Triton

I would have to disagree. Over the past 100 years, the primary forms of entertainment shifted from reading to other, more modernized forms; literature and newspapers gave way to the radio, which turned into television, and then the Internet. However, before the radio, the printed word was the primary source of entertainment all the way back to 1450 when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. It's not that people never actually did any reading, it's the fact that the advancement of technology brought newer and more simplified forms of knowledge dissemination.

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Originally posted by Quintopere@ You are right, Triton, about the mass media that are occupying our free time and when we are not in front of the Television set, we must buy and consume... we must have all and now!

That's not what I'm really talking about. I mean to say that mediums such as television are reducing modern man's appreciation of the written word. As a result, the literary arts are becoming more and more obsolete in favor of art where you look and you're done.

Case in point: at my college, there are a number of art scholarships for the visual arts, and every year there is an art contest. In one frequently used corridor, the art department showcases a number of its finest works by its students. On the other hand, there are only two scholarships for English, and the Student Writers of Any Genre (SWAG) club does not have the popularity of the other clubs.

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Sadly, the reading era seems to be over soon. The quality book getting vanished, and more crappy books come to the market with un-literalistic texts, huge pictures and fonts. Just becouse the TV and Internet damaged people won't read that much. Hairy Putter is a modern cr@p. I read all of those books, and I liked the story of the first three. After the third book(the time when JKR got REALLY famous), the story became a hunk-a-junk. Why? Becouse the kids need this kinda stuff... Bleh... They have no sense for REAL literacy. Shame.[/quote]

It drives me nuts to see crap like "The Da Vinci Code" do so well when it really is just a load of crap. It was poorly written, the characters were flat and two-dimensional, and the history used in the book was not researched properly (though I understand it is a fiction book, it concerns religious history, and I for one think that if the author is going to make up his own history, he should have a disclaimer stating that the back-history is not related to actual historical events).

However, books like the Harry Potter series and "The Da Vinci Code" do well because they are just page-turners; they are books with more style than substance. No one wants to read a masterpiece like "The Brothers Karamazov" or "The Master and Margarita" because they have to think about the story and what the author is trying to convey through his writing.

I think I understand what you are trying to say. I'm sick and tired of hearing slang because it ravages a language. Colloquialisms are one thing, but completely corrupting a language because someone thinks it is cool is much different.

I can't stand it when someone whose first language is English and they don't care how bad their writing and speaking skills are. They say that grammar isn't important, but it's just an excuse for their laziness.



Hear hear.

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I read ALOT. Now, my favorite wirter is Philip K. Dick, he is the best. You cannot predict what will happen in his books, it is TOTALY awesome. I read "The man in the High Castle" now. You should try it , worth it ok.gif[/quote]

Try reading "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck or "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Miller Hemingway. They are both good books, and should be good practice for someone learning English.

Whatever.