Sneak Preview of New Season of Dexter

[The Newswire]

Like a lot of people, I went through a brief phase where I read various serial killer books. I never got the whole thing of glorifying serial killers, however, as most of the real life variety appear to be enormous losers. The serial killer concept is of someone...

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[helcyon]

I really really hate pretty much all of the actual serial killers I've read about and would have no problem personally executing most of them. Many seem to be quite aware, at least normally intelligent and often cunningly sophisticated in their horrible sadistic predation.

That being said my bookshelf is full of books on the subject. I don't want to know too many gruesome details - just an overview - and I feel satisfaction when I read they have been nabbed. I used to like reading them before bed and never once had had spooky dreams or anything although people used to wonder why I had such a fascination probably. I think it's a fairly common fascination anyway.

The people that write these books, detailing case after case, sometimes seem to eventually fall into a state of black humour which I find a guilty pleasure in. It's like "... and yeah here's another creep and what a surprise... you'll never guess but he (she sometimes) inevevitably slides into predictable monsterism". I'm guilty because in order to"enjoy" the read I think I am deliberately not considering the victims' point of view too much because considering that is not overly enjoyable (unless you are a sick, antisocial fuck and I would happily do you in myself in that case... no qualms).

So books seem to not disturb me however last month I was in Brisbane for work for a week or two and because I wasn't feeling the best I just holed up in my hotel room night after night (rats... missed opportunity for out-of-town hi-jinks) and watched true crime channels on cable. These shows did actually disturb me a little.

I found myself watching girls walking by themselves late at night ... no not as abduction candidates but because I was out getting Subway or something and had seen so many shows on the subject all in a row that my mind was on the subject. I thought if I memorised details I would be able to help with the investigation should they actually go missing. I know - obsessed, compulsive and illogical... hours of cable TV will do that to you. Maybe because the grave, hyper-serious, gloomy narration of these shows lacked the black humour element and affected me differently.

And then there's Dexter. Now this is a likeable show... plenty of black humour here and in fact there's not a lot of it that isn't black humour in my opinion. Good stuff. I won't be looking at the S3 preview episode (thanks for the offer) unless I properly watch all the preceeding series sequentially. I'm way behind... too unfocussed to watch shows regularly. I'm sure someone has downloaded them all so I'll have a "Dexter-fest" and watch 'em all in a lump. And if I find myself subsequently wandering the streets at night noting number-plates and details of lone females then I'll know that nothing, not even black humour, will save me from the mind-altering effects of TV shows.