"The World Only Began Today."- The Magician's Nephew

I have been having a grand adventure reading these books!  As I stated previously I was feeling most tortured by not being able to decide the order in which I should read these.  But that was sort of decided for me just by the factors of time and the books I already had.  I was hoping to start with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a lap book for my daughter.  We will be working on it together at our own pace.  So we haven't gotten very far- about 4 chapters in and have only made one lap book piece.  You should be able to see it in the picture- the wardrobe- but we haven't draw in it yet because it printed upside down (oops!).

On my own I have finished reading The Magician's Nephew which I finished in only one day.  I sped up on this because I checked my goodreads page only to be slightly shocked to find I was THREE books behind on my reading goal!  So between my regular responsibilities I read as much as I could.  After finishing the book I wanted to go straight into The Horse and His Boy but I couldn't find the copy of this one.  So I started and finished Prince Caspian over the weekend.   So now I am reading them completely out of any set order- sounds like crazy me.

Again it appears I have bitten off more than I can chew so when the next theme is announced remind me to schedule only one chapter a day of any book.  I need to be more realistic.  But I do want to put a plug in for TinyNeedle cross stitch patterns on etsy.  She designed a pattern with the Pevensie children on them for me.  I LOVE the color scheme.  Since this post I have finished Peter and have just started on Edmund.  I will hang it in Lucy's room because...well her name is Lucy...she deserved a cute something Narnia in there.

For NARNIA!

Can you guess the theme for May?  I  am super stoked because- confession time- I have not read the entire series and was not a big fan of it growing up.  Fantasy was something I didn't become very interested in until I was an adult- go figure!  I actually love alternate timelines and Utopian society stories but talking animals and mythological creatures....I could take it or leave it.  That being said I WANT to be interested so this is a great time to start.

Who created The Chronicles of Narnia?
This is a tricky question to answer because I could answer with the magician, but even then I am not sure because I still haven't read the whole book.  The real answer though is C.S. Lewis.  He wrote other books of which I have read quite a few.  He is pretty popular in Christian circles.  He has a multi layered philosophy that is so deep it would take more than a simple blog post to address.  But for now we will just call him Clive.  I will not have time this month to review his life or other books, but some day...  


Where can I find The Chronicles of Narnia?
In the wardrobe of course!!!  We will forever be searching in closets and wardrobes for Narnia!  But seriously, they come in book form (seven of them), a BBC mini-series (that creeped me out as a kid and still creeps me out a little) and 3 feature length movies from the first books by publication:  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  I hear that the Silver Chair is in the works.  Also I have heard some pretty fun audio books as well.  

When did I become a Narnia fan?
I am in the middle of becoming one.  As I said before, I wasn't a big fan as a child.  I was excited when The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe came out though because I needed something to redeem the super creepy BBC version.  I had friends who were fans of the book say they did not like the movie- but that happens all the time so I pretty much ignore that now.  I am so ready to read this series, but the choice of the order in which to read them is a dilemma in and of itself!   

What do I have that shows Narnia love?
My husband liked these books as a kid so he has the really old copies when they were put in order of publication.  Right now I have only found 3 of the books.  One of my children is using the box they came in as some kind of doll house feature so I will not move it now, but I will just check out the rest that I can not currently find from the church library.  We also have The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader movies.  There is no particular reason why we do not have the Prince Caspian movie, we just haven't gotten around to purchasing it yet.  Plus you can see the jewelry I received from the Fandom of the Month Club in the top picture.  I will take a closer picture and do a review in the future of those as well- hopefully.

How much do I love The Chronicles of Narnia? (scale 1-10)
Right now I give it a 5 as I am not very familiar with it.  One for every Pevensie- Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy- and one for Aslan!  Also we named our youngest daughter Lucy.

Why are The Chronicles of Narnia an important fandom?
This is an important fandom especially for those who share the Christian faith because of all the Biblical allusions.  It can teach us about sacrifice, bravery, and loyalty.  I know there is SO much more but right now I am too ignorant on this fandom to include any more insight.  I am excited to learn more about how important and amazing these books are and become a 10 fan by the end!

The Avengers Volume I

According to my husband I have now officially read my first comic book- so go me!  I got this one from the teens graphic novel section after typing in the library search- Avengers.  I think this was the 5th result.

This was probably a very good first choice for me but what do I know- I know nothing about comic books.  I just loved all the characters so that was a great first start.  This one also included Spider Woman, although it was a small role, I was happy to see another female character.

So from what I could gather the story includes time travel, Kang, Ultron, Thor's daughter, and a future bearded Hulk and plenty of sound affects.  It seemed pretty basic- bad guy sends message from future, what if it is a trick, break the timeline, talk to future selves, go back in time, and almost save the world- except that the end had a twist that I couldn't quite figure out but I think that is because of the time travel element.  I don't know if I have access the rest of this series but as I said a good start for me.

My favorite line was of course from Hawkeye because, you know, it is Hawkeye.

"You know people never stay calm when you ask them to stay calm."- Spider Woman
"What the h--l else am I supposed to say?  'Everybody mess your pants?'" -Hawkeye

The Ws of the Avengers, My Personal Story Concerning this Fandom

Who are the Avengers?

To me, the Avengers are a group of superheroes, earth's mightiest heroes if you will, who make an excellent team and must overcome their own pasts, mistakes, and ambitions.  Now of course you can Google all of this and learn MUCH MUCH more than I would be willing to type about, but this is just a personal narrative.  My favorite Avenger from the movies is Thor aka Chris Hemsworth.  I don't know if this comes as a surprise or not but I love the look and especially the accent.  My favorite cartoon Avenger is Hawkeye.  I love bows and arrows, and just like me, he is HILARIOUS.  When I took a quiz on "Which Avenger Are You"  I got Hawkeye.  I love archery.  Since I am not exactly well versed in back story or original cannon I am not sure if Scarlet Witch is an Avenger but I sure to do love that woman's style.  There is Iron Man- billionaire scientist, Hulk of green man  and anger fame (who I still think needs to be included in that picture of Kermit and Yoda because it is obviously NOT easy to be green), Captain America who is always ready for a 4th of July party/parade, Black Widow who just  rocks, and I guess you could count Agent Coulson and Nick Fury- but for April will try to stick with the ones mentioned in the fandom box (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and for a reason I assume I will learn about latter Spiderman).  Yes, I am aware that Spiderman is part of the Marvel Universe but in the movies has not made an appearance because of rights to the character I believe.

Any way, Avengers are awesome.  I am so excited to watch more of the cartoons now that we have streaming Netflix plus so many other awesome things.

What do we (I) currently own that shows Avengers love?

We have both Avengers movies and I think two Iron Man moves.  We have an air freshener in the car with the Captain America's symbol on it.  Plus my husband dressed up as Captain America for Halloween (he wore the "suit" that doubled as a sweatshirt) but he had to borrow the shield from our neighbor.

In our bedroom my husband recently framed an Avengers poster/comic.  I also noticed a Black Widow comic among his collection and it is quite possible there are more Avengers comics among them but I don't want to rifle through the whole collection.  I guess my husband is more of a fan than I am but still- I can leech off his fandom- that is what being married is about, right?  

When did I become a fan of the Avengers?

There are fandoms that you totally remember the moment it connected with you, but I don't really remember when I became a fan of the Avengers.  It was most likely when I went to the theater to see Thor back in 2011.  How could you NOT be a fan of Chris Hemsworth?  But to be honest I am not a big comic book fan so I think it will be a great geeky adventure to try one out this month.  I still have SO many medians to watch and read to catch up, which leads me to my next question....

Where can I find the Avengers?

Well first of all the comic books would the most obvious, original source, but I will most likely not invest in buying those.  I did find some books available at the library which I may review in the future.  I have seen the movies multiple times, but what I really need to catch up on are the television shows.  I LOVE Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and I can't wait to watch Agent Carter.  I still have not seen the Iron Movies which is a real shame because I know we actually own 2 of them.  I am still looking for a good fan site but for now the Marvel Universe one will have to do- it has a great charter for the order for watching.  

How much do I love the Avengers?

I couldn't think of a creative way to "rate" these fandoms especially since the one thing I can NOT stand in geek culture is how much complaining seems to be done.  Nothing ever seems to be good enough.  I am pretty easy to please so I get pretty excited when things are just slightly related to the fandom.  I will just keep it simple- on a scale of 1-10  I give Avengers an 8.  One point for each original Avenger from the Movies: Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, and Hawkeye plus one point for Nick Furry and one extra point for all the villians/enemies that they must defeat.  I might give it a 10 after I get sucked into Agent Carter but I am SO excited!!  See you after review something from the fandom...

Langsathers Assemble

I took a long break to observe the season of Lent.  I am back!  I am jumping right in.  To start, if you know  me at all, I can easily get overwhelmed by all the choices to write about and to be interested in.  With all the wonderful geeky nerdy things to watch, read, wear, play, game, collect, imagine, recreate, craft, decorate, party, binge on, parody, and even horde,  I have had a super hard time narrowing down what to write about.  So what do I do when I can't decide?  Of course, I let someone else do the deciding for me.  I have recently discovered one of those monthly box subscriptions called Fandom of the Month which looks freakin' amazing!!  Any way I signed for a subscription starting in April.  But what I love about it is the themes.  They are great and not so broad as other subscription boxes.  I could really get on board as using it for my own personal monthly theme and discover new fandoms.  Since the boxes don't come till the end of the month I will just carry the theme over to the next month.

This month's theme is Avengers.  I don't have March's box, but I do know the theme from Facebook and Instagram.  There are so many ideas swirling in my brain getting them organized has been a challenge.  I am searching for the time to get it all written down.  We have been in the process of updating and spring cleaning on the personal level.  We used our tax money to buy a brand new TV and it is so huge and- just wow- we have truly upgraded.  We also just hooked up to the Internet.  We have been piggy backing off the church's wifi which can be unreliable and not always consistent plus we could only get the signal in two tiny spots in the house.  Now we can use it in other parts of the house and it is faster.  We are growing up and learning how to priorities.  So here it goes...Langsather Assemble!!

Silly Sunday Doodles in Church

Thankful Thursday Geek-Style

One Thing in the Sky:  The Enterprise

I have recently started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation.  I had never seen a full episode from beginning to end before now. I always thought it was boring, slow, and really weird.  It still is all those things, but I am SLOWLY learning to appreciate it for what it is- a show about exploring, adventure, aliens, and unknown/imagined space.  My oldest daughter gives great commentary during the boring bits.  The thing I find the most annoying about this show, especially in the first 3-5 episodes,  was what seems like a complete lack of reaction or emotions from the actors/characters to situations I would "think" should illicit surprise or more concern or anxiety.  The trial with Q in the first episode was just so confusing.  They sort of cared but didn't seem to worry- is it because technology is so advanced that they are now so confident about their survival?  I don't know, but it just felt so OFF.  It wasn't until Episode 7 "Justice" that I felt appropriate emotional response was shown and I started enjoying it- at least a little.  So thank you, Starship Enterprise, for taking me into the final frontier.

One Thing from Your Memory:

I have two Star Trek memories.  My parents, pretty much, never exposed me to fantasy in movies, television, or literature.  Maybe you are thinking- oh poor you!- but, seriously, for the most part I am and was not a big fantasy fan.  I am still in learning to appreciate it mode.  There was a girl in high school who asked me if I was into fantasy and I thought she meant "living in your head" not dragons, wizards, sorcery, space, planets, aliens etc.  So I said, yes, I love fantasy.  I was very confused as to what the genre of fantasy and science fiction really entailed.  But I did have a Sunday school teacher who loved Star Trek.  After Bible Drill practice at her house if your parent was late to pick you up you watched Star Trek- again- it was so boring to me that I just could barely watch it without wondering off in my own thoughts.  But I also have a vague memory of pretending to be Geordi LaForge (because you know, he is the Reading Rainbow guy) by putting those weird looking 80s banana clips over my eyes.  Good times!

One Thing that is Ugly Beautiful:

Lieutenant Worf and Klingon Culture- yes, I am really getting into this.  I especially enjoyed the "sex" scene with the female Klingon.

Star Trek the gift that keeps on giving.  I have to give Season One back the library soon because someone else has it on hold- grrr!  so I don't know when I will be able to watch it again but it has been fun while it lasted.