flaming freezing!

Moon Report: 25% of full. waning crescent.


Man, oh man, is it buggardly cold! We have been hovering close to 0 degrees all day--the upside: it was sunny. But now that it is dark we are sitting somewhere around -4 degrees at about seven. Don't believe me, have a gander: http://www.wsbt.com/weather

The SW Michigan counties are even under blizzard warnings and have been asked to stay off the roads. Luckily for us we haven't seen any snow although the local meteorologists keep swearing we'll be landed with 3-7" by morning. I think it is far too cold to get snow at this point.

So what is to be done on such a terrible day? Why watch all the Brit mystery shows I can, of course! I'm sucked into Poirot and Midsomer Murders while knitting my sweater. However, I do have to point out that being absorbed by the murder mysteries is not so good for following a knitting pattern. I have a forty stitch goof in the ribbing on the bottom of my sweater! Oh well, I guess that really makes it handmade.

TV More Interesting

We've hit the bottom of the television barrel. Not only are shows crippled by the writer's strike, but we are in full political "me-me-me" over-coverage and overanalysis. So we are left with Bowl games, annoying reruns that sucked the first time around, and some half-assed crap like "Best Beer Commercials of the World Played by Unknown Actors with Famous Actor Voice Overs." Frankly, I'd rather chew tin foil and lick batteries.

I have a solution: my secret love of UK tv. Ok, so it really is not a secret--I own some of the DVDs. There's just something to be said about a different perspective. Way too many American shows are clones and attempted imitations--it's terrible. The major networks are terrified of anything that breaks boundaries or makes people think. If you get one good show in a season, consider yourself blessed. Would M*A*S*H even make it on the air now?

Some of the following shows I picked up from the BBC feed on my local PBS station on Saturday evenings. Some I stumbled across on my own. I hope you enjoy the small clips.

Keeping Up Appearances

Patricia Routledge and Clive Swift

Midsomer Murders

John Nettles, Daniel Casey

As Time Goes By

Judy Dench and Geoffrey Palmer

This is a blooper reel. I couldn't find one with an embeddable video. After the video are links to an un-embeddable YouTube video.

See a YouTube clip from the show.

Father Ted

Dermot Morgan, Ardal O'Hanlon, Frank Kelly, and Pauline McLynn