Damn guys. It has been quite a journey these past five months! I started my MCU challenge in December of last year, and honestly had no idea how it was going to go or if I was even going to finish it. But now, here we are. Infinity War is now the highest grossest film debut of all time, and it is without a doubt the most talked about movie of the year (and maybe the best, but we’ll see what the rest of the year has in store for us). My MCU posts have been crazy popular, so I wanted to put together a resource with all the links in one spot, that way you only have to visit one post to get all the goodness. Thanks to everyone who has read, liked, and shared these posts in the past few months! It has been awesome sharing this journey with you (I feel like the Bachelorette with that line) and I can’t wait to see what Marvel Studios has in store for us next year!
I can’t undersell the importance of Thor Ragnarok in this little quest of mine. If I didn’t love this particular film so much, I might not have been so inspired to start this madness in the first place, so if there is a staring point, it’s there: Why Thor Ragnarok Rules
Which lead to my creation of the challenge and all that follows. I’m not going to intro each post because God knows they are long enough already. Here’s the list of challenge posts in order:
Holy shit, guys, it’s not just gonna be May, it is May. These cries of disbelief at the passage of time are only going to get more and more frequent/urgent as the months pass. You’ve been warned. April was quite the month. I set ambitious goals and hardly met any of them. I read more books than ever. And I saw the greatest movie of all time. So read on for all my thoughts on the month of April!
On the goals front: As I said, I was ambitious this month. My goals were to finish my MCU challenge, read four books, write ten blog posts, post four selfies, submit six queries, and make my Avengers infinity scarf. Scarf-check, books-check, MCU-check. I was so close on the others. I posted three selfies and nine blog posts, so I was definitely within reach of my goals. I only submitted three queries though, so that one was not so great.
Look! I’m writing!
On the writing front: Ugh, not so good. I wrote about 3000 words on my newer manuscript, which is nothing. I did manage to do some major editing on my current manuscript, which is actually the reason why I only sent three queries. I decided to make a major structural change, and that has caused a wave of other changes that need to be made, and frankly, it’s a lot. I did get my first ever partial request from an agent, which even though it didn’t go anywhere, made me feel like I don’t totally suck at least. So yay for not totally sucking!
On the reading front: I nailed my reading this month, which is good, because despite my pledge not to buy new books, I seem to be acquiring a lot of new books. But I knocked out ELEVEN books this month. So many that I didn’t even have room to write them all down in my book journal. Because I totally have one of those. It’s a thing. I read: Asking for It, Bad Feminist, Ready Player One, Burn, Bookishly Ever After, Dragonfly in Amber, Under the Lights, To Kill a Kingdom, Love by the Book, Autumn in the City of Angels, and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. My highest rated choices were Asking for It, Bad Feminist, Dragonfly in Amber, To Kill a Kingdom, and Simon. Overall, a great month of reading!
On the movie front: This month I saw Love Simon, Ready Player One, Blockers, Black Panther (again), and Avengers: Infinity War (twice, so far). Clearly Infinity War is the greatest movie of all time and therefore takes any and all movie-related cake to be had. However, I also really loved Love Simon. Ready Player One was good, it’s just totally different from the book. Blockers was funny, but not something I would have seen if it weren’t for Movie Pass, and Black Panther remains amazing.
Just an FYI, that’s my handmade Avengers scarf in the background.
On the MCU front: Although we’ve come to the end of the road, still I can’t let go. It’s unnatural. You belong to me. I belong to you. So while the challenge is not completely done, in that there are still a few episodes of Agents of SHIELD this season, and we technically still have three movies left in this “section” of the MCU, the bulk of it is done. I have penned (typed) my final MCU challenge blog post. All that is left for me now is current releases. I’m legitimately sad thinking about it.
On the yearly goals front: I’m doing well in terms of my per month goals, but I have made zero progress when it comes to some of my other trying new things goals. Part of that is because I’m broke. Part of that is because Matt and I are both crazy busy right now. Such is life. Luckily, it’s almost summer, and therefore new adventures will abound. That’s how that goes right?
Did you know that, according to accepted research, we use an average of 500 million plastic drinking straws PER DAY. Let that number sink in. PER DAY. I would tell you how many that amounts to per year, but frankly, my calculator doesn’t go that high and there’s no way I could figure out all those zeros. Because it would be like a million zeros. So I have decided that for the month of May, and hopefully for the rest of time, I am going to use zero plastic straws. And to make everything even cooler, I’m also going to use zero cardboard coffee cup sleeves.
Now, I’ve done a few practice runs, and I can tell you right now, the hardest part of this challenge is going to be remembering to specifically ask for no straws/sleeves. Most of the time when you are ordering a drink that would need a straw, the restaurant just gives it to you. When I pull up at the Starbucks drive thru, there is already a straw in my venti vanilla sweet cream cold brew. And for my friendly neighborhood baristas, it’s a force of habit to put a straw in a drink, and I imagine there is going to be more than one time when they give me one even though I asked them not to. And that’s okay, because they are just doing their jobs. But I am going to have to make sure I take responsibility and do the asking, every time.
To prep for this challenge, I bought some reusable plastic straws. I love the colors on these guys, and they are easy to clean with the included brush. My main problem is going to be remembering to stash some in my purse and my Disneyland backpack before I leave the house, and then also remember to bring them home and clean them at the end of each day.
The sleeve portion of this project is going to be easier, mostly because I am a brand rep for Pretty Little Cozies, and she makes the cutest reusable coffee sleeves on the planet. I already have three, and I have three more on the way, so I am prepared to nail this portion of the challenge. If you want to order some adorable sleeves for yourself, make sure you check out her shop, and use the code BRANDREP15 for a special discount!
I would so love it if you would join this challenge with me. Even if you use half as many straws this month as you normally do, it can make a big difference. I will be posting some of my successes (and my failures!) with this challenge on my Instagram @falonloveslife, and using the hashtag #nostrawsnosleeves. Share your photos with me, and let’s save some plastic!
SPOILERS AHEAD. If you have not seen Infinity War yet, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, get your ass off the computer and into a movie theater immediately. I’m about to spoil the shit out of this movie. Also, why the eff have you not seen Infinity War yet? Get out of here.
Okay, now that we have established the fact that this post CONTAINS SPOILERS (seriously, I do not want to hear any whining about how I ruined the movie for someone) we are going to break this down. Much like my heart and soul have been broken down. And stomped on. And burned to ash. I’ve got reactions (so many feels) and all kinds of theories to share with you/obsess over from now until May of 2019.
What Happens and Reactions
Okay, so I have now seen IW twice. I really needed that second time to fully digest everything because the first viewing was pure emotion. So. many. emotions. I mean, guys, I was literally crying within the first ten minutes. And not like my eyes welled, like tears were streaming down my face. So let’s just dive right in, shall we? Loki is dead. Right at the moment that he and Thor were really starting to figure things out and he was turning out to be not such a terrible person. Side note: In between IW viewings one and two, I watched Thor: Ragnarok for the millionth time, and the mid-credits scene is devastating knowing what I know now. Total emotional breakdown aside, talk about a way to open a movie. We jump RIGHT in. Loss of a major character, and Thanos has two infinity stones within minutes. I think it was clear from this scene that shit is going to go down hard in this movie.
After our Asgardians’ lives are destroyed, we head to New York for a check in with Tony and Pepper, that in my Iron Man is meh mind was unnecessary. I know why they put it in, but I didn’t care about their little engagement announcement. Doctor Strange pops in and brings Tony to the Sanctum. I was surprised by how important Doctor Strange was to this movie as a whole. I definitely need to go back and rewatch his solo movie because I didn’t absorb everything I needed to in order to really appreciate his role in this film. And based on some of my theories, he is going to have an even bigger role in the next part. My favorite part of this little section with Tony and Doctor Strange is that Strange calls him a douchebag. LOLed at that both times. I like to think of this part of the movie as the gathering of Team New York: Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man. Bruce hangs out with them for a hot second, but ends up moving on to Team Wakanda.
One of my favorite scenes is when an unprecedented event occurs: a clash of two Chrises. Yes, I know Hemsworth and Evans have teamed up before, but it’s nothing like the battle of wits that happens between the Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor. Star Lord is clearly intimidated by Thor’s physical perfection (as Drax says, it’s like a pirate and an angel had a baby) and hilarity ensues. Thor takes Groot and Rocket to an unpronounceable planet to make a substitute hammer while the rest of the Guardians head to Knowhere to get the reality stone from Tivan. Of course upon arrival, they find Thanos has already taken the stone, and he manages to kidnap Gamora.
At this point, Thanos has three stones. He is lacking the soul stone, the time stone, and the mind stone. Strange has the time stone, Vision has the mind stone, and only Gamora knows where to find the soul stone. After Thanos tortures Nebula, Gamora takes him to get the soul stone, only to find he must sacrifice someone he loves in order to possess it. She laughs, because clearly Thanos doesn’t love anyone. Except her. So he tosses her off a cliff and I bawl my eyes out. I seriously did not see that one coming. That was a tough pill to swallow. RIP Gamora.
Team New York ends up on Titan, attempting to surprise Thanos and end him on his home planet. The Guardians also end up there, looking for Gamora. Doctor Strange goes into the future, and it does not look good. Of the 14 million options he sees, Thanos is only defeated once. But the two teams come up with a plan together, and things are actually looking okay for them-they almost have the Gauntlet off Thanos-when it is revealed that Gamora is dead and Quill loses his shit, understandably. Thanos stabs Tony and it seems like he is going to die, but Strange says he will give Thanos the time stone if he spares Tony. This is going to be important.
In the meantime, Vision and Wanda have their romantic getaway interrupted by two of the Children of Thanos, who are there to take the mind stone. Luckily, they are saved by Cap, Black Widow, and Falcon. Team Wakanda heads to Africa because only Shuri the badass science chick can remove the stone without killing Vision. The culminating battle on Earth happens in Wakanda, as I’m sure you’ve seen in the trailers. The most upsetting part of the battle comes when Wanda is forced to destroy the stone in Vision’s head (Shuri didn’t have enough time to get it out before the aliens attacked), therefore killing him. Oh but wait, Thanos has the time stone, so he rewinds time, takes the stone himself, and completes his set. At the end of the movie, Thanos has all six stones, and with a snap of his fingers, people starting disappearing. They dissolve into tiny pieces and float away on the air. Floaters include (but are not limited to): Bucky, Black Panther, Falcon, Groot, Drax, Quill, Wanda, Strange, and Spider-Man, who says the most heart-breaking goodbye to Tony. If that didn’t hit your heart, you have no soul.
And that’s how the movie ends. Except not really, because it’s Marvel. There is only one end credits scene in the film, and it comes at the very end. We see Fury and Hill ambushed by a car driven by no one. Fury manages to send off a message on a 90’s era pager before he and Hill float away. The final shot is the message going through, and Captain Marvel’s sign appearing on the pager.
Phew. Okay. Some thoughts. I fucking loved this movie. If you try to tell me this isn’t an amazing movie-going experience I will punch you in the face. There is humor, there is heart, there is a buttload of action. There are some truly awesome moments that those of us who are invested in the MCU can only love. This is the NINETEENTH movie in this franchise, and I could not have asked for a better beginning to the end. Yes, there’s a total cliffhanger WTF ending, but if you weren’t expecting that, that’s on you. We know Avengers 4 is coming in May of 2019, so IW is like part one of the end of the saga. And it was perfection. You cannot convince me otherwise.
Theories
First and foremost, the floaters are not dead. Logically, we know that we are getting more Spider-Man and Black Panther movies (I don’t think BP has been officially announced, but it made waaaay too much money for them to not do another one). We know they are doing another Guardians movie and Rocket was the only Guardian who didn’t float. So those guys might be gone, but they are not dead. Loki is dead, Gamora is dead, and most likely, Vision is dead. If you’ll notice, the original Avengers-Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and Cap-all survived the disappearing. I don’t think that’s an accident.
On Titan, Doctor Strange sees all possible outcomes in the future and states very clearly that Thanos is only defeated in one possible outcome. Strange then sacrifices the time stone-which he is sworn to protect at all possible costs-in order to save Tony’s life. So clearly Tony is going to play a major role in the eventual defeat of Thanos. My guess is that Tony and Cap are going to save the world together, and both die in the process. We know Chris Evans is done after Avengers 4, so it would make sense for he and Tony to have to settle their differences in order to save the universe from Thanos.
There are some notable characters missing from IW, namely Clint, Ant Man, and Valkyrie. Valkyrie is the most frustrating because we know she was on the ship with Thor and Loki, yet we get no mention of her. Thor does say that half of his people were killed, so I’m holding out hope that the other half are with Valkyrie somewhere safe. Black Widow gives us a lame excuse for Scott and Clint’s absences, but I would have to think that Clint will show up in the second part of the movie. We will check in with Scott in Ant Man and the Wasp in July, which will hopefully provide us with some clues for part two. In March of 2019, we are getting a Captain Marvel film, which is a flashback movie that takes place in the 1990’s (which hopefully means it will have a kickass soundtrack). But obviously she is going to play a role in part two since Fury paged her in the credits.
Honestly, the only thing I know for sure is that the second part to this movie is going to be amazing, if it’s anything like Infinity War. I cannot put into words how much I loved this movie. If you agree, let me know what you loved in the comments. If you disagree, get the eff out ;o)
Please, right now, in your head or out loud, start singing one of two themes: Pomp and Circumstance or Star Wars. This is an epic moment, and it deserves an epic soundtrack. Tomorrow at 7:00 pm PST, I will be sitting in my local movie theater’s amazing recliner seats and settling in for two hours and forty minutes of pure, unfiltered Avengers. I’m both so excited I LITERALLY can’t even, and terrified that I am going to be a huddling mass of tears by the end of it. I will have all of my reactions to Infinity War coming at you Thursday night, but for today, we have one final, important piece of business to take care of: the end of my MCU challenge. To be honest, I expected there to be some kind of like amazing, adrenaline rush at the end of all this, but it kind of fizzled to a halt for a couple of reasons. One, the final two movies were ones I had recently seen so I didn’t do a special challenge viewing. And two, Agents of SHIELD has been weird this season. But more on that later. It is the final moments of this epic challenge, and for that I am excited. Without further ado, I give you, the final piece of the MCU puzzle. (If this is your first time checking in, scroll all the way down for links to the rest of the posts in the series.)
Thor: Ragnarok
The Basics: Released in November of 2017 by Disney and Marvel Studios, Thor: Ragnarok reunites Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, while also introducing us to a new villain played by Cate Blanchett and a new badass female hero played by Tessa Thompson.
One Sentence Summary: Thor and Loki get in a in a fight with their big sis.
End Credits Scenes: The first one is both ominous and mysterious. Thor and Loki are chatting on their way to Earth when a huge spaceship passes in front of them. I’m assuming this is some kind of Infinity War foreshadowing. In the final one, the Grandmaster is taken down by the very people he has been oppressing. #karma
My Reaction: I mean, clearly I love this movie. I wrote a whole blog post about it, and ranked it numero uno on my Marvel countdown list. This movie is really the one that sparked my desire to even complete this challenge in the first place. No matter how many times I watch it, I still find new things to love. I think what really sells this one for me above the other Thor movies-aside from the humor and improv, which is unmatched in the MCU-is the character development. We see both Thor and Loki experience real growth and change due to the circumstances of this movie, and that is something that is lacking in a lot of the earlier MCU films. I guess I’m a sucker for great characters, because that seems to be what stands out to me in my favorite movies. Speaking of, Valkyrie is an amazing addition to the very small Females of the MCU Club, and she is a badass. Seriously, Tessa Thompson is one of the most versatile actresses around, and she is a huge part of the reason why I love this movie. It rules, and you cannot change my opinion on that.
My Rating: 9.5 out of 10. Boom. I went there.
Black Panther
The Basics: Released in February of 2018 by Disney and Marvel Studios, Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, and Lupita Nyong’o, among many, many other extremely talented cast members. Oh, and it has kicked so much box office ass. So so much.
One Sentence Summary: Wakanda Forever.
Full Summary: If you want to know what actually happens in the movie, click here.
End Credits Scenes: In the first one, we see T’Challa speaking to a room of diplomats stating that Wakanda is going to start sharing its resources with the rest of the world. In the second one, Shuri goes to visit Bucky (!!) who is no longer frozen and is now healing in Wakanda.
My Reaction: Guys. There is so much to say about this movie, but I’ll just start with the obvious: representation matters. The importance of this film goes so far beyond the consequences of the MCU. And honestly, it’s just really, really well done. Not only is it funny, thrilling, and visually awesome, but the story is so well-developed. And the most important part for me is that T’Challa surrounds himself with kickass women, who fill various roles in Wakandan society. Shuri being an intelligent inventor and engineer, Nakia works undercover to help people in need, and Okoye is a powerful and respected military leader. These women rule. And if you want to look at the film through the most basic of lenses, this is a creation story with layers, and character development. We learn about family, we think about morality, and on top of that, we get to see an entertaining movie. Enough good things cannot be said about Black Panther. It is by far the best creation story in the MCU, and I am going into Infinity War with high expectations from T’Challa, because I have a great sense of who his character is.
My Rating: 9.5 out of 10, ’nuff said.
Agents of SHIELD, Season 5, Episodes 1-18
The Basics: Premiering on ABC in December of 2017, Agents of SHIELD season five reunites all major players from the previous seasons.
One Sentence Summary: Am I watching X-Files?
Full Summary: For an episodic breakdown, click here.
My Reaction: I am strug-gggg-ling with this season of Agents of SHIELD. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know if it’s me or the show, but this season has been rough. Which sucks, because the end of season four was sooooo good (though it did take me a while to get into season four, but we left on a high note so I had high expectations). At the end of season four, the gang was captured and (supposedly) arrested for their crimes in the whole Framework deal. But they were actually taken by aliens and sent to Earth in the future. Everyone except Fitz. Suffice to say, I hated 99% of what happened in the future. I love Deke, and that’s about it. The villains sucked, and not in a good way. I don’t need to see another crybaby man who didn’t get affection from his dad and now decides to kill everyone because of it. The effects were terrible, the fighting was meh at best, and the dialogue was just bad. The only highlight from the first twelve episodes was the Fitz-Simmons wedding. And the main highlight of the next six episodes was, surprisingly, Dove Cameron’s performance as Ruby in last week’s episode. Here’s where I think the problem with this season lies: Ragnarok came out right before the season premiered, and Black Panther came out in the middle of the season, and yet the show has made no reference to either of them. The majority of the other MCU movies have gotten at least a mention in an episode, if not some kind of storyline tie in. Why not have T’Challa’s press conference on in the background? Why not mention Asgard blew up and Thor is bringing an entire planet of people to live on Earth? And more pressingly, with the biggest MCU crossover event in the studio’s history happening this week, why not tie it in to the show? I don’t see how they can fit in an Infinity War link in the last few episodes without it coming out of nowhere and derailing the rest of the season. I don’t know. Something just seems off. I was hoping that AoS this season would be an actual part of the MCU and it just didn’t happen. Also, the scheduling is very strange. Last week we saw episode 18. Avengers is technically premiering on Thursday at 7:00 pm, even though the “release date” is Friday. So thousands of people will have seen the film before this week’s AoS episode on Friday night. And we still have four more episodes before the season ends. It’s very confusing, and honestly the season feels totally separate from the rest of the MCU and that sucks. I’m kinda bummed because I had high hopes for this season.
My Rating: 6 out of 10, and it would be lower if it weren’t for the wedding.
Gah. I can’t believe it’s done! My life is now empty and meaningless. Luckily, tomorrow I have something to live for! Thank you so much for accompanying me on this journey. It has been a lot of hours, and a lot of time spent on my couch watching movies and shows and living in the MCU. But I wouldn’t change a second of it (well, maybe the Daredevil portions) and I am so happy you came along with me for the ride!
If this is your first MCU post, here’s everything you need to catch up:
Well, Disney friends, Pixar Fest is officially in full swing. I feel like we’ve been waiting for this moment for quite some time, and it is finally here. I have yet to explore all that Pixar Fest has to offer, but I did get a chance to experience several of the goodies the festival has in store for us. This will be an ongoing festival, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the delights of Pixar Fest. For today, I’m going to share some of my first impressions, along with some of my first photos from my day at the parks.
In California Adventure, one of the main areas you can experience the festival is at the Paradise Garden Grill. This is where you can find character meet and greets, along with the AP corner.
This is also where you can find one of my favorite parts of the festival so far: the Pixarmonic Orchestra, presented by TripleDent Gum! This band is adorable and so fun, and in addition to playing lots of your favorite Pixar tunes, they tell quite a few cheesy jokes. I would definitely recommend checking these guys out.
One of the highlights of Pixar Fest is the return of the Paint the Night parade. I was so happy to welcome back the parade. The last time Squirt saw it, he was just two years old and didn’t quite get it, but I know he is going to love it now. I would like to note that the Frozen float did run in the parade when I watched it last week, I don’t know if that is a permanent thing or not, but it was definitely absent.
Over at Disneyland, you can also catch the Together Forever fireworks show, which is adorable and so sweet.
Of course, one of the highlights of any festival is the treats, and there are tons to enjoy at Pixar Fest. There are lots of character themed goodies, like these Lightning McQueen caramel apples.
And this Monsters Inc. shake and matching whoopie pie and donut from Schmoozies…
Over at Disneyland, Rockett’s has been transformed into Pizza Planet (finally). which has one of the festival’s most Instagrammable treats, the alien macaron.
Based off of first impressions, there is lots to love about Pixar Fest. I have to say, I was not super tempted by any of the merch or souvenir buckets or sippers (which might be a good thing for my wallet), but it seems like most of the food and desserts are tasty, and the entertainment is fabulous. I’m looking forward to exploring more of Pixar Fest as the summer comes along!
If you’re anything like me, and I’m assuming you are or I don’t know why you would be here, Target is one of the loves of your life. I mean, honestly, is there anything better than a store where you can buy EVERYTHING you need (and so many things you don’t), plus pick up a Starbucks? Sometimes I think I don’t deserve Target. There are many things I buy at Target on a regular basis, but these four special items I ONLY buy at Target. Because Target is bae and gives me life. Next time you visit Mecca, check out these products because they are totes life-changing.
Soap and Glory Beauty Products: I use a ton of stuff from Soap and Glory, but my favorite is their Vitamin C Facial Wash. It is the best stuff I have found for my skin that is prone to both acne and wrinkles, and is both dry and oily. Because FML. I love the way my skin feels after this face wash. I also love their lotions, and their lip glosses. Seriously, I have yet to try a product of theirs that I didn’t love.
Defy Nail Polish: This stuff is the shizz. It goes on super smooth, dries uber fast, and lasts at least a week. This is the only nail polish I’ve ever used that stands up to wedding coordinating. If I’m doing my own nails, this is my go to brand. Plus they have awesome colors, and they have a Bachelor themed line of shades. Score.
Target Brand Diapers: Obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone, but if you have a kid, you need to try the Up and Up diapers. These guys are cheap, and they work. Squirt is only in diapers at night now, and they’re nighttime line of diapers are the only ones he doesn’t pee through after twelve hours in bed. We used them all throughout Squirt’s diaper years and they are the best.
California Roots Wine: Clearly the best thing to happen to Target, California Roots, aka the $5 wine, is one of the main reasons I visit Target on a weekly basis. I love all of their varietals (except Moscato because ew) and guess what I found while shopping at Target this week? That’s right bitches, Target now has $5 rose. Life is complete.
If for some ungodly reason you are not already a regular Target shopper, please fix that immediately. And if you are, please make sure you check out these awesome brands that Target blesses us with. And maybe invite me over for a mani/pedi and a glass of wine.
