Going to university has taught me many things; shorthand, media law, Harvard APA referencing, how to live with people, just how big a knobhead landlords can be, how to make shepherd's pie and the value of a tactical chunder being but some of the highlights.
But one of the biggest lifestyle changes has been the realisation you can't get to see your football team play every week. From having a season ticket and going to the odd away game, lack of money leads to seeing a maximum of five games a season.
Furthermore, being a fan of a team outside the top flight means you become reliant on sources other than TV to get information on your team. With maybe three games on TV at most throughout they year, these other sources become your best friends.
For example, today, for the epic Reading-Doncaster game, I had on the go the BBC live updates, Sky Sports Scorecentre for results updates and live tables, the Reading official site for live text updates and Reading FC forum Hob Nob Anyone? for comment, flicking between each whilst attempting to work on the student paper at the same time.
The best part of this is, unlike watching on TV with other people, you are in your own little world when following the game, becoming engrossed in it while others go about their business around you. So, when something exciting happens, like Reading's comeback from 3-1 down to 4-3 win today, you genuinely frighten people when you punch the air for no particular reason.
Don't get me wrong, being there would have trumped that feeling by a long, long way but the other thing university has taught me is to make the most of what you can get.
Not everything that is advertised to death is very good, PhoneShop on E4 probably being the best example ever. But then again, dramas that are really heavily advertised can deliver, like Downton Abbey, or so I'm told at least, I can't watch it as I own a penis.
(Incidentally, every time I saw the advert for The Event, it made me think of the post-apocalyptic quiz show in That Mitchell and Webb Look which made me involuntarily laugh when said advert came on, or maybe I was just laughing at the pomposity of the stupid ad.)
Moving on, The Event is kind of like a cross between Lost (although that maybe due to the presence of an airplane) and the movie Vantage Point. Action flicks between the views of different characters and at different points in time, ranging from going back 66 years in the past to 10 minutes.
The basic plot, from what I can work out so far, is that people-looking aliens (representing terrorists), are locked up in an Alaskan military prison (representing Guantanamo Bay), until President Martinez (representing Obama) decides to release them.
But, before his announcement, a plane almost flies into the Presidential retreat (which looks nothing like Chequers) but is diverted by a big bubble, or something that looks like a big bubble anyway. The plan ends up in an Arizona desert and then the mindfuck gets really intense.
What follows is a woman in a bikini, some guns, another woman in a bikini, some guns on a plane, a shirtless man, some guns in a hospital, a topless man with a broken arm all thrown in with dollops of CONSPIRACY and SUSPENSE and INTRIGUE.
Suffice to say, the show is interesting at the very least but it's also desperately unrealistic. Case in point, I'm fairly sure a car cannot follow in the path of a jet engine without getting blown away and I'm also quite sure that when a plane crashes in a desert, not everyone will survive (all of them are dead by the end of second episode though).
Some of the acting can be a bit on the wooden side and some of the plotlines are yet to convince but the opening two episodes have laid a good foundation for what will hopefully be a show that develops as it goes on.
The true secret of the successful sitcom is longevity and it's a secret that the British comedy scene has largely failed to crack. The number of British sitcoms to remain consistently top quality past about four series is depressingly few in number compared to their American counterparts.
For one reason or another, British sitcoms do not seem to be able to retain their originality and humour for too long, with the notable exception of Peep Show. Sadly, The Inbetweeners seems to be following this trend.
For me, the issue is popularity. Once a show gets 'big-time' it tends to have the habit of taking its core viewers (the ones who made it popular in the first place) for granted whilst it goes off looking for more support by being more outrageous than before. This appears to be the problem with The Inbetweeners.
What started out as a very realistic of depiction of sixth form life (well, it was for me at least), the 'anti-Skins' if you prefer, has become more and more desperate to keep that realism but in doing so it's become something of a parody of itself. The end of old episodes had believable gross-out scenes but increasingly, every episode in this series ends in a gross-out scene that is more and more unrealistic (and usually sees Simon without clothes on).
Meanwhile, there is a distinct lack of character development; Jay is still boasting of his fake sexual exploits (which is a shame after the tender side we saw of him in the final episode of Series 2), Neil is still plodding along with no real character growth and only the occasional awesome one-liner to show for it whilst Will lacks a love interest to chase so he is left being a rather boring character. Simon is the only character to evolve this series, through his relationship with Tara, but he now appears to be back to square one, i.e. loser chasing after the unreachable girl (Carli).
However, that is not to say that the series hasn't been funny. Not by a long stretch. Despite starting off slowly, the series has really come to strength, in terms of humour, in the last two episodes.
The episode of the double cinema date and Neil's 18th is certainly a classic (note Jay's boast before getting on a motorbike "My dad used to drink with Lance Armstrong" and the superb end scene of Will's 'break-up' with Kerry) whilst last night's episode was superb with genuine laugh out loud moments.
It was good to see some of the realism that got me watching the show was back in place again and Simon's "tactical wank" and failure to get wood was simply amazingly funny. And how can you forget the scene on the doorstep of Tara's sister house, with Will explaining why he won't be going to Warwick Uni and why Simon and Tara are really at the house. Painful but hugely humorous.
Overall, it will be interesting to see what the last two episodes bring to the party. Hopefully they will be set us up well for a strong fourth series and not a renewal of the initial slow decline.
Well, today was my first day as a proper out-of-town to the capital commuter. Reading to Teddington via Twickenham. Alright, it's hardly Soho or the City or Fleet Street but it's a start. Besides, FourFourTwo magazine is the biggest publication I've worked at in my fledgling career (and I include the last issue of Pugwash's massive distribution in that).
Being a person that has never really lived before, the amount of times I've been to London can be counted on the fingers of one hand, even if said hand had once been put through some kind of farm equipment and was left without the full complement of digits.
As a result, I'm still rather new to the whole working in London thing and so some things still raffle baffle or amuse my simple, less urban mind.
Firstly, fold-up bicycles. ALOL. Has fashion and environmental consciousness ever been so further apart? They look like trombones when folded up and paper imitations of bicycles when unfolded. And the smug look on their owners faces? Bugger off. I can save the environment by not looking like a twat. It's called walking and it's free. Jog on, so to speak.
Secondly, and this is more a public transport in general kind of thing, why can't there be lanes in railway stations, like motorway lanes. For example, you can have old couple, slow walking man on phone and tourist on the slower lane, then fast walkers in the middle lane and people running to catch their trains or "VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO RUN EVERYWHERE BECAUSE THEY ARE SO IMPORTANT" in the outside lane. Simples, n'est pas?
Thirdly, working on your lunch break. This used to be an alien concept to me, much like having sex with your socks on or watching a show with Fearne Cotton in it. Sadly, and thankfully, only working during my lunch hour has now become familiar to me. Well, I've done it toady but I don't like it!
Lastly, the token man running for a train. Usually a source of amusement for me, not today. Today, it was me. I ran and I ran, bulldozing women with shopping on the way as I went, like a sweaty hippo in a green hoodie.
Oh how things can change. Even in a day.
