I'm in two minds as to whether to buy one when it comes out: it'd be the first time I've gone and bought a piece of exciting hardware on its release, and I'd finally feel like I've joined our wonderful capitalist society after years of idle hippyness. On the other hand, it'd probably be sensible to wait until it's bundled in with a game. But Mario 64 or Wario Ware? Argh, what a choice. I think it's going to have to be both.

In contrast, this month I can just about afford to get my bike wheel fixed and buy a £50 memory stick for my new camera (btw, seriously regretting not spending a bit more and getting one with optical zoom, if anyone out there is thinking of buying a camera. Also, you don't need that many megapixels - 3 is plenty) but even that's touch and go. Seriously need to buy a desk as well - having my PC on the floor by my bed really isn't working.

But enough whinging, on with the show:

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

My sister got me this for Christmas, after remembering me going on about how weird it looked and how much I'd like to see the whole thing. I missed every single episode when it was on a few years back, and when it was released I was only three years old, so didn't appreciate its nuances.

I finished watching series 1 last night (I discovered far too late that watching entire seasons of programmes in one sitting generally ruins them - this is the first time I've watched something at a sensible pace, and it worked).

It is a really odd programme - light, seventies-style sitcom with a very dark storyline and bursts of total hilarity. Leonard Rossiter is great as Reggie Perrin, and two of the supporting actors - John Barron who plays CJ and a really familiar seventies bloke who plays his brother are really, really funny.

There are some horrible moments in the series which make you think about how different TV was back then - Reggie attending his own memorial service in disguise to find that only his family and a handful of work colleagues have turned up; trying to start a new life under a new identity and just ending up back in the same job he was in before. Very dark, very clever stuff. It's exceeded my expectations.

More Vintage BBC

Also got the Stone Tape, an old BBC sci-fi / horror about ghosts being recordings imprinted in stone, and might watch it tonight. I vaguely know it has a Lovecraftian ending where scientists delve deep into a very old rock's recordings and discover the terrifying origins of the universe. Should be good.

Did anyone see any of the MR James season on BBC4 over Christmas? A Warning to the Curious and Whistle and I'll Come to You were brilliant, if very similar.