The hardest thing to govern is one's own heart.

Obviously, if you can believe the titular characters from my impromptu Horny Women Rulers movie marathon last night.

I think the gallons of pumpkin spice I consumed yesterday out of sheer boredom and contempt might have impacted my ability to sleep, and maybe also made my leg muscles weirdly twitchy, so instead I was awake until one o'clock finishing up random royal movies that I've started and then not finished (Numb3rs out on Tuesday---must clear the decks for non-stop Kevlar-inspired viewing).

First up was the last half of the A&E movie Catherine the Great with Catherine Zeta-Jones from about ten years ago. Okay. I'd just like to say that having them start out with Catherine's wedding day (she was fifteen) while being played by Mrs. Douglas was not terribly good, because I'm fairly certain that she didn't even look fifteen when she was fifteen.

It was good, I guess. Not terribly historically accurate, and had a cheap kind of look to it. Also found out that the DVD was censored, which was terribly amusing, because they didn't do a very good job at the editing thing. I was wondering why it kind of jumped around so much. Now I know it's because they didn't want unsuspecting viewers to catch sight of Catherine's boobs. Whatever.

However, it made me realize that there have been absolutely no good adaptations of Catherine the Great's life, which seems weird, because her story was so amazing. The girl (a no-name princess from some random Germanic province) was sent to Russia to marry the impotent king and be controlled by his mother, then she waited until Mom was dead and staged a freakin' coup to take control of Russia. And, if you want to be sensationalistic, she might have been a nyphomaniac. Just so you know.

I think that's begging for the full BBC Emmy Consideration treatment, no?

Then I finished second part of Elizabeth I with Helen Mirren, who is my squishy and I pledge my undying devotion to, much like a real queen. Oh, it was good. Much, much better than Catherine the Great. I really liked how they followed her to the end of her life, not just until Robin died or whatever.

Except, damn, they can show anything on HBO!!! I was seeing some guy's severed head in my dreams until I woke up this morning. *shivers*

And only one glaring historical inaccuracy---Elizabeth never actually met Mary of Scots. Yeah, they were cousins and Mary tried to take over England and turn it Catholic and then Elizabeth had her killed, but they never ever met. But in HBO world, they did. *sigh* Nothing's perfect.

(No icons today. Sadness.)

My parents would like everyone to know that they are not, in fact, blood-thirsty communist hunters such as I might have insinuated in the last post. Mea culpa. I do know, however, that we did have a conversation much like the one described that they probably just don't remember. And the Boy's history book says (and I quote) "Joseph McCarthy was a good Catholic who was concerned about his country." Oh yeah. You've gotta love Seton, perfectly illustrating that half of writing history is ignoring things that don't fit in with your ideas. "The Spanish Inquisition? Why, what have you heard?"


Took Imladris on a quest to get carded this weekend (didn't work) an we went to see Little Miss Sunshine, which turned out to be not weird and depressing as I originally thought but rather weird and kind of sweet and dare I say it uplifting in the end? And freakin' hilarious. I will watch Steve Carrell do anything. The man is a genius. We have decided that we should return to the scene of her getting kicked out of Kingdom of Heaven the next time and R one comes there. Hehehe.

Only really one thing to link this morning, NUCLEAR WINTER AHH!!!!!!!!!! *ahem* Oh, and it's not the good Korea, either.

Okay, obvious nuclear winter=bad. But I only have two things to say about this, and neither of them are terribly intelligent, but whatever.

1.) Too bad SNL fired Horatio Sanz. They don't have anyone else who remotely resembles Kim Jong Il now, and you know they're gonna need him!!!
2.) Dammit. Bush probably talked RIGHT THROUGH the beginning of The View again. Grrr. Somebody's got to get him a schedule.

Have a good Monday, y'all, and happy birthday to Grandpa!!!