/lit/ - Literature

What do you do in your free time if you don't read?

do you feel bad about that fact?

Why not?

lol internet

Why would /lit/ want to ask you questions they already know the answers to?

what is your job? hobbies?

>>807505
Why would I feel bad about that? I don't think not leisure reading makes me a worse person.
>>807506
I watch movies and get into tv shows, and hang out on the internet, like now
>>807510
Why not? I would say why yes. Reading is a challenge, and not fun. Yeah, I understand the important of art, and learning through messages and all that. But TV shows and movies do the same exact things books do but without all the work.

I'm a modernist. I embrace technology. Why would I take stairs up 5 stories when there is an elevator? It's the same reason I would rather watch a movie than read a book

>>807516
I Don't work because I'm in college, I have average hobbies I guess. I hang out with my girlfriend, and my friends at parties and stuff. I play video games, I watch movies and TV shows.

I don't see how not reading makes me weird.

What do you mean you "don't work because [you're] in college"

I don't understand. Do your parents pay for everything?

>>807528
not reading books and being lazy doesn't make you a modernist dude. if you read any books at all you would know what modernism actually means:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism

OP sounds like a pretty solid guy. Probably when he is older and develops an attention span and can't talk about what video game he is playing with his coworkers he'll pick up a frakkin book or two and gain some of dat good knowledge.

>>807541
Okay, maybe "modernism" wasn't the right word, per say. But I embrace technology, and part of embracing technology is abandoning books for tv and movies. It makes sense. My elevator analogy stands firm.

>>807540
Yes, my parents pay for my schooling, and give me a monthly allowance. I am very appreciate and understand the rare position I am in.

>>807551
nah your elevator analogy is broke. it doesn't work because some of the greatest books simply can't translate into another medium.
Plus, if you need someone to read and analyze and then "soften it up" so you can experience it, you're going to be a good follower.

>>807558

I don't understand why great books cannot be translated into another medium. Sure it can. What makes you think it can't?

>>807551
d u c y reading books are important now? it helps you from sounding like a complete chode. tv isn't going to teach you what "modernism" means.

>>807558
In fact, my counter-point to you would be that some of the greatest cinematic works cannot be translated into book form.

Can you imagine trying to put amazing shows like "The Wire" "The Sopranos" or "Mad Men" into book form? They would lose all of it's art by losing visuals and sound.

>>807561
ever seen the movie "Crash" ? Not the newer one about race relations; the one about fucked up people that get off on getting into car accidents.

if not, watch the movie. then read the book.

Can I ever be as cool as you are right now?

>>807561
Something you obviously wouldn't understand because you openly admit to not reading books. God, it feels like I am talking to a 19 year old who doesn't read or something.

>>807563

I think think using "modernism" incorrectly makes me sound like a "chode." That's a little harsh.

>>807566
The Wire is based off a book.

Looks like I won.

>>807566
actually "The Wire" has been called "a novel for television" because of its deep character interaction not usually seen in television programs.

go back to your partying and comfortable existence and leave the big boy conversations to us.

>>807572
i agree. i think using the term incorrectly makes you sound like a chode.

>>807576
>>807573
>>807570
>>807568

Whoa. Hold on. I'm here for honest debate. I'm not here to be your witch dunking nominee. I'm putting myself out there so we can talk about our differences. I may not read books out of school, but I'm way more tolerant than most of you. So you tell me who really wins.

>>807580
you're not even a worthy adversary. get lost, kiddo.

>>807580
"Tolerance" does not equal "Win."

Something else that TV won't teach you.

>>807578
I am not a troll.
>>807577
I meant to say "don't think" not "think think" I am typing fast and am prone to typos
>>807570
Since I don't understand, please explain it to me.
>>807576
The Wire being called a "novel for television" proves it can only exist on television. You are proving my point
>>807568
I think you're pretty cool.

>>807591
you're an idiot. it proves that its story is unique for television and that usually stories that well written exist only in novels. go back to partying kiddo

>>807586
You're all making these bold statements, like "tolerance does not equal win"
"novels cannot be translated into other mediums"
"TV must be softened up"

But none of you are explaining WHY any of these things are like this. You're just making statements backed by nothing.

Calling me a troll is an easy-way-out of debating me.

Enjoy your faggoty white guilt holocaust guzzling liberal education.

>>807603
for the first statement, you were the one that posited that "tolerance = win" without backing it up. of course, if you read any books on logic you would have spotted that right away.

>>807612

Tolerance is universally acknowledged as a symbol of proper morality. Time after time our history has shown tolerance the as superior to intolerance.

So if I'm tolerant and you aren't I am superior.

Do I really need to list examples?

The civil rights movement.
the Mexican rights movement.
Holocaust.
Genocide in Yugoslavia
Genocide in Sudan
Israel-PLO problems
Womens suffrage movement
Ending slavery

Tolerance is historically the winner in all these occasions. And tolerance is accepted by all societies to be a virtue.

>>807627

Yugoslavia isn't even a country anymore. Good of your parents to waste their money for you to go to school so that you can cite countries that don't exist.

>>807627
more unverified statements. you haven't shown that all societies exalt tolerance as a virtue.

furthermore, you haven't shown that by following a virtuous life, you "win." so even if you are correct that it is a virtue by all societies, you still need to prove that a virtuous life, according to ALL societies, is a winning condition.

in short, having never read anything, you are out of your league.

you should write a book about tolerance. i'm sure i would tolerate reading it and maybe commit sewercide. uuuoooouoooo shell shock!

>>807629
I will have you know, I JUST finished taking a class about the dissolution of Yugoslavia. I know everything there is to know about that country. I am well aware that the country does not exist anymore, however, when citing the human rights autrocities that took place in the now-10 republics that then made up Yugoslavia it is easiest to just refer to it as Yugoslavian genocide.

>>807643
Well I would say that you have not shown me how "never reading anything" (Which is not even close to true, I read for my classes all the time, I just have never read for leisure) makes me inferior.

>>807670
you hear the gois! he took a class! he is, how u say, an expert!!!

>>807670
"I know everything there is to know about that country."

YOU KNOW ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ABOUT YUGOSLAVIA. THINK ABOUT HOW STUPID THAT STATEMENT IS.

God, read a fucking book please

>>807676
i never said you were inferior. i said you were out of your league. the evidence of this abounds throughout this thread.

God this guy is such an obvious satirist/troll. I thought /lit/ was good at interpreting writing.

>>807676
so you're really just here to criticize people who read for fun? that's so stupid. go troll /tv or /co or /sp

>>807676
You're out of your league, Donny!

wwW._ＡＮｏｎ_+_ｍ_-_M_+_ＴaｌＫ_.ｓe k dcqihztd qms c o ybncj lgtcimajg v t khogn io fs w

well OP if your intentions were to make yourself look like as ass on /lit/, i've say this was a completely successful thread.

i personally think you're just a /b/tard that thought he would have some fun with us snooty reader types and bit off more than you could chew.

>>807688
>>807687
>>807683

Okay stop. You people are the ones who are hitting below the belt. I'm here for honest debate about whether or not reading for leisure matter anymore in the age of tv/movies.

You guys are the ones calling me an idiot/troll, and making fun of my knowledge of the former Yugoslavia

>>807687
if that's the case, then everyone wins. i had fun making him look like an idiot, he had fun riling me up.

what's the problem here?

1. serbia
2. slovenia
3. croatia
4. bosnia
5 macedonia
6. montenegro

Please explain to me, since you are "The #1 expert on yugoslavia because you took a class once" how 6 = 10

Am I the only one who thinks OP is genuine?

>>807712
he said he was an expert on yugoslavia, not math! it isn't fair to ask him to explain how 6=10

>>807702
>I'm here for honest debate about whether or not reading for leisure matter anymore in the age of tv/movies.
>for honest debate
>matter
End of honest debate.

>>807718
I never said I was an expert, I simply said I took a class. Regardless, this is way off topic now. Can we please get back to the debate at hand.

>>807712
lol OP got owned

>>807728
you said you knew everything there was to know about yugoslavia. i'm pretty sure that would make you an expert, yeah? the number 1 expert in the world, in fact, since i don't think ANYONE besides you knows everything there is to know about that country.

>>807502
ｗWW._AＮoｎ_+_m_-_Ｍ_+_taＬｋ_.Se gyi ucc sih kzgnyob b lif y i mo uju h tkqi

>>807733

Okay. This had gone to far. I did not get owned I just did not want to get into the complicated details and confuse you guys. I know the breakup of Yugoslavia is a blip of the historical radar and none of you know anything about it. Since you're egging me on, I will get specific.

1. Bosnia is formed by three entirely autonomous countries. So that's 3
4. Slovenia
5. Croatia
6. Montenegro
7. Kosovo
8. Macedonia
9. Serbia is formed by 2 autonomous republics. That's 10


So it turns out I didn't get owned at all. So we can get back on topic. Please explain to me what exactly I am "missing out on" by not reading books in my leisure time.

>>807764

OP reading leaves room for imagination, and room for you to grow as a person. Watching art in cinematic form does not do this. You lose.

>>807764
the two autonomous republics the form serbia are serbia and montenegro. you just listed montenegro twice. fail.

>>807764
and kosovo's identity as a sovereign state is pretty disputed.

god DAMN do you fail

wWＷ._ａＮＯn_+_m_-_Ｍ_+_tAＬＫ_.ＳＥ ptoo kdz fa xpzurrt tnfyyrfpimv wzr z

>>807789
Montenegro is not longer any part of Sebia. Your information is from a country that was dissolved 3 years ago. The two autonomous parts of Serbia are Serbia proper, and Vjovodina. You, my friend, have failed.

>>807817
The UN calls it autonomous. Therefore, it is autonomous.

I have not failed. You have failed for failing to follow UN legislation.

>>807833
now i know you are a troll.

where does the UN's proclamations have force of law exactly?

OP, go back to partying and getting your allowance from mommy and daddy.

>>807785

This.

OP, I don't care that you don't enjoy reading, hell, most people our age don't (I'm 19 as well). The thing is though, reading is just another medium for creativity and expression. There are plenty of things, like previously stated, that can happen only within books, and with the use of your imagination.

Maybe if you tried to start reading, even just about things you're interested in, you could develop reading for pleasure as a hobby.

I just don't see how someone can be so content with television (where every new T.V. show is the same recycled plot-line from another series, dramas based around organizations such as the FBI/CIA/What have you, reality television that encourages kids it's okay to be pregnant at 16, or some show given to some dumb, vapid, superficial idiot where all they do is sit around and bitch about how hard their life is.)

As for video games, enjoy playing the same FPS over and over again, just slightly modified with new content and under a new name in the series.

I will give you movies though, but that's because I love movies but even then, look at the fucking movie industry. If a new movie comes out, it's usually a shitty animated film (more than likely from the retards at Dreamworks), a terribly bad action movie, a romantic comedy that has been thousands of times before, or worst of all, a remake of a movie that isn't even 15-20 years old yet. There is hardly any originality in Hollywood anymore.

Either way, that's just my opinion. Can I force you to read? No. I just feel like you're missing out when books have been read and written for years, and before your "technology", it was a way of communication AND entertainment for people.

TL;DR Pick up a fucking book just because I know you won't read my entire post anyway.

>>807728
>never said I was an expert
>I know everything there is to know about that country.
so I guess none of the books you read in school was a dictionary, huh

>>807870
OP = owned.

10, no, make that 11, internets for you.

OP has obviously not been owned.

Seriously, if the argument has fallen to such minutiae and pedantry as whether you are going by the UN definition in the number of countries comprising former Yugoslavia, it's pretty clear that he is, if not right, at least close enough that he's not embarrassed himself. Yall are trying too hard, stop it.

On the other hand, OP: just fucking read. It's another medium, with its own glories. Don't knock it for no reason. You just come off as uninformed and immature.

>>807890
wrong. he said he knew "everything there was to know about [the former state of yugoslavia]." close doesn't count.

>>807844
I did read your entire post, and thank you for not being an asshole like everyone else on this board.

I agree with you that MOST of the movie and tv industry is recycled crap. But there are more than enough gems to keep me entertained with art.

TV: The Wire, the Sopranos, Mad Men, How to Make it in America, Dexter, Californication, Treme, Band of Brothers, The Pacific,

Movies: Godfather, Raging Bull, Departed, Training Day, Casablanca, Mean Streets, Metropolis, Saving Private Ryan

I could keep going all day, but I'll just just leave you with those examples, TV shows and movies with themes, and meanings and everything a book has, but without the work.

I'm not saying everything hollywood shits out is great. But there is definitely SOME art left.

As for video games, how is that any different from reading the same hardy boys novel over and over again except with different titles and in different settings. Isaac Asimov wrote the same novel over and over again, from what I hear, so what makes it okay for books to do that but not video games?

You say, "reading is just another medium for creativity and expression" and this is true. However, it's a medium that requires work. I work enough on my school work.

Isn't progress finding a medium that delivers everything a book can, but without the work?

I'm not against literature. I just think literature can be found in film now days. It's a part of progress.

>>807907
books only require work if you're a lazy, spoiled cunt who gets everything handed to them by mommy and daddy.

</jealousy>

>I am very appreciate and understand the rare position I am in.

>I am very appreciate and understand

Reading a book is a pleasure

>>807939
Sure, I'm not saying reading a book ISN'T pleasure. But it's pleasure after work.

Take your favorite novel, the best one you've ever read.
Now take your favorite movie, the best movie you've ever seen.

I know you had more fun watching that movie than reading that novel

A good film requires just as much "work" (a stupid fucking word, really, when all it means is "thought") as a good novel. If you aren't thinking, you don't understand the film.

>>807956
Nope. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was funnier and more enjoyable then watching Monty Python's Holy Grail.

>>807956
Well...

I enjoyed more the reading Harry Potter than watching it.
LOTR books > LOTR movies
Watership down is wonderfull in book form, an amazing epic. Movie is not as good.

many more

>>807969
You killed your own point.

If I'm spending my time moving my eyes back and forth and reading, deciphering text in my head, instead of just sitting back and relaxing and watching on box, I am wasting precious time I could be thinking about the plot, and themes, and meaning, and stuff

>>807956
fun is short lived
I'm in for long haul love

>>807956
no

>>807956

Nope.

>>808006
it honestly troubles you that much to move your eyes from side to side?

you are one lazy bitch, aren't you?

Video games = Work

Hell, some games (MMORPGs, I'm looking at you) are much like actual work.

>>807956
absolutely positively not.

>>808006

Derp. You decipher shots in film exactly like you decipher words. Your eyes move on the screen. There is no inherent narrative connection between any two shots in a film; the mind creates them.

It is a bad thing to champion a form of art that you don't even understand.

toasting in an epic bread

nice work OP

Reading gives me much more intense pleasure than movies and video games do.

A writer has much more control over the feel and contents of a book, than a writer/director of a movie does. And books still leave more for the reader to imagine.

I have, on the same night, finished a moving novel and watched fireworks worth tens of thousands of dollars, and was more impressed and stupefied by the novel. It was much more beautiful.

You have to realize, to us, you sound like someone saying "I don't like movies" to you.

Both movies and literature are mediums that can manufacture intensely different things, and dismissing that entire medium is just silly.