On Wednesday I wrote about how much I loved Downton Abbey, and now that it’s over, there’s another TV miniseries I’m quite looking forward to – Mildred Pierce on HBO.  (sidenote – don’t you love how TV miniseries are better than movies now?)

Mildred Pierce will air in March, and it stars Kate Winslett, Guy Pearce, and Evan Rachel Wood.  It’s directed and co-written by Todd Haynes (who made the the Bob Dylan film I’m Not There and the Julianne Moore period drama Far From Heaven).  For more info, watch the Behind-the-Scenes clip I’ve posted above.

Have you heard about Downton Abbey, the 7-part British television miniseries?  It aired on ITV in England back in the fall, and was just broadcast on PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre in January (where it was cut differently, and pieced together into 4 parts).

I haven’t loved a drama so much in a long time – TV or movie.  I couldn’t get enough of Downton Abbey.  The writing is so good – the characters have so much depth.  That’s thanks to Sir Julian Fellowes, who also wrote the fantastic film Gosford Park.

If you missed the show when it aired, don’t worry – the DVD is now available.  Look for it at the video store, or buy it online here.  Trust me – it’s well worth it.

And, if you can’t get enough of the show and want to know more, check out the mini-website that PBS put together for the show.  There are Q and A’s, cast chats, and more info about the real-life location where Downton Abbey was shot.

Finally, it has been confirmed that a second season is coming.  From Downton Abbey’s Wikipedia entry:

The second series will be composed of eight episodes. Filming begins in March 2011. The second series will air from Autumn 2011, and will be followed by a Christmas special later in the year.

Michelle Dockery, Dame Maggie Smith, Brendan Coyle, Rob James-Collier and Dan Stevens have all signed up for the second series.

CAN. NOT. WAIT.

Sometimes you just don’t want to read words – you want to look at pretty pictures.  If today is one of those days (as Mondays often are), then check out The Steward, a photo tumblog from Britain.  Not totally sure what the theme is, other than gorgeous images.  Like the ones above.

[via sarah.wandering]

The Big Picture has chosen its best photos of the year for 2010.  There are 40 images in total, broken into 3 parts:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

[via kottke.org]

It’s chilly willy and there’s some snow on the ground here in Toronto, so when I saw this posting on Desire to Inspire, I was overwhelmed with real estate envy.  This beach house in Noosa Sound, Queensland (Australia) has such a gorgeous blend of modern design with beach-house casual coziness.

If you have an extra 5 million, it can be yours… here’s the real estate listing.

Take a break for 3 minutes and watch this gorgeous video of time-lapse photography around the San Francisco Bay area by animator Simon Christen.  Turn on your speakers too – the instrumental track is lovely.

[via LivingDesign]

Mr and Mrs Globe Trot is a blog following Seattle-based photographers as they travel through Europe on their 6-month (!) honeymoon.  That’s their travel plan up there at the top, and a few of my favourite shots from their blog.  They’re both professional photographers, so it’s no wonder the photos on this website are stunning.

Much has been said of Mad Men‘s design, but I haven’t seen anything so fun and playful as Mad Men: The Illustrated World.  Illustrator Dyna Moe drew a scene from every episode of the first 3 seasons of the show (like the Betty Draper one above).  You can see all the drawings on her Flickr page. (And if the style looks familiar, it’s because Dyna Moe also created the popular “Mad Men Yourself” avatar on Facebook)

In addition to the scene illustrations, the book also includes quirky features about 1960s office culture, icons and fads, along with recipes and drink menus (including Sally Draper’s cocktail menu).  My favourite is these Joan Holloway paper dolls (above).

Read more about the book on Penguin’s website.

[via ColourLovers]

Need a quick break at work?  Wanna look at something other than the report/file/design/blank screen you’re working on?  Check out Globe Genie.  Select which continents you’d like to explore, click “transport me”, and be taken to a totally random Google Street View shot of a location.  Globe Genie has been described as “Chatroulette for Google Street View” (I guess because of the random results).  Seriously, this is a complete waste of time and has absolutely no purpose, other than to delight you with the random joy in discovering new scenery.  Which is worth a few seconds of my time, for sure.

[via Design.Work.Life]

Do you miss Domino magazine as much as I do?  I read other quirky lifestyle/design magazines online and in print, but none of them seem to fill the void left by Domino.  I have a few issues that I saved, but definitely not all of them, so I was thrilled to read that you can find 25 great Domino articles archived online on the Brides.com website.  Click here to see the list of available articles.