Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

First of all:  A gentle hug for all of those to whom this day brings more pain than joy.  For those who have lost children, for those who have lost mothers, for those who wish they could have a closer connection to their child or their mother, for those who have been abused by their child or their mother, for those who — for whatever reason at all — just have a complicated relationship with this day.  You are inexpressibly loved. ♥ Happy Mother's Day, my little munchkins!  In honor of the holiday, I wanted to spotlight some of my favorite mamas in the realm of fiction.  This is a small sampling, and there are, of course, several other maternal characters for whom I harbor deep affection. 😉 In the interests of narrowing down the list, I tried to confine this post to characters who are either introduced to the story as mothers or whose maternal role is one of their most significant contributions to the story.  That's why I'm not including the lovely ladies p...

Hello, my loves. ♥  I started this year with the tentative goal of posting at least twice a month, and obviously that hasn't worked out too well for me.  But, I have been managing to meet the once-a-month mark (even if I get the post in just under the wire, as is the case today 😅) , so we'll take what progress we can get. In lieu of the heavier duty posts I have in draft, I thought it would be nice to have a cozy little 'miscellaneous' post.  It's been quite a while since I've given any kind of in-depth life update or talked about what I'm into right now in terms of books, movies, music, etc.  So, why not do that today? Lately, I've been . . .  ☙ Watching - much more TV than I used to. ||  I've always been more of a film girly, and I think I still prefer film as a narrative medium, but I do find it much easier to keep up with a TV episode here and there now that I'm working and studying full time.  My evenings are pretty tight at the moment, so ...

Spring is officially here in the Northern hemisphere, even by the exacting and unreasonable standards of those who subscribe to the astronomical rather than the meteorological method. 😜  Accordingly, it's time for some vernal film recs!  Spring is my favorite season — plus one of my favorite things, in general — and it means a lot to my sentimental little soul, so these films hold a special place in my heart since they evoke the season so beautifully. ♡ Let's go in chronological order of release date to spare me the headache of trying to rank all of these! ⸻ ❀  My Fair Lady (1964)  ❀ The actual love of my life. *blissful sigh*  It's essentially perfect and you can't change my mind.  And it's very springlike:  lots of flowers and frilly dresses and English teas, contrasted with misty nighttime exteriors and rich, warm libraries. ❀  Return to Me (2000)  ❀ So sweet and refreshing and uplifting and funny.  The springtime vibes are gentle an...

Let's have a good round of bookish Q&A, shall we?  I'm borrowing this tag from Rachel over at The Edge of the Precipice .  The idea is to give your vote on various bookish tropes and design elements; it's jolly good fun.  There are no rules and no tagging protocols, so, let's just dive in! Reading the Last Page First | IN and OUT .  It really depends.  I used to do it a lot when I was younger, actually.  Now it's rarer, but I'm not opposed to it on principle. Enemies to Lovers | IN .  Love a good "sparks flying" couple. Dream Sequences | OUT , I guess.  I mean, they can be cool every now and then, but for the most part . . . eh.  Just don't care for 'em. Love Triangles | IN .  They don't bother me.  As long as they make sense for the story, I'm down. Cracked Spines | IN .  I prefer paperbacks to hardcovers on the whole, and I often need to crack the spine of a paperback at some point in order to make the book easier to hol...

I've been rereading the one true love of my life The Princess Bride this January, so I thought that now would be the perfect time to share an article I wrote about the novel for the online magazine Femnista back in autumn 2020.  As with the  Broken Trail piece I posted for last year's Legends of Western Cinema Week, what you'll read below is my initial submission to Femnista , not the version that appeared on the website after a few moderator edits.  I've also added a couple of my own tweaks to the original (i.e., adding an additional quotation, etc.).  But the gist is very much the same; never fear. So, if you want to learn more about just one of the manifold reasons this book is so dear to me — and if you don't mind spoilers  — then I echo to you Mr. Bennet's immortal advice:  Read on, Lizzy! ⸻ What if I told you that the real story of The Princess Bride was not that of Buttercup and Westley? Or of Inigo and his revenge? What if I told you that, ins...

Hello, all, and happy January!  I hope your 2023 is off to a good start. Today, I thought it would be fun to share a little bit about my favorite TV series, since I don't write about television all that often even though I've taken to re-watching a decent amount of it in recent years.  The goal of this post is to be very low-key and fun, just giving you a feel for each of the shows and sharing some personal stats about them.  Due to time and space constraints, I decided to limit this post to the smaller, nuclear group of my very, very favorites.  These are the shows that are — at least at this point in time — personal to me in a way that the other shows I like aren't.  As such, you can probably predict which ones I've included, but you never know. 😉 I'm not giving detailed content caveats for each of these shows, but, as always, please reach out to me if you're curious and I'll do my best to thoroughly answer any questions.  I'm also including fan video...