this unlecture depressed me thoroughly. a question I raised was essentially- why do we bother to get a professional grounding in a field such as media when there are so many amateurs (and genius 15 year olds) out there who create content that gets them attention with no real training or certification. the thought of dropping out of university to become a burlesque dancer (I can just imagine my dad’s response “we paid for you to go to private school so you can take your clothes off on stage?”) has already been too tempting lately with my desperate (and sometimes futile) attempt to balance keeping up with uni work and my hobbies (which are the things that fulfil me creatively) I’m constantly having to re-assess my priorities and divide my time accordingly…feeling guilty when I put aside doing uni work in preference of dancing, or feeling unfulfilled creatively (not to mention extremely unfit) when I do my readings instead of a workout.. and for what? a good friend of mine has had no tertiary education or certified training, yet has written several books on web design, is in an $80k job and will probably be a millionaire before I’ve even finished this degree. another friend has been signed to a renowned record label after 2 months of producing amateur music. this makes me feel immensely dissatisfied and inferior. I look at my life and see that between university and working so I can afford to live, I am barely scraping by financially and I hardly have a minute to do the things I enjoy… in the guise of getting a degree which will help me secure a job… which I’m now starting to think is a fickle notion in itself. not only are jobs in the media industry scarce, but I know from experience that working in media is not always what it’s cracked up to be (you only need to work in television for a few months to see that all of the glitz and glam disappears in front of your eyes). the reality is, I’ll be lucky to get a paid internship, and even luckier if that paid internship turns into a full-time job somewhere along the line (not to mention that internships are soul-destroying and you virtually just become everyone’s bitch). whether the job you get out of this is actually an enjoyable one that you are happy to do is another story entirely. majority of students doing subjects (which are insanely dense) in business type degrees are much more likely to step into good jobs than I am – so their careers might be boring and unfulfilling but at least they have some solidarity to look forward to. the importance of getting a college education is drilled into us from a young age but now I’m wondering if it’s even valid in a discipline such as media. freelancing is fickle and unpredictable, desk jobs in television studios make me suicidal and, unless you’re the next steven spielburg, your movies are probably going to go straight to DVD (and sit in the back shelf at your local video store — IF you’re even that lucky). it’s a scary thought that probably won’t be put to bed any time soon — but, I will continue my university degree in media because I can’t think of any other (legitimate) way to fill my time… and because hey, at least I’m not doing arts..

on a side note I found it pretty amusing when adrian said  “stuff turns up and everything gets twisted around dramatically” which basically nullifies the concept of ‘looking forward’, contradicts everything we have read about speculative fiction and sums up that, while futurism is a great thought, basically, you can’t speculate, you never know, and because futurists are virtually always wrong you’re pretty much screwed.