Monday, May 01, 2006
So, thanks to the hands of fate, I'm in possession of a Sky+ box, complete with all premium channels. So what have I been watching? Some classic American films? Classic British kitchen sink drama? Uh, no.
Mostly I can't stop watching celebrities playing poker. The TV poker thing is fairly hypnotic in itself, but stick in a Malcolm Jamal-Warner or a Lacey Chabert and I'm just stuck there. For like two hours a time. Celebrity Poker Showdown at least has people you've vaguely heard of, even if the repeats are a few years old, whereas the British Showbiz Poker appears to mostly involve journalists you've never heard of, and the World Poker Tour: Hollywood Home Game has some very annoying commentators who speak over what the players are saying like all of the time. It's very irritating. Even after all of these hours, I still can't work out quickly which hand is better than the other. My mathematical brain being better than my acting brain, I prefer it when they break it down into percentages of how likely a hand is to win. That would help me, because my poker face while even playing 'Cheat' is an absolute joke. I suck at cards.
Also, I've found Miami Ink and have fallen in love. Partly with Chris Nuñez, but mostly with the show. Goodness knows why.... I don't have any tattoos and am phobic of needles (really, very much so, and that's after having 50 gazillion blood tests during my pre-teen & early teen years). I know it's totally set up, and the editing is all over the place, but look, pretty pretty tattoos! And pretty pretty tattoo artists! Big old editorialised emotionally manipulative storylines! I'm an easy sell. And I'm still no closer to deciding on my hypothetical tattoo design. The closest I've ever got to getting a tattoo was during a day off of being a camp counsellor in New York state, when pretty much all of the rest of my group got various designs done. I was very fortunate: the place seemed very kosher, but all of the tattoos done, that day and on other counsellors' days off, started to peel and fade in a horribly uneven and dodgy fashion. They had to be fixed by the head counsellor's tattoo artist in New York City after camp. My complete inability to settle on a permanent design did indeed save me that day.
I was also able to catch up with the episodes of America's Next Top Model that fell by the wayside during the house move. Very good for getting to rewind very short clips to go "Look at that fake paparazzo! He's standing in the doorway of that temp job I'm going back to this week!"
And I'm sitting waiting for FX to repeat Season 3 of The Wire. They're currently showing Season 1, so fingers crossed, with enough time, it might turn up.
Mostly I can't stop watching celebrities playing poker. The TV poker thing is fairly hypnotic in itself, but stick in a Malcolm Jamal-Warner or a Lacey Chabert and I'm just stuck there. For like two hours a time. Celebrity Poker Showdown at least has people you've vaguely heard of, even if the repeats are a few years old, whereas the British Showbiz Poker appears to mostly involve journalists you've never heard of, and the World Poker Tour: Hollywood Home Game has some very annoying commentators who speak over what the players are saying like all of the time. It's very irritating. Even after all of these hours, I still can't work out quickly which hand is better than the other. My mathematical brain being better than my acting brain, I prefer it when they break it down into percentages of how likely a hand is to win. That would help me, because my poker face while even playing 'Cheat' is an absolute joke. I suck at cards.
Also, I've found Miami Ink and have fallen in love. Partly with Chris Nuñez, but mostly with the show. Goodness knows why.... I don't have any tattoos and am phobic of needles (really, very much so, and that's after having 50 gazillion blood tests during my pre-teen & early teen years). I know it's totally set up, and the editing is all over the place, but look, pretty pretty tattoos! And pretty pretty tattoo artists! Big old editorialised emotionally manipulative storylines! I'm an easy sell. And I'm still no closer to deciding on my hypothetical tattoo design. The closest I've ever got to getting a tattoo was during a day off of being a camp counsellor in New York state, when pretty much all of the rest of my group got various designs done. I was very fortunate: the place seemed very kosher, but all of the tattoos done, that day and on other counsellors' days off, started to peel and fade in a horribly uneven and dodgy fashion. They had to be fixed by the head counsellor's tattoo artist in New York City after camp. My complete inability to settle on a permanent design did indeed save me that day.
I was also able to catch up with the episodes of America's Next Top Model that fell by the wayside during the house move. Very good for getting to rewind very short clips to go "Look at that fake paparazzo! He's standing in the doorway of that temp job I'm going back to this week!"
And I'm sitting waiting for FX to repeat Season 3 of The Wire. They're currently showing Season 1, so fingers crossed, with enough time, it might turn up.
