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Which would you choose?

post #1 of 30
6/16/08 at 4:20pm
Thread Starter 
If you could only do one of the following for the rest of your life, meaning you could NEVER do the other two again, which would you choose?

Listening to music
watching tv/movies
reading for enjoyment (novels, non fiction, magazines, etc.)

i would choose listening to music. As much as i like to watch TV/movies i like to read even more. And as much as i love to read, i love my music even more.
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post #2 of 30
6/16/08 at 4:22pm

Re: Which would you choose?

Toss up between TV/Movies and Reading. I don't read novels per se, but if we weren't able to read, there goes the internet.
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post #3 of 30
6/16/08 at 4:42pm

Re: Which would you choose?

Reading for enjoyment, it's not even a contest for me. While I enjoy movies and music immensely, nothing compares to a great book.
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post #4 of 30
6/16/08 at 5:34pm

Re: Which would you choose?

Listening to music. The other two aren't even close.
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post #5 of 30
6/16/08 at 6:50pm

Re: Which would you choose?

Reading is still my number one leisure time activity and nothing else can come close to replacing that experience. Even my favorite movies and albums are pale imitations of my favorite books.
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post #6 of 30
6/16/08 at 7:26pm

Re: Which would you choose?

This truly is a Hobbesian choice.
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post #7 of 30
6/16/08 at 7:52pm

Re: Which would you choose?

I need music to survive work.

I need reading to survive life.

I would have to choose reading, retire early and hope to scrape by on my savings.

(I asked my wife: "I don't like this question!" she bemoaned )
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post #8 of 30
6/16/08 at 8:01pm

Re: Which would you choose?

I love to read and listen to music but I love watching TV and movies more.
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post #9 of 30
6/17/08 at 5:02am

Re: Which would you choose?

Can you listen to audio books and having never listened to one, how readily available are books on audio outside the fiction/mystery/horror/romance genre?

Jay
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post #10 of 30
6/17/08 at 6:34am

Re: Which would you choose?

Reading for enjoyment? What's that?

Seriously....I used to love going to the library as a teenager. So much to read up on (especially loved reading from the travel section). Shame they closed the branch nearest my childhood home and moved it farther away, I stopped going soon afterwards. It was a great place to relax and just read for the fun of it. Haven't been to a library in almost 20 years now.

Anyways, I would choose TV/Movie watching now.....it lets me unwind and forget all the crap at work.
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post #11 of 30
6/17/08 at 7:49am

Re: Which would you choose?

Quote:
“Whenever I have a little money, I buy books; if I have any left, I buy food and clothing.” — Erasmus.

A horrible choice, but I would not hesitate to choose books over the other two, because neither offers the variety of experience that books do. Not even the best-made film adapation of a good novel can compare with the richness of the book (crappy novels often make for better films.) And no filmed history or biography - dramatized or documentary - can inform as well as a good book (or several good books) on the subject. (Historical drama in particular suffers from the need to make choices, whereas a history book can leave a point ambiguous. "Nobody knows why Caesar chose to do what he did", or "Six pages of the ship's log are missing, so we have no information on what happened on June 9th and 10th. We only know that on the 11th she had already changed course and was headed for Spain" are perfectly acceptable things to say in a book, but you can't stop the action in a film and put up a title card with that message. A drama has to fill in the blanks, to choose a motive for Caesar and to explain that sudden course change. In doing so they inevitably present a false picture.)

And while poetry is not a substitute for music, it can provide many of the same pleasures.

Regards,

Joe
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post #12 of 30
6/17/08 at 7:54am
Thread Starter 

Re: Which would you choose?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay H
Can you listen to audio books and having never listened to one, how readily available are books on audio outside the fiction/mystery/horror/romance genre?

Jay

i am a librarian by trade...so my choice may seem odd

audio books are available for non fiction material. very plentiful...
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post #13 of 30
6/17/08 at 7:55am

Re: Which would you choose?

Since the movies include so much music, the premise is a bit flawed.
For me, movies. They are my art of choice.
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post #14 of 30
6/17/08 at 8:53am

Re: Which would you choose?

I love reading but I rarely read the same book twice and never the same magazine twice. Favorite movies I can happily watch over and over, plus a lot of my favorite movies have fantastic music... not much of a tv show watcher though. And I'm not into pop music, but love listening to movie soundtracks.

So given the choice, watching movies for me, reading and listening to film music tie for second place, watching tv last.
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post #15 of 30
6/17/08 at 9:03am

Re: Which would you choose?

For me, the choice would have to be reading simply because of the level of involvement. Film and music (for me) tend to be passive experiences, whereas reading actively engages my mind. Joe makes a good point about the variety of experience in print media as well.

- Walter.
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post #16 of 30
6/17/08 at 9:20am

Re: Which would you choose?

Even though I haven't read as much lately and watch a movie almost every day, I would have to say I can't give up my reading. Nothing gives me as much insight into the human condition and the world as reading does.
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post #17 of 30
6/17/08 at 10:11am

Re: Which would you choose?

The only reading I do is on the internet including the HTF. I currently watch only about 2 hours per week of TV. That narrows it down. Movies you can't do much else while you are watching them. So music is my choice.
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post #18 of 30
6/17/08 at 10:26am

Re: Which would you choose?

What a bizarre question.

For all that I love music, & for all that I sit here under a set of shelves groaning with the weight of 200 LaserDiscs, there's no question in my mind that I would choose reading. Books are first, last, & always for me.
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post #19 of 30
6/17/08 at 10:47am

Re: Which would you choose?

And books don't break. They're portable, and require no power source. Try listening to a CD or watching a movie by candlelight during a power failure.

Regards,

Joe
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post #20 of 30
6/17/08 at 10:57am

Re: Which would you choose?

Quote:
And books don't break. They're portable, and require no power source. Try listening to a CD or watching a movie by candlelight during a power failure.
Great point. You can take a book anywhere, and it's just as good everywhere. You don't need the latest and greatest sound system, display technology, etc. to make it better. Of course, I'd want LOTS of books...
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post #21 of 30
6/17/08 at 10:58am

Re: Which would you choose?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
And books don't break. They're portable, and require no power source. Try listening to a CD or watching a movie by candlelight during a power failure.

Regards,

Joe

All true, but if you accumulate enough of them, it can make moving a serious bother.
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post #22 of 30
6/17/08 at 11:10am

Re: Which would you choose?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
And books don't break. They're portable, and require no power source. Try listening to a CD or watching a movie by candlelight during a power failure.
Well, I live in a musical family...who needs recordings?
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post #23 of 30
6/17/08 at 1:20pm

Re: Which would you choose?

Luckily, you don’t have to actually make this choice.

If forced too, I would choose to have a full system to watch movies….I could get concert movies/films for the music aspect if I was actually forced not to listen to music (I guess this would be a way around this…) My DVD player also plays CDs – so I could use it listen to music as well. I also like to listen to books on tape, as long as they are unabridged copies – so the DVD player could be used for that purpose as well…so with my watching tv/movies choice – I could actually do all three…
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post #24 of 30
6/17/08 at 1:22pm

Re: Which would you choose?

Probably TV/Movies. I could keep up on the music by watching music channels and performance and video DVD's, and most good books will be adapted into films anyway. So that way I still get to sample all three (kind of).
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post #25 of 30
6/17/08 at 4:50pm

Re: Which would you choose?

Quote:
Originally Posted by KurtEP
All true, but if you accumulate enough of them, it can make moving a serious bother.

Tell me about it. For complicated reasons I had to move house twice in one year, and packing (and unpacking) around 3,000 books was a major pain in the ass. Since then I've been rennovating my condo, and am at the point where the carpet in both bedrooms is soon going to be replaced. The carpet guys will deal with the regular furniture, but books and bookcases are above and beyond the call of duty, and they need the empty space in other rooms to stick the furniture from the rooms getting the carpet. So right now there are waist-high stacks of books in the main hallway, in the kneespace of the eat-at kitchen counter, and all along the walls of the dining room.

But I wouldn't give them up, either.

BTW, and maybe this is just me, but I think the intent of the original challenge was pretty clear and that "work-arounds" like books-on-tape and concert DVDs would not be allowed under its terms. As for movies (and television) having "a lot of music in them" - that isn't exactly the same as listening to music for pleasure. I never pop a movie into the DVD player to listen to snatches of mood music.

Regards,

Joe
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post #26 of 30
6/17/08 at 5:39pm

Re: Which would you choose?

I am down to a handful of books a year, yet reading is the pleasure I cannot fathom to forgo. Really, it's not even close.

As much as I love film, I can live without. I have no HT right now and am doing just fine. I never was a TV person, only got into some good dramas thru DVD in the last 4 years. I would have never gotten into these shows without the advent of DVD.

As for music, I go through cycles, and the only time I hear music nowadays is out at night. In the car, it's NPR or nothing.

--
H
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post #27 of 30
6/17/08 at 6:05pm

Re: Which would you choose?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
Tell me about it. For complicated reasons I had to move house twice in one year, and packing (and unpacking) around 3,000 books was a major pain in the ass.

Fortunately, my collection is far smaller than the number of books that I've actually read (I worked in a library in undergrad and made great use of them later). Unfortunately, I had to dispose of about half of it in my last move (gave them all away, I have a really hard time destroying a book). My next move will even be worse, since it is impractical to ship them there (only air freight or ship is possible). That said, I'm still moving quite a pile of them. Ultimately, I'll rebuild the collection with things relevant to that particular stage in life. The worst thing I have is a ton of old text books that would be really hard to replace (probably at least $100 each) yet are really heavy, bulky, and don't relate directly to my latest chosen path. Still, I hate to get rid of them, on the off chance that I'll need them someday (and I have used quite a few of them recently on a project).
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post #28 of 30
6/17/08 at 8:28pm

Re: Which would you choose?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Holadem
I am down to a handful of books a year, yet reading is the pleasure I cannot fathom to forgo. Really, it's not even close.

As much as I love film, I can live without.
That's the thing for me. I only read a ten or twenty books a year, but if I couldn't experience music, movies or television I'd use the extra time to read more. I can only listen to so much music, watch so many movies, and watch so much TV.
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post #29 of 30
6/17/08 at 9:57pm

Re: Which would you choose?

I'd pick movies then listen to music. Or would there be no soundtrack? :0
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post #30 of 30
6/18/08 at 11:58am

Re: Which would you choose?

Seeing the responses from the many regulars, I must say that even in a forum full of HT nuts, I am in no way surprised to see the majority choose reading. Another testament to the depth and breadth of the posters here (and meant as no slight to those who chose differently).





Oh, I almost forgot . . . books for me too!
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