Downton Abbey and One Direction

My two favorite things.

This will either cheer you up from Sunday, or make you super sad every time you see Matthew...and if it wasn't the second one it sure will be now!

Downton Abbey 3:7

:::Violet's travel suit in all that velvet with that hat was killer.
:::All of the bagpipes!
:::Dear Isobel, no one wants your advice, and your dinners with just Branson are awkward.
:::I hate all new maids. It should have just stayed as Anna and the ginger whom I can't even remember the name of now...
:::Bates got some Altoids for the smoker breath.
:::"My basic fact is that I love you". MUCH better line than any of Matthew's in this episode about seeing someone naked meaning you know how golden their soul is.
:::They are wearing deerstalkers to deer stalk.
:::I want a fancy man. Taking applications.
:::Deerstalker Trail: "You have shot 1400 lbs of meat, but the pack horses can only carry 200 lbs."
:::Lighthearted picnic Bates was nice. Am I the only one that thought Anna dancing was not enough of a payoff for all of that surprising? I mean, I thought she was pregnant, or at least going to get Bates drunk to get her pregnant.
:::There are so many guns and swords in Scotland...
:::Ivy and Daisy being friends, how nice.
:::Carson and a baby. DEAD.
:::Bates watching Anna dance, he's finally got the twinkle back he hasn't had since like episode 3 of season one.
:::I can't tell you how many proposals I've had to turn down because they just wanted me for my cooking.
:::Oh Branson, I will cradle you when you cry...But not in an awful Edna way...and not while I look at you, bc you one ugly crier son!
:::Cora's coat when she's leaving the castle. got to be kidding me.
:::Oh Thomas.
:::As Alicia says, MEN HOLDING BABIES IS POSITIVELY PORNOGRAPHIC! Yes.

So...I knew that Dan Stevens didn't sign on for a 4th season...so I knew he was going to die, and so the entire episode I was waiting for it. So, yes, I am in shock, but not that bad. Sorrynotsorry.

Downton Abbey 3:6

:::I haven't been able to watch the opening without imagining a Swiffer since the BBC's very first spoof of Upstairs Downton Abbey.
:::If my husband had just gotten out of jail we'd make out HARD CORE in the backseat. No doubt. If I had a husband we'd just make out all the time, never mind jail time.
:::I feel like Robert never gets to finish his breakfast. He's always outraged enough to leave in a huff, caring his letters.
:::Way to tell Alfred, Daisy! I also love that tallness is such an asset to footmen.
:::Whenever I put lotion on my hands I always try to ring them like the fine ladies do on Downton. It's always a good filler action for the end of a conversation with Anna or the beginning of one with Matthew.
:::There was definitely a sexy saxophone going into the Thomas/James scene.
:::What was Thomas' thought process with the peace offering toast the next morning at breakfast?
:::I recognize the newspaper man...
:::Tom's brother looks like a mix of Tom and Toby Jones.
:::Pffft...Matthew, you can make me as untidy as it pleases you.
:::Also, Matthew does not look like a good kisser.
:::I was confused by the mourning dress in this one. Is there a different code for evening dress? They went into half mourning quite nicely, but I feel like in general things got a little muddled.
:::Violet to Isobel "I know how you hate facing facts". THANK YOU! This sums up my beef with Cousin Isobel. She lives in her own little self righteous world. And however much Violet wanted Ethel away for the sake of the neighborhood, it really was a good move for her, sparked by Violet's seeing Ethel's misery.
:::Cora's black embroidered day dress was to die for.
:::Family outing to the dodgey nightclub! Shotgun!
:::Get it done, Matthew! You sort out Rose.
:::Also, I zoned out during Violet's explanation of who the heck Rose is, so I'm still a little fuzzy.
:::Rose's wig=not great.
:::Edith's emerald and ivory ensemble is pretty fabulous. She looked down right pretty in that scene.
:::And by "that scene" I mean the Mr. Rochester/Bertha defense. Old hat, Mr. Fellowes.
:::The village team had rather the handsome ginger bowler.
:::Only the British would play their national sport in sweater vests and white shoes.

Gregson is Yates in Mansfield Park!

Downton Abbey 3:5

Is it me or did NOTHING happen this week?

:::Robert is being kind of obnoxious, which is nothing new since the maid last season.
:::Cora is just wanting someone to blame and so Dr. Clarkson's chat at the end was good.
:::I feel like Robert would be much more open to Matthew's help if all of the things weren't happening at once. Remember he was very keen on getting Matthew involved at one point. I think he's too used to his own way and is upset that the end of the War hasn't restored it to him.
:::Violet talking about hearts was amazing.
:::Mr. Carson telling Mrs. Hughes he knows she'll never desert him was nice.
:::Yay Ethel, you can cook.
:::Ivy, oh Ivy...
:::Alfred, oh Alfred...
:::Daisy needs to work the farm and get a better life. Mr. Mason was really right about everything he said, as long as he realizes farming will change as well.
:::Mary and Matthew say they need to work on their relationship, but I doubt their actions will agree.
:::Was it just my TV, or did the lighting during Mary and Matthew's pillow talk make them look dead? Like straight up Sybil post seizures blue? Oh! Too soon?
:::My mom doesn't know the whole Thomas and O'Brien story and was very upset O'Brien told Thomas that Jimmy has a crush on him. The evil never ends.
:::Can you really employ Thomas for however long Bates has been in jail and then just kick him out? I don't know what to do about it, but I feel like it's a really bum deal.
:::Yeah...there was a lot of talking this episode. Next week should have some ACTION!

Downton Abbey 3:4

I feel bad writing anything this week, but you'll see that when the comments kind of just stop.

:::Ivy is the new Daisy. Daisy is the new Mrs. Patmoore. Mrs. Patmoore is nicetimes?
:::Breakfasting in bed is awkward.
:::Sybil's hair is a disaster (sorry! I wrote it before she went into labor!)
:::Isobel. Martha doesn't know why I dislike Isobel and I was trying to examine my aversion to her this episode. While she has sometimes, and a lot of the times been right in the causes of her selfrighteousness she rarely thinks through what she's trying to do, and almost never thinks about the feelings of others involved. Yes, she loves charity and helping, but when she wanted to keep Downton as a hospital did she think about how the family felt? They of course didn't feel the way she did, but if she would just stop to think about someone else's side she might not come off so horrible to me. The same thing happened last episode when she refused to at least humor Ethel about giving Charlie up. Mrs. Hughs was very right in consoling Ethel. Isobel was very little help because she didn't feel that Ethel had done the right thing, and refused to concede any type of support in the matter, even though that's her schpiel. Now she's hired Ethel, bc Ethel needs a job, without thinking it through. Mr. Carson's opinion about the feelings of society towards Ethel might not be just, but they are true. Mrs. Hugh's recognizing that Ethel is not suited for the job is also something that Isobel ignored considering when she hired her. So I guess my beef with Isobel is her holierthanthou attitude that disregards the feelings and attitudes of those she's being holierthan.
:::Matthew's eyes are very very blue in the breakfast room.
:::Oh hey, Timothy Piggot-Smith.
:::"Let me just change out of my tux and deliver a baby. Oh wait, no, I'll just take off my coat and roll up my sleeves."
:::Jimmy's got a nice stink face, I'll give him that.
:::Don't let Sybil sleep!!!!

And that's when I started to weep softly and for a long time. We all know that this family is super dysfunctional and now the only rational character (ok, rational is debatable) is gone. It's all going to fall apart as a moral that "reality" is not all cupcakes and roses. Matthew and Mary are going to divorce. Bates is never going to get out. Mrs. Hughs is going to die of undiagnosed cancer. Everything will be terrible.

:::Also, don't feed the baby honey. That's a super bad idea.

and Maggie Smith is a goddess. 

Downton Abbey 3:3

:::Bates doesn't need his cane anymore! Watson.
:::Whenever Isobel says "Sorry to push in" she's sorry she's not sorry.
:::OMG, Matthew, you can't just ask someone why they're not breakfasting in bed!
:::I breakfast in bed when I get married?
:::Seriously, Thomas is giving off the thickest serial killer vibe recently...
:::New footman, not handsome. Weird looking. Baby face with cheekbones makes for some weird old/young weird weird weirdo face. I guess he's 1920s handsome? I'd take Douglas Fairbanks any day.
:::NO touching, Thomas! You'd think he'd know by know that his gaydar is broken.
:::Lots of weird pauses and glances with the Isobel/Ethel interactions. My money's on Isobel having been a prostitute, got preggers with Matthew, married his dad then BAM! then somehow her life turned out fine? BUT Matthew's not a Crawley and can't inherit! Oh no! But yeah...that whole thing was filmed very strange. I hate Isobel. She's such a Harriet Jones recently.
:::Oh LOOK! Now everyone knows Branson is a giant douchebag, even Sybil (Please Sybil, tell me you've figured it out by now).
:::I realized that letter writing will never completely die out bc prisoners only write letters right? Or do they even have email these days?
:::Dear Alfred, Idk how I feel about you still. Idk how I feel about Daisy liking you. Idk how I feel about you hitting on Ivy from the get go. You are a puzzle to me. I do know I love your ginger hair and your height, but you really do look like a kicked puppy.
:::I vote Matthew and Mary are going to divorce or something catastrophic is going to happen. They make very little effort to see each other's points of view and/or work together in any way. Why did they get married? Why do they love each other? Why did they ever like each other? I seem to remember some amount of unadulterated jealousy turning into an inexplicable dining room make-out. I'm not knocking the choice of make-out local, but I'm really starting to wonder if the wool's been pulled over our eyes for two and a half seasons and these two are actually a terrible terrible couple.
:::Mrs. Hughs can make me all the toast. 

Downton Abbey 3:2

Great article about the girls' wedding dresses, and $200,000 tiara!

:::Mary is SUCH a pill! I think she's forgotten lame, barfy Matthew on his deathbed too quickly.
:::Oh Thomas. What a life you have lead/are leading. Of the all the characters over these 8/9 years I think he and O'Brien are the only ones that actually look like they've aged it. Maybe Mrs. Hughes, but she just up and got sick so it looks like it now.
:::Those hairs are shellacked.
:::Sneaky sneaky Carson. He's had his sneaky footman days I'm sure.
:::I think the gentlemen's makeup is a bit heavy handed lately. Sir Antony looks rather a doll.
:::And why can't Sir Antony keep his hand in his pocket or something? It's so bizarre all strung up that high and in a black sling. He didn't use to have it that way right after the war did he?
:::Dear Isobel, the prostitutes don't care.
:::All prostitutes have frizzy hair. Even Ethel after her client left had the frizzy hair, like they do it up special.
:::Matthew in his grey suit with blue shirt and tie. Perhaps the best ensemble he's every worn? Besides the uniforms?
:::Oh Season 3, you keep tempting us with Robert's slow unbuttoning and losing his shirts. Just release a steamy Lord Grantham calendar and be done with it!
:::The Swires have been ever so helpful and convenient through all of this!
:::All of the hats!
:::I will be Edith. I will find some very old man to devote my life to.
:::When I have all of the wedding things on I will run up and down stairs to billow so nicely.
:::Dear Edith: If your heart really did break that badly there should be less noise and more drooling. Try some hyperventilating, reducing yourself to a crumpled mass on the floor, and when you do start being able to make noise, ensure it's gaspy and/or dragon-like. Just me?
:::I loved the manshake between Matthew and Lord Grantham after they struck their deal. Oh no, hands were not enough, shoulders must be clasped as well.
:::I just think O'Brien or Thomas will just stab the other with a pen knife one of these days.
:::Why does Daisy like Alfred? Sure, he's ginger, whatever, but they seem to have no interaction other than she asking him about being "modern" and "outspoken". You missed the boat with William, Daisy, time to look outside the kitchen for love. Footmen won't do you any good.
:::All of the amazing 20s fashions. woof.
:::FYI: Alfred is 6'4". I know you were wondering.

Downton Abbey 3:1

Where to begin?! Kind of surreal to be watching new Downton!  and on a real TV too! Two hours is quite a lot to respond to! I thought about writing notes as I went, but that's like only looking through your viewfinder at the Eiffel Tower.

the turbans, feathers, and fur were astounding. 

:::Still dislike cousin Isobel.
:::Still love cousin Violet.
:::Alfred is so tall!
:::You can tell Shirley MacLaine's maid is British. Note to American accent attempters: Learn to say your R's, then pull back!
:::Poor Brendan Coyle has to film in that jail all the time!
:::Thomas and O'Brien's relationship has been more of a roller coaster than any other pair in the whole series I think. Disagree, I dare you.
:::Branson is still a twerp. Wah wah wah, I'm Irish. You might not like your in-laws, but at least be polite.
:::SO glad the visiting duke or whomever got so mad at his son for roofy-ing Branson. One of the highlights of the episode.
:::Teared up when Mary came down in her wedding gown, almost as much as when Kate Middleton got out of her town car. I'm such a cry baby about wedding dresses.
:::YES! They got married! And now Mary can ruin everything by being a pill! I get her side, I get his side. I don't know whom I side with, but I'm usually on Matthew's side.
:::Dan Stevens gained back any weight he took off for season 2, schade. And I was getting so accustomed to his jawline.
:::At first before we knew they'd lost all the money I thought Lord Grantham was still mixed up in that nasty maid affair. BOO!
:::Isis (the dog) is such a great character.
:::Matthew needs a haircut. Is it just me, or has he reverted back to the season one doughy/disheveled Matthew?
:::I don't know what I think of Alfred. I want him to get along well, but I don't like the American maid, so does that mean I don't like that they're together? I dunno, haven't decided...but Shirley's leaving so maid will be gone soon.
:::I don't know what I want for Daisy.
:::I'm not sure how I feel about a lot of things from this episode. I think I'll get more and more upset at Mary for harping on Matthew. I think that ginger maid from last season is going to upset me. I think Bates might get in trouble with his cellmate. Finally showing some guts.
:::So many pretty 1920s things.
:::Just let Edith get married and be done with it! Gutsy though to have all the youngsters married.
:::I can't put my finger on what's still missing from these episodes that series one had, and I don't know if we'll get it back. It might just be the loveliness of a new world that is now familiar. Perhaps a move away from the big house will be something like a new world.
:::Please please please make all the handsome well dressed men hold Sybil's baby when it comes!

And with that, I just want to put a plug in for the "Secrets of Great British Homes" or something like that...it's a series they're showing the hour before Downton about the great houses of Great Britain and their "secrets". Of course the premiere was Highclere Castle which was very interesting. Hampton Court and Chatsworth will be featured. I'm excited!

Downton Abbey Prequel

DA writer Julian Fellowes has said he hopes to write a prequel to the series following Lord Grantham and Cora's courtship. He says it will wait until the series is over and might be in book form before being adapted for television.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19755983

If they do this I hope they get it right. I think once upon a time I figured out that Mary was 28 by 1920 so she was born in 1892 so we're looking at the early 1890s for the story. Push it back to the 1880s? Pretty please? Interested about casting. Probable filming in America, pretty please with sugar on top?

Vlogging & Manor House

So I have a fancy new iPhone and think I should post some videos on here, and mostly my rants are much funnier in motions. So what would you like me to talk ab if I were to post of video of me talking ab something? Lemme know, I'm in  a major funk and need distractions.


Also, I've been re-watching Manor House which is basically the reality version of Downton Abbey 10 years before Downton Abbey. You'll hear a lot of the stuff that's in Downton ab footmen and maids in the dining room etc. I just can't help but think that a house of the size in Manor House should have more servants, but that's the issue right? I still think the 19 year old groom Tristan is oh so so dreamy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9DlV54l62g
http://www.pbs.org/manorhouse/

Downton Abbey Series 3 Trailer!!!

THIS.IS.HAPPENING!!!!

Uh uh uh....I can't take it! Buuuuh!!!!

September 16th is the UK premiere which means September 17th is the day I start cutting people's fingers off if they spoil things for me, seriously. SERIOUSLY.

Anyway, new characters, maid/footman romance? Another boy for Thomas? Edith and the one armed man will get together, duh. Matthew and Mary WILL get married! Bates is still in jail. Ethel's boy is bigger which means, I don't know what it means, I'm just beside myself!

V&A: Man's jama

Firstly: Downton 3 will air on PBS starting 6 January 2013. That's less than six months away, I can make it! I can make it!

Secondly: Friend Jack and I have been planning summer funtimes projects. I'm sure a new party dress will be in order. I'm also dying to make a Russian peasant smock.

Thirdly: One of my single favorite pieces in all of the Victoria and Albert is their white man's jama, which of course I want to make a modern version of!

The jama's description online which is almost verbatim what its plaque says: 

 "This man's robe is of the type called a jama, which crosses over the chest and fastens at the side. This example is exceptional in the amount of cloth used for its gathered skirt: it has a circumference at the hem of 65 metres of cloth, and the skirt is made up of 277 triangular panels. It was given to the India Museum (which was amalgamated into the South Kensington Museum, later the V&A) by the Maharaja of Bharatpur in Rajasthan in 1855."

The plaque for the Mughal costumes says:
"Men's costume of the Mughal court was based on the jama, a tailored gown tied at the side, and the paijama, tapering trousers which were loose at the top and close-fitting at the lower leg...Fine Kashmir wool shawls were often draped over the shoulder, sometimes in pairs: a fashion started by the Emperor Akbar."

Another plaque in the Indian portion explains that Muslims tended to tie their jamas on the right, and Hindus on the left.

I want one! Ok, here are mor pictures of the white jama.

 

And here's an 18th century jama

Don't they just look so comfy and elegant and wonderful? I want one real bad!

Titanic: Ep 1&2

Some very quick notes about the first two episodes of Julian Fellowes' Titanic:
SPOILERS

how are anyone's hips that narrow?

-I know that's Linus Roache's real accent, but it just seems strange...
-Lady Georgiana is nowhere near as likable as Sybil, and somehow has narrower hips than Mary!
-I think Lady G is just plain annoying.
-Also, Lady G kissing Philadelphia boy is going on the worst kiss list: There was literal sucking happening, like she was sucking at his lower lip, ack.
-The lighting for the first episode sure makes all the wigs and lips look strange.
-I like the way Titanic 1997 handles J.J. Astor and Gugenheim better, somehow this one just seems like it's cramming people in.
-Low budget or design choice to have first class in terrible browns and drabness?
-White Star china, nice touch.
-Stephen Campbell Moore or Victor Garber as Mr. Andrews the ships designer? I like them both.
-Ismay is not the bad guy in this one. Captain Smith is the one making all the demands for speed? Interesting Mr. Fellowes. From interviews I've been listening to this week survivors say neither were to blame.
-This version does mention the Californian which was visible (some say they could see the men aboard her) and less than 10 miles away from Titanic when she hit and started sinking, which is absolutely heartbreaking.
-Don't worry, Officer Lightoller survives, I listened to his interviews.
-Who's the large Italian man that found the Irish engineer's son?
-The nice stewardess w/ the bad hair is Doctor Who's new companion.
-I want the wenchy lady's maid (the lady is wenchy, not the lady's maid) and the valet to get together, but they won't because he's going to die.
-Is there some thievery with the lady's maid?
-They're all going to die, except the ladies, Lightoller, Ismay, and Officer Boxhall (who you don't really know, but he was mentioned, and I listened to his interviews, so he survived).
-There are too many people to follow and I'm not getting attached to many.
-The Mrs. Bates/Toby Jones scenario is such a whirlwind of frustration and not enough back story for me to really care to follow.
-Can Mrs. Bates play anything but the horrible wife?
-You like how I call her Mrs. Bates even though this isn't Downton Abbey?
-Where's Molly Brown?
-The whole "starts sinking at the end of every episode but from a different point of view" is nice in theory, but really rather strange. The first episode seemed to jump straight to Sunday, the second one not so much.
-I still feel like there are 500 people we've been introduced to that we'll have to see the stories off, but there are only two more episodes.

That's it for now. I'll watch the last two episodes tomorrow. Don't you fret! You can watch them too!
http://abc.go.com/shows/titanic/?cid=abccomsearch_results 

Fantastic BBC archive of Titanic interviews. Officers Lightoller and Boxhall and fashion writer Edith Russell are esp interesting.

Downton Abbey 3 Info!

Thank you Tellyspotting!

Downton 3 is 9 months away! I can do it, I can do it!
SPOILERS (but good ones)
Rebecca Eaton, Exec Prod of Masterpieces says...

“It’s the 1920s now. Somebody will be born, and somebody will die — somebody pretty key in the cast, unfortunately, is not going to make it”.
Sybil's going to have her baby, duh. Granny will die, that's my guess, I already called that way back when. If they're stopping at 3, which I hope they do (Maggie Smith and Dan Stevens haven't signed on for 4), it'd make sense to kill Granny as a heart wrenching turn of events. She's old and if they're not worried about surviving through a 4th w/o her, why not?

“There are some wonderful scenes between Maggie and Shirley MacLaine,” Eaton says. “Shirley MacLaine being as ditzy as ever…and Maggie barely restraining her sneer in having to deal with this ‘American’,” she says.
I can't wait for this!!!

“Matthew and Mary do get married.”
That's all I needed to know.

SO EXCITED EEEEEEEEEEEEE
Going through withdrawals like me? reminisce a bit

Also, I've hit 40,000 page views! Yipee! Now, would you do me a solid and help me get to 50,000 by recommending me to a friend, rereading some of your favorites, or posting something to Pinterest? My "Favorite Pictures" are rather nice. Find something you like and pin that sucker. Everything on Pinterest from here was mostly pinned by me...

Matthew and Mary Crawley Baby

No, I have no juicy tid-bits about Mary and Matthew, but it did strike me after I just finished series 2 again that someone should morph their faces together to see what their kids'll look like, bc isn't that just the creepiest thing to do?

I used morphthing.com which will morph pictures into adults or babies. I've used it before for fun and now for the oh so important reason of seeing what the Crawley baby and 2nd in line to Downton will look like.

the baby, cute no?

the morphed adult, strange and very androgynous

 Forgive the stupid formatting, I couldn't get them where I wanted them exactly; this is as close as I could get.

The handsomest weak chins around

Best friend Sarah and I developed an aversion to weak chins in high school, but with the advent of certain favorite ITV dramas (Downton, cough cough) I find that I'm inexplicably drawn to certain men of the weak chinned variety.  Probably bc in my mind weak chins are as inherently British as ice blue eyes and wavy hair.

Dan Stevens

Bradley Cooper

Benedict Cumberbatch

Rupert Penry-Jones

I will say this for these guys, finding photos of their weak chins can be difficult as they seem to know their angles, and Bradley Cooper is hardly ever w/o his stubble, which when well planned can sculpt out a rather nice jawline, as seen below.

Jason Sudeikis

BOOM! jawline.

Cumberbatch as Doctor Who Master?!

Uh, Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary is coming up in November '13...and rumors are Benedict Cumberbatch will play the Master! What the what?! I just found this blog, Tellyspotting, and within the first 3 minutes I've found a shot of Shirley MacLaine on the set of Downton and this rumor about Cumberbatch playing in both Moffat hits. I'm going to keep an eye on this blog a lot more!


From Tellyspotting (more at their site)
"Sherlock to meet Doctor Who in Nov ‘13?
Ok, it’s not quite Sherlock that would meet the Doctor, but the big rumor making its way around BBC Showcase in Liverpool late yesterday afternoon was the possibility of Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) being cast as The Master for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who."

Also, I've decided I should get Twitter, mostly bc I keep researching projects and the info I find has been taken from Twitter pages, also it'd be one more way for you to keep up with me! I'm trying to decide if I should use fashionephemera as my handle if it's available, or go for something more personal, like with my name, and simpler. Suggestions, ideas?

Downton Abbey: Christmas Episode!

200th BLOG POST! How fitting that it's Downton.

I want everything about Mary's hunting ensemble, and just Matthew in general.

:-: I'm not sure why now and not a year ago, but I'm absolutely in love with Dan Stevens.
:-: Blond hair, cherry lips, and swimable dreamy blue eyes.
:-: I called Rosamund's maid and the gold digger from the get go.
:-: I don't care what happens in series three as long as they GET MARRIED FIRST!!!
:-: I couldn't take the entire episode, so elated and ecstatic the whole time.
:-: Oh Thomas, how awful you are when O'Brien tells you you're terrible.
:-: I think Daisy's finally realized she did love William, good for her.
:-: Lavinia used the Ouigi board to say that she's happy for Matthew and Mary.
:-: I kept waiting for something bad to happen, but it never did! Knock on wood even though it's absolutely no good w/ sadistic Julian Fellowes at the helm.
:-: LOVE 20s fashion, sister hates it, she can just shut her mouth.
:-: Edith has redeemed herself enough for me to want her to get married and go away.
:-: Carlyle was a d-bag and an a-hole, glad he's gone. Didn't feel bad for one second.
:-: Hunting clothes, YES.
:-: That Turk is probably the most talked about shortest lived character in television history. "The Turk?!" "Papa, do you remember the Turk?" "It involves a Turk, two dressing gowns, and the footman". Good grief!
:-: Maggie Smith, lest we ever forget, which barring Alzheimer we won't (too soon?), is a boss.
:-: Upset for series three: Granny dies.
:-: I think that series three can redeem series two's bull ride of a plot by the necessity of many new characters after some have died and others have moved on and the fact that the war's over and I really don't think the 20s were all that racey in the UK, but if Shirley McLean is playing Cora's mother then a trip to America has to be in hand.
:-: So help me if Isis was the casualty of this episode I was going to flip a lid!
:-: Actually like Isobel in this episode, for about a second.
:-: Can't tell you how many old timey British trials I've watched. They're always guilty then after like 50 years they're set free, or like a year.
:-: Is it terrible that as soon as I heard Sybil was pregnant I thought "Well there goes your ideals of liberty, equal rights, and freedom."?
:-: Servant's balls are the best things ever.
:-: Do you think that Thomas is really changing? He seems less conniving and like stealing Isis wasn't so easy to think up as it would have been in his earlier more weasely  years.
:-: I'll gladly teach Matthew to shoot.
:-: Matthew and Carlyle rolling off the couch onto each other might be a highlight of my life.

Downton stars off screen

http://www.papermag.com/2012/02/downton_abbey_stars_out_of_cos.php

I keep forgetting to post this. It's Downton stars on and off screen. Mrs. Hughes and O'Brien are especially interesting. I promise I'll post something non-Downton soon.

Downton Abbey series 3 dates (not definitive)

Talking to friend Carter today and wondering when series 3 will start filming. Articles online say the beginning of this year, so probably right now. Series 2 aired in the UK in September and IMDB has series 3 starting on September 1st. Count on having series 3 air on PBS this time next year. I know, I know, you have to wait if you're like me and watch it on the TV and not beforehand on the interwebs. Consolation? Sherlock starts May 6th and Masterpiece still has the new Great Expectations with Gillian Anderson, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Birdsong (whatever that is).