Buffy Redux

It can be a strange experience to re-visit something after a number of years - a favourite book, film or television programme.

I first saw Buffy on tv about ten years or so ago, and we've been watching it again recently starting from the beginning and getting through a couple of episodes a night. I was surprised both by how much I remembered and also by the details that I'd forgotten. The characters are engaging, the dialogue is snappy and occasionally very funny, the fights are all pretty good and the plots (even the monster of the week ones) well worth watching. OK, so it all gets a bit emo and angst ridden in places (particularly in the latter half of season 2) and some of the special effects and prosthetics are a bit on the shonky side (but some are frankly amazing on a tv budget), but the two part season finale 'Becoming' had me on the metaphorical edge of my seat the other night (even if David Boreanaz's Oirish accent in the opening prologue is a crime against humanity). Good stuff, and on to season 3 tonight I think.

I also picked up GTA: San Andreas again after a hiatus of four or five years and was very pleased to find it was as good as I remembered. OK, so some things are sorely missed such as the cover and combat mechanics of GTA IV, and the sat nav directions but I can still find my way back to Grove Street by following the old familiar landmarks (take the turning after Ammunation, then down past Glen Park, cut through the back alleys, turn right at the train tracks and then left at the Binco's on the corner). I got through the first act with its depressing faux Gangsta plot line in around a day's play, so that I could head out into the world beyond Los Santos and enjoy driving a truck along the back roads listening to country and western music on K-Rose, base jumping off a mountain, riding a BMX bike through the woods, knocking over liquor stores in rural towns, chasing rednecks on quad bikes and generally raising Cain. Is a GTA IV : San Andreas too much to hope for?