstitions and imbibe new learning among the students. Any rash reaction, such as that of the villagers, is unwanted, and therefore, condemnable. Read More