The title of this particular post is a quote from Seinfeld. Now, it doesn’t necessarily have an exact relation to what this post is about barring the single word ‘Pomodoro,’ (but I did immediately think of the quote as I saw it written on the whiteboard) but I found that my first experience with the Pomodoro Technique of writing had me feeling like I needed to break my ties with the method early on into the technique.

The Pomodoro Technique employs a method of planning, tracking, and processing in intervals, in a way that flow and focus is not interrupted. The technique is named as such as it’s based on the tomato shaped timer (pomodoro is Italian for tomato) which is originally a kitchen timer.

The technique’s fundamental principles is as follows:

1. Decide on the task/topic
2. Set 25 minutes of work
3. Take a short break (3-5 minutes)
4. After four repeats of #2, take a longer break (15-30 minutes)

Now in class the technique was slightly varied but the process followed the same intervals. To get a feel of the rhythm for our Mixed Media Creative Critical Essay we were to write for 25 minutes, then assess the work for 10. For me, it was super difficult to just start writing for 25 minutes. I wrote for maybe a straight 4 minutes, took a 3 minute break, and that pattern continued on until the time was up. I found myself consistently Googling to come up with material for the essay.

After 25 minutes was up, I already came to the conclusion of changing the perspective in which my essay was to be written in. I think that’s a pretty big compliment to the technique, as my regular routine would’ve had me writing in the initial perspective, only to find out 4 paragraphs in that I hated what I had written.

After a bit of discussion about people’s experience with the demo, in-class version of Pomodoro, we spent 10 minutes reading through, and finding what needed sources, what needed evidence to back up these currently unsubstantiated claims. I found this step to be very useful. It allows you to step away from your work, proofread (which is something I admittedly hate doing and avoid at all costs, once I write something, I want it gone from my immediate vicinity), and research.

The ‘technique’— if you could call it that— I use would have me reading heaps of my sources that I’ve compiled beforehand, then regurgitating that information into a written piece. The Pomodoro Technique has enabled me to work my way backwards which lessens the stop-start mode I’m usually in as I’m citing and sourcing as I’m writing. Also, as I’m already referencing as I’m writing, chances are whatever flow I had going is being consistently interrupted and my train of thought in ruins.

I’ll be trying to employ this technique as my final year rolls along, and hopefully it drags me away from consistently experiencing this:

Those pesky 2-7am bursts of genius aren’t usually bursts of genius. They’re more like thinly veiled cries for help.

In the meantime, have a gander at Dale’s post on her experience with the writing exercise.

In class we discussed the nature of memes. I guess in our generation we’re familiar with memes as those funny little pictures adorned with captions but as I discovered in class, the word ‘meme’ is derived from ‘mimetic structures,’ fragments of informational constructs.

The term ‘informational epidemiology’ was explored. I was only familiar with the second half of that term as there was an episode of Community titled ‘Epidemiology‘ where the characters found themselves victims to a virally spread virus that turned people into zombies. I guess where I’m going with this is that it immediately clicked in my head that the virility of memes going ‘viral’ is likened to the spread of a bodily virus. And they say TV kills brain cells…

‘Meme’ was coined in Richard Dawkins’ 1976 book, ‘The Selfish Gene‘ where the spread of informational ideas and cultural phenomena is conceptualised and theorised for discussion.

I found this to be a really clever way of referencing the nature of the spread of memes to that of a virus. I guess the term going ‘viral’ is also true to form for the meme.

But the short lecture also got me to thinking what makes memes, memes? The term ‘natural selection’ comes to mind which funnily enough leads me back to Richard Dawkins.

Recently the Super Bowl XLIV aired and during the halftime show, an elusive #LeftShark overshadowed headliner Katy Perry.

Now, while I was watching the Super Bowl, the shark didn’t necessarily stand out to me (I was more invested in the rebirth of Missy Elliott into the mid-21st century), but somehow the sharks (most specifically, the shark on the left who seems to be going Han-Solo with the choreography) got all the attention.

Throwback to two years ago to Beyoncè’s halftime show, I also recall the focus to be on Michelle Williams (the under-appreciated Destiny’s Child) also forgetting choreography.

So I guess the pattern here is under-achieving efforts turn into memes.

And just because:

I’d like to learn more about how memes come about and how (and why) they’re able to spread so quickly and to see if there’s something that’s consistent about their nature. Whatever the commonality is, it’d probably be really valuable to marketers and advertisers.

More to come on this as I spend more time looking at memes. In the meantime, Allison penned a great post to do with this very subject.

Last time I compiled a list of faves it was general pages of entertainment, news, and culture. I thought this time around I could list some of the people from my favourite shows who’ve kept up some interesting blogs.

Rejected Jokes

• Rejected Jokes – Ben Schwartz writes a LOT, and it’s wonderful. His latest post documented his history as an intern on The Late Show with David Letterman, all the way up to his debut as a guest on the very same show to promote his work on Parks and Recreation and House of Lies.

Aziz Is Bored

• Aziz is Bored – Okay so it’s starting to be clear I love Parks and Recreation, but Aziz is an avid food blogger. His Instagram is essentially #foodporn, and a I recall buying one of his comedy specials digitally and in the zip folder contained a .txt document with his favourite places to eat around America. Tell me that’s not dedication… and his blog mirrors that energy.

MsJWilly

• MsJWilly – Jessica Williams, a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, is constantly dropping mics on feminism, class struggles, and racial issues.

Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls

• Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls – Originating as an advice web series for young women, it has grown into a beautiful movement. I don’t think I can explain it better than they can: “Change the World by Being Yourself. What began as an online show for young girls and an excuse to host spontaneous dance parties, has become a place for information, comedy and community.”

In terms of what I’ve peeked on other’s blogs this week, I found Maëlle’s post on Le Grand Journal very interesting. It’s a show that has it’s own folder on my hard drives as many of my favourite musicians often perform there, so reading about the structure of the show (considering I hadn’t seen much more past the live performances) was intriguing. On top of it being familiar to me, it got me intrigued about the Broadcast Media class she also takes as it sounds very similar to my TV Cultures class from last semester. Broadcast and post-broadcast was something I actually wrote about on my TV Cultures assessable blog regarding ‘fake news’ (that of Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart) and broadcast journalism.

I also read Emerald’s blog and she featured two posts regarding the Galloway reading. Her post Centralised, Decentralised, or Distributed? touched on the different networks and how networks in history have played a role in the way we interact with the Internet today.

The post The Internet. Who’s In Control? focuses on a more general understanding of the reading and I personally found it very helpful in segmenting the giant chunk of reading I struggled through. It at least gave me the comfort that my train of thought was on the right track during the reading.

I’ll readily admit that this week’s reading ‘How Control Exists after Decentralization‘ went way above and beyond my head. I’ve had the PDF open for several hours and I keep requiring a Tim Tam break away from taking notes that even I’m not sure I can comprehend properly. (I did come across a word—metaphysical—that True Detective’s Rust Cohle used in one of his existential monologues and that was enough to give me an idea of what level this reading was working on). If anything, I think I gather more from the whiteboard digram of hubs and nodes than I do reading about them… damn my need for visual stimuli.

Actual screenshot of the notes I was taking during the reading. You’ll notice the abundance of question marks.

Here’s what I did gather from the reading, though succinct and overly simplified (for now?), hopefully after it’s further discussed in class I’ll have more to work off of.

Beginning with the histories of ‘protocol,’ not within technology but the use of protocols within human society, this understanding helped me identify how protocols can be used in regards to technology and the Internet.

“Protocols may be more democratic because it strives to eliminate hierarchy, but it is still very much structured around command and control and has therefore spawned counter-protocological forces.”

The above quote resonated with me, because I read it in regards to societies rather than explicitly relating it to the Internet. It’s as if the ingrained protocols in societal structures were challenged, those that did the challenging would be rejected.

At first glance the Internet might be seen as chaotic when in fact it is highly controlled. This rings back to a few weeks ago when we were discussing the network dynamics in class and the Internet fell under the ‘bell curve distribution’ which are highly regulated networks.

Throughout the reading I also identified several familiar acronyms that I’ve come across during my browsing and amateur troubleshooting. Acronyms which now I know stand for:

• HTML: Hypertext Markup Language
• DNS: Domain Name System
• TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
• UNIX: …now I know it’s not an acronym and just the name of an OS.

More to come on all of this, hopefully I get a stronger grasp on societies in the land of networked media as it goes along.

Arriving home from work last Friday and just wanting to unwind with whatever digital had to offer was right up my alley, considering I rarely watch free-to-air and my viewing consists of what my collection consists of, I was more than disappointed flicking through the TV guide.

What I was greeted with was 4 different channels (albeit spawning from one parents channel, but still) all playing the very same episode of dreary game show Family Feud. Salt in the wound was that while I was hunting for another channel, an advertise came on to inform me that Family Feud had even been promoted from a 5-night a week program to 6. Oh joy.

A photo I took of my guide telling me that Family Feud is playing on 4 different channels.

Next was commercials for Gogglebox on Channel 10. A show which is literally watching people watch TV and comment about it in their living rooms (the tagline is ‘a show about people watching television). Not to mention the incessant run of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here commercials. Both of which originated in the UK and are (to my shock horror, pretty huge hits). This was all discovered within the small window of television watching I endured, before I quickly put an episode of Parks and Recreation on. And they wonder why Australia is riding high on the world piracy scales.

I did, however, also see an ad for a new watch-on-demand service being introduced. It’s called Stan, a venture by Nine Entertainment and Fairfax, which actually caught my attention. It’s a service that is powered through an app on your device. What the downside was for existing streaming service that I’d seen is the content available wasn’t the content that people were after. Stan however has rights to the back catalogue of Breaking Bad, as well as it’s spin-off Better Call Saul.

Now, I’ve already ‘collected’ all seasons of Top Gear but it being available here is a plus for me.

With Netflix expected to launch March 2015, the worry of segmented shows across several streamed entertainment providers is now the worry. I guess it never ends. Foxtel continues to have a monopolized hold on HBO content so when Netflix does arrive without the haul of favourites Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and Better Call Saul, it’s difficult to make a solid decision yet… but it will be interesting to see what titles Netflix uses to get out there. There’s also the existing Presto, brought to you by Foxtel, which does offer a wide selection of HBO content, and yet Game of Thrones is still unavailable due to HBO making the fantasy drama unavailable on streaming services worldwide.

What is exciting about all of this though is that there seems to be a solid future for streaming services and paid television in Australia, though exclusivity deals amongst providers puts a dampen on consumers who want it all, and who can still access all through piracy.

Let’s keep a watch on these developments. I actually signed up for the 30-day trial of Stan so more to come. I gave it a test drive with one of my favourite shows that they have in it’s entirety, The Shield.

The Shield on ‘Stan’

It did as expected, played just fine and had the ability to satisfy my binge-watching habits. I’ll definitely check out Australian Netflix when it launches. I’d already had my try at US Netflix when Arrested Development Season 4 was airing and the selection was insanely immense, fingers crossed for the Australian release.