A quick look back at my television and film highlights of 2005:

Television

• The Bill - As entertaining as ever. The live episode rocked socks.
• Doctor Who - Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.
• Extras - Provided some great laughs. (And Kate Winslet talked dirty!)
• Funland - So gripping that I ended up watching the whole series in one sitting.
• Lost - Brilliant. Although some answers wouldn’t go amiss.
• My Life in Film - A fine little treat, this. A second series please!
• Neighbours - Some very unNeighbours storylines this year, but still highly addictive. Lance & co returned briefly too.

Films

• Batman Begins - Probably the best Batman film to date.
  (Note: “Probably”.)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Very British. Very funny. I liked.
• The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse - Not what I expected at all, but excellent all the same.
• Sin City - Beautiful. Merciless.
• Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - I knew there was good in you.
• Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - Some awful taglines, but a cracking masterpiece of a film.
• War of the Worlds - Everyone who says that Tim Robbins’ scenes ruin the film is wrong. WotW was the bees knees.

And what I’m looking forward to in 2006…

Television

• The Bill - (Kinda goes without saying.)
• Doctor Who - Oh yes!
• Eleventh Hour – A series of investigative thrillers set in the constantly shifting world of contemporary science. And starring Patrick Stewart. Count me in.
• Life on Mars - A present-day bobby awakes in the 1970’s after being knocked down by a car. Intriguing.
• Neighbours - There is an unbelievably shocking storyline ahead. (Ask and I’ll tell you; I know someone on set.)
• Torchwood - A spin-off of Doctor Who. That’s sure to be good.

Films

• Ice Age 2: The Meltdown - The teaser on the Robots DVD shows that this film is going to be as amazing as the first.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest - Quite simply because it’s the sequel to the excellent The Curse of the Black Pearl.
• Red Dwarf: The Movie - For the love of god, please someone fund this!
• Superman Returns - The trailer looks great. And let’s face it, anything is better than Superman IV.

Not that tele and films are everything, of course.

I’ve just done something really stupid - punched myself in the face whilst running up the stairs. 2006 can only get better.

A great idea for a site redesign I have. The only bugger is it relies on having some actual, you know… content.

That all sounded incredibly Welsh when I read it back, boyo.

Talks are apparently underway to prevent the Christmas holiday being publicly referred to as “Christmas” - because it’s politically incorrect. The replacement being “the festive season”, naturally.

Despite the fact I can’t see how this is going to be enforced, how ludicrous does it sound? Yeah, yeah - not everyone is Christian. But if that’s the case, is it fair to assume that non-Christians won’t get a holiday - because they have no cause for celebration?

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That probably reads really ignorant and insensitive of other religions (Judaism jumps immediately to mind because of Hanukkah). I simply don’t know enough about any religion to talk about it properly. But I’m sure you’ll get what I mean - about all this political correctness going too far.

“World of Calendars Limited makes no representations or warranties about the accuracy, completeness of suitability for any purpose of the information contained in this calendar.”

What?! That’s ridiculous. Obviously they’ve got to cover their own backs, but most people rely on calendar makers to at least get the dates right. Accuracy should be a given.

Credit where credit’s due, though: Their Red Dwarf calendar is great.

The January sales have started already. Easter Eggs will be on sale by the end of the week, I’m sure.

Today has been rather good. Besides the obvious greatness of a fine Christmas dinner - and being rewarded by Sandy Claws for good behaviour - I managed to pull out that bit of Bombay Mix from my gum first thing this morning. Only it wasn’t a bit of Bombay Mix, it was a SHARD OF PLASTIC - from where I know not.

I’ve beaten my previous score on Tetris. How have I only just discovered this game?

I think I’ve got a bit of Bombay Mix lodged in my gum. Not between my teeth - actually in the gum. It hurts.

Look who’s laughing now, eh?