Some nights I live in horror of people on the radio, Tea Parties and Twitter, I've never been so bitter

Now that SXSW 2012 has come and gone without me, I've started planning my trip back to Austin in 2013. It seems like both a long time to wait and just around the corner. I'll try to squeeze in a few blog posts over the course of the next year and I'll try not to obsess too much about SXSW in them.

So along those lines, I thought I'd mention a few non-SXSW things I'm loving right now:

• Luther - This BBC drama has been sitting around on my Netflix queue for awhile now and I finally got around to watching it a couple weeks ago. It's a British show so there are only 10 episodes total between the two seasons that have been broadcast so far. They're all streaming in Netflix so you really have no excuse. Idris Elba plays a troubled cop who doesn't follow the rules, which is far from a new idea. The writing is great, though, and the plots are always surprising and downright scary at times. I have three episodes left to watch and I'm trying to dole them out slowly so the excitement doesn't have to end.
• Happy Endings - I just started watching this ABC comedy a few weeks ago and it has quickly become the show I look forward to all week. Be all accounts this sitcom about a group of friends in Chicago was terrible when it first started, but now it's a snappy, fun show that builds jokes upon jokes. Damon Wayans, Jr. is rocking my world.
• Fun. - Fun. is everywhere these days. No that's their name. They're a band that features the lead singer from The Format, another of my longtime faves. Anyway, their new album, Some Nights, is really great and I find myself always pulling it up on my iPod. There's humor, there's drama and there's a lot of fun.
• Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith - When I was unemployed I read almost everything written by Alexander McCall Smith. Luckily he publishes several books a year so I had plenty of options. AMS (as I call him) is probably best known for his #1 Ladies Detective Agency series, but I'm a bigger fan of this series about a Scottish woman who edits a Philosophy journal. Sure nothing much happens in the books but they are cozy and thoughtful. Not so much a beach read as a cozy Winter's evening read.
• Aziz Ansari - I just bought tickets to see Aziz's standup comedy show in Baltimore in June and I can't wait! I love him as Tom Haverford in Parks and Recreation and I have his last standup album. I doubt he'll do it, but I'd love to see him revive RAAAAAAAANDY (with 8 A's) on his new tour.