Friday, June 29, 2007

Did I Say Books?

I mentioned that I would post about various things that could keep you busy during this long summer hiatus. One of the things I mentioned was books. Yeah. School keeps me busy enough that I haven't had time to read. I started reading this book at the beginning of summer break and I'm half way through.

Everything Bad Is Good For You

For once I feel like someone is on my side. I hate when people get on their pedestals and preach about how pop culture is making us dumb. In my opinion, TV is at the peak of it's game. With shows like LOST, Battlestar Galactica, and The Office TV is no longer JUST mindless entertainment. It helps develop our critical thinking skills and doesn't force feed us what THEY think WE should think is funny. Have you ever noticed how The Office doesn't have laugh tracks? As an audience we are smart enough to make the decision to laugh or stay silent. The Office creators recognize that. Have you ever stayed up at night trying to figure out what EXACTLY is going on in the world of LOST? The creators of LOST have constructed a show that is extremely complicated and interlinked;the only way to make sense of anything is if you dig deep inside your brain and use your organizational skills. That my friends, is harder than it sounds. It's kind of like playing a game of memory for years at a time. Back to discussing the book.......

In no way is Johnson trying to tell us that playing video games or watching TV is better than good old fashioned reading, but he tries to tell us what benefits we may get out of engaging in activities that were once considered mind numbing . Like I said, I haven't read the whole thing so I might come back and redact this post, but I get the overall feeling that I wont. For now though give it a shot. You might be entertained. Thanks for letting me rant.

Amazon

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