![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Now That's a Holiday.
This was a superb holiday weekend. After my awful job as Lector, I stayed up all day cleaning my house, in preparation of a party the next day. I got about half of it done. I wasn't working all that hard, I was lounging watching TV (mostly the The West Wing marathon on Bravo) for some of it, cleaning for some of it, and spending some of the time just being tired. I woke up early the next morning to beat the holiday rush to the store for BBQ provisions. When I returned, I began looking for something to put on the TV while I worked around the house. I happened upon the MI-5 marathon.
At least, that's what it was called on A&E. In the UK, it's called Spooks, which, in America, sounds more like a failed David E. Kelly series. From what I gathered watching the six episodes (I intend to do actual research later, but for now I want to retain my purely cathode-rayical impressions), MI5 is the United Kingdom's FBI counterpart, with an emphasis on domestic surveillance and anti-terrorism.
The marathon encompassed the entire first season. What stuck me most about it was that, unlike other shows, it played off its major plot twists nonchalantly, often with no clues whatsoever as to what was going to happen. So when a character reveals the crucial piece of information at the end of the episode, it's actually a surprise. Compared to current US spy shows like the frantic and convoluted and the Nick-Furious ultra-technological Alias, it's a very relaxed spy show. What drew me into it in the first place was the way in which it felt like pre-Tom Cruise Mission Impossible. But as the day went on and the house got cleaner, the show grew on me; each episode built suspense slightly, but that by the end of the season I was screaming at the television. A guest-starring role by Anthony Stewart Head in a pivotal episode didn't hurt much either. It wasn't too far into the shows that I realizes I was addicted.
What's worse is that, throughout the marathon, A&E was running ads for the new season, which was to premiere the next evening, using a very strange and obscure sequence of images. So I'm watching these images the entire day and it was only at the very end of the last episode that I suddenly realize what they meant the entire time. Ooooh! Those wascally TV programmers!
Eventually, the house was clean, the munchies were set and people began to arrive. It was a modest showing, about ten people, which is about how many I expected. Some people arrived late, which wasn't too much of a problem except that it meant that I had to grill in mostly darkness. As for the grilling itself . . . well, I'm a charcoal man. I know It's worse for the environment, but there's something added in the taste when one uses physical fuel, fire or charcoal, compared to this mysterious gas. Everything cooked well, and everyone enjoyed the food, but it was hard to gauge when things were done because things just didn't look right.
It was fun. There was lively conversation on many varied topics. People brought food items; the most notable were Artistry's selection of strange Japanese desserts, which still sit on my dining room table. They are likely to sit there for a while longer. They scare me.
After most people had left, Artistry,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wjukknibs, his brother and I, settled down for a game of Trivial Pursuit, which Artistry won. Artistry and I chatted for far too long, as we are wont to do, and then I went to bed.
The next morning, I woke up, expecting to have a little bit of day to finish some other errands, but as I mentioned before, my body decided that Tuesday would be a better day for sleeping than for shopping. In retrospect, I have to agree with the body. It was a wonderful way to end a great weekend.
ThuNYTX: 39:30. Had a hard time breaking in, thanks in no small part to two major wrong answers I thought couldn't be wrong.
At least, that's what it was called on A&E. In the UK, it's called Spooks, which, in America, sounds more like a failed David E. Kelly series. From what I gathered watching the six episodes (I intend to do actual research later, but for now I want to retain my purely cathode-rayical impressions), MI5 is the United Kingdom's FBI counterpart, with an emphasis on domestic surveillance and anti-terrorism.
The marathon encompassed the entire first season. What stuck me most about it was that, unlike other shows, it played off its major plot twists nonchalantly, often with no clues whatsoever as to what was going to happen. So when a character reveals the crucial piece of information at the end of the episode, it's actually a surprise. Compared to current US spy shows like the frantic and convoluted and the Nick-Furious ultra-technological Alias, it's a very relaxed spy show. What drew me into it in the first place was the way in which it felt like pre-Tom Cruise Mission Impossible. But as the day went on and the house got cleaner, the show grew on me; each episode built suspense slightly, but that by the end of the season I was screaming at the television. A guest-starring role by Anthony Stewart Head in a pivotal episode didn't hurt much either. It wasn't too far into the shows that I realizes I was addicted.
What's worse is that, throughout the marathon, A&E was running ads for the new season, which was to premiere the next evening, using a very strange and obscure sequence of images. So I'm watching these images the entire day and it was only at the very end of the last episode that I suddenly realize what they meant the entire time. Ooooh! Those wascally TV programmers!
Eventually, the house was clean, the munchies were set and people began to arrive. It was a modest showing, about ten people, which is about how many I expected. Some people arrived late, which wasn't too much of a problem except that it meant that I had to grill in mostly darkness. As for the grilling itself . . . well, I'm a charcoal man. I know It's worse for the environment, but there's something added in the taste when one uses physical fuel, fire or charcoal, compared to this mysterious gas. Everything cooked well, and everyone enjoyed the food, but it was hard to gauge when things were done because things just didn't look right.
It was fun. There was lively conversation on many varied topics. People brought food items; the most notable were Artistry's selection of strange Japanese desserts, which still sit on my dining room table. They are likely to sit there for a while longer. They scare me.
After most people had left, Artistry,
wjukknibs, his brother and I, settled down for a game of Trivial Pursuit, which Artistry won. Artistry and I chatted for far too long, as we are wont to do, and then I went to bed.The next morning, I woke up, expecting to have a little bit of day to finish some other errands, but as I mentioned before, my body decided that Tuesday would be a better day for sleeping than for shopping. In retrospect, I have to agree with the body. It was a wonderful way to end a great weekend.
ThuNYTX: 39:30. Had a hard time breaking in, thanks in no small part to two major wrong answers I thought couldn't be wrong.
no subject
Consider me part of your research...
Yes, I'm a geek. It's good to see that a) MI5 is a good show and b) you are also enjoying West Wing crack.
Re: Consider me part of your research...
bah
MI5, eh...? OK time to fire up Kaz.. oops, I mean sit and wait in front of the TV until the precise time that the powers that be choose to show the repeats again... Yes, it's the sheer fun of sitting and waiting which will drive the P2P community out of the net.
--cram
PS love them choco-burgers. And it's always nice to put a face to a name (wjukknibs). To paraphrase Strong Bad... BEFRIENDED!
and that goes for