  In the framework of real 2-component spinors in three dimensional space-time
we present a description of topologically massive gravity (TMG) in terms of
differential forms with triad scalar coefficients. This is essentially a real
version of the Newman-Penrose formalism in general relativity. A triad
formulation of TMG was considered earlier by Hall, Morgan and Perjes, however,
due to an unfortunate choice of signature some of the spinors underlying the
Hall-Morgan-Perjes formalism are real, while others are pure imaginary. We
obtain the basic geometrical identities as well as the TMG field equations
including a cosmological constant for the appropriate signature. As an
application of this formalism we discuss the Bianchi Type $VIII - IX$ exact
solutions of TMG and point out that they are parallelizable manifolds. We also
consider various re-identifications of these homogeneous spaces that result in
black hole solutions of TMG.
