Meta-procrastination
Our weekly workload is usually three columns, a daily blog (which is technically not work), plus assignments, our journal and whatever fiction we’re working on. Making it easy to meet the 1,000-word daily quota prescribed by Graham Greene, who knows all about writing in volume.
Last week we had to write two columns, two articles, and five profiles for a book we’re writing, plus journal and blog (No fiction was written last week, unless we count our columns). We know from experience that it takes three to four hours of “doing nothing” i.e. hanging out with friends, watching movies and videos, reading books in coffee shops, walking, playing with the cats, general vegetation to generate the energy and focus to produce one hour of work. This sounds like an excuse but it is based on decades of empirical evidence.
So we watched three seasons of Community.
Created by Dan Harmon (who was kicked off his own show), Community takes a group of characters who look like stereotypes, puts them in seemingly stereotypical situations, then gets meta on everything. It is bizarre, self-referential, crammed with pop culture parodies, geeky and often hysterically funny. It has reenactments, alternate timelines, Dungeons and Dragons/Doctor Who universes and Ken Jeong who is his own species of crazy. An episode which seems to spoof Pulp Fiction spoof is really a parody of My Dinner With Andre. The destruction of a science experiment leads to a brilliant Law and Order satire: Basic Lupine Urology.
And we had to watch all these in order to get our work done. (We met all our deadlines so eat your lectures, anti-procrastination types.) Meta-procrastination!
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
November 18th, 2012 at 15:23
I have been recommending this series to my co-workers here, but they’d rather watch The Big Bang Theory. Between the two, Community is funnier and geekier.
November 19th, 2012 at 09:24
big bang theory’s humor is juvenile.
community is self-aware it’s juvenile and is making fun of its arrested development.
November 19th, 2012 at 10:04
Been following this, but skycable’s programming keeps changing, and I lost track. I may go the “marathon” route. I’m almost done with breaking bad, and am on my 2nd journey of “Firefly.”
Also, the IT Crowd’s pretty good, too.
I do a serious “doing nothing” on weekends–walking my dogs, gaming, reading, and watching.
Its Monday and I’m already thinking of weekends.
Ah, work, thou art a heartless bitch.
November 19th, 2012 at 10:55
I tried doing Nano once. 1333 words a day is soul-crushing.
November 19th, 2012 at 12:54
I love Community! My brother recommended I watch it a few months ago. I don’t think they have a confirmed date for the new season until now. Too bad. Also, thank you ariadne and cheezmiss for the posts about Big Bang. I never liked that show.
November 19th, 2012 at 14:46
Ejia: I’m doing NaNoWriMo right now. Yes, it can be a bitch, but I’m the kind of person who thinks too much and can get away with under-edited gibberish so it works for me.
On topic: Community and Suits were the only two shows on television that I watched back-to-back when I was hospitalized for bronchitis. I even designed a study module based on an episode of Community that I watched during that time, too, which amused my prof greatly.
Too bad that none of the cable channels I have back home (i.e. my parents’ house, not in UP housing) does not carry Universal TV any more. And I doubt that Jack TV carries any sitcoms now.
Seconding the recommendation for The IT Crowd, too.
November 21st, 2012 at 09:18
Don’t we just love to procrastinate! And what more pleasurable way to do it than watch our short-cuts to truth–comedy.
I love how the posse in Community is supposed to be a study group but you don’t see them actually studying and discussing anything academic (other than which class is easiest to blow off). I also like The Big Bang Theory but the situations in Community are more improbable and absurd and self-aware: elements that make it funnier. Since we’re talking about sitcoms, I’ve been re-running 2 Broke Girls within an inch of my PC’s life. My proxy for Will & Grace.
November 21st, 2012 at 15:17
Cool. Coolcoolcool! Love Abed!