2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 17,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Click here to see the complete report.
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What a Way to End the Year: 7×7 Link Award
I’m not quite sure if it is an indicator or not, but I’ve received my second award this week. Matt Stewart (he of Matt & The Art of Motion Pictures blog) very generously awarded me the 7 x 7 Link Award just yesterday. Another fan of film (and TV), I recently found his site through our mutual colleague Ruth of Flixchatter via his appreciative write-up of a movie we have in common: The True Meaning of a Classic – It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). It’s a fine piece of writing for an extraordinary film (and he’s only been on WordPress blogging for a short period). What a start! Thank you, Matt, for it and the award you’ve sent my way.
As usual, such an accolade comes with conditions:
- Tell everyone something that no one else knows about.
- Link to one of my posts that I personally think best fits the following categories:
- Most Beautiful Piece
- Most Helpful Piece
- Most Popular Piece
- Most Controversial Piece
- Most Surprisingly Successful Piece
- Most Underrated Piece
- Most Pride-worthy Piece
- Pass this award on to seven other bloggers.
The first and last of these are pretty standard for things like this. That second one, though, is the challenge. I don’t think I’m any good at judging my work, but I am more than happy at pointing out pieces I’ve enjoyed reading online. So, I’ll do the second, with the caveat of adding those I thought better met the parameters of the category. This also helps to give praise to those out there I thought deserved it… especially since I’m not doing any kind of ‘best list’ for this year. Here goes:
I tended to be one of those kids that flew under the radar in school. I now look at that aspect of school life as a gift. Coming to the attention of school administrators rarely is a good thing, I learned. However, it didn’t start off that way. One of my mother’s favorites stories she shared with family and friends covered her going to the nearby elementary school in the summer of 1959 to sign up her eldest child for Kindergarten. As my mother described it, she was filling out the admission forms at the main office’s front desk with me trailing around in the waiting area. That is until I came up to her, dutifully tugged at her skirt, and with all the serious tone an almost five year-old could muster, reminded her to make sure they (the school) knew I didn’t know how to read or write.
Most Beautiful Piece – I haven’t a bloody clue! Maybe, it’s the guest post I did for Ruth over at her blog, Cold of Metal, Warm of (Animated) Heart. My Recommendation » my friend and author John Kenneth Muir’s Cult Movie Review of Big Fish. It really is a wonderful, heartfelt piece.
Most Helpful Piece – I hope I made the case for an underrated Sam Raimi film in Not Just Another Western: The Quick and The Dead. My Recommendation » blogger Bryce Wilson’s wonderful look at an all-time favorite film of mine, The Outlaw Josey Wales.
Most Popular Piece: this will be the only easy one for me, all care of WP’s Freshly Pressed. It’s the list article for My 100 Best Loved From 1964 to 1976. My Recommendation » just about anything in the Everybody’s Chattin’ category over at the community that is Flixchatter.
Most Controversial Piece – Perhaps, it is my contribution to the Filmplicity Morality Bites blogathon, Of Horror and Empathy. My Recommendation » Filmplicity’s own Ronan Wright and his take on the matter in Morality Bites: Hollywood… A Health Risk?
Most Surprisingly Successful Piece – that would be the spur of the moment The (Stephen) King of Movie Adaptations article that I quickly threw together a short while back. My Recommendation » I’d have to say I shouldn’t have been surprised by it all, but Colonel Mortimer’s 31 Days of ’81 Horror series blew me away.
Most Underrated Piece – Arghhh! This calls for a judgment of some kind. Perhaps, it is the Double Feature c/o Craig Johnson post. My Recommendation » film blogger J.D.’s thoughtful piece, which turned out to be one of my most-liked of his this year, on a truly underrated Clint Eastwood film, White Hunter, Black Heart.
Most Pride-worthy Piece – it would have to be the anniversary love letter to my wife disguised as a film review that was re-published here, Reprise: Mr. & Mrs. My Recommendation » my colleague, who goes by the nom de plume of Livius, from across the pond who has recently re-planted his talented self on to the WordPress blogging platform and his deft piece on Sunset Boulevard.
The last component is really very easy at this point since it’ll be those who made up ‘my recommended’… those linked bloggers, colleagues, and friends from above. See how that worked out?:
- John Kenneth Muir’s Reflections on Film/TV
- Things That Don’t Suck
- Flixchatter
- Filmplicity
- Colonel Mortimer Will Have His Revenge
- Radiator Heaven
- Riding the High Country
Happy New Year everyone.
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Reprise: The Versatile Blogger Award
The very kind and generous blogger known as The Ilongga recently awarded me with The Versatile Blogger Award. I am supremely grateful for this, especially for the fact she (or anyone else) takes the time and consideration to read what I write here. I will wear the award button proudly. So, my sincere thanks for the gesture and linkage. I’d note, this award has made the rounds in the blogosphere for some time. It is the second time I’ve received this web logging accord for doing what I do, but a first for this particular site. That said, in response I will update and reprise the post from my old blog I did when first presented with this prize. There is one exception I’ll make, however (you had to know there would be one of these). Since I’ve passed this on once already (see below), I’ll leave it at that and not add any new nominations on. I hope you’ll understand my thinking in this.
Last week, someone I always enjoy reading, the highly accomplished writer/blogger J.D. over at RADIATOR HEAVEN [and now The Ilongga] received worthy acclaim when he was bestowed with The Versatile Blogger award. This is an ideal prize for someone so multi-talented like him [and her]. You can add the word generous, too, because [they] shared his award with moi. To say the least, I am very honored to be in the same company with [the two] and the others [they] shared this with. Thank you, my friend [old and new]. Following his example, I’ll try “passing on this award to other blogs that I enjoy reading and that inspire me.“
The Rules for the Award:
- Thank the person who gave you this award (see above)
- Share 7 things about yourself (see below)
- Pass the award along to 15 who you have recently discovered and who you think fantastic for whatever reason (in no particular order - see way below)
- Contact the blogs you picked and let them know about the award.
So… here are those 7 things:
- I met my future wife at work by the copy machine (decades ago when the devices were large, rare, and expensive).
- I can’t stand the taste of coconut. Never have… never will. It doesn’t matter even if you try to hide it in a candy bar like Almond Joy or Mounds, it ain’t going down.
- Through the years, I’ve tried to visit many of the location sites from my favorite L.A. Movies (you can ask my wife).
- I adore brunettes.
- Though I can’t eat them like I once could, one of my favorite See’s Candy is aTipperary Bon Bon (I acquired a taste for them from my mother)
- I once was flexible enough I could place and hold my forehead onto my straighten legs (sadly, those days are long gone)
- I do not suffer from Triskaidekaphobia – in fact, I’m the polar opposite of that ;-).
And… I like to share this award with:
From Cop to Mom and the Words in Between
Musings of an All Purpose Monkey
You Would Say That, Wouldn’t You?
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Merry Christmas
I would like to wish everyone the Happiest of Holidays. Joy and peace to you and yours, my friends. Since many who celebrate Christmas have a favorite song for this day, I thought I’d share mine. The tune has been covered oh so many times by a number of singers through the decades, some of which come close to the undeniable vibe and verve of the original rendition. Sung by the incomparable Eartha Kitt in 1953 (who passed away on this date in 2008), it’s never been topped, at least for me. I hope you enjoy.
TMT: The Long Kiss Goodnight
This is the next entry in a Theatre… a Movie… and a Time series that was begun here. As I’ve mention before in this string of memory downloads, along with my proclivity to snag just about anything, it seems my primary penchant over time is sitting alone in some darkened theatre watching a film hardly anyone else went to see, but enjoying the movie still. This is another that meets the criteria:
Mitch: “So, you cold?”
Charlie: “Yeah. Freezing.”
Mitch: “Turn on the heat. It doesn’t work, but it makes a very annoying noise… distracts from the cold.”
Theatre
Movie
Time
October 13, 1996: before we begin, we have to define a term:
- life-changing
- adj
- 1. altering a person’s life or circumstances in a substantial way
- 2. completely transforming
Coming up on a year’s anniversary of a life-changing event is enough to give anyone pause. I mean, having survived something that completely turned your world upside down is one hell of an accomplishment. So it was on this weekend. You see, I’m speaking about my eldest’s 1st birthday that was observed fifteen years ago on this particular October weekend. At one time, I thought getting married would be the demarcation line in my life. Nope… not hardly. While finding and wedding my bride (coming up on 23 years next February) was no doubt momentous and prized beyond measure, what really meets the above definition is when your firstborn arrives.
Since my son’s birthday landed mid-week, we celebrated it with a party the Saturday after, at a park in Marina Del Rey. And as every mother and father know only too well, each year that passes once you’ve cross that line, only ticks by faster. It makes one stop and think, alright. The next day, my wife kindly let this bedraggled sophomore parent out for his favorite pastime. And since director Renny Harlin had again cast his then wife, Geena Davis, in his new movie, The Long Kiss Goodnight – one penned by a favorite screenwriter of just about every action flick-lovin’ guy I know (Shane Black) — there was no question where my spouse could find me. The Cineplex Marina Marketplace 6 was the other small theater complex in ol’ MDR.
Surprisingly, not many patrons caught the film back then. The concept of a kick-ass female assassin, and one with a mouth that could kill you just as well as her hands and sniper’s rifle, is almost trite these days (but don’t let that stop you from seeing the current Mission:IMPOSSIBLE film). However, back then no one expected or understood this, except the few movie-goers who took this feature in on its initial release. And I can tell you the exact sequence in the film where my love for it was cemented, too. It’s the mid-point Atlantic City, N.J. intro, scored with the stellar Santana cover of The Zombies début single, She’s Not There (credit co-star Craig Bierko for coming up with that song selection). Of the films he’s made, this is the director’s favorite. Mine, too. And maybe… just maybe, for Christmas this year, I’ll introduce my 16-year-old to this 
.
The entire TMT series can be found here.
