Are you spending countless hours waiting for that right notification from that right person?  Or are you experiencing carpel tunnel from those long long chats with those people you don’t even think you know? Or you wake up at 6 AM to check for possible friend requests?

If your answers are ‘yes’ then may be it’s time you lay off a bit of facebook, but getting your mind away from it is rather tough so here are some other Productive but Addictive websites to keep your mind wandering and so you can still blame the Internet if you get fired doing so. So you couch potatoes out there get ready to get crazy

• Last.fm Is your first and last stop for you Music lovers out there, for what can be called music’s Wikipedia Last.fm gives you all you need to know about your favourite music and more. Using a music recommender system called “Audioscrobbler”, Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user’s musical taste by recording details of the songs the user listens to, either from Internet radio stations, or the user’s computer or many portable music devices. This information is transferred to Last.fm’s database (“scrobbled”) either via the music player itself (Rdio, Spotify, Amarok) or via a plugin installed into the user’s music player.

The site offers numerous social networking features and can recommend and play artists similar to you favourites or what you listen to. All tracks you have heard gets registered and displayed on your home page. And what makes Last.fm Super awesome is its Internet radio with a wide variety of Genres available; If you listen to more music than healthy Last Fm is your Drugstore.

• Deviant ART Needs no introduction for the millions of artists worldwide, it is a definitive bridge that connects the artists to everything else from collectors to fans and their very own merchandise is dedicated to making artists work easy. Need a print of a design u like it’s just a click away from the customised Print Shop.

Deviant art segregates its arts based on genre, and no matter what you seek whether it’s still life to biomechanics or Maori style tattooing you’ll get it. Deviant Art’s own mascot is a creation called ‘Fella’ which identifies its maxim ‘Be Devious’ with its rich artists social network this addiction will keep you glued for hours.

Deviant Art blew me away with the amount of features that it presented to the community. My one complaint is that I found their layout and navigation really clunky and cluttered. While you are able to configure your toolbar (which serves as the main community navigation option) I just found it to be a little clunky.

That complaint though doesn’t really degrade the user experience and I found the features and the vibrant community to be engaging. If you are into a wide range of art being as an artist and/or as a fan this is a great place to be. I can see why they are dominating this niche right now.

• Creativeadawards is the one stop for all you advertising enthusiasts and for the few who still enjoy exploring vintage and super AWESOME ad’s not to mention the really twisted category too. The increasing competition of business today asks for better ads. However, most consumers have already evaded ads, and even employed technical means to pick them out. Thus advertising makers are obliged to look for newest originality and to achieve a good ad, that’s where the creative’s step in Good advertising is for real consumer. It is not made to win a prize but to receive the most direct and effective response.

Creativeadawards is one of the best advertising archive, serving the entire advertising community and others who need it. Even if it is just a fun visit the variety in Insanity is no disappointment. So if u wanna be inspired with every add on earth to make your own, bookmark this crazy excuse for a website.

• Funny or die is mass medias “Dirty Laundry.” Though there doesn’t seem to be any Specific theme except insane stupidity and comedy, they’ve got some great recurring pieces such as Playground Politics, Designated Driver and the Landlord featuring more of the insanity and gets fantastically wacky. Funny or Die is unique in that it contains a good deal of exclusive material from a number of famous contributors (e.g. Judd Apatow, James Franco) and has its own Funny or Die Team which creates original material for the site. Many clips featured on the site feature well-known actors.

The landlord featuring Will Farrell co founder of the site is one of its best and a MUST WATCH. Overall, it’s a quirky, dirty comedy sketch site that definitely wouldn’t work anywhere other than planet earth so if u enjoy whacking yourself with a rubber chicken or Drunken Baby landlords (watch the video if u don’t know what I mean) Get off Facebook for a change

Advertising as a career option has become quite sought after off late. Suddenly there are streams of thinkers who think that engineering and medicine are not the only way to survival. There is hope for the rest of us! No more is someone who carries a sketch book to class laughed at. Nor are the ones that vandalize walls (to some extent at least). It is the time of the creative genius to rise! And Shine!

However before these ‘geniuses’ go harping around town about their new found state of acceptance, there is something they need to do. This is precisely what this article attempts to do. I use the word ‘attempt’ because I’m not that brilliant either- just another struggler like you. But there is one thing I believe. That is- if you are creative and you believe in your work, this is the place for you. It might not be easy at first, there could be a lot of struggles involved but at the end of it, you’ll survive.

The first thing that an advertising student needs to build is a rich portfolio. A portfolio in simple layman’s language is a collection of your best work. And good work is always appreciated. What a lot of people ignore, however, is to keep a track of their work. As a result of this, their work might show up elsewhere, under someone else’s name. Worse still it could win accolades at a contest, under someone else’s name and once that happens, there isn’t much that can be done. This is why it is imperative for all aspiring advertising students to have complete knowledge and control over their work. If need be, copyright it.

Another important criterion that needs to be considered is variety. While it’s alright to have one strong talent, it is important to show a willingness to try multiple things. This will be evident in your portfolio. While you could be a fabulous writer, develop an interest in photography, have basic knowledge of film making. While it might not be necessary, it will definitely give you an edge over others. This should be reflected in your portfolio. Efforts should be made to include your best write ups, your best pictures and anything else that you could put out there to show the world that you have it in you.

While there can be arguments on the next point that I put up, I am including it because I think it really works. A lot of people out there try to look intellectual and write things they don’t quite understand themselves. Or they make films which only they end up watching. While these could be brilliant pieces of work, they fail to fulfill their purpose. While creating, try and be as simple as possible. Make an attempt to reach out to people with the simplest words and the smallest phrases. In a world of excessive information and razz matazz this is what stands out- simplicity. Ensure that your portfolio reflects this as well. Make your portfolio as simple as possible so that it’s easier to understand and the messages that you are trying to convey- get across faster. While I stress on the simplicity, care needs to be taken to not confuse simplicity with kiddish. There is a huge difference between the two.

It is important that an aspiring advertising professional makes an attempt to do as many things as possible. What this means is that while building a career, one should take up as many assignments as possible. This should be easy since unlike other careers, most people who entire advertising do it for the sheer love of the art. It would be hard for a person to survive if they weren’t wedded to their careers in a way. In such a situation it works well for the person to try and do as much work as possible, related to their area of interest. Such work, no matter how small, should be included in their portfolio. This would go to show your interest in the field as well as your attitude towards learning which are both essential in this field.

Finally, what an advertising student needs to remember is that at the heart of all their work lies singular passion. If you have the passion for your job and your dream career then it is reflected in your work automatically. And in such a situation your portfolio will be rich without making any additional efforts in making it that way. It would be that way naturally. To conclude I would like to add my own philosophy on the matter, creativity should be like a drug, once you have it, it should never let you go. But more importantly, you should never let it go.