Attention span; Weekend movies

BBC News – Traditional books ‘may not survive electronic age’:

There’s an older generation who might complain about shorter attention spans but there is a new literacy which has emerged among younger users and readers who are incredibly adept at multi-tasking.

Two things:

Before we label the younger generation with irreparably short attention spans, can we for a moment back up and note that two of the biggest publishing phenomena in the last decade, Harry Porter and Twilight, are youth-oriented, thick, multi-volume works?

Second, as was noted by JT (either here or on Facebook), I have a tendency to skip back and forth between books–the paper, ink, and glue sort as well as electronic texts. I’ve always done this. There have always been people who do this.

—###—

On Friday in Omaha, Eric went to see The Sorcerer’s Apprentice with Chad, Michelle, and possibly a niece/nephew or two. On Sunday, I went to see Inception with Reif. It occurs to me that the former is probably getting worse reviews than it deserves and the latter getting better reviews than it deserves. (Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Inception. I especially appreciated the heist aspect, but it isn’t a perfect movie.) It will be interesting to see how long it is before I end up seeing The Sorcerer’s Apprentice or Eric sees Inception. I predict that I will cave first…