Winter looms

Bloody hell - yesterday, overcast but reasonably warm-ish, today arctic tundra. OK, so that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it's been cold and miserable today, which has in turn made me cold and miserable. Part of that might have something to do with the fact that I have a desk job, so I sit relatively still for most of the day; not scary "he's not moved in a while, do you think he's dead?" still, but still nonetheless. And it's been raining *biblically.* It's the kind of day where I contemplated leaving the curtains drawn when I left the house this morning, because it was only going to be dark, miserable, and crap when I got home in the evening, so I might as well save myself the effort.

Things didn't improve as the day went on. I went out at lunchtime for my regular jaunt to Secret Starbucks and came back looking like I'd thrown myself in a lake (still, it's good training for the Grim Challenge, which I really must get round to signing up for). The obvious downside of getting soaked at lunchtime is that I then had to sit there for the rest of the afternoon with soggy trousers. I briefly thought about taking them off, but decided against it purely for the fact that I'm wearing amusingly-patterned underpants today and I didn't feel like showing my whimsical side. Or my penis.

It's definitely a warm hoody and sensible undercrackers for me tomorrow.

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Do you remember my wicked de-cluttering idea from a few weeks back? Yeah, kind of went a bit quiet on that front, huh? Which probably makes you think I've not bothered with it after all the initial excitement. Well, yee of little faith! I have been doing it - in fact, this weekend just gone was quite possibly the pinicle of my de-cluttering efforts - rawr!

I read comics, I started - and finished - the new Gilbert Hernandez graphic novel Chance in Hell, which was awesome (and a beautifully-designed little book too), I spent Saturday evening - that's SATURDAY EVENING! - writing articles for work, and I spent the vast majority of Sunday finishing said articles. By the end of the weekend I was weary and spent, but totally glad to have cleared the decks. The only thing I didn't do was the hoovering, but I'm just going to tell people I've got shag carpet instead of wood-flooring now. Anyway, with this cold weather it's toasty on my toes!

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Has anyone seen the TV show Jericho? Y'know, the one that got cancelled but was revived after its fans bombarded the studio with packs of nuts?* Well, after missing the first episode last Wednesday, I managed to catch a repeat. And it was … hmmm…

When I first read the premise for this series - population of small town in Kansas witness a nuclear bomb blast in the distance, subsequently struggle to find out what's going on - I thought "ooo, that sounds good," but as it turns out the fiction was nowhere near the reality. Basically, the plot for the first episode went something like this:

A mysterious stranger with a strange, mysterious past who looks like a bad Skeet Ulrich look-alike goes back to his hometown of Jericho to ask his dad for money. Daddy says no, and he decides to leave after visiting his grandfather. Turns out gramps is dead - damn! Bad Skeet Ulrich look-alike gets in his car and heads off for parts unknown. A nuke goes off in the distance. Bad Skeet Ulrich look-alike crashes his car while looking at the explosion, killing two people in another car. He shows NO remorse, but we're made to feel sorry for him because he has a limp and an obviously fake head injury. Meanwhile, the townsfolk, who appear to be comprised mainly of bad actors, go nuts because no one knows what's going on, aside from the fact that a nuke has exploded. A sullen teenage geek finds out that another nuke has gone off in Atlanta, because his mum was on holiday there and she was leaving an answering machine message when she got wiped out - sucks to be her. Sullen teenage geek immediately goes into zero-emotion survival mode, thus suggesting that a future episode will be dedicated to him finally coming to terms with his grief. Bad Skeet Ulrich look-alike's dad, who is also the town mayor, gives a rousing speech in order to unite the town (the president from Independence Day would be proud).

Elsewhere, bad Skeet Ulrich look-alike finds a crashed bus full of little school kids. He saves one kid from suffocating after she banged her throat when the bus crashed by cutting her throat with a flick knife and shoving a bic biro in the hole. She miraculously awakens, and does not freak out about the fact that she has a pen sticking out of her neck and that it whistles when she breathes. Bad Skeet Ulrich look-alike heroically drives the damaged bus back to town. Credits roll. Turns out bad Skeet Ulrich look-alike was actually Skeet Ulrich. Shit!

I really wanted to like this series, but from the first episode I have to say it was pretty piss-poor. I would've cancelled it too. I will, however, stick with it for at least the next couple of shows, just in case it gets better. Heroes it ain't, though.

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Talking of cancelled TV shows, I had a bizarre dream at the weekend. I dreamt that the powers-that-be decided to revive The OC, but couldn't afford the main cast. That being the case they introduced an entire new group of characters, and occasionally they'd bump into Seth and Ryan who would appear for all of 10 seconds. They'd literally just say "hey," then nothing much would happen.

Not my best idea for a TV show, I must admit.


*Seriously, I couldn't make that stuff up.