Maid Marian's Costumes: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

I've seen "The Adventures of Robin Hood" soooo many times. It's a cute, fun 1938 film starring Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland. Errol Flynn will forever be Robin Hood to me. He's happy-go-lucky, dashing, and cocky. Everything Robin Hood should be. And Errol is quite a handsome bloke, if I do say so myself.

But this post is dedicated to the glorious costumes of Olivia De Havilland, who plays Maid Marian. Her costumes range from gloriously beautiful to gloriously hideous. That's why I love them so much. I don't know if I've ever seen so many costume changes in a movie... she probably rivals Queen Amidala in The Phantom Menace. ;)

As a young girl, part of the fun of watching the movie with my siblings was just sighing or giggling over Olivia's costumes together. Her dresses are still one of the film's main attractions for me. I've scoured the internet many a time, collecting as many pictures of her costumes as I could.

So let's start! (I can't quite remember in which order Olivia wears her costumes, so I'm ordering these randomly)

This costume is comprised of a silver cascading gown, with red wimple and cloak, and green jeweled broach and belt. I like this costume. It's very medieval (maybe not very historically accurate, but it gives off the medieval feel anyway) and the cape is so dramatic. And I love the belt!

This is probably one of, if not THE, most gorgeous dress in the movie. And it's a nightgown.

It is enough to make me drool with desire. I WANT THIS DRESS. The sleeves are to die for. The whole thing is romantic and stunning. And her braids are so cute. The only question: How does she sleep in it?

I think this dress could have been pretty, but it comes off too metallic and "sci-fi." And, I'm sorry, but who decided wrapping a dark ribbon around her sleeves looked good? It's almost comical. Her arms look like candy canes.

This dress is soooo beautiful! It's white and elegant and the sleeves are beautiful. Are they made of lace? I can't quite tell. Well, whatever the material is, the sleeves are perfectly flouncy, lacy, and airy. (As you can probably tell, I'm not a seamstress or an expert in materials and dress patterns. Just an admirer of pretty costumes.)

Oh, no! The black beetle dress! Yeah, this one kind of makes me thing of a giant black beetle. Hehehe. It's very "sci-fi" and dramatic. You'd almost imagine an evil villainess wearing this. And don't overlook the fur-trimmed sleeves.

AHHH, here it is! The pretties! This is one of my favorite dresses in the movie, maybe tied with the gorgeous nightgown. It's a long velvet burgundy dress, with dramatic sleeves. It oozes medieval majesty, elegance, and romance.

This dress was never in the movie, as far as I can tell. I'm just including it cause it's kind of cute, and again - THOSE SLEEVES! EEEEEK.

It's like she's judging me for speaking harshly of her dress

This is really the only pic I can find of this dress, the first one Olivia wears in the movie. The dress has a very... erm... interesting pattern to it. Definitely not my favorite.

And now... *drumroll*... the most hideous dress in the movie...

The one I always wait for expectantly when watching the movie, so I can gawk, shake my head, and wonder what kind of evil power corrupted the heart of the one who made Olivia wear such a fashion disaster...

The striped dress. Shudder. Which is worse? The vertically striped dress (the stripes coming in a variety of ugly colors, but mostly a muddy brown), or the sickly yellow wimple? It almost looks like she's wearing a very ugly version of the coat of many colors.

I wonder why Marian decided to wear this to Robin Hood's execution? Did she really want this dress to be the last thing Robin saw her in? Not a good last impression, m'dear.

Well, there you have it. Maid Marian's many dresses. The good, the bad, the ugly.

Which dress is your favorite? Which one is the worst? Let me know in the comments below, please. :)

My Obsessive Life

So, for my third post, I thought it might be a good idea to give you readers a better idea of just who I am.

What better way to do that than to list my many obsessions? Haha. ;p

I've had quite a few over my lifetime... but five stand out as being the most extreme, passionate obsessions I've ever had. Obsessions that have caused me much fangirling, happiness, and sometimes even heartache. Sooo... you're all excited, right? Let's get started.

Star Wars

First is... *drum roll*... Star Wars!

Was this anyone else's first obsession? Or was it just mine? Star Wars pretty much defined my childhood. It was my childhood.

Star Wars.

There it is.

My childhood.

I remember the first time I ever caught a fleeting glimpse of my future obsession. I was a wee lass (I can't exactly remember my age. I'm horrible at ages. And dates. I pretty much have no idea when anything happened in my life), and was lying on the living room floor late at night. My Dad had fallen asleep on the couch, and he'd left the TV on. Bright, golden light shone from the TV set, filling the dark blue room with majestic images of a sandy planet. Tatooine.

And, okay, I'm not even 100% sure it was Star Wars I caught a glimpse of that night. But I thiiiink it was. Anyway, it adds a bit of drama to my story, right? A sense of destiny?

The second time (or first, depending on whether you think that previous story was bogus) I heard of Star Wars was from my cousin, who kept chattering on about "Dark" Vader. (Yeah, I thought it was "Dark" Vader at first. Didn't we all?)

After another chance encounter with Star Wars on the living room TV set, my sibs and I pestered our dad until we finally got him to rent the movies and watch them with us.

And we were forever changed.

Can you blame me for loving him?

No, but really, our lives became consumed with this amazing thing called Star Wars. We played it, lived it, breathed it. If we played barbie dolls, most likely it was Star Wars barbie dolls. If we played house, it was Star Wars house. One of our favorite hobbies was to scour the internet for Star Wars pictures, print them out (we wasted so much printer ink and paper, oh my goodness, sorry Dad), then glue them into a homemade scrapbook. A Star Wars scrapbook.

Well, you can't accuse us of being uncreative.

Oh, and did I mention I fell in love with Han Solo? He was probably my first real movie crush. ;)

Whenever we went to the movie store, we rented Star Wars. Eventually we bought the movies. And watched them countless times, until I'm sure our parents thought we were crazy, and were sick of the movies themselves.

And my love for Star Wars has never died. Yeah, the prequels are pretty awful, I admit (except for Revenge of the Sith. I love that one!), but I was a kid when they first came out, so of course they were just as magical as the original trilogy to my young, naive eyes. It took many years of maturing to finally accept that Episode I and Episode II are pretty lame. But I still love them simply for being Star Wars (and cause Obi-Wan is in them. And Obi-Wan, my friends, is awesome sauce... and I've fallen in love with him too...).

Well, there you have it. The rather long-winded tale of my first obsession. *wipes away tear* So beautiful.

Pride and Prejudice

My second obsession was, strangely enough, nothing like the first. It was Pride and Prejudice.

Yep. Haha. And with that came a fascination for all things Jane Austen. Aaaand all things Regency. I kind of fell head-over-heels for the whole deal. So how was I introduced to it? You can thank my sister, Fayehope, who had to read Pride and Prejudice for school. I also read it - well, half of it, before having to return it to the library. We liked the book, so when she found out there was a mini-series, she decided to check it out from the library. Good choice, sister, good choice.

I don't care what anyone says, Colin Firth IS Mr. Darcy

We ended up watching an episode a night, with our Mom and Aunt. Very quickly we all fell under its spell. A few nights in, I was begging my Mom to let us stay up later than usual so we could watch two episodes instead of one. Then we re-watched the whole thing. Years later, when my sisters and I showed my Mom and Aunt the new Keira Knightley version, their opinion was "the mini-series is better." (I can understand this opinion, because it's mine as well. Though I do like the Kiera Knightley version.)

Oh, and I kind of fell in love with Mr. Darcy. *blush*

I have since read the book many times, and I've watched and read almost all of Jane Austen's other works.

The Lord of the Rings

Lord of the Rings was my next obsession! Yay! Again it was my cousin who introduced me to these movies. Hearing her gush about them made me curious, so I had my Dad rent The Fellowship of the Ring, and my siblings and I watched it with him. I liked it, but he fast forwarded a lot of it (some of my younger siblings were watching too, and they were easily scared, I guess. Okay, I was probably scared too), so I didn't fully "get it." Years later, my elder sister and I rewatched it, fell in love, and quickly gobbled up The Two Towers and Return of the King.

And then we bought the movies and watched them... let's just say we watched them a lot. And I fell in love with Aragorn (notice a trend yet? Yeah, I tend to fall in love with fictional characters a lot).

X-Men

I ship them, though they aren't canon. Le sigh.

This obsession has kind of a funny beginning. One night, my sister had a stomach-ache and couldn't sleep, so she asked my Dad if she and I could stay up and watch some TV in our room. My Dad, being a dad, said yes, of course. There wasn't much on TV that night. Except for some superhero cartoon I had never seen before. It was called: X-Men The Animated Series. We only caught the last half of the episode, but I already knew that the superhero with the gruff voice and and yellow tights was the coolest one of the bunch. And thus I fell in love with Wolverine.

We started watching the show nightly... only our Mom didn't know. I remember her finally finding out that we were watching TV past our bedtime. When she told us to turn off the TV, it was a low moment for me. I was miserable. What was I going to do without mah X-Men? Well, we started recording it, of course. ;)

Then we watched the X-Men movies. (Oh, and just a general warning: I suggest adults watch the movies before letting young people watch them, as they do have some inappropriate content.)

X2 was one of the coolest movies I have ever seen. I remember getting up after it had finished and realizing my legs were actually shaking and weak, I was so excited and tense. And I watched that movie to death too.

Doctor Who

Not too long ago, at the library, I pulled a Guinness Book of World Records off the shelf and opened to a random page, which just so happened to be featuring an article on Doctor Who. I laughingly showed my sister the pictures of the various Doctors, joking on how each one got more and more attractive as the show went on.

Then I started hearing more about the show on tumblr. I was curious. Was it really any good? The fans seemed rather... obsessive. That was a good sign. ;)

After watching a few episodes of the first season, I wasn't very impressed. I just couldn't figure out why people loved it so much. I decided to watch one of the most popular episodes to find out if the show was worth continuing. The episode was called "Blink," and if you've never seen Doctor Who before, I strongly recommend it as a starting point. It's a good episode for figuring out if you'll like the show.

Needless to say, I loved the episode. It was well made, funny, and scary.

This fanart is soooo gorgeous

So I stuck with the show. By the time I finished the first season, I was hooked. Then I started season 2, fell in love with the Tenth Doctor, and shipped the Doctor and Rose like a mad woman. "Doomsday" was a painful episode for me. It was literally heartbreaking. But the most painful episode of all was probably "The End of Time." It was the episode that killed me. I wandered the halls of my house after finishing the episode, feeling numb inside. It took me days to get over it. So yeah, just a general warning - if you want to get into Doctor Who, realize you might become very emotionally invested. Like, very.

And there you have it! These movies/shows have been my top five obsessions. Of course I've had other smaller ones along the way.

*cough* Pirates of the Caribbean. *cough*

What have been the biggest obsessions in your life? Do share! I love learning what people are passionate about. ;)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Review

So, just recently my siblings and I saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug!

Just so you know, I'm a hardcore Lord of the Rings fangirl. The Lord of the Rings trilogy are probably my favorite movies after the Star Wars saga. I loved The Hobbit: An Unexpcted Journey, but I don't think it, or The Desolation of Smaug, or There And Back Again (which comes out next year!) could ever touch on how brilliant the Lord of the Rings movies were. I guess the Lord of the Rings movies were just that kind of thing that only happens once, and can never be replicated. That being said, I still really enjoy the Hobbit movies. Especially this one - I think I liked it even more than An Unexpected Journey.

So here's a rundown of some of my favorite parts/aspects of the movie: (WARNING - SPOILERS!!!!)

I walked into the movie theater with high hopes for the characters of Legolas, Bard, and Thranduil. I was also looking forward to seeing Kili and Gandalf (of course). As it turns out, these five characters were the best parts of the movie in my opinion.

First off, let's talk about the Tauriel and Kili romance. I was unsure going into the movie whether it would bother me or not. I had heard rumors about it on the internet, and at first, was kind of shocked and put-off. An elf and dwarf love story? It just sounded a bit absurd. But while watching the movie, I came to think the relationship between Tauriel and Kili was rather sweet and cute. Okayyyy, maybe it was still a little strange. Especially when Kili is asking Tauriel if she could have loved him, even though they had only talked, what, twice? But then that happens in a lot of movies, I guess. But the big question is... do I ship them? I dunno. I think I could. It's one of those relationships that has to grow on you, I guess. We'll see.

Tauriel was pretty awesomesauce, btw. Her fighting skills - wow. ;) And Legolas didn't disappoint either. Some of his acrobatic fighting moves were pretty crazy, and fun to watch. (Like hopping from dwarf head to dwarf head) Loved it! *Big smile*

Speaking of Legolas - in good ol' Legolas fashion, some of his facial expressions were hilarious. There was one scene where he gives someone the squinty "I'm watching you" eyes. I laughed. And then the scene where he realizes he's bleeding - and he looks at his blood as though he's never seen it before. Well, who knows, maybe he hasn't. You don't often see an elf bleed. It must be really hard to get them to bleed, and maybe they see it as uncleanliness (notice all the elves are pretty prisitine, even in battle). Legolas' look of rage was a total look of "okay, dude, you just made me bleed. It's ONNNNN!" I couldn't help but laugh softly during that scene, whether it was meant to be funny or not.

Legolas is judging you

And then there's Legolas's father, Thranduil. To tell the truth, I was looking forward to seeing his character on the big screen most, I think. And he didn't disappoint.

What. A. Diva.

He is hilarious and majestic and spooky and creepy and a total arrogant jerk. And he's awesome. It doesn't hurt that he's played by Lee Pace. ;)

He is seriously one creepy elf, though. I personally would like to see a scene between him and Galadriel, and just watch all the creepiness that ensues. ('Cause Galadriel can be pretty creepy too sometimes) And then throw in Elrond. 'Cause, you know, he ALSO can be sorta creepy... Wow, I never realized it before, but elf leaders are a pretty creepy bunch.

Gandalf's scenes were A-MAZ-ING. Totally epic. Especially the scene where he's facing off with Sauron, and he has that white orb of light around him, but Sauron is too strong for him. Talk about an edge-of-your-seat-gripping scene. It was probably one of the most visually stunning scenes, especially the part when he sees the form of Sauron become the pupil of the eye of Suaron. One word: cooooool.

The whole movie, in fact, was filled with non-stop, heart-pulsing action. And I think it was darker and edgier than An Unexpected Journey. Bard was cool... though I must admit to thinking about how much he looks like Orlando Bloom during the movie. Oops.

Separated at birth? Maybe?

At least one is blonde and one is brunette

And I almost forget to mention Benedict Cumberbatch's absolutely perfect performance as Smaug. His voice was chilling and emotive and perfect. Wowow.

Anyway, as you can see, I really enjoyed The Desolation of Smaug. Throughout most of the movie, I was either smiling or on the edge of my seat - two very good signs.

Have you seen The Desolation of Smaug? What did you think? Leave your own thoughts or fangirling in the comments below!

Introduction

Once upon a time there was a girl who went by the incredibly elegant alias of GreenMedallion.

I'm a twenty-three year old fangirl who... well... fangirls a lot. I'm a pretty passionate fangirl too. And shipper. I ship hard. I'm also really goofy and silly and just generally weird.

Yup.

You wouldn't know it in real life though, 'cause I'm rather shy, so it would take a long time to reveal my true colors to you. Yay for the internet making it easier for introverted shy people to reveal their true colors!

I have four siblings (so there's five of us in all). Here's a rundown of my amazing siblings (cuz they're pretty much my entire world. yeah.):

(for privacy's sake, I'll be giving them aliases too)

1) FayeHope: She's my elder sister (I'm the second eldest). She likes K-dramas (Korean dramas), writing stories, fantasy/sci-fi movies, and reading. Seriously. She reads a ton.

2) Waldo: Yeah... why did I choose the - erm - interesting alias Waldo for my younger brother? Cuz that's what he goes by on Blockland. *Shrugs* He loves Blockland, in case you didn't catch that, and lots of other video games, and sports, and he's pretty tech savvy. He's a pretty cool bro.

3) HollowCandles: My amazing youngah sistah. She loves movies, TV shows, and enjoys writing and drawing. She's also extremely into anime.

5) Cyber: My little bundle of joy. He's the baby of the family (though he hasn't been a baby in a LONG time. But let's overlook that little detail, shall we? I do every day). He's probably spoiled. He loves video games and... video games... (oh dear)... and video games... and... vid- ok, I'll stop.

Sooooo... why am I creating this blog? Mainly to vent about fangirly things (like shows I'm currently watching, aka "Once Upon a Time" and "Doctor Who"), to review movies, and just to post about whatever random thing enters my mind. But this blog will probably revolve mostly around media.

So who exactly am I? (Besides being a fangirl, obviously). Well, most importantly, I'm a Christian, saved by grace. I was home-schooled, and am currently working at a grocery store and living at home while I plan the next stage of my life. I'm kind of wanting to eventually go to a Christian college and study missions. But we'll see. :)

And I am a hopeless romantic who, thanks to movies like Sabrina and Funny Face, thinks Paris is the city of romance itself, and desperately wants to go there one day. I'd actually love to travel the whole world. Europe has a special place in my heart, though. (Who am I kidding - it probably has a special place in everyone's heart). I reeeeally want to travel.

In case you were wondering why I chose the pen name "Green Medallion" - here's the run down: Green is my favorite color (but not just any ol' green. I don't like bright, ugly lime green. Yech. I like soft, faded, olive, moss or forest greens. Beautiful!). And I love jewelry, especially medallions. Also, I absolutely love the Nancy Drew PC Game "Treasure In the Royal Tower" (if you haven't played it - seriously - PLAY IT! you'll thank me later) and the game kind of revolves around trying to find all these different medallions. So yeah, that influenced it too. Plus the word 'Medallion' is just so majestic sounding. *Swishes hair dramatically*

Annnnyway, I hope this is a good enough introduction. I'm afraid I'm not very eloquent with words... I'm kind of like Mr. Bingley: "My ideas flow so rapidly that I have not time to express them -- by which means my letters sometimes convey no ideas at all to my correspondents."

And there we have it. I ended with a Jane Austen quote. Bravo, me.

(And just a general warning - I am probably Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy's biggest fangirl)