I don't know if any of you noticed, but it's BAKING HOT right now.
I've been seeking refuge in libraries, the studio*, and drinking ungodly amounts of water. Now, any excuse to spend more time at a library sounds like a good idea to me.
It's kind of odd that as of just over a week, it will have been a full year since BEDA**. As much as I would LOVE to do BEDA again, I don't think I could manage doing a daily project at this time. I'll keep on with my weekly schedule, but I don't think I could properly do an EVERY DAY thing. Unless something changes, and Rowling knows, that happens all the time.
In reply to you lover-ly commenters, I will NOT give up on Buffy. So many people lohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifve both the show and the character, I can't write it off after just ONE bad episode. (I may take Rachel's suggestion, and just skip to season 2. Nothing wrong with getting all emotionally invested and then going back to see the cringe-worthy stuff after you care about the characters.
I've been trying to get some reading done, nothing huge, nothing like a summer project, but it's just nice to have pages to turn, and things that actually leave some story to the imagination. Don't get me wrong, I'm horribly emotionally attached to the Doctor Who characters, but I really like the action of READING.
There's something to be said for physically picking out a book, leafing through it, making sense in your head from just some back ink on a page, and getting to know characters in a way that I, personally don't think you can when you're watching the drama play out on a screen.
Take the character of Harry Potter, our wizard of page and screen. One of, if not THE most well known book character of today. When I read about him, the Harry I have in my head will be different than the character in your head, who will be different than the Harry that's in your best friend's head, who will be different than the Harry who is in Daniel Radcliffe's head.
And you know what? We can all be right. I don't get to tell you that how you view him is wrong, and you don't get to tell Daniel Radcliffe that how he views Harry is wrong***.
Reading is a very personalized experience, and for that reason and MANY others, I prefer it to anything on a screen. I guess that's why, when I hear that I should watch a certain TV show, I automatically think "Oh, d'you think there's a book I could read instead?" even when I know that the show came first.
If you think about it, reading reveals far more about yourself than it does about the author or book characters. I really like that.
Now I'm going to go find a book, get into my bed and READ.
~Whimsy
P.S.
I'm curious to know your thoughts on a few things, if you managed to get through this whole post (and good on you if you did).
Firstly, what are your thoughts on TV and movies versus books?
Secondly, do you have an e-reader/would you want one/do you like the idea?
Thirdly, how is your summer going? I feel like I haven't spoken to my blogging friends in AGES!
P.P.S. I don't think I ever mentioned this before, but the times you see on my posts are the actual times I finished writing them. I go into the options and change them to reflect the minute I actually manually hit the "PUBLISH POST" button. As you can see, I do a LOT of my writing after 1am.
*The studio, where we do most of the work for the business that we own (plus crafts as well!), is the one room in my house that has A/C. Everyone clusters around the nice cool air, and we all flop around like dying fish.
**Blog Every Day In August, where last year, I met some wonderful people who I am so proud to call my friends.
***To clarify, I still am a staunch supporter of raging at WB for some of their choices with the movies, and I am in NO WAY saying that every acting decision that Dan made as Harry was the right one. That being said, the way he played Harry is just that. The way he played him. It doesn't make YOUR Harry any less valid, just because "that's not how it was in the movies". Since when did the movies dictate the books or what's real in our minds, anyway?
visuals vs. text > variable. i prefer hp movies over the books. in other cases i have preferred the books.
ReplyDeletedon't want an e-reader. the wavelengths of light emitted by computer screens and similar technology is pretty disruptive to sleep patterns. i like to read before bed. bad combo.
summer is going too fast. break ends in a week.
Awesome post... :) I haven’t posted in awhile… I’ve felt like doing these past few days so now I just have to make time for it ;D
ReplyDeleteI haven't stopped by in awhile, so I thought I’d pop in and say hi :)
Let’s see... book vs. movies/TV. We like NEVER watch TV. We are probably gonna dump cable because we have Netflix and that’s only what we watch. We just finished up watching LOST last night… I cried so hard! Hahaa, I never wanted it to end!!!!!!! ;)
But, Almost always I enjoy the books more then the movies!! I love the movies because you get to see all the cute actors ;) and watch them all play the parts- but usually the books are the originals... and I don't know... I just usually prefer them! But, for example, the Harry Potters, Twilights, Narnia’s, etc. are FANTASTIC AMAZING MOVEIS!!!! And they’re like AS GOOD AS the books! Haha
I don't have an e-read and I don't really care about getting one. I enjoy owning and reading a book. I cherish my books ;D
My summers been fantastic!! :D Although- I can believe how fast it's been flying by D: It's ridiculous! I don't think I've ever had a year that has gone by this fast! We're already half way through it!!!! It's been a million degrees here- goodness... sad part is- we haven't even gone swimming on these 90 degree days!!! Uggg… I have to spray myself in the hose ;)
xoxo
Jordan
This has nothing to do with anything but I thought you would appreciate it: http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/maggoogly
ReplyDeleteVery nice post! I think that I prefer reading for the very reasons that you mentioned. There's something that's just undeniably appealing to me about disappearing inside of a book and immersing myself into a world made from the words on the page and the pictures in my head. I have a very good friend who tends to only use audio books (he does not have a vision problem, he just prefers audio) and I can't help but think that what he sees is being informed by the inflections and tones of the reader. I think that reading something all by my lonesome rather than listening to it or watching it on a screen personalizes the book for me and makes it more interesting.
ReplyDeleteAs for e-readers, I can see the pros and cons of them. Speaking as someone who has moved 6 times in the last 10 years, I can definitely see the merits of not having lug your entire library from place to place. Also, having your books at your fingertips sounds lovely. However, if you lose your e-reader or it gets stolen or irreparably broken, you've lost your library. Ouch. The biggest draw back for me, though, is that I like the tactile sensations of holding an actual book.
Film vs. books: I think both mediums are beautiful, and while I agree that reading is different and in some ways better, I think that there are things they do in some movies and shows that would NOT work at all in book form. You have to write for the medium, and there are things you can do in books that you can't do in movies, and vice versa. It's why adaptations don't normally work; the mediums are just too different and you have to write them too differently. As long as it's a good story and it's done the best way possible, I honestly love both film and text equally.
ReplyDeletee-readers: I personally will never use one. I NEED to interact with the pages when I'm reading a book. Half of the enjoyment I get from reading is tactile, and with an e-reader that would disappear. I can definitely see why others use them though, and I think that they are a very good thing. It's just not to my taste.
Summer: MINE IS LOVELY. I'm glad yours seems to be going well even though you're crazy busy. <3
I thought I wouldn't like e-readers until I got one as a present. And I love it! I love that I have all my books in the same place and that I can take them anywhere with me. If I don't like what I'm reading, I can switch to a new book without waiting until I get back to my bookshelf. I have any I need when I want to share a quote or a passage with someone. I have actually read about twice as many books a month as I did before I got my e-reader because I can just take it everywhere with me. Also, being able to search is really awesome, when you want to share a passage with someone or recall what happened in a particular scene but you can't remember where in the book it was.
ReplyDeleteI was really worried about the screen hurting my eyes, but if you get an actual e-reader and not a tablet, they aren't back-lit and use e-ink which basically makes it the same as reading print as far as your eyes are concerned.
Another thing I thought I wouldn't like was the cost. And since I didn't buy mine I didn't really have to worry about it. But because the price of e-books is so much cheaper, if you read enough you can actually save money.
That being said, whenever I read a book I really love, I usually buy an actual version of it as well because I love my bookshelf.
First and foremost, I want to thank each and every one of you for reading what I write, and for commenting on it. Seriously, you all don't know how happy I get when I get an e-mail telling me I have a new comment.
ReplyDeleteJude: You know, I think you're the first person I've heard say that they prefer the HP movies to the books. Did the books just not do it for you? Have you read the books, or could you just not do it in printed form?
Jordan: Hello again! I love getting your comments - they're always filled with so much HAPPY! ^__^ How was LOST? I heard it was amazing, but I never really got into it...too much of a TV watching commitment. This year is going by really fast, isn't it? It's madness!
Michael: I always appreciate googly eyes, in any form.
The Sarah: "There's something that's just undeniably appealing to me about disappearing inside of a book and immersing myself into a world made from the words on the page and the pictures in my head."
This sums up my entire post nicely, thank you. xD Also, as the sister of a severely dyslexic person, I would like to just say this about audiobooks: in my humble opinion, audiobooks are just as valid and personal of a way to read as picking up a book and turning a page. It's the same thing with e-readers versus print media, just a personal choice. That being said, I've heard from my sibling that there are some narrators who are so awful, the book is unreadable.
Rachel: I completely agree with you about needing to write for the medium, and CERTAINLY agree about adaptations. I suppose that what I was really saying was that print media works better for me, at this point. I do think however, that if you had a gifted writer, you could write an idea for a potential movie into a book. Now, if the movie had already been made, I don't think that would work. In my mind, the original form of the story is the canonical version, and pretty much everything else should (and does) take a backseat to that. (Also, hooray for page-turning!)
Kathy S: See, those are the two things that appeal to me about e-readers. They're really portable, and you can have your whole library in ONE book-shaped thing, so that's wonderful. The second thing is this: the price. I could probably buy twice as many books as I do now, if I was buying them online.