June Wrap-Up

June has definitely been A Month! I graduated from high school (after two accounting tests in my last week. Bleh) and we sold our goats in one week, I've become majorly conversant in streaming software, I went on my last family vacation with my family, and to top everything off, it's supposed to be over 100 degrees today! *weak jazz hands* (What happened to Juneuary? I want my rain back, thanks.)

Brief announcement before we get started: as many of you know, the Blogger Follow By Email service is no longer supported, so I have switched all of my email followers over to follow.it, a similar, if not quite as nice, service. This probably doesn't impact your life in any meaningful way, but I just thought I should probably announce it. XD

Blog

(As always, everything is a link even if it doesn't look it.)

My Posts:
Mini Reviews: Books You Recommended To Me!
Review: Endgame
In Defense of Love Triangles (Sort of.)
Review: Pemberley: Mr. Darcy's Dragon by Maria Grace
In Which Cats are Thrown and Peter Parker is Hugged//Collab with Legolas and Gimli
Review: The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein
Priests//ft. a blog party entry, in which much hilarity ensues, I promise

Around the Blogosphere:

• Oliva @ Meanwhile, In Rivendell wrote about the ethics of Jane Eyre apropos of Bertha, and it was brilliant.
• Faith @ R. F. Gammon returned!!! Yay!!!
• The Temperamental Writer talked about accomplishments, stopping writing every day, and basements on spaceships.
• Sarah Seele also returned!!! And came back with reports on what she'd been reading!
• Emily @ The Ones That Really Matter tried to make us cry with ten of the saddest movie scenes ever, and nearly succeeded, in my case. But not quite!
• Sarah @ In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae recently talked about Social Media and Spiritual Growth, which was very thought-provoking.
• Miss Megan talked about Thor and how it demonstrates the power of redemptive suffering and <3 <3 <3 I may not love *Thor*, but I did REALLY like that movie, and I loved her analysis!

Books

(As always, asterisk denotes a reread, and please feel free to ask me what I thought of any of these!)

The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein
*33 Days to Morning Glory by Michael E. Gaitley, MIC
The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer
Chaos Can't by Allen Arnold
The Light Princess by George MacDonald
The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge
Letter to Artists by John Paul II
Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge
*The Quest for Shakespeare by Joseph Pearce
Thorn by Intisar Khanani
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
The Dust of Kandahar by Jonathan S. Addleton
Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Divine Comedy III: Paradise by Dante Alighieri
Rate Rule 79 by Rivka Galchen
Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
Peace, Love, Goats of Anarchy by Leanne Lauricella
The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton
Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer
*Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
Fast. Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens
The Thing with Feathers by McCall Hoyle
Life L1k3 by Jay Kristoff (DNFed)
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer
Mycroft and Sherlock by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse

Movies
(May be be minor spoilers for The Chosen S2:E1, WandaVision, and Raya and the Last Dragon. All my thoughts on the other movies and shows are spoiler-free, as far as I can tell.

But I will say, this section is SUPER long today, so no shame if you want to skip it. XD)

The Chosen S2:E1

I. Loved. This. Episode! This might be my Very Favorite Episode Yet! 

It did a lot towards reconciling my internal disconnect between John-the-son-of-thunder and John-the-Evangelist. And I liked it a lot! The plowing of the field, the scene where Jesus literally has to hold them back to keep them from attacking the Samaritans, and the scene where John helps Jesus pick a scroll, and Jesus tells him both "I'm a man, John," and "I Am Who I Am," and you can SEE that John KNOWS what Jesus just said, and is in absolute AWE. <3 <3 <3 (I love John.) 

I also liked the bits where he was working on his gospel! Although Samantha the Nitpicker must point out that he actually wrote his gospel a lot later in real life than right after James's martyrdom.

When they were all talking about Jesus, and talking about missing Him, I first slightly revolted/was irritated. Because. I mean. The Eucharist! They had it! But then I realized...it's not the same. It is Him. But it's not talking to Him, or hearing His voice, or taking a walk with Him, and OF COURSE the apostles/disciples would miss that immensely. <3

Photina getting them to stay at her husband's house...
Husband: "I'll warn you, I only have five guest rooms, two of them are drafty, and one of them is haunted. By my dead grandmother."
Jesus: "Ooh, I'll take that one!" 
WE. DIED.

It's so cool to see how crazy it was that all the Samaritans accepted his message. It's nuts! Batty! And I love it!

The scenes with the cripple...I forget his name...those were awesome.

Also, Thomas and Ramah...good additions to the team. 

James and John trying to plan out Jesus's travels. XD XD XD Ain't gonna work, and Mary Magdalene knows it. 

The moment in the synagogue where Jesus is about to read, and he winks at the man...I loved that! We do that to our priests sometimes. And sometimes they wink back. :) (Yes, we're bad influences.) 

WandaVision S1:E4

I. Called. It. I totally called that Geraldine was Monica from Captain Marvel! So happy. :)

There was so much in this episode! It was so fun to see outside the anomaly, and so much was explained, even though there were a bunch more questions created. 

For instance:

-I was wrong about the beekeeper...but what happened to the "beekeeper"?
-There *is* a broadcast...but who's sending it, and who's censoring it?
-Vision *is* dead in the current time (hurrah for no alternate realities!)...so how is he in WandaVision? (And why did he show up as sort-of-dead for a minute there? That was TERRIFYING.)
-It wasn't Hawkeye on the radio...but where *is* Hawkeye? (Seriously, he should be here involved in the investigation! It's Wanda we're talking about!)
-Wanda has a huge amount of control over this...but is it all created by her?
-Outside time is still moving as normal...so why is cinema time sped up?
-It's in modern times, and Red Skull is not involved...so what is up with the WEIRD Hydra commercials?
-Hexagons are still a thing--that's the shape that the anomaly is in...so what's the deal with hexagons? 

Anyhow, I really enjoyed seeing Agent Wu (or is it Woo? Idk. Sorry!) again, and Darcy is the bomb always, and that was fun! ("The universe created a sitcom starting two Avengers?" XD)

You know, I like Wanda a lot less now...I think she's unstable in some way, shape, or form. My theory currently is that she has a bunch of mental/emotional trauma from Infinity War and Endgame, and is somehow reanimating Vision to try to live an imaginary life with him. Although that begs the question of how he seems to be acting autonomously. And also how the babies came into being. But then, the dead Vision moment begs a lot of questions, so...yeah. Anyhow, I guess I mostly feel bad for her? But Wanda, you can't deal with your problems but shutting everyone out and reanimating dead people. 

Secrets of the Zoo S1:E6

Since when do I watch SO MANY TV SHOWS? Weird. I watched basically no TV shows when I was a kid, and somehow in the past year, I've gotten into several. Not even counting the BBC Sherlock that I want to start watching...

Anywho, I enjoyed watching this episode of Secrets of the Zoo with my siblings (especially since I'd just gotten back from the zoo...). Seeing the elephant ultrasound, especially! (I just realized that I'll be in Illinois in the fall, and that's not *that* far from the Columbus Zoo, and I might get to go, and I'm very excited! Except that I just realized that I probably wouldn't get to meet Dr. Priya, which is sad.)

This is my favorite moment from the entire thing, bar none.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

I reread P&P last month, and thought it might be fun to rewatch LBD right after! It was fun, except that I forgot what a commitment LBD is...if you estimate that each video is 3.5 minutes long (which is conservative) it comes out to over NINE hours of video. NINE. 

But y'know what? It's SO worth it. This is tied in my mind for the best adaptation of P&P EVER with the 1995 P&P. Seriously. A web video retelling is possibly the best P&P adaptation I've ever seen, and DEFINITELY the best *creative* P&P adaptation (i.e. not trying to be exactly like the original, but truly retelling it) I've ever seen OR read. 

To give just one reason: Lydia. Lydia is my third favorite character in this adaptation, after Darcy and Gigi. Yes, BEFORE Lizzie, I think. 

Also, Gigi. Gigi is the BEST. "I need help with my...math." *shoves William aggressively* 

And the costume theatre! 

And DARCY! This Darcy is SO amazing. Just. On point 100%. 

I think they did a good job with Lizzie...it's just that her prejudices are a lot more obvious here. Which makes her, I think, more unlikeable. I still don't understand exactly why people think that Lizzie in the original book is prejudiced/unlikeable? Which, I guess, means that I'm probably too much like her, because everything she does seems pretty much reasonable to me. XD

It modernizes everything in P&P so PERFECTLY, while keeping context and a very few lines from the original in key places. Plus, it's casted wonderfully, and all the actors are so talented!

IT WON AN EMMY, GUYS. Go watch it.

WandaVision S1:E5

Wow. Okay. I have questions. But I also have opinions & theories, so, those first.

First of all, MONICA IS AWESOME. I love her! She's just so comfortable in her own skin, and that is a beautiful thing.

Second, I LOVE DARCY. She's kind of the best. ("Pants are encouraged.")

That part where she comes out of the projection? THAT WAS TERRIFYING. And so were the scenes of her stealing Vision's body. 

(I do like the 80s vibe, though. That was fun. Also, Vision, in that scene at the beginning, dresses just like my dad, and we were totally teasing him about it. XD)

The part where Vision tells Wanda that what she's doing is wrong? YES! That is the Vision I know and love!

The part where Wanda is telling her kids that death is irreversible...can you say "irony"?

Hayward is the worst. 

Theory time! THE ADS. THEY ARE TRACING WANDA'S HISTORY. (This insight brought to you by the sudden remembering of the mention of "Lagos" during the briefing.) The first one, the Stark Industries toaster, is for when the Stark missile almost killed her. The two Hydra ones are for her history with Hydra: fighting with them, and defeating them. The Lagos paper towels are for the mess they all made in Lagos. I don't necessarily have a prediction for the next one, but maybe it'll have something to do with the airport scene? Probably it'll have to do with Civil War, though. Ooh, and there was one episode AFTER the Hydra ones that didn't have an ad...so I guess the ads are for times up upheaval, and that episode symbolized the time she spent with the Avengers as an Avenger before everything went to pot? That's my theory. 

Question time! 
-If Wanda is controlling everyone in their minds, why can/does Agnes act like she's acting? And break character like that?
-Follow-up question: is Wanda controlling Vision? He doesn't think she is. But then again...isn't he supposed to be dead?
-Why ARE there no children in Westview?
-Why do they deny that Wanda has a nickname (Scarlet Witch)?
-Where's Hawkeye????

Raya and the Last Dragon

Meh. I mean, it wasn't a terrible movie. There were good things--Tuk Tuk, for one, the found family for another, and the self-sacrifice, and the setting, and Raya herself at the beginning--she felt very genuine.

But there were also some weird things--the theme felt VERY forced, there weren't any songs (I mean, COME ON), Sisu's character felt weird, and it overall felt...short. Like there wasn't quite...enough??

Anyhow. I think my favorite moment was when Boun was fighting the Druun, and Raya jumped in back to back with him, and he looked up with such excitement and trust--found siblings, right there! <3

Also, I adored Namaari. Take that as you will. 

WandaVision S1:E6

I. Hate. "The Pietro". It's not Pietro, and I Will Not Have It.

(Also. Welp, that answers where the children are. And also approximately how much power Wanda has.)

Vision is destroyed if he steps outside, which...makes sense. But is also totally weird. How much free will does he have?

The kids have powers! Who saw that coming?? 

I honestly am starting to feel kind of sorry for Wanda?

WOW the expanded shield! That was...unexpected. In the extreme.

Still have the question of how Agnes can pretend like she's acting when she's under Wanda's mind control? It's kind of like Wanda is trying to tip off Vision. 

Wait.

Is she?

WandaVision S1:E7

We. Died. Agatha All Along?? Bwahahahaha! My dad was singing that theme for hours--except, he kept transposing it into major key, which made my mom laugh. Clearly, Wanda has internalized "don't let him make you the villain" but in a completely incorrect way.

DUDE DARCY.

AND MONICA! Monica has powers now??? YES. She dealt with her grief and got through the barrier that way, and I love it. I love it so much.

And the early-2000s-sitcom was just perfect. I'm just old enough to BARELY remember that, and I LOVED it. 

WandaVision S1:E8

Okay, Agatha All Along is looking a little less funny. Please tell me she's being controlled by Wanda as the villain. PLEASE?

Because I am not very okay with Wanda being an actual witch. Even if it's incantational magic. 

And also, the chanting in Latin was irritating.

But it was sort of cool to see some things from her past? Except, the part with the Mind Stone was WEIRD.

WandaVision S1:E9

There were a very few redeeming qualities to this episode. 

One of them being the Ship of Theseus discussion. (Marvel still has it, where philosophy goes!)

Another of them being Wanda making the right decision.

Another of them being finding out exactly what happened, and being vindicated in my dislike of Hayward. 

Another of them being Monica's ending.

But seriously, you're introducing another magical element? I guess it's marginally better than Doctor Strange, but NOT BY MUCH. *cough*

Also, I just Don't Like Agatha At All. 

WHYYYYY with the weird prophecy and costume? And Wanda's ending? No me gustaria. 

Also. Hawkeye was never in it, and I feel like that was a Big Mistake as far as continuity goes. 

I honestly feel kind of betrayed about the whole thing??? Grr. 

Rush Hour

Yes, you read that right--I just watched my first Jackie Chan movie! And it was Great Fun!

I really enjoyed the dynamic between Lee and Carter (which reminded me of Men in Black), and the action was awesome, and the plot was well done! There was a good balance between seriousness, humor, plot, and action.

Watching all the karate was fun! Especially the gun takeaways--that was hilarious! (And actually pretty much how it's done, as it turns out. I've done a lot of gun takeaways in my time. ;))

Also, Soo-Yung! I liked how she was Not A McGuffin, and how much she meant to Lee. <3 

Luca

I am, for once in my life, on trend, by watching the new Pixar movie within Not Long after it came out. XD

And I really enjoyed this one! It had a similar premise to Little Mermaid (but I liked it a lot more), and so much humor. And I loved all the Italian & Italy setting! Plus, Jim Gaffigan is in it. XD

The worldbuilding was really clever, and the way the sea monsters worked was brilliant! Also, the really well done friendship(s) were a huge highlight. :)

(And my siblings and I are constantly quoting it. "Don't do that Alberto! You'll die, Alberto! Alberto, don't put that in your mouth!" "Silenzio, Bruno!")

There was a good mixture of antagonists (situational and actual people) and the plot moved along very well!

I did think that some of the themes (hey, we have to be nice to people who aren't like us!) were a tiny bit forced (this was an issue with Raya, too) (but honestly, it was a lot *less* forced here than in Raya).

I loved the ending a lot! Bittersweet and perfect. ;)

Life

Flowers arranged for me by Frodo, who is, yes, crazy talented.

During my second-to-last week of school, we had a Baccalaureate Mass as a graduation! It was a very small Mass, just me, Merry, and another of our friends, and our families and friends. It was phenomenal to graduate with these two girls who are two of my closest friends! Mass was lovely--it was the eve of Sacred Heart, and all the readings seemed perfect; Father DD had an awesome homily; he chanted the gospel and the Roman Canon; and at the end, he blessed us with Ephesians 14-19 from the readings, which 100% made me tear up, and I'm not even embarrassed. It was gorgeous. I officially finished school one week later, and that hasn't sunk in yet at all--I'm out of high school! What on earth?? (That was also the week we sold our goats, and that I signed up for college classes, so it was a big week.)

Our pastor doing a Corpus Christi outdoor procession in a non-COVID year.

I livestreamed my first Masses this month! The first one I had a bit of oversight from a good friend of mine, which was definitely nice; the second one I did all by myself! The first one was especially special because it was on Corpus Christi, which is probably one of my favorite feasts--it's just so beautiful! Especially the Eucharistic procession, Benediction, and the Divine Praises. <3 And the streaming went really well, even trying to get the entire Eucharistic procession, which actually, miracle of miracles, worked!

Photo credit: Mom

Gandalf turned SEVEN which is NUTTY. He had a birthday party a couple days before, and it was so strange, because we were able to have a bunch of vaccinated friends over and hang out just like before COVID, and it was very strange! (Honestly, the fact that I've lived through a pandemic is independently very strange, not to mention the fact that we've all gotten *used* to that. XD) On his actual birthday, he very gamely took on a hike that was 5.4 miles long with over 1200 feet of elevation gain, and rocked it! He slept quite soundly that night. XD

(I don't have a picture for this because I'm lazy too hot to go take one of the scarf. XD)
In addition to graduating from HS, I officially "graduated" from the choir I've been a part of since kindergarten, which is kind of scary. We had been doing choir over Zoom and virtual choir projects for a year, and we got to meet in person for giving gifts to seniors (I got a really awesome Ravenclaw scarf!!) and singing a world premier of a commissioned piece! (Officially, the premier was at a virtual concert. But we all know the truth. XD) It was so AWESOME to sing with a choir again--I had forgotten what an amazing feeling it was!

I was having so much fun taking pictures in the water on the deck! I really love this effect!

At the end of the month, we went up to Rivendell on a week-long family vacation! We hiked, hung out in hammocks, cooked lasagna in a boiling-hot kitchen but followed it up with ice-cream cake, picked salmonberries, had one of our priests up to visit, swam in a snow-runoff river, read together, and (I and Legolas at least) got lots of writing done. (Oh, and also jumped into said snow-runoff river at a weird angle, hit a rock, and put my left leg out of commission.) It was great fun (except for the knee thing), but a little strange that it's my last vacation with my family before I leave for college. (Also, we came home to 100-degree weather and an un-airconditioned house. Which stank. But we also came home to 4+ lbs. of raspberries on our bushes, so that made up for a lot.)

July Plans

• Write
• Read
• Pack for college
• Prep to leave for college
• Go on our annual Dads & Kids camping trip
• Celebrate my mom's birthday and my parents' anniversary
• Watch the new Black Widow movie, I hope
• Have a graduation party
• Celebrate two of my patronal feasts
• Something new and exciting (sort of) that I'll be announcing on Friday
• Try to earn some money
• Buy a new computer + my first smartphone!
• Go to real life parish events!
• Attend our pastor's series of online talks about Orthodoxy!!! (This might be the thing I'm most excited about for this summer!)

Are you planning on going on vacation this summer? Are your siblings growing up far too fast? Have you seen WandaVision? If so, what did you think?