A Fangirl's TV Recap: Downton Abbey 2x01

Pardon the little hiatus--just a few days!--in our posting schedule.  We're back!  And we'd like to introduce our new feature, "A Fangirl's TV Recap"!  Kicking off this new feature is admin/founder Jacqueline, who will be fangirling/recapping one of her favorite shows of all-time, Downton Abbey.  (Be forewarned of much fangirling, much fandom-related items, possible shipping, DEFINITE SPOILERS--so step carefully!, rambling, ranting, and other goodies.  Feel free to chime along in our comments!)

Downton, oh, Downton, how have we Americans been without your presence in our daily lives for almost a year?!  Julian Fellowes, torturing us with the ultimate cliffhanger--"we are now at war with Germany!"--at the end of season one, and then stabbing our lovely Mary/Matthew ship with Mary's complete idiocy (darn you, Mary!).  So when the second season of Downton finally rolled around last Sunday night, of course I was glued to the TV for two hours until eleven at night (and so what if I had my first day of the quarter the next day?).  Let me try to go as chronologically as I can with the episode, but you have been warned of any gushing and such.

• WAR. ZOMG. It's much more in-your-face (season one saw very little violence, with the exception of William beating up Thomas on the kitchen floor) with some blood off-screen.  C'mon, I wasn't the only one who was like, "MATTHEW, DON'T DIE.  WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T. FREAKING. DIE."
• Mary.  My gosh.  She holds so much in.  Listen to Carson!  Be honest with yourself!  Sheesh!
• Thoughts on Lavinia: okay.  From the onset, just hearing about her makes it seems like she's the kind of gal you'd love to hate.  I certainly made the assumption that Zoe Boyle probably has a squeaky voice ("like the mice in Cinderella", as Joe Fox from You've Got Mail would say), but she doesn't, so you automatically can't get annoyed by her.  And then when Sir Richard Carlisle is being a total jerk and bullying her, you don't want to hate her anymore, and, in a way, you kind of want to say, "Lavinia, you're a really sweet girl, but can you stop ruining the Marthew ship?  Please?"
• O'Brien!  I think everyone was determined to hate her at the beginning of Season Two, but, just like her hair, she's toned down quite a bit.  Even though she does once seem to be trying to ruin plans, she does so in a way that she thinks will be beneficial to the family--aww.  Was I the only one cheering her on when she was making fun of Ethel?
• Oh, and speaking of Ethel...what a brat.  I want Gwen, the nicer ginger, back!  (okay, I don't mean that: Gwen, keep your secretary job, but Ethel's just a pain in the bum and you were so much sweeter than her)  Why do I feel like she's going to be a rascal later this season?  I'm hoping she has SOME redeeming qualities...she seemed pretty cut up by the end of the first ep.
• And my all-time favorite ship, BAnna (not a misspelling)!  GAH.  Okay, so maybe they have kind of an age gap.  And maybe he's kind of married.  And maybe this is totally like "downstairs Jane Eyre".  But GAH.  They're so. freaking. adorable.  But of course, Vera has to come in and ruin everything. *grumble grumble*
• Even though Molesley tries to ruin the BAnna ship a little, there's something so adorable about the fact that in ye olde days of King Edward, instead of texting a girl to say, "heyyyy gurllll u fineeee...wanna go out for some pizza?", they would lend each other books and ask each other to read them to share opinions about them with each other.  Sigh.  Just another reason I love the olden days and disapprove of the twenty-first century.
• Thomas....hmm....I feel like he's softened up a bit like his partner-in-crime, O'Brien, no?  As my mom pointed out a few days ago, even though viewers may hate him initially because of all the things he did in Season One, he still has a very human side of him in this first ep that people that empathize with.  I just hope he doesn't try to ruin anything again this season.  It's bad enough having Vera Bates as a sort of unfortunately-completely-sane-and-thus-knows-what-she's-doing Bertha Rochester nee Mason, and that Sir Richard Carlisle...he certainly looks like he has something up his sleeve for this season. :-/
• Daisy!  What in the world do you mean when you say you and William aren't sweethearts?  Dare you ruin the Dailliam ship?  GAH.  I'm so nervous for William now.  William!  Don't you die, either!
• A part of me also really likes the Carson/Mrs Hughes ship.  A lot.  They're just so sweet!  GAH.
• The whole Edith-at-the-farm plotline just felt like it threw the whole story off a bit.  It was kind of off-kilter.  It's highly uncharacteristic, I think--I don't know why it was added in, as it seems like a very haphazardly written portion just so that Little Miss Middle Child isn't so left out while Mary mopes and Sybil gets to be a nurse.  Was it to show that Edith isn't such a snob that she doesn't mind associating--and practically canoodling--with farmers?  I don't know.  Does Mrs Drake get to exact revenge on Edith for crushing on/kissing her husband?  Unless this plotline goes any farther in the second episode, I don't really see the whole point of adding it in. 0_o
• Last but not least...Sybil!  Branson!  Much to many Sybson shippers' chagrin, I'm sure, Branson had only a few lines in the first episode, but I have know doubt that his role will grow.  On a second thought...shows tend to make their characters back-track a little: they forget a little forward action they took in the season finale, and then suddenly seem to forget that action in the next season's premiere and start practically from square one.  This formula--if you can even call it that, since it's so frustrating--just happened with Sybil.  She briefly holds Branson's hand in the first season's finale, and by the next season she's like, "OMG wut?  Branson, this totally can't work because I'm a lady and you're just a chaffeur.  And, like, I *may* have had a crush on a few other higher class dudes, but they all kind of died in the war."  Um, Sybil dear, don't forget you held Branson's hand in the season finale.  Apparently that's slipped out of your mind.

Nonetheless, as Masterpiece Classic hostess Laura Linney (love her!) said about this particular Downton ep, it was DEFINITELY worth the wait.  Can we expect another action/drama-packed second ep tonight at 9/8 C?  I sure hope so!  (And, tonight, the Golden Globes had better be as generous to our favorite series as they were during the Emmys!)

Downtonians, what do you think?  Any predictions?  Favorite ships?  Spoilers are allowed in comments (so be forewarned, new Downtonians, if you're still making your way through season one), but please limit it only to the first episode of Season Two!

A Resolution

N.B. This isn't quite what I'm driving at with the rest of this post.

Ever since I started attending grade school, my family and I would have a little tradition.  It's probably not unlike yours, unless you're the kind who gets invited to a New Year's Eve party every year: the TV would be on, tuned in to Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, my parents would be running around to get the Martinelli and its appropriate fancy glasses (or they'll watch the TV and make some amazed comment about how old Dick Clark is/looks), and I'd have the job of running and getting pens and paper.

Pens. And paper.

Why, you ask?  To write down our resolutions, of course!  Promising we'd be better people every year, accomplish something amazing--you know the drill.  Around the time I hit middle school, though, that latter tradition kind of, well, died.  We didn't sit down and write resolutions anymore.  And once I got into blogging, I started just posting my resolutions instead.  Which is kind of what I'm doing now.

Except...not.

My resolution this year?  To not have a resolution.  I think I once remember reading with my mom in People or some like magazine many years ago about an actress (possibly Hilary Duff, but I can't remember for certain) who said that her resolution was to not make one at all.  Back when I heard that, I was bewildered.  Why would you want to do such a thing?  Resolutions are fun!  They're great!  They make you a better person.

Call me jaded or whatnot, but I don't think like that anymore.  Actually, to be really honest, I stopped thinking like that since last week.  I thought about what resolutions I wanted to make for 2012, and the "resolutions" that ran through my head were the same exact ones I had last year.  Ones I didn't accomplish, such as finishing my novel, reading a gazillion books, exercising more, blogging more (though perhaps on this tenet I've improved a wee bit within the past few weeks)...and it just got me more frustrated than anything (I was also probably suffering under this weird stress-anger thing from a wee mental/nervous breakdown to do said novel I was writing, but that's a long and different story).  Of course I've set goals for myself--I'm not an aimless person.  But I've realized that resolutions don't always make you a better person.  They don't always push you as much as you wish they did.  And when that ball drops in Times Square, you're not going to suddenly have the urge to accomplish much more than you did a second before.  Make goals for yourself, sure--but why limit to a year?  The difference between one year and the next is a mere minute: make lifetime goals, ones you know you can accomplish.

I still like watching the last seconds of the year tick by on TV, and I like clanging glass cups with my family and drinking Martinelli's or soda afterwards.  And yes, I still would love to be able to exercise more and perfect playing "Hallelujah" on the guitar and finish that goshdarn novel.  But if I'm going to accomplish them, it won't be just to check off a resolution.  It'll be because I want to accomplish it gratify a lifetime goal.

As a side note: If you're one of those people who REALLY take your resolutions seriously, I congratulate you, and please don't be offended by my post.  It's just that I don't know many people who do, including myself, as I find, and I think the only way to really have and fulfill a resolution would be to set mini-goals for yourself throughout the year in each month to fully accomplish it.  But who really does that?!  Again, if you do, cue the applause.  But really...do you, like, save people's lives everyday, too, or something?

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

When I decided to share the recipe this was all that was left.

I made these for a family Christmas party this year and everyone loved them. My husband and I found them to be a little bitter so if you don't like semisweet chocolate, then I recommend you going for milk chocolate instead.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup corn syrup
1 - 6 oz. package semisweet or milk chocolate pieces
2 Tablespoons peanut butter (optional)
Cooking spray

1. Lightly coat an 8 inch square pan with cooking spray and set aside
2. Combine crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon inn a medium mixing bowl
3. Add 3/4 cup peanut butter and syrup to the crumb mixture, mixing just until blended
4. Press mixture evenly into pan and set aside
5. Place chocolate morsels in a double boiler (or a glass bowl over a pot because you don't have fancy cookware) over simmering water or melt them in a microwave safe container--stirring occasionally--until completely melted
6. Stir morsels until melted
7. Spread evenly over surface of peanut butter mixture
8. (Optional) Swirl 2 tablespoons peanut butter into warm chocolate using a knife for marble effect
9. Chill until chocolate is set, cut into squares to serve

I re-made this recipe before it was posted and realized that I had a glass measuring cup with a spout that would be a whole lot safer and easier than my makeshift double broiler.  The first picture is with semi-sweet and the below picture is with milk chocolate.

Again, I didn't think to snap a photo until most was gone.

Addiction of the Week 2.1: Beautiful Small Machines

Happy New Year, fellow Nerds and Nerdettes! Funny, AotW (Addiction of the Week) 1.0 only had one post (on Wakey!Wakey!), but since 2012 is already here (yikes!), AotW has to start a new edition--2.0! (Anyone, it makes it sound spiffy.  Like it's iTunes or something.)

So to ring in the New Year, I thought I should share this little indie folk-electronica band I've been really liking lately--Beautiful Small Machines (if you've heard of Bree Sharp, this is her new project).  I'm tempted to buy this duo's EP, Robots in Love, especially after I'm pretty much obsessed with their song "Counting Back to 1", which, to me, sounds like a mix of Metric and a spunkier Au Revoir Simone or the The Submarines.  Listen to it below, and see if you get addicted, too!  (And catch the Ender's Game references!)

Another song with very, very interesting lyrics is "Robots in Love", which is basically about a broken-hearted nerd(ette?).  Sounds like Beautiful Small Machines should be a welcome addition to any Nerdette's playlist--what do you say? :)

The Secret Austen

Let's admit it: Jane Austen has permeated our culture in a way that no other author has.  Okay, so we have Dickens's A Christmas Carol floating around every Christmas.  And Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is a big favorite.  And Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights has a fanbase (though I can never figure out why--why?!).  But, love her or hate her (I, for one, simply adore her), Jane Austen can--and will--slink onto your bookshelf, your TV screen, your local movie theatre somehow, even though she's long, long gone.  So what that she was born 236 (and six days) ago?  She's still totally modern!  And she somehow keeps popping up in twentieth and twenty-first century pop culture (without containing the words "pride", "prejudice", "sense", "sensibility", "mansfield", "northanger", "emma", or "persuasion").  If you're a Janeite itching for something that doesn't involve empire-waist dresses and with fewer cravats, this Janeite recommends you check out some updated, but heavily Austen influenced, books and movies:

1. You've Got Mail (1996 film): Written by Nora and Delia Ephron (the former of whom is going to turn Lost in Austen into a film--woohoo!  And the former is a YA author, so basically they both win awesome points by me), this has got to be one of my favorite movies ever.  Okay, so, on the surface, this film about really, really old technology and AOL chatting in its most primitive days really doesn't seem like the most Austen-influence thing ever.  The heavy influences and allusions to Pride and Prejudice are simply staggering.  Basically, replace GBP with bookstores and throw in an ancient Internet system, put Meg Ryan in Elizabeth Bennet's place and Tom Hanks in Mr Darcy's, and thus results You've Got Mail.  (Also: watching Hanks chuck a copy of a Firth/Ehle edition of P&P across a table in favor of some booze is just freaking hilarious.)

 

2. The Lake House (2006 film): Time-travel and a funky boxy-ish--no, this is not Doctor Who.  Calm down, Whovians.  I'm talking about the last time Reeves/Bullock worked together on a movie, and it wasn't on Speed.  Okay, so I'm including this on the list because, uh, a really old copy of Persuasion is almost waved across the screen to tell the audience, "THIS IS ONE OF OUR INFLUENCES AND AUSTEN IS AMAZING."  In this very underrated flick, Keanu Reeves is more or less the Wentworth counterpart (and instead of one amazing letter at the end, it's a series of a lot of shorter ones) and Sandra Bullock is, I suppose, Anne Elliot.  As if the writer of this movie couldn't scream Austen enough, they even had Bullock read out of Persuasion: "There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved." Heart!

3. I Capture the Castle (1948 novel, 2003 film): If you thought Dodie Smith was always preoccupied with spotty dalmatians, you're wrong--in fact, she's quite the Janeite!  I Capture the Castle is simply speckled with Austen references--at the very start of the novel, one character asks the protagonist about living in an Austen or a Bronte novel kind of life: "Which would be nicest--Jane with a touch of Charlotte, or Charlotte with a touch of Jane?"  (If you're not squeeing already, read the book and I dare you not to squee during the whole of it.)  Frankly, I haven't seen the film and can't be much of a judge whether it is accurate or even any good at all (though it seems to have low reviews--however, Romola Garai stars in it!  Of course, that merit doesn't necessarily make it any good--Angel was a disaster and had her as the star...but that's another rant-y tangent).

 4. Harry Potter: Did you know that along with C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen is J.K. Rowling's favorite author?  In fact, she once spoke of her favorite Austen novel, Emma, that "I have never set up a surprise ending in a Harry Potter book without knowing I can never, and will never, do it anywhere near as well as Austen did in Emma."  And Argus Filch's beloved cat, Mrs. Norris, is named after none other than Mansfield Park's annoying aunt, Mrs. Norris.

5. Rudyard Kipling: Okay, okay--so I cheated here.  Rudyard Kipling is not a book or a movie, but a person--aka "the dude who wrote The Jungle Book".  So Baloo dancing to and singing "Bare Necessities" frankly has nothing to do with Marianne Dashwood weeping "Willoughby, Willoughby!" whilst longingly watching Combe Magna, but the creator of the former character was a huge fan of the creator of the latter character.  When I say huge, I mean huge--to the extent that the guy is the one who popularized the term "Janeites", the word Austen-maniacs (like yours truly) call themselves, through a story about a bunch of veterans (dudes, obviously) who are really big Austen fans (to be honest, I haven't read it...yet; and apparently another famous Austen fan, C.S. Lewis, actually blasted the story--but that's another tangent I won't get into) and even wrote a lovely--and perhaps even tear-inducing--poem entitled "Jane's Marriage" (yes, that Jane).  I could really write a whole 'nother post about Austen's other big author fans, but Kipling is probably the most prominent (as in most influential) of them all.

Sneaky Miss Austen!  She just turns up everywhere in culture--where else have you folks seen her (that is, in places not directly related to her works)?

Top 10 Things Hollywood Gets Wrong About High School

For a while now it has bugged me how Hollywood has portrayed high schools. Sure it's a movie and we all know it's not real--even the ones based on a true story--but most of the high school movies have moved on to the point of being absolutely absurd. So to satisfy my practical side, I've come up with a list of 10 things Hollywood just doesn't get right about high school.

1. There is no clear distiction between the "cool kids" and the "nerds". Just like every person is multifaceted with several interests, so are the "subsects" of high school social classes. Just because one person is in the marching band doesn't mean that they can't also be an awesome soccer player or the school mascot is a complete loser. Our school mascot was also on the track team, was well liked, could do or build anything, and now, five years later, works for NASA.

Although I don't think the all white plus white lipstick helps.

2. Not all high schoolers--even the most popular--drive cars that cost loads of money or drive at all. Fact is parents having money is not equal to popularity AND just because they have money doesn't mean that they're willing to spend a great amount on an inexperienced driver. In these economic times I don't think many parents can afford cars for themselves let alone teenagers. Back when times were a little easier there were still a plethora of licensed drivers taking the bus. Not only is it cheaper (considering cost of car, insurance, tags, and gas), but it's more ecofriendly.

3. Dress code. There is no way students would be allowed to wear hardly anything you see them wear in movies or on TV. Most schools' dress code is as follows: no hats, no baggy pants, no revealing of underwear, skirt can be no shorter than a few inches above the knee, all tank tops must have straps several inches wide, no tight-fitting clothing and forget about wearing anything revealing--you'll be sent home. Even school dances have dress codes and again, they will send you home!

Yes, all three of you need to go home and change right now.

4. Lack of backpacks/bags. Particularly with the female students the lack of having some sort of bag to carry all the essentials (other than some small purse that would barely hold today's large-screen-but-really-small cell phones) is like they're showing a school worthy of the "Twilight Zone". Your locker--which I will get to later--is probably located in some absurd location that you never have time to visit. The few minutes you have to get to your next class is not enough time to make it to your locker located 5 miles away. Thus, you need a bag to hold your various sets of books and notebooks--and then probably a bigger bag just to haul all of your homework home.

5. Kids/teens are not so self-absorbed in current culture that they have no sense history. Usually this is used as a comedic reference as to the cultural differences between the misunderstood teen and the dorky adult. Hollywood seems to think that if it's not part of the current fad, then the youth is unaware of it. Heads up, Hollywood, I have a friend who is 17 and is the biggest fan of Frank Sinatra as well as the rest of the Rat Pack. A few teens I know are crazy about math and are learning its history! Also, I know a rather petulant person who is completely obsessed with ancient civilizations. People aren't oblivious up until the day of graduation and then suddenly realize they want to be botanists.

Sorry, Seventeen magazine says I don't care about that.

6. PDA. Very much like the dress code, the blatant Public Displays of Affection follow a strict set of rules. In the movies you see the typical couple being completely inappropriate on the protagonist's locker. No school would ever allow for this to happen--particularly repeat offenses. Teachers do monitor the halls in between classes and several schools have surveillance cameras set up throughout the building. Usually the most couples can do is hug...not quite the same as what you've seen in theaters is it?

7. High schoolers do not look like they are in their mid-20s. This is probably one of my biggest pet peeves on the list. You don't go from middle school/junior high looking like your family's favorite pet name for you is "munchkin" to being one of those models from Abercrombie and Fitch. It just doesn't work like that. At this time in our lives we're working on growing into ourselves. That means crooked teeth, awkward hair decisions, squeaking voices, and yes, ZITS! Not even the girls that I was completely envious of got to escape the dreaded pimple.

Only 3 of us actually were teens when this movie was released.

8. Pristine schools which include ample locker space. Come on, Hollywood! This is a public building...filled with teenagers...rushing in a herd of other teenagers to get to their respective classes...for years on end. Things will get scuffed. Paint gets chipped. Lockers? Scratched and dented. Also, since I mentioned lockers, you would be hard pressed to find a school that has lockers that can fit a nerdy student. Lockers usually don't extend all the way to the ground--what a waste of space! You might be lucky to get a top locker or you may have to squeeze in between the legs of other students to get to your bottom locker. My last year of  high school had Freshmen and Sophomores sharing lockers due to how crowded we were.

9. Everyone knows a choreographed dance and performs it during the big school dance. Are you kidding me? People couldn't even get coordinated enough to stand up at the same time to cheer on their team. (Invention of the Wave anyone?) Also, people actually exist outside of school. Once the last bell rings, people are going to practice, study groups, home, work, or another million possibilities. Sure you could say that there could be a dance (during the dance) committee to teach everyone how to do a specified dance, but it would be extremely hard to get the entire school to show. Unless it's something like the Hokey Pokey, the Macarena, or the Funky Chicken (which no one wants to bring out at a formal) there isn't going to be a super cool dance everyone knows done at a predetermined time.

Even while doing the "cool" dance they still look goofy.

10. The anti-freshman mentality. The main worry of mine transitioning from middle school to high school was the fact that there was going to be an ENTIRE year before me of relentless torture. All the TV shows and movies I saw showed that the whole student body thought Freshmen were the scum of humanity. You should just lay low and pray for Sophomore year to come swiftly. Guess what? Not. True. The other students couldn't care less that I was a Freshman. In fact, on my first day, when I had a hard time finding my classes, several pointed me in the right direction. As long as your ambition isn't to thoroughly annoy the upperclassmen, then most will pay you no mind or take you under their wing.

There you have it! Is your mind blown? Did you nod in agreement at least once? Are there any that you think are obvious, but I've missed?

Addiction of the Week 1.1: Wakey!Wakey!

This is a new feature that is a part of the new NftN.  Every week, a contributor will feature one thing that they're currently obsessed with--whether it be an artist, a certain dish, a TV show, whatever!


As I usually do, I was flipping through Pandora (my Internet radio app) and was recommended a spectacular little gem by an indie artist I'd never heard of: Wakey!Wakey!  (The name is obviously completely awesome.)  I haven't looked too much into the artist yet, but I believe it's a band that occasionally gets help from other musicians but relies mostly on one guy, Michael Grubbs, who sings, writes, and plays the piano--basically, it's almost a one-man band.

Pandora had recommended me "Square Peg Round Hole"--take a listen and see if you're hooked.

(To be honest, I have no idea where the cover art is from, but it's not from Wakey!Wakey!  I chose this video because it has the best quality of sound, and that's what matters, right?)

If this song doesn't give you the earworm, check out "Almost Everything" and "Take It Like a Man" (the latter just confirms that this guy is the closest you'll get to a male Regina Spektor--amazing!)

What other Wakey!Wakey! songs do you guys recommend?  Anything you're addicted to this week?