Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

His own heart laughed, and that was quite enough for him. A Christmas Carol , by Charles Dickens ⸻ You know them, you love them — expressive little stuffed animals so authentically wrinkled that they appear to be made out of nothing but yards of felt and puddles of toddlers' saliva.  But what commerce, you may ask, have these children's toys, these Muppets, with pillars of Victorian literature? According to Brian Henson, quite a bit. Setting his sights on none other than Charles Dickens, Himself™, Henson released A Muppet Christmas Carol just in time for Christmas 1992, dedicating the film to his recently deceased father, Jim, Muppet mastermind.  In so doing, he initiated decades of Yuletide traditions for families innumerable — presumably, at least.  He certainly did for my family.  My siblings and I grew up watching the oddly corporeal Muppet ghosts cavorting around Michael Caine's relentlessly stoic Scrooge on at least a semi-annual basis. And yet, if I'm to be ru...

Hi, everyone!  I thought that this might be the month that broke my posting streak, but it turns out that old goals  habits die hard, so here we are. 😉   The title is pretty self-explanatory; I thought it would be fun to match atmospheric books, movies, etc. to iconic fall-time hobbies.  (As always, use your own discretion with these; the media listed here encompass a wide variety of content levels.) source If you like hiking , try The Fellowship of the Ring ( by J.R.R. Tolkien) for the ultimate autumnal quest experience, with plenty of cozy cottagecore moments, plenty of mountains, and plentyyyyyyyy of walking. 😜 If you like baking , try Brave (2012) for a tart, sweet exploration of what it means to be family. If you like  leaf peeping , try  In the Forests of Serre  ( by Patricia A. McKillip)  for the chance to lose yourself in a mysterious forest full of fiery color and breathtaking magic. If you like decorating , try Ever Afte...

Well, folks, another Tolkien Blog Party is drawing to a close.  Today is the last day of Rachel's shindig, and therefore, high time for me to post my answers to this year's tag.  Before we begin, though, a moment of silence for the end of a (sort of) era.  For the last several years I've used collages from a gorgeous Tumblr series as graphics for my tag answers, but at long last, I've used all or most of them at least once before.  I don't particularly want to recycle them, so I'm not including any in this post, but I think that Tumblr creator has made other Middle-earth inspired collections, so maybe I can scope out some new ones to use in coming years!  Anyway.  RIP, "modern LOTR aesthetics".  You did us a solid. ✌ On a cheerier note, read on for the 2024 tag questions and my answers thereto.  ⸻ 1. The Shire: What place in Middle-earth do you think would feel the most like home for you? Well, that's the million-dollar question, isn't it?...

Greetings, my dear Shirelings!  Yesterday was Hobbit Day, and it marked the commencement of what is probably my favorite annual online event:  Rachel's Tolkien Blog Party.  Check out Rachel's kick-off post here  and be sure to enter the fabulous giveaway she's hosting in honor of the party as well. I plan to answer this year's tag questions later this week, but for today's post, I'm casting my mind back to this time last year.  During 2023's party, Rachel hosted a game that gave players the opportunity to build a hobbit name for themselves.  (You can check out that post by clicking on this link .)  Per the rules of the game, my hobbit name turned out to be Cloverpin Sackcobble , and you know something?  I actually love it.  "Cloverpin" as a hobbit name?  Are you kidding me??  So cute, so versatile.  Fantastic. Anyway.  I enjoyed playing that game so much that it got me thinking about what my life would actually look like ...

Sally Silverscreen from 18 Cinema Lane has nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award!  Always a treat — thank you, Sally! Like most awards, this one comes with a few rules: 1. Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog. 2. Thank the person who nominated you. 3. Provide a link to your nominator’s blog. 4. Answer your nominator’s questions. 5. Nominate up to 11 bloggers. 6. Ask your nominees 11 questions. 7. Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts. Those noted, let's proceed to Sally's questions and my answers. ⸻ 1. You’re about to introduce someone to a film genre. Which movie will you choose as the respective introduction? Funny you should ask; I just thought about this subject the other day.  I was re-watching Belle (2013) on a flight home and was impressed once again by just how fantastic of a period drama it is.  It really does have everything:  stunning cinematography, sumptuous costumes you could eat up with a spo...

*peeks timidly around the corner* Hello, there. Who's this sneaking back to very belatedly wrap up a party that ended several days ago? Couldn't be me, certainly . . . Yes, folks, I must admit that the end of this year's Legends of Western Cinema Week rather got away from me.  Several real-life engagements commandeered my attention in rather unavoidable ways; c'est la vie.   Still and yet, I enjoyed this year's party and look forward to (hopefully?) sharing more posts in next year's.  Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun last week; be sure to check out everyone's contributions (linked below); and we'll see you next time. *waves*

Before we begin, a few notes: #1.  I purposefully decided to go with "heroes" instead of "cowboys" for the title of this post, because not all of these characters fit the "cowboy" job description.   #2.  I also decided to limit myself to one character per given show, hence why Print and Heck from Broken Trail or Vin from The Magnificent Seven don't make appearances. #3.  As usual, I'm none too confident in all of my picks for this list, nor in all of their rankings.  I knew of about six or seven characters who deserved the title "favorite," no question, but the well started to run a bit dry after that.  In other words, to be ruthlessly frank, I was rather scraping the bottom of the barrel when it came to rounding out this list.  It's a stretch to call the first few characters in this post "favorites," but one does what one must for the sake of continuity. 😜 Now to it . . .  ⸻ #10.  Billy Hyatt The War Wagon (1967) "Won...