On reading and watching

I remember the first time I chatted with one of the younger docs during my stay in the hospital for dengue fever (Yah, that friendly fresh grad who missed the vein and poked me a total of three times while drawing blood. No hard feelings, though). He was asking me what I was majoring in NUS, as almost all the people who knew me do, and looked vaguely surprised when I said I was gonna do Lit. But then it was my turn to be vaguely surprised when he asked again, "So you prefer literature from which particular era?"

That question was certainly new. People usually go "Oooh, Lit major huh, Literature very hard to score one, leh." and moved on to other pleasantries, leaving me thinking that they might've summed me up as a curious specimen who's into really cultured stuff, which, I assure you, is not very much so -_- Lit is simply a song without the notes, like a choir senior of mine once mentioned, so if you can interpret a song, then you can understand a book. But then I cannot comprehend why others are happiest delving into mountainsful of formulas and facts and equations, even though, when you work it out, the patterned nature of maths and science would actually resemble music, too, returning to the most basic chords to form the most complicated songs, but oh well. It's a matter of preference =)

*pause* Eh, I deviated. Anyhow, as I was saying, I was momentarily stunned, and begin to run through my head rapidly books from various historical periods, wondering where my preference lies... 19th C Victorian Gothic? 18th C Romantic? Post modern texts...? Which was a quick process, because I haven't read that much books in my life. I had begun to say "We-ell... victorian texts are..." before pausing and resigning myself to go "Nah, I haven't read enough books to actually have a preference for anything." Which worked fine, because the doc nodded agreeably and replied "Whoa, that's a cool honest response... at least you didn't try to act cheem." I beamed, and wisely did not add that the only preference I have for books is generally fantasy and adventure for kids, complete with a happy ending. Anything less than that and I'll begin to feel somewhat disconcerted. Seriously, people think that we're probably into social commentaries and political analogies and classics, but hey. I prefer my Time Quartet and Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia and The Dark is Rising series any day. It's a feeling that stays with me, each time I take up or put down a well-written children's book, that these children's authors show a certain level of sensitivity to their readers, getting the story across without over-simplifying matters, and without attempting to jargonise and confuscate, and because children are more receptive and imaginative, they don't have to explain and re-explain themselves all the time. It's an easy and relaxing read, and the thrill of the adventure doesn't fade just because it's for kids, either. Why go wallow in angst and depressing storylines and bittersweet melancholy of 'adult' books, I wonder, when they are so easily accessible in real life already? (and yes, in all the future modules I gotta take, I suppose... but reading for analysis and reading for leisure are not exactly the same...)

It's like TV shows, really. Don't even ask me what my favourite movies or TV shows are. Disney probably makes a lotta money from consumers like me, because cartoons are the only thing that can sustain my interest generally one of the few things that you can sit back and watch and laugh at without thinking too hard, and they are the only things that can afford to be corny without making you feel like throwing something at the TV screen. If you catch the subtle little jokes in between, even better =D And. I simply cannot resist lovely Disney theme songs during the movie, and right at the end when the credits roll. Stress-free leisure activity. Those aside, I like Hongkong serials, too, when they don't overdo the family/business politics bit, and occassionally the Singaporean serial dramas, when they don't overdo national propaganda, NTUC, NKF and the like.

Hmm. This entry must have been interrupted twenty-thousand times since I first began writing, so I shall just stop here, and continue again in another entry. Till then, be nice and leave notes, hor.