Day One.

Well...here we go. I've finally jumped on the blog bandwagon. My site is still being built, but I figured I've left it long enough without some sort of outlet for my random thoughts. Incidentally, the title for this entry is also the name of a song (and album) by Sarah Slean - a pretty fine singer. Check her out.

So, what's been cooking in the hotpan of Rob's conscious today? Weeeeell, I saw episode 5 of the 6-part mini series Revelations today. And huzzah! It's starting to get a little more interesting. Bill Pullman has been a disappointment though, his job consists of mainly standing around with a sceptical look on his face, eyes squinting in some straight-man homage to "3rd Rock's" Harry. I don't know whether this is the look of a man who is thinking "I really should have stayed in the film business", or just someone bored by the repetitive lines he has to deliver. "Yada yada, daughter. Yada yada, Hawk. Yada yada, science." Gimme Spaceballs and Independence Day any day. The only one enjoying himself appears to be Michael Massee in a far more fleshed out (sorry, bad pun) role than he had in 24. I still stand by my opinion that Ira Gaines would have made an infinitely more interesting bad guy than Dennis "you keeeled my vife und daughtaah" Hopper. Bad facial hair and an appalling German/Dutch/Romanian accent do not a convincing nemesis make.

(24 Season 4 [and 2 and 3] Spoiler alert follows!! Skip to next paragraph if you don't want to read this...)

Speaking of 24...anyone else amazed by the proximity of CTU to every single location of interest in LA? Five to ten minutes, and these guys can be at terrorist strongholds, hospitals, abandoned warehouses - you name it. I can only hope no other road users get in the way of these guys when they're in crisis mode, since at the pace they must drive I doubt there'd be time for the pleasantries of exchanging insurance details. Aaaaanyway, aside from this, I'll be interested to see how the writers will end the current series. There's a nuclear missile headed towards...somewhere in the US, and now Tony's being held hostage by Mandy (she of "explode-plane-to-get-ID-card" and "shaky-hands-with-Palmer-and-give-disease" fame). Oh, and Marwan has escaped. Again. The guy has more lives than a cat sanctuary. Now, seeing that Tony and Michelle survived last season, I'm not giving too much hope to Tony getting through this one. Especially when you consider that no-one of note has snuffed it so far (I'm not counting Ronnie, the Jack-wannabe who blatantly deserved bumping off; nor any of the numerous CTU agents that clearly have a death wish by volunteering to tag along with Jack. Why not stick a red Star Trek jumper on them, and have done with it?). Yup, with the last two episodes being aired Monday, it's going to be an interesting finale. But this is America, and since we have the double whammy of a) Roland Emmerich not being behind the camera and b) a nuke going off in season 2 already, it's not likely to happen this season. And you can quote me on that.

My workmate Mark Neil very kindly lent me the 1st season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine a few weeks back, and I've only just got round to watching it. Having seen a lot of it during it's first run on TV, I have to say I'm impressed that it hasn't aged badly at all. Despite the similarities in overall theme to Babylon 5, it has definitely got deep "Trek" rootage even if, at times, that does mean some of the episodes are a little twee and saccharine. I'm looking forward to the next few months and getting through the rest of the series (assuming Mark goes out and gets them).

Hmm...what else? Well, we're still looking for a new house. 2 and a bit months left - nothing so far. 5-bed houses are either stupidly far away, or really expensive. I rang Sarah Kenny lettings today, and asked them if they knew if their website was down. I got hold of the Saturday girl whose skills appear to consist of photocopying and making coffee. Didn't have a clue about the site, and there wasn't a whisper of knowledge about available lets. I've been "added to the customer list" and will "get a call if anything comes in, but if we don't call, feel free to call us". Inspiring stuff. Maybe I should go and introduce myself to potential landlords and charge myself extortionate fees for moving into their houses too. Oh wait, that's the job of the letting agent. My mistake.

On the gaming front, I've just installed Heroes of Might and Magic 4. First impressions: more to do, a little 'prettier', but...the heart seems to be missing. A bit like comparing Soccer Boss on the Amstrad to Championship Manager 4 on the PC. Sure, there's more to DO in the latter, but seriously, is it fun? No. But I'm willing to give it a go, so we'll see.

Right...that's enough babble for my first post. I'll try to keep this updated daily, but that blatantly won't happen.

Ciao.