I missed posting yesterday, but I did work out. I also worked out today. The net result? I gained two full pounds. I keep saying that weight loss is an emotional bear trap. Well, today I very much feel like I might as well just gnaw my leg off. At least then I'd lose a little weight. I am extremely frustrated right now. In slightly better news, I edged my new (used) treadmill up to running speed today, and it seemed to hold up fine. I mean, I surely didn't, I ran like an asthmatic smoker with a canon ball tied to my leg, but I did run. So I guess I'll take the small favors.

At least the Sapphire & Steel story I watched was truly excellent.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment 4 a.k.a. The Man Without a Face, Episodes 1 - 4

You know the classic René Magritte painting The Son of Man? It's the one with the man in a suit and wearing a bowler hat, whose face is completely obscured? This story is pretty much that painting come to life (minus the apple).

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice apple

The entire story takes place inside a building with a disused curio shop on the main floor, and then some apartments in the upper floors. It has creepy sepia-toned kids appearing and disappearing, all of whom look like they were lifted right out of an old black & white photograph. Mostly because they were.The building owner and one resident mysteriously disappeared several months earlier, and the one remaining resident is a young woman who doesn't care to ask any questions about the situation as long as she has a place to live.

And then there is the new landlord, the titular Man Without a Face. No, not Mel Gibson. This story aired a dozen years before that Oscar-bait train wreck. He is some kind of entity that was trapped in a photograph in the mid-19th century and has somehow gained the ability to travel between any existing photographs, to pull people out of them, and to put other people in them. And, as the photo at the top of this post demonstrates, he has no freaking face.

Similar to the Railway Station story, this plays as a ghost story that isn't a ghost story, and it milks its premise for every creepy possibility. By the climax of the story both Sapphire and Steel have been trapped inside a picture and it seems absolutely impossible for them to find any way to escape. (Spoiler alert: they do escape.)

I absolutely loved this story. It shows just how much can be accomplished with just a couple of standing sets, a handful of actors, and only a very few special effects. In fact, I would go as far as to say that if you are looking for a good non-gory scary story to watch this Halloween season, this is a great choice.

Tomorrow I start the six-part story that makes up the third series of this show, and I am a little trepidatious. It is the only story in the entire series that is not written by series creator P.J. Hammond, and I am wondering how well another writer will be able to maintain his style of creepy weirdness. We shall see.

STATS:

Episode(s): Sapphire & Steel: Assignment 4 a.k.a. The Man Without a Face, Episodes 1 & 2
Steps Walked: 6,724 today, 5,108,533 total
Distance Walked: 3.02 miles today, 2,630.47 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 0 today, 12,458 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 7,865 total
Weight: 276.26 lbs (five day moving average), net change -31.04 lbs

Episode(s): Sapphire & Steel: Assignment 4 a.k.a. The Man Without a Face, Episodes 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 6,572 today, 5,115,105 total
Distance Walked: 3.24 miles today, 2,633.71 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 0 today, 12,458 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 7,865 total
Weight: 276.74 lbs (five day moving average), net change -30.56 lbs