I'm really glad Terri won Big Brother. Mainly as she is a woman and there have been mainly male winners (and not particularly deserving ones, e.g. 2006 winner Jamie being one of my least favourite). Also, I can relate much more to her these days, as I'm sadly much closer to her 52 years than I am to runner up Rory's 22 years).

Speaking of Rory, he is a great example of why I hate the smart arses like Nobbi and want them evicted. When Gretel used to host BB she used to say "vote to keep in the housemates which make things interesting in the house". I suppose shit-stirrer Nobbi (and those like him in the past, say Paul) do make things "interesting" but what they also do with their domineering Alpha male bullshit behaviour is intimidate other males and keep them "down". Therefore as viewers we don't really get to know people like Rory until they have some breathing room once dicks like Nobbi have been evicted.

Since Nobbi went (and not a minute too soon) Rory has really come out and his personality got a chance to be explored a bit more. And I grew to really like him. I guess he reminded me a great deal of my Big Jay when I first met him almost 16 years ago (sans dreadlocks of course). A great big real Aussie bloke, a little rough round the edges but with a huge heart of gold.

Well, that tells you that I have way too much spare time on hands to think so deeply about shit like that. No wonder I never quite manage to catch up on the real pressing issues in my life.

RIP Big Brother.

I've hated you, I've loved you, I'll miss you.

I keep forgetting to mention how much I love the Big Brother: Big Mouth show with Tony Squires and Rebecca Wilson which screens on Monday nights. It's funny and smart and I think they are trying to talk to people like me (i.e. old folks who watch the show and who should really know better but just want to have a giggle about it). Anyway, I really enjoy it which is why I make an effort to stay up until 9:30 PM (that's right, it's not a mis-print) to watch it. Which means I don't get to bed until after 10:30 pm, sometimes almost 11 - can you believe it??!!

This year it's the best thing about Big Brother. The housemates shit me, as usual. There's hardly anyone in there upon whom I would spit should they be on fire. I don't think Kyle and Jackie O are doing anything great as the eviction hosts on Sunday nights. In fact they are just their insipid best. Kyle is so not controversial, especially face to face, when he always backs down and back-peddles in a major way. He's about as shocking as a cup of tea and a nice biscuit.

Even Friday Night Live, which I still love and look forward to for my major Friday night veg out, has lost something now that the "prize" is so shithouse. Gee, pizza in the "Strategy Room" - woo-bloody-hoo! What strategy? What "prize"? Come on Big Brother, it's too piss weak even for Piss Weak World.

Sorry... I know! I've been a bad bad blogger and there's just no excuse. So I'll pretend like nothing's happened, OK.

Life continues to flow like the uncontrolled and uncontrollable fast forward hurtle towards death that we all know it to be. I blink and another week or month has gone by. The children get taller and meaner. The carpet has more wear and tear. The washing machine never seems to stop.

But inbetween I do fit in cuddles and giggles with the monsters who rule our house. I manage a chat, a laugh and even the occasional dinner with great friends. The last few weeks I've even managed to drag myself to our in-house gym for a half hour, early morning workout. Big Jay and I continue to fight for our sanity breaks, paramount amongst them our weekly doses of Underbelly (WHAT are these people??!!), Dexter (Season Three better be round the corner or I may implode) and Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

The Swans are central to our lives again (March through September!). It's never easy being a footy fan and they are keeping us on our toes. Last week's match against the Kangaroos was a brain-popping 64-64 tie. This Sunday's home game against Western Bulldogs should be a big one. It's at the SCG and we're hanging out to try the new-ish gourmet burger place which opened in Oxford Street last year.

So onto the big news of the week. BIG BROTHER 08. You're all aware of my mental illness in regard to BB so you'll all be aware of how fucking excited I am. We got started last night with the "new" BB - Kyle and Jackie O hosting (I'm sad and not sad to say goodbye to Gretel, probably her time had come). I'm not a fan of Kyle's but I'm willing to give it a go. So far I'm happy with the diversity of housemates. At least they're not all dumb, young, pert wannabes. Some are actual nutty opinionated normal looking people like the rest of us.

Without knowing any better I'll say that I like Travis (the one with the annoying voice and optimistic personality), Rina (the fiesty, little lady), Dixie (the Aboriginal mental health worker), Saxon (the fully nutbag alien believer) and Terri (the Pauline Hanson loving grandma). Mainly because these people seem to have some life experience, some strong personalities and a bit of get up and go. The others are young, (mostly) attractive and too cool for school. Of course I'm also super excited about Friday Night Live. Bring it on!

Old news now. Aleisha won BB. That's cool. A girl, a nice-ish girl, is much better than a brain-dead buffoon like last year's Jamie.

I did want dear Zach to win and I was glad it was close.

But to be honest I feel like I've been let out of jail. The daily BB addiction is gone and I feel free as a bird. Lucky Oz Idol is only a couple of times a week, otherwise I'd be replacing one reality tv addiction with another. At least we all like Oz Idol and Sunday nights are a fun family time (as opposed to my secretive BB watching in the bedroom).

Speaking of Oz Idol, I'm glad Dicko is back this year because Kyle is a moron who knows as much about music as I do about astro physics. His comments are pathetic to say the least. I know Dicko is mean but he often says it like it is and knows his music. Let's see what 2007 brings.

The two Mr Blands were evicted from BB last night.

I'm sure both Zoran and Joel are very nice boys but they added as much interest to the show as the wallpaper. This obviously helped to get them through as far as they got but enough is enough and I am glad they have been shown the door.

ZACH TO WIN!

Michelle on Big Brother is insane. That'a strong word but it doesn't go far enough to describe this woman. At first I thought she was good value because she was so up front and didn't just bitch behind people's back, she bitched straight to their often stunned faces.

However she has proven herself to just be plain, garden variety nuts. An aggressive argumentative mad-as-a-cut-snake frustrating foul mouthed moronic nutbag.

During tonight's episode I could barely hold back from launching myself at the tv and trying to put my hands through the screen to choke the living daylights out of this mad cow.

Please, in the name of all that's good and sane in this universe, let her be evicted next week. It's bad enough thinking she'll be in there for another seven days. She MUST GO! I can only feel sorry, so very very very sorry, for her family on the outside. If I was one of them the headline would read "Murder Suicide Family Tragedy!".

Also, in BB news. I love Zach. He's now my favourite and I want him to be my gay boyfriend SO BAD! Rob from last year's BB, you're history. You may be 80s hip and have an acid tongue but Zach is so much camper and cuter and funnier.

It's so not fair! Why can't Zach be my gay boyfriend!!!

Ding dong the other witch is dead! Well, the warlock actually. Andrew is gone from BB, another sour character who took himself way too seriously.

I liked him to begin with but towards the end he was doing my head in.

[The little voices in my head are telling me that I hate Emma and Andrew so much because they are somewhat like moi! NOOOOOOO! Say it isn't so.]

Ding Dong The Witch Is DEAD!! Whooppee. Well, she may not be dead but she's been evicted and that's the Big Brother equivalent.

Emma has been evicted and all is well in my BB universe.

The cherry(ies) on last night's cake were the two new intruders - Michelle (the pint-sized female equivalent of Travis) and Zach (the campest camp camper you're ever likely to see - he makes corsets for a living and wore one underneath his spiffy white suit, all of which he sewed with his own fair hands). [ I loved last year's camp offering Rob. I so wished (and continue to wish) that he was my gay boyfriend.]

Oh Joy! Bring on the new BB dynamics - now that the evil witch is gone I'm hoping for something bigger and better in there - and hoping that my hoping is not in vain but fearing (going by many years of past experience) that it is.

I have been too bored with Big Brother to post much about it. Of course I've been watching it religiously but it really is just a bad habit and while it's better for my health than smoking or drinking (if we're talking bad habits) but it's not great for my mental health.

Most of the people on BB make me yawn.

Currently only two inspire strong(ish) feelings of any kind.

1) Travis. He's fan-bloody-tanstic. He's a walking Australian-isms dictionary and everything that comes out of his mouth needs to be recorded into some sort of time capsule of Australian language. While I would certainly kill myself if I had to live with someone who spoke like that all the time, I eagerly await his pearls of wisdom each night. Travis to win!!

2) Emma. I want her to die. Painfully. Immediately, if not sooner.

More than enough said about BB. Bring on Friday Night Live.

I'm watching Monday night eviction on BB.

Travis deserves to win right now for nominating Emma because she hides toilet paper which makes him very anxious when he has to "take the kids on the waterslide". Isn't that the best damn Aussie-ism that you've ever heard!

That man is the Oz-iest human being I have ever set eyes on. Beauty bonza mate!

There's no better Mother's Day gift than Bodie and TJ being shafted from Big Brother. A happy day finished off with the ultimate gift. Jeez, I hated those two. If only Emma would get struck by lightening... that would really be icing on the cake.

I've also done a back flip on Demet. She seemed cool but has turned out to be a prize shithead.

Down with Emma and Demet!!!

Kate was booted off Big Brother last [Sunday] night. The first for 2007. I don't care. She's a weird bird, no doubt about it. Totally loco really.

Last week BB brought out the tired old plastic baby exercise for the housemates. Nothing new. Kate's reaction was new. She came out with her story of having a still born baby 18 months ago. Lots of tears, threats of leaving BB and general shananigins. A lot of teary statements about "never getting over it".

Call me a cold hearted bitch but I don't know how a woman can go through such a horrific experience (I miscarried very early in my pregnancy almost 20 years ago and it almost killed me - psychologically - at the time) and then within a few months apply to go on a shallow tv program like Big Brother. Let alone how she could actually go on it only 18 months later.

There's a part of me that's sympathetic to her pain and loss and a part of me that's like "what the...?".

Which brings me to more cases of "what the...?". Like the Bodie and TJ "relationship". Like Emma and the whole "cool" gang.

Bodie and TJ have been nominated for evicition this week and Gretel was on the radio yesterday saying that the "interesting" people (like these two mental giants, presumably) should be kept in and the "boring" people voted off. I'm sorry, if people like Bodie and TJ are interesting well give me boring any time. Also, my theory is that when the interesting (i.e. totally self obsessed, loud-mouthed, dumb as dog shit) people are evicted it leaves more room in the house for the so-called boring to people to come out of their shell and reveal what in the past has proven to be a much deeper, really more interesting personality.

And if you're wondering why I'm bothering to think so deeply about this tripe, well, yes I am really that shallow. Surprise!

Must go the Big Brother "Golden Key" special is starting.

It needs to be said that I am fully into Big Brother mode. Best of all Friday Night Live is back and it really is the bestest way to relax on a Friday night. I wish they'd let you hire out the set for a party. I would so love to do some of those challenges, maybe not the eating horrible things or putting your hands into tanks of snakes/spiders/assorted creepy crawlies but the ones where you put on silly costumes and have to do obstacle courses. I know I would be so very bad at it but it just seems like so much fun.

I really am a woman of simple needs (and some would say a simple mind).

A brief Big Brother 07 wrap up to kick things off. Oh THE JOY!

As of this evening I have to say I'm fairly impressed with the little twists and turns BB has introduced. The White Room. Mr X. The Relationship Couple. Nothing mind blowing but with some potential. I'm especially intrigued by where the Mr X thing may go. I live in hope.

In alphabetical order:

Aleisha: Blonde, dumb, potentially cute. No opinion right now.

Andrew: Firefighter, seems nice/cute, relationship with Simone Warne aka Hayley very disappointing.

Bodie: Idiot. Me no like.

Emma: Invisible so far. No opinion.

Hayley: aka Simone Warne (the resemblence is scary). Shitting me from minute one.

Jamie: Love him, love him. Please don't end up being a needy, clingy loser.

Joel: Funny, so far so good. Potential for annoying me above average. Time will tell.

Kate: Flatlining. Ugly make up, ugly clothes, no obvious personality.

Rebecca: Hmmm, she looks amazingly like Heather (Dooce) and is a Mormon (like Heather was). Spooky. Was terrifingly bubbly and enthusiastic on night one (Twister? no thanks). However I'm growing to like her more and more.

Susannah: Newby. Just voted in on night 2. Kinda cute but potential for shitting me quite high.

Thomas: Tall (I like). Cute (but not my style). Real estate agent (Yikes!). No strong opinion yet.

TJ: Hmmm. Don't feel anything right now.

Travis: Thumbs up so far. He seems like a combination of Jamie (BB06) and Paul (from a couple of years back) but with all the shit removed. Very Oz. I'm finding him very likeable so far.

Zoran: Another newby, just came in tonight. Seems nice enough.

Billy: aka Mr X. Something likeable about him. He's Hayley's ex and has been flown in from Canada for the occasion. His job is to stir things up with her and Andrew. Don't know what will happen there but I kind of like him for himself.

There is a definite and overwhelming excess of BLONDES. Really, almost more blondeness than I can sensibly tolerate.

Then there's the whole White Room thing. Interesting but I hate everyone in there except possibly Demet (pronounced Demi?). She is a belly dancer and seems a little interesting (which isn't hard next to the other three cardboard cut outs she is up against).

More pithy BB analysis soon. [Hey it's my blog, I can call it pithy if I like. You can call it pathetic, that's your prerogative.]

The first episode of Big Brother is less than TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!

I don't know if I can cope with the building excitement levels.

Sadly it will be all down hill after that initial thrill. Isn't life just like that!

Sarah (and the incessant advertising) has reminded me that Big Brother 07 is just around the corner. Oh, bliss!

Bring it ON!