Jungle Gold

I have been watching quite a fair bit of this of late after it was recommended by a coworker. it is a relatively short series on a couple of Americans trying to solve their financial woes by mining for gold in Ghana.

I don not know how much is real and how much is doctored for TV, but it is amazing how so much can go so wrong. It feels that the operation is always hanging on by a shoestring and noone is brave enough to call it off. It is interesting that we find the misfortunes of others entertaining in a show like this.

I'm probably watching too much crap on TV at the moment and not doing enough walking and interesting things. I really need to pull my finger out and correct this.

Reality TV

My mother is hooked on it. There are 3 or 4 she is hooked on, I do not even want to name them to further promote them, but there is a cooking one, a construction one, a weight loss one and a couple of singing/entertainment ones that she cannot get away from.

Even the newspapers print recaps of episodes. Contestants are almost instantly C-grade celebrities. Whilst I'm happy that home grown productions do so well in the ratings, surely we can do better than this rubbish, yet as a population we seem glued to it.

Thank goodness for Aunty ABC and their spread of quality programming.

Don't diss the Slobberknockers

I was a huge fan of wrestling as a kid. I have fond memories of watching the wrestling with my uncle as a kid. He taught me to love the bad guys (or Heels as they are currently known) and I loved The Hart Foundation, The Iron Sheik, King Kong Bundy, Andre the Giant and The Million Dollar Man. My uncle took me to a show at the Sydney Entertainment Centre when they toured - I had a ball and is a great childhood memory.

Not long after the tour, wrestling disappeared from free to air TV. In pre-internet times it became difficult to follow and i'd hear the odd mention of it or see a match on a Sunday sports show but largely lost track of it. Then came Foxtel and I was overcome with nostalgia. I wouldn't miss an episode, I went down to Melbourne with a friend when the WWE toured for the first time in about 20 years. I was a complete addict for a few years at this point - would watch old tapes and indie leagues, went to a few subsequent shows, would religiously read forums and websites and download anything that looked interesting. My new favourite stars were The Rock, Stone Cold, Kurt Angle, Ric Flair, Edge and Christian, Jehrico and Goldust.

I was such an addict that I eventually became sick of it and needed a break. I think I grew out of it when my new favourite stars left  and wrestling looked increasingly repetitive, fake and PG. That being said, it never entirely went away.

These days I am contempt with watching the last half hour of Raw or Smackdown or channel flicking when it is on to keep up to date with current plots and storylines. I do take keen interest around this time of year as the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania have always been my favourite feature events. It also makes for good conversation with my dad, an uncle and the occasional coworker.

Dexter

One of the best TV dramas going around is Dexter. For those not accustomed, it is about a serial killer who works as a blood spatter analyst at Miami Metro Police Department. His work allows him to do his own forensic studies and find his own cache of serial killers and takes them out in his own methodological way to fill his compulsion to kill people. The seasons are short enough and well targeted - there is usually a main plot with several small sub plots to keep the viewer entertained. The first season was outstanding and the next few were really good. There were a few seasons in the middle that were up and down.

This is the kind of series that I like waiting until all episodes are available and watch them all in a big chunk. I recently acquired Dexter Season 7. In 2 days I have already polished off 10 episodes. This season is rather complex and there are 3 or 4 main storylines, but needless to say I am hooked and hope to finish it off tomorrow.

I really love the way Dexter's brain works. It is so analytical and he is almost obsessive compulsive. Definitely a show best viewed at night. If you haven't seen it, it is well worth tracking down.

The Treasures Within

There is a TV show that I have been obsessed with recently called Storage Wars. The basic premise is that if you don't pay your upkeep on a storage locker for over 3 months, the storage facility has the rights to sell it. Every so often, the facility will host an auction. Buyers have 5 minutes to look at the locker without entering or touching anything then the locker is auctioned off and the highest bidder then owns the contents.

Often the lockers are a stack of rubbish with the occasional gem item that is appraised, but there is something about seeing a pile of belongings that makes you not want to look away - whether it be on the side of a street or in a storage facility. The show also wins by following some great characters and watching them try to outbid and trap each other into paying more than they need to. It is a really good half hours light entertainment.

Work has been a little quiet this week in the lead up to Christmas and one large section of out office floor has relocated to another site. They left behind about 20 roller door Curdenza's. Not letting an opportunity go by, I decided to play my own game of Storage Wars.  Ended up with a pretty cool pen, 2 DVI cables, a purple post it pad, a muesli bar, about $2.85 in loose change and a handful of green tea bags. Not quite the treasure within, but it was a bit of fun and helped a slow day move quicker.

On a side note, Its now been a month of blogging for me. I'm a little suprised that I have been able to keep this up, but stranger things have happened.