Downton Abbey

/ Shane / 3 Comments

Okay, so I know I’m a little late to the party, but season 3 of Downton Abbey is only 4 days away from starting, and you don’t want to miss it.

Look, there’s no way this is the first time you’re hearing about Downton Abbey. Chances are you watch it already. Chances are, as usual, I’m the last guy in the know.

It’s hard to say what makes the show so fascinating. If you told me, “Hey, there’s this great show; It’s like a soap opera about the machinations of the family of an upper class lord and their servants, set in post-Edwardian England,” then I would reply, “I do not want to watch that show.” And yet, the show is awesome anyway. Maybe it’s the interesting characters. Maybe it’s the beautiful cinematography. Maybe I secretly love post-Edwardian English romance but didn’t know it until now.

I really dig the whole upstairs / downstairs thing, with the dichotomy between the lives of the do-nothing lords and ladies and the hard-working, hard-scheming, dirt-poor staff who serve them. The way they’re the same, the way they’re different, the way they’re all just people with lives and hopes and dreams and secrets. Dirty, dirty, dark little secrets.

I think the root of it is that the characters are so well done, and just written in a way that American television never really is. You care about them, and therefore you care about what they care about, whether it is succession, romance, or the local flower show. You just do. Who would have thought PBS could compete with HBO when it comes to compelling television dramas?

There’s still time to get ahold season 1 and season 2 before season 3 starts on Sunday!

Ice Skaters

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Evie and I have been ice skating up a storm lately. She got skates of her own from St. Nicholas this year and, since the rink a few blocks from us is run by the parks district, it is free to skate if you don’t need to rent skates. This means it’s very easy for us to drop in whenever we feel like it, even if it’s just for 30 minutes.

All the extra practice time in the past few weeks has been paying dividends like crazy. The first time out my arms ached afterwards from holding her up and having her cling so tight. Fast forward to the last time we went, and she’s either lightly holding on to my hand and telling me to skate as fast as I can, or outright skating by herself.

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She’s not skating like she was born to it just yet, but it’s obviously only a matter of time at this point. The more she goes, the more confident she gets, and the more confident she is, the better she skates.

Ollie has been extremely jealous about Evie’s ice skating exploits. He has been begging and begging to be able to go. Finally we found a time for us to all go as a family, and he got his chance.

If the skates gave him that much trouble on dry land, you can imagine what he was like on the ice.

I guess I kind of forgot how hard it is to ice skate the first time out, even though it wasn’t that long ago for Evie. It was extremely difficult to take him around. He couldn’t support any weight on his skates at all and had no idea how to keep his skates together. Because he’s so short, I had to bend over double and sort of drag him by the armpits. Half way around on our first trip, my back and arms were hurting so bad I had to stop and take a rest. It was a lot more difficult than I expected.

Ollie did a great job though, and by the second time around he was already keeping his skates together and starting to put a little weight on them. He even did a little walking on his own while holding on to Sara and my hands. That’s the thing I really noticed with Evie; every minute spent on the ice resulted in an exponential increase in ability.

At the end of it all, he was happy, but *exhausted*.

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Quote Monday takes charge

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Evie: “I had to take charge of the grown-up who was supposed to take charge of us.” – If that’s not Evie in a nutshell, I don’t know what is!

Ollie: “Why did you do that?”
Me: “Why do you think?”
Ollie: “I don’t think.”

Me: “I know we don’t really get along all that much on a day to day basis, but I never regret marrying you.”
Sara: “That’s a quote.”
Me: “I’m trying to have a tender moment with you here!”

Evie: “Where do bugs go when they die?”

I think that depends on the bug. I’m sure there’s a special circle of hell reserved for centipedes. Anyway, this ended with my daughter singing “Lake of Fire“, so I was satisfied.

Space Janitors

/ Shane / 2 Comments

If you like Star Wars (and if you read this blog, it’s a fairly good guess that you do, but there are a few of you in particular I’m thinking of), then you should go check out the web series Space Janitors.

This is a show that examines life on the “other side” of the Imperial Death Star, the low level flunkies and janitors who are just trying to eke out a living while keeping the Death Star plumbing flowing. It’s kind of like a cross between that scene in Clerks where they discuss the poor contractors who got blown up on the incomplete Death Star in Jedi, and the Eddie Izzard Death Star canteen skit.

Most of the episodes are hilarious, but if you’re looking for a good intro episode, I’d start with Laser sword:

Got to get those crumbs out…

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This week we’re just relaxing and enjoying vacation (mostly by ice skating). Not much to say today, other than this public service announcement by Ollie: with all of those Christmas sweets, remember to floss your teeth!