Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

*Spoilers for Broken Trail , The New World , The Lord of the Rings , and the seventh season of Once Upon a Time will follow.* I talk about certain fictional couples kind of a lot.  And I hype up certain types of couples kind of a lot.  They tend to be very understated, simple, gentle love stories.  Sometimes the two characters don't even have that much screen time together, and often they don't have much dialogue.  Usually their relationship is characterized by a lot of off-screen development, wordless glances, and quiet understanding. Now, there are plenty of couples I dearly love who don't really fit this description: Han & Leia, Marian & Robin (to be fair they never really had the chance *sniffles*) , Charlie & Sophie, etc.  I can love tempestuous relationships, too; it's just that settled romances tend to strike a deeper chord with me.  And so I wanted to try to concoct a brief and not terribly in-depth look at why that is. ...

This tag, which originated on Hamlette's blog , was passed on to me by Katie .  Thanks, ladies! ♥ "Cornelia Street" by Taylor Swift - Storybrooke + Once Upon a Time couples And baby, I get mystified by how this city screams your name. And baby, I'm so terrified of if you ever walk away; I'd never walk Cornelia Street again. I feel like this would be such a great fanvid song for Once Upon a Time .  It's about how a specific location can crystallize a romance in the mind, and since Storybrooke is such a focal point of the show, I think it'd be neat to combine those two concepts ⎼ love of city and love of another person ⎼ in a tribute to the different couples that add their touch of magic to the series.   (For the record, I think the first verse is for Robin & Regina, the second for Emma & Killian, and the third for David & Snow.) "Lingering" by Sheppard - Johnny & Penelope I'm not af...

(I would have loved to get this post written and published in time for Tolkien Week , but Life™ Was A Thing™ that week, so here we are.) Here's what happened. When The Hobbit was coming out in its . . . three . . . installments (*cough*), I was approaching and entering my first years of high school.  I was in an interesting place in that I was trying to discover how to interact with people and express myself, but I was still learning what inhibitions I should have and what inhibitions I shouldn't have, if that makes any sense at all.  I've struggled with certain relational aspects since childhood, and one of the biggest is claiming my own opinions and beliefs without letting others' opposition or difference influence me unduly.  Still working on that, for sure.  I'm getting better, slowly ;) , but it's still a difficulty for me. So, though this is kind of silly, when I first watched The Hobbit , I assumed my thoughts on the movies were...

I think I want to host a read-along. I don't think I've ever done one before on this blog, and I suspect now (as in, in a few months) might be a good time.  So ⎼ going off the hopeful assumption that some of you would even be interested in participating in it ⎼ let's talk options. Possible Dates I definitely can't start a read-along this month, and it's 99.999% positive that I wouldn't be able to do so until this school semester is over, which would put us in December. Life has been taking more than a few twists and turns lately, so I can't say with total certainty, but I think any time between December 2019 and March 2020 could work for me to get this up and running. So, what I'd like to hear from you is, do you have any preferences as to timing?  I know that's a pretty wide field, but I don't want to just pick one start time if it wouldn't turn out to be workable for anybody else.  If you have any interest in joining, do...

These last few months have been marginally more productive, movie-wise. ;) Aladdin (2019) Okay.  So, to be honest, this is my least favorite of the Disney remakes so far.   But , that said, I still quite enjoyed it!  The cast is great, I love "Speechless," etc. My problems with it revolved around certain technical choices that just seemed pretty contrived/weak to me, but we needn't delve into all that.  The point is: it didn't wow me, but it's a fun movie that I'm glad I finally got to watch. Captain Marvel (2019) This was good; I liked it. :)  (I mean, I wasn't so sure about it at the beginning, but the second half was pretty solid.) Also, though . . . I think I might be trying too hard to like Marvel.  I think I might need to just let it go. I mean, I still truly enjoy some of the offerings, like Ragnarok and the Iron Man stories.  And I love finding aesthetic and feelsy pictures to pin on Pinterest. But . . . I just . . ...