Rain, Christmas catchup, TV...

[fajrdrako]

• Went to IKEA. The new IKEA. The IKEA that just opened this month, that's the biggest IKEA in Canada.
  
  Well, it's spiffy. It's nice. Plenty of space everywhere. There were horror stories about crowds, but it wasn't very crowded today. We had a good time browsing - my friends were looking for storage furniture, and I was very impressed by some of it. I particularly liked the Hemnes shelving. Too bad I don't have room for a wardrobe.
  
  
• We stopped at the bright, spacious new IKEA cafeteria and I had my favourite IKEA sandwich: the open-faced shrimp sandwich, and a cinnamon bun, with Higgins & Burke Earl Grey Tea.
  
  
• After we'd been inside for hours, we came out to rain, sleet, and cold, cold weather. In the dark. Reminding me that even though we've very little snow, it really is December.
  
  
• I've been watching some TV lately but haven't had time to talk about it. A few highlights:
  
  
  
  1. Unforgettable - I saw a random episode while wrapping Christmas presents. I quite liked it. I didn't find the protagonist's ability to remember things was played up, or even used particularly dramatically - and didn't Fox Mulder have that same ability? But I enjoyed it; it didn't feel phoney like so many TV cops do, it felt like real people in the story.
     
     
  2. Deadwood, which I saw at a video-party at Tasia's place. We watched the first three (or four>) episodes. Though I wasn't particularly bored, I wasn't enthralled, either, and wouldn't go out of my way to see more. I particularly liked Calamity Jane. I some ways it felt realistic; in other ways it seemed self-consciously contrived, as if was trying too hard for false authenticity. I also really liked Brad Dourif as Doc Cochran.
     
     
  3. Watched episode 2x07 of Lost Girl, the one about the strippers. There was some interesting interaction in it; I liked Lauren's scenes, though the revelation of her secret (and the identity of her girlfriend) was a little unexciting; why build it up as a mystery?
     
     
  4. Saw Castle 4x06, "Demons", the Halloween episode. Enjoyed it. Especially the spookiness. But, but... a few days ago I watched episode 1x01 with lunacy_gal and funkym3485, and noticed how the style has changed. In the first episode, Castle was sharper, sleazier, had a bit of an edge; and Beckett was more of a hardened cop. They've both become nicer, and I liked it better when they had rougher edges.
     
     
  5. Don't we get Christmas specials any more? Or even Christmas episodes of things? Have Halloween episodes taken their place?