TV review: The Fabulous Beekman Boys

How many of you knew that Discovery has a channel called Planet Green? I didn't. At least not until The Fabulous Beekman Boys appeared. (New episodes aired Wednesday nights at 9PM.) Yes, Discovery has dragged me back into reality television.

The show revolves around city boys, Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge, purchasing a farm in upstate New York called Beekman Farm. Their goal is to turn the farm into their main source of income. In order to do that, Brent (a doctor that previously worked for Martha Stewart) works and lives at the farm full-time while Josh (a former drag queen who is now an ad exec) works in New York City during the week then commutes up to the farm on weekends. Luckily, they have farmer John to help them tend the goat herd that gives them milk for their cheese and soap. Unfortunately, they don't have someone to help them through the strains of a long-distance relationship.

When I first saw the commercial for the show, I was delighted. It was touted to be a "City Boys Become Farmers" type show. (Yes, there are a lot of Green Acres comparisons.) The commercials claimed the boys knew nothing about being farmers and everything they knew, they learned from Google. In reality, the show is about the strains on their relationship. The pair have been together for 10 years and, for the first time, they aren't together all the time. Josh spends 5 days a week in New York City, which is 3 hours away by train, while Brent stays at the farm working on building the Beekman empire. A lot of the episodes revolve around Josh complaining that he never sees his boyfriend as Brent reminds him that they agreed to this "year of sacrifice" or Josh complaining that he's tired from working hard all week only to return to the farm so Brent can hand him a list of farm chores. Yet, underneath it all, you can see that Josh and Brent really do love each other and, if they can get the farm to a point where it can financially support them, things will be happy again.

So what is my opinion on the show? The 10-episode season ended last night. I purposely waited until the end to talk about it. The first few episodes were annoying. I wanted the "How do we milk a goat? Google it!" show and not the 'Gay guys whine/cry a lot' that we were given. However, by the end of the season, I was hooked. I really want to try their cheese and smell their soap. I want Josh to quit his city job and be a real farmer. I want Brent to relax a bit...though I know it won't happen. The show has been renewed for a second season. I'm hoping that there will be less whining this time around.

Game reiew: Farm Frenzy 2

Do you remember how much I loved Farm Frenzy? Well, this is a company that knows how to make an awesome sequel to an awesome game. They didn't try to make the gameplay different; they didn't try to jazz up the graphics. All they did was change a few things to make it a little more difficult. In the original game, you were raising geese and sheep in order to make money. This time, you have chickens, pigs, cows and ostriches. Yes, I said ostriches. I worked my butt off to be able to buy some ostriches because their feathers bring in a lot of money! Not only that, but you can make hats and dresses out of them as well. I love this series and I hope everyone else has as much fun playing it as I did.

Game review: Farm Frenzy

Farm Frenzy was a really fun game. You start out taking care of some geese and move into harvesting their eggs to sell at market before moving into other animals and products. Once you get sheep, you can harvest their wool to sell at market. Beware of the bears though! They will throw your animals off the screen, which forces you to buy new animals. Luckily, you can cage the bears and sell THEM at market. I didn't think I would like this game. It sounded like a lot of work with no real reward. Instead, I found the game exciting. I kept looking forward to making more money to buy upgrades for my farm. This is definitely a game you should try.