Years ago, in a ruthlessly pragmatic mood, I concluded that anyone who decides to be neither an adulterer nor a drunk has taken two steps that will in the course of life save a great deal of time.
But when it comes to schedules, I overlooked one of the greatest black holes of all: entertainment.
Let me be clear. I love movies, books, magazines, plays, music, newspapers, the Internet, conversation, and, of course, blogs, seize sizable chunks of my life.
But there is the danger. We are awash with entertainment. It's close, convenient, and tempting. We used to have to wait for certain movies to make their way to television but now they are as near as the corner rental store. "What's on TV?" A lot. Television now offers more channels than we once would have imagined. Many are specialized to appeal to various passions. Is there now a channel that you can create for your own tastes? If not, there will be.
This ever-present array of entertainment options has turned all of us into a fat man in a candy store.
"What are you watching?"
"A program about crocodiles. It happened to be on."
2 comments:
What an idea! A channel that you can create to your own tastes! It's already on the net with choices like Pandora and it's Music Genome Project. Is it that far of a stretch from "genetically" engineered music to video?
It would take a huge catalog and an incredible labor. But the delivery system is there.
I'm also thinking of Netflix that gathers information from your own movie reviews and matches films to others with your apparent preferences.
My only fear is that it's yet another way for us to sit in a chair for hours mindlessly watching the tube.
Jeff,
It seems to be on its way. We may also be able to do the same thing with magazines.
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