Another Movie Thread - Because We Love Them So

[kandrathe]

It's never too late to right some wrongs.

Well, she already paid $170 for the fine on $60 worth of books, (assuming they're hard cover). Revoke her library card! No need to get medieval on her. If I were making the library policies, I'd just set the "you bought it price" at 2x cost(value) to cover the inconvenience to the library. Unless the book was out of print, and irreplaceable. What is ignorant is that she should realize that Amazon.com would be a cheaper for her, and her entire lack of responsibility. I expect that her karma will catch up with her in other areas of her life, where disobeying the rules will have dire consequences, for example, when paying her taxes.

Here is where e-books will eventually rule; Your subscription to read the book would just expire. There is no need to go to the library to get the book, or return it. Our school library has a few very sophisticated scanners, and a cataloging system. For the past few years were been acquiring more electronic titles than traditional media. The only thing holding them back is the TB's of disk space they need. What's nice for students is the card catalog and e-media are available through their internet portal. Our library's electronic materials are interconnected to most of the other colleges in the State. If it exists in any of them, everyone has access to view it simultaneously.

Hence, why Netflix on demand works better for me. Most newer movies now go to electronic distribution, and it's only the older, and less popular titles that I need to rent on DVD. So, when I must absolutely see "Citizen Kane", or "12 Angry Men", I just need to be patient for a day or two for it to come in the mail. And, for returns, I've been forcing myself to take it from the DVD player immediately after viewing, packing it back up, and bringing it out to the mailbox right away. Otherwise, it tends to gets lost in the house clutter and we find it a month later in the "Paid Bills" folder awaiting filing. But, for electronic books, I also have the PC e-reader for Kindle, Itunes (for podcasts), and Audible. I haven't jumped into an e-book machine yet, although I'm keenly interested in the hardware wars between iPad vs Kindle vs Nook etc.

At the college where I work, I've done research on the whole electronic "text book" phenomenon, and I've given recommendations for our current official academic position... Which is; we see it as a valuable part of the integration of a comprehensive technology assisted curriculum where the course materials, the curriculum, learning, and assessment are all integrated online, and available to the mobile environment. We have a cadre of e-learning specialists available to help professors adapt their courses toward a blended learning strategy which transforms a traditional course to enhance the face to face, group online, and individual online pedagogy. We've opted for a more protracted, experimental approach to ease our faculty toward this change and by being very selective on which courses we choose we can demonstrate just how innovative and successful this approach can be. For example, more online learning for Studio Arts would not improve pedagogy, while more peer interaction in studying history may improve the teaching/learning experience. I think most importantly, it forces the instructors to seriously challenge their traditional rubrics in measuring student outcomes. A thirty page essay on the Napoleonic Wars may not be the only method for measuring if a student understands history, although it may be a good measure on how well a student writes a thirty page essay. I'm also on the assessment steering committee, so I'm involved in measuring the success of these experiments as well.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Well, she already paid $170 for the fine on $60 worth of books, (assuming they're hard cover). Revoke her library card! No need to get medieval on her.

First, either I suck at writing sarcasm or you suck at reading it.

Second, it's not the money, it's the principle. SHE PAID A $170 FINE. She did not buy the books (or, at least, if she did then the report failed to say so and implied the opposite).

Clearly, getting medieval on people like her is the only way to get through to them. Go back and read her comments. SHE DOESN'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ANYTHING BUT HERSELF. "Bad doggie" is not going to cut it -- unlike the real thing, she doesn't give a damn about pleasing you or anyone else.

BTW, I present her as exhibit A in my case for why libertarianism (also anarchy and communism) is a crock. She's a sight more representative of the typical person than is the informed, concerned, and responsible citizen the libertarians would like us to believe inhabit this nation.

The only thing holding them back is the TB's of disk space they need.

TB? As in sub $100 per TB hard dives? That's holding them back? Are they scanning to image or going all the way with OCR? Because an image takes a whole lot more space than does a text document (and especially a zipped text document; The Three Musketeers is about 1/2 MB zipped) -- 1 TB is about 2000 books.

Hence, why Netflix on demand works better for me. Most newer movies now go to electronic distribution, and it's only the older, and less popular titles that I need to rent on DVD.

I don't know that it is that simple. Titles have been on the streaming list, then came off of it, and then sometimes have come back on it.

I haven't jumped into an e-book machine yet, although I'm keenly interested in the hardware wars between iPad vs Kindle vs Nook etc.

A pox on all their houses. E-readers, smart phones, media players, blah blah blah. The technology is there for hardware independent content. Let me buy the reader I like best and buy the content from whomever has what I want at the best price. I refuse to get into any of their effing gilded cages.

At the college where I work, I've done research on the whole electronic "text book" phenomenon, and I've given recommendations for our current official academic position... Which is; we see it as a valuable part of the integration of a comprehensive technology assisted curriculum where the course materials, the curriculum, learning, and assessment are all integrated online, and available to the mobile environment. We have a cadre of e-learning specialists available to help professors adapt their courses toward a blended learning strategy which transforms a traditional course to enhance the face to face, group online, and individual online pedagogy. We've opted for a more protracted, experimental approach to ease our faculty toward this change and by being very selective on which courses we choose we can demonstrate just how innovative and successful this approach can be. For example, more online learning for Studio Arts would not improve pedagogy, while more peer interaction in studying history may improve the teaching/learning experience. I think most importantly, it forces the instructors to seriously challenge their traditional rubrics in measuring student outcomes. A thirty page essay on the Napoleonic Wars may not be the only method for measuring if a student understands history, although it may be a good measure on how well a student writes a thirty page essay. I'm also on the assessment steering committee, so I'm involved in measuring the success of these experiments as well.

That is a great example of just what is wrong with our educational system. I have absolutely no idea what you said -- about 30 seconds in, I fell asleep, overcome by the stupor of turgid prose. I suspect that deeply embroiled in all that complex text and grammar is a simple, good, idea screaming to get out.

--Pete

[kandrathe]

First, either I suck at writing sarcasm or you suck at reading it.

I've been accused of sometimes being too literal... So, it might be me.

Second, it's not the money, it's the principle. SHE PAID A $170 FINE. She did not buy the books (or, at least, if she did then the report failed to say so and implied the opposite).

Clearly, getting medieval on people like her is the only way to get through to them. Go back and read her comments. SHE DOESN'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ANYTHING BUT HERSELF. "Bad doggie" is not going to cut it -- unlike the real thing, she doesn't give a damn about pleasing you or anyone else.

BTW, I present her as exhibit A in my case for why libertarianism (also anarchy and communism) is a crock. She's a sight more representative of the typical person than is the informed, concerned, and responsible citizen the libertarians would like us to believe inhabit this nation.

I agree with the principle you espouse, and I am also bugged by her lack of principles. In some respects I can see the value of making an example, medieval or not, of the occasional miscreant, if for nothing more than for LavCat to tape up within view of the "Late Returns" counter. The librarian in ominous goth dress can casually glance over at the article with a knowing smile in silent testimony of what may happen to careless scoff laws.

In an interesting followup story; ABC News report on overdue library books

Regarding your mis-perception of a libertarian utopia... Heh. It's really not about selfish narcissistic over indulgence, and anarchy. First, the library as owner, is free to engage in any contract they deem necessary (including an advanced deposit) for the rental of their property. Clearly, she violated the terms of their contract, and so the library was fully within their common law rights to address the grievance through the courts. Failing to appear at court usually results in a bench warrant, and so she was arrested for failure to comply with the summons of the court. Were I the judge, I would have awarded the library full damages to restore them to whole (allowing her to return the stolen materials as partial remuneration), and added to the libraries fines the estimated costs to the municipality for the necessity of using the police and judicial process. Give her two weeks to comply, or then be charged with misdemeanor failure to appear, and possibly contempt of court charges.

Libertarians do believe in a fully functioning judicial system to protect our rights, and ensure our liberties.

The only thing holding them back is the TB's of disk space they need.

TB? As in sub $100 per TB hard dives? That's holding them back? Are they scanning to image or going all the way with OCR? Because an image takes a whole lot more space than does a text document (and especially a zipped text document; The Three Musketeers is about 1/2 MB zipped) -- 1 TB is about 2000 books.

Mostly PDF images, and it gets more complicated when you want to archive many to 100's of TB's of images, and then make them some what accessible.

Hence, why Netflix on demand works better for me. Most newer movies now go to electronic distribution, and it's only the older, and less popular titles that I need to rent on DVD.

I don't know that it is that simple. Titles have been on the streaming list, then came off of it, and then sometimes have come back on it.

Well, yeah, there is probably a finite space they have, and some licensing issues with the owners.

I haven't jumped into an e-book machine yet, although I'm keenly interested in the hardware wars between iPad vs Kindle vs Nook etc.

A pox on all their houses. E-readers, smart phones, media players, blah blah blah. The technology is there for hardware independent content. Let me buy the reader I like best and buy the content from whomever has what I want at the best price. I refuse to get into any of their effing gilded cages.

Being that I can't afford to get whatever I like... I'll probably settle for the one that has the most content available, and that is most readable.

At the college where I work, I've done research on the whole electronic "text book" phenomenon, and I've given recommendations for our current official academic position... Which is; we see it as a valuable part of the integration of a comprehensive technology assisted curriculum where the course materials, the curriculum, learning, and assessment are all integrated online, and available to the mobile environment. We have a cadre of e-learning specialists available to help professors adapt their courses toward a blended learning strategy which transforms a traditional course to enhance the face to face, group online, and individual online pedagogy. We've opted for a more protracted, experimental approach to ease our faculty toward this change and by being very selective on which courses we choose we can demonstrate just how innovative and successful this approach can be. For example, more online learning for Studio Arts would not improve pedagogy, while more peer interaction in studying history may improve the teaching/learning experience. I think most importantly, it forces the instructors to seriously challenge their traditional rubrics in measuring student outcomes. A thirty page essay on the Napoleonic Wars may not be the only method for measuring if a student understands history, although it may be a good measure on how well a student writes a thirty page essay. I'm also on the assessment steering committee, so I'm involved in measuring the success of these experiments as well.

That is a great example of just what is wrong with our educational system. I have absolutely no idea what you said -- about 30 seconds in, I fell asleep, overcome by the stupor of turgid prose. I suspect that deeply embroiled in all that complex text and grammar is a simple, good, idea screaming to get out.

Let's see... More simply said; we see e-books as only a part of a broader strategy to make parts of a course experience (teaching and learning) more interactive (where it makes sense), and accessible to wherever you happen to be at the moment.

[--Pete]

Hi,

I agree with the principle you espouse, and I am also bugged by her lack of principles. In some respects I can see the value of making an example, medieval or not, of the occasional miscreant, if for nothing more than for LavCat to tape up within view of the "Late Returns" counter. The librarian in ominous goth dress can casually glance over at the article with a knowing smile in silent testimony of what may happen to careless scoff laws.

Regarding your mis-perception of a libertarian utopia...

Just yanking your chain But, really, the more freedom and responsibility one leaves to the individual, the more intelligent, concerned, informed and responsible the individual needs to be. Our library scoff-laws are almost an argument for a paternalistic totalitarianism. They need a father figure (or maybe a Big Brother) to keep them in line.

I've long since come to the conclusion that if you want a good read on the morality of a nation, look at the little things. Murder, larceny, robbery, etc. are curbed by law enforcement and, usually, peer pressure. Look at the little things. Littering. Obeying the traffic laws. Tagging and other graffiti. And, yes, returning library books. Just as the nature of an individual is best revealed by what he does in private, so is the nature of a society best revealed by what it does where there is little, or no, danger of punishment.

We've slipped a long way by that measure in the years since Nov. 22, 1963.

Being that I can't afford to get whatever I like... I'll probably settle for the one that has the most content available, and that is most readable.

Sue got an iPad from her dad as a present. But she doesn't use it to read much. I'm not sure how to even measure content. I'd like to have a few technical works on whatever, but there's no apparent benefit -- the price for the electronic version of most of them is the same as for the paper. I haven't been able to find much other than in English (I'd like to maintain my Italian proficiency, brush the rust off my Spanish, re-learn my Latin and Scottish and pick up from where I'd slid to in German).

I find the e-readers to be much like the iPod. I was able to find a lot of popular and recent music, less so of good classical and opera, and a poor smattering of folk and traditional. Also, very little except in English (again). Of course, another problem with all those music players is that my hearing is very poor in the left ear and none of the music devices seem to have a left-right balance adjustment.

Let's see... More simply said; we see e-books as only a part of a broader strategy to make parts of a course experience (teaching and learning) more interactive (where it makes sense), and accessible to wherever you happen to be at the moment.

See. I knew that you could.

--Pete

[kandrathe]

Just yanking your chain But, really, the more freedom and responsibility one leaves to the individual, the more intelligent, concerned, informed and responsible the individual needs to be. Our library scoff-laws are almost an argument for a paternalistic totalitarianism. They need a father figure (or maybe a Big Brother) to keep them in line.

Or, just natural consequences. I was defending a peer today from the parents of an education student who neglected to turn in his assignments, and who did not receive the grade he wanted (but did get the grade he deserved). Too many people believe they can get whatever they want without paying the piper. That student (with his parents help) is our customer and ostensibly he chose our college due to our integrity, and the value of the product (undergraduate degree) we sell to him, which he then wants to corrupt and cheapen not just for himself, but every alumnus, and future alumnus. Just as the library scoff law enjoys the services of a library, however, were everyone to treat it as she did, there would eventually be a nice useless empty building.

I've long since come to the conclusion that if you want a good read on the morality of a nation, look at the little things. Murder, larceny, robbery, etc. are curbed by law enforcement and, usually, peer pressure. Look at the little things. Littering. Obeying the traffic laws. Tagging and other graffiti. And, yes, returning library books. Just as the nature of an individual is best revealed by what he does in private, so is the nature of a society best revealed by what it does where there is little, or no, danger of punishment.

I think a part of it is the increasing anonymity of our society. We tend not to know each other anymore, unlike DeeBye's small town, and that distance from each other enables us to not be held accountable for our little errs. I am who I am because of my parents teaching. Such as with litter; Every spring growing up, our 4-H club (of 100 kids and their parents) would walk along and clean a 10 mile long stretch of highway. At the time, I hated doing those projects, but I always marveled that we'd load up so much trash every year. We'd also would pick an area destroyed by fire, or wind, and replant it with seedling trees. We would go sing carols at nursing homes, rake leaves for people who had trouble doing it, go to depressed areas and feed the hungry, and we'd raise money (with bake sales and car washes) to help repaint peoples houses in our town who couldn't afford to do it. Again, it was often back breaking work, and as a teen I really wanted to be doing other things. Now, looking back, I think if you engage kids in service projects to make things better in your community, you teach them values.

For traffic laws... There just are too many rules, too many drivers, and not enough officers to be able to enforce all the rules for all the drivers -- so people learn they can get away with it. And, again, people are insulated in their own metal skinned cocoons, so they feel no remorse treating others on the road badly.

Ok... Here is an idea I've thought about for implementing traffic harmony... A form of laser tag. If someone does something wrong, like cuts you off, or tail gates you, you press a button on the dash or steering wheel and your car scans and enters their license plate number into a DMV database. Every "zap" costs something like a quarter to keep people from going nuts and zapping everyone. But, every zap you get against your license plate also costs you some small "fine". Rather than get angry at some jerk on the road, I'd be willing to zap them with a fine, even if it cost me a little to do it. The bad drivers would end up literally paying for their mistakes, and this psychologically would induce them to alter their behavior. Kind of like the ultimate game of "Survivor" where we all get to vote the jerks off the island (er, roads). Beyond that, it would be a new revenue source for maintaining the roads, and make rush hour much more fun.

Sue got an iPad from her dad as a present. But she doesn't use it to read much.

Pocket frogs.

[eppie]

I expect that her karma will catch up with her in other areas of her life, where disobeying the rules will have dire consequences, for example, when paying her taxes.

Reading just this sentence tells me this woman does not live in Italy or Greece.

---

For traffic laws... There just are too many rules, too many drivers, and not enough officers to be able to enforce all the rules for all the drivers -- so people learn they can get away with it. And, again, people are insulated in their own metal skinned cocoons, so they feel no remorse treating others on the road badly.

Indeed. I can get really angry at car drivers while I am biking to work. Sweden still has a street-design and mentality of the 1960 when bikes did not exist here.
However, police here does nothing....I am biking here for more than 3 years and I have never once seen police officers handing out fine for driving through red lights etc.
Incredibly frustrating.

[Sabra]

[quote='Sabra' pid='187003' dateline='1305992363']

I have it my Amazon Movie Rental Queue!

Hi,

Do u have Netflix? 2 movie rentals @ Amazon is about the cost of 1 month at Netflix. You can have the latest DVD's mailed to your home I average 6 per month + I also Stream unlimted movies.

Google Netflix for a FREE Month trial.

[quote]

I do have Netflix, Jim. I have a Roku and I use their streaming service only. For newer films, such as "Winter's Bone," I use Amazon Streaming Video rentals, just because it's not all that often that I feel a need to see something that is out on DVD only - certainly not the extra couple bucks a month worth for Netflix.

Right now, due to lovely birthday presents, I have a nice big credit at Amazon from gift cards, and I'm willing to throw some of it at films.

So that's where I was coming from.

[Kevin]

Ok... Here is an idea I've thought about for implementing traffic harmony... A form of laser tag. If someone does something wrong, like cuts you off, or tail gates you, you press a button on the dash or steering wheel and your car scans and enters their license plate number into a DMV database. Every "zap" costs something like a quarter to keep people from going nuts and zapping everyone. But, every zap you get against your license plate also costs you some small "fine". Rather than get angry at some jerk on the road, I'd be willing to zap them with a fine, even if it cost me a little to do it. The bad drivers would end up literally paying for their mistakes, and this psychologically would induce them to alter their behavior. Kind of like the ultimate game of "Survivor" where we all get to vote the jerks off the island (er, roads). Beyond that, it would be a new revenue source for maintaining the roads, and make rush hour much more fun.

Why only be able to report negative, why not be able to report positive as well? I would also want the system to record a brief voice snippet of the reporting driver ("He cut me off" "Made an illegal turn" or "Slowed down used signals and waved me in", "stopped at mark cross walk, let pedestrian cross"). I mean if you've got the system in place why not report positive behavior as well that could likely get discounts for insurance for people, etc. I do like the cost required to use the system for reporting violations, maybe not for reporting positives. But I want the extra level of simple recording to also cut down on anonymous use. If the bad drivers got to hear all the little accusations against them it might have a larger impact on their behavior as well.

[kandrathe]

Why only be able to report negative, why not be able to report positive as well?

That would be fine, although I don't think affirmations are (but should be) a normal part of human behavior. We tend to expect perfection, and nit pick at anything that falls short of that perfection. Giving each other compliments, and telling them that they are valuable has been lost on our generation. I don't know why.

I would also want the system to record a brief voice snippet of the reporting driver ("He cut me off" "Made an illegal turn" or "Slowed down used signals and waved me in", "stopped at mark cross walk, let pedestrian cross"). I mean if you've got the system in place why not report positive behavior as well that could likely get discounts for insurance for people, etc. I do like the cost required to use the system for reporting violations, maybe not for reporting positives. But I want the extra level of simple recording to also cut down on anonymous use. If the bad drivers got to hear all the little accusations against them it might have a larger impact on their behavior as well.

Yeah, I would go for the positives too. In a way its just extending the 1-800-XXX-XXX How's my driving? you see on semi-trailers.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Ok... Here is an idea I've thought about for implementing traffic harmony... A form of laser tag.

Sue had a similar idea about 30 years ago, but a lot lower tech. Every driver has a dart gun that shoots those rubber suction cup darts. People seeing someone driving stupidly can shoot darts at the idiot's bumper. Anyone with sufficient darts on their bumper gets pulled over and fined for DWI (Driving While an Idiot).

--Pete

[kandrathe]

Ok... Here is an idea I've thought about for implementing traffic harmony... A form of laser tag.

Sue had a similar idea about 30 years ago, but a lot lower tech. Every driver has a dart gun that shoots those rubber suction cup darts. People seeing someone driving stupidly can shoot darts at the idiot's bumper. Anyone with sufficient darts on their bumper gets pulled over and fined for DWI (Driving While an Idiot).

--Pete

I will share the royalties with her.

[DeeBye]

"I am Number Four" was a terrible movie.

I thought it was going to be about a guy with super powers doing cool stuff. Instead, it was a teenager with some powers living in Beverly Hills 90210.

I have the same beef with "Aliens vs Predator 2". Aliens and Predators, with a teen romance angle. Who thinks people want to watch this?

[eppie]

"I am Number Four" was a terrible movie.

I thought it was going to be about a guy with super powers doing cool stuff. Instead, it was a teenager with some powers living in Beverly Hills 90210.

I have the same beef with "Aliens vs Predator 2". Aliens and Predators, with a teen romance angle. Who thinks people want to watch this?

Hollywood; and they are right. Even most crap movies at least break even for the producers so why even try?

Why did you think you were going to watch something cool?
(my answer: probably because of a very cool trailer they showed. It is time someone is going to sue a movie company because of false advertisement, or giving people the right to ask their money back if the movie the paid for to see turned out te be crap)

[Taem]

Just saw Black Swan and Buried last night.

Buried was a good watch once movie with a sub-par ending. I would have liked it if the main character didn't just go through what he went through, but as it turns out, I ended up feeling like I really didn't glean anything from the movie, and just felt like wasted time. Like I said, good for one-time.

Black Swan on the other hand surprised me; I'm not into dancing or ballerina movies, but this movie was very intriguing to me from start to finish! The characters were rich, and Natalie Portman did a fantastic job of transforming into the Black Swan at the end of the movie. It's too bad she had to loose her mind to reach that state.

And I want to throw in a plug for Netflix also! Now that it's on the Droid, I can let the kids watch Spongebob on my phone with the audio plugged into the car audio jack while we travel. So darn nice!

[DeeBye]

And I want to throw in a plug for Netflix also! Now that it's on the Droid, I can let the kids watch Spongebob on my phone with the audio plugged into the car audio jack while we travel. So darn nice!

For traveling with my son, I got this great LG portable DVD player. It has a USB input and plays divx, so I can load a bunch of stuff onto a flash drive. He loves it, and makes me think of the days when I was a kid and the only thing I had to do on long car rides was "count the trucks".

[--Pete]

Hi,

For traveling with my son, I got this great LG portable DVD player.
...
He loves it, and makes me think of the days when I was a kid and the only thing I had to do on long car rides was "count the trucks".

I'm in a terrible mood, so this might be a post best not made.

Perhaps why we are developing generations which are incapable of thinking is that we're systematically killing all opportunities to do so.

Every waking moment has to be filled with some external stimulus so that we never have to actually think to amuse ourselves. We bombard ourselves with a constant stream of visual and audio noise because we are afraid of what our minds might do if we gave them a minute or two to actually work on their own.

I remember the long Sunday drives when I sat in the back of the old '52 Dodge coupè, windows rolled down, head on the window ledge, watching the scenery go buy and letting my mind wander over anything and everything.

--Pete

[DeeBye]

I'm in a terrible mood, so this might be a post best not made.

Perhaps why we are developing generations which are incapable of thinking is that we're systematically killing all opportunities to do so.

Nah, that's a great post. It forced me to think. I think that uneducated thought is worthless. I'm not sure that my 8 year old son's thoughts stray very far from "Pokemon is pretty neat" or "Hey that car sure is blue!". I'm trying to pinpoint the part of my education where I was taught to think about things critically, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't until I started into the later stages of high school math and some early college courses.

I think I prefer my son's wasted time to be used by watching movies or playing his Nintendo DS rather than by staring out of a car window. I'm not totally disagreeing with you, but I can't seem to find the benefit for choosing passive thinking instead of interaction.

For what it's worth, almost every time my son asks me a question I like to challenge him on it. I like to say "Well, what do you think?".

[--Pete]

Hi,

I'm trying to pinpoint the part of my education where I was taught to think about things critically, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't until I started into the later stages of high school math and some early college courses.

I understand. However, I suspect that most people have to go through the T-ball stage before they are ready for the World Series. In thinking, as in baseball, I think one needs to learn how to play before one is expected to play well. Although coaching is useful in both T-ball and thinking, practice is, IMO, even more useful. Directed practice when possible, but any practice is better than none.

--Pete

[Treesh]

Nah, that's a great post. It forced me to think. I think that uneducated thought is worthless. I'm not sure that my 8 year old son's thoughts stray very far from "Pokemon is pretty neat" or "Hey that car sure is blue!". I'm trying to pinpoint the part of my education where I was taught to think about things critically, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't until I started into the later stages of high school math and some early college courses.

I think I prefer my son's wasted time to be used by watching movies or playing his Nintendo DS rather than by staring out of a car window. I'm not totally disagreeing with you, but I can't seem to find the benefit for choosing passive thinking instead of interaction.

For what it's worth, almost every time my son asks me a question I like to challenge him on it. I like to say "Well, what do you think?".

Don't sell your child short. There's no reason to think that you only can start thinking critically when you reach late high school/early college. You have to start somewhere and some folks start earlier than others and it seems some folks never start at all. I started critically thinking probably around middle school because I had started reading and analyzing when I was young, younger than a lot of folks thought possible at the time.

As to the passive thinking instead of interaction, it really depends upon which movies and which games as to how much true interaction there is. You can get as much thought provoking material from just observing nature, if not more, than watching complete fluff. There's benefits to both, but ultimately, if he's not going to actually use his ability to think to DO something, to have some sort of practical application for all those thoughts, even the most profound thoughts pretty much mean nothing more than just self-indulgent mental masturbation.

[Taem]

Saw another movie that had been sitting on my que for 2 years. It's called Doomsday, and it was amazingly good! It combined so many different genres and blended them exceptionally well with a good, albeit mind-numbingly over-the-top story. The acting was great and the music was fitting, if not humorous at times. I actually gave it 5-stars! If you have not seen this movie, watch it sometime. It's like 28-days Later, Aliens, Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, and Mad Max combined, seriously. Impossible to define, you really must see it. I've never seen anything like it before!