Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

What-ho, all!  I come to you on this fine sunny Sunday just in time to squeeze in one more post for Cordy's Lovely Blog Party before it ends tomorrow.   I wanted to pay tribute to a special class of my favorite fictional couples:  my "comfort" couples, the ones who make me feel safe and happy and at home whenever they're onscreen.  The ones who make my face break out into a big sappy grin when they meet for the first time, because I know everything that's coming in their story and can't wait to watch it unfold again.  The ones who may not always be the absolute "deepest," but who soothe and entertain me nonetheless.  The ones who are just plain adorable, who are so extremely wholesome that they elicit grins and squeeps and covered-face glee simply by being their pure and charming selves. This list isn't exhaustive — there are several more couples I love who meet some or all of these criteria — but it's a start.  Here are just a few of the co...

To my great delight, Cordy has decided to bring her Lovely Blog Party back for another year, and you know what that means:  couples and sissy stuff and romance galore on ye olde  Rivendell .  Admittedly, I don't expect to contribute as many posts this year as I ordinarily would.  Blogging can still be extremely draining for me at the moment (I mean, rewarding, but draining), and it's been difficult to get pieces put together on a timely basis.  However, something is better than nothing, and I have what I hope will be an entertaining post for you today. You see, I'm finally doing it, mes amis.  I am giving the people what they want this Valentine's Day season. 😂  Which is to say, I am finally dedicating a full blog post to answering that juiciest, most tantalizing, most ubiquitous of questions:   Who are your fictional "dream guys"? I had already been thinking about making a post on this topic, but I was somewhat reluctant to do so, because,...

I usually find myself conflicted when I write these year-end posts.  (Don't we all, right?)  The problem with making top ten lists, for me, is that I often experience a sense of dissonance, torn between what I see as two different 'types' of candidates.  There are the stories that I think deserve a spot on their own merit, for their own technical excellence; and then there are the stories that I want to include because I personally enjoy  them so much, even if they aren't of the highest caliber. This year, I'm happy to report, that's not as much of a struggle!  2021 wasn't a great year for new-to-me movies, to be honest, but the silver lining there is that most of the films that  did stand out to me did so because they were both exceptionally well-made (in my opinion) and intensely satisfactory on a personal level.   Of course, there were exceptions:  films that were so good that I can't not  spotlight them, even if they weren't that "fu...

In my early teens, I adopted a reading motto.  C.S. Lewis had said that, "It is a good rule, after you finish a new book, never to allow yourself another new book until you have read an old one in between" — and by golly, if it was good enough for Clive, it was good enough for me.  So, I implemented that practice.  I alternated faithfully between books I'd never read before and books I had  read before.  After finishing a new-to-me book, I'd begin a reread; after I finished a reread, I'd begin another new-to-me.  I followed this "rule" fairly religiously for several years, if I recall correctly, balancing old and new in a straight 1:1 ratio.  (As I was already in the habit of rereading quite a bit on a regular basis, it wasn't that difficult; it simply became a strict formula rather than a flexible inclination.) Now, over time, I've realized how dogmatic that rule is and how silly it is to impose any kind of ironclad restriction upon my leisure r...

Character-driven vs. plot-driven.  It's an almost ubiquitous dichotomy in the debates and discussions that thread their way through the online story community.  When you read a book — or watch a movie, for that matter — is your opinion of it more likely to be influenced by the strength of its characterization or by the strength of its plotline?  In other words, are you a  character-driven or a plot-driven reader (or viewer)? For myself, I've never felt able to satisfactorily answer that question.  Because the real answer, in my own case, is neither.   When it comes to books and movies, I'm neither character-driven nor plot-driven.  (What I'm looking for differs slightly from one medium to another, but in general, and in somewhat oversimplified terms, my priorities are writing style, theme, and aesthetic.) However!  I have realized in recent months that, while I can't parse my story preferences quite so distinctly when it comes to literature a...