in love with an expensive material possession

After several years of badgering, my dear parents bought me an ipod for Christmas. Since the year is 2007, it has video capability, which it has cleverly used to ensnare my affection. The New Yorker wrote a convincing piece on how the individualization (and ultimately downsizing) of movie watching through devices such as the ipod totally destroys the whole experience (and point) of film, with which I totally agree. But I have to say that when given the opportunity to buy Zoolander for 9.99 and then have it available ANY TIME in MY PURSE for watching, all intellectualizing of the movie watching process goes out the window. There are also free things to download, like MTV shows and casting specials, which further clutter my mind and vaporize my dignity, but the excitement of a mini-tv in my purse is too much to bear. I remember once yearning for one of those 3 inch TV’s that were popular accessories for family camping trips with the purpose of providing “the boys” with baseball game watching capabilities while deep in tick country. Now I have one and, as long as I don’t lose my purse, nearly every experience can be diminished by TV!