I (semi-unexpectedly) spent a lot of time over the weekend catching up on TV shows and playing video games. There was also some reading involved. Yeah, I’d had other plans, but was far too wiped out from the week to actually follow through on any of them. So, a couch weekend it was.

During that time, I was happy to notice a distinct lack of consistent formula in a lot of shows I’m currently watching. Sure, they draw on all the typical tropes of their respective genres, but they also play with them a bit at times. Every episode, though, is different enough that I don’t get bored watching more than two or three episodes in a row (which is something I can’t say about shows like House or, sometimes, NCIS… both shows I love, but can’t do marathons of). It was also a pleasant surprise to see some mediocre shows take a step up in quality (The 100 and Star Crossed are notable here)… and some really good shows (like Arrow and Hannibal) just take things to entirely new levels of awesome.

In a not unrelated vein, I also finished re-reading Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show. It’s the first time I’ve read the whole thing since I first tore through it around 1990. I’d forgotten how truly poetic Barker’s work can be and that, even among the horror, violence, and gore of a world in upheaval, there’s still a solid note of hope and clear examples of love and faith throughout. I was also reminded just how influential his work is to my worldview.