Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

Saddle up, buckos!  In case you were wondering, yes, Rachel and Heidi and I are indeed returning to your blogging spaces with another week of uproarious Western fun this year!   2025's event will take place from August 25-29, and we need your help to round out the event.  We can't wait to read all of your reviews, lists, character studies, thematic analyses, and so forth.  As per usual, you may also expect a tag to fill out, and most likely some games and/or giveaways to add spice to the proceedings. 😉  In the meantime, spread the word with one or two of these delightful buttons made by Rachel! See you there! 

It feels like it's been ages since I've really discussed musical theatre on here, and what better time to remedy that than during my friend Rachel's We Love Musicals week ? As the title of this post suggests, this will be a look at some of my current favorite musicals.  Specifically, I wanted to focus on those musicals that I'll more frequently choose to listen to as I'm going about my day, rather than just the movie musicals that I'll more frequently sit down to watch, as the two groups seldom overlap.   For example, as we all know, the 1964 film version of My Fair Lady is tied for my top favorite film of all time, but will I regularly listen to the soundtrack?  No, because while I do like the music, my adoration of the movie is due more to its non-musical elements.  (Of course, there are exceptions to this rule — you'll find both  Evita and  Newsies in this post, but I probably watch screen versions of both of those almost as often as I listen to the...

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 ...

*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...

Another Legends of Western Cinema Week has come around the mountain, y'all!  Today marks the beginning of a rollicking summer tradition hosted by Heidi , Rachel , and myself, during which we celebrate all things Western.  We invite you to join in the fun by contributing your own Western-themed posts over the next several days:  reviews, lists, analyses, games, etc. — you name it!   As always, we're starting things off with a fresh set of tag questions — or, in this case, tag prompts.  Following last year's lead, we're providing you all with a list of adjectives to fit to the Western of your choice.  Want to see what I mean?  Read on for my own answers. 2024 Tag Prompts Cozy Gritty Serious Comedic Romantic Lively  Unpredictable Hopeful Joyful Adventurous My Tag Answers Cozy Does it get any cozier than the outrageous Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)?  Not in a conversation about Westerns, at any rate.  Romanticized pioneer lifes...

Look what the cat dragged in:  another Legends of Western Cinema Week! My pals, Heidi (of Along the Brandywine ) and Rachel (of  Hamlette's Soliloquy ), and I are teaming up yet again to bring you this year's rip-roaring, boot-stomping week of Western fun.  Won't you join us?  We'll be celebrating and analyzing our favorite Westerns (or our not-so-favorite Westerns; the key is to keep any criticism essentially productive/constructive and to generally embrace the positive spirit of the event), and I promise you that it's a grand old time. 2024's event will run from July 22 through July 26.  As always, there will be tag questions for everyone to answer if they are so inclined.  (And comment answers are just as valid as post answers, for those of you who want to participate but don't have blogs!)   Beyond the tag, we'll have to see what comes to fruition by the time next month rolls around, but generally speaking, participants can expect to find revi...

Narnian greetings to you all!  In case you were unaware, my pal Rachel has been hosting her annual February blog party since Monday.  This year, it's the We Love Sibling Stories Week!  Be sure to check out Rachel's blog for all the party goodness, including games and a giveaway. When Rachel first announced this blog party back in January, I immediately thought that I'd like to contribute something about the Pevensies, both because these kids are possibly my favorite set of siblings in all of fiction and because I don't post about The Chronicles of Narnia  as often as I ought to considering how deeply I love it.  I'd originally planned on writing something more substantive, but I ended up needing to go with something easier to whip up in a pinch, so here we are!   This is just a sentimental li'l overview of each of the Pevensie siblings: a handful of reasons why I love them plus what I see as their Aesthetic™ — along with a Taylor Swift lyric for each ...