Watching Showtime

Premiering tomorrow, Showtime is running a powerful documentary. We all hopefully still remember Mukhtaran Mai, the Pakistani woman who was gang-raped and then shamed out of her village. Her struggle for human rights and willingness to use her life as an example has been turned into a documentary. Definitely worth watching, recording, and then showing to anyone you know who does not have Showtime.

So, there’s one huge thing happening on Weeds in the new season to announce this morning, along with the long-awaited date of return.

First and foremost, it has officially been announced that Weeds will be back on Showtime with new episodes starting Monday August 13 at 10e/9c!

The more exciting news, at least for some, is that Mary-Kate Olsen will be joining the show! She will play uber-Christian Tara, Silas’ new love interest. Slated to appear in ten shows, she will be on for most of the season, so it will be interesting to see how fans view the addition.

Showtime, Weeds, Mary-Kate Olsen

hey all. hope you’re all having a great weekend. i’m copying a post my friend Kelli wrote a day or two ago, because I feel we all need to hear what she has to say. Check it out.

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“Searching For Change”

Today I met with our staff, had a brief meeting and then went with a field officer into the village of Mbatwe. This village sits near the Beira airport, a few hundred yards from the runway. Although only a small handful of planes land here each week, it is safe to say the people living near the tarmac haven’t ever traveled.
The village was clean - much cleaner than I remember last time. The homes are tidy and the sand outside is swept carefully. The trash is piled in neat pyres and burned in the evenings, leaving the morning air thick with a plastic odor. There were more latrines dug and being used and a few community wells that seemed rather well protected and maintained.
Walking through the village, you got a sense of well-being and pride. Children chased us everywhere we went, playing tag and begging to have their photos taken. Women and men of all ages waved at us as we walked by. They were picking rice in their paddies, mashing corn in large wooden mortar and pestles, washing their laundry in buckets.
But when our field officer walked us a bit deeper into the village, the children who had been relentlessly following us suddenly fell away. Home after home we visited with people who were dying of HIV. Their bodies mere skeletons and their souls quickly fleeting. They told us that although they’d done what we’d asked - been tested and enrolled in the free antiretroviral program - the drugs had stopped. The hospital is temporarily out of stock, leaving thousands in these villages without the drugs they need to stay alive. With a two-week gap in coverage, God only knows how the virus mutates and then becomes impossible to treat. Simply, these people are dying and there is no one willing to care for them. Stigma surrounds their tiny huts. The system — widely touted — is failing them.
You grow a certain thickness of skin in this work. You have to. But today was just brutal. The last family we met with was a woman who had three girls aged 7, 3 and 1. The mother is HIV-positive and was told not to breastfeed. Her youngest is dying of malnutrition. Without her antiretrovirals, she is too lethargic to consider how to solve this problem on her own. Her neighbors are looking the other way. I sat, holding the three-year-old, and couldn’t believe how a child of just 15 pounds could have survived this long. We split a protein bar, the only food we had with us, among the four and watched as even the one-year-old carefully ate every morsel. I couldn’t hold back my tears. I won’t ever be able to describe the desperation I felt in this moment — or how this mother must feel watching her children die at her feet because she too is succubming.
I don’t know what to do for Mozambique, Mbatwe or even this family. I don’t know how to stop a disease that is wiping entire generations off the map. I don’t know how to draw attention to this problem or what to do with the attention if I had it. There are no simple solutions with HIV in Africa. But I know today, more than ever, I won’t stop fighting for the solutions.

~kelli

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check out Care For Life if this story moves you like it did me. it’s not where she works, but an organization she partners with, and any aide they receive will help out people like those Kelli is helping right now.

Rather than discuss the last four episodes of Huff one at a time, I feel the need to just lay it all out there. I was hugely disappointed with the path these last few episodes took. The writers had already created a ton of drama, and there were a lot of events that could have catapulted these people in very different directions. Instead, we were left with a Craig I now despise, a Beth I want to strangle for her naivety, and several other cursory characters who I actually care more about now than ever.

First off, what’s with making the decision to make Craig play into the stereotype so obviously? The hot young thing shows up at his office selling something, and he ends up making out with her. Guilt drives him to accuse his wife of seemingly ludicrous action, and to turn drunk, disorderly and violent for the remainder of the season. I wish television writers everywhere would put a moratorium on this sort of storyline. It’s been done. A hundred times before. And it kills interest in the character. Want to make him interesting? Parade around the hot young thing and have him tell her to bugger off. Better yet, don’t fall back on stereotype when at a loss for a new storyline. Come up with something original for once.

And Beth? Blind to the hot young restaurateur’s affections? I sincerely doubt she would have had no idea that man wanted to get in her pants. Again with the stereotypes. I did appreciate her reaction to Huff’s accusations, however. It is too often that women in television and movies make excuses for their husbands’ reactions to such situations. Beth calls him on it.

As for Russell. Can we get him off all the drugs before we give him a baby. Especially a baby with the least likely of women. What happened to Pepper? When are they going to to foster the relationship he so obviously has with his secretary? Instead they give him a love child from a drug-induced night of stupidity, and have him sleep it off with Izzy.

Byrd and Teddy are the only two characters left I have any appreciation for. Byrd, with all his teenage angst and confusion, seems to be finding his way quite nicely. I like that the writers don’t pull any punches with his explorations of sexuality and drugs. Teddy will always hold a spot in my heart because he’s so damn cute. Throw out the crazy and Teddy is a man I’d look back at on the street. So these two can stay.

The rest of the characters? Well, I’m not so sure about them. And I also don’t know if two characters is reason enough to watch the second season.

Karina Lombard has graced the channels of the Showtime network for several years as Marina, Jenny’s first love interest on The L Word. Her command performance during their first year shot her into a new level of stardom, and left the fans shocked when she wasn’t back for the second season. By the fourth season of the L Word she was back for a few guest appearances, although her character had taken on a more smarmy side disappointing many.

Since her stint on the L Word, Karina has kept incredibly busy. She currently plays Alana Mareva on the 4400, a phenomenal USA television show that helps fill up summer slots. Her recurring character on this show has taken some interesting turns, and by the end of the third season has become a pivotal character, with much riding on her existence in Seattle.

With television taking up much of her time recently, it would be great to see her return to movies! Karina is a phenomenal actress whose bio resembles that of the great Hollywood actresses. Check it out on her IMDB page.

Also check out this great 4400 fan site.
She also has this great fan site.

Announced about a week ago, Brotherhood will return this fall with the addition of Janel Moloney to the cast from the West Wing. Check out the full details here.

Showtime, Brotherhood, Janel Moloney, West Wing

I’ve offically been nominated for a Blogger’s Choice award. And it’s about time, if I do say so myself.

Head over here and vote for me!

So, I know this event happened over a month ago, but I’m a slacker sometimes. Here’s a great shot of Jennifer Beals, Rachel Shelley and Alexandra Hedison at the celebrity benefit performance of “The Vagina Monologues” at the Ivy Substation on April 16.

With the first season replays winding down, many have already seen this episode of Weeds. Many already know about the hilarious secret sex moment, the two stoned men chasing a mouse, and Shane the biter. I, however, had never seen the episode until last night.

And I laughed my ass off.

With Nancy’s car getting pennied last week, I wondered how she would deal with the stress. Would she tuck tail and leave the college campus market? Would she hunt down the teen that messed with her ride? I never expected her to sleep with the thugged out dealer that was responsible! Secret sex is the best, especially when it’s between a naiive suburban mom and her drug dealer pseudo-boyfriend!

To add to the greatness of the episode, Shane bites a kid during a karate tournament, then he and Nancy have dinner with the victim and his father. Rebuffing his advances, Nancy heads home to find her brother and accountant high off her stash weed and chasing a mouse around her once-pristine house.

So great. So, so great.

With just a few weeks left until the replays of season two, I’m excited to see where these storylines lead!

Showtime, Weeds, season one, drug dealer, “pennying” a car, karate tournament

In the eighth episode of The Tudors, a special envoy arrives from Rome to oversee the trial regarding Henry’s marriage to Katherine. Holding the court and much of the known world in his hand, Henry is convinced he will have no trouble gaining his divorce, but as the Pope’s men begin to analyze the situation, things begin to look more grim.

Ann, doing her part to weaken the king’s trust in those closest to him, continues to bait him with sex in exchange for her bidding. In a strange twist, we discover that Ann’s desires to rid the kingdom of Wolsey may also be personal, as she accepts Protestant reading material from Crommwell.

Sadly, we also discover Thomas Tallus propsing to Jane, a woman he hardly knows. It is a first for Showtime, despite the time period they are portraying, to abandon a homosexual storyline in favor of something more traditional.

In all, the episode furthered the plot-line, one we all know ends in the split of England from the Catholic Church. With only two epsiodes left in the season, hopefully some of these loose ends will be tied up sooner rather than later.

Showtime, The Tudors, Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon, Catholic Church, Protestant, Crommwell

Last night’s replay of Dexter was one of the better episodes of the first season. With the Ice Truck Killer potentially captured, Dexter begins to see his small group of “friends” cut down. But the discovery of who exactly the ITK might just be leaves something to be desired. Neal Perry is not who Dexter wanted him to be, with his taxidermy statues and creepy double-wide trailer.

Rita’s ex-husband begins to show back up as well. It’s obvious he’s not going anywhere, and despite his seeming concern for his children, the memory of abuse is still to fresh in Rita’s mind to feel comfortable with things. Paul does, however, manage to drop the bombshell that not only are he and Rita still legally married, he also is sole owner of their house.

By the end of the episode, Deb has forged a new relationship with creepy Doctor “creates a limb”, Rita has finally convinced Paul to sign the divorce papers, and in a shocking twist we get to hear Neal Perry say to Dexter:

Who the hell are you?!?!?

Next week’s episode reveals the real ITK, and I cannot wait for it!

Showtime, Dexter, Ice Truck Killer, Neal Perry, spousal abuse, “Circle of Friends”

This hilarious episode of Penn and Teller tackles the energy issue at hand in America in classic Penn and Teller style: boobs. Amidst full nudity (that’s right!) they discuss nuclear power, and provide some pretty swaying arguments. They also test-drive a hybrid and set up two cutie lesbians.

With gas prices sky-rocketing, people across the nation have been discussing hybrid cars along with wind and solar energy as ways to combat our coal and oil dependencies. But with nuclear power, there is a huge solution to the issue (at least, the coal issue). The boys interview a few “experts” on both sides of the debate, although they have obviously already come to the conclusion that nuclear power is the way to go.

What I didn’t get was the hybrid issue. Sure, hybrids have worse pickup due to carrying around two engines. And sure, a super-tiny fuel efficient car will get good gas mileage (although not quite as good as a hybrid). But how is nuclear power going to fix any of this? They never discuss that issue other than to bash a hybrid car. And while I understand that hybrids are still in their infancy and need a ton of work, they use less gas. Without offering up a better solution men, what was the point?

All in all, a great episode. Catch it in the repeats if you missed it the first time around!

Showtime, Penn and Teller, nukes, lesbians, hybrids, nuclear power, oil dependency, coal dependency

With so many gorgeous stars on Showtime, I had to divide their pics up into two groups! So here’s the rest (well, not the rest, but the rest for today) of these gorgeous men and women!

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Man, there are some beautiful people here at Showtime! I thought that today I’d give everyone some eye candy, and just post some great pictures of all the beautiful people that we love to watch each night (and a few from shows no longer on the air).

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In what is one of the sadder episodes of Huff thus far, every character is tested this holiday season, and much is revealed. From Russell’s possible romantic interest to Beth’s mother, from Huff’s father to Byrd’s girlfriend, even one of Huff’s patients must learn to live with the new moments being tossed about.

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