This weekend the Cute Little Red-Headed Girlfriend and I sat down to watch the first episode of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the new series from cable station Starz (you can watch episode one online here). We've been anticipating the show's debut for some time now because of Lucy Lawless's involvement. Because the hype machine for this series has been cranked very high as of late, it was a relief to finally have the episode in front of us so we could judge the program for ourselves.

In addition to all the publicity about the show's bloodiness, sex and the nudity, there have been several "false leads" about the series that had us wondering what Spartacus would really be like. To begin with, Spartacus the TV show isn't a remake of Spartacus the 1960 movie, though it took awhile for us to sort that out. Many of the character names are the same, yet the characters themselves differ. The storylines are distinct as well.

More confusion came from parallels to the movie 300, and many TV critics compared and contrasted Spartacus and 300 in early reviews. This concerned me, as I found 300 to be irredeemably racist and have assigned it a top spot on my list of the worst movies I've ever seen.

I do think 300 has some value as a teaching tool; it certainly deserves a place on any curriculuum addressing the issue of fascist aesthetics. Spartacus's resemblance to 300 is more conceptual, as in "it's 300's CGI effects meets Rome's plotting," rather than a real attempt to emulate that loathsome movie.

Spartacus's first episode begins with a clash between the Thracian people and the army of Rome, starting with the Thracians' perspective. Rome demands that the Thracians join with their army to repel approaching enemy forces. The man who we will later know as Spartacus (played by Andy Whitfield) steps forward to bargain with the Roman representative on behalf of Thrace.

The Thracians then enter into an uneasy alliance with the Romans. The Thracian fighters resent the Romans because they are made to do most of the fighting, and we learn that Spartacus pines for his wife, Sura (Erin Cummings), back home. Before long, the Romans break their agreement with the Thracians, leading to a fight that leaves several of the Thracians, including Spartacus, captive and in chains.

Some critics have argued that Spartacus's storyline bears a close resemblance to Gladiator. Perhaps in outline. But after having seen the first episode, I believe the film that has inspired Spartacus is Carrie. When I saw the first battle scene where the Thracian fighters' bodies are streaked with blood and big clots of blood are matting down their hair, my mind immediately went to the image of Sissy Spacek covered in a bucket of blood.

As men hacked off enemy limbs with fierce abandon, a thick splotch of blood splattered and covered a third of the screen. I'm sure the effect the show was going for was something hypermale and ultraviolent but I thought it was a neat visual proof that when you push the representation of masculinity too far you sometimes wind up producing its exact opposite. The menstruality of it all made me howl with laughter.

I'm a fan of video and tabletop strategy games, so I enjoyed seeing the fight scenes I mostly didn't get to see in Rome. I especially liked the detail shown on the armour and weaponry in the fight scenes. I was also happy to see a woman, Sura, fighting capably with a sword in the first episode. I wasn't expecting to see a woman fighting but I hope it continues.

Although Spartacus is being touted for its extensive use of CGI, I thought one of the most effective sequences was a fast-moving series of shots representing the circumstances of Spartacus's captivity. It was an efficient way to move the story along, but the images were powerful and precise in evoking horror.

Andy Whitfield brings intensity to his role as Spartacus, as well as a fine body for those men and women who appreciate such things. I point you in the direction of Brent Hartinger's review on AfterElton.com for a thorough loincloth report and further thoughts on the show from a gay male's perspective.

As a lesbian, my sights are solidly focused on the presence of Lucy Lawless in the cast playing the sexually ravenous Roman Lucretia. I experienced a mixed jumble of feelings when I first heard Lawless would be appearing in the series. I was thrilled to hear Lucy Lawless would be on TV again regularly, but ambivalent about the role. It seems like a cruel irony that this beneficent idol of lesbians everywhere is returning to the screen in a role where she'll be featured in the buff shagging one male gladiator after another. Truthfully, it makes one question God's intent.

Lawless did not appear much in the first episode, so I have yet to resolve my feelings one way or another. But her role sounds like a good one, and hopefully it will wind up being one more reason--along with the great fighting and the Roman setting--for me to continue watching and enjoying Spartacus.

Thanks to MaryD of AUSXIP for allowing me to use an HD screencap from Episode 1 found on her site.

Recently the Cute Little Red Headed Girlfriend and I went to the Autry Center for the first of four programs on the history of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in the West. The first program in the Autry's OutWest series was a panel discussion revolving around the movie Brokeback Mountain, called "Whatever Happened to Ennis Del Mar?"

In addition to the panel discussion and reception, attendees were invited to view the shirts featured in the final moments of Brokeback Mountain, currently on temporary exhibit as part of the museum's extensive movie costume collection. You can see the shirts in the snapshot shown at left.

During the panel introduction, members of two groups in the crowded auditorium were asked to stand: representatives of the International Gay Rodeo Association and "the Brokies" (like Trekkies, but for Brokeback Mountain), who had flown in for the occasion. I knew the movie had a fan base, but I hadn't realized until that afternoon how ardent it was.

The panel discussion ranged over a variety of topics, including whether Brokeback Mountain could be considered a gay film or a Western, the movie's representation of male friendship and masculinity, and the film's reception in the U.S. Panelist Kenneth Turan, film critic for the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio, read his original published review of the film as well as his scathing post-Oscars commentary on Brokeback Mountain losing Best Picture to the movie Crash.

As a Westerner myself, I have a longstanding personal interest in the history of the U.S. West. But I was also drawn the Autry Center's OutWest series because of some documentary footage on gay and lesbian elders that I saw many years ago that has stuck in my mind ever since. In first person interviews, gay and lesbians in their 80s and 90s discussed their lives on film. One of the men discussed his life as a cowboy, describing how he moved west to escape the heterosexual expectations placed on him by family and society.

Although he was seeking a life of solitude, once this man arrived in the West he realized there were others like him who had left home for similar reasons. When I heard this story, there was something startlingly obvious about it that struck me. I think part of what made Brokeback Mountain such a phenomena is that it brings to the surface this hidden yet in some ways plainly evident history of gays and lesbians seeking freedom in the West.

According to a recent story in the Los Angeles Times about the Autry's OutWest series, the next program will focus on a female stagecoach driver who lived her life as a man.

Via Coolhunting, I was happy to discover the drawings of Stephen Floyd, whose work emits a cheerful ambiguity. Through drawn words and images, Floyd simultaneously captures and comments on artifacts of American culture, such as "American Cheese," shown here.

Floyd's work will be exhibited in a solo show called "I Love America and America Loves Me" at the Heist Gallery in New York through December 18. The exhibit appears to concentrate on his drawings, many of which can be seen here. However, I noticed from a visit to Floyd's website that he does work in other media, notably, panties. I recommend to you his work, "world's prettiest fuckin' panties," on view in the cut-outs section of the artist's website.

On first viewing, I was very taken with Floyd's drawing entitled "olive loaf." Floyd has also created a pair of cut-out panties featuring the olive loaf pattern. Most impressively, Floyd has blown up his "olive loaf" drawing to billboard size, and situated his work on the side of a highway, as seen in the photo at right.

Floyd's blog points to a reaction to the billboard in a local paper, which observed, "Perhaps it is guerrilla art."

The Cute-Little-Red-Headed Girlfriend and I have the flu, so we haven't been going out very much lately. Because we've been hunkered down, which we missed the start of the Hello Kitty 35th Anniversary Exhibition happening at Royal/T Artspace. It's a three week long event commemorating Hello Kitty's birthday on--mark the date--November 1. It seems Hello Kitty is 35, which means I must be 102.

I wish I could have gone to the VIP Gala opening event, so that I could causally drop it into conversation. "You were at the L.A. Opera last night? No, I couldn't attend. I was at the Hello Kitty VIP Gala." Although I couldn't attend the opening, I have been able to see much of the artwork online.

Among the pieces I particularly like are the figure pictured above, which shows Hello Kitty wearing a toasted marshmallow costume. I thought it was very appropriate for Halloween. It's actually part of a series of figures depicting Hello Kitty in various marshmallow regalia. You can view more here. I also like the below portrait of the Bigfoot family showing the heartwarming role Hello Kitty plays in their lives.

The first time I encountered Hello Kitty merchandise was in a department store. I remember being confused by it because I didn't know where the character originated from. I thought I must have missed some new cultural manifestation, like a series of Hello Kitty children's books, or a Hello Kitty animated television show--something that gave birth to the character. It took me awhile to understand that Hello Kitty exists purely in reference to her own merchandise.

For my birthday this year, the Cute-Little-Red-Headed-Girlfriend and I went to Disneyland for the day. We considered attending the annual unofficial Gay Day at Disneyland earlier in October, which we had attended in the past. But the park is running a promotion this year where guests receive free admission on their birthday, and this persuaded us to make a mid-October birthday trip instead.

It had been several years since my last trip to Disneyland. Many of my favorite rides were closed for rehab work the last time I went, and several attractions were looking downright shabby. I have not always been a fan of Disney's rehabs, but I'm happy to report that nearly every attraction I visited had been thoughtfully renewed. The clarity of the audio on the rides was outstanding, and the Pirates of the Caribbean had been restored to a state of glory.

The Girlfriend and I had a good time dining in and outside the park. We began with a breakfast of pancakes at the River Belle Terrace in Frontierland. For lunch, we ducked out to the Storytellers Cafe at the Grand Californian Hotel. The wait staff served me an adorable strawberry cupcake, pictured below, and sang to me when they discovered it was my birthday.

While walking along Main Street U.S.A., I was excited to run across the Disney Gallery, which showcases archival Disney artwork alongside newer artwork and merchandise created by contemporary artists. We saw, for example, several original pieces created by Shag to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Haunted Mansion.

We had been on the Haunted Mansion ride only an hour earlier. In anticipation of Halloween, the mansion was decked out with a Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. Although I had seen the overlay before, I left with the impression that the decorations were different and better this year. This impression was later confirmed through a visit to the DoomBuggies forum, where I found Haunted Mansion fans offering similar observations.

My favorite part of the Disney Gallery was a section containing marvelously detailed miniature versions of various attractions, including the old Disneyland entry sign, seen at the top of this post, and the Mad Tea Party ride, pictured just above. Since miniaturism is already built into many Disneyland rides and attractions, the effect was redoubled in some of these sculptures.

Once the Girlfriend and I left the gallery, we found ourselves back on Main Street U.S.A., where a parade was in progress. In keeping with the birthday promotion, the parade was called "Celebrate! A Street Party." An announcer encouraged guests to join in the spirit of this "celebration of you" while costumed performers danced down the street.

Continuing the shameless pandering, the announcer called out to all the guests who had come to Disneyland for their birthday. This had been on ongoing theme inside the park. When I entered Disneyland that morning, I was given a huge button to wear that read "Happy Birthday, Teresa!" All day long, I was greeted with "Happy Birthday" by every ride attendant, food worker, shop keeper and cleaning staffperson I encountered.

In other times, I might have removed the button, embarrassed by all the fuss. I'm usually not the type that likes to receive that kind of attention. In fact, I had had concerns about going to Disneyland prior to our visit. With unemployment and underemployment in California at 23%, I wondered if Disneyland might feel empty because few people could afford to attend. I worried the trip might seem too frivolous and maybe I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself.

But that wasn't the case. The park was wonderful and filled with people. I cherished each "Happy Birthday!" I heard. I thrilled at the rides. I celebrated me. I firmly put aside the fact that the country is now held hostage to corrupt business interests hell-bent on squeezing the lifeblood out of everyone I know and care about. For this one day, I forgot about all the problems looming and enjoyed my goddamn cupcake.

As a follow-up to our enjoyable visit to the Pompeii exhibit (written about here), the Cute-Little-Red-Headed Girlfriend and I decided to take a trip to the Getty Villa.

Representing one half of the Getty Institute--the other half being the Getty Center in Los Angeles--the Getty Villa is a museum dedicated to the "arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria." But really, mostly Rome. Greece and Etruria are more like side dishes.

The Getty Villa is itself a loose recreation of a specific first-century Roman structure, the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum. We learned this during a short introductory film about the Villa and its benefactor, J. Paul Getty. The original Villa dei Papiri was destroyed in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

The Girlfriend was most interested in seeing the architecture of the Villas, and I the gardens. As it turned out, we were both easily satisfied. As we strolled the Villa, we moved seamlessly from one indoor/outdoor space to another. I was impressed with the variety of textures in the square garden we saw as we walked along the inner peristyle--an open, columned walkway interior to the villa. A picture of it is to the left.

We enjoyed the art in this way, winding into a small room with a cluster of art objects, then out again for the view. The art was arranged thematically, around topics such as the theater, animals, and the legend of Heracles.

We then walked the long exterior peristyle that runs along a large and impressive pool. I was much taken with the expression on a statue of a bather in the pool, as seen in the photo here. I feel like that all the time. We paused to view the Pacific ocean at the end of the peristyle and then finished our tour with a leisurely walk through the Getty Villa's abundant herb garden.

After our visit, the Girlfriend and I felt an overwhelming desire for red wine, cheese and bread--all items eaten by the Romans. Fortunately, we had all these things at home, and it was almost lunch.

In the book Fires of Vesuvius, which I mentioned in my earlier post about the Pompeii exhibit, I read about some of the typical dishes eaten by Pompeiians. Stuffed dormice were considered a delicacy. I have no desire to try this dish, though the author's description of how the dormice were caught, kept, fattened, and prepared was fascinating.

I found the description of ancient eating habits so interesting that when I read in the "Further Reading" section at the back of the book that "Plutarch's Table Talk is a mine of curious information on Greek and Roman dining customs," I immediately stepped to my computer to see if I could find it online. I struck out at Project Gutenberg and likewise at the Perseus Digital Library.

I was finally able to track down the text at the University of Adelaide Library in Australia. They don't offer downloads, however, so I contented myself with reading the work online.

Our trip to the Getty Villa only fueled my interest in Pompeii further, so I went in search of documentaries on the subject. My favorite so far is the BBC's dramatic recreation, Pompeii: The Last Day. I also enjoyed a more science-y program on volcanos, which demonstrated how a pyroclastic surge works. I thought about it a lot during the recent Los Angeles wildfires, when a large scaryass pyrocumulus cloud formed over the city.

If you like, you can see more photos from my trip to the Getty Villa by viewing my flickr page.

In light of the current debate going on over the $80 billion pharmaceutical deal, I am posting the text of an email I sent earlier this year to my two Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and to President Obama.

I wrote these emails to ask that my representative leaders and the President address the unbelievably high price of prescription drugs in the U.S. Several friends who I showed these emails to suggested I post them on my blog. I have chosen to edit out the names of the prescription drugs mentioned in order to protect some of my privacy but they are otherwise intact.

If you are from the U.S. and haven't contacted your representative to demand health care reform that provides for every American--instead of every health insurance and pharmaceutical executive--I hope reading this email will prompt you to do so.

Dear [Senator, President Obama],

I am a 44-year-old native Los Angeleno and one of your California constituents. I am writing to you about rising prescription drug costs and about an incident where the FDA detained prescription drugs I imported from Canada for personal use for two months.

I am currently self-employed and unable to obtain health insurance at any price because I have been deemed medically uninsurable in the state of California by underwriters. As a result, I have no prescription drug coverage.

I have two common, chronic medical conditions that I have managed with prescriptions since my teen years. Over the decades, I have endured financial hardships to pay for my prescriptions, and I am used to planning my finances around my prescriptions needs. However, in the past few years price increases have outstripped my ability to stay a step ahead of costs.

Taking the advice of one of my specialist physicians, I began to import my prescriptions from Canada to save money. I was hesitant to do so because of the unpredictability of shipping times. If a shipment did not come in time, I would have to scramble to obtain the drugs quickly from a different source, since very serious side effects could result from a missed dosage.

Nonetheless, with some advanced planning, I began importing my prescriptions from Canada. I was aware through reading "Consumer Reports" that the FDA's policy is not to pursue individuals who are importing prescriptions for personal use. So I was very distressed when my early October 2008 prescription order went missing, only to turn up in late December 2008 with an FDA action sticker on the package.

The FDA action sticker is marked "Refused - Return to Sender." Somehow the package managed to get to me, but I have not used the drugs inside because the package was clearly opened. In addition, the FDA Action Sticker includes this message:

FDA REVIEWED THE LABEL(S) OF THE DRUGS CONTAINED WITHIN THIS PACKAGE AND CONCLUDED THEY ARE UNAPPROVED PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS. SINCE THESE PHARMACEUTICALS ARE FROM AN UNAPPROVED FOREIGN SOURCE, WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THEIR SAFETY, DOSAGE STRENGTH, AND PURITY. HOWEVER, UNDER FDA'S ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION, WE HAVE PERMITTED DELIVERY OF THESE UNAPPROVED MEDICATIONS TO YOU. DESPITE YOUR RECEIPT OF THIS SHIPMENT, FURTHER IMPORTATIONS OF UNAPPROVED PRESCRIPTION PHARMACEUTICALS MAY BE REFUSED ADMISSION INTO THE USA.

As a result of this incident, I resumed buying my prescriptions in the United States at the end of last year, at the lowest price I could find. But with the new year, I was distressed to discover that prices on my prescriptions went up considerably. Here is a current cost comparison of my prescriptions at Costco, where I now buy my medications, versus my Canadian provider:

[Prescription name edited]: Costco, $269; Canada Pharmacy, $149
[Prescription name edited]: Costco, $189.93; Canada Pharmacy, $31
[Prescription name edited]: Costco, $94.43; Canada Pharmacy, $34

Yearly supply: Costco: $6640.32, Canada Pharmacy, $2568.00
Yearly cost savings using the Canadian Pharmacy: $4072.32

I would like to point out that that the prescriptions I have cited are not "cutting edge" and are in routine use for common conditions. The pricing of these drugs is outrageous, even more so when one takes into consideration the profit margins of the major pharmaceutical makers.

One of the medications cited above is not even the best available for my condition, according to my specialist physician. The best available drug is sold in France and England for under $10 but is unavailable in the United States because it doesn't offer the kind of profit margins the pharmaceutical companies seek.

I am further scandalized that the FDA can take the time to stop my prescription packages at the border but can't protect the American population from contaminated Chinese food imports, or even contaminated food produced domestically. The FDA says they are concerned for my safety, but their track record says otherwise.

I urge you to take strong action now to control the costs of U.S. pharmaceuticals and to make them affordable to all Americans.

Sincerely,

Teresa Ortega

The other day The Boston Globe reported on a new project coming out of MIT that uses social networking data to predict whether a male Facebook user is gay or not. The experiment has been given the not terribly original name Project Gaydar.

Part of a new field of study called social network analysis, Project Gaydar examines a a male Facebook user's public connections or "Friends" on Facebook in order to determine the likelihood that he is gay or not. Other analyses have attempted to predict a person's political affiliation or drawn conclusions based on favorited books and movies.

Gays and lesbians have had particular concerns about privacy rights due to the history of criminalization and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the U.S. Even gays who are largely "out" may prefer to keep their sexual preference private in select circumstances, such as applying for a job or while searching for housing.

Facebook, Twitter and other social networks do offer privacy settings that allow users some control over what other people can see. So there are some means available to protect information one wants kept private, including choosing not to post about certain subjects at all.

Several studies have shown that not posting about certain subjects--such as politics, sex, drinking, and your employer--is exactly what human resources departments in the U.S. expect from potential employees. According to a recent survey of human resources professionals, nearly half used social networking sites to help them screen candidates.

If you're gay or lesbian and looking for a job, you probably already know that you don't have much legal protection against discrimination in hiring or in the workplace. And if you're not gay or lesbian, you're pretty much shit out of luck, too. Any number of behaviors or lifestyle factors could place you on the "do not hire" list, including being overweight or smoking.

According to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, potential employers can use investigative consumer reports to find out about a candidate's "mode of living." However, under the federal Fair Credit and Reporting Act, employers must notify job seekers of such background checks and some states place additional restrictions on such reports.

Now, with social networking background checks, no notice need be given. Human resources managers can log on to Facebook, Twitter, or any number of other sites and draw whatever conclusions they like about prospective employees (including wrong ones) based on friends, favorites, posts or casual comments.

In other words, your future livelihood may depend on whether you've declared yourself a fan of The Simpsons or once retweeted Pee-wee Herman. And yet, the online reaction to intrusive practices like Facebook background checks is mostly defensive advice like "don't post publicly," or "clean up your digital profile."

Freedom of association, freedom of assembly, and freedom of speech are rights provided for in the Constitution to all Americans. As part of those freedoms, we must demand the right to Friend and to favorite, to gather and to chat, to poll and to post without the threat of corporate surveillance restricting our ability to make a living or to participate fully in our digital public sphere.

When I first started reading fan fiction many years ago (invariably lesbian fan fiction), I mostly found stories at websites dedicated to a single TV series, either Xena: Warrior Princess or Star Trek: Voyager. Only a few sites I went to hosted fan fiction for multiple TV series; back then a group fanfic site might cover half a dozen TV series at most.

About a year ago I discovered FanFiction.net, an aggregator site for fan fiction sourced from TV, film, literature, comics, plays and anything else the community takes an interest in. I can lose hours browsing FanFiction.net. The site has many helpful filters, such as story language, length, genre and content ratings, to assist readers in finding the type of fan fiction she or he prefers.

I'm fascinated by many of the highly specialized fan fiction groups. For example, I was intrigued to discover a quantity of stories revolving around the Bert/Mary Poppins relationship in the movie Mary Poppins. It had never occurred to me that there was more to say on the subject. However, a glance at FanFiction.net shows that a number of dedicated movie watchers feel otherwise.

Over the years I've read volumes upon volumes upon tomes of fan fiction based on Xena and Voyager. Much of it is long, around the length of a short novel. The best of this longer fan fiction succeeds in creating a world or a universe in depth. Some examples of this type of writing from Xena uber fan fiction include In the Blood of the Greeks written by my friend MaryD, or Tiopa Ki Lakota, by D. Jordan Redhawk.

Nowadays, fan fiction writers and readers seem to prefer a very short fiction format. Perhaps it's not surprising since many forms of communication and creative work seem to be getting shorter. Today, fanfic writers jot down a few paragraphs and call it a story. There's more breadth in fan fiction today because writers can dash off a quick story based on one set of characters, then move on to the next fictional world that interests them.

Despite the breadth of material at FanFiction.net, it's still possible to find original material that has been overlooked by fan fiction writers. For example, earlier this year I went looking for Damages fan fiction and came up empty-handed. I was shocked, not only because Damages has such a dedicated audience, but because the love/hate relationship between Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) seems so ripe for slash fiction.

After many failed searches, I eventually found an example of Patty/Ellen femslash ("I've got Patty right where I want her"), but on a livejournal site, rather than at FanFiction.net. My time spent searching at FanFiction.net was not wasted, however. While I was browsing the "D" series at FanFiction.net, I happened to look over at the "F"s and discovered Fringe femslash.

Fringe is my favorite new show of last season, and I'm so happy it's going to have a season two. There are many things I love about it, like the fact that it runs with almost no ads; the character Walter Bishop, the LSD-loving mad scientist; out actor Jasika Nicole, who plays Astrid; and the fact that the most evil place in the universe, Walter's lab, is located at Harvard.

But of all the fringey things there are to gush over, the most wonderful is Anna Torv, who plays the show's lead character, Olivia Dunham. In the last year, Olivia and Torv have become very popular with the sapphic set. There's a certain brutality to Olivia's outlook that I think makes her appealing to dykes. She's a no-nonsense kind of gal, and we like that.

As the show has progressed, Olivia's toughness has been played up through a decidedly unfrilly wardrobe and increasingly intense action and fight scenes. There was also an episode where, through various plot contrivances, Olivia piggybacks onto a man's consciousness and in that state sleeps with a woman.

Olivia had a male romantic interest early in the show, but he was quickly dispensed with. Although Peter Bishop is the most obvious heterosexual object for Olivia, the show has kept her unattached. Instead, Olivia lives with her sister and her niece. However, if you watch the scenes between this little family carefully, you'll notice they play very well as scenes of same-sex domestic life. I know that sounds gross, but there's nothing sexual going on between the two sisters--it's just an undercurrent that makes Olivia's home life seem a bit more "alternative."

The fan fiction I came across at FanFiction.net explores Olivia's relationship with Nina Sharp (played by Blair Brown), an older woman working as Senior Vice President of Research and Development at the mysterious Massive Dynamic corporation. Like Patty Hewes on Damages, it's never entirely clear whether Nina Sharp is friend or foe. It's that tension between Nina and Olivia that serves up great material for fan fiction. That, and Nina's robotic hand.

"Fascination", written by Fembuck, examines Olivia's ambivalent feelings towards Nina and the corporation she governs. Olivia's anxieties are expressed through her response to Nina's prosthetic hand, which has been engineered by Massive Dynamic.

'Is it the hand?' Nina asked; her voice soft and curious as her eyes dropped to look at her fingers which were still resting lightly on Olivia’s arm.

The hand was a prosthetic, a very realistic looking, extremely sophisticated bio-organic prosthetic, but a prosthetic nonetheless. In one of their first meetings together Nina had removed the malleable, extremely convincing flesh covering and showed her the mechanics that lived underneath.

In the second installment of the story series, "Worry in the Morning," Olivia compulsively seeks out Nina once again, as she often does on the TV show. This time the results are more satisfactory for both parties.

Fringe is adding a new female character into the mix in the second season. Although I like the Nina/Olivia combination, Nina's presence on the show is sporadic. Whoever the new regular is, I hope she and Olivia have good chemistry.

Several weeks ago, the Cute Little Red-Headed Girlfriend and I went to see Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The experience of the exhibit reminded me of a house tour, since the art and culture on display came from villas, country homes of the rich and powerful. In some cases, the interior or exterior of the villa was itself transported or recreated as part of the display.

The first exhibit room was filled with busts and other carvings of Rome's ruling family, starting with Julius Caesar and continuing down through the Julio-Claudian dynastic line. I found it remarkable how easily identifiable the faces were from movies and television shows set in the ancient era. How else could the faces of these Roman royals appear so familiar?

Certainly it was my memories of I, Claudius that made a relief portrait of Tiberius and Livia together appear chilling. Then there was Nero, looking like an overfed, spoiled man-child, just as I imagined him to be. A sculptor had made Caligula's cruelty evident in a strange, downward quirk of the emperor's mouth.

In the next room, we were greeted by a beautiful statue of Aphrodite/Venus, shown here. The Cute Little Red-Headed Girlfriend and I naturally gravitated toward a large statue of Artemis, around whom other pairs of women museum-goers had gathered.

While the scale of the marble statues was impressive, I was dazzled by the many small bronze statues on display. I was unaware that such delicate bronzes were being created then. I also learned that the earliest examples of decorative glassware date from this period; several pieces were included in the exhibit.

Some objects on display were unusual but apparently typical. There were a number of bronze standing lamps in the shape of a standing human slave bearing a handheld lamp. Novelties, I suppose. Lava Lamps for the wealthy.

Also in the unusual objects category was a large marble sculpture that included the figure of a nude hermaphrodite. Depending on the viewing angle, the hermaphrodite might appear male, female, or intersex. The accompanying text stated that such sculptures were popular conversation pieces.

A life size model of a Pompeiian dining room, or triclinium, was featured in the exhibit. I was excited to walk around inside this close room with its three built-in couches. The idea of lounging around while eating grapes and so forth appeals to me. However, the Cute-Little-Red-Headed-Girlfriend finds the Roman practice of eating while reclining unhealthy.

The exhibit's final rooms documented the Pompeii mania that took over Europe after the first excavations of the area in the eighteenth century. After seeing Pompeii and the Roman Villa, I felt the city taking over my imagination, too. I'm now reading Mary Beard's The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found to satisfy my new interest.

As a random note, I've decided that one of my favorite words ever is Herculaneum. Say it with me a few times: Herculaneum. Herculaneum. Herculaneum.