Post Holiday

The holidays are over and life is getting back to normal.  The relatives have gone home, the kids are back at school and regular TV programming has resumed.


I've started watching "The Curse of Oak Island" on the History Channel.    http://www.history.com/shows/the-curse-of-oak-island  As we all know, I'm a big history geek and love shows like this that force us to look at the unexplained, the other side of things.  The possibilities.  We're two episodes in already and, unfortunately, I'm getting a little frustrated.  They haven't really come up with new evidence as to the mystery of Oak Island and I feel like I've seen all of this information before on an episode of "America Unearthed" or that show from the 70's with Leonard Nimoy. 


I've been watching "Reign" on the CW.  I think it comes back on a little later in the month.  It's the story of Mary Stuart (AKA Mary Queen of Scots) and is kind of a Gossip Girl meets The Other Boleyn Girl and I'm probably about 30 years old to be watching it but it's fun and campy and not very historically accurate which really doesn't bother me.  I get my history fix from other sources. 
http://www.cwtv.com/shows/reign


This week "Blacklist" returned to NBC.  I made Cosmo sit down and watch it with me and he really, really liked it.  James Spader is awesome in the role of "Red" Reddington.  http://www.nbc.com/the-blacklist/


I also started watching "Intelligence" with Josh Holloway and the red-headed actress from CSI, Marg Helgenberger).  http://www.cbs.com/shows/intelligence/  He's got a computer chip in his head and is basically a walking, talking, living and breathing Internet.


Tonight is "Nashville" night!  http://abc.go.com/shows/nashville  I really enjoy this show which is very weird because I do not like country music.  At all.  But I love Connie Britton's character and Hayden Panettiere is also great as Juliette Barnes.  She's kind of an ingénue in public but a bitch behind the scenes. 


While I do enjoy a good TV series, I also like to relax with a good book.  I'm currently reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  The book is long.  756 pages on my Nook.  I'm on page 242 right now and to be honest, I'm not sure if I'm enjoying this book.  Maybe I just had very high expectations and am a little let down??  IDK but I'll see it through to the end. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/books/review/donna-tartts-goldfinch.html?_r=0

Well, It's Official!

I have turned into a major geek!  I just asked my husband to buy me a ticket to Anaheim so I can attend this weekend's WonderCon.  http://www.comic-con.org/wca  A couple of years ago when we were in Vegas for my birthday some "Con" was in town -- it wasn't Comic Con but it was something to do with the film industry and each of the hotels on the strip was host to a movie.  We stayed at Paris during that trip and we had a bunch of the cars from Transformers in front of our hotel as well as a huge Bumblee Transformer. 

Two of my favorite shows -- TNT's "Falling Skies" and the History Channel's "Vikings" are presenting at WonderCon and I'll bet they're will be lots of spoilers. 

Sunday will be the 5th episode of Vikings (I think they filmed 9 episodes for the 1st season).  I've seen some spoilers on the internet and twitter so I think I kind of know what goes down between the main Viking and the Earl and it's not going to be pretty.  I do hope this show gets picked up for a 2nd season. 

Falling Skies, sadly, will not air until the summer (June 9, 2013) with 10 episodes.  But my DVR is already set.  Lots of questions still need to be answered:  What's going on with Hal?  What's up with the new alien we saw on the season 2 finale?  Is Ann having a normal baby or an alien baby? 

Obviously I have a thing for strong men with scruffy beards (please see previous post regarding Ben Affleck in Argo).  Oh, and let's not forget the guys from Duck Dynasty!  

#Vikings

No!  Not that kind of Viking!

 

This kind of Viking! 

If you're not watching Vikings after the Bible on the History Channel, do yourself a favor and catch up on the episodes!  http://www.history.com/shows/vikings  The show is very interesting and being the history geek I am, I can't wait for it to air each week.  I love the relationship between the "main" Viking, Ragnar, and his wife, Lagertha.  Ragnar is like the Christopher Columbus of the Viking world.  He's convinced there are lands to the West they can raid rather than the usual lands to the East they raid each summer.  I also like that the Vikings are being portrayed in a different light -- as humans, as husbands and wives, as parents.  The series is doing a good job of humanizing Vikings rather than villanizing them.  Don't get me wrong.  The show is pretty violent and graphic but Ragnar is a kinder, gentler Viking than we are used to seeing. 

The HISTORY® original series Vikings transports us to the brutal and mysterious world of Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel), a Viking warrior and farmer who yearns to explore—and raid—the distant shores across the ocean. His ambition puts him at odds with local chieftain Earl Haraldson (Gabriel Byrne), who insists on sending his raiders to the impoverished east rather than the uncharted west. When Ragnar teams up with his boat builder friend Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard) to craft a new generation of intrepid ships capable of conquering the rough northern seas, the stage is set for conflict. But for all its warfare and bloodshed,

 

Vikings is also a story of family and brotherhood, capturing the love and affection between Ragnar and his wife, Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), a respected warrior in her own right. It is the tale of Ragnar’s brother Rollo (Clive Standen), a fierce fighter who simmers with jealously; of Earl Haraldson’s wife Siggy (Jessalyn Gilsig), a dutiful beauty who may be less than loyal; and of the monk Athelstan (George Blagden), whose Christian morals clash with the Vikings’ pagan society. As ambition and innovation rattle a civilization, these characters will be put to the test—and their way of life will never be the same again.

To Know Me is to ...

...well, you know the rest. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I am just a big geeky nerd at heart.  Sunday's have been a big hit with me the last couple of weeks now that "Amazing Race" is back on.  And, of course, I luv, luv, luv the two new series on the History Channel:  "The Bible" and "The Vikings."  Considering that the Vikings airs immediately after the Bible, this week was a little strange -- the Vikings found land after being a sea and raided a monastery.   @HistoryVikings

I also love being a Libra (I've been one since birth!).  I follow a couple of fun Libra specific Twitter accounts and for the most part, I am a true Libra through and through (can't stand drama or BS, like to read and be left alone sometimes, loyal, etc).  However, there's one thing I am not and that is indecisive.  Several of these Libra Twitter accounts post that Libra women have a hard time making up their minds.  Not me.  I'm quick to a decision and that's that.  I rarely, if ever, change my mind.  @Libras_R_Us @LibraTerms

And finally, in honor of our new Pope, please enjoy some trivia about the Vatican! 
http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-vatican

De-Bunking a Myth

In a perfect world I'd blog every day.  Some days I'm busy and some days I just don't have anything to blog about (shocking!).  So today I did a google search "things to blog about" and one of the suggestions was de-bunking a myth.  While I don't have any actual data or research to de-bunk a myth, it got me thinking about my favorite kind of shows on the History Channel. 

Lately, I've been watching alot of "Ancient Aliens" and "America Unearthed."  These shows are positively fascinating to me.  I love shows that encourage open discussion and dialogue and open up a whole new world of "what if's."  Let's start with "America Unearthed" today and I'll discuss "Ancient Aliens" another day.  Yeah, I know.  Some of you can hardly wait.

"America Unearthed" is hosted by Scott Wolter, a forensic geologist and president of the Minnesota-based American Petrographic Services."  He developed a new science called archaeopetrography--a scientific process used to date and understand the origins of mysterious stone artifacts and sites. The first artifact Scott studied using this new science was the Kensington Rune Stone, which he believes is an authentic, pre-Columbian land claim carved here in America by none other than the Knights Templar. The Kensington Rune Stone is this guy's claim to fame and he is hell-bent on proving that Columbus was not the first to discover America.  He is convinced that the Knights Templar were here as well as a "giant" race of people (Vikings?) that settled in Minnesota (which is totally plausabile in my humble opinion if the Vikings stopped in Iceland and Greenland before hitting North America).  One of the shows examined the missing colony of Roanoke and another dissected the possibility of whether Meriwether Lewis could have been murdered shortly after his return from the American West. 

I like the show.  I really do.  However, there have been some red flags for me.  Sometimes Mr. Wolter seems like he's really, really reaching to draw a conclusion which correlates with his personal agenda (Mr. Wolter has written a book on the Kensington Rune Stone so obviously his objective is to sell more books).  He's been called a modern-day Indiana Jones and the show has been described as "alternative history." 

Both the show and Mr. Wolter himself come under close scrutiny each week in a blog by a Mr. Jason Colavito who does his very best to de-bunk everything discussed on America Unearthed.  Colavito is a bestselling author and editor based in Albany, NY. He is internationally recognized by scholars, literary theorists, and scientists for his pioneering work exploring the connections between science, pseudoscience, and speculative fiction. His investigations examine the way human beings create and employ the supernatural to alter and understand our reality and our world. He has published several books and is "currently pursuing a number of projects, both in nonfiction and fiction" according to his website bio.  He's also launched his own line of print-on-demand books collecting rare texts about alternative history, the occult, and speculative fiction. Colavito holds a Bachelor of Arts from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York where he majored in both anthropology and journalism. A summa cum laude graduate, Colavito was recognized as the Distinguished Graduate in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, and he was made the Jessica Savitch Communications Scholar for his work in journalism. http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog.html  So yet again we have someone with ulterior motives -- to sell more books. 

It's OK Thursday . . .

...I didn't win Associate of the Month for the FOURTH time.  It's an honor to be nominated, blah, blah, blah.  Someday that primo parking spot will be mine.  But seriously, I do work with some pretty amazing folks and am proud to be part of such a great team!  I truly love my job! 

...that last weekend was NOT a good football weekend in our house -- Alabama lost, Ole Miss lost and Navy lost.  But, on the upside, we got to see Brye play and spent a beautiful, fun day @ Troy University. 

...that I'm obsessed with the History Channel's "The Men Who Built America."  Some good stuff right there.  I should have been a history teacher.  Totally missed my calling. 

...that some crazy-ass lady in a big white Infinity QX56 refused to let me merge into the lane this morning on the way to work.  Not only did she speed up and not let me merge, she was texting the entire time and she tailgated the car in front of her SO bad for miles and miles.  Hope she got to her destination OK.  She was obviously much more important than anyone else on the road this morning. 

...that I've been standing out on the lacrosse field 3 nights this week.  WTH?  I don't have any kids that play in the state of Alabama.  It's like the damn mafia, they suck me back in. 

...that I started my Christmas Shopping but haven't made a dent.  Looks like everyone's getting an Old Navy gift card!  hahahahaha!

Oh!!  And don't forget to Blog Hop --