My wife and I were watching HOUSE last night.  There came a point in the story where one character said to another that she is going to have to figure a way to work around the rules.  Confused, my wife asked aloud what she was going to do, to which I said "wait and see". She didn't ask it as a rhetorical question or in a musing way.  She wanted to know now what it was that the character was going to do.  It's not an isolated comment either.  She's often impatient waiting for answers, which is both a point of frustration and amusement for me.  I think that, in a microcosm, is what many people ask when reading or watching fiction.  I'm not one of those people, but I do find that it's fairly prevalent.

I was watching a movie with my friend John, his sister Theresa (who had already seen the movie; I think it may have been St. Elmo's Fire) and a few other friends.  John turned to his sister and, referring to two of the characters onscreen, said "Do those two get together?"  I interjected "Hold it!  PAUSE.  I'm going to close my eyes and you just NOD your answer to him so it doesn't ruin things for me.  Then we'll start the movie again."  We did this, and the movie resumed.

After a moment John turned to his sister: "So who DOES she end up with?"

I love John.  Not at the time, mind you...

like i said-i'm able to have patience enough to collect the dots for now and connect them later.i'm not impatient to find out "what's gonna happen,what's gonna happen?",i've never once thought about "nathan,i'm cold" for instance.i want to take the ride,and i am taking the ride.i dont look at previews anywhere.my "preview" is the next installment of the story.back when i followed comics regularly i would buy or let build up runs,and read them that way.sorta like trade paperbacks now i guess but doing it with the individual books.next men is the only book since i was a little kid being taken to the pharmacy to pick out that weeks latest that i buy as it's released and as soon as i get it in my hands i sit down and read it.thats the only way to satisfy your craving for more of something,teases and sneaks just arent the thing itself.i dont know if there are any "losties" here but i followed that entire damn thing,was patient and observant [insane?] enough to connect all those dots.and if you know anything about lost that's saying something.and my girl will tell you,for six years when a lost episode came to the end and they said "next week on lost..." i would run into the other room with my fingers in my ears.she wanted to watch the next on..

so i'm here,along for the ride but just trying to express some kind of frustration about not really knowing if the things i'm in the dark about are really things i should be in the dark about.some folks are like "everything's perfectly clear",and that's just crazy to me!how can our guys be going through what they are going through if they didnt get "scattered" by the "mystery figure" back in the day and instead nathan died looking for beth who ended up buried in lava for a long time?and should i still be trying to link any of this to 2112 and tannen's uncle?

i'll be enjoying the completed series backwards and fowards repeatedly rest assured.that might be the root of my problem,getting these little pieces one at a time.i could never lay blame on an artist for my lack of enjoyment towards what they produce,i'm just not getting enough of a grasp on the thing to enjoy it the way it will eventually be enjoyed when all the pieces fit together.s'allahmsayin'yo'.

One of the things I knew coming into the series was that Beth was in the armour.  Knowing that in no way prepared me for where this series was going

I have a friend who always asks me what's going to happen next when we watch a TV show or movie that I've already seen.  I've learned to tell him, "Let the narrative unfold on its own".  Especially after I carelessly dropped a spoiler for DEADWOOD and absolutely ruined it for him, to the point that he wouldn't watch it any longer after that.  Though, in two extreme instances, he hit the pause button and steadfastly refused to continue watching unless I gave up major plot developments (pilot episodes of IRONSIDE and DAMAGES, if your wondering).

If I show him a favorite comic book from my youth, he constantly asks me what's gonna happen next, rather than simply turning the page to find out.  I just tell him to turn the page.

He simply has no patience to let a narrative unfold.  Heck, he'll even hit the pause button to start a discussion about, "Why do you suppose so-and-so is doing that?" when letting the video play would actually hasten the answers he seems so desperate to discover.

And he loves dropping spoilers on other people.  I try to tell him to let his children discover the shows and movies of our youth and have the pleasure of watching them for the very first time, just like we were allowed to; but it falls on deaf ears.

Knowing that Beth was in the armor in no way dampened my appreciation of the hidden irony behind seeing Beth's reflection on the armor ... precisely where Beth was lying within the armor.

A unique depiction, in my experience anyhow. Kudos. If I ever see this again, I'll think of it as a Byrneism.

The thing that I am interested to know is there are reasons behind the choices of time periods ... AND MORE ESPECIALLY THE PLACES, because the characters go from USA to Europe ( England for sure, somewhere in Eastern Europe, and somewhere where a Roman camp was established... could be the Gaul). 

If there are no other reasons than " just for fun", then it is OK in my book. John has established the rules of time travel for his story. And pretty much like what some other writers have done with their takes on, say vampires, there is a logic to it.

It doesn't break my reading enjoyment at all. I really love the fun ride.

I love this series, because I have fun reading it, it makes me think about it, ask questions to myself and on here. It doesn't dumb me.

I was comparing the facts/reasons of buying one JBNM issue compared to series that I follow:

JBNM: I love the characters. But the thing I love the most are the stories, the plots are so rich! I can hardly wait for one month inbetween the issues. No way I could stop buying it.

Amazing Spider-Man: As much as the talented teams take on the character, it's more by habit after the "A brand new day". I could see myself stop buying the book. I am considering it as a matter of fact.

Doctor Who: I love the character, but again, I could see myself stopping it.

So you see, this is the difference that I like, and I am not the only one to be in the agonizing case of wait, the excitement when you get your comics before you read it (mine comes in a polybag, so one more step to keep the surprise!).

There are some books I have a look at the content before I buy, for the JBNM, this is a thing I avoid !

Kip: Now I simply cannot wait with comics; i always jump to the end and it doesn't spoil my enjoyment of the book; just gets rid of anxiety that distracts from enjoying the current page I am on.

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wow

That is totally NOT my style!