Reading Hour
Posted on | November 2, 2005 at 9:08 pm | 7 Comments
A couple of weeks ago I came to the realization (which should come as no surprise to all two loyal readers) that I watch too much damn TV. I look at the stacks of unread comics and books, unlistened-to music, and unwatched DVDs and think to myself “When am I going to have time to peruse these?” Only when there is No More TV, apparently. Unfortunately, any sort of catastrophe that would make TV go away would also probably prevent me from doing most of the above. Oh, I suppose I might be able to catch up on my reading in a post-apocalyptic world, but since the Lasik surgery, I’d be in a bad Henry Bemis way if anything happened to my reading glasses and I were unable to obtain more. Or if lighting conditions were not optimal. But I’d probably be too busy fighting off mutants or Jehovah’s Witnesses anyway.
Oh, to be sure, I’m dropping shows that I find myself not enjoying or getting the least bit bored by, but that still leaves a lot I’m interested in. And I have been spending a lot of TV-watching time multitasking by playing Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow on my Nintendo DS at the same time. Though that doesn’t do much for the TV-watching experience and oftimes I may as well not be watching at all. For example, all I got out of last night’s Amazing Race was that the annoying New Jersey family came in first again, the annoying sanctimonious Florida family made a lot of insulting comments about the other teams and are still in the game, and the family with the cute, intrepid little girl got eliminated because the mother had a hard time searching through gravel for something. If there were any more bare butts displayed through moving car windows, I missed it. It was much more important trying to kill enough Bone Arks* so I could steal a Bone Ark Soul and be able to use its power to get across the Lake of Spikes. Obsession, though a singular master, takes many forms.
But I digress. My new resolution is to get in at least an album’s worth of music listening/reading per evening (unless I’m going out or have other tasks to accomplish), and to make this a higher priority than keeping caught up on my TV watching. It’s also a higher priority than keeping this blog updated, hence the lack of updates lately. So far I’ve been able to stick to this pretty well and also stay caught up on the TV shows, but I think that’s mostly because a lot of shows are in reruns right now. Once November sweeps starts for real, I think I’m going to be pretty stressed. My first accomplishment was to listen to the entire Talking Heads Brick Box Set in full glorious HiRez 5.1 surround audio, and to get caught up on the mainstream DC Universe comics I still read/collect which lead into Infinite Crisis (along with the first issue of IC itself). The TH box set is awesome and the comics were extremely interesting (more detailed info on both in future entries, hopefully). They have made me glad that I have embarked upon this Quest. I only hope I can keep it up.
Latre.
* – “A mobile Bone Pillar. It is considered an innovative breakthrough.”
Comments
7 Responses to “Reading Hour”
November 3rd, 2005 @ 1:26 pm
Well, here’s what I’ve done to attempt to mitigate my media-filled circumstances:
1. I dumped my evil Cable TV provider and subscribed to Dish Network. Part of the deal included two dual-tuner DVRs. This gives me the opportunity to record up to 4 shows at the same time. Believe it or not, there are times where the wife needs to do this (something like a OC/Gilmore Girl/Crossing Jordan/CSI-Topeka nexus). That part is nice, as is the ability to pause the TV as needed. You can also rewind live TV in case you just didn’t get that last Colbert salvo.
But, the best thing about the whole deal is that I can now watch an entire episode of Lost or Survivor in about half an hour. After you skip all the ads and the “last week on…” and the psuedo-promo tie-ins (Pringles anyone?), you end up with a realistic half-hour. Of course, if Stephanie is sporting her bikini (and when isn’t she?) you’ve got to add a little time for pausing and slo-mo.
2. I finally got sucked into the Ipod world. A sexy little 4GB Nano caught my eye and did that whole little hair-flip thing and we went home together. Now I can listen to all my music at the gym (while reading the paper) and car. I’m not tied down to whatever is in the 6-disc changer in the car (I’ve GOT to take that damn Scud Mtn. Boys out one of these days).
Doug
November 3rd, 2005 @ 2:13 pm
I actually have a Dish Network DVR – a PVR-921. It has one dual tuner, so I can record only two things at once, which is fine most of the time. It will also record HD, which is nice. It’s bug-ridden and not hugely dependable, but I couldn’t live without it. I can’t imagine trying to keep up with things without it. I never watch anything live anymore, though sometimes I’ll watch something delayed.
This is the first season where I’m not watching Survivor. I grew tired of it. Although I did enjoy Stephanie’s bikini in the previous season.
I’ve also got an iPod, but I use that mostly for running and work. The HiRez/Surround music I listen to can only be done (fully appreciated, at least) on my home system. That’s the stuff I’ve mostly been listening to while reading. I would love to get an iPod Nano, since I’m sure it works better for running than my old 30GB 3rd generation iPod. Of course I wouldn’t be able to put as much of my collection on it though.
I hate it when they tempt you with the hair flip.
November 4th, 2005 @ 12:38 am
I say just keep watching the TV. Do whatever you find most enjoyable, and if that’s TV then stop pretending that you’re going to read the books/listen to the CDs/watch the DVDs and stop buying them. Save that money and spend an extra day a Disneyworld. In the final analysis, there are 3 things you can do with your free time: 1) enjoy yourself, 2) try to do something to get into heaven (if you believe in that sort of thing), or 3) build a monument (in other words, do something so you’ll be remembered after you’re dead). If you’ve chosen #1, don’t feel guilty about how you go about it. How much or little TV you watch won’t make a bit of difference to #2 or #3.
November 4th, 2005 @ 11:38 am
Disneyworld?
I think the TV thing has more to do with my obsession for organization and being caught up than it does with enjoyment. I probably enjoy myself more with reading, music, movies, video games than I do watching most TV, but I don’t like having a lot of unwatched shows sitting around on the DVR. And just erasing them is not an option, since I do really want to watch them.
I’ve actually spent comparitively few dollars on DVDs (and CDs) the last year or so (partly because of storage concerns as well as money, and also the looming obsolence of these formats). But I still have an enourmous backlog of DVDs, books, and comics to get through. At least the backlog is not really growing.
But I’m sure it will all go by the wayside when the next obsession comes along. Maybe I could have someone build a monument for me?
November 5th, 2005 @ 9:21 pm
i multitask myself….t.v comic, sketching during comercials, computer…..yaddda yadda….
no wonder i haven’t a clue what’s going on in anything…….
November 5th, 2005 @ 11:21 pm
Hey, I remember that song: “When I think of you, I multitask myself.” Nothing to do with “mobile Bone Pillars,” however.
November 6th, 2005 @ 2:22 am
An interesting psychological phenomenon. I suspect your obsession with watching TV (series’s at least) stems from a desire to “know how the story ends”. And even though it won’t make a bit of difference to your life how the story ends, and it’s just some *story* that someone made up, you still have a real compusion to keep watching to see how it ends. And of course the storytellers have a real desire to keep the story from ending, so that you’ll keep watching. The whole buisiness must fill some kind of evolutionary societal need somehow.