Filling of the Brain

I’ve been watching a lot of TV on DVD, I’ve enjoyed it a lot actually. Catching up on a lot of the Cable TV shows out that people are raving about and all the awards are going to. I’m currently in the middle of True Blood, which was one of the shows I so desperately wanted to see and now I’m glad I waited. I really am not much of a fan. The DVD is done poorly as well, there is no “play all” so you have to go into the “episode guide” each time and select the show. There is a still of the show, a synapse, an upcoming clip and the commentary version as well. That’s not the worst of it… I’m on disk 3 and i’ve seen 7 episodes… generally there are 3-4 per disk… the first two had TWO episodes on them… It’s so unbelievably annoying i can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve wanted to say fuck it and stop watching altogether. I’m sticking it out though, I have two more disks to go, for a total of 5 more episodes… Now for my rant about the actual show… I read the book and before you start telling me that it’s a bad idea, and not to compare the two, let me tell you that I know that and I don’t have a problem with the major plot things that were changed. My biggest biggest gripe is that Sookie is such a whore! She dresses in skimpier clothes than anyone I’ve seen and she’s a virgin, and a good christian girl? Really? In the book she dresses modestly and starts to become more of the norm as her virginity comes to an end. The outfit she wears to a funeral is shorter than anything I’ve seen in the clubs (ok the girls coming out of the clubs) I lie Anna Paquin, I like her a lot actually but this role is bleh. She’s overacting and it’s sad, I’ve been watching Dollhouse and I’m trying so hard to not make comparisons because Eliza Dushku is NO Anna Paquin, (The girl won an Oscar at 11) but at least by 7 episodes she had started to get better in the role of Echo.

Speaking of Dollhouse, I had to force myself to keep watching and I’m glad I did, yes it’s cheesy and not it’s not the best thing out there but I liked it, not loved it mind you but liked it. The idea is brilliant and it’s been interesting to see the characters develop and see what new situations they get into. (that wasn’t meant to sound like I was talking about a sit-com) Eliza Dushku isn’t the best actress but she did develop the part and the show with Joss Whedon (yes I am a HUGE Buffy/Angel fan) so I knew the idea would be great, I wish they were given a bigger budget though, I think that would have gone a long way. I loved seeing actors from other shows Joss has worked on, it always feels like a family reunion but the good kind.

Lastly my TV viewing this month is Long Way Round and Long Way Down two documentary type shows about two men taking a motorcycle trip across the world starting in London and ending in New York (Long Way Round) and another trip from The northernmost tip of Scotland and ending in the southern most tip of South Africa. Of course the big draw for me (besides the adventure) was Ewan McGregor. I admit he was the reason i was curious but after watching it for a bit I didn’t care, I was more interested int he experiences they were having and being able to see parts of the world I’d only heard of and not really seen in this way, seeing the stark differences between Ethiopia and Kenya was amazing, starting in Northern Africa which is mostly sand and very modern to parts of the country that are torn apart by wars, and poverty and genocide was amazing. I had no idea africa was so diverse and I’m ashamed of myself for that. Watching the joy and excitement of seeing Elephants and gorillas in the wild made me all that more excited about it.

The funny parts were when Ewan was recognized, much less in Africa and when he was it was much more casual and matter of fact than when he was crossing the world through Russia and the other former Soviet Union countries, where it was almost annoying and might have hurt the experience for him. (the trip across Asia was the first so the Africa trip might have been influenced by that more) I saw the Africa experience first which was filmed in 2007 and the first in 2004, so in the first he had just finished filming the second Star Wars movie and was getting ready to film the third, there is even footage of him in the beginning stages of planning with him in Australia on set. So one of the first stops and my favorite funny moment was a stop in Tanzania to the place they filmed the “first” movie, it’s where Luke grew up, his Uncles house and it’s been kept up beautifully. If you don’t know much about Ewan he’s a huge star wars fan so it wasn’t just an ego thing to be there it was a true fan appreciation! It was funny that no one noticed him even with the posters, there is a shot of him standing against a poster and nothing, I had to giggle at that. The most amazing part of both shows was Libya though. As an American there is little chance that we will be able to see it first hand (and 2 of the support crew were Americans and were not allowed to participate in that leg of the trip) which is sad because it was fantastic. I had no idea how beautiful it was, They have ruins just like i Rome and Athens but untouched because it’s not exactly a tourist destination. The North African coastline is beautiful and it makes me sad and jealous that I’ll never be able to see it. In the first show the amazing part for me was Mongolia, another mostly untouched country, but this by location than politics. They came through a portion of Mongolia that is rarely used and just pristine and beautiful. It reminded me of Eastern Oregon but not at the same time, it’s hard to explain.  I think it’s what parts of America looked like before it was settled and ruined by roads and towns and whatnot. Being able to experience so much of Mongolia and how diverse it is was fascinating, I worked with someone for a short time that was from Mongolia and all I had known were of the nomadic peoples so I would ask him about the country and felt stupid for not knowing that there are indeed large cities and whatnot. Seeing it through so many different ways was great and I’ve definitely put it on my to do list of travels, probably pretty low as it’s not so easy to get to but I’d love to experience it for sure. Seeing Ewan at his most annoying makes me idolize him less and see him much more as a person, but I feel like he’s a friend now and not just a super HOT guy on the movie screen. Oh and I feel like an ass for not mentioning him earlier Charlie Boorman was his companion through out this trip, the are best friends and I enjoyed getting to know him just as much. The other great thing is that the support team was just as much of the experience and I liked that, it was a group of men going on these amazing journeys together and bonding through some of the toughest things I have ever seen and never though about.