Stuff and Things 1/15

+The best part of my birthday was the fact that it was on a Saturday.  Ever since I started teaching, I've worked on my birthday.  I never minded.  I liked taking in cupcakes for the kids.  One year, we had s'mores.  This year, however, was a splendid year for January 10th to fall on a Saturday.  That was present enough.

+Also, is it completely lame that I didn't go all-out for my birthday?  I mean, how do you celebrate adult birthdays anyway?  Do you go out shopping in your Dillon Football sweatshirt?  Because that's what I did.

+My back/rib/side is feeling better, so I've been attempting yoga every day again.  I always hated yoga until I took my friend's yoga class in Missouri.  I went quite a few times over last summer at the gym and it's really the perfect workout to do at home.  You probably won't sweat, but it's good for you.  I feel like I'm investing in myself when I spend 20-30 minutes a day on it.

+I'm so happy the Broncos lost on Sunday. I work with several who deck themselves out in orange and blue every Friday...I'm a terrible person.

+Our dogs lead a good life.  Cozying up on a king-sized bed and all.  I truly treat them like children.  I've become one of those people and I don't mind.  Things I say to them include Do you know how much I love you?  If they were humans, they'd be embarrassed of the ridiculous nicknames I give them.  (Jett-Jett Snugglebunny)

I always have a million quilts on the bed.

+I started Downton Abbey from the beginning on Amazon Prime.  Simply because I miss Sybil.

+I finished The Husband's Secret.  I really did love it.  The characters and the storyline just fit and I truly enjoyed it.  A book I did not enjoy?  All the Light We Cannot See.  Hate might be a strong word, but hate might describe my feelings about it.  Did you read it?

+Oh, our Christmas tree is still up.  We like the lights.

+This was truly all over the place and that's exactly how Stuff and Things should be. Any stuff to talk about?

Downton Thoughts and Zero Dark Thirty

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Sunday, instead of watching the SAG Awards, we went to see Zero Dark Thirty (I totally forgot they were on...).

I had been putting it off for a few weeks, even though I knew Scott really wanted to see it.  We really didn't like The Hurt Locker, so I didn't have a whole lot of faith in Kathryn Bigelow this time around.

Zero Dark Thirty is a long movie at 2 hours and 37 minutes.  It's also a reallyreally good movie.  As Scott said, "There wasn't one moment where you're thinking 'This is boring'".  It jumped from scene to scene, event to event, pretty quickly and so it held my attention.  I have a notoriously short attention span when it comes to movies.

You, I hope, know what's going to happen at the end, but you don't want to turn away because you want to see HOW it happens.

Also, Scott was in Afghan-land when some of that stuff was going on.  The scene at Camp Chapman? He narrated that whole thing to me, telling me that's not what Camp Chapman actually looks like, that wasn't the way the meeting went down, etc, etc.  He was just a few miles away when that incident occurred in December 2009.

He told me they left a lot out, plus the government denies that much of it happened that way (See this article for information on the characters).  I guess we'll never know.  I do wonder how long it took Ms. Bigelow to do her research.  Probably been keeping her busy since The Horrible Experience That Was The Hurt Locker.

I found the movie to be fascinating and, in all honesty, it made me feel completely worthless concerning my career path.  I should've tried for the CIA.  I'm not doing enough to "protect the homeland".

And now I'm conflicted:  I am JLaw faithful, but now I like Jessica Chastain too.  Either could win Best Actress and I'd be happy.  As long as that Southern Wild movie doesn't win anything.

Onto Downton Abbey...

My Twizzler fell out of my mouth when Sybil died.  I couldn't believe Julian Fellowes did that to us (See Slate.com recap here).

I suppose now Tom is really going to go all revolutionary, and I'm curious as to what they name the baby.
Also, I think this will stall Mary's baby-creating efforts.  She just watched her baby sister die from a pregnancy complication that could have been prevented...had they listened to the good doctor, Dr. Clarkson.  Cora has every right to be ticked at Lord Grantham.  He made a bonehead decision based on rank/class, not medical knowledge.  Poor Sybil.  Poor Tom.  They seemed to be the "most unlikely to be doomed" couple.

This might cheer you up.

source

I am thrilled that Downton did some winning at the SAG Awards.

And if you don't watch Downton Abbey, I bet that paragraph up there was mighty confusing.

Seen any good movies lately?? Scott loves to go to the movies, and we live 5 minutes from the theater so we're there almost every week.   I usually wear sweatpants.

New T.V. in my world

When I find a new t.v. show, I have to talk about it.  And then I have to make sure everyone else is watching it too.  I've waxed poetic about so many in the last year; my favorites probably being True Blood and Dexter.

Last weekend, we spent 4-5 hours watching most of Season 2 of Weeds.  Then I popped into Wal-Mart where I bought Season 3 of Justified.  Season 4 is on FX right now.  As soon as I catch up, I can bust into the DVR.  (Scott saw bootlegged Justified in Afghanistan an entire year ago.  Same as he saw The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Oh, America, why must you make us wait?)

This is what I've been watching lately:

Breaking Bad

Source: Uploaded by user via Michael on Pinterest

AMC is the network that can do no wrong.  Mad Men, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad are some of the best t.v. shows out there.
After hearing many, many bloggers talk about Breaking Bad, I gave it a whirl in October via Netflix.  I thought, "This will be a way to pass the time until deployment ends."  I had promised Scott we'd watch it together but I was getting desperate.  I watched Seasons 1, 2, 3, and the beginning of 4 while I blogged, cooked dinner, cleaned, etc.  I didn't pay that much attention to it so I was, understandably, lost much of the time.
When Scott came home, we gave it another try.  We started watching a couple episodes a night (as fast as those dvds would arrive), and then I found Seasons 2, 3 and 4 in Target for $15 each one day.  The decision wasn't a hard one.
We ended up taking Seasons 2 and 3 with us on our cruise last month.

This was a God-sent-lifesaver if I've ever seen one.  During our "time of illness", we watched Breaking Bad.  It was the only thing I had to live for on that particularly horrible day.  I had to find out what would happen to poor Jesse and Walt.  I couldn't let the Carnival infirmary kill me off before I knew the ending!  (Dramatic? A bit.)

Anyway, we love this show.  We're caught up through Season 4 and will get Season 5 as soon as it's available.
If you like a smart, complicated drama, you'll love Breaking Bad.

Downton Abbey

Source: mylusciouslife.com via Sarah on Pinterest

This isn't really a "new" show to me.  I started, last March, on Season 1.  I, per the usual, wasn't really paying attention.  I got really bored and didn't finish more than two episodes.

Fast forward to June, I kept hearing about it.  So I went to the library and rented Season 1 again.  I stayed up until 3am finishing it.  Now, this may seem like some great obsessive accomplishment, but it was June, so the sun never actually set.  Therefore my neighbors were mowing their grass at 1am and the sunlight streaming in kept me awake anyway.

That was a lonely, boring time.

Anyway, Downton Abbey is everything a drama should be.  I picked up Seasons 1 and 2 for $12 each on Black Friday and now I'm obsessively DVR-ing Season 3.
This show transports you to another time and era.  I can hardly wrap my head around the idea that people lived like that.  I honestly think that if you think you won't like it, just give it a fair shot.  Even Scott is getting into it.

Weeds

Source: bing.com via Lynda on Pinterest

I'd always known Mary Louise Parker was off winning awards for this show, but I never gave it much of a second thought.  In the summer, I bought my brother Season 7 for his birthday because he said it was amazing and, though I'd tried to force him onto Dexter and it didn't quite work (he doesn't have that same obsessive personality I do), we more or less have common taste.

Scott and I started Weeds right after Christmas and to say we love it is an understatement.  If you are offended by language, I don't know how you'll feel about it, but we just find it amusing.  I recommend it for someone who loves a great story to follow and I've discovered that Showtime rarely lets me down (Season 1 of Homeland is pending...).  There's 7 seasons on DVD, so it'll keep us busy for awhile.  I love it when that happens.

1600 Penn

Source: m.imdb.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I'm snobby about my t.v. and my movies the way some are picky about wine or eating organic.  While I never wash my apples and I enjoy a good $5 bottle of vino, I only want to see the good stuff on my t.v. screen.  None of this Guys with Kids, basic cable, laugh track garbage.  And, good God, no reality t.v. shall ever grace my LG screen.  Don't insult my intelligence, CBS/NBC/ABC is what I often feel like saying. (I realize this could be a major character flaw.)

However, last week, we got sucked into the first two episodes of 1600 Penn.  It was amusing.  It was clever.  Jenna Elfman was fun to watch, as was that little boy, Xander.  The college-age daughter is a favorite of ours.  Not only does she play a Becca in this show, she played Becca in Superbad, one of the greatest films of all time (maybe my snobbiness does have a cut off...).

While it's too early to tell if this will be a hit every week, I definitely recommend giving it a try. Oh, and there's no laugh track.  (Scott just told me it's not getting the best ratings as of now, but I think that's a mid-season release factor.)

Anything good on your t.v. lately?  I think I've exhausted just about every show anyone has ever told me to watch.  I need more ideas.