Entertainment is a leisure activity consisting of an event and an audience that views the event and participates. This participation can be subtle, as in Theatres: Film, Opera or stageshows, or Orchestral symphony concerts wherein the applause due the performance or performing artists would be bad manners. In contrast, the sports entertainment industry feeds off audience participation— who can imagine the strange event attending a pro-wrestling bout, basketball or baseball game without cheering or booing the participants would experentially being happy.

The industry that provides entertainment is called the entertainment industry, and one distinction between what is meant by the term is the voluntary participation of the party being entertained, which may be passive (Opera) or active (Frantic shoot-em-up computer games) and the whole gamut of industry supported diversions in between (Baseball, Concerts, Football, Books, Television, film , striptease, and events like Karaoke).

Recreation, play, reading, and art appreciation may in some instances be confused with entertainment, but the difference is elementary—entertainments take two or more— even if one of the participants is a programmer for the obsolescent Amiga computer system who now happens to be deceased. Without the 'performance' of the artist and the participation of the viewer the event would and could not occur.

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NYT > U.S.

Detroit’s Mayor Will Leave Office and Go to Jail
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:33:20 -0000
Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick’s guilty plea ended eight months of political turmoil but also opened a new era of uncertainty for Detroit.
McCain Vows to End ‘Partisan Rancor’
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:50:25 -0000
Senator John McCain sought to move from a convention marked by an effort to reassure the party base to an appeal to a broader electorate.
New Orleans Starts Up, but Not at Full Power
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:08:46 -0000
Evacuees continued to stream home after a hurricane scare that left it with little serious damage but knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes.

Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories

In dispirited Detroit, mayor pleads guilty
Plea deal ousts Kilpatrick after an eight-month scandal. Interim mayor inherits a city in a slump.
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France gives boost to Israeli-Syrian talks
French President Sarkozy, in Damascus this week, was also thought to be seeking Syria's help in dealing with Iran's nuclear program.

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