all the broad sky was grey
hello and welcome to the newsletter
This is going to be a brief one, friends, because to be quite honest I forgot to write it. Let’s see what I can scrounge up for you.
Dog Thing
Mixed Media
Have you fallen in love with Paddington yet? I missed the first movie when it was playing in cinemas, but my friend had gone to see it and insisted I’d love it. He was right! It’s a sweet, funny movie that earnestly expects the best out of its characters and viewers, just like Paddington expects the best of everyone. I loved it, and was very excited for Paddington 2.
Which is even better.
It’s like someone took Paddington, and turned the saturation dial up, both in terms of the sheer, wonderful aesthetic (think Wes Anderson but less smug) and the earnestness. Everyone in this movie is just so genuine, and I adore it.
And don’t be turned off by the CGI bear. He’s so well done (and well voiced by Ben Whislaw) that you will absolutely forget that he isn’t real.
Do yourself a service and catch this movie. Paddington is on Netflix, Paddington 2 is still playing in cinemas in the US. Pack a hanky.
I read The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, which is the second book in The Dark is Rising Sequence (I read the first, Over Sea and Under Stone back in December). They were written 8 years apart, and it was apparent to me (Over Sea was lovely, but it felt like an older book, the language a little less accessible). I really, really enjoyed The Dark is Rising. I read “Pet,” the final short story spinning off of C.S. Pacat’s Captive Prince series, and enjoyed it. I also read “When We Learned to Cut Diamonds,” by mongoose_bite, an original fantasy short story about an innkeeper and a poet who comes to stay with him. I loved it.
I’ve been listening to the Paddington 2 score a lot, which was composed by Dario Marianelli. He’s my favourite! The soundtrack also features 3 songs by Tobago Crusoe and D’Lime which are a delight. I snuck them onto our playlist at work so they brighten my days there, too.
I saw Proud Mary, which I thought was a just okay movie with some incredible performances in it (and a scene where Mary shoots up a warehouse of goons while “Proud Mary” plays, which is what we were all there to see). I saw Mary and the Witch’s Flower, the first film from Studio Ponoc, which split off from Studio Ghibli. It was wonderful! Finally, I saw Lady Bird, which I loved. It also made me feel very seen.
I’ve been playing Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and it’s fantastic. Enchanting and engrossing. I lose hours to it, wandering forests and climbing mountains.
Fics I Shouted About
untitled by lavenderek // Teen Wolf, Sterek. I’m pretty far on the fringes of the Teen Wolf fandom these days, but Betp has a way of writing things that pull me back in. This is wonderful, sweet and funny.
Lastly
Ta from me!
