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Flops

All of yesterday was spent on jury duty. From 8 in the morning until 4:30, there was, as expected, way more waiting than anything else. Since I like to over-prepare for things that probably might not happen, when things do happen that way, the over-preparing continues.

No matter what, with jury duty, I bring plenty to read. Always.

Two years ago, I had to report for city and county only a few weeks apart. I decided to start a book with the first one and didn't pick the book back up until the second one. Thankfully I was able to finish the book and not fall asleep.

Yesterday, I decided to bring the book I'm currently reading, The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands, as well as Nathan Rabin's My Year of Flops. In hopes of reading something that would probably make me laugh early in the morning, I decided to read Nathan's book. I ended up never opening the other book all day.

My Year of Flops features a number of essays that originally appeared on the A.V. Club's website, along with new essays and interviews. I must say, I'm glad I read these essays in book form because my mind is not wired to read lengthy essays on the Internet.

The Internet is great for quick blurbs, but when there are so many quick blurbs to read on a computer that I do a lot of things with already (like listen to music, work on the next book), Nathan's column is easy to overlook. Couple that with new blurbs added almost every hour with the websites I read on a daily basis.

I half-kid that my job requires a high percentage of ADD mixed with intense focus (yes, it's possible) and that parlays into how I do things when I'm not sitting in my recliner with a book.

While I didn't finish My Year of Flops yesterday (I spent the whole afternoon listening to prosecuting and defending council ask questions), I'm happy to say I got 100 pages into it. And I'm happy to say the book is even more enjoyable than a certain other book I have on a similar topic: The Worst Movies of All Time. Way more personable and funnier, I'm glad I spent the day not trying to remember what exactly a ka-tet is, the full meaning of a jawbone used as protection, and whatever the hell happened to Detta Walker. Given the criminal case I might have been picked for, I needed a laugh.

Comments

Ted said…
Wow! Congrats on trying to read Dark Tower III. I could not finish that book (even though I really liked the other two books). For some reason, I just couldn't connect it it.

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