The NorthWesternBelle

Hey, y’all. It’s Thursday morning again, the baby is off to school and my hubby is snoring soundly. You know what that means! It’s HDM time. I meant to get back to it sooner than this, but you know, life.  The villainess is Mrs. Coulter. Her building is fantastic. They’re taking care to show us that she’s depressed, as if her chosen life as the only woman in this theocratic boy’s club of a higher educational system has taken a toll on her wellbeing. Because, of course, it has. Lyra and Pan are starting to disagree, signaling the struggle Lyra faces. Pan represents her inner voice, so when he dissents and she refuses to listen to him, it shows just how torn she is about Mrs. Coulter. That’s really the genius of this series. Thanks to the Daemons, everyone can see and, to some extent, hear your inner self. This leaves characters more vulnerable in some ways, because that self is a physical form with free will of its own. Yet, because it is a physical being with free will, c...

Hey, y’all. I’m finally sitting down to get started on an HBO series that is, I think, going to fill the GOT sized hole in my life: His Dark Materials. I was ecstatic to find out that HBO would be taking it on as a series for all the obvious reasons; being faithful to the source material chief among them. Click here to get it on Amazon and support me in the process! As an Amazon Associate I earn from  qualifying purchases. I read the books by Philip Pullman several years back when I found out that the Catholic Church hates them. As an atheist and a fantasy nerd, I cruised through them pretty quickly once I got my hands on the first one. The second and third books of this hero-trope bending trilogy may have been a few of the first books I ever read entirely as digital files, now that I think of it. I found the protagonist, a plucky 12-year-old girl named Lyra, very relatable, though I was in my mid-20s at the time (mid Aughts, prior to the when the movie c...

Hey, y'all. It's been a hot minute, as always. I'm terrible at this blogging thing, but it's mostly by choice because I think about writing all the time, then I don't do any actual writing. You know how it is, right? Right. I'm sure you already know that Craft & STEM shut down at the end of October 2019. It was a tough decision, but I made it and I don't regret it. I miss it terribly; my passion for making is only getting stronger, and seeing the success our pottery studio was having has bolstered me through the downfall. I'm not giving up my dreams; I'm going to be re-establishing my studio ASAP, and somewhere closer to my home in Holladay. There's no pottery here now, and the demand definitely exists, we just need to sort through the fallout of our last endeavor first. The good news is C got a job, and I'm still making pottery on the regular thanks to my amazing pottery friends. I just had my best show yet at the Clay Arts Utah Holi...

Hey, y'all. It's been a minute. The first quarter of 2019 was rough, but here we are on the other side of tax day and we're still trucking on. We'll keep at it. I've been having a lot of fun in the Mud Bakery. So much so that I forget that content is part of my job, too. My video production cycle waned over the last few months, but I'm back at it to capitalize on the Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere last Sunday, and the next five frantic weeks until the season ends. Then (let's be honest), the slow down-curve of interest until the prequel series gets serious. Whenever that may be. Admittedly, I was late to the GOT bandwagon. I didn't start watching the HBO series until Season 7 was airing, and I didn't read the first book until last month. So, still a noob, but no one is more zealous than a convert, right? Right. And I am solidly in the late convert camp when it comes to A Song of Ice & Fire and zealous as hell. Last week, the week lea...

Hi, there! It's the first work day of 2019 and I am getting my hustle on. What are you up to? I don't do resolutions, you probably already know this. I have a lot of good intentions, but I don't have a lot of follow through. It's an issue I struggle with, and I wonder if anyone else relates...? I have to assume that you do because we all have unrealistic expectations forced on us by culture, so I can't be the only one who feels like they're not doing enough. Right? Right. There's just so much to be done and only so many hours in the day. Instead of focusing on what I'm not getting done, from now on I'm going to focus on setting realistic goals and accomplishing them, plus not being too hard on myself if I don't. How's that for a lame new year's resolution? This is why I don't do them. It just so happens to be January 2, really. The "changes" I'm making have been in the works for a while now. First thing I'm doi...