Monday, November 30, 2009

TV Review- "Being Human"

Unless you have access to British television or are addicted to BBC America like my daughter and I are, the closest that you get to British shows are either the American version of The Office (yep, the Brits did it first) or watching Gordon Ramsey scream his head off at people on Hell's Kitchen.

But in the good old Shelton household, our Saturday nights are filled with tea and crumpets and a big dose of BBC. On Saturday nights, the Brits run amazing shows like Doctor Who, Torchwood, Hex and Robin Hood. But the best show by far- for them and for me- is Being Human.

Being Human is a show about 3 flatmates, Mitchell, George and Annie, who live in Bristol and are just trying to fit in and get through their day to day lives. So are we all, what makes it different for them, you might ask.

Well...Mitchell is a vampire, George is a werewolf and Annie is a ghost. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke doesn't it. But I promise, if you watch the first episode, you'll be hooked!!!!

Mitchell and George work as aides in the local hospital. This is extremely hard for both of them. Poor Mitchell, he's fighting the Dark Side. Part of the vampire nature is to desire blood and sex so much that it nearly overwhelms him. But to be human (hence the show's name) he has to be good, fight his natural urges. He slips occasionally but it makes you love him all the more. Plus he's HOT!

George is recent to the lycan persuasion. He was turned into a werewolf a few months ago and is still dealing with that. He has a hard time explaining why he keeps having to be off work once a month and an even harder time going through the horribly painful transformation from human to werewolf under the full moon. He's a sweetheart and is goofy as all get outs but you can't help but root for him.

Of the three, I find Annie the most annoying. Being a ghost, she's pretty much stuck inside the house. That's where she died and her whole story is finding out the circumstances. She gets all giddy when she realizes she can make tea even if she can't drink it(Mitchell and George constantly have to step over full cups of tea she leaves sitting around). I still like her despite my annoyance because she's sort of like the guys' consciences, she keeps them human.

I can't wait for season 2 of this show to start. It has already been played in the UK and got rave reviews, so much that season 3 is under production. For us, the 6 episodes from season 1 are available on iTunes. It's worth the money and the time!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Happy Black Friday

Arrgh, just shoot me in the head right now. Every year, I swear that I am not going to get up early to hit the post-Thanksgiving sales. This year, I really meant it. I absolutely WAS NOT going to get caught up in that mad rush of lemmings all blithely rushing around for deals on stuff, just stuff. And then...I saw a Wal-Mart sales paper. Damn Wal-Mart! Why oh why did it have to put GI Joe and Star Trek on sale for $9 each. See, that's the way to make a movie junkie like me lose her bleeding mind and go rushing out before the sun comes up, still wearing my pjs by the way. Well, guess what I didn't get? Yep, you're right. By the time I got into the store, all the $9 copies had been snatched up. I figured it was best to leave before I completely lost it and bludgeoned somebody with one of the $4 copies of Breaking Dawn (It's big enough to actually do some damage!)

So, how about you...did you stay all snug and warm in your bed this morning or did you get up and brave the craziness? If so, what sort of deals did you luck upon?

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

When I sat down to Thanksgiving lunch with my family today, I sort of felt silly because the first thing that ran through my head was that I was thankful that we were having ham instead of turkey. (I know, I know, the crazy tangents my mind goes off on!)

But then I straightened up and thought about the things I truly am thankful for...

1. My daughter. I am thankful each and every day that God blessed me with such a wonderful child.
2. My amazing family and friends
3. My great students. Believe me, a great set of students is a true blessing.
4. The fact that I love my job. Jobs are hard to come by as it is right now and I am lucky enough to have one I absolutely love.
5. My books, short stories and other writings. I hope to have the opportunity to share them with everyone at some point.

I'm sure there are a gazillion other things that I'll think about later. But regardless, Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!

So, what are you thankful for this year?

The True Story of the First Thanksgiving

Every year we gladly celebrate Thanksgiving Day. It's a day off from work; a day to gorge ourselves on turkey; a day to watch football and prep for shopping on Black Friday. But our secular thoughts on Thanksgiving are far from the reasons for the first Thanksgiving celebrations in this country.

Rewind back to the early 1600's. A few years earlier, Christopher Columbus had stumbled upon North America while looking for a quicker passage to Asia. Although he never quite acknowleged its value, it's not long until all sorts of settlers are making the dangerous journey across the Atlantic Ocean in hopes of finding a new life in the New World. Of course, once they disembarked from the ships and established a safe place to live, the next thing these new settlers did was to set aside a day to thank God for protecting them during their journey.

Our whole lives, we have been raised on stories of how the Pilgrims in the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts gladly invited neighboring Native tribes to a huge feast of thanksgiving. Ummm, I'm calling BS on that.

The Pilgrims saw the Native tribes like the Wampanoag as non-Christian heathens. However, when the first harvests didn't come in quite as bountifully as the Pilgrims hoped, they gladly accepted assitance from the Wampanoag, especially Squanto. Squanto had learned English when he had been captured a few years earlier by previous European explorers in the area.

The first Thanksgiving DID include a meal, both the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag contributed to the meal, and they ate at the same time. But the Pilgrims gathered together on one side of the open air eating area for their meal while the Wampanoag sat on the other side.

Now, to be fair, the governor of the Plymouth Colony did ask God to bless Squanto for helping them get their colony safely established, dealing successfully with the Wampanoag and for helping increase their meager harvest. He asked that God bestow blessings upon Squanto like he was a Christian instead of a heathen Indian.

Not exactly what we are taught in kindergarten is it? But hey, if the story doesn't get perpetuated, Hobby Lobby can't sell all those little figurines! In my mind, the first Thanksgiving was probably a lot like the Thanksgiving program in Addams Family Values.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

New Moon Mania

In case you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard of a little thing called New Moon that opened to a quiet opening this past weekend. And by "quiet" I mean HUGE, like $143 million in a little over 2 days huge. This puts it at the #3 biggest opening after The Dark Knight and Spiderman 3.

And before you even ask, yes $15 of that $143 million did come from the pocket of yours truly. Caitlin and I went to see it as soon as I could get out of my Friday class in Franklin. But no, I wasn't one of the crazy women who were drooling and making loud giggles and sighs when Taylor Lautner took off his shirt. That would make me feel too much like a pedo!

Needless to say, I love the Twilight Saga (books, movies, stuff, etc.)I would be lying if I said that I wasn't just a tad bit envious of Mrs. Meyer, an unknown housewife who has a wild dream that leads her to create an equally wild universe about vampires, werewolves and the humans they love. As an amateur writer myself, I would sacrifice my left pinkie toe, hell, both of my pinkie toes, just to have a fraction of the success she has had!

So my question for you is...have you seen the movie?

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Attn: Students

To all of my Columbia and Clifton students:

Don't forget that we will be having class tomorrow. I'm sorry :( I'd be taking the day off if I could. As I have said before, you will not be penalized if you are not there. But please be aware that you will be missing notes and I won't be going back over them on Monday.

If you are coming to class, I'll see you tomorrow.

If you are starting your holiday early, have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving and I'll see you on Monday.

Introducing...ME!!!!

For some reason, I feel like Saliva's "Ladies & Gentlemen" needs to be playing here.

Welcome folks to my inaugural blog posting. I started this blog as a way to communicate with my students outside of class as well as my friends and family. In class, I am always going off on crazy tangents- something I really don't have time to do considering the amount of work we should be covering in lecture- so I figured I would start this blog to discuss crazy history stories, all sorts of pop culture stuff and, well, anything else that I find interesting.

Just to let you know a bit about me... I am a professor of history (American and Western Civ) at colleges in middle Tennessee and central Georgia (and before you ask, yes I do drive to both of them. It's a killer, but in this economy, I'm glad to have a job). I absolutely love my job. I get paid to tell stories, TRUE STORIES!!! Hollywood can't make up half of the stuff I get to talk about. To me, nothing is more fun than to dig up the most insane stories about people in the past. They all have them and, for some reason, it always makes me feel closer to those people when I find out that they were just as crazy as I am.

This love of telling stories sort of parlayed itself into writing. That has become my new passion. When I'm not working up class lectures or with my nose stuck in a book or the TV, I'm writing. At this point, I have finished my first novel, Destiny. It's a young adult novel about Alexandra Montgomery. Alexandra is a certifiable genius whose archaeologist father has an Indiana Jones-type reputation. Her whole world gets turned upside down when she discovers her father is actually a spy for the government, searching for historical artifacts that have real or perceived power. She decides that she's going to help him with his job, even if it means getting herself killed. At the same time, Alexandra finds herself drawn to her father's new assistant, William. When Alexandra's father is kidnapped, she and William have to work together to save him from a group of religious fanatics who are out to take over the world.

In addition to Destiny, I am also working on its sequel, Legacy, a 5-part series of middle grades/young adult stories about the Greek goddesses and an adult murder mystery. In case you can't tell, I REALLY love to write. Now if I could just get an agent notice me and help me take my stuff to the next step...getting my books on the shelves. Do you know how wonderful it would be to walk into Barnes & Noble and see one of my books out there for people to read? I would probably sit down in the floor and cry like a baby.

On top of teaching and writing, I'm also a mother. My daughter is more than just my child. She's like my sister and my best friend, my biggest critic and staunchest ally, all rolled into one. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. My friend Dawn always calls us the Gilmore Girls. Move that show from New England to Tennessee and you've got us.

So...enough about me. Add your own post to tell me all about you!