In today's New York Times...

[heidi]

Reviews of Xanadu and British candybars, and an article about the potential long-term impact of Harry Potter on younger readers

Xanadu>

Why, you may wonder, would anyone deem it necessary, or even worthwhile, to pay lavish mock homage to a dreadful movie by exhuming it for exhibition onstage? Has Broadway nothing better to do? Has the American musical theater reached such a nadir of inspiration?

Well, yeah. I guess. Whatever. Why pester me with silly questions when there’s so much silly bliss to be had at the Helen Hayes Theater, where the new, improved “Xanadu” opened last night?

'Nuf said. The reviewer loved it for what it is, and I hope it runs for a good long while, so I can see it again.

British Candybars Are Better Than American Ones

Well, yeah, we knew that. The article squees appreciatively over many, especially my favorites - Flakes, Crunchies and Curly Whirlys.

The Curly Wurly, a thick strip of braided caramel covered in chocolate, is a sibling to the discontinued Marathon bar, which any American who was in high school when Jimmy Carter was president will remember fondly.

The Curly Wurly is not as popular in Britain as the Crunchie. With its crisp honeycomb interior, it’s what a Butterfinger might be if it went to finishing school and married up.

Harry Potter & Reading

Young people are less inclined to read for pleasure as they move into their teenage years for a variety of reasons, educators say. Some of these are trends of long standing (older children inevitably become more socially active, spend more time on reading-for-school or simply find other sources of entertainment other than books), and some are of more recent vintage (the multiplying menagerie of high-tech gizmos that compete for their attention, from iPods to Wii consoles). What parents and others hoped was that the phenomenal success of the Potter books would blunt these trends, perhaps even creating a generation of lifelong readers in their wake.

Many thousands of children have, indeed, gone from the Potter books to other pleasure reading. But others have dropped away.

Starting when Avram Leierwood was 7, he would read the books aloud with his mother, Mina. “We’d sit in the treehouse in our backyard and take turns,” recalled Ms. Leierwood, of South Minneapolis.

But while Ms. Leierwood has remained an avid fan, Avram, now 15, is indifferent.

The article doesn't make mention of fanfic, fanart, fanfilms, wizarding rock or even discussion forums - and I wonder if those who become more engaged with the books - in other words, they do more than just read it and instead take the opportunity to engage with the text in some additional way - are more or less likely to have reading as a hobby in addition to other things. I don't know the answer, but I'm curious about the question.

Comments

[sheryll.livejournal.com]

In case you didn't know, Crunchie bars are available at most convenience stores in Canada. You can stock up while you're at Prophecy. In fact, Dr Pepper is running a promo right now where you can win free drinks or Crunchie bars with the caps. I'll save you all my Crunchie bar ones (I have 3 so far, I think). Shame I traded in the 4 free ones I already had and let Andy eat them. :D

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

It's curious to me how these folks are defining reading. They cite a kid who spends four hours a day on MySpace as not reading, for instance; well, he's clearly using abstract language skills the whole time.

Not well, perhaps. MySpace is a poor tutor, and I see him growing up as one of the sad legion which cannot distinguish "your" from "you're." Still, a generation ago, with no Web, that same kid would not likely have been reading anything at all.

Nor do I see this situation changing. Video and audio are both too time-intensive for quick participation in social communities, and the Web culture we have today leans heavily on anonymity that AV interaction would challenge. Most of my flist, for instance, doesn't even use a personal photo as an LJ avatar, defaulting instead to abstractions to represent emotional states.