It's Time for some Truth, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Alright my readers.
Time for some Truth.

It's summer, and summer is a time to do lots of fun things. Like going to the pool. Who doesn't like going to the pool? It's a great way to cool off.

It's also a dangerous place.

And I'm not talking about potential drowning.

I'm talking about bikinis.

Ok, hear me out. If you've never read the book Dressing with Dignity by Colleen Hammond, please do so as soon as possible. Ms. Hammond makes many great points in her book, and gives a lot of fashion history as well. But when reading this book, the thing that horrified me the most was this next snippet from the book.

"Advertising agencies quickly prepared marketing research to find out the reaction of men to a woman wearing pants. Do you know what they found? Using newly developed technology, they tracked the path that a man's eyes take when looking at a woman in pants. They found that when a man looked at a woman in pants from the back, he looked directly at her bottom. When he looked at a woman wearing pants from the front, advertisers foind that his eyes dropped directly to a woman's most private and intimate area. Not her face! Not her chest!"**

And if you think that a man's reaction to girls in pants is bad--and believe me, it is--imagine how a man reacts to see a woman wearing a bikini--which is wearing almost nothing!!! Their brains go HAYWIRE!! This isn't just boys being stupid. IT'S PSYCOLOGY, PEOPLE. Men's minds are programmed to seek out beauty in women. But it is all too easy for that desire for what is true, good, and beautiful to be perverted. 

And it doesn't help that a lot of women are "dressing dirty". 

Some may not do it intentionally! Some may not know any better! But just because they might not know better doesn't mean that this is a great temptation to sin for men and boys.

Truth hurts, people. Continue reading:

"[...] Advertisers know that the same holds true when a man views a woman wearing slacks or a skirt with slits. Men's eyes will follow the lines right up her legs and finish the picture in their imagination. Women's eyes may do the same thing, but since women don't have the same type of temptations, their imaginations don't complete the picture in the same way as men's do.

[...] Think about it! Even prostitutes in the 1950's and 1960's did not wear the skimpy, suggestive clothing that many women and young girls are now wearing to the shopping malls during warm weather."

Do you feel like you're going to throw up?

You should.

This is a dangerous world for our brothers, fathers, cousins, and friends. 

Some people will come back at truth like this with the age-old argument "if he's thinking stupid things about me it's his problem! I can dress how I want! etc., etc." 

Ohhhhhhh, honey. It is TOTALLY your problem.

True, men should guard their eyes and hearts against temptation, but it is so hard for them. Think about the last time someone jumped out at you and scared you. You had no idea they were there, did you? You didn't know they were going to scare you--did you? Just the same, it is all too easy for men and boys to get caught off guard with temptations. 

And think: not all men want to guard their hearts and keep themselves pure. Some take pleasure in looking at women--why do you think porn is so common and successful? It's dangerous! You don't want to be a walking temptation for perverts to gawk at and fantasize about! 

Some people do dress for attention. And that's sad. I weep for the streetwalkers. They do not know their real value. We were made for so much more than this. We're better than this. God has made each and every one of us with such care and attention. How it must sadden his Heart to see his daughters and sons misusing and flaunting their bodies which He made in His image! 

If you want to dress for attention, though... honestly? Why dress the same as everyone else when you could dress modestly? That's not something you see every day. Modesty gets attention. And it gets attention because it's rare (sadly). 

So the way you dress does affect men. Please, PLEASE do not undervalue yourself. Don't flaunt your body at the swimming pool. Don't show yourself in public. Appreciate and embrace your God-given beauty. Beauty is hidden, not flaunted. Where do you find diamonds? Deep, deep in the earth. Where do you find pearls? At the bottom of the ocean, nestled in a strong shell. Take a lesson from the jewels. Respect yourself. Because if you don't, no one will.

God didn't die for the diamonds and pearls. He died for you. And if He values you that much, you should value yourself too. 

Dressing with Dignity on Amazon

TOLKIEN

*drumrollllllllllllllll*

*bah-dum-tshhhhhhhhhh*

Hello hello my Elflings!!!! Time for that super fun and rather overdue post about...

TOLKIEN!!!!!!

Borrowed from TheOneRing.net :)

Who's excited??? I sure am!!!

WARNING:

You will probably see a lot of italics, caps, and bold letters in this post. That's digital fangirling. :P
ALSO. I might accidentally give some spoilers. Oh well. :P

So first let's break down what I liked about this awesome movie.

LIKE
EVERYTHING??

1: The movie was very well done.

This movie was done very well in the way that their CGIs were uh-mazing. I just can't get over how cool it was. GAH. I'm trying not to start randomly banging on the keyboard by way of digital fangirling, but it's hard. ACK.

2: They included the TCBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DUDE. HOW FUN WOULD IT BE TO HAVE THREE GUY FRIENDS WHO JUST GO TO THIS SUPER AMAZING PLACE CALLED BARROW'S STORES AND TALK BOOKS AND DRINK TEA AND ACT UP IN A PHILOSOPHICAL WAY?????? Oh. My. Gosh. 

So the TCBS (Tea Club, Barrovian Society) was basically Tolkien's buddy club, where he and his friends from King Edward's school in Birmingham, England, would go and hang out. There were nine, apparently, according to this website called Tolkien Gateway, (LIKE NINE PEOPLE IN THE FELLOWSHIP ASJDFLKSADJFLKSDAJFLKSDA) but the movie showed only four, including Tolkien. The other three were Christopher Wiseman, Geoffrey Bache Smith, and Robert Gilson. All of them were HILARIOUS in the movie. GAH IT WOULD BE SO MUCH FUUUUUUUUUUUN.

3: His relationship with Edith was portrayed as very sweet and chaste (for Hollywood :P)

You wouldn't expect Hollywood to go easy on the romance, would you?? Well, in this case I can say they did a pretty good job of keeping it clean. Other than the fact that their first kiss was rather... intense. :P

4: For the most part, all the children/young adults were RESPECTFUL TO THEIR ELDERS. 

Finally, Disney got something right. Tolkien and his four buddies did "defy" authority once or twice in the movie, but THEY DID IT RESPECTFULLY. They always gave their reasons for why they wanted this or did that, and they didn't try to say "I'm right and you're wrong, Mom/Dad/Other authority, so shut up and stop being such a KILLJOY". Applause for Disney. Thank you.

5: THE COSTUMES.

AAAAAAAA MY GOSH. THE. COSTUMES. 

I WAS BORN IN THE WRONG CENTURY.

Actually I was born in the whole entire wrong WORLD, am I right. I belong with the Elves in Middle Earth. Ahem. 

And now!! What I didn't like about Tolkien.

.....

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

1: They left out how Tolkien's Catholic faith was a MAAAAAJOR part of his life.

Darn. This one's a real bummer. They did show him and his fellow schoolmates singing "Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise", but Tolkien was kinda like... off in La La Land? xD the expression on his face CERTAINLY wasn't one of paying attention. And they sorta made his priest-guardian grumpy. Well. He was an old man, and he was human. Idk. As long as it isn't taken to the extreme. I'M WATCHIN U DISNEY

And... that's it?

That's it!!!!!!

Well! I feel like this post should be longer because I made y'all look for so long. But. *shrug* :)

ANYWAY. Did this post satisfy your craving? I hope so because *melts on the floor* I am dead. Blegh. Dead.

^^my current situation :P

anyway Lacy out 

Oh, and be ready for a post that we all may or may not have forgotten was forthcoming. :P

UGH NOW I NEED A SMOOTHIE

The Eagle of the Ninth

Howdy howdy, Elflings!

So today I wanted to tell you about a super awesome book that you have to read or else. which I read recently. Well, I listened to it on Audible.

'TIS CALLED.

*drumrooooooollllllllllllll*

The Eagle of the Ninth!!

*ba dum tshhhhhhhhh*
*polite applause*

SO for all of you who may have never heard of this book (as I certainly hadn't before a couple of weeks ago), it is a novel written by Rosemary Sutcliff, and set in ancient Roman Britain.

*inhale*

OHMIGOSH I LOVE THIS BOOK TO BITS AND PIECES
IT WAS SO AWESOME
NONE OF THE CHARACTERS DIED. THAT MADE ME SO HAPPY
THE PLOT WAS AMAZING
THE SUSPENSE WAS SO REAL
MARCUS AND ESCA ARE SO. DARN. COOL.
ESCA IS AMAZING I LOVE HIM
UNCLE AQUILA IS LIKE. THE EPITOME OF COOL RELATIVES. IMHO.
ASFJASLKFJSALKFJASDKLFJS
ROMANS AND EAGLES AND BRITONS OH MY!!!

*inhale*
GO READ THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY. GAH. HARMFGLFMFMEFM

I believe this book was turned into a movie. I haven't seen it, and I can't give you any info on that. BUT. The BOOK. GAH.  I CAN"T EVEN.


I feel like this picture describes my feeling about this book (and a lot of other books and movies, for that matter):

ESCAAAAAAAAAA

*cough* Anyway. If someone has seen the movie let me know how it is. 

My favorite quotes from The Eagle of the Ninth:

“Better to be a laughing-stock than lose the fort for fear of being one.” 

“And what will they do to you when you have told them this story?' 
Esca said very simply, 'They will kill me.' 
'I am sorry, but I do not think much of that plan.' Marcus said.”


“But these things that Rome had to give, are they not good things?” Marcus demanded. “Justice, and order, and good roads; worth having, surely?” 
“These be all good things,” Esca agreed. “But the price is too high.” 
“The price? Freedom?” 
“Yes—and other things than freedom.” 
“What other things? Tell me, Esca; I want to know. I want to understand.” 
Esca thought for a while, staring straight before him. “Look at the pattern embossed here on your dagger-sheath,” he said at last. “See, here is a tight curve, and here is another facing the other way to balance it, and here between them is a little round stiff flower; and then it is all repeated here, and here, and here again. It is beautiful, yes, but to me it is as meaningless as an unlit lamp.” 
Marcus nodded as the other glanced up at him. “Go on.” 
Esca took up the shield which had been laid aside at Cottia’s coming. “Look now at this shield-boss. See the bulging curves that flow from each other as water flows from water and wind from wind, as the stars turn in the heaven and blown sand drifts into dunes. These are the curves of life; and the man who traced them had in him knowledge of things that your people have lost the key to—if they ever had it.” He looked up at Marcus again very earnestly. “You cannot expect the man who made this shield to live easily under the rule of the man who worked the sheath of this dagger.” 
“The sheath was made by a British craftsman,” Marcus said stubbornly. “I bought it at Anderida when I first landed.” 
“By a British craftsman, yes, making a Roman pattern. One who had lived so long under the wings of Rome—he and his fathers before him—that he had forgotten the ways and the spirit of his own people.” He laid the shield down again. “You are the builders of coursed stone walls, the makers of straight roads and ordered justice and disciplined troops. We know that, we know it all too well. We know that your justice is more sure than ours, and when we rise against you, we see our hosts break against the discipline of your troops, as the sea breaks against a rock. And we do not understand, because all these things are of the ordered pattern, and only the free curves of the shield-boss are real to us. We do not understand. And when the time comes that we begin to understand your world, too often we lose the understanding of our own.” 
For a while they were silent, watching Cub at his beetle-hunting. Then Marcus said, “When I came out from home, a year and a half ago, it all seemed so simple.” His gaze dropped again to the buckler on the bench beside him, seeing the strange, swelling curves of the boss with new eyes. Esca had chosen his symbol well, he thought: between the formal pattern on his dagger-sheath and the formless yet potent beauty of the shield-boss lay all the distance that could lie between two worlds. And yet between individual people, people like Esca, and Marcus, and Cottia, the distance narrowed so that you could reach across it, one to another, so that it ceased to matter.” 

“And it came to Marcus suddenly that slaves very seldom whistled. They might sing, if they felt like it or if the rhythm helped their work, but whistling was in some way different; it took a free man to make the sort of noise Esca was making.”

^^ That one made me so happy, given the context. Thank you, Goodreads, for letting me steal borrow some quotes even though I don't have a Goodreads account. :D

What did you think of this post? Do you want to see more of my Booky reviews? (lol)

OH OH OH. Almost forgot.

I PROMISE that that Tolkien post will make its appearance SoOnEr Or LaTeR. it SHALL. I am DETERMINED IT SHALL. 

OH and one more fangirl post because there's no denying reality. :D

YAAAAAAAS

TALK TO ME PEEPS