Liebster Award

Robin @ Pop Culture Reverie has nominated me for a Liebster Award.  I have seen these posts floating around on other websites that say they have been nominated.  (I wasn't even aware she had nominated me until I read the post she had made).  So I did some investigations on my own.

So just what is a Liebster Award?  Apparently, from what I've seen it's something like a chain letter. Only instead of you sending money or some such thing in reverse, you just perpetuate the chain by nominating others to get a Liebster Award.  And unlike the Academy Awards, if you are nominated you can accept it and you win, no votes necessary.  But you don't have to accept it; like a chain letter you can ignore it with no consequences.  (no, your dog won't get rabies and attack the neighbor's children and get you thrown in jail where you will have to make friends with a 6 foot 300 lb guy named "Bubba" if you ignore it.)  Essentially, I think it means Robin gave me this award.  (Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.  I got all my info from what I THINK  is the original source:  Global Aussie )  At any rate, this is OK by me.  The only thing I like talking about more than movies is ME...

The rules are fairly simple.  You first should thank your nominator, and answer 11 questions asked by said nominator. Then you pick (up to) 11 nominees of your own, and afterwards, you list 11 questions of your own  that your nominees must answer.  Also, an optional thing is to name 11 things about yourself.  (Why the obsession with the number 11?  I have no idea.  Maybe the originator of the award had a kid that just turned 11 that day...)

So here goes:

Thanks, once again to Robin @ Pop Culture Reverie for the nomination.  Now I have to answer the 11 questions, asked by my nominator:

1. What, if any, film adaptations do you consider to have improved on their source books?  If none, what movie do you think comes closest to being as good as the book?

A Clockwork Orange  does not improve on the book.  In fact, as I stated in an earlier post on the movie it leaves out the denouement, but to give Stanley Kubrick credit, at the time, the ending in the movie WAS what Americans thought was the ending.  And with few minor exceptions, the movie follows the book pretty damn well.

2. Who are your favorite living actors and actresses?

In the sense that I will make an effort to go see any movie in which he or she is in, I'm not an avid fan of any living actor or actress. ( I do profess to be one of the most avid John Wayne fans, however)  .  AS far as living actors, I like most of what Kurt Russell has done over the years.  I can't think of any actress who fits that bill, although I do like some of their individual performances.

3.  What is your choice comfort movie? (the movie you watch when you need cheering up?)

John Landis movies:  Animal House, Trading Places, The Blues Brothers.

4. What movie did you dislike on first viewing only to come to appreciate it later?  Conversely, what movie did you once like that upon later viewing turned out to be not so great?

Believe it or not, I didn't like The Searchers when I first saw it.  I felt like John Wayne sold out for a happy ending.  (and I'm a huge John Wayne fan...)  But I've grown to appreciate that ending after watching it again several times.

The second part of that question is easy:  Xanadu.  I was an idealistic 18 year old when I saw it in the theater in 1980.  And I absolutely adored it.  Didn't see it again until one afternoon on TV in 1990.  And I wondered "Why the hell did I think this crap was good?"  Didn't see it again for another 10 years, and the same reaction.  However, I still absolutely love the sequence in the middle where the 40's swing band and the 80's new wave band meld together as one unit...

5. What movie(s) can you think of that had the potential to be good but had a fatal flaw- one that you would change?

I don't know if you would call it a "fatal flaw", but I thought that the fact that the kids didn't win after all that effort in "Taps" was a letdown.  Of course, a lot of that opinion had to do with the fact that I was still the idealistic 18 year old (see above answer).

6. What movie do you like that you think no one has ever heard of?

The Navigator. (No, not the cheesy Disney flick Flight of the Navigator).  This was an indie New Zealand movie from 1988 in which some 12th century peasants find their way into 20th century New Zealand via a tunnel, led by a psychic boy.

7.  What are your favorite TV shows of all-time?

I have both the original Star Trek and Monk entire series on DVD.  Does that answer the question?

8.  What do you consider to be the most romantic movie of all-time?

Not really into romantic movies.  The Princess Bride  is the only one that I could possibly fit into this category, although I like it for the dialogue and action more than for the romantic aspect.

9.  What movie do you enjoy even though you recognize it is terrible?

The avatar I include at the end of these "Random Ramblings" entries should give it away...  Plan 9 from Outer Space.  I think it's funny as hell (even though it isn't supposed to be funny, but, hey, that's Ed Wood in a nutshell)

10.  What book or other source material would you like to see adapted for film or TV that hasn't been done yet?

The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, a series of the highly entertaining and funny books from the 70's that runs through a variety of conspiracy theories and tries to combine them all into one story.  Admittedly, this series requires quite a bit of concentration to follow through and keep up with, and it might be just as confusing and muddled as The Matrix was.  But I sure would like to see them try...

11. What do you do when you're not watching movies or blogging about them?

You mean I could be doing something else???!!!

Next I have to nominate some other blogs for the Liebster Award:  (I tried to nominate bloggers who haven't won yet, but apparently everybody and their mother has been nominated once before.  But there is no rule saying I can't nominate for a second or third one.  If I recall this was my nominator's second award.)

Angelman's Place
Blog of the Darned
B Noir Detour
Cab Drivers and Coffee Pots
Classic Film and TV Cafe
Hamlette's Soliloquy
The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog
It Came from the Man Cave
Radiator Heaven
Silver Scenes
Sometimes They Go To Eleven

(Have to admit that last one seemed like kismet...)

Next, and this part is totally optional, but as I said I like talking about ME...  11 Things about me that may (or may not) be interesting:

1.  I am single.  I'm available, but I warn you I'm a mess to deal with sometimes... (SOMEtimes???)

2.  To that point I have a bumper sticker that says "My significant other goes 'Meow'".  Yes, I have a cat, a female tabby named Pennie (spelled with an "ie" instead of a "y" because she likes to be different, too)

3.  Which is odd, because until she came along, all we ever had were dogs.  My folks always had a dog or two as far back as I can remember.

4.  I love watching football.  It was the only sport I didn't "attempt" to try out for in HS.  (I was scrawny and short and would have probably only been useful as a tackling dummy.)

5.  My favorite food is whatever somebody else cooks.  (I'm lazy when it comes to cooking)

6.  I am an irreverent comedian.  People with whom I graduated HS were sure I would end up a stand-up comic,  I would have too, if I didn't have stage fright every time I was in front of people.

7.  I am 7 years sober at this point.  Life as taken on new meaning.

8.  I love winter months and I hate it when it gets hot.  So why do I live in south Texas?  Beats me, must be a glutton for punishment.

9.  I love to read.  Been reading since I was 3.  I'm told on good source (my mother) that I was reading at a 6th grade level by the time I reached kindergarten.

10. I have an off and on interest in collecting business cards.  People from as far away as Australia have contributed to my collection.  At this point I have 5,000 or so.

11. I think 11 is the most beautiful number in the world.  (Not really, but I had to write something here and I ran out of ideas...)



Finally I have to submit my own list of questions for those bloggers who accept my nomination:

1.  What is your favorite genre of movie?  

2.  And what movie do you consider to be the paragon of that genre?

3.  With which actor or actress, living or dead, would you most like to have a one-on-one (strictly platonic) dinner and conversation date?

4.  If you were an actor or actress, which movie character would you most like to have played?

5.  What is your favorite movie opening sequence, and, on the other side of the coin what is your favorite movie ending?

6.  Which movie was the worst remake ever, and which one was the best?

7.  If you were a director, which movie would you like to direct?  It can be one that hasn't been made yet or it could be a classic in which you replaced the actual director.  

8.  On average, how many new movies  ("new" to you, not necessarily new theatrical releases) do you watch in a month?

9.  List at least one actor, actress or director you thought SHOULD have been given the Oscar as opposed to the one who did.  Specify which movie they should have gotten said Oscar.

10. Which movie has the best dialogue (meaning most eminently quotable)?

11.Which of your movie blog posts is the one of which you are most proud?  (BTW, I stole this question from Classic Reel Girl)

That completes the survey as I see it.  You are welcome to comment and discuss my answers if you wish.  Thanks again to Robin for nominating me.

Quiggy