my spring break

Spring break started. My whole week off of school to spend recovering from a very long quarter began today. I fully intend to keep busy.

Besides catching up on my shows (Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead, Supernatural, Deadwood, Big Love, Suits, Ghost Adventures, Sons of Anarchy, Mad Men, etc), working on the outline for my next book, catching up on blog posts and other internet related things, I also need to make a dent in my to be read pile. Because it's huge. I'm talking shelves upon shelves because I had a habit of buying books, but never enough time to read them. So I'm starting with these:

This doesn't include the eBooks on the iPad I'm going to tackle. I think this will be an interesting spring break. 

Peace and hugs.

boardwalk empire

I seem to have a thing for HBO shows. Well, maybe I shouldn't say "thing" because it's not like I'm having a relationship with HBO shows.

I just happen to find almost every HBO show fascinating and can't get enough of them.

I've been putting off watching Boardwalk Empire because the shows I normally watch on HBO are either fantasy types (Game of Thrones) or good ole fashioned vampires that don't sparkle in the sunlight (True Blood). I've put it off because it's based (very, very loosely) on an actual person. And features other persons that were very real once upon a time.

When I was younger in my long ago teen age days, I was really into history. I still am, but like most things I enjoy, I don't have (spend) enough time with it. From the age of thirteen til about fifteen, I was really into post-WWI America, the '20's & '30's. Mostly, I wanted to learn everything I could about the organized crimes of the day. I would spend hours at the library checking out books about Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Al Capone (because I am a Chicago at heart), the list goes on and on.

My mom never thought it was weird, but she liked history as much as I did, so why would she really?

I'm usually more than a little reluctant about watching something based on real people that I know and have read about. It goes along the lines of why I have to read the book before I watch the movie. Chances are the creator's are going to go a crappy way with their artistic license. Oh, yeah, I'm looking at you, Hunger Games. And Public Enemies (I won't even go into how they royally screwed that one up).

And even though I'd heard great things about the show, I was in no hurry to watch. Even Lucky Luciano being a prominent character wasn't enough to sway me. I stayed my stubborn self and refused to give in until it was on for a few seasons. If I liked it, I like being able to watch the seasons in back to back if I want to because I have no patience and HBO waits an effing year between seasons. I forget what happens when a show has more than 3 months between seasons.

But I digress. I had a copy of the first season of the show. I recently got rid of cable because, well, it's tiresome and distracting, so I have all these shows on DVD (thank you very much huge hard drives and the library). The show kept staring at me, whispering sweet nothings to me, convincing me I wanted to watch. Evil DVD's.

Until finally I couldn't take it anymore and I watched. I watched the entire first season in a day. And I wanted to watch the second season immediately after.

I'm halfway through the second season and I already have the third season cued up to watch. Because it's just that damn good.

Seriously. The character development and plot makes you feel invested in what happens to them. Like if a certain someone named, um, J betrays their surrogate dad named, let's see, N, you care. Well, I do, anyway. And they're not even my favorite characters. I normally favor the secondary characters (i.e, Eric & Terry on True Blood and The Hound & Osha on Game of Thrones), and this show isn't any different: I'm totally invested in Richard Harrow & Angela Darmondy. They're both damaged goods, but you keep hoping they'll find the other side of the rainbow one day.

And the best part? They didn't completely screw up timelines and history. Just a few inconsistencies  but nothing I'd freak out about and can't handle. Even the butt-kicking mobsters are on par.

Now that I've raved about it, my break is over and I'm going to continue watching while I eat some pizza.

Laters!

sherlock vs. elementary

Both of these shows are a modern day take of  the adventures Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. One is set in London and the other is in New York. 

They're two very completely different shows in so many different ways. (Individuality is always a good thing)

Sherlock is basically a modern retelling of Sir Conan Arthur Doyle's original stories. John was injured in Afghanistan and he still keeps a journal, only now it's an online blog. Which everyone reads and that's why they all know who Sherlock is. The season's are only 3 episodes long, so it's more of a mini-series. But they end them on cliff hangers that tick me off (in the best kind of way, of course). I'm still waiting to see where they're going after the way season two ended. 

Now, Elementary. I'm still not really how I feel about this show. Sherlock is a recovering drug addict and Jane Watson is the companion his father hired to keep him in check and in line. I don't know if the creators made John a girl because they want some kind of romance between Sherlock and Jane because it would be too much to have to guys hook up (because wouldn't that just offend everyone? *insert rolling of eyes here*. Personally, I'd much rather see a relationship between the two on Sherlock than on Elementary). Which I'm really hoping they are not going there. Shows don't always have to have a romance between the main characters. 

I started watching Sherlock first, so I'm a little bias about loving it so much more than Elementary. Elementary is very American (not that that's a bad thing). Sherlock has more issues than the X-Men and so does Jane. Again, not a bad thing. The creators want you to be emotionally invested. I get that. But I don't feel personally invested. The show overall has some interesting cases and Sherlock is pretty obnoxious, but that's how I like him. I'm not attached to this version of Sherlock - if I miss an episode, I'm not too upset.

Sherlock is a pretty cut and dry British TV drama. I think that's why I like more than Elementary. I have plenty of show where there are 30 billion different kinds of drama (The Walking Dead, Suits, Supernatural, etc.), but there are times I want a break from all that extra drama. Sherlock is drama but without all the extra drama that American shows always have to have. I don't think shows always have to have it to be interesting to watch. That's probably why I don't watch reality shows anymore.

So, I still haven't made up my mind on whether or not I like Elementary. I guess this is more of a post on why I like Sherlock more? Well, that seems to be the story of my life. 

Supernatural

I've been watching this show for 5 years and I still love it. There's something about the strange and supernatural mixed with 2 hot guys that makes a show interesting for me. That and I love anything that's paranormal.

It's the only show I cannot miss even one episode of. Most shows that I DVR, I might end deleting because I get bored and rather watch on DVD in one sitting, if I choose. It's never been the case with "Supernatural". I won't say there haven't been times I was fed up with where I thought it was going, I was ready to chuck it out the window. But I give it a few days and all is forgiven and we move on to the new episode.

I was living in Italy when the show started, so I had to wait until it came out on DVD to actually watch it. I really wanted to watch it. It was a show starring an actor I'd liked since he was on "Dark Angel" (Jensen Ackles) and Dean from "The Gilmore Girls" (Jared Padalecki), what wasn't an incentive to watch? I downloaded the first 4 episodes, but it was only enough to peak my curiousity, I still had almost a year to wait before I could watch the whole thing.

But it was so worth the wait. I finished watching the entire first season in less than a week. I breezed through it without a second thought. I don't usually invest that much energy into a show. I can not express the love I feel for this show. I don't love the show as much as my family, it just belongs on that plane of love reserved for best shows ever. It's imaginary and no one can see it. Those who watch enough TV have that. Supernatural is number one on my non-exsistent plane, right before "Life", "The X-Files", "Rome", and "Pushing Daisies".

Even 5 seasons later, I still can't get enough of it. Its one of the few shows I've actually grown attached to, as if I know them well and have a stake in their lives. The two brothers have grown before my eyes and survived more situations than humanly possible. But they have and they have a destiny. It sounds so Supermanish, doesn't it?

But the Winchester boys refuse to let destiny win. They look destiny in the eye, call it a "douche bag" and proceed to kick it in the a$$. That's the Dean and Sam Winchester way.

Now not only does it have the usual supernaturally goodness, angels and even the devil himself have popped up. But I know the Winchesters can deal with it; it's how they roll.

Don't my boys look like they are a force to be reckoned with?

Life and Other Things Like It

Last year I watched the first season of Life and I absolutely loved it. It's a show about a cop, Charlie Crews, who goes to jail for 12 years for 3 murders he didn't commit. He's finally exonerated and given $50 million for his time in prison and he also goes back to being a cop, all the while secretly investigating the conspiracy behind his jail time. He's got a very zen like attitude for having spent over a decade in a no so nice prison, but he's also filled with a lot of demons he won't let people see very often. Every once in a while there's a glint/glare of what he's really hiding, which is quickly covered up by a smile. And he eats a lot of fruit.

His partner, Dani Reese, is the sassy recovering alcholic/drug addict, that's stuck with him. She is just as broken as he is. She really can't stand him at first, not because he was in jail, but because he annoys her with all his zen qualities and he never speaks like a normal person. "You don't have to understand here to be here." And he talks too much in her much prefered quiet universe .

I should also point out he does eventually grow on her, though Reese would never own up to that. She's given more than one opportunity to further her career and get a new partner. But she doesn't turn him in, rat him out, or trade him in for a new partner, even when asked straight up. Because I think she secretly likes him, just like Crews secretly likes her. And not just in the "hey, we're partners and I don't want to kill you in your sleep" kind of way. Maybe it's the romantic in me, but I wanted them to get together. I'm pretty sure that's where it was headed. I know what I saw in the finale.

The two main characters have such great chemistry, and it reminded me a lot of The X-Files without the sci-fi. Or maybe more like Bones. Either way Crews and Reese totally made the show for me. Crews and Reese are just so broken, they're the only ones who understand just how broken they are. No one else knows or tries to understand. Dani's own boyfriend can't figure out what's wrong with her when she's a mood. Charlie does and he won't pry until she's ready to spill. They miss each other when they're not working together, and they always have each other's backs, no matter what. They play off each other so well and it's never quite the same when one isn't there.

Don't they make an awesome set of partners?

So I finally bought the second season and sat down to watch it this weekend. I loved it even more the first season and I'm so sad that they did cancel it, even though I'm almost a full season late. It seems like any original show full of unique and quirky characters have no chance on television these days.

Case in point, Pushing Daisies. It is probably one of the most unique and refreshing shows I've seen in a very long time. It's also full of bright backdrops that remind me a good Dr. Suess book. It's a show that has death, but it's not anything I can't watch for a few minutes with my kiddo.

Dead Like Me, Firefly, Dollhouse, and Dark Angel are just a few of some of my favorites that barely made it past one season, let alone two. I blame networks for putting them in crappy slots to ensure they'll get no veiwers. If they want a show to do so horrible why even pick it up? But they do think everyone wants to watch reality shows. I'm one of those few people that barely watches reality TV. Frankly, they all bore me because they're the the same show with different people.

I'm just wondering who came up with Daycare Divas? And I personally never really cared about Jon and Kate plus however many kids can appear on TV at the same time. Both Jon and Kate piss me off just the same but for completely different reasons.

Maybe I should just start my own network and my own TV shows, maybe then I can the kind of quality programming I'd like to watch. Then I can make my own show with every character I've ever liked on TV. Ahhhh, to dream big.