Skip to main content

Thank You HBO!

For most of my adult life, I’ve completely been against subscribing to premium movie channels. In the past, I’ve felt that if I really wanted to see a good movie and if I failed to see it in the movie theatre, well then I should just visit Blockbuster and rent it.

This mindset changed for me a few years ago. Upon my relocation to South Carolina, I decided to invest my money in a little at home entertainment. Now with my basic cable and internet package, I also have one group of premium movie channels, and that is with HBO.

HBO has been good to me, although my monthly bill is a bit too high, I’m still pretty content with their selection of movie choices and original shows. True Blood and Entourage are can’t miss summer thrills. And very recently, I’ve been really impressed with what HBO has had to offer.

Within the past few days, I’ve watched three fantastic shows that have been educational, enlightening, and entertaining. Those three are...

Something the Lord Made
Sugar
Treme

Something the Lord Made took me back in time to the 1940’s to visit with a Dr. Vivian Thomas and a Dr. Alfred Blalock as they overcame the racial tensions of the time to perform a medical breakthrough in heart surgery. Starring Mos Def, Gabrielle Union, and Alan Rickman, this true story takes you on a journey from Nashville to Baltimore to overcome segregation and discrimination to one of the greatest medical achievements of our time.

Sugar’s setting begins on the island of the Dominican Republic and follows the journey of a young baseball player as he’s picked to play in the minor leagues. His tale takes him to Iowa and then to New York, as he learns to overcome language barriers and love obstacles. While not a true story, this film introduces me to a whole new world in sports and the drive it takes within the Latino experience.

And finally, Treme! Premiered this past Sunday evening, this original HBO series will make sure we never forget the tragedy in Hurricane Katrina. Although the storyline is fictional, the setting is true and real and takes you to just three months after the storm hit to witness the celebration of culture and strength and music. And by the way, this comes straight from the creators of The Wire, so don’t take my word for it, but this show was bound to be great.

As you can probably tell, I love history and I love to learn something new and there you have it. Three great shows and all on HBO! What a great viewing experience!

Comments

  1. I Am Who I AmJune 29, 2010 at 10:42 AM

    WOW! That's really great. Did I have something to do with your choice of HBO? -C I changed my signature to I Am Who I Am, like it better?

    ReplyDelete
  2. iamatravelerJune 29, 2010 at 11:44 AM

    I love it! And I think you did, now I can't see myself without it!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Could Roanoke Island be my Melungeon Connection?

Melungeon: A member of a people mixed with White, Black,and American Indian ancestry living in the southern Appalachians. -Dictionary.com I recently returned from a short stay in the Outer Banks, which is a perfect family vacation destination on a group of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. There you can find kite flying on huge sand dunes, and hours of fun windsurfing in the Atlantic Ocean. Those interested in aviation will find the birthplace of flight exciting at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in honor of Wilbur and Orville Wright. And if you really love history, you have... Roanoke Island. I stayed in Kill Devil Hills, NC in the Outer Banks, but of course the highlight for me, was my day trip down to Roanoke. I toured Roanoke Island Festive Park , an interactive family attraction that takes you back in time with a recreation of one of North America’s first settlements and a replica of a 16th century ship that made its way to the Outer Banks. It was in...
1 comment
Read more

The Murder of My Neighbor

What if all of this (life) is just a test and right now half of us are passing and half of us are failing. The purpose of this test would be for the entire human race to get past superficial things like skin color and religion. When those of us pass we get to move on to the next level of spiritual enlightenment when we die, but when those of us fail we are doomed to this crisis existence on earth all over again, until one day it’s too late, and the promised one returns only for those ready for the next step of this journey. Regardless if I’m looking toward Buddhism or Jesus Christ, the essence of death boggles my mind. I have no idea what happens next and so at night I often imagine where our souls go once they’ve departed. In actuality I hate death, and yet I know it comes for me, it comes for us all. In preparation for the unknown, I try to live a clean life, and I try to do no harm. What does the Bible say, love thy neighbor? I want to practice that. Thou Shall Not Kill. My neighb...
1 comment
Read more

I’m Not Doing It Anymore

All my life, I’ve been categorized as a minority and many times I’ve been asked to speak up on the behalf of all other minorities. Growing up, I was one of three Black girls at St. Mary’s Catholic School, where in the fourth grade the teacher singled me out when Michael Jackson’s hair caught on fire, to ask me to explain to the kids in the class, why Black people put grease in their hair. In high school, I remember accepting a ride from a co-worker, who before she dropped me off at home one evening after work, had fifty million and one questions regarding why Blacks do this and why Blacks do that, and if we get tanned by the sun or blush when embarrassed (to my dismay, my medium brown cheeks turn red all the time when I encounter a guy that I find attractive, more so now in my late thirties than ever before). In my current office environment, my office mate has bombarded me over and over with questions regarding the N-word and the hypocrisy of it. In addition, during our first year wor...
5 comments
Read more