I’ve become addicted to the Chinese drama Palace.  Here’s a rather general synopsis:

Qingchuan (Yang Mi) is a 21st century girl who’s in love with Chinese history. In a bizarre stroke of luck(?), this history buff is magically transported to the time of the fabled Qing Dynasty (early 1700s AD). Qingchuan quickly finds herself in the throes of palatial politics, including a love triangle (or maybe a rhombus) among not one, not two, but three princes: Yinreng (Zong Fengyan), the foolish crown prince, Yinzhen (Mickey He), the ambitious fourth prince, and Yinsi (Feng Shao Feng), the eighth prince. Qingchuan has got all the textbook facts straight, but in the midst of darkness and turmoil, she quickly realizes that history is not at all the fairy tale she imagined it to be.

Along with offering a glimpse into the history, society, and culture of the period, Palace also provides a lot of humor.  Add in a wonderful cast (particularly the heroine Yang Mi) and I give it a definite thumbs up.

The 35 episodes (each about 40 minutes long) can be watched for free online on Hulu (http://www.hulu.com/palace). They are in Mandarin with English subtitles.

The below trailer is cheesy and quite a bit less cerebral than the series, but its the best I could find with English translation:

Our cat Pumpkin had an entirely different reaction to mirrors: she refused to look at herself. We think she didn’t want to face the truth that she wasn’t human—albeit of a superior breed!

Dad’s been working on his new train layout. Unfortunately he no longer has one of these to help:

Most popular girls names by state from 1960 to 2012:

Graphic by Reuben Fischer-Baum via The Atlantic. See the Social Security office website for more baby name stats.