How do you break out of the entertainment doldrums?

Cafe Society
1

Do you ever have a period when nothing really grabs you, you have trouble generating interest in books, movies, shows, and games, and everything strikes you as mildly disappointing or boring?

Lately I’m just “meh” about so many things I thought I’d like: Three Men in a Boat, The Night Circus, and The Dragonbone Chair have failed to make me invoke the Gaiman-ian magic words, “And then what happened?” Likewise The Golem and the Jinni, which I can see is very well written, but have found un-captivating so far. Under the Dome’s stupid burns intensely, but not enough to penetrate the boredom. Safety Not Guaranteed was a movie I’ve been meaning to watch, and it only served to demonstrate that I’m evidently a cynical grinch who can’t see the charm in it.

Speaking of Gaiman, yes, I know he has a new book out, but I’m kind of scared to read it when I’m in this mood!

And there’s the rub - it seems like finding something fabulous would break the mood, but what if the mood instead sucks all the enjoyment out of something you’d find fabulous if you only waited six months?

I know it’s not just anhedonia/depression because I have enjoyed a couple things lately, most notably Breaking Bad, which took my list of high expectations for 6.1, and casually went, “Check, check, check, check, and check, and how about an extra metric buttload of *awesome *you never dreamed would occur?”

It’s more that I’m just failing to “click” with most of the things I happen to choose lately. Do you ever experience this? Do you have tricks for ending a “meh” streak?

(And yes, I’m aware this is a very first-world problem!)

2

I don’t have any tv shows broadcast, just Netflix. Currently Foley’s War.

3

Maybe you need to switch to fluff for a while? Check out some reality shows or movies like Dude, Where’s My Car? - something you don’t feel the need to be cool enough to watch.

In the late 90s/early 2000s I was very frustrated with rock music. I was getting bored with what I had and really pissed off at the shit on the radio. I decided to just start listening to the local rap/hip-hop station because I had absolutely no prior engagement with rap and no emotional attachment to it. It couldn’t piss me off or bore me. And if I liked cheesy shit that “no true fan” was supposed to like, well, ignorance is bliss.

I found a lot of stuff that I really liked and amassed quite a collection of hip-hop MP3s and CDs. And after taking a break from rock for a while, I was able to come back and find some stuff I’d missed during that time.

4

I’ve had periods when nothing entertained. My usual gimmick: stop cold turkey: don’t watch TV, don’t watch movies, don’t even read until I’m hungry for it. YMMV.

5

Sure, and I think everyone probably does. Enthusiasm waxes and wanes like everything else, and so does the quality of what’s being broadcast/published. I don’t find it at all unusual for there to be long stretches (years even!) when there’s very little I’m interested in watching on television, movies I care to see, or books I want to read. It’s unusual for all to hit at once, but it’s happened in the past. Luckily, I play video games, so that’s one more source whose droughts haven’t coincided with the others.

The big question I’d think is more along the lines of “Does EVERYTHING seem this way?” I.e. do you get no enjoyment from food, sex, conversations with friends, exercise, or whatever else you like to do beside reading and watching television?

If that’s the case, then yeah, that could well be a symptom of depression. If it’s just limited to TV/movies and books, then probably not- you’re probably just in the entertainment doldrums like you say.

6

Pretty much exactly what I was going to say. I’ve had periods where nothing is good so rather than passively consume something I don’t enjoy anymore I just quit for a while - usually about 2 or 3 months. After a couple of weeks it gets a lot easier not watching TV, especially if you’re proactive and already have something else planned to do with your time. When I do go back to TV and music I break into something new and different. I can look back on my viewing habits and spot those moments where my tastes have shifted.

7

It may not be you, as in my opinion, there are not a lot of great movies, etc. out there right now to get excited about. It may be Hollywood. Just hang in there during this slow period and things will pick up.

8

Start paging through the threads right here on Cafe Society – plenty of Dopers describing their latest finds. :slight_smile:

9

Or just switch in general. Diversify your mediums and your genres. Books, internet, movies, shows, podcasts, video games?. SO many different eras of history, SO many different disciplines of science. Fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, all different age groups to take a peek into. It’s like channel surfing except you actually stop (and on stuff you normally wouldn’t stop on) and it’s not just limited to TV.

10

I appreciate the ideas. I’m trying a combination of things.

First, I picked up The Swerve, a non-fiction book. Normally I’m a fiction gal, and I’ve been craving that “what happens next?” feeling of a novel. So I turned it around and went for philosophical history. And I’m delighted to find that the author writes so beautifully, I was immediately caught up. It also gave me my next book to read: De Rerum Natura. (Anyone know of a particularly good tranlation?)

Second, I’m embracing silly fluff, of which I have no expectation of quality. We watched the zombie flick State of Emergency, and I enjoyed it. I have half a dozen dumb haunted house movies in my Netflix queue now. I also watched The House on Haunted Hill with my 10yo last week, and we had fun with that, so I’m going to look for more Vincent Price/B&W horror. (And of course there’s an extra layer of pleasure in creating a new fan of classic schlock.)

bump, I think you may be right - I’m used to TV being crap for a while, or no good movies coming out for months, but usually I’ll have something cooking on screen or page that I can turn to when everything else is crap. I just had a perfect storm lately where everything in every medium failed to please, and I had no backup source of entertainment waiting in the wings.

Come to think of it, times like this might be a good opportunity to return to something I love. I re-read some authors fairly regularly, so if I still feel grumpy after trying all of the above, maybe I’ll do an Austen or Lovecraft marathon.