Countdown to (Potential!) AWESOMENESS!

Putting aside my prickliness and various complaints about jerks on the internets: LESS THAN ONE HOUR UNTIL GAME OF THRONES!!!!!

Sorsha and my Gentleman Caller are coming over to flail with me! Well. More likely, Sorsha and I will flail with glee while GC and my mom roll their eyes.

It's gonna be GREAT.

Do you have Game of Thrones plans?

YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

So, I'm sitting at my desk this morning, sipping my coffee, listening to NPR, and organizing the day's events and I get a text from my most amiable geeky companion Sorsha: "JULY 12TH RELEASE FOR A DANCE WITH DRAGONS!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And then there were more texts and later, when I got home, tweets from Dan Mac and others and the entire internet was like, wall-to-wall GEORGE R. R. MARTIN. It was AWESOME.

I'm so excited! I did this and then this and then this is what my office looked like all day today. (Instead of Doctor Who geeks, picture me doing a happy dance and a lot of confused social service workers. Good times.) And I know, I don't deserve to be excited. I only just read A Game of Thrones and am only halfway through A Clash of Kings. I haven't SUFFERED like the rest of you. I am aware of my privilege, ok? But my wait for the last two books will be just as long as yours now. WE WILL PINE TOGETHER.

OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS. I just went looking for the new trailer for the miniseries that went live during the Academy Awards and found a NEW NEW TRAILER! Holy shit, you guys! It's like today is GEEK CHRISTMAS. The Wall! A glimpse of the Others! MORE JAIME. Um. Soooo...Robb? Kind of hot, yeah?

I can't waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait!!!

Mini Review of Book-In-Progress: "A Game of Thrones"

Sorsha has been after me for months in her gentle way (No, really. She doesn't pressure. She knows better. Almost no one manipulates me better than her) to start reading the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Game of Thrones.

I've had the damn book for over a year. I bought it at a used book store when she first started talking about it and I'd heard about the series from my fellow geeks online. Mostly, they were bitching about the next book not being out. And then Neil Gaiman told them to shut up about it and that was fun. So, I picked up the book, took one look at all the characters with the crazy names and put it back down. I'd look at it longingly on occasion, but went on to other things. But I really wanted to get it read before the HBO miniseries with the AWESOME cast came on. In April. I think I've got time. But you know. Time gets away from you. And then there was this preview.

Yeah. I need to get on that.

So, I started it this week. DETERMINED.

After numerous texts to Sorsha (And pouncing on her at work), visits to the IMDB page (Sometimes it helps if I can get mental pictures of the characters in my mind) and the Wikipedia page (Careful there if you're spoiler-averse) and I've mostly got my brain wrapped around the thirty or so primary and secondary characters and the "rules" of the world they live in.

And it's so fucking awesome. It's like a really mean, dirty (Both in sexual terms and like, grime) Middle Earth. Everyone is complex and layered and morally ambiguous. My favorite character is still Daenerys, nicknamed Dany, a thirteen-year-old deposed princess married off by her asshole brother to a warlord so he (The asshole brother) can build his army and get his throne back. She's terrified (And who wouldn't be?) but eventually comes to like her scary husband (Jason Momoa is playing him in the mini, if that tells you anything) and, more importantly, realizes that she needs to toughen the fuck up if she's going to survive. And she DOES and it's AWESOME. Also, that picture of her from IMDB immediately made me think of the Jungle Queen from The Maxx. 90s nostalgia!

So, reading continues and I need to order the next three books off of Amazon. WOOOO!!!

P.S. Three guesses as to why I used the Flowers in the Attic tag. Hee.

So...What Have You Been Up To Lately?

Who, me? Well, lately I've been a bit busy. Sid and Andie had their third child at the end of last month! Another boy who we will call New Baby because that is what his older brothers Conan and Mothra call him. And I find that HILARIOUS. So, I was out there visiting them. We had fun playing Wii late at night. As ever, both Sid and Andie TROUNCED me at Tetris. But I railed them both at Mario Bros. so that was a good time. And they made me watch several episodes of Blackadder and I fell in LOVE with the show and um...Rowan Atkinson. No one told me that he is stone-cold foxy in the second series of that show. It was quite shocking!

Mame has some delightful news for you all, but I'll let her tell you when she gets a chance!

I've been devouring movies, television and books lately. Here's a quick round-up (Another blog post concerning my most recent obsession will follow shortly):

• Iron Man 2: loved it. I thought it was better than the first film! I'm not notably a Scarlet Johansson fan but that scene where she walks down that hallway, KICKING ASS almost had me in tears at it's awesomeness.
  
• The Ghost Writer: it was fine. A nifty, well-crafted little thriller. Ewan McGregor showed his ass, AS USUAL. If you can square it with your conscience to go see a Roman Polanksi film, check it out.
  
• Twilight and New Moon with the RiffTrax commentary. OH MY GOD. HILARITY. I highly, highly recommend them. I watched it with Sorcha and a bunch of friends and my stomach hurt from laughing.
• Just read the latest Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead in the Family and it was awesome as usual. Could have been filthier though. Alas. I can't wait for the next season of the show.
  
• I'm currently reading an awesome zombie book called Feed by Mira Grant. Love, love, LOVE it. I'm about halfway through and if you like zombies, and really. Who doesn't? Check it out.
  
• Treme, Justified and Doctor Who continue to be great.
• Michael Sheen continues to be hot.

What have you been watching/reading/devouring lately?

Mini-Television Review: "Treme"

I watched Treme, the new David Simon show about post-Katrina New Orleans. IT WAS MOST EXCELLENT. I was pretty sure it would be, of course, since Simon did The Wire and that's the best show in the history of ever.

It's got a great cast: John Goodman, Kim Dickens, Khandi Alexander, Melissa Leo, Steve Zahn and from The Wire, Wendell Pierce (Bunk) and my favorite, Clarke Peters (Freamon). And! AND! If you saw Spike Lee's documentary, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (And if you haven't, you SHOULD. It's a fantastic film. I am not a huge Lee fan but this is superb), remember that awesome lady, Phyllis Montana-LeBlanc? She's in the show! I was THRILLED to discover that when I was listening to an NPR interview last week.

Anyway, I really, really liked it and can't wait to see more. Great music! Snappy dialogue! Sad in an understated way that brought tears to my eyes! As you can tell from all the exclamation points, I am very excited about this show.

Things That Are Awesome: The Wire: Season 4

My brother BW and I are currently embroiled in season 4 of The Wire. IT'S SO GOOD, YOU GUYS. I think this one might be my favorite so far. Each season has focused on different aspects of the drug trade. Season 1 was mostly about the cops and the dealers and their various machinations. (Here, have this video of one of my very favorite S.1 scenes as D'Angelo Barkesdale lays out the game.) Season 2 featured, you know, more drugs but also the stevedores at the harbor and how their jobs are falling off and life sucks for everyone. (At one point, I said to BW, "Um. Will I *CARE* about Polish dockworkers at some point?" Cue to 10 episodes later when I'm weeping over Polish dockworkers.) Season 3 was more drugs and the mayoral campaign. (Season 3 was probably my least favorite season so far. But that's like choosing my least favorite kind of chocolate. No such thing!)

But, oh, Season 4, with your focus on the crumbling school districts of Baltimore. YOU ARE BREAKING MY HEART. BW assures me that I'll be weeping by the end. Gee, can't wait!

Seriously, everyone should watch this show. Volstaag, you would totally like it. Dan Mac, are you still watching?

Confidential to the email girls: Ring, ring!

DVDs What I Got For Christmas And Other Assorted Items

So, delightfully, I received many awesome DVDs as Christmas gifts. I have a rockin' Amazon Wishlist with so many divergent items on it that a friend of mine deemed it "schizophrenic." Heh.

• The Dark Knight; I might have the teeniest obsession with this movie. It had the audacity to come out on DVD in December. Grr! I don't buy DVDs, CDs or books during November or December because you know, it's the holidays. But I did make the pronouncement that if I did not get The Dark Knight for Christmas that I would buy it on December 26th. But yay! My brother BW got it for me! He got me the super-duper, extra-chocolaty, 2-disc edition. Um. The extras suck! They suck! No commentary! No deleted scenes! In fact, no interviews with the actors at all! I mean, I respect the filmmakers not wanting to like, exploit Heath Ledger's miserably tragic death but come on. It's a glaring omission not to talk to ANY of the very fine actors in this film. There is one interesting little featurette about composing the music in the film, particularly the Joker's theme. That said, the movie is still AWESOME and I've watched it at least six times since I got it. Hi, I'm a geek, have we met?
• The Nightmare Before Christmas; Also from BW, it's the 2-disc special edition! I haven't watched it yet, because I'm watching The Dark Knight over and over, but I will! Soon! I love this movie! Love the songs! Love Jack the Pumpkin King! Love Sally the Rag Doll! In fact, the next time I go to a costume party, I'm totally dressing up as her. I'd make an excellent Sally, I think...
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie; My gift from Mame! This is our favorite show and one of our very favorite movies. We (and our dysfunctional little group of friends) used to quote it incessantly. Every time I sign for a package, in my head I say, "Wiiiilt Chaaamberlin."
  
• Mad Men, season 1; We do a gift exchange for our extended family and my Pap had my name this year and this is what he got me! Awesome! Now I can finish watching and BW doesn't have to wait for my slow ass to get it from Netflix. Jon Hamm RULES.
• Empire Records; I love this movie! It's one of the few movies I can tolerate Renee Zellwegger in! (The other two are Chicago and Cold Mountain) It has a great soundtrack and it's really funny. Stupid-funny but that's my kind of humor. I know it's not great, but it holds good memories for me and it's lots of fun. Besides, how can a movie go wrong when it brought us Rex Manning Day?
  
• Panic At The Disco: Live in Chicago DVD/CD: Oh, shut up. Technically, I bought this for myself but I paid for it with a Barnes and Noble gift card given to me by my stepsister, so yeah. Whatever, I like Panic At The Disco, it's not a crime.
  

I also got the third book in the Lenore comic series and I got my mom the Sookie Stackhouse series, the books on which the HBO show True Blood that we LOVED is based. Since I'd already read the first book, she's letting me zip through the series while she reads book one. Heh, I'm already on book five. I never said I wasn't self-serving, ok? It's a pretty great series and I highly recommend it. Also, my mom is cooler than yours. It's time you accepted it. Sorry!

What did you get for [insert appropriate winter holiday here]?

Movie Review: The Proposition

I was listening to NPR the other day and...yes, AGAIN. I realize I do that a lot. I start many, many sentences with that phrase. ANYWAY. Fresh Air had an interview with Nick Cave. I adore Nick Cave. "Where The Wild Roses Grow" is the most romantic song you'll ever hear about a bludgeoning. And he was talking about his new cd and the score he'd composed for The Assassination of Jesse James and it was all terribly interesting and he has a lovely accent so it was very pleasant-sounding. And then he got to talking about the movie The Proposition, for which he'd written the screenplay AND the score. The movie sounded pretty great and also familiar. Then I remembered that I'd actually purchased the dvd a while ago during a Blockbuster binge brought on by a gift card (I loathe Blockbuster. I usually only go there if someone gives me a gift card.) and had never watched it. Oops. Well, I scurried home and remedied this straight away.

AWESOME MOVIE, YOU GUYS. The Proposition, a western set in the Australian Outback (Why aren't there more of these?) is a vivid, violent film. It was depressing as hell, so naturally I loved it. Guy Pearce (Who I love, why isn't he more famous? He's a great actor and HOT. THOSE CHEEKBONES.) plays Charlie Burns, a member of the outlaw Burns gang who is captured along with his younger brother Mikey by Captain Morris Stanley (Ray Winstone) for the murder of the entire Hopkins family, including the pregnant Eliza. Captain Stanley offers Charlie a deal: he'll pardon him and Mikey if Charlie tracks down his older brother Arthur (Danny Huston) and kills him. If Charlie refuses, Mikey will be hanged. Apparently, Stanley wants an example made of the violent Arthur and what's worse than being brought down by your own brother?

Pearce plays Charlie with exhaustion and dead eyes, his angular face appearing cadaverous. Charlie left Arthur's gang and took Mikey with after the Hopkins murders and he doesn't seem to have much hope that this mission is going to go any better than anything else ever has. The kid who plays Mikey, Richard Wilson, does a beautiful job and broke my heart. Mikey is very, very young, about 14 years old and is completely terrified and frantic without either of his brothers, imprisoned with everyone blaming him for the murders. It...doesn't go well for him, let's put it that way. Danny Huston plays Arthur with an odd kind of good humor. (Doesn't Huston ALWAYS do that? He always plays a brigand of some sort, usually pleasant but also terrifying.) Arthur loves his brothers and his gang but turns with frightening viciousness on anyone else.

Almost everyone in the movie is kind of an asshole, but I guess the "hero" of the piece would actually be Captain Stanley. Yeah, it's a dick move to send one brother to kill another, but the Burns gang really does need to be stopped. It's Stanley's intention to "civilize" the land. Um, good luck with that, dude. The remaining members of law enforcement have none of Stanley's good intentions and really don't seem much better than the Burns gang. Eden Fletcher, who holds some kind of authority, I was unclear as to just what his position was, is particularly loathsome. (He's played by David Wenham, who was Faramir in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Faramir was my absolute favorite. Nice job by Wenham here, because he's a total douche and not a bit like the honorable Faramir. More's the pity.) Emily Watson plays Martha Stanley, the captain's sheltered wife. He spends most of his time with her trying to shield her from the harsh realities of their life. That doesn't go so well either. I enjoyed their relationship; he was very tender with and protective of her and she was very sweet and loving toward him. Winstone and Watson have a very believable warmth between them. I like Emily Watson very much despite never having been able to get through Breaking the Waves. Winstone was great and I'd like to see more of his work, but I'm never going to watch Beowulf. You hear me? NEVER.

This movie is FULL of random actors that I really like. John Hurt turns up in a totally insane role as some kind of deranged bounty hunter. (Though I could have just said "John Hurt plays a bounty hunter. " The total insanity would have been inferred.) It's the kind of role that gets a lot of attention because it's all wacky and shit but doesn't do much for me. All the supporting roles are pretty great.

Also! I just found out that the same guy who directed this, John Hillcoat, is directing the film adaptation of The Road. That gives me a bit more hope that it won't totally suck. Hillcoat handled this material deftly and he could, I imagine, develop quite the niche for himself directing incredibly depressing westerns. And he's got Nick Cave doing the music for The Road, too. Nice! And the music in The Proposition is beautiful. An interesting combination of traditional hymns and melancholy instrumentals. One piece in particular reminded me of the music from The Two Towers for the Rohan scenes, which was my favorite bit of music from the whole trilogy.

Wow, I had a lot to say about that movie. Huh.

The 2008 Fall Television Season

Huh, there's really not anything new and exciting on television this year, is there? I know, blah, blah the Writer's Strike. I'm only watching one new show and that's True Blood on HBO. Oh MY GOD, I love this trashy, gothic, weird little vampire romance. It's really got everything I like in a show: DRAMA, a hilarious heroine, a gentlemanly, but possibly EVIL love interest, amusing opening credits and funny dialogue. And there's vampires with really stupid-looking fangs.

Here's what I'm watching or planning to watch:

• Dexter - This is such a great show. I love everyone on it and everything about it.
  
• Gossip Girl and Heroes - this is my Monday night lineup and I usually watch both of these shows over IM with EGT and we mock and squeal about what bitchy thing Blair did this week and how stupid yet hot Mohinder is and how inappropriate the Petrelli brothers are. It's good times.
  
• Pushing Daisies - I like this show a lot. The cast is fun and the narration always makes me giggle. I'm not deeply passionate about it but I enjoyed the first season and will give the second a go. Also, it makes me crave pie.
• Supernatural - This is, sadly, my favorite show right now. The first two episodes of this season have been pretty great. I didn't love last season, it was a bit stilted and disjointed and also, wildly misogynistic. (Stop having Dean call women "sluts" and "bitches"! He never did that before and I don't care if they're demons. Doesn't make it ok.)
  
• The Office and 30 Rock - Mame, I have to DVR them and watch them later. You will just have to deal with that. And I did watch The Office premiere last night! It was great. ("Happy birthday, Stanley!" You were right. I cracked up.)
• Battlestar Galactica - IF IT EVER COMES BACK. I swear, the folks at the Sci Fi channel are SUCH dicks. After BSG and Doctor Who end their runs, I won't be watching anything on that channel again. I'm sure I would like Eureka, but I'm not putting up with this bullshit again. Anyway, BSG is the best show on television right now and I can't wait for it to come back.
  
• Friday Night Lights - Enjoy it while you can, kids. It's probably getting cancelled after this season. That will be sad.

Television shows I'm watching on DVD:

• The Wire - BW and I are a little more than halfway through the third season. It's such an amazing show. The writing, the acting, the plotting, it all knocks me out. It's not exactly Feel Good Television, some episodes make me feel like I've been kicked in the gut. Now I'm making BW watch episodes of The West Wing in exchange. The only Aaron Sorkin show he'd ever seen was Studio 60 or as we used to call it, The Longest Hour on Television. Clearly, I couldn't let that stand.
  
• I have disc one of The Sarah Connor Chronicles home from Netflix right now. I watched part of the pilot when it aired originally but was put off by the portrayal of John Connor. Excuse me, John Connor is the leader of the Robot Resistance. He is NOT a whiny little bitch. But everyone keeps going on about how great it is, so I'll give it a try. Also, I love Summer Glau. So, we'll see. The Terminator is one of my very favorite movies and I'm VERY protective of that fictional universe. I'll be extremely put off if it sucks.
  
• I just put Mad Men on my queue. I should be getting that next. I listened to a really interesting NPR podcast featuring the creator and two of the actors. It was fascinating, so now I'm really curious.
  

Shows I'm giving up:

• Fringe - Ugh. I watched this one because everyone in my office was totally excited about it. I hated it. The second episode actually made me angry. It's totally unoriginal, kind of boring and features the kind of icky violence that makes me want to change the channel. (We've got a woman strapped to a dentist's chair being drugged and tortured by a psychotic scientist? We've got pregnant women screaming and giving birth to mutant babies then dying? Lovely.) So I did. FOREVER.
  
• Numbers - Eh, I'm getting bored with this one. Everyone's still cute and I like the little bits of math and physics they throw at me, but it's so formulaic. I might finish the second season from Netflix, but then I think I'm done.
  

What are you guys watching? Or not watching?

Things That Are Awesome!

Ok. I'm not cool. I'm a giant dork, ok? I mean, I'm a My Chemical Romance fan, for God's sake. A big one. But whatever. Here's some stuff that I think is pretty cool:

1. These two ladies: Sarah Haskins and Kristen Schaal. Seriously, these women are HILARIOUS. Mame and I might have girl crushes on both of them. Sarah Haskins does these analyses on commercials directed at women that are both hysterically funny and cringe-inducing. My personal favorites are the ones on wedding shows ("She's TOO FAT to get married!") and cooking ("I should have married my college boyfriend!") Oh, the one on yogurt is pretty funny too. Kristen Schaal is a contributor to The Daily Show, where she is adorable and funny, but Mame and I know her better as Bret's stalker, Mel on Flight of the Conchords. (Oh my GOD, when is that show coming back? WHEN?) We love her.
   
2. The Dark Knight. I can't believe it, but it's every bit worth the hype. I'll write a proper review later! I'm sure you're all holding your breath for it! Heh.
   
3. The previews before The Dark Knight! DUDE. The preview for Watchmen! I can't WAIT. 2009?!??! BITCHES. Also, the preview for Twilight* looks SO HILARIOUSLY BAD. I can't WAIT. My mom and I had this to say after viewing it:

Me: Wow. That looks SO cheesy and bad!
Mom: I know!
Me: It's gonna suck!
Mom: Yeah, it really is.
Me: I can't wait!
Mom: Me neither!

1. The bands The Hush Sound and This Is Ivy League.
   
2. The original cover copy of Gates of Paradise by V.C. Andrews that Mame sent me as a belated birthday gift. The book itself is not good. I mean, more not good than usual. It's a shame that the Casteel series took such a downward turn at the end. The first two books are awesome. Both Annie and Leigh need to shut up NOW. Whiny bitches.
   

*I have read and enjoyed all three Twilight novels. Um. They're not what you'd call...literature. Or even good. Stephenie Meyer is NO JK Rowling. But they are entertaining. I routinely want to slap the main character, Bella upside her head. And I don't think Edward, her vampire not-lover is all that awesome either. I think everyone I know should read them and then we will all go see the movie together at some matinee that will NOT be full of 13-year old fangirls and we will all make hearty fun of it. Who's in?

Further Illness, "The Wire" and Humorous Internet Writings

So, Glowbug is sick. Mame and Beau are sick. Now, I'M sick. As Mame put it, "Did you catch it THROUGH THE PHONE?!" POSSIBLY.

So, Mame sent me this link last week, with the note, "Hey! I didn't know your brother wrote for McSweeney's!" HA! It's probably lucky I started watching when I did...

Birthday Wishes, "Rome" and Why I Hate Ice. (But not in that order.)

Oh my gods, Rome last night...was aaaaaaawesome. I mean, every episode is it's own little slice of deliciousness, but last night's was something special. There was fighting, screwing, cursing, betrayal, wanton abuse of eyeliner and what was perhaps, the most graphic sex scene I've EVER seen. Ever. Involving Mr. Bingley from Pride and Prejudice. Yeah. If you aren't watching this show, you NEED to start. (But sadly, they are cancelling it! GAH. I think I'm some kind of good-show-Kryptonite. All my shows get cancelled. It HURTS me. Veronica Mars might be next. If that AND Supernatural go, I'll probably have to committ seppuku. Note: Not an actual threat.) Mame and I exchanged a giddy IM conversation before we had to close down shop for the night. Characters from Rome I love: Pullo, Vorenus, Marc Antony, Octavia, Octavian (even if he IS a reptilian-eyed sociopath. Maybe BECAUSE he is.), Livia (Octiavian's freaky wife. And I mean, FREAKY. Like, the kind you don't bring home to Mother. Unless your mother is Atia, of course.), Marc Antony, Atia, Vorena the Elder and Marc Antony. Characters from Rome that I hate: GAIA. You'll note I've mentioned almost every major character (some more than once!) under the "Love" heading and only one under the "Hate" heading. I only hate Gaia. And she's literally dead in a ditch, so all is right with the world! That's what you GET for messing with Pullo.

In other news: I hate ice. I hate driving in and on it. I hate digging my car out of it. Ice, you suck. I don't even want to put ice in my drinks anymore, I'm THAT angry at it. Lukewarm drinks for me from now on, bitches! That'll show 'em!

And now, special birthday wishes go out to my good friend, Josephine. (No, that's not her real name. We don't use real names around here. That is her supersecret blog identity. She knows why.) Her birthday is soon and so is mine and we usually celebrate together, at a classy restaurant like the Olive Garden. Hee. But (guilt trip!) NOOO...someone had to move far, far away to a red state and leave me all alone with no one to be my faux-lesbian wing man when creepy guys try to pick me up. Seriously, I attract only weirdos and freaks and Josie helps me fend them off by pretending to be my life partner. It's fun. I miss her like crazy. She's supersmart, kinda classy, an awesome listener, crazy analytical, but has one of the crudest, most immature senses of humor that I've EVER had the privilege of witnessing. The puns, MY GOD, THE PUNS. She got me into Alias, Linkin Park and took me to White Castle for Easter dinner because we'd just watched Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and I was curious. (By the way, don't ever do that. White Castle is NASTY. Those boys must have been higher than I thought.) We terrorized our college choir together. We will never live down the "Car Wash Incident." We don't want to!

Happy birthday, Josephine! I miss you and hope you have a great day and get lots of good presents. I'd type more about how awesome you are, but my hand is getting tired...

Heh.

Reason #133,254,356 I am a NERD

After Sex and the City aired its finale, after Six Feet Under was buried, and after Sopranos decided it needed another two-year break, I decided I needed a break from HBO. Since then, Bea has been telling *nagging* me about the 'wonderful' new shows they’ve been airing and how I simply MUST re-subscribe. As is always the case with Bea and I: I of course gave in and two weeks ago (at 3AM mind you, maybe I was PMSing) signed up for our eight channels of HBO along with their on-demand services. Pretty sweet deal, huh?

Then, after a terrible week, I sent the husband and baby glow-worm to the in-laws’ house for the weekend and had two days of alone time. After about three hours alone I was bored out of my mind (Stupid Bea was 'traveling' and was out of reach - what's up with that?!) and decided that I would use the time to watch the back episodes of “Rome” (now in its second season). I have now become terribly obsessed with every aspect of the show. The hulky, brooding Pullo is my new crush and the tragic love of Octavia and Agrippa is my new "Jim and Pam" (since the Office is on some damn hiatus).

Seriously, this show is fantastic!! If you haven’t watched before, here is a quick recap:

• Julius Caesar in charge
• People love Caesar, senators don’t
• People love each other – a lot (yes, dirty).
• People love drugs – a lot (who would have thought??).
• Mark Antony loves anything that breathes – a lot.
• Caesar is killed (and whoa was it accurate and disgusting)
• Wars are waged (both in the streets - gangs, and on the battlefield)
• Tons of blood is shed (again, both in the streets and on the battlefield)
• People still love each other a lot and often (hehehe).
• People still love drugs and wine a lot and often (my kind of people!!).
  

Seriously, it’s damn good television.