Mainlining Content
Though my preferred content is comic books or novels, I’ve been known to abuse any form of storytelling when I get desperate. My storytelling drug comes it plenty of flavors, and is known by many names. I’ve shot cable, silver screen, ink (black and white or color), and I’ve even chased the paper dragon. Everyone loves a good page page turner, but I have particular weakness for them bordering on support-group-worthy. There is something about storytelling, great storytelling that keeps me from doing anything but turning said pages, until I’m out all out.
If you have a similar problem, than the words that follow will be nothing new to you. If you don’t know what I’m talking about than prepare to take a walk on the wild side.
As I eluded to in my previous post, I lost my entire Saturday this weekend. It wasn’t to writing like it should have been, or even to painting as has so often been the case. It was to television. This is especially difficult, given that I don’t own a TV, but there it is.
On Friday Netflix launched it’s new show, House of Cards, and I noted that fact as it looked up my alley, and then proceeded to forget all about it… until I was looking for something to watch while eating lunch. I was hooked from the first episode, but then I have a known weakness for this sort of thing. If, like a normal cable provider they had doled out an episode a week, I would have been fine; unfortunately they put the whole series out in one day, and left me helpless and beholden to my computer as I took in every subtle twist and turn of the story. It was wonderful.
It’s not just House of Cards, which I give 4 stars, that gets me like this. I love all serial dramas. The medium is a perfect mix of the high production value Hollywood experience, and the power that comes with a slowly unfolding comic book series, jam packed with character development. If I were to name names, I would have to include A Game of Throne, Dexter, Rome, Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Wire as my favorites. Though there are lesser enjoyable shows as well, such as Carnivale or The Walking Dead, which have their own appeal, there is nothing like the power that comes from having a whole season to deliver the plot twist or the killing off of a character you’ve spent a whole season learning to care about.
This isn’t the first time I’ve burned through content like this. In 1998 I read the first 4 books of Jordan’s Wheel of Time in a single week. In 2008 I stayed up all night watching the first season of The Wire, after several weeks of not-quite-getting-around-to-it. When I found Hugh Howey’s Wool last year, it didn’t survive the weekend.
Some might say that I lack moderation, though I would credit my lack of interest in pacing myself as being tremendously helpful in the field of creative endeavors. As long time readers know, one of my fondest dreams would be to publish a comic book written by me (in progress,) and the only thing that could possibly make that achievement cooler would be for it to be picked up in this format so that it could be enjoyed by an exponentially larger audience The money that would come along with such a deal would be be nice too, I’m sure.
How about the rest of you, do you have a favorite? Do you think the medium is future or fad?
Caffeineforge 
Serial anything is better, as far as I am concerned.
I have my own massive consumption problems, though, so a more serialized world would be a great detriment to any time management I may currently possess.
When something takes hold of me, it takes a firm grasp and completely uproots my mind for one that is obsessive and perfectly capable of remaining motionless as my eyes and ears absorb fully new wonders. For instance, I did LOST in its entirety in a week. I ran through The Hunger Games in a couple of days. I watched every possible piece of anime deliciousness that is Hajime no Ippo, often chaining hours and hours together as if they were minutes.
It is scary. More often than not, a book/show/game won’t take much hold. But heaven help me if it does, because I won’t rest until I get every drop possible!
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