Organised, for once

It's nice to be able to sit down in the middle of the week and say to yourself: "Ok, I deserve a break." After having a very successful and succinct group meeting on Tuesday after the long weekend, Eclipse Productions, as we're now called, was able to finalise the project plan for PP1: Control.


It's a relief to know that I'm in a comprehensive group that is able to draw on everyone's experience to come up with a project that actually has great potential to fly. It's not about who does more or less, or who will claim the credit. Everyone so far has managed to pull their weight with either input of ideas, research or generation of the proposal.

Last night I managed to plot out our proposal. I know it wasn't completely necessary (ok, I wasn't entirely sure but I thought it would be better to have it done than panic tonight or tomorrow night trying to get it sorted) to write up an entire proposal, but I think it helped. Meeting with Kyla today was beneficial too because it kept us on track and focused on the task at hand.

So far the group is waaaayyyy ahead of schedule and I pray it stays that way. The extended week 3 is almost like 48 hours in a day. I love it. I can't wait to really get stuck into this project. It's going to be really tough, but the challenge is what I live for.

DOTA to Dollars

I remember the number of hours I would sit in front of my trusty iBook, propped up on the laptop 'titties' (as my Aunt and Uncle like to call them because, well... They really do look a little like nipples or boobs sticking out from the bottom of your lappy) with my uber pro mouse and mouse pad, trying to look like I know what I'm doing when I'm randomly hitting keys hoping that I'll kill one of those annoying Alliance gankers in Stranglethorn Vale. The wonderful world of WoW.

Thing is, when I tried to get back into it, despite being completely lost because my main guide was no longer mine to have through no related fault of his own, I just couldn't bear to bring myself to sit there and focus all my attention on that without doing anything else. I just... Didn't see it as a valuable way to spend my time. Anyone else feel the same?

Well, for those that are bored of spending money whilst doing nothing productive, there's something you can do online with the chance of making 10G's. Sound good? Well, it's too late to register because the game is already in progress but it's interesting to watch. ASX started up a trading game that follows real values and allows you to play shares without putting any of your own capital up on the table. They give you $50,000 to start with and you go from there, the winner at the end of 6 months gets $10,000. Sounds easy eh?

Except you'd probably need to spend more time in front of your laptops watching the arrows go up and down and red and green and wonder if that 0.000001 percent change meant you lost a zillion bucks or whether you made 2. But hey, there's always that chance that you could win the $10,000.

On another rather different note, I've been reading the blogs of several others in PP1. I have to say that I'm rather jealous of the opportunity Lachlan got at the Open. It must have been amazing to write and edit a story on the spot. It really makes my stint in CNBC seem rather measly and once again reiterates the point that there is every chance I won't achieve my dream. To hell with the mid-life crisis, I think I'm having a pre-life crisis! Time to up the journalistic aspect of my life and set my priorities for career options. The Mediacorp session next week might be rather crucial in carving a place for me when I go home. Mediocre salary, here I come.

And on one last random point, Sean Kingston looks like a 12-year old.

A sense of control, or lack thereof

Right, so aside from this being a personal blog, it's now being exploited as a course blog too. Whilst I did try to keep up with writing fantastic nonsense previously, and obviously failed... I intend to keep this one going throughout the semester and beyond - mainly because the grades depend on it, but also because it's a neat thing to do. There won't be many tags on Facebook, but hey, at least it'll give someone something to read whilst they're idling away the time at work.

I'm back at Uni, lumped into my final year with absolutely no clue about what the hell is going on around me. Everything is passing me in a blur and everyone seems to be about ten-times smarter. Experience? Knowledge? Bigger IQ?! You begin to feel really dumb when classmates start throwing around 8 syllable words into a very normal sentence and all of a sudden it's like the room is a living, breathing thesaurus.

Anyhoot...

Jenny mentioned self-control during the lecture this week. Everyone laughed when she brought out the coke bottle, one of the 366 that will be consumed by Karla this year. Thing is, we all laughed. We all know that we don't have that much self-control. I felt incredibly fat towards the end of last year (and I actually was rather chubby), but there was something about those Krispy Kremes that made me say: "Just one more, then maybe I'll do some exercise to work it off." It wasn't until I made my way back to sunny Singapore, Land of Skinny. I like Australia all the more for just making me feel like I'm actually petite! That I can fit into an S or even an XS instead of that size 10 or 12 that I'm reduced to back home.

It's taken external control to get me back into shape. Forking out a stupid amount of money on a membership means that I'll feel stupidly guilty if I don't go for class, and whilst I drag myself there with heavy feet I know I'll skip out after a solid 2 hour workout knowing that I am a little bit healthier and energised enough to take on the world.

During Media Industries 1 today we were brainstorming possible research topics, as you do, one of which I am rather passionate about: The Media's Control. Specifically the control it has over distribution of aid, especially in third world countries. Everyone knows the media is able to control in some way, shape or form, the way we think and act either through direct or indirect influences. This control is a form of power that we know exists, yet we constantly underestimate it.

We have the power over these less fortunate people to determine whether they live or die, almost. As a result of who sits in The Oval Office, or a country's respective authority, and what message they relay via the media available the masses will be swayed. We are only as good as the knowledge made available to us and if that "knowledge" we receive is bias, based on half-truths or one-sided then we'll never be able to evaluate situations properly.

On the worksheet we were handed in class the first question was to list 3 challenges faced by media industries. With my brain happily meandering off on the injustices of aid distribution, I immediately wrote down that the audience's lack of general knowledge or basic understanding of the world outside their four walls played an enormous part. I've embedded a video from YouTube that I'm sure most of you have seen, but it does reiterate my point fairly well. I'm not saying that Americans are stupid as I've had my fair share of blonde questions from people all over the world and have even had a few moments I can claim my own.

Whilst ignorance is bliss, we might end up with "a f*cking crater" in the Middle East (00:03:43) or we could kiss goodbye to Italy (00:03:48). Enjoy.