i have previously alluded to my reading habits, dear reader, with respect to both corporeal books, and virtual books -- generally in .pdf format -- read on my computer as well as the handheld device. i also may have indicated a somewhat ambivalent attitude toward notions of intellectual property, if not to the more general concept of property itself. i may not have previously mentioned my occasional practice of watching movies, some of perhaps questionable provenance, on my computer.
sometimes a movie of such questionable provenance has subtitles hard-coded into the video, or the option of displaying subtitles from a separate file.
lately, i've been on a bit of a lars von trier kick, because "melancholia" was so beautiful, as well as enjoying some tarkovsky works; a friend also recommended fassbinder. i mention von trier and fassbinder particularly because it was while watching subtitles coded into their films that i noticed a strange, new behavioral tic.
when becoming accustomed to reading novels, as .pdf files on the computer or mobile device, one must find a manageable magnification level, and figure out which layout to use. typically, i can see about half of a page at a time on my screen, and either frequently lean in to use the arrow (or PgDn) keys, or just rest my "page-turning" hand on the edge of the keyboard.
it seems i have done enough of this to develop a habit.
it is not unusual for me to have finished reading the subtitles before the dialogue has been completed, even when i'm trying really hard to not read, but, instead, look at the film.
it is at such times, recently, that i have caught myself reaching for the PgDn key in that interval before the next subtitle is displayed.
although typically alone on such occasions, i am nevertheless embarrassed, and a little frustrated. and what better way to exorcize such embarrassment than to invite you, dear reader, to point and laugh a little too?