Wired

I just, finally, finished watching 'The Wire'. This has been a long burning love of mine that started around 3 years ago when a friend of mine lent me series one (which I still have.....), raving about how amazing it was. It took me 3 attempts to watch the first episode and then I was pretty much hooked. I watched the entire first series with another good friend in a couple of days, went out and purchased series 2 and watched it in two days, and then went out and purchased series 3 and watched it all (13 hours) in a day. Sat on her bed. Eating peanut M&Ms. Smiling like fools. It was a good day.

And then I stopped for a year.

One reason for this was because the DVD was not yet out and I refused to watch it on some crappy website with the sound out of sync to the video or having to wait for constant buffering. In this year I watched series 1 and 3 another time, and watched series 2 (by far my favourite) around 4 times. Reviews in this time started appearing online of series 4 and how it was the best yet. Sites like metacritic scored it at 98 (http://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-wire/season-4) which is still the highest ever combined score of any TV series.  When I got round to watching series 4 it blew me away. I was amazed at how good it was. Although I still prefer series 2 I can see that this was the 'best' series they ever did. 

And then I stopped for 2 years.

Series 5 had been out at the time I watched series 4, but I just didn't watch it. Maybe it was because I didn't want it to end or maybe it was because I had a busy social life at the time (it was because I didn't want it to end) but I just didn't want it to end.

 Enter, my lovely girlfriend who had tirelessly made me watch nearly all (5 and a half series) of 'Lost' (which is actually a lot better than I thought it would be), whilst having to listen to me rant about how much 'The Wire' was better than it. It must have been very annoying. Especially for this girl. She likes 'Lost'. A lot. Anyway I convinced her to watch 'The Wire' with me and we have just finished it all. 

In my opinion it is as perfect a TV show as can be. It's not about crime or good v.s. evil it's about people and community. By the end, nearly every major character in the 'crime' side of things has changed but 'the game' remains the same. It's depressing, uplifting and contemplative. 

I liked it.

A lot. 

Better watch the last series of 'Lost' now.

(It won't be as good)

The day after the night before...

I work in a bar. Have done now for nearly 3 years and although I am currently trying to change 'career' so to speak I have enjoyed the vast majority of it. Last night was one of those reasons that I will miss it....(but only a bit).

It was a usual Friday night. Busy to start with. Then a bit quieter. Then busy again. Somewhere within this fairly predictable evening was a bottle of Russia's finest Stolichnaya. The fact that we even have this in stock feels like we have gone back in time some 15-20 years but for some reason it was there. In the freezer. With shot glasses next to it. Also sat in the freezer.

Now I do like to have a drink (see Blog title....) but drinking vodka straight has never (and never will be) my drink. It induces memories of being 14 and acting like what I would now describe as 'a cunt'. ANYWAY, being the amazingly independent, strong-minded person that I am I drank said vodka and WOW do I feel rough today. Granted it didn't help that I also had a handful of tequilas, 3 pints of cider, 2 pints of lager and an ale all for good measure. For someone who has been selling alcohol to the masses for all these years you would have thought that I'd know better.......but I don't.

So now, at 3pm in the afternoon I am sat, listening to OK Computer on beautiful vinyl, at full volume trying to blow away the cobwebs. It was working until 'Fitter Happier' came on and then I felt like opening the window and jumping the unimpressive height of one storey to my pitiful death. Or maybe just break my ankle. Or probably nothing at all. And then I'd look a right dick....

An introduction...

The reason for me starting this, a BLOG!, is due to the mind-boggling boredom that I go through everyday before I go to work. This I believe is something that many people who work in the evenings go through due mainly to the fact that all their loved ones and friends have 'proper' jobs and work the more traditional hours of 9 to 5. This world of 9 to 5 is something that I too am trying to break into, but so far with little to no success (ie. NO success). Apparently in these times of high unemployment and economic strife, a barman (albeit one with a degree) is not an employers ideal candidate when looking to fill their new IKEA office chair in their lovely office.

I have little to no idea what else I will write about in this blog or if I will ever write again but it certainly has filled up a nice little 5 minutes of my day that I would have otherwise spent applying for jobs that I will never be considered for or playing Miniclip's 8 Ball Pool Multiplayer.....again......

Good day to you all