when in rome... oh just screw 'em all!

I haven't blogged in a while. Been busy writing a horrid paper about why the student protest movement during the 1960s lasted longer in Italy than the ones in France, Spain, and West Germany did. Who cares? Besides, the topic is way too big and complex for 1500 words.

Oh, and I've also spent my time catching up on the second season of "Rome" (2005-2007). I've been streaming past episodes online. It's really a ridiculous program, a long-winded soft core porno, but beautifully made, (generally) well-acted, and contains enough homoeroticism to keep me entertained. The love story between soldiers-turned-gang leaders Lucius Vorenus (the Great Kevin McKidd) and Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) is usually gripping. I tell you, when they get close to each other, I can't stop hoping they will kiss. Oh, they never do. If they do at the end of the very last episode, it will be something out of a filmic adaptation of Jane Austen. Then again, it'd be very Jane Austen if they never kiss, either.

The past three episodes I've watched had French subtitles. Absolutely distracting. I can't help reading subtitles when they are up. I read The Fountain (2006) in French in addition to listening to it in English when I saw it in Paris. In the case of "Rome," I knew what they were going to say before they even said it. Surprised me to find out that I understood 95% of it. I can tell you I now understand why, whenever "fucking" is used as an adjective in English, it's translated as "putain de [fill in the blank]." For instance, "fucking hand" becomes "putain de main," meaning "bitch/whore of a hand." You get the picture.

There is one last thing I want to say. Watching the sex scene between Vorenus and barmaid/whore? Gaia (Zuleikha Robinson of The Namesake [2006] fame) was uncomfortable. Those kinds of scenes are not usually like that. But as Vorenus in general has gone off the deep end and has turned into a psycho desperate for redemption, it doesn't come as a surprise. He's just weird. I hope it is the director's fault that the actors played so badly in this scene. I'd hate to think McKidd's really this weird in bed.