For The First Day Of Spring

 

It's the first day of Spring and I've been really excited for it. Combine that with the fact that I've missed doing posts like this lately, you end up here. None of this particularly makes sense together, but I had fun finding quotes, listening to music, and that's all that matters. On that note, if my blog does weird things at any point I'm probably playing with the settings. Just fyi.

'Pete Wyatt woke as a stranger in the world of miracles. He was neither a saint nor a pilgrim. He was just a kid waking too late in the morning in the back of a stranger's egg-yellow Mercury.' -Maggie Stiefvater (All the Crooked Saints)

'You can hear a miracle a long way after dark...' -Maggie Stiefvater (All The Crooked Saints)

'It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot 

and the wind blows cold: 

when it is summer in the light and

 winter in the shade.'

-Charles Dickens (Great Expectations)

'Is the Spring coming? He said. "What is it like?"

...It is the rain falling on the sunlight and the 

rain falling on the sunshine.'

-Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden)

'I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in it, 

the rest of me is on the draining board.'

-Dodie Smith (I Capture the Castle)

'I've been keeping up appearances all my life. Now I'm going in for realities.

Appearances can go hang!' -L.M. Montgomery (The Blue Castle) 

'In the Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.' -Margaret Atwood 

'It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folks

that keep darkness at bay.

Small acts of kindness and love.'

-J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings)

'There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.' -C.S Lewis

'Based on the way I react when toast pops out of the toaster, I will never look cool walking away from an explosion.' -Pinterest somewhere

Happy first day of Spring!

The Fandom Tag

Skye tagged me for this and I've been excited to do it. Although trying to narrow down answers for some of these was ridiculously hard. I either blanked on everything ever made, or thought of way too many answers. If this had a Howl's Moving Castle title, it would probably be 'In Which I Say Too Much About Myself'. Apparently I struggle with short and snappy.

The Questions

What’s the first fandom you remember becoming a part of?

Aside from pretty much everything I liked from my childhood. There's a lot...

Sherlock Holmes, Edward Scissorhands, and Lilo and Stitch (the first and second movie) 

I was an obsessive (and basic) child. It's weird rewatching some things that I haven't seen since I was little and realizing just how much I hyper-focused on details that are still so distinct in my head. But like weirdly specific details like the leaves on Lilo's dance costume. There was a specific version of Winnie the Pooh that I watched when I was little and I was really obsessed with the tomatoes in it. Don't ask me why, they just looked really good to kid me. 

I don't remember which version this is but this was the one I saw

Sherlock Holmes was the first book character I remember crying over and Stitch was the first movie character I remember crying over. Hence why I chose them for this question. 

Phantom of the Opera (25th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall 2011) was the thing that made me realize fandoms existed though.

What’s the newest fandom you’ve come to enjoy?

I'm not really involved in any fandoms exactly. I consider myself part of the fandom for things that I like but it's more that I just like a thing rather than actually being a contributing member of something. I'm very grateful to all the people that do make GIFs and general things because I don't know how to do it.

Currently (as far as T.V. shows go. And this is narrowed down) 

I've been watching Daredevil when I get the opportunity 

&

I Love Lucy 

It's quite the combo I know. 

I finished the O.C. recently.

I've watched I Love Lucy/The Lucy Show before, but I re-got some of the seasons from the library recently. The first time my mom got it from the library we were only allowed to watch the episodes while mom was making the quilt she'd been working on at the time and I swear that every time we get it from somewhere it coincides with somebody starting a sewing project. It's never intentional, it just sort of happens. Although I think I'm the only one in my family that seems to have noticed this pattern; everyone always seems surprised when I mention it.

What’s a fandom guaranteed to give you feels?

Doctor Who 

It's funny because it's not.

What’s a guilty pleasure fandom of yours?

I'm blanking on anything that really counts as a guilty pleasure. I like the City of Bones movie with Lilly Collins but it's not really a guilty pleasure.

Vampire Diaries maybe? the show is trash but I am a goblin troll and I pick out the parts that I like from it. Which might be saying too much considering I stopped somewhere in season 4 and then had forgotten it for awhile.

What’s the weirdest fandom you’ve heard of/are a part of?

I don't think this is the kind of answer that I'm supposed to give, but it is the answer I want to give.

Lorde's (formerly-deleted) secret onion ring Instagram account where she kept track of what her favourite onion rings were. I've never actually seen her account and I don't think there is a fandom for this but I don't care. I will be the fandom. 

Lorde had made a secret Instagram account dedicated to onion rings (purely for herself) but then people found out about it and she deleted it. Apparently it's coming back, is back, or I just heard a rumour. Either way, the fact that it existed at all is beautiful.

As far as weird fandoms go, possibly Merlin. You'll think the fandom is dead and then it will rise up like Mushu at the oddest times.

Top 2 photos say
'Everyone escapes from our dungeons,
have you ever noticed how everyone-?'

Favorite popular/widely-known fandom?

There's a lot. Pirates of the Caribbean.

 Stranger Things is pretty popular/widely-known. 

Favorite bookish fandom?

As far as actual fandom I've seen for books I've read, possibly The Raven Cycle, Howl's Moving Castle, and Lockwood and Co.

What do you consider your ‘homebase’, a fandom you can always come back to?

Sherlock Holmes again honestly. 

There's so many versions you can never really be bored. Be that books, movies, or t.v. shows

What’s a fandom you know all about…but aren’t actually into it?

I don't know if all the weird info I know is accurate, but I know a lot of random information about Twilight for someone that's never seen/read it (with the exception of the first 30 minutes of the first movie). Granted it's mostly the basic information. Honestly Twilight is hilarious if you don't take it seriously from the little I've seen.

Which fandom has the best characters?

Now there's a loaded question designed to start fandom wars. 

I feel disinclined to acquiesce this request and so I've elected to ignore it.

Do not read into that response, it's not my answer. 

Name your all-time favorite ship.

Just one??? With all due respect to the person that asked the question originally, what the heck kind of questions is that? How do I narrow that down? I'll just mention some of the ones I've been watching edit videos of lately

Grace and Daniel (Ready or Not)

Reylo  (Star Wars)

Ten and Rose (Doctor Who)

Kevin and Casey (Split/Glass)

What’s a fandom you’re curious about joining?

One I've been curious about is Teen Wolf. 

There's some K-dramas, Alice in Borderland...there's quite a few things actually.

5 Ravenclaw Characters I admire/Like To Think I Have Similarities To

 Disclaimer: Please do not take any of this too seriously. It's all in dumb, spur-of-the-moment fun. This is an incredible display of (probably, I hold out a small hope for myself) wishful thinking and I had a blast. 

This whole idea was inspired by a Nancy Wheeler edit video I watched and then I remembered that she is commonly sorted into the Ravenclaw Hogwarts House. There are so many characters I love/ relate to, but to try narrow it down, I thought it could be fun to use characters that are usually sorted into Ravenclaw. However, I will use the term 'usually sorted into' very loosely as I pretty much did whatever I want. If I saw a character get sorted into Ravenclaw just once, I considered it fair game. Although, I did try to make sure that Ravenclaw was a common house for them to be sorted into.

Nancy Wheeler

While I didn't like all of Nancy's decisions, I really like her as a character. 

Some things I admire about her/Hope that I have similarities to is her tenacity, self-respect, and just how much of a fighter she is.

Beth Harmon 

From the few things I could find, Beth seems to be interchangeably sorted into Ravenclaw and Slytherin. I thought my personal opinion was that she was in Slytherin, but the argument could be made for both sides.

Some things I admire about her/hope that I have similarities to is her complexity, (is it too obvious to say I really do admire her intelligence), and the way she notices everything around her. There are so many other things though and that goes for all the characters on this list.

Seth Cohen

I saw him sorted into Ravenclaw once which was all I needed to add him to this list.

Some things I admire about him/hope that I have similarities to is his humour/self-awareness, loyalty, and his intelligence combined with his stupidity.

Rapunzel 

She seems to be sorted into Ravenclaw most often. The thing I love about the internet is that no one can agree with each other which gives me full liberty to make up my own rules while following the rules I already set for myself. 

Some things I admire about her/hope I have similarities to is her drive to follow her dream, appreciation for the small things, and the slight duality of her personality. 

Veronica Mars

I got excited when I saw her sorted into Ravenclaw. As with pretty much anyone on this list, whether they are actually Ravenclaw or not really depends on the whim of the person sorting them.

Some things I admire about her/hope that I have similarities to is her spunk/scrappiness, humour/sarcasm, and that she's a marshmallow.

There were so many options it was hard to narrow everything down. I hope this was fun, I enjoyed doing it. From personal curiosity, I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on what my secondary Hogwarts house might be. And on the flip side of that, what do you think your secondary Hogwarts house is?

Random Classic Hollywood Actor/Actress Trivia

I've been watching a lot of random Youtube videos about different actors/actresses and I thought it would be fun to share a few of the random bits of trivia I found. There's so much information out there, it's both fun and a little daunting. Anyways, without further ado.

Sorry, I couldn't not finish the exchange

Ray Milland (top GIF)

Ray Milland, like any actor or actress, had to work hard to get good roles, but eventually after he started getting them he began to suspect that he was getting roles just because of his looks. He decided to go take lessons and get better at it. 

He had some sort of woodworking saw in his backyard. One time his hand slipped and he got his left hand/thumb pretty bad I guess. (Later on the set of another film he would injure his left hand again. He just didn't have much luck with his hand.) Because WW1 or WW2 was going on he tried enlisting but because of his hand they wouldn't let him. Despite that though he found other ways to help. 

At a different point, he was touring at these different theatres and a soldier there was heckling him asking why he wasn't in the army and his response was 'With a war on? Are you crazy?' 

He ended up (I think) helping with the audition reading for a movie called 'The Jungle Princess' and the lady that they ended up casting as the leading lady requested that be her co-star instead of the guy that was supposed to do it. The studio was hesitant but they ended up going along with her request which surprised me. The movie ended up doing really well apparently so the studio really couldn't complain.

He was asked to do the movie 'The Lost Weekend' but he was really hesitant because he wasn't sure he could portray alcoholism properly and he knew that his acting had to be good. He really wanted to fully understand what he was doing and I guess he decided to spend the night in a psychiatric ward but he only made it a few hours. The effort he put into the role paid off though, the director/cast thought that the movie wasn't going to do very well (based on the reaction they had been receiving) but Ray Milland ended up getting an Oscar for the role. It was also one of the first Hollywood movies to portray alcoholism as a serious thing and not just played for laughs. Although some temperance groups misunderstood the movie and thought that they were glorifying it. I've seen the movie and I'm not sure how they could have got that part so wrong, but misunderstandings like that happen all the time so I guess it makes sense. 

Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman was a famous actress particularly in the 40s. Eventually, after about 10 years of working in the American Film Industry bubble she became bored with it and worked with an Italian director in neo-realistic films. She ended up having an affair with her co-star (they were both married to different people and had their own children). She had a very 'perfect' persona that had been carefully crafted by different people, which is sort of how show business works I guess, but when she had the affair (which resulted with a baby) it made a lot of people mad. Suddenly she wasn't this perfect person and a lot of people turned on her. Someone actually wrote (and I'm completely paraphrasing, this isn't the exact quote) that she had done more harm for the concept of the family unit than Stalin or Lenin could have done preaching for 10 years. Her movies were banned at different times and it was all very over-blown. Can you imagine people thinking you are worse than Stalin?

She, eventually, after working on different projects that interested her came back for a few American movies years later for roles she wanted to do. She thought the whole thing was kind of ridiculous and stated very clearly that she didn't regret any of it. She was 'forgiven' over time as the press started to back-peddle on some of the things they had said saying that 'people shouldn't judge other people' which sounds disingenuous considering everything but whatever.  

Cary Grant

His mother was put into a mental institution when he was 10 (9? possibly 11? different sources say different things) and she remained there for 21 years. Apparently he didn't know that and had been told that she'd just left. He didn't find out she was still alive and in the institution until he was 30 years old. She'd been suffering 'mania'. 

I was watching a documentary and there was this lady that was saying she had written something and she needed a very, very handsome man to carry the plot. The people that told her about him said that he wouldn't work because he had a cockney accent, had a weird walk, etc and she said that didn't make a difference to her. She said that he was the only good-looking man who'd come in the last week and she says that she just fell madly in love with him. Honestly writing goals.

He was rejected his first Paramount screen test because he 'had bow-legs and a thick neck'.

Thelma Todd

Getting good jobs as an actor/actress is really hard but women especially seemed to have a dangerous time of it. Not always, but the things that happened behind closed doors sometimes is horrifying. There were (and sadly still are) a lot of monsters and sickos in Hollywood. Anyways Thelma Todd refused to go to a 'party' where there was going to be a lot of drunk guys (and there were other actresses that would be told to go as well) and they told her that if she didn't they would fire her. Despite having a mother that was reliant on support from her daughter and trying to survive through life in general, Thelma Todd walked out on them and made a name for herself despite them. And good for her.

Hope this was interesting!

Behind The Blogger Tag

I sort of stole this from McKayla's blog (thanks btw!) and it looked like fun. I've tried making several posts this month but I'd end up not liking them so I just didn't finish them, so I thought this could be a quick (but fun) one to ease myself back into doing other posts.

The Rules

Thank the person who nominated you 

Answer the questions

Ping back to the creator Ellyn

Nominate 5+ bloggers to do the tags 

(I'm bad at tagging so whoever wants to can do it)

What's your favorite primary color?

Depends what it's for I guess. If we're talking about clothes deep red maybe? Blue is a common one for me though and Emma really started me on a yellow thing at one point, although sadly I can't seem to pull of wearing it.

Stunning.

Clothes aside, the possibilities are endless.

Favorite card/board game?

Favourite board game would be Clue and possibly Othello 

I played Dutch Blitz with some of Skye's family for my birthday and it's amazing. They get very invested and it's incredibly entertaining. 

What's your Patronus?

Currently I haven't read/watched Harry Potter (with the exception of one movie I don't remember very well, but I've been meaning to read/watch both things for quite a long time now.) Long story short I took a Buzzfeed Quiz and I answered the best I could. Sadly, I'm not quite sure what most of the things are. 

According to Buzzfeed my Patronus is a cat

Who's your favorite actor or actress who was most famous in another era? Why do you like him/her?

Ooh...this is a tough one. For older Hollywood possibly Ray Milland (I don't know anything about him so I'm hesitant to choose him). It's been a long time since I've seen a movie he's in, I just remember being excited because he seemed so different from what I'd been used to at the time. Up until then I'd pretty much only seen the 'John Wayne' type of guys in the (admittedly few) older ones I'd seen at the time and I was bored with them. One movie of his I like is Doctor Takes a Wife (1940).  

I haven't seen anything she's in but Thelma Todd sounded like an interesting character and I would have liked to meet her. It's sad how she died and we don't even know for sure who killed her.

If you have siblings, which of them annoys you the most [or has been successful in annoying you the most in the past]?

Depends on the thing. 

One of my siblings is two so you can imagine the kind of stress I'm under

What's one talent that you'd like to have?

I wish I could do art. I know that's something that comes with practice but I don't take the time to work on it.

Also be able to sing like Eva Noblezada 

(on the related note that brings me to an unrelated Hadestown side-bar, I found out that Orpheus (in mythology) was on a ship next to some sirens that started singing. The crew started falling under the siren's spell but Orpheus started singing and flipping beat out sirens (plural might I add) and got everyone out safely. That's quite the singing competition)

Thoughts on WandaVision?

I love it! I love the old 50s sitcom style, the different eras, the edge it has to it because something will go just slightly wrong... In the words of Skye, 'just let Wanda live happily with her toaster, that's all we ask. She might not be coping well, but she's happy.' Obviously it can't last but I'm enjoying it while it does. I also appreciate that this show feels like the people are just having fun with it.

Also Darcy is back!! Love her, I don't know why they stopped using her for so long.

What color is your phone case?

I don't currently have a phone.

If given the opportunity, would you be up for some time traveling?

100% Yes!! So many things I'd like to do. Nothing super historically important exactly, there's just some people I would love to meet, some places I'd like to see. Diana Wynne Jones and Dodie Smith are two authors I would love to meet in person so in case anyone has a time machine stuffed in the back of their closet, I have a list.

What's your ultimate comfort show?

There's a lot...Derry Girls. It makes me happy.

Also Gilmore Girls and one comfort movie is Penelope (2006) 

Are there any covers of songs that you prefer to the original [Gleeks, you have your work cut out for you]?

I have a very surface level knowledge of music. If it comes up on my side suggestions on Youtube I might play it to see if I like it, I'll hear a song somewhere else, etc. Currently I can't think of anything but I know I do have some 

Old Hollywood/Film In General

The 'Old Hollywood' era as been a recurring thing I've been curious about but now I might finally go down that rabbit hole. I've seen some things over the years with my mom but that was years ago and our tastes are usually a bit different, so I've been sort of at a loss for where to start. Blame the Queen's Gambit for my re-emerging fascination with the 60's style. Anya Taylor-Joy carries herself in a very Audrey Hepburn/old Hollywood starlet sort of way (most likely because she's a trained dancer) and there's just something about the style of the different eras that's really interesting. I've seen a few videos where people will reference Old Hollywood movies, actors/actresses, their continued relevance, etc. I just don't usually know who any of them are, or if I do, I don't know anything about them.

I know that monster movies, Alfred Hitchcock movies, Audrey Hepburn (and all the rest of the different actors/actresses. Although I have seen a couple Audrey Hepburn movies), exist I just wouldn't know where to start. Vincent Price's name has come up several times in different videos but the only I think I've seen him in was Edward Scissorhands. Sometimes I will watch a movie from the era, but I won't understand why the movie is such a big deal. I find it interesting why some things like Clueless become classics and, for the most part, stand the test of time and why it's different to the ones that didn't hold up well. Alfred Hitchcock for example, I've heard his name everywhere and I'm pretty sure I've seen at least one of his movies but I don't actually know anything about him really.

There's old movies/shows that impacted so much and either I don't know anything about them, or I haven't seen them. I usually don't know they had an impact when I do see them. Lindsay Ellis mentions different tropes a lot and I'm always interested to see where things came from. For example (not from Lindsay Ellis) Scream is a satire on the Horror movie genre and the 'Final Girls Trope' (I adore the final girl trope, you have no idea. From the few horror movies I've seen anyways. I'm not generally a horror movie fan but there's been some exceptions) being a flip on the old trope of damsels in distress.

There's weird details about actresses like Audrey Hepburn who literally starved at one point which is why she ended up having the very slight build that everyone was obsessed with, she danced to raise money for the Resistance during WW2 even though her parents were Nazi sympathizers, etc.

I really don't know much but the way Marilyn Monroe was treated and portrayed to people was terrible. I know that she was badly treated and was forced to play up the dumb blonde stereotype but I don't actually know what happened. All my knowledge is incredibly surface level. And sadly it's not like we don't still do it to actors/actresses today.

I'm curious as to why different style changes happened whether that be in cinema or clothing. Why were the 'The Old West-type' movies essentially the 'super-hero genre' of the time? Why did the superhero genre take off when it did? Weird details like everyone's clothing being practical while on rations during the war. How there was a fashion boom after the war when everyone wanted to look feminine again without the constraint of the lack of resources they'd had during the war. 

 For someone that loves film (or at least watching lots of videos of other people talking about it and then not retaining much because my memory is crap), I really don't know anything. I'm just hoping that someone else knows something. 

If you do have recommendations, it doesn't have to strictly be Old Hollywood movies, it could be a Youtube video that talks about the importance of something, weird trivia you have, talking about a actor/actress you like, it could be anything really. I really like the concept of Film Studies but it's a big concept that covers a lot of things. It's too big off a concept to tackle all at once, so I'm hoping to take it one movie, person, whatever at a time and sort of vaguely understand who they were and why it was such a big deal. What made 'Old Hollywood'? There's also the dark underbelly of it.

Anyways, enormous (but casual in my own slightly obsessive way) research projects aside, I promise I have a more fun post coming soon. Sorry this post is kind of all over the place. To sum up, I don't know anything and if anyone has 'Old Hollywood' recommendations that stand out to you/ random information you know I'd be grateful.

A Random and Small Collection of Weird Things I've Become Mildly Obsessed With

Since entering the prompt writing contest, I've been meaning to get back to my own writing. Different entries I did sparked ideas for other things and it's been a whole rabbit hole in itself. 

I've become fascinated by Giulia Tofana a 17th century woman who famously sold Aqua Tofana (a poison made of arsenic, belladonna and lead. It's tasteless, colourless, very lethal with the right dosage and honestly sounds like something out of The Princess Bride) usually to woman married to abusive husbands. The whole story is fascinating, at least from the one video I saw on her. What she actually did is kind of up to debate but after all this time there's really no way to know for sure. (Link to the Giulia Tofana Video I watched) 

There's a YouTube video about an English Poison Garden Poisonous Garden Video

Rachel Maksy did a painted Victorian inspired wall mural and I've been slightly obsessed. I always thought painted walls like that were cool but she re-reminded me of it being a thing that exists. (Rachel Maksy's Victorian Wall Mural Video)

I watched Pacific Rim and I have a lot of thoughts. It's a cinematic masterpiece in my opinion and I have a powerpoint in my head explaining my thoughts. It's so good.

I watched Ophelia (2018) with Skye. I really liked it and it's also such a pretty movie.  I loved the twists they did with it. Although Horatio deserved so much better.