Still wondering why people are mad at the Golden Compass for teaching our children atheist ideals and why no one cares that The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe is blatantly shoving Christian allegories down our throats. I know that the movie has been toned down from the overtly anti-secular-Catholic Church sentiments in the book, but many still feel that the movie will be a "gateway drug" to the actual books. The truth is, if people loved the books that movies are spawned from as much as the movies themselves the comic book business wouldn't be as distressed as it is today. Box Office receipts rarely, if ever, equal increased sales at the book store. Harry Potter was the exception that proved the rule, and while I am no fan of that series I was glad that there was a book series that could actually make kids excited to read. While I'm on the subject, I have yet to read any studies that show an increase of witchcraft practising that corresponds to the popularity of the Harry Potter books.

We are no longer a nation of readers (not that I'm sure we ever were)... we would much rather watch than do, play than act, and when we do read it is usually involving celebrities and their various shenanigans. While there is a generous part of the population who do indeed take pleasure out of a well written book, the fact remains that most people would rather just wait for the movie. And even after we hear that the "book was much better" by our pretentious friend, we can take comfort in the knowledge that we only spent 2 hours watching the movie, instead of a week reading that we could have been watching TMZ.