Spring Break
Getting you the way nothing can
Bob Taylor
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Entertainment
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I have worked on this section of the Daily Kent Stater for seven semesters, doing everything from covering a pumpkin-dropping contest to interviewing inebriated celebrities who were driving through Los Angeles naked (and no, I'm not going to tell you who it was). And now I'm done because I am graduating.
I'm not sure of exact specifics I have learned by being an entertainment reporter and subsequent editor, but I have finally realized why people, including myself, love entertainment.
We see a lot of movies in our lifetime. Or watch a lot of television. Or listen to a lot of music. Most of the art we see in passing we forget about, or remember fleetingly. It may be enjoyable, catchy or addictive, but most of the stuff we indulge in does not make much of an impact in our lives. You may remember Jurassic Park III, or "Seventh Heaven" or most of The Macarena, but when was the last time you thought about them?
But, every now and then, something does. Something breaks through the entertainment wall of popcorn and iPod headphones and becomes something else entirely to us. It's more than a movie, or a series or a melody. It's a reflection of our thoughts, feelings and emotions taking form within that work of art. It's special.
You might mock the fact that the aliens in Signs were dumb to try in inhabit a planet covered mostly by water. But for me, it's not about that gap in logic. It's about how faith is portrayed in the film; a way that synched up perfectly with my beliefs that I can't help but love every moment of it.
In the same vein, you might dismiss "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as a crappy WB drama about a teenager who slays demons or Disney's On the Record soundtrack as a warmed-over compilation of classic songs that doesn't add anything to the mythos, but they mean so much more to me in ways you cannot imagine.
And really, don't we all have that? I might snicker with good reason when you say your favorite movie is How to Lose A Guy In Ten Days, but I'm not you. I don't need to understand why that movie is special to you, all that matters is that you love it.
We watch or listen to these entertainments not just because we want to, but because we need to. Because, after being late for work, being broken up with, getting in a car accident on your way home and finding your pet dead when you walk in, you need to be reminded of who you are and why you love life the way you do.
That's why I love entertainment. Because every now and then you can feel like someone out there "gets" you in a way the world doesn't. The way only a best friend can. And moments like those are some of the most important there are.
I'm not sure of exact specifics I have learned by being an entertainment reporter and subsequent editor, but I have finally realized why people, including myself, love entertainment.
We see a lot of movies in our lifetime. Or watch a lot of television. Or listen to a lot of music. Most of the art we see in passing we forget about, or remember fleetingly. It may be enjoyable, catchy or addictive, but most of the stuff we indulge in does not make much of an impact in our lives. You may remember Jurassic Park III, or "Seventh Heaven" or most of The Macarena, but when was the last time you thought about them?
But, every now and then, something does. Something breaks through the entertainment wall of popcorn and iPod headphones and becomes something else entirely to us. It's more than a movie, or a series or a melody. It's a reflection of our thoughts, feelings and emotions taking form within that work of art. It's special.
You might mock the fact that the aliens in Signs were dumb to try in inhabit a planet covered mostly by water. But for me, it's not about that gap in logic. It's about how faith is portrayed in the film; a way that synched up perfectly with my beliefs that I can't help but love every moment of it.
In the same vein, you might dismiss "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as a crappy WB drama about a teenager who slays demons or Disney's On the Record soundtrack as a warmed-over compilation of classic songs that doesn't add anything to the mythos, but they mean so much more to me in ways you cannot imagine.
And really, don't we all have that? I might snicker with good reason when you say your favorite movie is How to Lose A Guy In Ten Days, but I'm not you. I don't need to understand why that movie is special to you, all that matters is that you love it.
We watch or listen to these entertainments not just because we want to, but because we need to. Because, after being late for work, being broken up with, getting in a car accident on your way home and finding your pet dead when you walk in, you need to be reminded of who you are and why you love life the way you do.
That's why I love entertainment. Because every now and then you can feel like someone out there "gets" you in a way the world doesn't. The way only a best friend can. And moments like those are some of the most important there are.
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