Hustle Series Five

TV last Thursday evening was a disappointment for me. No Hustle. How did that happen?

Usually, i'd be on top of a series that i'm enjoying. I knew where I was in the recent Spooks season for example. But then, as silly as it gets sometimes, Spooks follows a story arc. Kudos, the team behind both shows, may throw in all kinds of daft twists, false endings and cliffhangers along the way, but you'd always sense the big blow out ending coming up.

Hustle is different. It's like the magazine on the waiting room table. Something flash looking to entertain you until something more meaningful comes along. It's coffee table TV, right from the Oceans 11 style opening credits through to the walk into the sunset at the end.

The reason I don't know where I am with Hustle is that no episode is really any different from the last, or even from any episode in the previous four series. Yes, Kudos tried their best this time to chain some kind of thread together - by bringing back "marks" from an earlier show, ripe for a spot of revenge. But it all ended up the same way - the look on Micky's face before he spins round to reveal he was in control all along.

So why do I watch Hustle? Why hasn't it gone the way of Lost, Heroes or even the closest thing i've seen to a US equivalent in style over subtance - My Name is Earl? In all three cases i've enjoyed what i've seen (to a point - don't start telling me that Lost is beginning to make sense - I don't care anymore). I might even have bought the DVD (Earl).

I guess it's because Hustle is so vacuous. I can sit and watch an episode, smile at the pretty people, laugh a little, and occasionally (i'm slightly ashamed to say) get baffled by how the team will get out of their latest scrape. If I miss one, I don't have to trawl through Sky Plus in the right order for anything to make sense. In fact if I miss one, it really doesn't matter at all. There'll always be another one next week. And that's exactly why I was disappointed last Thursday.

Resolutions - Part Three - The other stuff

There's a big risk completing a three-part resolutions series a week and a half into January - that you'll have failed your resolutions before they've even started. So let's pretend it's still December and call this a fresh start...

1. Get fitter - No surprises here. In 2009 I will take up some kind of exercise. And it won't involve a wireless controller of any kind.


2. Read more - Not just online. I have the monthly pain of a £220 train ticket, but with it the gift of an hour sitting looking out of the window every day. Consider copying Crazy Dave and blog what i've read (and thereby kill two birds with one stone)


3. Get organised - Another one from last year. One challenge of my current job is the number of different places that tasks can come from. I need to get better at prioritising, tracking and yes, completing them. Sub-resolution: Read 43 Folders more.


4. Spend less. Save more - Or maybe just "Spend Better". I can never be bothered with the hassle of looking for the right talkplan, or checking what I pay for electricity etc. I'm finally realising that I can spend lots of money on holidays, eating out and computer games, or I can be careless about the boring stuff that gets sucked out by direct debit every month. But I can't do both.


5. Smarten up - I'm 31. The number of years since I stopped being a student is in double figures, but I still dress like I got out of bed five minutes before the start of a Discrete Mathematics lecture. My job title includes the word "manager", and whilst I don't actually manage anyone, I feel a lot better respected when I look a bit sharper. Sub-resolution: Steer clear of being a suit that "dresses down" on Fridays.

Resolutions - Part Two - Internet Goals 2009

Part two of my new year's resolutions, and a sly attempt to paint over the cracks on one of last year's failed goals in the process.

This post is inspired by Maclurio's Internet Goals for 2009, and will list my own web related aims for the year. The boy Maclure is moving on a completely different plane to me, but that's no reason not to shoot for the stars....

1. Blog revamp. A re-hash from last year. Neilly Done has got a daft name and no point. Make a decision, give the blog a theme and a name to match. If that means creating multiple blogs, so be it.

2. Blog more, Blog often. If i'm serious about writing I need to dramatically increase my output. So i'm going for 10,000 words next year (compared to just over 3000 in 2008). Based on averages, that will be about 40 of my normal short posts.

3. Read and Participate more in other blogs. My breadth of blog reading has increased in 2008, but a lot of it goes in one virtual ear and out the other. This goal is about adding comments, being critical, showing opinion. Basically, try to be part of a community rather than an observer on the outside.

4. Write something somewhere else. Nicked from Maclurio. Get something on someone else's blog/website.

Here's some things i'm not going to do:
- Worry about hits, because a) I don't really care at this stage, and b) hits will come as a result of achieving these goals anyway.
- Get sucked into the next big thing
- Twitter, because I still don't see the point.

Some non-internet resolutions coming up next.

Resolutions - Part One

It's that time in December when disappointment at the achievements of the year gone by, hope for the year to come, and a few hours sitting round in a mostly empty office combine to form the perfect blogging storm. So here's the first of three posts on new year's resolutions.

First, the disappointment bit to get over and done with - How did I do with last year's resolutions?

1. Tidy up - Kind of. But maybe I just worry about it less now.
   
2. Blog with a point - Not even close. I've posted less than half as much as in 2007.
   
3. Be Less Fat - Nope, although I think my genes prevent me from developing a really impressive beer gut - it's more about general fitness. Or the lack of it. So this one might have to come back for 2009.
   
4. Write something - Again, not even close.
   
5. Make the most of a fresh start - This was about my new job. Well i'm still doing it, so something must be right. But all that stuff treating it like a new start... nope.
   

So, as usual, not very impressive. But then I could have boosted my blogpost count by one and told you that last February. So here's to 2009!

ARRRGG.... Boom!

Two different naval approaches to dealing with the Somalian pirate menace:

The Western way -

1. "We're busy looking after Iraq. Leave us out of it."
   
2. "There's no legal process for dealing with pirates. Don't want to get involved".
   
3. "It's all Somalia's fault. If they had a proper government we wouldn't have this problem."
   
4. And then the secret reason - that's it all part of doing business, and any ransoms or longer trade route costs can get passed on to customers anyway.
   

The Indian way -

1. "Stop or we'll sink you"
   
2. BOOM!
   

Three cheers for taking matters into your own hands.

Apologies & Pirates

Two thoughts from today's painful commute to work...

1. How can a recorded voice, pieced together from bits into a semi-useful sentence, be "Extremely sorry for the delays to my service?"?


2. The Navy have caught some pirates off the coast of Somalia. The Times reports "The Commandos found guns and other 'pirate paraphernalia'." Was that deliberately written to cheer up my journey?

They Kept That Quiet

"An election? In the US? Well they kept that quiet."
- Matt, Daily Telegraph, 2nd November

I wonder if the Americans get as excited by our general elections? Of course they don't. For one thing, our electoral system works very differently. If I was at a polling booth in Bumsville, North Carolina today, i'd be picking a man. It's all about personality, or at least personal politics. In Welwyn, Herts. next time round, my cross will be next to a party. Which is all probably for the best, both for me and the US press, should they attempt some level of coverage. I've voted Liberal Democrat in the last two elections and i'm not sure I can name the party leader. So I shouldn't get too irked when CNN fail to unearth that kind of detail.

Although it's not just Obama and McCain who have hooked the British interest. Or Clinton, or even the moose lady. Don't tell me it's because the whole world will feel the impact of a change in the US presidency. We just like a bit razzmatazz to sweeten our politics - sharp-suited Etonians and the rebirth of Peter Mandelson are too bland. We want celebrity. We want fireworks. In fact, as I sit down with David Dimbleby to watch the drama unfold tonight, there are only three things stopping this short of perfection: Dale Winton, a pool of water and two suits of skin tight lycra.

Bring on the wall!