Glad I read/ watched these when I was younger, because frankly......

[SweetSilver]

I just don't have the patience for this kind of thing anymore.

DH and I started watching Koyaanisqatsi, a movie I enjoyed as a teenager, and I nearly fell asleep.  Needless to say, we shut it off.  Other movies like this, acclaimed or not, get the similar treatment.

I have the same trouble with books.  I've started avoiding picking up anything with the word "poignant" on the front or back.  "Profound" doesn't send me scurrying quite so quickly, but I approach with skepticism.

I just have no patience for this kind of entertainment anymore.   

Am I shallow, or just exhausted????

[ollyoxenfree]

LOL, I understand completely. I stopped attending my book club mostly because they seemed to pick "beautifully written, poignant works of literary fiction or memoir" - all code words for "this book will have you rolling your eyes and sighing deeply every other page while you wade through endless acrobatic literary technique while you try to piece together the actual story". 

I've never watched Koyaanisqatsi, although it's been on my list for decades. I saw a trailer for it at the repertory movie house we used to go to, but I just never got around to seeing it.  

[SweetSilver]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree 

LOL, I understand completely. I stopped attending my book club mostly because they seemed to pick "beautifully written, poignant works of literary fiction or memoir" - all code words for "this book will have you rolling your eyes and sighing deeply every other page while you wade through endless acrobatic literary technique while you try to piece together the actual story". 

I've never watched Koyaanisqatsi, although it's been on my list for decades. I saw a trailer for it at the repertory movie house we used to go to, but I just never got around to seeing it.  

Exactly!

I'd give you a review of the movie, but it wouldn't be fair for my 40-something self to give it.  My 20-something self would say it was "PROFOUND!" and "MUST SEE!" and "TWO THUMBS WAY UP!"

[meemee]

Nah! you're not shallow or exhausted.

you are just older and wiser 

i face the same with movies and books. isnt that movie a series of 3. i tried a similar series a few years ago and i stopped midway.

esp. the non fiction books that i read now i would have probably called them boring when i was younger. 

also i have come to the conclusion that i cannot read all the books i want to, nor watch all the movies i'd like to. so anything i pick up has to be worth it for me as time is precious.

so far i have not liked our local book club's suggestions for the same reason (actually i also notice i turn down a lot of fiction based on their cover). however we have a fantastic history and audio book club thankfully.

[SweetSilver]

I love autobiographies now-- really good ones.  I just finished reading "Tender at the Bone" by Ruth Reichl, former editor of defunct Gourmet Magazine.  Tina Fey.  My favorite find was "Hit by a Barn" by Catherine Friend, about her partners' new life as a sheep farmer.  Fabulous.....  Funny......

Short.

Years ago I could have read books that were long, full of facts and ideals.  Books, like Radical Homemaking, I could read cover to cover.  Now I skim the first and second chapters, think "OK, good idea" and drop it.  

I would divide this impatience in 2 categories: some books and movies I just like the idea, and don't have the time or patience to delve deeper into it like I used to.  Others, I just have no patience for in any way shape or form anymore.  

So, koyaanisquatsi falls into the first category.  Crime and Punishment falls into the second.  (Loved it at the time.  Heavy book.  Followed it with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.)

Maybe if this just seemed to be a change in genre preference, I wouldn't even be reflecting on this at all.  But no, it's that it feels like a dive into the shallow end.

I shouldn't be so hard on myself!  And, again, be thankful I ever had patience for these books and movies at all.