Caught up catch up

Sitting here at my computer I kind of feel like this is the first time I've been at home and actually sat down in days. That's not quite true, but it really feels like it. The last time I properly sat down at home and chilled out was, I think, Monday (which was a public holiday) when I got in from a bike ride - my first in eight months! - and watched a couple of episodes of the remastered Star Trek: The Original Series which is, quite frankly, awesome. If you're in a bit of a Star Trek mood after seeing the new movie, I highly recommend the rejigged TOS on DVD; pretty much all the dust and scratches have been removed from the picture, the colours are brighter and more vibrant, the new visual effects are stunning and fit in perfectly, and the stories themselves are every bit as good as they've always been.

Another DVD boxset that I've watched recently was Season Five of Boston Legal. The fifth season was Boston Legal's last, and there were only 13 episodes; as Judge Clark Brown might say: OUTRAGEOUS! Still, despite the truncated run, Boston Legal still managed to tell a number of thought-provoking stories, give us plenty more memorable Denny-Alan moments, make time for the return of Betty White as Catherine Piper, launch a thinly-veiled attack on the network that axed it, and brilliantly tie-up most of the ongoing plot lines. OK, the show was still afflicted by its habit of simply dropping some of its recurring/regular characters without explaining where they went or what happened to them, but so long as the Denny Crane, Alan Shore, and Shirley Schmidt trio were present I wasn't too worried.

Also back in my tellybox viewing schedule recently was Flight of the Conchords, which I became utterly obsessed with last year. As such, I was very much looking forward to the second season … and then a little bit disappointed with its opening episodes. Still, my faith was rewarded with the second episode, which saw Jermaine becoming a male prostitute as a result of Brett buying a new teacup, and featured two absolutely stunning songs, Sugar Lumps and this:

And this week they did an homage/mickey-take of Westside Story. Genius.

What else have I been up to? Oh, I went to the cinema last night to see the new Sam Raimi horror movie Drag Me To Hell, which was, um… well, I guess being a Sam Raimi film it's supposed to be a little bit tongue in cheek, right? I hope so, because I laughed all the way through it - especially the bit where the main character got into a fight with an old lady and started whacking her in the face with a stapler.

Anyway, if I'm truthful, I felt a bit bad about going to see this movie. Why, you might ask? Well, because … because I knew that somewhere else in the building Star Trek was showing, and I kind of felt like I was cheating on Star Trek. Like Star Trek was my gorgeous girlfriend, and I made an excuse to go spend an evening with … well, as Best Mate Jo put it, a dirty old prostitute. A dirty, filthy, one-eyed old prostitute. And the worst thing is that I sort of enjoyed it. I have plans to see Star Trek for a third time next week - I hope it'll take me back!

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An aside:

And … GO CRAZY!

I seriously want a box of kittens now. Although at a push, I'd just take the one in the bottom right-hand corner - look at that adorable face!

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OK, so we've covered TV, film, and kittens … what else do I like? Ah yes - shopping! After work on Thursday I hopped on a tube and headed up to Central Londinium to catch up with Marcosy and do a spot of shopping in the West End. As is often the case with these sort of jaunts up town, I had an ulterior motive - here it was to track down a pair of jeans I'd seen online, but wanted to try on before I bought. Usually I'm a bit impulsive when it comes to buying things, but in this instance I held off because while I liked the jeans, I wanted to be 100% certain about them before I committed. Why? Because they're a bit of a slimmer fit than I usually go for and I wanted to be certain they looked OK before handing over any cash.

So, the first shop we go into I find the jeans. Good. Then it takes a few minutes, and the searching of three entire shelves to find the only pair in my size. Done. And as I walk up to the changing rooms I'm thinking, awesome, this is like karmic or something - the last pair in my size! And then I get in the changing room and try them on and it all falls apart. Ohmygod. OK, so here's the original picture I saw of the jeans; slim-fitting, yes, but still with a bit of give. I am not lying when I say the pair I tried on were freakin' skin-tight. And by skin-tight I mean it would've looked slightly less troubling if I'd just painted my legs grey and be done with it. I instantly decided that they weren't the jeans for me and took them off. Which, of course, took a couple of minutes because they were so goddamned tight. Any longer and I'm pretty sure they would've cut off the blood supply to my legs. On the plus side, though, I'm not afraid to admit that I've got a cracking pair of pins.

Anyway, having abandoned the idea of buying the jeans, I then went and spent £38 on books instead - good times!