Who'da thunk?

Who would have thought that my last post would be post number 60? This is definately the longest I've stuck to a single blog. I think that deserves a virtual round of applause - *applause*

It is almost the end of April, so I thought I'd break the cycle of only blogging once a month by blogging today - which, if your maths is as good as mine (read: you can add 1 and 1), makes TWO whole posts so far in this single month. Wow. I'm on fire.

Do I have anything to talk about of substance? Well not really. Except that I just saw Zombieland and thought it was really, really awesome. I absolutely loved the way they developed the characters, the darkness turned funny (which works sometimes in films but mostly not), the hilarious bit with Bill Murray and the ending. The end was a touch predictable, but I didn't care. Mostly because I did care about the characters and think the world that was created for them is so awesome that I wanted it to keep going.

Now, who would have thought that I would love a zombie movie other than Sean of the Dead?


In other news I have been thinking a lot about crime and criminogenic needs and all that stuff. I have to do an essay soon about a local crime problem. Given that I live in the Barossa I was thinking of doing something to do with alcohol abuse... But I thought it might be easier to go with illicit drug abuse among young people. We are supposed to look at the issue from two different theoretical perspectives, and I'm finding it difficult to choose between them! I'm fairly sure I'll choose conflict criminology because it is basically made for issues to do with drug use and criminality. But the second one is harder. This would be where, if I had blog readers, I would ask the masses to vote on a few options... But, seeing as I only have me, and I can't be arsed going through all the possible perspectives for the sake of a blog that no one reads, I won't. :P


Which brings me to another, if somewhat related point. Why do I bother to write this blog at all (even if it is only very rarely) if no one ever reads it? How can I have 61 posts, with no comments, and no views, and still have any motivation to write it? Well. I guess that's the difference between this blog and others I've started. This blog isn't about views. This blog is about me. When I feel like writing, I don't want to write on a word document, because that is too much like being productive. I want to write on a colourful space about the things I like. I don't want to have to be paranoid about upholding my reputation in regards to correct spelling and grammar. I don't want to worry about spelling wierd wrong.

WEIRD WEIRD WIERD WIERD who cares?! Its a stupid word anyway. I resort to saying 'odd' nowadays. Damn English.


Aaaanyway. That is enough procrastination for one day. Oddly enough (hehe- odd), writing this has put me in the mood to be productive. And so I shall.

Farewell!

Community Online

Slack slack slack I have been. But really, when all you do all day is a variation on surfing the web, trying to find a job, cleaning, cooking (watching too much masterchef) and watching TV/DVDs, what is there to blog about?

I guess with my increased viewing of the News I could comment on the big stories, like the Iranian elections, the Air France disaster, and the horrible things happening in many parts of the world, but really, I don't think what I have to offer could contribute very much since my understanding of the situation is based mostly on snippets seen on biased news stations.

However, I have made a decision. I will blog at least once a week. I will even try to blog about something interesting. I know... bold move.

So for the first attempt at something interesting, here is my take on:

Community Online

This is a topic I could talk your ear off about. It is a major point in studying the Internet from an Anthropological perspective, as well as generally interesting for any one who regularly uses the web.

For me I find the concept of community online at once both attractive and confusing. When you are part of an online community, there is no doubt that there really is a sense of community. However when you are not part of an online community there is a sense of disbelief that such a sense could occur.

For example, I was part of an online community of viewers/participants in the LonelyGirl15 phenomenon. I actually came to it fairly late, but was around for the last 2 seasons. In watching regularly, and being an active part of the forums, it was easy to identify myself as part of the community. We solved problems together, we knew eachother's names. We knew eachother's quirks and biases. However it took intensive involvement to feel like a real part of this community of fans.

On the other hand, nowadays twitter is becoming massive. A lot of people talk about the ways that twitter is interactive and social, but for me, as someone who follows many people, but only has advertisers following me (I guess they think that I will be so grateful that someone cares that I'll buy their product...), twitter is more like television, or news headlines. I am updated constantly on what people are doing. I can reply to what people are doing, but I never hear anything back. It is entirely one way for me. It isn't that way for everyone though... for example several of the people I follow are friends (online and off) who tweet, retweet and reply to eachother. They sometimes have entire conversations via twitter. But for someone who is really only following because I am a fan of these people and the creative work, I am not really a part of the community.

The begs the question - what is community?

Oh and what a question. Anthropology has tried to answer this question so many times, and before the internet community usually suggested vague links to do with common interest, and common geography. For example I live in the Barossa Valley and people talk frequently about the community here.

With those vague guidelines I guess community online makes sense. Common interest is obvious - you can be part of a community on YouTube that vlogs about certain things, or a group online in favour of something, part of a fandom etc. Common geography in a less traditional sense makes sense as well. While we are definately not all in the same physical location, we generally converge on particular sites. For example there are You Tube communities, LonelyGirl15.com, Harry Potter fans at leaky-cauldron.org, or mugglenet.com. Groups of people with common interests often form their own sites with forums that they can interact on and discuss the topic or topics that bind them.

But with online communities, more so (I think) than offline communities, there is a heavier emphasis on participation. While I am part of the Barossa community, I don't really do anything. I shop in the Barossa and I live here, but I don't participate in community events really. Whereas online I would not count myself as part of a community unless I was involved. I would have to at least join the site, at least read some forums or articles etc., in order to feel that I was part of a community, and in order for others to feel that I was too.

I guess with online communities that emphasis on participation is needed because unless you participate, no one actually knows you exist. In the Barossa community I am counted in because I live in the Barossa. I have an address in the Barossa and people (if they look hard enough) know where I am. Online if I just lurk, so to speak, no one knows I exist, and I can't be a part of a community if I effectively don't exist to the other members.

So I guess that is the sticking point... Interaction. Involvement. Interest. Ooooh. Three I's... isn't that convenient?

More analysis would be easier if I actually made an effort to research the specific ways that people define community in anthropological texts and elsewhere, but I feel that most people don't go on definitions that theorists have made over the last 100 years. Most people do what I do, and define them based on their experiences. "When is the word community most used in the context of my life?" is a more useful question than "What does the Oxford Student's Dictionary (now with colour!) say about community?" or "What did that man 40 years ago say about community?".


Aaaanyway. That went on for a lot longer than I planned. But at least I can say I've done something this morning. ^.^

xo

Online "friends" ...

I feel like I've blogged about this before...

Nonetheless!

Online "friendships".

I was thinking the other day that it is a very strange phenomenon that occurs between a "fan" of someone online and that person. For example, I was trying to tell my mother about Kristina Horner from youtube/the parselmouths/italktosnakes blog, and I found myself wanting to say "my friend Kristina". Although that is not strictly true.

She actually only vaguely knows of my existence. And mostly that knowledge just places me as an anonymous number in her "subscribers" or "listeners" or "readers". But if this were offline, I am fairly sure that anyone who paid this much attention to what she had to say, and appreciated her creative outlets as much as I do (and the rest of the subscribers... I'm not the only one!), would probably be classed as a friend.

But because it is online its different. It is like a one-way friendship. I would kind of like to have a conversation with her - and anyone else that I watch/read - but I know it would be wierd because I would be at an advantage. I already know a lot about her and her life. But she would know practically nothing about me and my life. So it would be awkward probably. Or maybe I'm too selfconscious about that fact?

I think it would be similar to meeting a celebrity for the first time. Like I would really love to meet and talk to Amanda Palmer. She is my favourite artist of all time. I love her music. I love her blog. And I really admire her commitment to both music and creativity in general. She is a wonderful person. Yet if I were given the opportunity to sit down with her backstage I would feel really uncomfortable blurting out all these things because she does not know me! Sure I could think of some interesting questions to ask her and start a conversation but it is still wierd because she is the one that I know all about, and I am just fan number xy.

Anyways... Just thought I'd blog that. Its a thought that has been running around in my head for a while. :-)

Going places...

Today I went places. The first place was work. The second place was shopping. Thus, I shall divide this blog into two corresponding parts... logical aren't I? ^.^

Part One - the journey to work.

This part could also be titled "The Journey to the bus stop, the journey home, the journey to the bus stop, and then to work." I guess put succinctly like that it doesn't seem that interesting ... but it sure annoyed me so I'll blog it. Plus it gives me bonus blonde points...

This morning, I drove back to my house near Adelaide from the Barossa in order to go to work in the Chocolate shop. I got ready, swapped my stuff into a better bag, and remembered my keys, my diary and all the important stuff. I even packed a water bottle! So I trundled down to the bus stop, a little early, but early is better than late. 15 minutes later, I arrived at the stop, sat down and checked my bag for my lip balm. This is when I realised that I had left my wallet at home... *sigh*.

I guess I was early... but if you know me well, you'll know I hate HATE being late. To me, not running early is running late. So this wasn't good. Nevertheless I had no choice so I walked back home, grabbed my wallet, and walked to the bus stop again. My little walk of 15 minutes turned into almost 45... which is considerable for an unfit woman unfond of the sun.

Oh well ... you'll be pleased to know that I still arrived early. :-P

Part two - the journey to the Plaza

After work today I caught a new and scary bus. Well, to be fair most Adelaide buses are scary, while most of them are certainly - definitively - NOT new... I mean I caught a bus that I am not used to catching. I caught an o-bahn, otherwise known as the "super dooper fast scary" ones that zip along tracks towards the Tea Tree Plaza area.

Once there (the trip wasn't that scary ... except I had no idea when my stop was going to come up...) I went shopping! This is very exciting for me. I don't do that very often, but my good friend Karalee, who is also a very talented photographer, asked me to help her pick out some clothes to add to her collection of "professional photograph lady" attire. It was very fun! And ... maybe I bought myself a pretty little top... to add to my "I'm a professional damnit" collection.

oh you can't really see it well here can you? my camera died and now all i have is my isight camera which isn't so good for shots of my top on account of terrible lighting limitations...
ah ... you can kind of see the detail there. Isn't it pretty? Ruffles, buttons and pattern! Just what I was looking for. ^.^

So there you have it.
My day.
In most of its gloriousness... of course there were bits in the middle where I was at work. But that just consisted of me trying to do ribboning ... and failing about 30 times before finally doing an OK job. Oh, and eating a bit of chocolate too...

Wow. What an exciting life I lead.

Perhaps I should blog less about my life, and more about topics. That would be more interesting. But less narcisistc... and we can't have that!

Or maybe we will?
We shall see...

Oh January - such realms of possibility...