Adventures in glass making - the butterfly

I got to pick up my finished glass mosaic butterfly last night and I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Okay, this was the "before" picture, prior to being fired:

And here's the "after". Amazing how the colors change, isn't it?

The class wasn't what I was expecting, but in the end I enjoyed myself and I've got another skill under my belt!

Scott and Stonebridge - Brothers in Arms

Okay, who here on my flist was telling me about Strike Back, that recommended I watch it. It's driving me crazy that I can't remember because I want to say THANK YOU!!

Yes, I have fallen hard for Damien Scott and Michael Stonebridge. :-)

I've never been interested much in military shows, so I didn't think this would appeal to me. And honestly, the only reason I decided to tune in was that I saw the blurb for the season three premiere and it said along the lines of "Scott and Stonebridge's vacation is interrupted…"

Okay, wait, back up the train! These guys go on vacation together??

Yeah, my bromance factor just jumped off the chart. I needed to check out this show! LOL!

Thankfully I have Cinemax On Demand and there was all of seasons one and two just waiting for me. I've now mainlined all of season one and half of season two in like, a week.

There are pros and cons to Strike Back. Let me start with the cons - the insane body count in every single episode. It's a military show, so it's kind of to be expected, but I swear at least three dozen people in every episode are shot or blown up, or my favorite - shot in the head at close range. The blood factor is sky high. There is a lot of nudity. If you like boobs, this is the show for you. Damien Scott will screw a woman in every episode (more on that in a bit). It's a bit formulaic. Maybe it's because I've watched 15 episodes one right after another, but there's usually a person that needs to be rescued from hostile forces, or a piece of technology that needs to be recovered. The guys are dropped in, save the person, kill the bad guys, and leave. A little variety would be nice.

The pros - Damien and Michael's relationship. These are two guys who were complete strangers to one another in the pilot episode, and five episodes later are saying things to each other like,

"That's why you love me." and
"I need you in there with me" - "It's because I complete you, isn't it?"

Seriously?? LOL! And there's a lot more where that came from. When they're not shooting at things they've got some excellent dialogue between them. It's truly why I put up with the body count. I'm only halfway through the second season and they've gone through a lot of crap together and have really forged a bond. Both of them have been shot and captured and beat up and the other one always shows up to rescue the other.

That's another reason that Damien screwing a random woman in every episode doesn't bother me. Because it means nothing to him. He never really has a connection with any of them. It's a form of release for him (because he hasn't hooked up with Michael yet? heh, heh) and that's about it. And then there's also the fact that Michael's wife is now out of the picture, freeing them both up! ;-)

I've just been impressed with how they've let these two macho, military guys show some feelings and concern for one another instead of just saying "buck up!".

All in all, I'm glad I checked it out and I'm looking forward to finishing season two and getting caught up with season three that just started.

P.S. - also how could I not check out a show where one of the actor's name's is Winchester?? What's even funnier is that he's an American actor playing a Brit and the other guy is an Aussie playing an American! Wha…? LOL!