The opposite of warm milk

Current mood: so very awake

"No, no, no, no, don't stop, please don't stop!!!" I yell in short, gasping breaths (my neighbors probably don't appreciate this)...

...at my television.

So, I'm a HUGE! fan of the library. My library, besides being huge, with easily accessible hours, well-stocked with obscure authors that only I seem to like and dusty-yet-comfy chairs, also has a rather extensive audio-visual collection. When I discovered that the library not only has CDs and movies for my borrowing pleasure, but also a wide selection of yesterday and today's popular TV series on DVD, it was a defining moment in my choice of entertainment. Why read when I can watch TV! With no commercials!!! Whole seasons at once!!! In fact, why sleep?! All TV all the time!

Now I get to relive whole chunks of the good years of The West Wing whenever I feel like it. I'm free to watch the early days of Alias, back when Run, Lola Run-Lite was the best thing on TV (it was after Buffy). I can watch the BBC's Pride and Prejudice miniseries straight through and no one can do a thing about it!
The way it usually works is that I'll browse the TV section for interesting and available titles. At some point, Season 1, Disk 1 (you have to do these things in an orderly fashion) will be in stock and I'll start a TV show that I managed to avoid for years. A few hours later I'll either turn it off (HA!), or be instantly addicted. Then it's a furious race to see how fast I can burn through x number of seasons. Note: the "play all" button is one of the most dangerous time-suckages known to mankind. Seriously!

Right now, I'm working my way rather quickly through All about Kiefer, aka 24. Now, I can't tell you how I'd feel about this show if I had to watch it in installments, waiting a week for story development, and interrupted by commercials. But I can tell you that, in its pure, commercial-less, continuous-running (the library stocks most TV discs on 2-disc packs, which generally means 6-8 episodes!!!) form, this show is pure CRACK! It's absurdly exciting - like hopping up and down, yelling at my TV, clutching-my-hands, adrenaline-inducing, Wicked Awesomeness! I'm one that easily succumbs to shameless manipulation by the media (ummmm, yes I want that Wendy's bacon mushroom nacho burger, and look, I can get one at the drive-up window, even late! Which means I must have it RIGHT NOW!) and the TPTB on this show really know what they're doing. So far (I'm at the beginning of season 2), the writers have totally made me their b*tch. Once I start a disc, I CANNOT stop until I've run out of episodes. Oh, look, it's 5 AM on a school night, but Just. One. More!!!

And when it's all over, I yell at the TV because I don't want it to end (see above)... I must know what happens!!! Then, with heart-pumping action still flashing in my brain, I try to go to sleep. If I manage to fall asleep - not at all a given - I usually have weird spy dreams, in which I'm always the one being chased (paging Dr. Freud!).

I don't think I could handle this series in real time. It would drive me insane. I'll just have to wait until it comes out on DVD!