Defeated by entertainment?

[Chris L]

I got to the point in David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas where he picks up with the endings of the six stories and realized I didn't care how any of them turned out or how they were related.

[yesno]

man, I loved cloud atlas.
 
I have never finished a super mario bros. game.

[Phantom Hugger]

I wouldn't call it entertainment, but I read about half of the Fountainhead and said, 'nope'. 

I think they may be a dying breed but whenever I encounter a Randhead I want to curl up and teleport away.

[buffcoat]

2000: A Space Odyssey  - I have completely given up on this one and I don't think I'll ever try to watch it again.

I have watched 90 some films on the AFI Top 100 list and this one was by far the least interesting.  I like other Kubrick films, but that one is boring with a capital oring.

Also Finnegan's Wake, and I gave up on Ulysses, too, about the part where he spends 5 pages eating a kidney and talking about how he loves the taste of urine.

[Bryan]

I wouldn't call it entertainment, but I read about half of the Fountainhead and said, 'nope'. 

I think they may be a dying breed but whenever I encounter a Randhead I want to curl up and teleport away.

I wish they were a dying breed, but I think you may know fewer of them because you're getting older. Early 20s seems to be a prime time for these jackasses. Only the real jerks manage to hold on to this "philosophy" past age 25 or so.

Angelina Jolie is a fan!

[Phantom Hugger]

2000: A Space Odyssey  - I have completely given up on this one and I don't think I'll ever try to watch it again.

I have watched 90 some films on the AFI Top 100 list and this one was by far the least interesting.  I like other Kubrick films, but that one is boring with a capital oring.

Also Finnegan's Wake, and I gave up on Ulysses, too, about the part where he spends 5 pages eating a kidney and talking about how he loves the taste of urine.

I think you guys should check out the sequel. It's way better (except for some of the garage psychedelia near the end)

[iAmBaronVonTito]

Dave Eggers, Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

[Pat K]

Gravity's Rainbow actually defeated me twice. Third time is the charm, I'm sure.

Most recently, the John Adams miniseries kicked the crap out of me. I stuck it out through 6 of the 7 parts, but that was my aboslute limit. I tried twice to sit through the 7th, each time thinking "Well, I hate it and it's boring hell out of me, but I might as well waste one final hour on it." And each time I switched it off before the opening credits were over. I just can't close the deal on that snoozer.

What does happen at the end of that, then, anyway? Does he turn into Two-Face or something?

[samir]

He beats Jefferson in a "first person to die is a tosser!" contest.

[Jouster]

The computer game MYST.

[Beth]

Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own.  I love most of her other work, but this book... "One must do this. One must have this" One one one.  Apparently this is a very important feminist essay, but I couldn't finish. I'll take  The Yellow Wallpaper over that intellectual word bath any day.


Oh, and MYST. Totally. I even had the secret help book.

[Denim Gremlin]

The computer game MYST.

Myst is not that bad

Riven is literally impossible.

[Martin]

The computer game Impossible Mission. "Stay a while, stay... forever!"

[Gilly]

I'm constantly defeated by books in general. I can't concentrate long enough because I sit down to read and I start thinking about other things. It's not a time issue, I have all the time in the world. Once I get into a book I can't put it down but my biggest obstacle is getting to page 40 or so without losing focus. It sucks because I love finishing a book.

Also, video games. Almost every video game has a spike in difficulty around the halfway point that I just can't handle because I don't play much. So, I either turn it to easy which turns the difficulty and the fun factor way down or just give up. I don't even try to play online!

[jamesp]

I wouldn't call it entertainment, but I read about half of the Fountainhead and said, 'nope'. 

I think they may be a dying breed but whenever I encounter a Randhead I want to curl up and teleport away.

I wish they were a dying breed, but I think you may know fewer of them because you're getting older. Early 20s seems to be a prime time for these jackasses. Only the real jerks manage to hold on to this "philosophy" past age 25 or so.

Angelina Jolie is a fan!

Yeah, according to the Wikipedia Rand nerds:

Many notable individuals have acknowledged that Rand significantly influenced their lives, including: Bob Barr, Sinan Çetin, Roy A. Childs, James Clavell, Edward Cline, Chris Cox, Mark Cuban, Paul DePodesta, Steve Ditko, Terry Goodkind, Alan Greenspan, Hugh Hefner, Erika Holzer, Angelina Jolie, Billie Jean King, Anton LaVey, Rush Limbaugh, Mike Mentzer, Frank Miller, Ron Paul, Neil Peart, Robert Ringer, Tracey Ross, Kay Nolte Smith, John Stossel, Clarence Thomas, Vince Vaughn, and Jimmy Wales

So many douche bags united behind a dumb cause. You can throw all those people in my hate pit.

I've given up on so many things. I've probably defeated two video games because once I get frustrated I can't stop thinking about what a waste of time they are. I've given up on many movies and books but they're all usually still on my "To See/to Read" lists. More recently, I tried the new Battlestar Galactica and John Adams but just gave up.