An Rud A Lionas An Tsuil Lionann Se An Croi

As great and convenient as it is to watch a good film from the comfort of my own home, there's nothing like seeing a movie for the first time on the big screen. I have missed going to the movies so much since the pandemic started and I was so excited to go see Shang-Chi in theaters. It was definitely THE movie to see for my first time in nearly two years, and I'm so glad I didn't wait for this one to hit Disney+.  So, without further ado, my thoughts on the newest entry in the MCU's vast catalog. (Spoilers, obviously) Things I Liked Simu Liu - As the titular character, Liu was a great blend of badass and relatable. He wasn't overly broody nor was he goofy. The humorous moments overall did not feel forced or cringe, and there was no annoying posturing and gratuitous shirtlessness. The one part of the film when he was able to show off his physique included a funny line from Awkwafina's character Katy followed by an even funnier Jim Halpert-style shrug from Liu...

A month or so ago I completed a medical survey that asked several questions about my background, specifically my childhood. There were the typical questions about diet and exercise, but also ones that asked about any trauma that may have occurred before I reached adulthood.  Now, I was fortunate to have grown up in a stable two-parent household in upper-middle-class suburbia. My childhood was happy, my needs met. The most traumatic thing I can remember happening before I reached the age of reason was when I got some ants in my pants that then crawled all the way into my underwear (not fun). My life was fairly peaceful and free from worry. So when I came to the question of whether I had ever witnessed someone die in a violent way, I was prepared to click the 'no' circle and move on. Sure, I had seen the aftermath of some bad accidents on the highway, seen the cluster of ambulances and police cars on the scene, but I had never seen someone loaded onto a gurney, bruised and bloodi...

I'm not going to change your mind about abortion. I know I'm not. No matter how many statistics, testimonies, scientific facts I post, I know some people will not be swayed from their position.  But you know what? That's not really my intention anyway. @destinynwf Since the news broke about the Texas Heartbeat Bill my newsfeed has been full of posts about it. I've seen people lauding it, people decrying it, and plenty of people who are feeling a bit of both. I've seen a lot of misinformation about it, a lot of fear-mongering. I've seen false hope and premature relief. I've shared things on my own social media pages about the bill, too.  I know it's not going to necessarily change anyone's mind.  What's my intention, then? I share these things and I talk about these things because I believe that the only way to truly create change, the kind of change that both sides want, is by thinking about these things, really thinking about them, and then get...

The first season of Loki is done, but the good news is that a second season is coming...at some point! It's been a heck of a year for MCU fans, with all the new shows and movies that have already come out and are still on the docket.  So, here are my thoughts on the latest Disney+ addition to the Marvel Universe: Things I Liked Sylvie  - she was the absolute stand-out of the whole show. I had never heard of Sophia Di Martino before, but she absolutely killed it. I love that about the MCU - taking virtual unknowns (like Tom Hiddleston pre- Thor ) and casting them in big roles. The chemistry between Sylvie and Loki was palpable, and I'm not ashamed to say that I totally ship them. I'm eager to see what Sylvie does next, and eager to see Di Martino in more projects!  Mobius - when I first heard about Owen Wilson being cast in a role in the MCU, I was like, Just kidding. But I was curious to see how the actor, a character in and of himself, would work out. He was such a br...

102.5 pounds. That's how much I weighed when I was a senior in high school. I remember that number because I was proud of it, and because I never hit it again after I went off to college. At that time I was playing field hockey, eating a bowl of ice cream almost every night, and in a terrible, toxic relationship. Looking back at pictures of me from that time period, I looked slender and toned, by skin tan from practices and games spent outside. My teeth were straight and picture-perfect thanks to braces. My hair had a cute, natural flounce to it that I've mysteriously never been able to replicate.  But, boy, was I miserable in that body.  Fake it 'til you make it, baby. This time of year, when beaches and social media feeds are filled with images of half-naked bodies, it's hard to not feel less-than. Even knowing that people edit their pictures with filters and Photoshop, that they contort their bodies and hold their breath long enough to snap that perfect shot, it can ...

My husband's grandmother recently died. He had the honor of eulogizing her at the funeral Mass, a task he did not take lightly. In the days leading up to the funeral, he agonized over what to say; how does one begin to encapsulate the remarkable life of a woman who lived nearly 98 years? Ultimately he gave a brief summary of her life, the highs and lows, and ended with one of the stories she frequently told that he had transcribed before she started losing some of her memory. I'm glad to say that he made it through without crying - much to his own relief! Since her passing I have thought a lot about what I would like to say about her. I only had the pleasure and privilege of knowing her for 11 or so years; a small fraction of her life, but a good chunk of mine. There is so much that I could say about her, and so much that could be said by others, but I'd like to focus on the two traits I found most admirable about her - her tenderness and her generous spirit - which so ofte...

Yes, Cap, yes I did. And I have some thoughts. My initial reaction while watching the finale was, "Hey, this is pretty awesome." The fight between Agatha and Wanda was awesome and it was cool to see that Disney+ spared no expense in bringing fans a great climax action scene, the kind we've come to expect from the MCU. That being said, I wish it had been longer! Agatha is, for my money, one of the best villains that has been introduced so far & because of the build-up between her and Wanda (which also could have been fleshed out more, IMO, though still had more depth than other hero-villain relationships) that battle held more heft than even some that have appeared in the movies.  The other battle - between Westview Vision and White Vision - was also great in that it wasn't a know-down-drag-out fight. OF COURSE it would come down to wits & not fisticuffs. I'm glad the writers made that decision, & hats off to the folks behind most of Vision's dialog...

Not since Lost  have I been so excited about unpacking a show. Sure, I had some theories about Game of Thrones and got caught up in the mysteries of The Man in the High Castle, but WandaVision  is making me as giddy as a kid on Christmas day. So, allow me to nerd out, theorize, and ask some questions about this humdinger of a show. (Spoiler alerts, obviously) Questions What is Westview? Is it a figment of someone's imagination? Is it vision made in a Holodeck-type place? Is it a Truman Show -style place created for a specific purpose?  When does this take place? After the events of Endgame when Thanos has been defeated? In between Infinity War and Endgame , after Vision is killed & Wanda is blipped/dusted? Is this where Wanda went when she blipped?  Who is Geraldine? An agent? A fellow superhuman? Is she "in" on whatever is going on? Remember, she doesn't know why she's there. That's what she tells Wanda when they first meet. Then, of course, there's...

I had been thinking of rainbows a lot. It was June and companies and merchandisers were taking full advantage of Pride Month by slapping rainbows on everything. On candy, on t-shirts, on make-up, on mail trucks. These Roy G. Biv images were fresh in mind as I took a shower. I thought of the rainbows that frequently appear in our backyard after storms, of the term rainbow baby , of Noah's Ark, of the movie Thumbelina .  " After the rain goes /  There are rainbows /  I'll find my rainbow soon" Was it true that there were always rainbows after horrible storms? The realist-side of me balked at this idea. As I toweled my swollen belly off I mused that while there is always hope, there's not always a happy ending in the Hollywood-sense. Ladybugs and cardinals and orbs of light aren't going to suddenly start appearing everywhere to soothe your broken heart. Tragedies befall people all the time. It's sad, it sucks, but that's the fallen world we live in. Givin...

  Statue by Bruce Wolfe I was at the doctor's the other day with my daughter for her check-up. The scene that seemed so bizarre a few months ago is familiar now - the spaced chairs, the social distancing markers on the floor, the usual pile of old magazines gone. My baby smiles at the masked faces that talk to her, their eyes shining with delight even if we can't see their mouths. This is normal for her, sadly. It's all she's ever known. It's busy at the office so we end up waiting a little longer than usual. There's a large circular window that overlooks the street below, so I bring her to it and sway back and forth as we look at the passing cars and trucks and the enormous windmills of the college campus across the road.  An old woman, small and thin but not frail, dressed nicely in white pants and a shirt with purple flowers and purple sneakers to match, sits nearby. Another woman, taller and more filled out, maybe in her late 50s or early 60s, sits with her ...

 I was sitting in the movie theater with my dad, waiting for Jurassic Park III to start. On the screen a bank robbery scene played out; men in suits with their Nokias stuff money into bags and flee to the roof where a getaway helicopter awaits them. They seem to be in the clear, cackling merrily, when they suddenly get pulled backwards by some invisible force. The camera pulls back to reveal the helicopter trapped on a spiderweb spun between the Twin Towers, its rotor twitching like the wings of a stuck housefly. Spider-Man . My dad, almost forty-one, was visibly excited. Spider-Man was his favorite superhero, I remember him telling me. He loved the comics as a boy. The web-slinging hero, he told me, was just a kid. He didn't have the money that Bruce Wayne had; he made his own tech. He wasn't an adult with the confidence of Superman. Just a kind of nerdy kid from New York, an orphan, with a good brain, a good heart, & powers inherited from the bite of right-place-right-ti...