On Getting Sucked In

Damn you, PBS!

It's because of you that I added another two hours to my marathon couch-sitting session today (what? It hurts to move. Every. Single. Muscle. In. My. Body is sore after yooo-ga yesterday. Don't let anybody ever tell you that it isn't exercise).

When my (esteemed and wonderful) mother called me tonight to tell me that I simply must turn on PBS. Now, I grew up in a household where we watched PBS exactly once per year, on New Year's, to see Andre Reiu conduct the Johann Strauss Orchestra, and I remember it fondly. But when my mom tells me to turn on PBS, I listen. Especially when it is so I can see Herbie Hancock (one of K's favorites) play Rhapsody in Blue (my absolute most favorite piece of music).

(side note: I just was googling around for the name of that concert, ended up on the PBS channel for a New Year's Eve performance of Rhapsody in Blue which was available to watch until January 9, 2012, got very excited, and then almost cried when I realized that it was live until January 9, 2012 on the East Coast, which happened about 9 minutes ago. Curse you, time zone differences! Curse you!)

Unfortunately, even though we have a million different PBS channels, Herbie Hancock was on none of them. Instead, I caught a bit of a show, set in a castle. I watched a bit more, and then, before I knew it, I got totally sucked into Downton Abbey. I started surfing the internet, looking at IMDB (I seem to be incapable of watching TV without reading IMDB simultaneously) for information about the castle-house and then learning everything I could find about the family that lives there (fun fact: did you know that the Carnarvon family that owns the Highclere Castle where Downton Abbey is filmed is the same Lord Carnarvon family that discovered King Tut's tomb? Crazy!)

The show was absolutely fascinating, and totally worth the hype. I was glued to my seat for the entire show and now I'm itching to watch the first season to get caught up. I'll have to do some investigative work to find out where I can watch it, but in the meantime, excuse me while I frantically try to finish all of that other stuff I never quite got around to today. Unlike the Crawleys, I don't have a maid to finish the laundry.