Do you prefer to know little about what you are about to read or watch?

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doowopgirl

very avid fan
Aug 7, 2009
6,946
25,119
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dublin ireland
I'm with a lot of people here. When Heart shaped Box came out I read the flyleaf before I was convinced, but I wanted 20th Century Ghosts and Horns without much pre information. All SK books just get bought. Most other authors need a synopsis. With movies it's simply a question of if I'm interested (and if I can persuade hubby I'm right). TV is pretty much the same.
 

rudiroo

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2008
474
1,898
London, England
A trailer can whet your appetite or get you all hot & bothered for nothing.
Or just mislead you.

Take a bow: 28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later, Inglorious Basterds, Aliens
Hang your head in shame: Prometheus, Reign of Fire.
So glad I didn't miss you: As Good as it Gets.

Books are different - I like to know something about what I'm about to read.
Probably because I'm less adventurous in my choice of books :bashful:
 

Lord Tyrion

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2013
1,582
6,257
A trailer can whet your appetite or get you all hot & bothered for nothing.
Or just mislead you.

Take a bow: 28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later, Inglorious Basterds, Aliens
Hang your head in shame: Prometheus, Reign of Fire.
So glad I didn't miss you: As Good as it Gets.

A good trailer can really make the movie experience better. I remember seeing the teaser for the Dark Knight and thinking how epic it was. The Social Network had a brilliant trailer as well.
 

80sFan

Just one more chapter...
Jul 14, 2015
2,997
16,167
Pennsylvania
With books, a couple sentences of synopsis is usually enough. I once knew a person who would read the last page of a book before starting the book. That's insane to me!
Movies, I like a few teaser trailers, but that's all (I don't GO to the movies unless I take the kids...last non-Pixar movie I watched in a theater was when I took my daughter to see the "Carrie" remake).
I am not a TV watcher at all. Next show I'll watch will be in 2016 when "Downton Abbey" starts again here.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
With books, a couple sentences of synopsis is usually enough. I once knew a person who would read the last page of a book before starting the book. That's insane to me!
Movies, I like a few teaser trailers, but that's all (I don't GO to the movies unless I take the kids...last non-Pixar movie I watched in a theater was when I took my daughter to see the "Carrie" remake).
I am not a TV watcher at all. Next show I'll watch will be in 2016 when "Downton Abbey" starts again here.
I am pretty sure Stephen King wrote about this affliction (what you described above) and basically said "Shame! Shame!"

(perhaps it was in his book "On Writing" or maybe "Danse Macabre"?
 

RichardX

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2006
1,737
4,434
I want to know just enough about a book to decide whether it's worth the investment of time. The less I know about the plot the better. And for certain authors like King, I want to know nothing. It's fun after the fact to read what others think but I prefer to know as little as possible beforehand. Particularly with fiction. With non-fiction you likely have some knowledge of the basic events. If there is some author that I've never heard of it's sometimes necessary to find out a bit more. I'm a fairly slow reader so a 300+ page book is a big investment in time with so many good books out there.
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
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120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
The less I know ahead of time, the better. Of course, I don't want to waste my time with something I'm going to hate so with authors, actors or directors I'm not familiar with, I will read reviews before reading or watching but I don't like doing that.

I know that whatever SK writes, I'm probably going to like so I don't want to know anything ahead of time. I won't even read the promotional stuff if I can help it. There are certain directors and actors that if they are involved with a movie, I don't need to know anything ahead of time.
 

Liselle

Well-Known Member
Jul 10, 2006
1,586
1,448
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England
Once I get to know an author I tend not to need any information about the book, I'll just buy it because I have enjoyed all the others, which is what is happening now with Val McDermind, M J Arlidge and Karen Rose. To begin with I read the blurb on the inside cover and if it grabs me I'll read it and if that one is good I tend to read everything else they have written. If it was rubbish then I will avoid everything else they have done. With SK I don't need any info I'll just watch and read whatever he has done.
 

drinkslinger

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2015
84
310
45
Maine
I have to agree with most of the others here. For books, if it's an author I've read before, I don't want any advance knowledge of the book's content. If the author is new to me, I usually like a brief synopsis unless a friend has recommended the book.

With movies it's a little different. If the movie is a book adaptation and I've read the book, I like watching the trailers. Otherwise, I think the trailers do tend to give away too much of the plot. If I'm interested in seeing something, I'll check Rotten Tomatoes before going. I do have to say that I'm super picky when it comes to movies. I maybe go once a year because of that, but I do watch quite a few at home.
 

muskrat

Dis-Member
Nov 8, 2010
4,518
19,564
Under your bed
It depends. I keep reading older and older shi...stuff. This dang magic bookpad doohickey, it tells all about all kinds of books. Like them Amazons, der...people wanna review some obscure 17th century German gothic tome or penny dreadful collection, it gets me all excited and I buy the damn thing. Usually never as cool as these cats make em sound. But sometimes you strike gold. But you never really know what yer getting into reading that old crap.

Or take all that obscure seventies trash, the Goodwill shelves are fulla em. Used bookstores around here have went the way of trolley cars and butch wax, but there used to be a fine one, where I found Earl Thompson's GARDEN OF SAND and TATOO. Had NO idea what those were about save for the cover blurbs--no pics on the covers, just blurbs (my copy of TATOO didn't have the middle finger cover). Anybody's read them books knows the sleazy, dark carnival ride I took through depression-era and wartime America, lord have mercy. I eventually found DEVIL TO PAY on eBay, thus completing the trilogy, but those first two epic bricks I plucked virtually sight-unseen from the used book shelf, never imagining the treasure I'd find within.

Yeesh, I'm startin to get like ol Walter with the rambling scatter posts.
 

SpazzTheBassPlayer

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2014
296
1,156
58
Sometimes and here is why:

With paperbacks, two things are very important to me: the cover art and the back synopsis. Usually, I can read a back cover and - via semantic memory - associate it with the cover art to give me just enough tantalizing information to not warrant the need for a spoiler or two to see if Im interested or not. However, sometimes the cover art is very vague and the back cover synopsis is too ambiguous for me to get a decent idea if the book is in my target interests or not. On the occasions that this happens, I will often seek a spoiler or two....the problem with this method is that I have, on several occasions, bypassed a potential read because I found too many spoilers to give me a complete picture of the book and the interest to buy it waned
 

PatInTheHat

GOOBER MEMBER
Dec 19, 2007
13,362
12,037
63
Lair of the Great Kentucky Nightcrawler
It depends. I keep reading older and older shi...stuff. This dang magic bookpad doohickey, it tells all about all kinds of books. Like them Amazons, der...people wanna review some obscure 17th century German gothic tome or penny dreadful collection, it gets me all excited and I buy the damn thing. Usually never as cool as these cats make em sound. But sometimes you strike gold. But you never really know what yer getting into reading that old crap.

Or take all that obscure seventies trash, the Goodwill shelves are fulla em. Used bookstores around here have went the way of trolley cars and butch wax, but there used to be a fine one, where I found Earl Thompson's GARDEN OF SAND and TATOO. Had NO idea what those were about save for the cover blurbs--no pics on the covers, just blurbs (my copy of TATOO didn't have the middle finger cover). Anybody's read them books knows the sleazy, dark carnival ride I took through depression-era and wartime America, lord have mercy. I eventually found DEVIL TO PAY on eBay, thus completing the trilogy, but those first two epic bricks I plucked virtually sight-unseen from the used book shelf, never imagining the treasure I'd find within.

Yeesh, I'm startin to get like ol Walter with the rambling scatter posts.
Now who wouldn't want a muskrat out wonderin' about and scatterin' posts:cool:?