Estimated reading time: 3 minute(s)

I haven’t ever landed on a firm position or any sort of “stance” on what I think of TV or movies or that sort of entertainment medium. I enjoy it. I don’t like current TV. Most any TV we watch is via Netflix DVDs of cool shows from the 80s and 90s. Lots of Star Trek for the wife and I. (That was awesome. Not sure I’ve ever used the phrase, but it just kind of flowed freely from my fingers there… “The wife and I”…) Movies? Jen could care less… I go in spurts, to be sure. We only see 1 or 2 in the theater per year.

Yes, he said year.

But for some reason, often times visual media (like TV and movies) and printed media (which is arguably still “visual”) are mutually exclusive for me. I’m either reading, and usually writing, or… I’m watching movies. Right now, it’s movies.

Last night I finished X-Men 2. At the recommendation of a friend who saw the third X-Men movie in the theater this year, I decided to watch the triology once the X3 movie was out on DVD. It is, so I got two from the library, and one from Netflix (the latest one) and watched the first on Monday night, the second last night, and will conclude the trilogy tonight. I like watching multi-part movies that way. I watched Lord of The Rings that way, and the Matrix. There’s definitely more apparent symmetry to the plot and everything if you watch it all at once. At least I think so…

Last week I watched Batman Begins. Saw it on the DVD shelf at the library and figured I’d give it a try. It was good. Liked seeing the “behind the scenes” look at Batman. 🙂

So.. I know it’s just a matter of a limited amount of time to do stuff, but I just find it odd that I’m either all TV related media and no books/print or… vice versa. I imagine it won’t be long before I’m back to books. Problem is, I’m really quite busy juggling a BUNCH of different little things at the moment… it’s hard to really give time to anything extra like that.

Recently though, there have been a few nice books I’ve been picking up. I have been reading a book about the Spanish-American War (late 19th century) called “Turning Point For America”. Fascinating. I think history is even more fascinating as an adult because I have seen history unfold (our “current events”) and so I can relate more to the stories of what happened in the past. It really is not all that different from what is going on today, with our current “war on terror”.

In addition to that book, I have enjoyed a series with my boys called “Stories to Solve”. They’re little two or three page stories involving clever riddles or tricksters, and the writer poses the question to the reader at the end of each one… “So how did [insert amazing outcome here] happen???” The boys love it, and I love reading with them. 🙂

So, the media consumption continues. As time allows I might post more thoughts one the specific shows/books as time goes on. Stay tuned for more… I’ve only just begun today….