Stuff for a Monday

I used to do these jumbled posts all the time, and haven't done one in a while, so here's a brain-dump of Stuff Nikki's Been Up To.

Vampire Diaries Season 3
So, I watched the entire third season of TVD in a week. Booyah!! For someone who barely has time to watch four hours of TV a week, this was a major, major accomplishment, spurred on by two things: One, that I'd taken the discs out of my beloved library (I love the London library SO MUCH) and they were due back in one week, and two, that the season was SO FREAKIN' AWESOME. I have a long and complicated history with TVD. I watched the first episode before it even aired, and thought it was just OK. I thought Stefan was like Angel (once-bad vampire gone good, broody, heavy brow), and Damon was like Spike (still-bad vampire but deep-down he's good, cute, witty, a thorn in the side of the other one, both love the same girl). Couldn't much stand Elena. Her best friend was a witch (Willow?) and of course along the way there's a werewolf and the ditzy friend (who was never a Cordy; I loved Caroline right from the start). Of course, THEN I discovered that TVD was based on a series of book that predated Buffy, and that these ideas were formed independent of Joss Whedon's show. But I just couldn't help but think it was a far too serious vampire show with absolutely no sense of humour, and therefore I couldn't get into it. I gave up. Everyone else in the office I worked at loved it. One friend of mine started writing amazing books about it. I tried again after they told me I HAD TO. I watched up to about episode 16 of season 1, and nope, just couldn't find it. Where was the humour? The darkness? A female protagonist that wasn't a damsel in distress? Couldn't do it. I realized I was becoming a social pariah in the office. A year later, I tried again. Nope. Continued to listen to the chatter in the office and wish I could be a part of it. A year later (now no longer in the office, so I was doing this for myself, kids), I was determined to figure out what all the fuss was about. Finished season 1, pretty good ending. Then watched season 2. It took a few tries out of the library, and I finally finished it, and I enjoyed it a lot more than season 1 because it had gotten more complicated and the characters were tighter and I was really starting to warm up to these Salvatore boys. And I could just ignore Elena because there were so many other more compelling characters. And Caroline continued to rock it. I put season 3 on hold and waited an eternity for it to come in. Knowing it was going to take a while to get it back, I dug in my heels and was determined to get through as much as possible.

And OH MY GOD it was amazing. I couldn't stop watching it. Kids are outside playing? TVD. Off at swimming lessons? TVD. I had the added bonus of my husband being away for the second week in a row, so I'd get the kids into bed and bomb through two or three episodes a night. The Originals were stunning (love love love them), the love triangle got complicated and more exciting, Elena was just a little less annoying and I actually felt for her because I know she means well, and I was emailing my friend who writes the books, who I think was happy that FINALLY I'd come around and realized the goodness that had been in front of me. And then she introduced me to Price Peterson's photo recaps and they were awesomely hilarious. I still think the show could do with a dose of humour, but it definitely had its moments in S3. Damon stepped up the taunting of his brother to very funny levels, and Klaus has a dry sense of humour that I adored. By the end of the season, I could find a line or two from each episode that made me chuckle, if not laugh out loud. And the season finale featured a stunning final scene, edited so beautifully to bring together a tragic flashback sequence overlaid with a similar event in the present, all with Sigur Ros quietly playing over it. GORGEOUSNESS.

I am SO happy that I recorded all of S4 on my DVR all season, and it's waiting downstairs for me. Problem is, I watched all of S3 on my computer, pretending Mommy was "working" all week. How do I get away with actually watching the TV? Hm.

Monsters University
I went with the kiddos last week to see Monsters University, with all of us being big fans of the first one. It was a lot of fun, although I think the first movie was stronger. Also, knowing that that movie ended with the message that (SPOILER) the screams don't actually create half as much energy as laughter, it rendered all of the scaring school and scream-inducements kind of flat. But there were a few scenes that made us all laugh out loud, including a hilarious fraternity initiation that goes terribly wrong (my son was killing himself laughing) and Goodman and Crystal were great. Oh, and also, the moment the alpha male from the top fraternity showed up and began talking, I recognized Nathan Fillion's voice IMMEDIATELY. I had no idea he was in the movie, and he's hilarious. Basically Captain Hammer in a university.

Love Is All You Need
My best friend and I started hitting the London rep cinema once a week in the fall, until we ended up putting yoga on that same night and now could only do that instead, so it's been a while, but we ended up at this Susanne Bier movie. We've been a fan of her work since her Dogme 95 days, when Sue and I would go see all the Danish and Norwegian flicks at the Toronto Film Festival every fall. This one is far more mainstream (and breaks almost every Dogme rule), about an English businessman (Pierce Brosnan) who is in Denmark running a Danish company. His son is about to marry a girl whose mother has just discovered her husband is cheating on her, after she has spent a year in chemo treatments to fight breast cancer. They all go to the wedding, Brosnan meets woman, etc. etc. A fun story, and where I'd like to say it's predictable, it actually isn't. There are lots of little twists and turns along the way and I really enjoyed it. What was particularly interesting is they didn't make Brosnan speak Danish, even though every other character speaks it. So in many conversations, he's speaking English, they reply in Danish, he nods and replies in English, etc. That way you just read the subtitles for the Danish, but they didn't have to teach Brosnan how to speak in jerky Danish for the movie. And it really works well.

Nurse Jackie
In addition to The Vampire Diaries, I've been marathoning Nurse Jackie. The seasons are quick, so it doesn't take long to get through 12 half-hour episodes, and I've blown through the first two seasons in no time. My library (love you, library!) has season three for me, and I'm picking it up on Tuesday. If you haven't seen this show, get it. It's addictive (no pun intended) and fun, and sad. I always thought it was a comedy, but it's a drama with comic moments. It handles even the deepest crises with some humour but a lot of delicacy, and it's a brilliant show. And Edie Falco proves she is bad in NOTHING.

I have a lot more on the go, but I've rambled on long enough for now! Perhaps more next week. :)