In response to the question about the Johnson reading: yes and no. I agree with what he says about television and film, as far as developing more complex storylines and making the reader mentally participate in the series, rather than a watching a self-contained episode (like most Law & Order and CSI shows). Johnson also makes a good argument for gaming, with the benefits of problem-solving and storytelling. But, most video games don't allow for true imaginative exploration (unless of course, you're the one developing the game). That's where reading truly wins - a reader has to develop the book's world in his mind's eye, whereas with video games, the player is presented with a pre-visualized world. This is why books are almost always better than the movies made from them: the reader has the "creative control" over how the book is presented.
Time for another personal anecdote: I was studying abroad in England when the first Harry Potter (and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone) movie was released. I had gotten about halfway through the book before I saw the movie, and I had envisioned a completely different world than what I saw on screen, and it ruined the book for me. It was a few months before I could pick up the book again to finish reading it. Since, I've become a huge Harry Potter book and movie fan, but I still have trouble correlating what I see in my mind's eye to what I see on the screen.
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