Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

While Les Misérables is not quite  my favorite musical (though I do love it), and  certainly not my favorite book , one character with whom I was impressed was Marius Pontmercy.  (What mainly impressed me was how Victor Hugo developed his character...which is interesting since my main complaint against the book was the disappointing lack  of character development.  Yes, I did just go there.)  I know, I know, Marius is generally regarded as a slightly wimpish guy who is in addition sporting a most unbecoming idiocy about him. But I am here to tell you a horrifying truth, one that may well alienate from me any staunch Mizzer who reads this: I liked Marius, at least in the book, vastly more than Enjolras. Oh, see the rotten tomatoes fly. I won't go into why I didn't like Enjolras in the book, because my reasons are not sufficiently developed (heh.  I've been using that word a lot.), and I have a feeling that they are too flimsy to support any lo...

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." ~  C. S. Lewis Have you ever read a critical review of a children's movie?  'T'is a frustrating thing, let me assure you.  For example, I was reading just such an article recently, a critical review of the new adaptation of Annie  (which movie, by the way, I thoroughly enjoyed).  Shall I favor you with a quote?  Here you are:   "Filled with lurches from  effervescence  to ennui, this Annie  is a  mish-mosh pit that encourages indulgent viewers to dive in and have fun where and if they can find it.  If they go with the movie's ragged flow, they should find it more enjoyable than the 1982 Houston film." That review goes on to throw in a scathing critique of the third Night at the Museum movie (which I haven't yet seen), dubbing it "a candidate for the worst movie of the millennium."  (To b...

The costumes in One Night with the King  are stunning, particularly those of Hadassah (or Esther, whichever you prefer).  She actually wears so many different outfits that I'm picking my top five for the sake of conciseness. So here we go!:D The Royal Blue dress: Gorgeous.  It sort of reflects the passion and sadness of the scene.   The Rosebud dress: Don't you dare laugh at my title;)  So anyways, the gown.  A little pink, perhaps, but beautiful.  (By the by, I aDORE all of Hadassah's headdresses!) The Multi-colored dress: Okay, to be fair, it's difficult to come up with good titles for these dresses!xD  This is the dress Hadassah wears when she receives the news of the plot to assassinate Xerxes, if I am correct, and I love it.  This actress can really pull off any outfit, it seems. The Reading dress: You can't see it very well in this picture, but this is a very pretty dress.  I love t...

"For I saw very well that I could not have been intended to die, or I should never have lived; not to say should never have been reserved for such a happy life." ~ Bleak House , Chapter 36 Charles Dickens is not my favorite author.  'T'is just a fact.  Naturally, I love his conclusion to A Tale of Two Cities  (makes me sob), but having read that book and a part of Little Dorrit , as well as seen adaptations of LD and A Christmas Carol , I'm simply not a huge fan.  That isn't to say I don't think he's an amazing author, he just isn't my favorite.  There are reasons for that, but I shan't go into them now.  Suffice it to say that when I started reading BH (Bleak House) on Goodreads, I didn't expect to finish it.  I was fairly convinced that I would find it yet another dark tale that would weigh me down until I reached the far-off ending, and to be frank I didn't want to have to sacrifice hours and hours in the dark to get to a ...

My dears,  a Rumor floated around some months ago that Anthony Andrews (he who stole our hearts as the elusive Pimpernel) has "recreated" the role of 'Enry 'Iggins from My Fair Lady .  The Rumor states that Anthony Andrews' portrayal has, as one descriptor put it, "blown Rex Harrison's out of the water." Um. Darlings. *cue the Queen's voice from Mirror Mirror *  There's no such thing.  Anythony Andrews couldn't have outdone Rex Harrison's Higgins because that's simply humanly impossible. I missed the broadcast of A.A.'s MFL , but I have listened to a bit of Andrews' performance, and...I remain as staunch in my belief as ever.  Remind me exactly why  we prefer his portrayal to Rex Harrison's?   While I'm sure Anthony Andrews was delightful as Higgins (I personally didn't enjoy what I heard that much, but...as you've noticed, I'm somewhat biased:D), Rex Harrison, to me at least, took Higgi...

This book is odd.  Not in a bad way, necessarily, but still odd.  When I first bought it, I skimmed through it and didn't find it that interesting.  But a while ago, being sick and rather bored, I picked it up again and discovered that it's a perfect sick-day read. Which is strange, since it's not a very happy story, and not even one of my favorites at that.  Definitely the grimmest L.M. Montgomery story premise I've read, the novel starts out "drab and colorless," with the account of Valancy Stirling's woes.   Now, frankly, I wasn't crazy about Valancy.  I felt she wallowed in self-pity too much and was downright rude when she decided to "break free."  Admittedly, her family was oppressive and clearly messed up in many ways, but that didn't excuse some of her remarks.  I mean, honestly, telling an aunt that you can give her the address of a beauty parlor that could reduce the number of her chins?  That's just cruel.  And y...

Well, peeps, I finally did it.  I can now say that I have read  The Lord of the Rings trilogy!  *confetti and general fanfare* (With the exception, of course, of the appendices in TROTK.  But I do plan to read those.  Soon.) How does it feel to have finished it?  How do you take up the threads of an old life?;)  More importantly, how do you even begin to blog about it?  The simple answer is, I don't know, to all questions.  Since it's still sinking in that I've actually finished what seemed to be such a huge undertaking, I'm what you might call shell-shocked.  Joyfully shell-shocked, but nonetheless. So, what was my final opinion? ;D Seriously though, did I learn a heck of a lot more about Middle-earth?  Of course. Did opinions on certain characters change?  A little.  Were old loves strengthened?  Ooh, boy oh boy, just you wait;)  Did I like certain characters less  in the trilogy? ...