Statute of Limitations on Spoilers

If you’ve spent any time on the Internet, you’ve undoubtedly come across the “spoiler alert,” a way to notify readers/viewers/listeners that what follows may reveal something about the ending of a story, novel, movie, etc. that was supposed to be a surprise. A lot of people get very upset when they learn the surprise ending of a book or movie they haven’t experienced yet.

At some point, though, these surprise endings become widely known, even passing into common knowledge. Few people would be irked if you mentioned that Sydney Carton sacrificed his life to save Charles Darnay, even though generations of school kids have yet to be forced to read A Tale of Two Cities.

So what is the statute of limitations on spoilers? And, more importantly, does the limit get extended as new media emerge? If a new movie or, more likely, a Broadway musical of A Tale of Two Cities comes out, do we have to keep Sydney Carton’s secret again until everyone has seen it? What about the DVD? And Netflix? Does every new medium start a new clock ticking on how long we have to keep mum about the endings of stories?

Well, I’m not going to stand for it anymore.

Oedipus blinds himself! Hamlet dies! Macbeth dies! King Lear dies. Romeo and Juliet? Both croak. Frodo wins! Rosebud was his sled. Harry Potter wins! Everyone did it on the Orient Express! The Second Foundation is on Trantor. The planet of the apes is Earth. Piscine is the tiger. The Fight Club is basically Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? In Sixth Sense, … nah, I can’t do it.

Oh, by the way ... spoiler alert!

Bibliophilia, Part 2

Since I got all gushy about books, I may as well share with you what makes up my personal library. Well, not the really personal stuff. You understand.

Probably the largest category is computer books ... Programming in This or That, or The Whatsis Cookbook. These are the ones most in jeopardy when layoffs come. The information they hold is easier to locate via Google, and they're all obsolete by the time they get into print anyway. Still, they have a certain charm.

There's a gradual transition from the technical books through design (interface and graphic), art, illustration and cartooning. The illustrated ones are the most fun.  I mean, fiction is good for one, maybe two readings. But art books can be visited again and again, with new discoveries each time. Anyway, who's got time for fiction?

I have a long-standing, if occasionally dormant interest in what might best be called the "history of ideas," and consequently bought nearly every book with the word "idea" in the title. I was trying to capture various significant ideas in verse form for another blog, Ideas Great and Dumb, the latter part of which may be self-descriptive.

I also have a large concentration of what are best described as "humor" books.  These range from classics by Mark Twain or P. G. Wodehouse to more recent stuff.  I have an autographed set of (nearly) complete works of Dave Barry.  Unfortunately, they were only autographed by previous owners.

Apart from a smattering of books on photography and stereo-photography, and some outliers on music, theater, etc., the largest remaining constituent is made up of books of, by and for graphic novels, or comics. Since I can't write well enough to be a writer, nor draw well enough to be an artist, I always thought graphic novels might be an ideal medium of expression for me. Unfortunately, however, it turns out you need to be both a great writer and a great artist to carry that off.

Oh, well. I guess I'm a reader.

Actually, not even that, or I would have gotten through more of these. I'll have to settle for being a great book buyer.