Still more lazy thoughts from this one…

Liebster’d… Once More

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My colleague Paula, over at Paula’s Cinema Club, nominated moi for a blogging award (my second of these) that’s been making its way across the blogging world: The Liebster Award. And she did this knowing I don’t speak German ;-). Either way, this stuff never gets old. I am honored, my friend, and thank you. Here are the rules for the Liebster Award:

  1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
  2. Answer the 11 questions the person giving the award has set for you.
  3. Create 11 questions for the people you will be giving the award to.
  4. Choose 11 people to award and send them a link to your post.
  5. Go to their page and tell them.
  6. No tag backs.

And here we go:

11 About Me

  • While I absolutely hated living through (I say, surviving) the 70s, it’s probably my favorite decade for movies.
  • My favorite (meaning I watched every episode then and would watch any today) TV series from the 80s would be: St. Elsewhere, Magnum P.I., WRKP in Cincinnati, Miami Vice and Hill Street Blues.
  • I never could eat hot and spicy food (there, I said it — to the lament of my first-gen Mexican grandmother).
  • I have the same birthday as Alfred Hitchcock.
  • I suck at any of today’s video games — the last one I was any good at was Donkey Kong.
  • Like Elle Driver, “You know, I’ve always liked that word… “gargantuan”… so rarely have an opportunity to use it in a sentence.”
  • Just about any blog post I’ve ever written has had multiple drafts, and been edited almost endlessly (even after it was published).
  • My favorite college course was the Philosophy class on Symbolic Logic.
  • I dream in color.
  • As author Don Winslow once wrote, I think everything tastes better on a tortilla.
  • I’ve watched Breaking Bad since its initial début, when viewers weren’t on the bandwagon ( and am sad this will be its final season).

My Answers to Paula’s Questions

  • What is your guilty movie pleasure?

This I’m sure this will draws howls. I recently showed Alex Proyas‘ end-of-world thriller to my wife and daughter. She-who-must-be-obeyed threatened to trash my Blu-ray Disc of it afterwards (she hated the film so). I guiltily find the father-son relationship touching (likely because Nicholas Cage’s excesses are toned down) and the science/religious aspects intriguing (along with its stunning visuals).

  • What mediocre classic-era film would you like to see remade?

What a question! I’m kinda stumped. Hmm… how about Juarez (1939)?

  • Are there are any modern actors you think could have held their own in the classic era?

Russell Crowe immediately springs to mind. I like Paula’s answer for George Clooney, too. On the actress side, Meryl Streep is probably too obvious. But, Sigourney Weaver would hold her own in whatever era you’d place her, I think.

  • What movie(s) do you always, without fail, stop to watch if you happen upon it/them while flipping channels?

Casablanca, The Godfather, any Clint Eastwood western for sure, and the like without fail. But, I think you’d like to discover something unexpected and atypical of such responses. So, how about this?

  • Which actor’s or director’s work do you like in spite of yourself?

Between the length and breath between his good and bad films, isn’t it obvious, given the undertone of this post, who I’d pick…

  • Who would play you in the movie of your life story (classic or modern)?

John Cusack would be my modern pick — James Stewart for classic.

  • Mac or PC?

Do you have to ask?

  • What’s your (astrological, not traffic!) sign?

  • What five people (living or dead) connected with film (modern or classic) would you invite to dinner?

This is both easy and hard. Easy because getting to five took two seconds, max. Hard because of the multitude I’d have to leave off:

  1. Cary Grant
  2. Audrey Hepburn
  3. Bette Davis
  4. Barbara Stanwyck
  5. Humphrey Bogart

Oh, the stories they could tell.

  • Favorite movie snack.

  • Craziest G/PG-rated thing that ever happened to you at a movie theater.

It’d be the one I chronicled in this post (from a series I first penned on my old blog) that happened to me (and similarly with my brother at a different time/movie theater).

Here then are the questions…

(Feel free to be as brief or expansive as you wish in your answers.)

  1. What was the last reference book (regardless of subject or genre) you used?
  2. What pop song from your youth, used in movie, immediately got you to react, “Oh, no you didn’t!”?
  3. Steve McQueen or Paul Newman?
  4. Which foreign country, known for its cinema, have you yet to watch a movie from?
  5. Favorite film with Samuel L. Jackson in it? (whether he’s starring, supporting, or cameo)
  6. Favorite over-the-top performance from Face/Off: John Travolta as Sean Archer/Troy Castor or Nicholas Cage as Troy Castor/Sean Archer?
  7. Ketchup or Salsa?
  8. What clearly dramatic scene from a movie made you inexplicably burst out laughing in reaction?
  9. Wyatt Earp or Tombstone?
  10. What was the latest, or earliest, movie screening you’ve ever attended?
  11. Who is your favorite writer? (can be author, film or TV screenwriter, or director/writer)

… for my Liebster Nominees

(If you can, great; if you cannot, no worries.)

48 Responses to “Liebster’d… Once More”

  1. Morgan R. Lewis

    Checked out the crazy event post… I’ve never worked at a movie theatre, but I can easily see how that would happen. I’ve been the “last man out” at o-dark-thirty enough times to know how that creepy sensation can inch its way into a person’s mind.

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  2. Paula

    This is great Michael! I will be back later to more fully process this, but I think I see at least one area of overlap…Barbara Stanwyck’s social calendar could be totally booked at this rate 😉

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    • le0pard13

      It’s always great to find another Barbara Stanwyck fan. I think too many these days, forget what a great actress, and presence, she was on the big screen. Look forward to your thoughts on this. Thanks.

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      • Paula

        Ok…hopefully this isn’t too lengthy LOL:

        You’re so very welcome, Michael!

        I think it’s cool that your birthday is the same as Mr. Hitchcock. Also that you dream in color…I rarely remember my dreams.

        I am a re-editor too, many of my posts have like 20 saves on them 🙂

        I didn’t think of Sigourney Weaver, but yeah, she’d have been great! My hubs is a big fan of Aliens.

        I had a crush on John Cusack for a while…he’s a Cancer in case you didn’t know LOL

        Mac Nation…w00t!

        Of course I love your choices for the dinner. I try to pick as many Stanwyck films as possible for #TCMParty, perhaps you can join us sometime. The love for her on there, especially from young’uns, gives me hope for the future.

        About your crazy theater experience…that is indeed freaky. There is a now-closed movie theater near my house that is rumored to be haunted…I’ve been in it but never at night. I’ve been alone at the office during the winter when it gets dark early and felt…very odd and almost scared.

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      • Paula

        PS: Because I love your questions…here’s my answers:

        1. Does The Joy of Cooking count? If not, Halliwell’s Film Guide.

        2. “Baby don’t hurt me, baby don’t hurt me, no more” LOL!

        3. This is a TOUGH question. But Paul Newman.

        4. I’m not sure I’ve missed any countries known for filmmaking.

        5. He narrated Inglourious Basterds (which I have on my iPhone, OK) & i don’t know if that counts so I will say Pulp Fiction.

        6. John Travolta, cos Nic Cage is already so out there LOL

        7. Ketchup, which by the way, should have tomatoes, salt and possibly a little sugar in it, and that’s it. High fructose corn syrup does NOT belong in ketchup.

        8. There’s this movie called The Constant Nymph and it’s supposed to be a drama but it’s so ridiculous to me that I can’t help but laugh and make sarcastic comments.

        9. Tombstone! I’m your huckleberry.

        10. Sometimes I’ve gone to the movies as early as 9:45 in the AM, because the price is so low around here. Midnight is as late as I’ve ever gone at night (technically also morning).

        11. Another toughie! Either Jane Austen, Raymond Chandler or F. Scott Fitzgerald.

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        • le0pard13

          This is great! Glad to have you, or anyone else, join in :-). Great answers. And yes, The Joy of Cooking counts (you should see my wife’s collection of reference books.) If only I could get some of the Ketchup you describe. Yum. Knowing you’re a Mac person, I knew you’d also be for Tombstone ;-). Thank you, Paula.

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  3. ruth

    Yay, Liebster’d again 😀 Oooh, may I come to your dinner party? WOW! Oh and will you be answering your own questions again Michael?? I LOVE your question for #6 I mean Face/Off is my guilty pleasure action flick and Castor Troy is one of my fave villains 😀

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          • ruth

            D’oh! Don’t I feel silly now 🙂 YAY for Nic Cage, his performance is definitely the more fun to watch, though Travolta has his moments too. That line he said in prison, ‘hey good lookin’ is just creepy good fun, ahah.

            And yes on Scarlet’s quote, that whole scene is quite something. The theme song and cinematography are just superb. I know a lot of people are knocking GWTW but I still think it’s a great epic.

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          • le0pard13

            No problem, Ruth. Yes, GWTW is still great epic filmmaking. You can’t not recognize it as such since cinema fans still talk about the film 70+ years later.

            Like Paula, care to partake and give your own answers?

            Thanks, Ruth.

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          • ruth

            Yes Paula, I’d love to read your answers too! Btw, I’ll be participating on a Q&A type blogathon tomorrow as well. Stay tuned 🙂

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  4. le0pard13

    Here then are my answers to the questions I posed to those nominated (per my own suggestion):

    1. Horror Films of the 1980s by John Kenneth Muir (and my friend signed the copy I have for my birthday).

    2. It was with Go All the Way in this year’s Dark Shadows, the bubblegum rock song (with the bitchin’ guitar chords) by the Raspberries. My chief complaint was that Tim Burton’s film, which nailed the music aesthetic in his take of the dark, gothic soap opera through today’s perspective, used the cover version (by The Killers) for the end credit sequence. It sticks out like a sore thumb, IMO. This is what should have been there:

    3. When I was younger, it would have been Steve McQueen. Today, it’s most definitely Paul Newman.

    4. It’s not so much a foreign country than a region: I’ve yet to see any film from the Middle East (Israel, Egypt, Iran). I know I’m missing something in this regard.

    5. If you know me, and my tastes in film, this can’t be a surprise:

    6. Outside of the last question, this remains the hardest. I love both because each is so over-the-top and delivered so expertly (with cheese) by Travolta and Cage. But, I’d have to go with…

    7. The younger me would have said ketchup. Now, it’s Salsa.

    8. It has to be Scarlet’s famed, “As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.”

    9. Without question or hesitation: Tombstone! Kevin Costner, and Dennis Quaid have nothing over Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. Nothing.

    10. Through the years, I’ve attended many a midnight screening, but only once (this year) did I get up at o’dark thirty to make a 4 AM showing.

    11. Why the Hell did I pick this question to pose? In books, I devour Robert Crais, Don Winslow, Ken Bruen, and a number of other crime writers out there. Robert Towne and William Goldman can do no wrong in their screenplays, in my estimation. Aaron Sorkin can write about any subject out there and I’ll want to read or watch it just to hear it spoken. Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino in their films, for sure. But, if I have to pick one, sigh, it has to be…

    Edgar Allen Poe

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  5. Arlee Bird

    I’m glad you’re sticking up for Nick Cage. He’s one of my favorites and Knowing is one of my favorite films and I have been derided for recommending it. My review on Amazon has inspired an ongoing debate in the comments that has continued until fairly recently. I had a lot of defenders for my side.

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  6. Shell Sherree

    What an entertaining time I’ve had with this post of yours, le0pard13. A wealth of great clips, and your stories about your experiences at the theatre gave me goosebumps! Thank you, I’m honoured to be Liebster’d by you. I’ll have to put my thinking cap on for some of your questions, but I’ll give it a good crack shortly!

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    • le0pard13

      Oh so very glad to hear you will join in on this, Shell. It was my pleasure to nominate you. I think your blogging, and art, deserve the award and recognition. Many thanks.

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  7. Novroz

    Thank you for leading me here, Mike 🙂
    Love reading about you and your answers. The 80s has many unforgetable series. I also like Miami Vice.

    Wow…you and Hitchcock share the same birthday. COol!!
    You are the second person mentioning Breaking Bad, then I really must google this.

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    • le0pard13

      Great to hear you’re a fan of Miami Vice, Novroz. And hopefully, you can give ‘Breaking Bad’ a view. Thank you very much.

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  8. Elizabeth A. White

    Fun stuff! Thanks for the nomination, and your answers to the questions – those for you and those to your nominees – are great. I shall endeavor to do respond this weekend. 🙂

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  10. Mummbles

    Great reading your answers as usual! You are a popular blogger so you may get even more. I also love Nic Cage because he is bat shit crazy!

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  12. sanclementejedi

    While I enjoyed checking out your responses I think I would disagree that the Liebster never gets old lol

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  18. The Focused Filmographer

    LOL I laughed reading Sam’s response to your choice of Knowing. I was going to say the same thing. but then I also saw your choice of Nic Cage. It’s all good. I want Nic to make a good comeback, but I’m afraid for him.

    Wonderful post my friend. Always enjoy reading what you have to say. Thanks for sharing

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