The Awkward Moment When Angry Boys Is As Disappointing As Planking Resulting In Death.

I've spent the last hour trying to sync my blogger to my facebook comments, but alas, my Html skills or lack thereof have left me giving up.

I watched Angry Boys earlier, along with thousands of others and I can't help but feel disappointed. While I didn't expect it to live up to Summer Heights High's reputation, I still felt it wouldn't be as sell out as it seems to be. HBO have given Chris Lilley a big budget to blow us away with his new 12 part series, yet I think the pressure for him to create a comedy series on par with Summer Heights High and appeal to American audiences too has been lost in the attempt. I've never been a real fan of the Nathan/Daniel storyline, and felt using Jonah, as the quintessential angry boy perhaps would have been more fitting to carry on to the next show.

Afterwards I ended up watching an ABC segment on internet fads, obsolete websites and using social media for new purposes which I found particularly interesting. The domination of Facebook over other websites which are hardly accessed anymore (Myspace, Bebo, etc) makes me wonder what allowed Facebook to catapult into its current success over the other forms of social networking.

While they all have the ability to find friends, see photographs and message people, Facebook's group's (who can be created by any user) seem to project a statement or a form of social commentary in a fast receiving, zeitgeist hungry dominated information age.

Considering that I learned of Osama Bin Laden's death not initially by a news report, but a facebook group, it provides a critique of the technological culture that's dominating not only how we receive information, but also discuss it. Even as the Royal Wedding was broadcast, facebook groups were simultaenously being created to offer perspectives, opinions and comical comments before the couple had even been wed.


While I would speculate that a vast majority of users who are involved in the creation and activity of facebook groups are from younger generations, recent news events and public commentary have shown people in all age groups are actively engaging in new forms of digesting the zeitgeist.

Planking, for instance. While it's seemingly began as a astronomical facebook fad that's also resulted in a tragic death, this web craze has seen both social mediums and newspapers and broadcasters discuss it heavily.

Phrases like "the awkward moment..." emerging from facebook are seemingly on their way to becoming infamous, and while I find most of these groups funny and can spot the difference between harmless fun and potential danger, it does lead me to worrying in the direction my generation's commentary on news and current affairs is heading towards. Will facebook in itself become an institution not only for discussion of current events in a satirical manner but also a source for gaining information on the happenings of the world?

Perhaps it's a case of balancing the suitability of social commentary alongside the freedom of speech (however insensitive) it may be. Perhaps it's better to joke about current events and have more people be interested in current affairs than not take interest at all.

I suppose in an age when a news report can be the laughing stock of a website for a day but soon lost into the endless abyss of long forgotten information, we've just got to roll with it, and if all else fails, refresh.