"Hey Trapezoid, did you see [some sitcom] last night?"
"No, I don't watch TV."

It's funny watching different people's reactions when I tell them that. Some automatically assume that I'm trying to be snobby, as if I was introducing myself with that statement, "I don't watch TV". Some keep forgetting, asking me more TV questions days (if not minutes) later. Some are indifferent. Some look at me as if I just said "I never eat." And with some others it just pisses them off that I have no knowledge of the stupid fictional dramas they devote their lives to.

I'm certainly not ignorant of the medium though. I have a huge entertainment center and tons of DVDs, including some television series. But I stopped watching "TV" about 4 years ago. My DVD and VHS collection is something that I personally chose and put together, not something thrown in front of me. Once in a great while, such as when I visit my parents for Xmas, I'll find myself watching a little TV. And that's when I realize that I'm really not missing much. Just the same meaningless bullshit chased by the same hopeless viewers, recycled in a new package.

Is there any TV worth watching? I'm sure there is. I know people who can responsibly select only what they want to watch and USE their TV rather than be used BY it. For me personally, I find it easier to just drop the entire thing. It's nice not having a cable bill to pay every month.

So what does everybody consider to be the antithesis to TV? Books. I like books, but I don't subscribe the "books are always superior" school of thought. For one, I can think of some movies I liked more than the books upon which they were based. Yes, I know it's blasphemous to say such a thing these days, but there you have it. But more importantly, the fact of the matter is that just as there is "junk" TV, you also have a lot of "junk" books.

Speaking of junk, where do we find junk FOOD? At the supermarket, near the register. Now think of what they keep on that big table near the cash registers in a major chain book store. Little books in their own pretty wrappers. Simple themes for simple minds. Only there for instant satisfaction to a craving for something, not to have any nutritional value. Nothing that you'd actually have to digest. Of course there's nothing wrong with the occasional Snickers bar or a trashy, biased book with a shocking title. They're delicious. Just don't call either one a meal.