Barkerburgh

When I was visiting Guildwood a while back, I took a look at Reid’s list of movies and TV shows that he’s downloaded.

Here’s just a sample.

Now, I would never stoop to such a thing, and I have been rewarded.

Last night, I was transported by the new film “Doctor Who and the Christmas Invasion.” Now I know that all my immoral, unethical friends have already seen it but this was the first time for me.

It was a blast that rocked. I’d been waiting for it for a while and had my snacks and juice boxes all ready.

Yee haaaa!

It ran a little bit shy of its 90 minute time slot, and as a reward, I got to see the Christmas edition of Nick Park and Aardman Studios’ ‘Creature Comforts‘.

Now if you haven’t heard of or seen them, well let me just tell you that they took ‘man on the street’ type interviews and animated them in Aardman’s classic Claymation-type stop-motion style of those shows about the guy and that dog, only with animals as the speakers…

I say I was rewarded because my immoral and unethical friends who watched ‘The Christmas Invasion’ via download back at Hallowe’en probably didn’t watch it last night because of it was commercial television and so missed this little stocking stuffer.

It’s against my nature but I want so hard to feel smug. Really smug. The smuggiest. Smug-arama comin’ atcha down the train tracks! In-your-face smug-and-a-half.

But I won’t, because instead, I feel humble and blessed.

Na-na-na-Na-na-na!

I’m a Coronation Street fan. I watch it on CBC every weeknight at 7:30 but Thursday, and usually, all those episodes together on Sunday morning, especially if I missed any episodes or parts thereof the previous week.

Well, as I’m sure you all know, just about two weeks ago (in Canadian Coronation Street time, since we’re something like seven or eight months behind the UK airings - we used to be three years, and don’t get me started on how CBC caught up and what abominations they committed to get there…) 18 year old Katy killed her dad Tommy with a big pipe wrench in the garage, just like a Clue solution.

Now, Tommy was a prick but he didn’t deserve to die like that and you wanna know what else?

Katy hasn’t stopped crying since. Her mum, Angela, helped cover it up and first they blamed Martin, Katy’s fortyish boyfriend, who Tommy and Angela thought was having an affair with their neighbour and Martin’s own old flame Sally, but he wasn’t, - she was having an affair with someone else - only Katy, pregnant with Martin’s baby, believed her parents and she broke up with Martin and got an abortion, which broke Martin’s heart and gave the cops earnest to believe that Martin could have done it but there wasn’t enough means and opportunity even if there was motive in spades, and then Angela, who’s IDing of the perp in a pub killing got the whole family on witness protection to hide them from those Morgans in Sheffield, (which isn’t really all that far from Manchester, but where are they gonna go, Detroit?) tried to get the Bill to believe that it was the Morgans, but after investigating they decided it wasn’t them, and now Angela’s going to try to get them to suspect someone else but we don’t know who yet because that bit was just last night, and maybe this will finally stop Katy from bawling and whining and whinging and squeaking and weeping and generally making every freaking episode a bookie’s paradise for when Katy’s going to start blubbering again.

I just wish Les and Cilla would get back from Spain - but they told Roy and Hayley, who are looking after young Chesney, that they were going to a renewal retreat in North Wales - or even that Karen would return, if only just to raise a little more hell with Tracy or break Steve’s heart yet again.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, Coronation Street has in fact done the North American soap opera cliche of the Evil Twin, only she wasn’t evil, just another housewife from down Rosamund Street somewhere, I think.

And they have a transexual, the above mention Hayley - but Roy’s not gay, he didn’t know when he fell in love with her - but, as befits a character in this show, she’s short, dumpy and plain, with small hair. And played by a woman.