I hate the way the world works when it comes down to special features on DVDs. I mean, for the love of Bob, why does it have to be so complicated.

I mean, I heard the theme tune for Xena: Warrior-Princess the other day and got a hankering for seeing some of the series. I loved that show. Lucy Lawless as Xena – goddess. Gabriel – mini-goddess. Callisto – ah… drool central. What’s not to love about the show?

Anyway, I visited Amazon.co.uk and found the complete DVD boxed set of Xena. However, the damned thing has next to nothing in terms of special features. Whereas, if you roam over the ocean into Amazon.com, the Region 1 version of Xena apparently drips in Special Features.

But, it isn’t just Xena… a lot of DVDs come packed with features in the States and arrive vanilla-style in the UK. I daresay it’s down to legalities, copyright, royalties or whatever – but, why can’t the damn media organisations pull their fingers out and do something about it. They could create one edition of something, release in individual Region-specific versions and make a killing – without having the fans up in arms about what their version does or doesn’t have included with it. Surely that means they spend less money creating the product and make more money from sales, right? Or maybe I’m trying too hard to be sensible.

Sometimes work can feel like you’re a kid in the ball pit looking out through the safety netting to the grown-ups. As you watch, you see they’re not interested in you and are having an earnest discussion about something. If you left the play area and asked, they’d probably tell you it was a chat about grown-up stuff and you should go back and play with your friends.

I’m sure it isn’t intentional, but whenever a big change occurs that is exactly how it feels. The more significant the change, the longer the earnest chat and the more time you get to spend in the netting… Despite the fact you’re ready for your Kids Meal now and all this bouncing around is making you feel a bit sick to be honest.

It’ll pass, I know; but in the meantime you’re left in a state if limbo. You don’t want to disturb the adults again and tell them you’re hungry now because they might take it the wrong way. However, you REALLY will be sick if you have to stay in the ball pit a moment longer.

I’ve just been watching a new episode of Bones, and realized it isn’t very good. Oh, I like the concept well enough, the characters within the ensemble, the witty banter, and more than one of the actresses. However, I find the stories deeply unsatisfying.

If I watch a detective series, I want to stand a cat-in-hell’s chance of solving the crime myself, with or before the characters. I have found, of late, that too many episodes have murderers who were at best extras with a fleeting influence on the story or hinge on evidence so flimsy as to be laughable. In a recent episode where a guy died in a safari reserve, it turned out the killer was a nurse at the victim’s hospital we heard in passing 10 minutes into the story and then not again until the conclusion. I might need to review the content of the episode, but I’m sure there was nothing that would have allowed you to pin the crime on her from facts gleaned in the story. Really, I could be wrong, but if I’m not feeling satisfied, then it isn’t really working as planned. In the last episode, they listed dozens of substances that might have left a false positive on a forensic test, then latched onto pond scum – which linked the crime to one of three characters… Despite the fact one of the other substances being cleaning fluid. Daft!

I may just stick to reading the books… They seem to make more sense.

Rupert Galvin… Philip Glenister… Demons… American accent… WHY???

Seriously, Philip has a perfectly decent accent all of his own. I don’t mean DCI Hunt’s gruff tones, I means his own accent. So, why make him speak with a faux American accent, likely to put me off watching the series?

I love my pets as much as the next pet-lover (our family includes three cats, four gerbils, three hamsters, a fish, and a sea anenome), but… I can’t help feeling two Fire Engines coming out to rescue a lost hamster represents a massive waste of manpower and tax-payers money.

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