Ikea/TV

Ikea

I meant to make a point about Ikea. At the moment "Ikea" seems to be a byword for unimaginative, low-quality, pleb goods. I beg to differ. Ikea has revolutionised lives by selling us things that are not only well-designed for their purpose but are funky and attractive too. Before Ikea, home furnishings were completely dreadful. Yes, even Laura Ashley, which has since been rejuvenated. Now everyone gets excited about redesigning their living spaces. This is Ikea's lasting legacy. All hail.

Television

I am a self-confessed TV nut. I watch loads and loads of TV, and unashamedly too.

Recently, however, the standard of programmes on television has been quite poor. Even over Christmas. Now, things have thankfully changed, in the main due to American imports. There's a new series of Desperate Housewives (I was completely hooked on the first series, but lost interest very quickly in the badly-written follow-up), a new series of ER on E4 (I missed the first one due to lesson-planning but hopefully I'll catch up) and a new new series: Ugly Betty. I didn't have high hopes for this because of the adverts--everything looked so artificial and superficial. In actuality there was a nice (albeit undemanding) depth to the programme. You're sympathetic to Betty rather than laughing at her, and she isn't as naive, ditsy and ineffectual as the adverts made out. I like her, goddammit!

Also on the box is the return of Celeb Big Brother. I dislike the normal versions of Big Brother and managed to completely avoid knowing anything at all about the last series apart from the fact that the winner, Pete, had tourette's. Big Brother avec Celebs is a different kettle of fish and really makes me laugh. The dynamic is totally different. These people are already in the public eye (well, slightly) and because they're "known" they aren't playing the same game as the non-celebrities, whereby anyone who shows personality is voted off. Also, by virtue of the fact that these "celebrities" are successful and/or (quasi-)famous, they are interesting to watch. If I had an interest in watching non-celebrities talk shit I'd ingratiate myself with the twat who lives next door and go to his "raves".

I'm aware that I've used far too many inverted commas in this post, so I'll leave it there.

New series of Waking the Dead starts tonight - woo hoo!