Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink

Three points of intersection:

1. I went to see Batman this weekend with my lady friend. It was very good. I find I go to see a movie every two or three weeks. I love going to movies. Problem is, most of them just aren't that good. But you know this. You aren't going to movies as much either. You use netflix, too, don't you? Movies are expensive, refreshments are expensive, you have to drive there, and gas is expensive. And again: most of the movies just aren't much good. The movie industry is in crisis mode because people aren't going to the theaters anymore.

2. I went to the book store yesterday, as I had finished reading the excellent Seabiscuit: An American Legend. I really wanted some fiction to read, but found nothing appealing. I'm pretty picky, but I was not lacking in choices. Quite the opposite: I was overwhelmed. A rifled through the endless wrack. So many books in this fine world of ours, but no one seems to have received the memo about writing interesting openings. Nor have many received the memo about not using crappy titles. Titles should be phrases, or at worst, dependent clauses, not full-on sentences. Nor should a title be a snippet of something somebody says. Editors who allow such filth should be dragged into the street and beaten. Anyway, I gave up and got some more nonfiction. So much to read, and nothing perked my interest.

3. CDs. The old familiar. Suffice to say, I shop at iTunes now. $15 for one hit+fluff? No samples? Are you kidding me? And the RIAA blames file sharing.

None of this comes as a surprise to you, I know. We all know. Our media sources are letting us down. They're flooding the market with dreck. That's why we made napster, etc. That's why we made blogs. Newspapers blow, by and large. Local news blows. GOD does it blow. We know this. The big guys appear not to.

I think the music situation is sorting itself out. And books? What can you do? Since movies seem to be the crisis du jour today, here's a movie tip:

Show old movies. I would be all over that. Especially with action movies, there's no substitute for a giant screen with surround sound. Instead of crunching in Legally Blond 5: Blond out your ass, why not show star wars, pre-Jar Jar. Or something like Lawrence of Arabia. I'd pay to see that. Because as nice as home theaters are, they're no theater. Then, hen someone comes out with something new that's worth seeing, we can see that.

Guys: I want to give you money. Please, give me a reason.