Friday, May 16th
I know I owe you an article on Quicksilver, but I’m going to write about books. (My primary excuse is the amount of time it takes to compile screenshots into something reasonably understandable. But fear not; all that means is I’m going to make sure it’s worth reading.)
My secondary excuses, however, are legion, spanning time, space, and medium. For instance, two days ago I bought an XBox 360 and Grand Theft Auto IV. I now have access to dozens of free game demos, some distressingly addictive arcade games, and an insanely interactive full-size metropolitan city (including some extremely entertaining multiplayer) — not to mention the looming opportunity I now have to buy any number of used XBox games for pocket change. (I’ve never owned a current gaming system, which significantly adds to my excitement.)
We constantly have 3 movies from Netflix on top of our TV. Last night we caught up on The Office via Hulu, through which we also need to watch the latest 30 Rock. Indiana Jones hits theaters next week. I’ve forgotten about Top Chef for 3 weeks now. Every morning my RSS reader (a sprightly 14 feeds) hits me with dozens of new posts to read. Yesterday my newest issue of The Believer arrived, which means I now have 4 issues of which I have only read Sedaratives (and maybe the one interview/article about a person whose name I recognized). I’m also putting a lot of time into my upcoming photography site.
I am clogged with entertainment. I already feel like an amusement-bloated American and I haven’t even upgraded to HD. How do people manage to own (or ever need) DVRs? Digital cable? That 5-movie Netflix plan? I have a very low tolerance for most all media (too low, I am told) but I already have more entertainment at my fingertips than I could ever handle. If I was any less critical, I’d be drowned — submerged — in things I found entertaining.
Sigh. Alright, this post is about books. Let’s talk about books.
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