Susan Hated Literature

Do you know that I have watched no real telly so far this week. Okay, so I spent the long weekend watching nothing but House season one. But that was on dvd, so it doesn’t count. Apart from that I’ve watched the finale of this season’s Lost and the season finale of Bones and thats it.

And to be honest I was impressed by neither. Meh to both I say.

I did catch 5 seconds of Rome repeats on Discovery last night. I miss good telly

Even Medium is repeats now. I can tell, Alison has long long hair. le sigh Nothing to watch.

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I didn’t watch the rugby documentary^[1] last night. I was watching Medium and the Heroes. And can I just say one little thing to scifi uk? Your ads are the worst, and I will never ever buy the new Tomb Raider game, nor the previous one you advertised, Sparta, or whatever. And why? Because you try and deafen me. Just be glad I’m not in the army or there’d be suing^[2] going on^[3] .

Medium is a strange mix of telly. In one way it seems kinda relaxed about stuff^[4] but on the other hand it seems a bit on the right, politically. You know, with being pro-death penalty and whatnot. But then again, who am I to say you can’t agree with drinking and cussing and be fairly liberal while wanting to kill peoples. It’s all good^[5] .

Heroes, as I said before^[6] I do like and enjoy. But I don’t really like any of the characters, so I’m a little meh. But it is entertaining and stuff happens^[7] and it has Christopher Eccleston^[8] in it, even if his character does have a silly name^[9] But he is good and grumpy so I likes him. But not a huge amount. And I don’t like cop guy. He’s annoying. I do like Nathan, even if he can be a selfish bastard at times, but he isn’t quite selfish enough to have the “love to hate him” thing going on, and he isn’t “heart of gold” enough to love him. Peter is improving. I didn’t like his do-gooder-ness,^[10] but know that he is developing a bit of a backbone its all good. Nikki/Jessica, meh, could do more. The kid is alright, the father a bit of a nothing character so far. Hiro I’m not sure of yet. Claire I do like, and her ebil father.

Almost forgot, the girl, Sara, on last night’s episode^[11] of Medium also showed up in an episode of The Inside^[12] where she played an evil murdering child. So even though she played a victim here I so didn’t trust her. Evil child.

Anyways, back to the rugby, I have it recorded, but I’m probably going to buy the dvd as it looks more than entertaining, and in a way, better because it recorded the failure to achieve the Grand Slam. I did catch a few seconds and watching the faces of the players as they watched the final few minutes of the France game… excellent telly. And speaking of excellence, did anyone else catch this morning’s Gift Grub^[13] ? A day in the life of Paul O’Connell. Genius.

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I’m not sure what to make of this:

_{Via Damien Mulley}

On one hand the first two Terminator films were great, the third was a bit pants, and too self-referential and mocking. On one hand it has Summer Glau in it, and who doesn’t love Summer?, but on the other, it has Fievel Mousekewitz in it, and can a mouse really take on The Machines?

And then there is the fact that the trailer doesn’t look all that great, that Fox are making it, and, that it is a spin off of a spin off of a spin off. Milking the cash cow dry anyone? And then there is the fact that it is a TV show, and there aren’t really all that many good shows left any more.

• Example the first: Lost pants pants pants.
• Heroes I do like. But I don’t love. It has some interesting storylines and characters but nothing that really grips me. I haven’t taken advantage of the fact that I can watch ahead on d’internet after all. Which says it all
• Veronica Mars cancelled. And while I adored the first season, the second really didn’t grab me. And while I will watch season 3, and I do hope for the best, I’ll admit to feeling a little meh over it.
• BSG I really do love. But it annoys me so. It could be so great, and I love most, if not all of the characters, but, as I’ve said before, the writers flinch away from the big issues. Which wouldn’t be a terrible thing if they didn’t set themselves up for them in the first place. If you are going to introduce “big” issues, then you are obliged^[1] to deal with them properly. Brushing them under the carpet and solving them with one liners achieves nothing, well, apart from annoying me.^[2] There is also the sense that they don’t really know where they are going. Part of this isn’t there fault, it is down to the possibility of cancellation and the fact that they don’t know how long they are going to last.
• Rome. Okay, this is my exception. Great TV. But^[3] there has only been one season. Where is season two BBC?
• Life On Mars - I loved the first season. It was new and funny and interesting. But season 2? I dunno, it just wasn’t as good. Still better than a lot of stuff out there, but I was disappointed. And I disliked the finale. The Gene Genie was excellent, but there was very little character development or any forward movement at all.
• House I dunno. I really liked it at first. But then it became a little cliched, and when it clashes with something else I tend to watch the something else.
• Medium I like. I like a lot, but it isn’t great tv. It is highly watchable. And likeable. And while it does have some nice touches it is predictable and has never been must see tv.
• The Sopranos I love when it is on. But when it isn’t I don’t think about it.

The solution to my telly woes? Give Joss a tv show, I loved Buffy, thought Angel was even better. And Firefly? Best of them all.

Or am I being too hard in my old age? Is there some great tv that I’m missing out on?

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Hola muchachos y muchachas, and welcome to 2007.

How did everyone get over the holiday season? I hope you went along with Budweiser’s wishes and had a good one.

Mine was the usual. Although I did manage to discover “living things” inhabiting the mutt, which meant he had to take a shower, which he doesn’t really like. You’d think he’d be delighra over having a warm shower instead of a freezing cold hosing, but he never shows any gratitude. I also got to meet the new cat, she^[1] is a tabby, silver white with black stripes. And for a stray she is ultra tame. Even gets on well with the mutt; he isn’t so fond of her chasing his tail. He also has a case of that green eyed monster, and anytime anyone shows herself a bit of attention he has to come over to investigate. Then again, he was always sorta like that, just a little more so now.

As for the new year resolutions, well many years ago I made one to never make any more, and I’m sticking to that one.

Anyone catch Celebrity Big Brother?
I know, I moan about the stupidness of the regular one, and that last celeb version was unwatchable, but you just gotta tune in to see who they manage to get on.

And this year we have a whathisface Jackson, Michael’s brother, who looked very very uncomfortable and out of place. Leo Sayers, who seemed to know everyone from some party or other. Teddy Sherringham’s girlfriend who got booed coming in, but she seems like just a nice young wan.

Biggest idiot of the night award goes to the no-name from whatever that band is called. The fella who tried to impress everyone with his cursing and giving the crowd the finger. Loved their reply, chants of “Who Are Ya?” Honestly, giving people the finger, if you are over 15 or 16 then it just makes you look like an arsehole.

My favourite celeb, obviously was Face from A-Team.

Don’t know if I’ll watch anymore, but sure that was an entertaining evening watching all the celebs and non-celebs arrive.

I’ve also started watching that Medium thingy, I’m not to sure if I like the stories and plots, but sure yer man from American Gothic is reason to watch. Not that he is fanciable^[2] or anything, but I like him as an actor. It’s also nice to see a married couple on telly without them being in a soap.

Speaking of telly, which i was, I also watched the first episode of Heroes, despite the fact that it doesn’t start until February, and not through any illegal file-sharing activity, but through the wonders of free internet telly, okay, so the quality of the picture aint that great. But you know what? Yup, that’s right, it is FREE! It also seems to have Veronica Mars season three, so I may actually watch it without waiting for the dvd.

As you are probably aware, I’ve missed a few Unconscios Muttering Sunday/Mondays, what with the Christmas and the not being online, but look, it is week 204 and Luna Nina says:

1. Resolution ::
2. Happy ::
3. Bubbly ::
4. Kiss ::
5. Leather ::
6. Fancy ::
7. Pages ::
8. Stupid ::
9. Apologize ::
10. Secrets ::

Continue Reading »

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ISBN: 0007157762
Author: Hilary Mantel
DDC: 823.914

Travelling: the dank oily days after Christmas. The motorway, its wastes looping London: the margin’s scrub-grass flaring orange in the lights, and the leaves of the poisoned shrubs striped yellow-green like a cantaloupe melon.

Alison is a medium, she travels around London passing on messages from those who have “passed”, or at least passing on some of the messages. Because the dead are just people afterall, and not all people are nice, or worth listening to. And then there is the fact that they can get confused and lose their memories after death. Or even forget who they were. And sometimes they are downright malicous.

Alison isn’t alone, she has her manager/assistant Colette, who is recently divorced and who in many ways, wants to believe, yet never really does.

A terrible childhood, abuse, murder, violence, neglect haunts Alison. She has to deal with the spirits as they try to pass on their messages, and their pettiness. And she has to deal with her spirit guide, Morris. He is about as far from the ideal guide as you can imagine. Foul mouthed, mean spirited and hostile, Alison wishes he’d move on, and stop her remembering her past.

“Fucking stuck-up cow” he said, as Colette went out. “White-faced fucking freak. She’s like a bloody ghoul. Where did you get her, gel, a churchyard?”

And when he starts bringing back friends things get much worse, because they are all men from Alison’s childhood. And childhood was not a good time for Alison, with her prostitute, neglectful, drugged mother:

and her mum says, so am I balck and white, am I stood in the fucking meadow, and if not, what leads you to believe I am a fucking cow?

I really enjoyed this book. It is a wonderful blend of light and dark, of horror and humour.

Colette was puzzled by the woman, who urned most of her statements into questions. It must be what they do in Surrey, she decided; they must have had it twinned with Australia

Never turning into farce, and at its heart it is about Alison, and her relationship with people. Colette being the main other in her life. Have to say though that I never warmed to Colette, she is very unsympathetic, and her thoughts on the overweight Alison can be very offputting. Not to mention her controlling temperment. Sometimes you wish that Al would just snap back, or refuse to go along with whatever diet Colette is forcing her to stick to.

Well worth picking up, I’m glad the cover of this book attracted my attention as I was browsing in the three for two section.

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