April Wrap-Up

April has been an interesting but overall excellent month! The weather did its annual fake-out where it pretends like it's going to be sunny until September and definitely NOT going to do the thing where it rains for the last week of April, the first two weeks of May and the entirety of June. And it kinda worked--I caught myself thinking "oh now that summer is here..." at least twice. Oops. But I mean, I'm not complaining about the sun! It was nice while it lasted!

Also, I've been on a major Andrew Peterson kick--I don't think I've listened to anything else in like two weeks? (Current favorites: "God Rested", "His Heart Beats" and "Last Words (Tenebrae)". :D)

Blog

My Posts:
Shadows
Review: "Show Me A Sign" by Ann Clare LeZotte
Baby Goats: Round 2!
Review: "Lovely War" by Julie Berry
Cover Review: "Sins, Sons, and Siren Songs" by Sarah Rodecker and Helena George
Announcing Catholic Blog Week!
Lewisian Musings: Oppositional Friendship
Review: "A Deadly Education" by Naomi Novik
Behind the Blogger Tag + Meet the Blogger Tag
Review: "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok

Around the Blogosphere:

• Ceci from Ceci Creates came back from an unofficial very-long-hiatus-thing and started a new blog!
• The Temperamental Writer introduced her WIP, and it sound AMAZING!
• Megan Chappie talked about some of her favorite sin-sick characters, and it was amazing!
• Elizabeth @ Autumn Ink talked about romance tropes that are the absolute worst. 
• Sarah Seele did mini book reviews, and it was fantastic and hilarious. 
  
• Bernadette Benda talked about why things should go wrong in fiction, and just YES.

Books
Gah, I read so few books this month and it's driving me nuts. I blame Charles Dickens, Johann Goethe, and school. 

*The Lost Baron by Allen French
The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
*The Face of the Nazarene by Noel Trimming
*All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed
On Stories and Other Essays on Literature by C. S. Lewis
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson
A Study In Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Cotillion by Georgette Heyer
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson (DNFed)
A Branch of Silver A Branch of Gold by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Movies
(Possible spoilers for The Chosen Ep. 5 & 6, Black Panther, Dr. Strange, and Infinity War.)

Image credit to owner

The Chosen S1:E5

Slowly making our way through the first season to try to get to the second season! (On a complete tangent...I'm on Nadine Brandes's newsletter list, and it made me RIDICULOUSLY happy that she and her husband are also watching The Chosen.)

Anyhow, all tangents aside, this episode was so sweet! I can already tell I'll love the brothers/sister relationship between Mary Magdalene and the Apostles. It's gonna be amazing. 

Also, there was just so much fun stuff in here. Like, Andrew freaking out about giving the right appearance when meeting the rest of the Apostles. And Thomas being so Thomas-y. Thomas honestly makes a lot more sense in this context. (Although I'm interested to see how they square this Thomas with the "we are going to die with you" Thomas.) And PETER AND EDEN why are they so cute.

Mary Mary was in this one! I generally liked their depiction of her...but there were a few moments where I could tell that the Protestant filmmaker didn't share the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, let's just leave it at that. That bugged me a bit, but apparently not the rest of my family, as I was shouted down when I tried to complain about it?? XD

The actual wedding itself was also really cool! It's just...so strange but awesome to see Jesus in His humanity?? I think that's what this show mostly emphasizes. I'm hoping more divinity stuff gets worked in later, though. 

And I love the emphasis on joy, as well. I think some sects have chosen a very straight-laced view of Jesus and the Gospels (looking at you, Puritans) and this show shows very well the opposing (and, in my opinion, correct) view that things like food, and drink, and dancing are Very Good when used in the right way. 

Black Panther

T'Challa is the best ever. (I still like Tony Stark and Natasha more, but I admire T'Challa most, I think.) He's like Captain America, minus the defiant and reckless ends-justify-means streak. (Yes, I just said T'Challa was better than Cap. Fight me.) Just...he is doing his best to do what his country needs. He's focused on something other than himself. He's listening to his advisors and his elders. And he openly admits his own weakness and that he doesn't know what he's doing. I...my heart loves him so much. He's the perfect superhero for a young adult going out into the world for the first time. 
Ahhh I could talk about this boy all day. He has this tremendous humility that is so very attractive (not in, like, an eros sense, but in an agape/philia sense). And he is merciful, in the classical sense of the word--not in the way that means pity or compassion, but in the way that means justly turning evil to good. The ending is the most merciful thing I've seen in a long time. 
(For the record, I love Cap, and see that he has many of the same excellent qualities that T'Challa has. I'm just kinda angry at him right now. And do legitimately think that T'Challa avoids several of Cap's worse flaws.)

The SETTING of this movie was also fantastic. All of the views of Wakanda...gorgeous. And I love how the city is so modern while still being so very African. They don't lose their culture in their tech...they enhance it. And I like that a lot. 

SHURI! And NAKIA! And OKOYE! Even though this movie is about T'Challa, there are so many fabulous female characters who feel real and not just "I'm kick-butt for the sake of being kick-butt". I especially loved Okoye's conflict between being loyal to the throne and being loyal to the person. And I think she made the right choices. 

Also, the sibling relationship between Shuri and T'Challa makes me ridiculously happy. It's PERFECT.

And the relationship between him and Nakia, as well--it was so SWEET in a way that superhero movie romances are not always sweet. 

As many (maybe even most) Marvel movies do, this one also incorporated a thought-provoking philosophical theme...in this case, the question of what an uber-powerful Black monarchy should do about the problem of worldwide racism. (That doesn't sound like a philosophical theme. Consider, though--it's made up of the perennial philosophical questions of how shall we live, and golden rule vs. revenge). And it's handled so well. Because it's really a question. And yet, there is a right answer. And T'Challa figures it out. 

I also thought that the theme of the pain of finding out that one's elders are not infallible was artfully woven in. 

Image credit to owner

The Chosen S1:E6

This felt like a bit of an in-between episode (no big callings...no weddings...so boring! Jk, jk, jk!) but I still really enjoyed it!

Peter is perfection. I love him and I want to slap him at the same time. (I think Eden feels the same way, a lot of the time. XD)

I loved the Abigail cameo--and how kind she was to Matthew!

The preaching and the healings were really cool!

Nicodemus. Love that man.

Doctor Strange

I'm still...not entirely sure how I feel about this movie.

On the one hand:

I LOVE STEPHEN SO MUCH. AND ALSO CHRISTINE. Stephen is just...such an amazing hero, and so different from many of the other MCU heroes (although I guess his arc is a bit Tony Stark-ish, which might explain part of why I love him so much. XD). He's just...so realistic and human and himself, and I love him a lot. (The way that he still sees himself as a doctor, and subject to the Hippocratic Oath!) (Also. The part where he bursts into the hospital through a portal when he's stabbed, and everything that ensues...absolute perfection. That was probably one of my favorite parts of the entire movie.) 

I also am a strange bird and really, really liked all of the medical stuff that was worked in. Yes, even the surgery scenes. Perhaps especially the surgery scenes? And the scene with the huge needle in his chest. Interdimensional fighting is going on, and all I'm thinking about is "what is Christine injecting/removing from his chest? is she injecting saline to try to isolate...things, or trying to pull blood out of the pericardium? I can't tell." Yes, really. (ALSO DID ANYONE ELSE NOTICE THE PART WHERE RHODEY IS WORKED IN BECAUSE I SQUEALED SO HARD.)

The romance is just how I like it in books, i.e. just there enough for one to want more, but not there enough for me to get tired out it. (I have slightly different criteria for movie romances, but they're pretty similar.) I also absolutely loved how Stephen knew that he had to become a better person AND apologize before he could go back to Christine. It was awesome. (And the fact that it wasn't a kiss on the lips...I liked that a lot.)

The visuals are AMAZING!

The cape. And the library. 

Two words: Tilda. Swenton.

But on the other hand:

They were SO CLOSE with the spiritual/moral/etc. content! So close! There were so many times where I was nodding and seeing how I could imagine their world fitting into The Real Moral World...but then they throw in the random Very. Weird. Thing. that just...was very frustrating.

Also, The Ancient One praises Dr. Strange for his willingness to break the rules for the greater good, and...??? I'm sorry, what? Not only do I Not See This In Him At All, but THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS. The ends don't justify the means. Sorry, Ancient One.

They were so close to admitting that the characters have souls, and then the Ancient One's soul vanishes when she dies?? I'm confused. 

And also...I'm confused about the distinction between what the "bad guys" were doing, and what the Ancient One was doing? If there even is one?

AND WHY ARE THEY DOING BAD THINGS IN CATHEDRALS. 

This seems to kinda mess up the other intergalactic MCU...stuff? If Dormammu actually did eat most of the other worlds? Which doesn't make sense at all, because wouldn't we have heard about it?? I'm so confused. HOW DOES THIS FIT. 

I disliked their choices with Mordo. I really, really liked him...even at the end. Until the after-credits scene. 

Infinity War

Um. Help. I. What. Even. Feelings.

Okay, now that I've gotten all of my astonishment/hurt/surprise out of the way...I actually...enjoyed a lot of this? Especially the humor?

PEPPER AND TONY and I know they ruined it like *snaps fingers* that, but THEY'RE GETTING MARRIED and TONY'S DREAM and I just...am so happy. But also sad. But also happy. And I'm driving Legolas crazy, because every so often, I'll just be like "Pepper and Tony are getting married!" in an excessively happy voice.

I may not actually like a lot of what happens in it, but dude, the plot was excellent. 

It was so weird, because there was so much that was horrible, but also so much that was amusing, so it was such an emotional roller coaster, because I went from laughing to shock and back in a period of 30 seconds more than once. 

I'm sorry, a lot of this is going to be super incoherent.

THAT PART WHERE THE AVENGERS WALK IN TO RHODEY'S WORKSHOP.

BRUCE BEING SO CONFUSED. "We have an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?"

THE PARTS WITH PETER AND GAMORA. And also, excuse me, DID YOU JUST KILL GAMORA? THAT HURTS. (I seriously was sitting there with my mouth open for a good minute and a half. And no, I didn't cry, but dang I was dead inside. Still am, come to think of it.)

Natasha. "She's not alone." Love that Avenger.

Also, the part where Steve calls Tony "Earth's greatest defender", and I just...<3 <3 <3

All the siblings relationships in this are just great. Gamora + Nebula and Thor + Loki. And oops, just realized that in both of them...one of them dies. Um. *weeping*

I LOVED the pro-life theme in this, especially the anti-population-control stuff. (I swear, there is an undercover Catholic working at Marvel. Probably more than one.) And the theme of "we don't sacrifice lives." Like, sure, self-sacrifice is okay. But save the lives. Ever person is worth an infinite amount. (Ha! See what I did there?) And just...there was so much playing around with this theme. Vision. Dr. Strange. Gamora. And it was excellent. Can we do this more often in modern movies?

THE PART WHEN TONY GETS STABBED ACK I was very scared. Except, he's on the cover of Endgame, soooo....XD

Wanda and Vision and GAK. <3 *crying again*

If you give your villain the ability to do something horrible, they kind of have to do it. Chekhov's Gun. So I wasn't all that surprised when Thanos snapped. But that didn't mean it was ANY less devastating. At all. I was...not surprised, but yes, sad. Peter Parker...he broke me. 100%. But there was so much overwhelm of grief that I didn't cry at all...I just kind of died. (I kept count--sixteen major characters died in this movie. And I just CAN'T mourn all of them at the same time. So I'm just mourning Gamora.)
But, the thing is, a bunch of the characters who were Thanosed have their own TV shows now? So I can't exactly think that they're really dead...but maybe they are? IDK WHY ARE THERE SO MANY FEELINGS.

*Pride and Prejudice Episode 1

I love the BBC P&P. Very, very much. Lizzie and Jane and Lydia and the Bennet parents are all PERFECT and so is Mr. Darcy. 
It's actually a little creepy how much I relate to Mr. Darcy, too. I can see myself saying much of what comes out of his mouth. XD
I had forgotten how awkward Mrs. Bennet is, and it's very, very painful.

Life

I don't know that I ever had worn pearls before? I liked it. :)

I went to Eowyn's wedding! Well, *cough*, I went to the wedding reception. Because the wedding was on the East side of the Cascade mountains, and I live on the West side of the Cascade mountains, and guess what? Just as we were in the pass, they closed it. Causing us to take a four-hour detour around the bottom of Mt. Rainier. Which was beautiful! And we got to watch the wedding stream! But I was a bit disappointed not to be there for the ceremony in person. However, the reception was fantastic, which went a long way towards making up for that! I hadn't seen Eowyn in...a really long time, and I didn't get to see her for very long, but it was quality time. :) And I got to sit at a table with Frodo and her husband, and hang out with a bunch of other young adults I know, and it was just a wonderful, wonderful time.

Dora is SUCH a helicopter mom. *eyeroll*

LOOK AT THIS STUPID FACE. *ahem*  Samwise and all the baby goats continue to do really well! I had a coccidia scare with Caspian on Good Friday (I...kinda thought he was going to die.) but he pulled out of it like a champ, and has caught right back up in terms of weight gain, and everyone is now doing fantastic! (Thank God, because I couldn't take much more of that.)

I did my senior photoshoot! The photographer who did Gandalf's birth and newborn photos and has done a bunch of other family photos for us did these for me. (Jessica @ One Tree Photography if you live in the PNW and want to find her--she's fantastic! Would highly recommend.) We had a fantastic session--incorporated baby goats and books and my quilts, went all over the place, and had a wonderful time hanging out! And now we'll have a bunch of fantabulous senior photos to use. Win!

Look how lovely our church looked after we decorated it! Photo credit: Mom.

Words cannot express how AMAZING it was to have Triduum back in person this year. It was just...*swoons*. 
Holy Thursday, which always makes me cry. 
Good Friday, which was just as solemn and beautiful as it should have been. The sung Passion of John! *quiet and reverent screeching*

Helping to decorate the church for the Easter Vigil! (I was in charge of the candles, including the minor explosives to make sure the high altar candles lighted. XD It was excellent. We have a lot of funny stories from this session of decorating.)
The actual Easter Vigil which was unbelievably beautiful and fantastic and just YES.

Yep, just like that.

Since a lot of our friends have started to get vaccinated, we've been able to do a bit more with people (see: our grandparents visiting this week!) including actually hugging people for the first time since last March (!!!) and having one of our priest friends over for dinner...inside our house! It was excellent.

Image credit to owner.

Our choir started back up an in-person program, not with singing, but with hand chimes! Hand chimes are kind of like hand bells in that you have to have one person for every two notes you want to play, so it's a "communal instrument" like a choir is, but the actual instruments are more like xylophone thingies? (You can see them in the picture.) Anyhow, it's really fun--there's something almost magic about adding in your note at just the right time? I like it. And seeing our conductors for the first time in ages is lovely, too! Also, they've promised that we can do a hand chime version of "Homeward Bound" by the end, so that's gonna be AMAZING.

May Plans

• Visit with grandparents (who are going to be here for the first week of May, but arriving today) and cousins (who are also coming this week, which was just sprung on me three days ago. XD)
• See our friend Fr. JJ who we haven't seen in AGES!
• Consecrate myself to St. Joseph. And also consecrate myself to Mary! It'll be a month of consecration, that's for sure.
• Celebrate my blogoversary (stay tuned!)
• More. Paperwork. For. College. *groan*
• Host Catholic Blog Week with Megan Chappie!
• Find a summer job?? (We'll see.)
• School, school, and more school. 
• Write a ten page paper comparing and contrasting two works of literature...probably Dante's Divine Comedy and Lewis's The Great Divorce, but we'll see.

Have you been able to do anything this month that you weren't before, because of COVID restrictions lightening? Are you doing the Consecration to St. Joseph this year? Have you read any really good books this month?