When the calendar year comes to a close people get into the habit of reflection and forward thinking regarding where they've come from and where they want to go. New Year Resolutions are one way to articulate this kind of thinking, and while I tend to avoid such arbitrary expressions, I decided to put upon myself a worthy challenge that could fuse a bunch of my interests while also making me exercise in an intellectual and creative way that I've not done for some time.

I've always wanted to produce my own internet show, but I'm never able to make the time or find the right configuration or playing partner. Lately however I'm spending a fair bit of time researching YouTube and video on the net in general. That gave me a rather ludicrous and intimidating idea.

I'm going to try and produce a YouTube video for every day of 2011. They will be available via my Openflows YouTube channel.

The only thing that will unite all of these videos, will be my exploration of what I call Cyberpunk Surrealism. I've always been fond of surrealism and it's ability to offer unique insights by taking things out of context and mashing them up in new found ways. Similarly cyberpunk culture is something I've also quite enjoyed and identified with. I'm hesitant to give much more of an explanation, instead I'd rather offer the videos to speak for themselves.

I should point out that it is all experimental. I want to play with technology, concepts, and YouTube itself. You should not necessarily take what I say in this videos literally. They are for entertainment purposes only. While an exercise in art, they are also a reminder to myself that it is far more fun to make television than it is to watch it. So instead of watching, in 2011 I plan to spend more time making:

Can you see my tongue in cheek?

The end of the calendar year always generates lists and rankings and reviews that try and make sense of the twelve months past. One set of lists I've really enjoyed this year are the collections of viral videos. I think 2008 will be regarded as a turning point when it comes to a lot of things, including the influence and reach of online videos.

What makes a video viral is its infectiousness, and the degree to which people spontaneously share them with friends and strangers alike. However one key trend I've noticed is the increasing amount of attention and resources that traditional media properties and empires have put into creating and launching viral media. When you look at the top 10 lists a lot of the videos are produced by or even clips from mainstream sources.

There's nothing wrong with this of course, it just demonstrates that online video is ready for prime time. Yet we can't lose sight of the true potential of viral media which is a leveling effect that allows anyone to potentially create a video that gets millions of views. An important thing to watch in the months to come is the degree or extent to which average folk are still able to produce and launch viral videos.

With that in mind, here are my top 5 picks in reverse order: