12:15 PM >> The Passion of the Media

I saw The Passion of the Christ last night. About 30 seconds into it, I realized I was not going to enjoy it. Not because I already had decided I would not like it, and not because I could tell within 30 seconds it was bad. I realized I was not going to enjoy because I had already started a dialogue in my head about everything I had already heard about the movie to such a degree that I could not possibly watch the movie as I would have liked... as a movie watcher. From beginning to end, I was in analyzation mode. I analyzed everything at every moment. I kept telling myself to stop, relax, and just experience it, but I never succeeded in doing so.

I blame myself for reading too much about it. But it does bring me to another point. The media are hell bent on destroying any redeemable value of anything someone creates these days. For instance, take this poor kid William Hung from American Idol. He innocently auditioned for AI in a very hilarious way. I would like to have seen the kid move on with his life, but Fox takes his funny little episode and turns it into a huge mockery at the expense of Hung. I would have enjoyed having that funny memory of Hung at his original audition and was content with it. The kid did me a favor. He made me laugh. But Fox come along and supersaturates the cablewaves with Hung-Mania. Memory tainted. And the same with The Passion. Before I got a chance to like it or dislike it, I had fallen victim to what the media was telling me to think - on both sides. I could not even engage it.

Ensign, good luck in your sans media venture. I am considering joining you.