I'm debating whether to start watching Chicago Fire and associated shows, or to avoid them like a, well, fire.

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‘There’s no greys, only white that’s got grubby. I’m surprised you don’t know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.’
‘It’s a lot more complicated than that -’
‘No. It ain’t. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.’
Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

I was a big fan of Emergency! (Squad 51) back in the day, so naturally, I wanted to watch Chicago Fire. So far, I have avoided becoming a fan of the other shows, though I did watch Chicago P.D. briefly. It was too violent for my tastes, but I do occasionally still watch it, as Voight has turned into a very interesting character, after first appearing on Chicago Fire as a corrupt cop out to get Severide and Casey for charging his son with drunk driving.

They occasionally do crossovers with Chicago Fire and Chicago Med, but I'd really prefer they didn't, as I don't want to watch ALL the shows! Same thing with NCIS - I let NCIS L.A. drop from my viewing schedule, as it just didn't appeal to me as much as the other two shows.

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When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

Ummmm. Read a Chicago guide book instead.

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'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude (as Merry)

I don't think I'd find a guide book very exciting, Innana! Are you saying the series and its spinoffs are boring? Unrealistic?

One other thing I like about the series is the way they treat women. The cast has always had several strong women in it, and some episodes have focused on the prejudice women face in a male-dominated job. One of the women was gay, but had a very strong and complicated platonic friendship with a male firefighter, who mourned her greatly when she died on the job. I thought that was a very interesting and original touch.

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When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

I meant it as a joke to Frelga, Sunny. Since her son is in Chicago it would be good to know about the city without things that would worry her. Hence, the guide book.

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'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude (as Merry)

Does American Gods get better? We are two episodes in and my husband is about pegged on his weirdness tolerance meter.

It doesn't get less weird.

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‘There’s no greys, only white that’s got grubby. I’m surprised you don’t know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.’
‘It’s a lot more complicated than that -’
‘No. It ain’t. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.’
Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

I have recently watched two TV series which I have loved, but both were in spanish and I am not sure they are available in English in the USA.

First was the spanish version of “El capitán Alatriste”. I have not seen the cinema version with Vigo Mortensen, but the serie is a lovely classical sword and cape style pleasure to watch. Like the Errol Flynn of old...

The other one is so good that I hope they will make versions of other countries. It is called “El Ministerio del Tiempo” and is the story of a ministry of Time Travelling in which people of different times travel in the past to preserve history. Costumes are great and I learn a lot about Spanish history, culture and literature watching it! Fantastic series.

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"nolite te bastardes carborundorum".

Do you speak Spanish too or are you watching with subtitles?

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everything happens so much

No kidding! We watched three more episodes last night. It is starting to have a coherent story. Sort of..

I am watching with Spanish subtitles. They speak too quickly, but by reading I get it all (or almost).

Y aprende mucho escuchando! Mi objetivo por Estë año es de hacer un examen de nivel B2 en español y me falta más práctica. Me gusta también mucho leer en español. Acabo de terminar dos novelas, una española, una mexicana. Estoy leyendo una biografía ahorita.

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"nolite te bastardes carborundorum".

We've been watching Westworld, season 1.
The opening music is stuck in my head today.

Has anyone watched 'Godless,' the Netflix 7-part Western? I loved everything about it. While full of homage, I thought the three main characters were subtly drawn and original.

I found it well-written and beautifully filmed -- and what a gunfight!!

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Avatar photo by Richard Lykes, used with permission.

This is gonna be the next Father Ted. You heard it here first!

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The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End

No idea what Father Ted is but I liked that trailer.

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everything happens so much

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The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End

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everything happens so much

Father Ted is something of a phenomenon over here. Its a Channel 4 Series that only ran for 3 seasons of 6 episodes each, plus a couple of specials. The acting is not great, because they're mostly irish comedians who were drafted in, rather than actors. But it has cult status on this side of the world. People travel from all over to attend Tedfest, and dress as their favourite characters. The basic premise if three catholic priests and their housekeeper living on a remote Irish Island. The old priest is an alcoholic and the youngest is an idiot, not that Father Ted himself is the brightest.

Because there's so few episodes, there's really no fillers and they're all gems, much like Fawlty Towers or The I.T. Crowd.

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The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End

Here's a sample:

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We watched the whole first season of "Altered Carbon" on Netflix this past week. It was really good- quite absorbing.

It's also TV-MA, so if graphic violence and nudity bothers you, don't go there.

We actually listened to the audiobook of this 5 years ago, but couldn't remember many details. TV is a much better format for this story. I remember getting confused by the flashbacks in the audiobook version, while in the TV version, there was no question as to whether the story was in flashback or present day because the main character had a different face and body in the flashbacks.

They really did a superb job of letting you see the continuity of character between different bodies. I'd have thought that would be hard (and maybe it was, storytelling-wise) but they pulled it off with style.

There are three books in the series. I wonder if they'll do the next two books as well?