Media Alone.

I won't make excuses. I am in the middle of seriously 5 books, none of which I'll finish before the weekend at least, so this is what you get for now.

Rock Band (XBox 360), by Harmonix, MTV Games, and EA. This game is rated T, and the rating seems more warranted than it did for the Guitar Hero game we played last time. The songs are all a harder version of rock, with more drugs and sex references; stuff by The Clash and Kiss and Radiohead. It sounds like all the kids already play this at home or at friends' homes, and all these songs are played on the radio, etc., so I don't feel bad about corrupting them too much. The kids requested Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: Metallica for future play dates, but I think I'll be listening to more of the songs listed for the games before choosing it for the day. I'm not their parent and that's not my role, but still, they're mostly 12, so I'd like to keep the drinking and suicide references to a minimum. Bring on the cartoon violence instead! The set you need to play comes with 3 pieces: a guitar, which works just like the Guitar Hero guitar, a mike, and a drum set. I'd never seen this game played before, but I picked up on the drums pretty quickly. They are very cool, and if I could play by myself or with anyone other than a group of bickering middle schoolers, I would definitely choose this again for myself.

True Blood, based on the novels by Charlaine Harris; Alan Ball and Brian Buckner, co-executive producers. I finished the first season a while ago. For reasons I still cannot identify, it is an addicting show, but as the first season progressed, more things were changed from the original books. Secondary characters have bigger roles, and sub-stories are being added. It says "base on," so I need to learn to let it go. There's not as many illicit scenes later in the season, but there's still plenty of swearing, so you're warned. I'm waiting now for season 2 to come out on DVD.