The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2010)

"Millie," costumed character mascot of the Brampton Arts Council

Boomer Beaver, mascot of the American Minor League Baseball team the Portland Beavers, pointing wildly to the camera.

Chief Osceola and Renegade the official symbols of Florida State University.

A tired costumed character taking a break. It is traditional to avoid showing the unmasked faces of performers.^{[citation needed]}

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck^[1] – colloquially (informally) includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fictional, representative spokespeople for consumer products, such as the rabbit used in advertising and marketing for the General Mills brand of breakfast cereal, Trix.

In the world of sports, mascots are also used for merchandising. Team mascots are often confused with team nicknames.^[2] While the two can be interchangeable, they are not always the same. For example, the athletic teams of the University of Alabama are nicknamed the Crimson Tide, while their mascot is an elephant named Big Al. Team mascots may take the form of a logo, person, live animal, inanimate object, or a costumed character, and often appear at team matches and other related events, sports mascots are often used as marketing tools for their teams to children. Since the mid-20th century, costumed characters have provided teams with an opportunity to choose a fantasy creature as their mascot, as is the case with the Philadelphia Phillies' mascot, the Phillie Phanatic.

Costumed mascots are commonplace, and are regularly used as goodwill ambassadors in the community for their team, company, or organization such as the U.S. Forest Service's Smokey Bear.

Etymology[link]

The word mascot has been traced back to a dialectal use in Provence and Gascony, where it was used to describe anything which brought luck to a household.^[3] The suggestion that the word is derived from masqu (meaning "masked" or "concealed"), the Provincial French for a child born with a caul, in allusion to the lucky destiny of such children, is improbable.

The word was first popularized in 1880, when French composer Edmond Audran wrote a popular comic operetta titled La Mascotte. However, it had been in use in France long before this, as French slang among gamblers, derived from the Occitan word masco, meaning "witch" (perhaps from Portuguese mascotto, meaning "witchcraft"), and also mascoto, meaning "spell."

Audran's operetta was so popular that it was translated into English as The Mascot, introducing into the English language a word for any animal, person, or object that brings good luck. The word with this definition was then incorporated into many other languages, although often in the French form mascotte.

Choices and identities[link]

This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (March 2009)

Often the choice of mascot reflects a desired quality; a common example of this is the "fighting spirit," in which a competitive nature is personified by warriors or predatory animals.

Mascots may also symbolize a local or regional trait, such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers' mascot, Herbie Husker: a stylized version of a farmer, owing to the agricultural traditions of the area in which the university is located.

In the United States, controversy^[4] surrounds some mascot choices, especially those using human likenesses. Mascots based on Native American tribes are particularly contentious, as many argue that they constitute offensive exploitations of an oppressed culture.^[5]

Some sports teams have "unofficial" mascots: individual supporters or fans that have become identified with the team. The New York Yankees have such an individual in fan Freddy Sez. Former Toronto Blue Jays mascot BJ Birdie was a costumed character created by a Blue Jays fan, ultimately hired by the team to perform at their home games. USC Trojans mascot is Tommy Trojan who rides on his horse (and the official mascot of the school) Traveler.

Sports mascots[link]

See also: Lists of sports mascots: Australian sports, Brazilian football, MLB, NFL, NHL, Olympics and Paralympics, U.S. colleges (post-secondary)

See also: Native American mascot controversy, List of sports team names and mascots derived from indigenous peoples

See also: Religious symbolism in U.S. sports team names and mascots

One of the earliest sports mascots was for the Chicago Cubs, in 1908.^[6]

In Britain, some teams have young fans become "mascots". These representatives sometimes have medical issues, and the appearance is a wish grant,^[7] the winner of a contest,^[8] or under other circumstances. Unlike the anonymous performers of costumed characters, however, their actions can be associated with the club later on.^[9]

Military mascots[link]

The goat mascot and Goat Major of the Royal Regiment of Wales.

Mascots are also popular in military units. For example, the United States Marine Corps uses the bald eagle as a formal emblem; the bulldog is also popularly associated with the U.S. Marines.

The goat in the Royal Welsh is officially not a mascot but a ranking soldier. Lance Corporal William Windsor retired on 20 May 2009, and a replacement is expected in June.^[10] Several regiments of the British Army have a live animal mascot which appear on parades. The Parachute Regiment and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders have a Shetland pony as their mascot, a ram for the The Mercian Regiment; an Irish Wolfhound for the Irish Guards and the Royal Irish Regiment; a drum horse for the Queen's Royal Hussars and the Royal Scots Deagon Guards; an antelope for the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers; and a goat for the Royal Welsh. Other British military mascots include a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and a pair of ferrets.

The Norwegian Royal Guard adopted a King Penguin named Nils Olav as its mascot on the occasion of a visit to Edinburgh by its regimental band. The (very large) penguin remains resident at Edinburgh Zoo and has been formally promoted by one rank on the occasion of each subsequent visit to Britain by the band or other detachments of the Guard. Regimental Sergeant Major Olav was awarded the Norwegian Army's Long Service and Good Conduct medal at a ceremony in 2005.

NASA mascots[link]

Camilla Corona SDO is the mission mascot for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and assists the mission with Education and Public Outreach (EPO).

Mascots in music[link]

Some bands, particularly in the Heavy Metal genre use band mascots to promote their music. The mascots are usually found on album covers or merchandise such as band T-shirts, but can also make appearances in live shows or music videos. A famous example of a band mascot is Eddie the Head of the English Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden. Eddie is a zombie-like creature which is personified in different forms on all of the band's albums, most of its singles and some of its promotional merchandise. Eddie is also known to make live appearances, especially during the song Iron Maiden. Another notable example of a mascot in music is Skeleton Sam of [The Grateful Dead].

See also[link]

• Car mascot
• Fursuit
• List of mascots (college, computing, commercial, sports, public-service, television and movie, computer and video games, political parties)
• Mascot Hall of Fame
• National emblem, National personification, National animals
• Totem

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mascots

• List of Free and Open Source software mascots

Michael G Polk Jr (born August 29, 1977) is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his sketch comedy.

Early life and education[link]

Polk was born in Warren, Ohio. He attended Kent State University as an undergraduate and earned a degree in communications and psychology in 2001.^[1]

Career[link]

Polk created HBO's Runaway Box / Man in the Box.^[2] His work has also appeared on Cinemax and broadcasts of the basketball show "Inside the NBA" on the TNT (TV channel).^[3]

He sang his YouTube song "One Semester of Spanish - Love Song".^[4] for Kim Kardashian on Spanish television channel Telemundo.^[5][6] That video has received over 5.8 million views on YouTube. He thanked his viewers as "Spanish Mike" when the video hit 2 Million views. ^[7]

Some of his other work includes "Ooh Girl!" - An Honest R&B Song".,^[8] "The Great Office War"^[9] and two different versions of a "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video"^[10][11] all of which have about 20 million views combined on YouTube. The tourism spoof video actually prompted Cleveland's convention and tourism bureau to solicit other videos in a 'counterattack' to Polk's not so flattering work.^[12] Segments of the Cleveland tourism videos were also featured in the Michael Moore documentary film Capitalism: A Love Story.^[13][14]

Polk has also worked for Funny or Die and his current comedy troupe Last Call Cleveland.

A Cleveland Cavaliers fan, Polk helped put together "Light it Up Like Vegas" that co-starred Jesse Lamovsky, a writer for theclevelandfan.com and Chad Zumock from WMMS. It was an hour long Cavs preseason special for Fox Sports.^[15]

Awards[link]

He has also been honored as one of Cleveland Magazine's Most Interesting People of 2010.^[16]

Notes and references[link]

1. ^ "Kent State ‘down’ with entertainment this weekend". KentWired.com. http://kentwired.com/kent-state-down-with-entertainment-this-weekend/. 
2. ^ "Mike Polk : Actor : Biography". Symfonee.com. http://www.symfonee.com/Improv/Cleveland/comedians/Bio.aspx?Uid=9c9e8835-d6c2-456b-b8a0-d4466d233c2b. 
3. ^ "Video Mike Polk's tribute to TNT's coverage of the NBA playoffs". Sports.Yahoo.com. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Video-Mike-Polk-s-tribute-to-TNT-s-coverage-of-?urn=nba,166820. 
4. ^ "One Semester of Spanish - Love Song". YouTube. September 10, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngRq82c8Baw. 
5. ^ "Spanish Mike at Telemundo". YouTube. January 14, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOSdLArCjKg. 
6. ^ "Spanish Mike en Mas Vale Tarde". YouTube. February 12, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV66CpgC0CY. 
7. ^ "Spanish Mike-2 Million Viewers". YouTube. January 28, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11nCVbbCB2I. 
8. ^ "Ooh Girl!" - An Honest R&B Song". YouTube. March 14, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc8tPTVBRSc. 
9. ^ "The Great Office War". YouTube. June 16, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVKnF26qFFM. 
10. ^ "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video". YouTube. April 14, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY. 
11. ^ "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video: 2nd Attempt". YouTube. April 30, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM. 
12. ^ "A counterattack on Mike Polk's Cleveland 'tourism' videos Regina Brett Regina Brett". Cleveland.com. http://www.cleveland.com/brett/blog/index.ssf/2009/05/_a_counterattack_on_mike.html. 
13. ^ "'Capitalism: A Love Story' is classic Michael Moore, but he should have trimmed his target list". Cleveland.com. http://www.cleveland.com/moviebuff/index.ssf/2009/10/capitalism_a_love_story_is_cla.html. 
14. ^ "Moore's Legacy of Visual Protest in Capitalism a Love Story". HASTAC.org. http://hastac.org/blogs/etussey/moores-legacy-visual-protest-capitalism-love-story. 
15. ^ "FOX Sports Ohio Announces Light It Up Like Vegas". FoxSportsWest.com. http://www.foxsportswest.com/pages/landing?blockID=92968&tagID=10336. 
16. ^ "Most Interesting People 2010 - Mike Polk". ClevelandMagazine.com. http://www.clevelandmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=E73ABD6180B44874871A91F6BA5C249C&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=1578600D80804596A222593669321019&tier=4&id=64C3E513E93D4BC39392967A6F26F60D. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mike Polk

• Official website
• http://www.youtube.com/user/mikepolkjunior

Jennifer Lawrence
Lawrence at the 83rd Academy Awards, February 27, 2011
Born	Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (1990-08-15) August 15, 1990 (age 21) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2006–present

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence^[1] (born August 15, 1990) is an American film and television actress. She had lead roles in TBS's The Bill Engvall Show and in the independent films The Burning Plain and Winter's Bone, for which she received nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Satellite Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Award. At age 20, she was the second youngest actress ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She is also known for playing Mystique in X-Men: First Class. In 2012, Lawrence achieved wider recognition starring as the heroine Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, an adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel of the same name. Her performance in the film garnered her notable critical praise and marked her as the highest grossing action heroine of all time.^[2][3] Lawrence's performances thus far have prompted Rolling Stone to define her as "the most talented young actress in America."^[4]

Early life[link]

Lawrence was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and has two older brothers. Her parents are Karen (née Koch), who runs a children's camp, and Gary Lawrence, who once owned a concrete construction firm, Lawrence & Associates.^[5][6][7] She acted in local theater^[8] and, by the age of 14, had decided to pursue an acting career, persuading her parents to take her to New York City to find a talent agent. Prior to finding success in Hollywood, Lawrence attended Kammerer Middle School. She graduated from high school two years early with a 3.9 average in order to begin a career in acting.^[5][9] While growing up and in between acting, Lawrence served as an assistant nurse at the children's summer day camp that her mother ran.^[10]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Lawrence had never taken any drama classes/lessons for acting.^[5] She started out her acting career in the TBS comedy The Bill Engvall Show, playing the eldest daughter of Lauren Pearson. Written and created by Bill Engvall and Michael Leeson, the show is set in a Denver suburb and follows the life of 'Bill Pearson' (played by Engvall), a family counselor whose own family could use a little dose of counseling. The series went on the air in September 2007 and was canceled in 2009 after three seasons. Lawrence received the Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Performer in a TV Series for her role in the show.

Lawrence had guest-roles in the television series The Devil You Know, Cold Case, Medium, and Monk.^[11]

In 2008, she appeared in a small role in the film Garden Party as Tiff. It was directed by Jason Freeland. The same year, Lawrence appeared on the big screen in Guillermo Arriaga's film directorial debut The Burning Plain, opposite Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. Her performance in the film earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young emerging actor/actress at the Venice Film Festival in 2008.^[12]

Still in 2008, Lawrence had the lead role in another film director's debut, Lori Petty's family drama The Poker House, opposite Selma Blair and Chloë Moretz, where she starred as Agnes, a young girl victim of abuse.^[13] Lawrence was awarded the Los Angeles Film Festival for Outstanding Performance for her role in the film. She appeared in the music video for the song "The Mess I Made", from the 2009 album Losing Sleep by Parachute.

2010–present[link]

Lawrence's lead role in Debra Granik's Winter's Bone, which won best picture at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, is generally cited as a breakout performance for her.^[14] She portrays Ree Dolly, a seventeen-year-old in the Ozark Mountains who cares for her mentally ill mother and her younger brother and sister. Ree then discovers that her father put their house and land up as a bond for a court appearance before he disappeared, and the family now faces eviction.^[15] The performance was highly acclaimed by film critics. David Denby, writing in The New Yorker, said "the movie would be unimaginable with anyone less charismatic playing Ree."^[16] Peter Travers from the Rolling Stone also spoke highly of her and noted that "her performance is more than acting, it's a gathering storm. Lawrence's eyes are a roadmap to what's tearing Ree apart".^[17] Receiving accolades for her performance, Lawrence was awarded the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress on January 25, 2011, becoming the second-youngest actress to date to be nominated for the category,^[18] and also accrued nominations from the Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and the Satellite Awards among others.

Lawrence had a role in The Beaver, a dark comedy starring Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson that was filmed in 2009, but which spent an extended period of time stalled due to controversies surrounding Gibson. It was released on May 6, 2011. Lawrence co-starred in the independent film Like Crazy, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and received a wider release by Paramount Pictures.^[19]

On June 18, 2011, it was announced that Lawrence was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In June 2011, she starred as shape-shifting villain Mystique alongside James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in X-Men: First Class,^[20] a prequel to the rest of the X-Men film series and will be reprising this role again in the sequel. Lawrence's Mystique is a younger version of the character played by Rebecca Romijn in earlier X-Men films.

She is also set to star alongside Elisabeth Shue in Mark Tonderai's thriller House at the End of the Street,^[21] which completed filming in 2010 and is in post-production.^[22]

Lawrence was cast in David O. Russell's The Silver Linings Playbook, opposite Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. She was originally cast to play "O" in the film Savages directed by Oliver Stone, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

In 2012, Lawrence replaced Angelina Jolie in Susanne Bier's period thriller, The Falling, based on the novel Serena by Ron Rash.^[23][24] She will be playing the role of Serena who learns that she can never bear her husband children and is set out to murder the woman who bore her husband an illegitimate son before their marriage.

[edit] The Hunger Games

In March 2011, Lawrence was offered the part of Katniss Everdeen in the film The Hunger Games, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. Despite being a fan of the books, Lawrence took three days to accept the role because she was initially intimidated by the size of the movie and what it may mean for her fame.^[25] She underwent extensive training to get in shape for the role, including stunt training, archery, rock and tree climbing, combat, running, parkour, pilates, and yoga.^[26][27] The film was released on March 23, 2012, and set the record for the third-largest opening weekend of all time, making a record-breaking $152.5 million in three days for a non-sequel film.^[28]

The fact that The Hunger Games emerged as a big box office hit with a female lead represents a dramatic shift for the action film genre because historically, among the "top 200 worldwide box-office hits ever ($350 million and up), not one has been built around a female action star" and for the first time ever, Lawrence contradicts that.^[29] She is currently the highest grossing action heroine.

Though the film generally received positive reviews, Lawrence's strong portrayal of Katniss Everdeen was the most highly praised with Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter saying Lawrence embodies Katniss, "just as one might imagine her from the novel" and "anchors" the whole film "with impressive gravity and presence", ultimately calling her "the ideal screen actress".^[30] Kenneth Turan from the Los Angeles Times stated that Lawrence is the "best possible performer as Katniss and is the key factor in making 'Hunger Games' an involving popular entertainment with strong narrative drive that holds our attention".^[31] Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert also agreed that "Lawrence is strong and convincing in the central role".^[32]

Lawrence will start filming the film adaptation of the second novel in the The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, this summer, which is scheduled to be released on November 23, 2013.^[33]

Personal life[link]

Lawrence lived in New York City for the first few years of her career, but now resides in Santa Monica, California.^[5] She likes to paint, knit sweaters and scarves, surf, and play the guitar.^[34][35] She has been dating English actor Nicholas Hoult since 2011.^[36]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jennifer Lawrence at the Internet Movie Database