My Comments on a Commentary Show... And Other Stuff

I’ve been watching “Most Annoying TV… We Hate To Love” for almost an hour now. Very educational, actually. It’s quite a lot like the VH1 list shows I’ve watched a million times, except this time I have no idea who the commentators are and more than half of the shows listed I’ve never seen before. Which is a good thing… It’s an education in British pop culture. Makes me wonder at their sense of censorship, though, when the word “fuck” gets repeated again and again, but out of nowhere some other word gets bleeped – at least by American standards, the “F Bomb” is the worst possible thing you could say on television. Apparently it’s not “twat” that got censored… I just saw that word said a moment ago. Not that I approve of censorship or anything; I’m just really curious about where they draw the line!

…11: 50 P.M. The show just ended (what an odd time for anything to end…). Number 1 “most annoying…” was “Hollyoaks”. I was curious about that show, incidentally. I’ve heard of it before, and I’ve seen it listed in the regular programming on the TV’s guide feature, but I’ve never been interested enough to watch any of it. This is probably better, though, because now I’ve got a taste of how it’s generally received here. By the way, there was absolutely no advertising during the program.

Shanghai Knights just came on. Kim & my mom were watching it on the night before I left. As novel as it would be to watch all the parts set in London while here, I’m going to get to bed very soon.

Twenty minutes later… Well, maybe until they arrive in England.

…12:12 A.M. Hooray, they’re in England!… Boo, it’s the villain!… OMG, it’s Victorian Charing Cross!… Yay, another fight scene!… LOL, a gag about bad teeth!… Umbrella-fighting! God, Jackie Chan’s awesome… Ha, Owen Wilson’s being an Old West-style “ugly American” with the palace guard…. A Beatles reference (“Vera, Chuck and Dave”)…

12:40 A.M. Perhaps it’s time for some pyjamas… Maybe after the next fight scene…

12:55 A.M. Okay, so it’s finally off now.

By the way, regarding the rest of the day, I’ve nothing new to report. I called almost a couple dozen places to enquire about flats, but didn’t make much headway. I was hoping to arrange some viewings this weekend, but it doesn’t look like any will be done quite so soon. After the internet connection became annoyingly slow, there wasn’t much else I could do, so I spent a lot of time watching cartoons and playing games with Poppy in the afternoon and early evening. I feel pretty good about the influence I’ve had… I introduced her to “Tiny Toon Adventures” and The Nightmare Before Christmas.* I think I’ve got her hooked to both! Her childhood is therefore significantly more enriched now, thanks to me. It doesn’t even stop there – I got her a birthday present already (it’s next month): The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales. I must admit, I’m some kind of brilliant influence. Ha.

*On a really sour note… my best friend and my mother (!) saw DANNY !@$%#% ELFMAN at the Nightmare Before Christmas showing at the El Capitan last night!! I was going to go, if I hadn’t made plans to be here, as I have ALWAYS done, for the last several years. And OF COURSE, this ONE time, the one person who I would be most excited to see there (way more than Tim Burton, really) shows up and talks at length! AND is followed up by a live performance by Evanescence doing “Sally’s Song”!!!! I will NEVER get over that!!!! GAAAAH!!! (And now that I’ve just reminded myself of that annoying fact, I will go to bed frustrated. Lovely.)