Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pleased to state that he is not dead yet. Although, if the Wee Villain (aged 2) wants to watch Cars one more time; your Maximum Leader might just expire.

Your Maximum Leader was quite busy towards the end of last week. Then on Friday he took an unexpected trip with family (a fun trip at that) out to the beach for the weekend. All these things conspired to mean that he did not post.

But then again you knew that… At least you knew if if you had been checking in to see what new and exciting posts had been… um… posted by your Maximum Leader.

Anyhooo…

There were many things that your Maximum Leader wanted to post about during the past few days. Some items he’ll blog about over the next few days, and others will just be consigned to the ash-heap of unblogged yet interesting ideas.

For instance, your Maximum Leader wanted to blog about the Antony/Cleopatra coin. But Robbo got to the Burton/Taylor line first.

Interestingly enough, like Robbo, your Maximum Leader just had a lengthy discussion with both Villainettes and Mrs Villain about Cleopatra, Antony, and Julius and Octavian Ceasar. On our little road trip the eldest Villainette chose to bring a book about Cleopatra to read on the ride. She wound up reading the book aloud. Periodically, Mrs Villain would interrupt Villainette #1’s narrative to ask a question about how the book differed from what we have been seeing on the HBO series Rome. Eventually, your Maximum Leader was obliged to give a quick run-down of Roman history from the triumvarite of Crassus, Ceasar, and Pompey down to Octavian becoming the Princeps and the earliest days of the Empire. (There was also the exposition of Cleopatra, the Ptolemeys, Alexander the Great and if Egyptians are “black” africans.)

Mrs. Villain was disappointed, but not surprised, that the HBO series would play so fast and loose with history. Afterall, this particular patch of history lends itself to dramatisation. Your Maximum Leader, during the first season of Rome, had the same issue. But, eventually he just decided to go along with the story - inaccuracies and all - because the writing and acting was pretty good.

Indeed, if your Maximum Leader has one major complaint about the series it is that they seem to be in a rush to tell the story. Good lord, they covered so much ground last season it shouldn’t surprise him that they are moving so fast now. Last season went from Ceasar in Gaul, to Ceasar in Egypt, to Ceasar in Rome, to Ceasar expiring on the Senate floor. This season they will likely get all the way to Antony and Cleopatra’s death and Octavian becoming Augustus. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure, but he doesn’t think there will be a third season of Rome. If there were, they’d have to start getting some new characters introduced and prepar for the existing ones to get old real soon.

But your Maximum Leader digresses…

He only wanted you all to know he’d not died… More to come later…

Carry on.