Think of a number, divide it by two, something is nothing, nothing is nothing

I have been a most remiss blogger of late. But time to rectify that.

I've been watching a lot of TV just lately. In the hiatus that I have until the fourth season of How I Met Your Mother gets released on DVD, I've managed to discover some gems to keep me going. Top of the list is The Wire. I'd heard a lot about this, so decided finally to put Love Film to good use and check out the first season. It's so good, and lives up to the hype. It's NYPD Blue for a new generation. It seems to take what that established and take it up a notch. The language is wonderful too. It's full of street slang and cop slang (I have to confess that I have watched a few of the first episodes with the subtitles on!), and it has the largest amount of swearing that I have ever heard on a TV series. The characters are engaging, and not everything gets wrapped up neatly and happily. The hero (or should that be anti-hero) is a screw-up, yet he has you rooting for him and willing him not to do what he inevitably does. But at heart, he's good police. And it possibly has one of the most chillingly polite villains of all time, at least so far. I watched Season 1 at a reasonably leisured pace (in that I could only have one disc at home at a time), and then a very dear friend who has the DVD boxset (apparently, the sales of this in UK are huge, probably because until very recently it has only ever been on satellite here) loaned me Season 2, which she had just finished watching. Well, I burned through them and had watched them within about 4 days (no wonder I have no time to blog). So now I have to wait until she finishes with Season 3, or else I watch it every night on BBC2, whichever comes first. Sigh. It's also amazing that two of the main characters, who sound as American as apple pie, are actually English. And it has also reminded me of how I just don't get Tom Waits. He wrote the feem toon and sings the feem toon for Season 2, The Blind Boys of Alabama doing Season 2. While I would sing along quite happily, or at least leave it running while I made a cup of tea, with Season 2 it's a scramble to get to the remote so that I can fast forward through the opening credits. He makes my ears bleed. Can someone please explain what is so great about him?

Carrying on in the vein of old Etonians doing on-the-money US accents, I've also started watching Life, with Damian Lewis as a cop who was framed for murder and has now been exonerated and is back on the force. I was slightly unsure watching the pilot, as I couldn't quite work out whether it was supposed to be completely tongue-in-cheek or not. But by the second episode, I was hooked and I can't wait for the second installment to plop on the mat (maybe tomorrow?). I like the little documentary aspects and Damian is as superb as ever. I have high hopes.

Lastly, I am working my way through My So-Called Life at a brisk pace. Loaned to me by my oft-mentioned friend, I missed this first time around, although I had often heard it mentioned. It's great. While it must have been amazing to have watched this when you were the actual ages of the main characters, I can still (sadly?) draw plenty of parallels between their lives and mine, in spite of the fact that I am far nearer the parents ages than the kids. The incidental music is wonderful (lots of Lemonheads and Juliana Hatfield, who I believe shows up in person in the Christmas episode) and it was really cool when the main character gets asked who are favourite bands are and she lists a Who's Who of 1995. Very much of its time, but not dated in any way. And of course, any programme which has someone hold up a copy of Rolling Stone, with one of my favourite pictures of Kurt on it, and says "Oh, I still can't look at him" gets my vote. Plus Ricky just has to be one of the sweetest characters ever. I think I probably like Freaks and Geeks more (and no, before anyone says it, not because of that), probably because of the humour. But this is really great, and finally I properly understand what Rachel in Friends means when she says Clare Danes would play her in the movie of her life.

Know what? I love TV.