I Want To Be Surprised

Avoiding information about entertainment -- not just spoilers, but any details -- has gotten harder.

A friend e-mailed me AMC's poster promoting the return of "Mad Men" this Sunday and asked, "What do you think this means about what happens to Don Draper this season?" I replied that I had no idea, because I didn't even look at the poster. I'll just be patient and see what Matthew Weiner and Company have cooked up in a few days.

Another friend, who knows how much I loved "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset," sent me a link to the trailer for "Before Midnight," the third movie in the Richard Linklater/Julie Delpy/Ethan Hawke series, which will hit theaters soon.  I didn't click on it, even though I consider the first two to be among the most romantic movies ever made.

A news story recently reported that someone had stolen Bryan Cranston's script for the first episode of the final season of "Breaking Bad," and was going to reveal some its details. I didn't read the story past that sentence.

I'm looking forward to both TV shows and the movie, but I have no desperate need to find out anything about them until they actually debut and I can sit down and watch them. I'm reminded of playing poker, where I never show my cards until forced to in a showdown (in tournaments, you're required to show your hand in an all-in situation, but in the cash games that I play most often, there's no such rule). I can't tell you how often I've heard an opponent put all of his money in on the flop and then ask me, "What do you have?"

Not only should he already have a pretty good idea what I have before committing all his chips, but the answer to his question will be revealed in mere seconds, once the dealer flips up the turn and river cards. If you can't wait that long, you've forgotten the importance of patience -- not to mention the element of surprise.