simply being right can be satisfying

so i've been annoyed with "grey's anatomy" and this izzie sees denny's ghost storyline, i think it's a cheap knock-off of a bad "general hospital" plot twist, and i think it's really sad that this once enjoyable show has gone so far off the rails. but anyway, now that i know i was right--and don't click on the links if you don't like spoilers--i find myself much more willing to go along for the ride.

it's funny how that works. i'm the kind of girl that looks at the end of the books she is still in the middle of reading. why do i do it? i often have guesses as to where the story is going and i like to check to see that i'm right. and i have to say i usually am. and i so still enjoy reading the book through to the end. of course, when i'm wrong, sometimes i feel like my enjoyment of the book is lessened, because what is happening isn't what i want to happen, and somehow it feels wrong to me. (for example, i worry about the sookie stackhouse novels because i love love eric and sometimes i worry that he won't be the hero and that makes me kind of sad because i love him and sookie together so much.)

the first book i remember doing this with was little women, i loved watching the show on nickleodeon and when i discovered it was based on a book, well i had to read it. but then i realized that beth actually dies and that laurie marries amy and jo marries the professor and that all of that was horrible. so i stopped reading it. i've never actually read the book the whole way through. it was one of those moments of my childhood that i recall with absolute bitterness. i was so disappointed by the book and how it ended, because even then that ending didn't seem right to me. and to be fair, i've heard other people say this too, because one of the admitted problems of the book is that it was very autobiographical, and that louisa may alcott may have been untrue to the characters in the book since she was trying to depict what actually happened.

the spoiler argument can also be used to talk of television shows. i mean, when i found out christopher and lorelai were getting together again on the last season of "gilmore girls" i watched just that storyline and i stopped watching as soon as they got married. i knew that the writers were going towards a luke and lorelai conclusion, but never having been a luke fan, i didn't want to see that. and so i was able to see the ending i wanted for the girls on my terms, all thanks to spoilers. i admit that it's a strange way to watch television, but i think this way i can control what i see to the extent that it makes me happy. i think spoilers are a great thing. if you know where the writers are going with something you can decide whether or not it works for you and you can see if you want to watch it play out, or if it's time to cut and run. you can even simply stop watching until you know that storyline will cease, i would have stopped watching grey's during the ill-conceived izzie and george coupling.

forewarned is forearmed they say. i think the phrase makes sense even if all we're talking about are books and movies.