Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

Time for  Heidi's link-up !  This month's prompt is: a Christmastide movie scene WELL.  What better time to post it than on the very Eve of Christmas?  [Or, as we like to say in the security business, Christmas Eve.  (If you got that reference, though…)] I'm going to select the scene of Jesus' birth, as portrayed in The Nativity Story , a movie of which, as I'm sure you all know, I think rather highly ;)   Here it is.  DRINK IT IN.  And then go watch the whole movie, as I plan to do tonight, and drown in the music and the atmosphere and *cough* Joseph and just the general epic-ness that is this movie.

So I promise to catch up on commenting/replying/posting SOON. ……………………………………. It's just, ya know, Christmas. …………………………………….. In the meantime, here's a gif that I'm posting out of the sheer goodness of my heart, because I know we all need to watch it about fifteen thousand times, especially if we haven't before ;) …………………………………….. It's a really cute gif, y'all :D …………………………………….. Basically, I ship these two like Fedex.  I'm sorry but I just do. ……………………………………. Ya ready for this?  Here it is. ……………………………………. I MEAN I JUST.  WHAT.   ……………………………………. Okay, bye-bye.

Hello again!  Here's round two of my  Bookshelf Project , and you can read round one  here . Let's get right to it, shall we? :)  (Again, lots of parentheses, lots of links, and lots of random pictures/gifs.) Those I Finished : Little Men by Louisa May Alcott.  I liked it!  It wasn't exactly my favorite, but it was Alcott; ergo it was good and interesting and charming and all those lovely things.  The part when *SPOILERS!* Danny comes back and Teddy runs to his bed the next morning made me deep-down-in-my-soul happy. *END OF SPOILERS*   4 out of 5 stars. Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton.  I think I'll just go cry now.  No, really, it was a very sad book, but it was so gentle and darling that I couldn't help falling in love with it.  Oh, and for those of you who have read the original book of One Hundred and One Dalmatians , Chips reminded me of the old man whose fireside Pongo and Missis visit on their journey! ...

"Billy, no one of our age has ever taken power." " Which is why we're too young to realize that certain things are impossible!   So we will do them anyway." All right, LET'S DO THIS.   (I'm not even going to try to keep from spoilers in this review.  You've been fairly warned.) Amazing Grace follows William Wilberforce while he starts as promising, charismatic politician of integrity ("Where are you going?"  "To look up the word 'integrity' in Dr.                's dictionary."), becomes a passionate and faithful advocate of the abolition of England's mega-franchise, slavery, and has his fervor reignited after his health and spirit experience a decline due to his loyalty to the cause. THIS MOVIE.  IS AMAZING.  (Heh.) I always forget just how special this movie is between watches.  I mean, I always know it's a special movie, but I forget just exactly how much I love it. I think I'll ...

ANGELS.  IT IS DONE. School, I mean.  (And only for the most part; I still have some catch-up work and break work to do.)  My co-op has finally finished, and concert season is winding down both for piano and choir.  And none too soon; I may have been on the brink of an emotional or mental collapse!  (Not really.  But it felt like it.) Oh, yeah, this is totally me.  (It's not me.) Which means that I'll finally get to stop seeming to ignore you guys!  I can reply to y'all's lovely comments that make me so tremendously happy, and I can comment on your blog posts that I enjoy so. I truly do apologize for my absence recently, but school and music really have been rather hectic.  You understand :) I'm excited for Christmas break, in case you couldn't tell.  Yes, yes, there are still some academic things to get done, and helping around the house and everything, BUT REALLY.  I'm sooooooo looking forward to snuggling in and...

A number of weeks ago, I was in an odd emotional funk.  Y'see, as I've mentioned before, I am an INFJ.  I suspect I've even mildly irked some of you by carrying on long conversations with fellow INFJs in the comments.  But the reason we INFJs cling so tenaciously to our "label" is, as I read somewhere, that it feels SO good to finally understand why we are the way we are.  Because trust me, we spend a lot of time trying to unravel the intricacies of our personalities, and when we get that test result on Myers-Briggs and read the description that describes us--in almost every particular--so uncannily well, we are finally able to think, "This is it!  This is why I am the way I am!  SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS." Since I have a strange personality (well, really, who doesn't?) that even I don't anywhere close to fully understand, I often feel, oh, how to put this…chronically misunderstood. By nearly everybody I know . Yes, go ahead.  Pity me;)   ...

Well, today is the last day of  Abigail's C. S. Lewis Week , and it also happens to be the birthday of Jack himself.  (I didn't actually know that, so thanks for the info, Abby! :D) I thought perhaps I'd attempt a "commemorative post" for the last day/his birthday.  We shall see how it goes;) C. S. Lewis is my favorite author.  Have I announced that before?  Probably, I just don't remember it.  Well, now you all know (just in case the title didn't clue you in).  Lewis is my favorite, and not just because of Narnia.  I LOVE Narnia, especially the first movie and the books The Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His Boy , but sometimes I think that people judge Lewis's "depth" solely off the Chronicles, and that just MAKES ME MAD.  (I know, I know, I said all this yesterday.  Just stay with me.) Y'see, I've encountered this a couple times:  people compare Lewis to Tolkien, which I don't think is fair or legitimate in t...

Here I am to answer  the questions  Abigail put together for Lewis Week (hey, better late than never, right?)! I apologize (ish) in advance for the superfluity of Narnia pictures, particularly those pertaining to "The Call." ;) 1. How did you hear about C. S. Lewis? I can't remember not hearing about him, if you know what I mean.  I grew up on the older (and yes, fairly stereotyped as pretty bad) BBC movies, of which I do really like The Silver Chair , but which, other than that, I can do without.  And then I read the Narnia books, of course, and stuff kind of happened from there;)  2. What was the first of his books that you read? The first?  Hmm…probably The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe . 3. Which one of his book(s) is your favorite? He's my favorite author!  How can you ask me to pick a favorite??  Actually, it's okay.  Um…I think Till We Have Faces wins.   Mere Christianity , The Magician's Nephew , and T...

Since you all were so kind as to give my  television couples post  a wonderfully warm reception, here I am with my suggested book-ship post! :)  The same caveats apply:  these are by no means all the couples I ship from books, and I must admit that most of the ships I'll list here actually sunk, but no matter.  Hope you enjoy!  I tried to pick those couples that were not totally obvious or that I didn't know from the beginning would end up together (case in point, there are no LotR ships in this post).  Let's get started, shall we? Be aware:  spoilers, of course, follow;) Julie Wallace and Graham Gillin (I think that was his last name?) From:   Julie by Catherine Marshall I was disappointed that Julie did not end up with Graham at the close of Julie .  (Of course, I was a bit disappointed in that whole book, but that is nothing to the purpose.)  I think the relationship between Julie and Graham had the most depth to i...

GUYS.  So my friend  Abigail  is hosting a C. S. Lewis party (mayhap you've noticed the button on my sidebar?) this week, November 22-29, the latter date happening to be the beloved author's birthday! I got very excited when I heard about it, because, hello,  Lewis .  I don't know how much I'll be able to participate in the party post-wise, but I at least wanted to contribute this--very short--review of (probably) my favorite Lewis book:   Till We Have Faces . (Originally posted on Goodreads; I've made minor adjustments.) This book is the one that solidified Lewis's place as my favorite author. (Mere Christianity started the process, though.) What blew me away was the utter complexity of his writing (and also his impressive flexibility and aptitude in being able to change his style for his various books). The first time I read it, I didn't know "where he was going with it," so to speak, and when I reached the end I was floored by the powe...