Ah, the holiday weekend television marathon conundrum. I love television marathons -- everything is better in marathon format -- even understanding it's a means to giving everybody the day off. I must choose one and only one, since the principle of the marathon is violated once the channel is changed. But poking around I find I have a difficult decision. A Star Trek marathon would win instantly, but SciFi doesn't seem to run those anymore. They've got The Outer Limits instead (the newer ones, which mostly suck, and which I've mostly seen). Meanwhile, the often reliable History Channel is showing its excellent Modern Marvels program, which is about engineering feats and disasters; but today they seem limited to the disasters, and I'm happier with the feats. Comedy Central has Mad TV all day long. ...no. Spike has a CSI marathon. They must be paying The Who a ton of cash -- I can't see Pete Townshend allowing his songs to be cut up like that otherwise. Discovery has American Chopper, which appears to be some kind of reality program, so no. A&E has Cold Case Files, something to do with true crime; USA has their Monk franchise, which I've seen once or twice and don't hate (Tony Shalhoub is a pretty good actor); TNT has Law and Order (which makes me mostly sleepy); and TBS has a Seinfeld marathon (aint nothing wrong there, but it's on like three times a day anyway, and reminds me of late afternoon work days, so I guess I'll pass). Oh and there's the Jerry Lewis telethon (which I guess is a species of marathon). Which is pitiful and terrifying, so no.

Ah well, I'll have to make my own marathon. I've still got about 10 episodes of Dead Like Me I haven't watched....

Usually I just get a blanket and drape it over my head, but it was inadequate -- the voices outside wouldn't relent, all that stomping around! So in an effort to amplify my internal I put up a tent in the living room, hammered iron stakes into the floor, crawled inside. But the walls were too thin. They were like paper! So I reinforced the tent with concrete, built a bunker around it there in the living room, sealed myself up inside. Then, then, while safe inside the safe of concrete suddenly the sounds of ambitious monkeys roaming around on the bunker's perimeter, one of them breathing heavily (Beefy Lou!), and another clattering and rummaging about in the manner of a mad scientist scavenging about for spare parts (Dr. Jones!). But while contemplating another wall between me and the monkeys (necessary to have two) I'm struck by the powerful Principle of Egress: the final measure of the value of a place being the ease with which one can get out of it.... Oh humanity!