The Liebster Award #2

Once again I am humbled to have been nominated for second time for The Liebster Award, a round robin way for bloggers to recognise fellow bloggers.

For this second award I give my most sincere thanks to the beguiling enigma that is the Duchess of Prunes for the nomination, and I urge you all to pay her blog Hear Me Talk Of Sin a visit. If you have never heard of Pola Negri before, you will afterwards!

In accepting this award one must honour the procedural etiquette in both receiving and making their own nominations.

The rules are as follows:

 

1. Post the Liebster Award graphic on your site.

2. Thank the blogger who nominated your blog for a Liebster Award and link back to their blog.

3. The nominee is asked to write 11 facts about themselves so people who discover their blog through the Liebster post will learn more about them.

4. In addition to posting 11 fun facts about themselves, the nominee should also answer the 11 questions from the post of the person who nominated them.

5. The nominee will in turn, nominate 11 other blogs with 200 or less followers for a Liebster Award by posting a comment on their blog and linking back to the Liebster post.

6. The nominee will then create 11 questions of their own for their nominated bloggers to answer in their Liebster post.

 

Since this is my second award finding eleven new bloggers to nominate is a bit difficult so forgive me for not reaching this total. Also sharing eleven new facts about myself was a tricky task but a you’ll see, not an insurmountable one.

So, here goes with my contribution and I should warn you this is going to be a LONG post:

 

11 Facts About Me (Part 2)

1. I am the tallest person at my amateur film club.

2. Back in my rocker days when I had long hair I once scared a young girl by simply walking along the pavement.

3. I am a very fussy eater and while I can’t eat certain foods in their natural state (like potatoes, cheese, beef) I can eat their processed versions.

4. I can’t do press ups.

5. This may sound a little OCD but I have to arrange the food on my plate in a certain way and eat it in a particular order.

6. I can’t eat a meal at home without watching something on TV, DVD/Blu-ray or PC.

7. I am such a tragic singleton that I actually get jealous of fictional couples in film or TV who are happily in love, even animated ones. When they hug and kiss I feel so empty inside from missing out on this feeling.

8. I often look in mirrors at home to check I am actually alive as I often am unsure that my existence is real.

9. All perfumes and fragrances smell the same to me.

10. I have seen Superman The Movie over 140 times.

11. The first tune I learned to play on the guitar was Apache by The Shadows

 

Here are my replies to the questions set by Duchess Of Prunes and I apologise for the length as the answers ending up turning into something of a confessional:

 

1. What are your favourite films?

Here is my Top Ten (for now):

 

1. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
2. Duck Soup (1933)
3. Battle Royale (2000)
4. Life Of Brian (1979)
5. Quadrophenia (1979)
6. Spirited Away (2001)
7. Star Wars Saga (1977-2005)
8. Let The Right One In (2008)
9. If…. (1968)
10. Scum (1979)

 

2. What would you do if you had to go on tour with your favourite band?

My favourite band is KISS and we all know what sort of reputation they have – and either with Paul Stanley & Gene Simmons being in their early 60’s and married with kids, they’d still be bigger rock-n-rollers than I’d ever be. So if I didn’t politely decline out of sheer fear then I would probably lie low-ish.

 

3. What is your idea of absolute bliss and happiness?

The fantasist in me would say that I’d like to just sit or lay in the arms of my dream woman, soul mate, lover, girlfriend, whatever but since that is never going to happen I’ll just have settle for getting into a cosy warm bed on a cold night.

 

4. What is something unthinkable, in your opinion?

Something I’ve never thought of? 😛 Joking aside, murder, child abuse, rape, deception, theft and infidelity. I just don’t know what these people are thinking or how they live with themselves afterwards.

 

5. What is one music album that got you through the worst of all times?

That would probably be Forever Changes by Love. It is wildly regarded by the more discerning music fan/critic as one of the greatest albums of all time yet it wasn’t a commercial hit when it was released in 1967. It has an interesting story behind it: Arthur Lee, the lead singer/songwriter of the band had a feeling that he was going to die (he was only 22 at the time) and this album would be his “final words” to the world (well this was the psychedelic era – need I say more?).

The album is simply chock full of enchanting lilting melodies, funny, acerbic and tender lyrics and stunning musical arrangements, fuses the best elements of psychedelia, folk, pop, rock and acoustic balladry with an air or whimsy and poetic beauty. Despite hearing it for the first time when I was at a total emotional nadir in my life I found it uplifting and enchanting, with the music taking on an almost spiritual role in my emotional healing. to this day it remains one of all time favourite albums.

 

6. If you had all the money in the world, where would you live and what would you do?

I honestly wouldn’t want all the money in the world as that simply breeds greed and selfishness but if I did, I would still stay here in miserable old Blighty but in my own home. I would also use the money to help support many charities, research into medical cures and raising awareness and support for Autism and other conditions and ailments, and relieve poverty and homelessness.

For myself I would keep my family in comfort and try to launch my own filmmaking career, including a production company and equipment hire service. And of course I’d pay some shallow gold digger to marry me since that would be the only way I’ll ever get someone.

 

7. What film would you consider the most inspirational and artistically expressive?

Wow! Inspirational to me? Hard to say to be honest as I doubt there was one in particular that a made me say “I want to be a filmmaker” but I suppose as far as a film firing my imagination it would have to be Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope purely because of the startling worlds of possibilities it open up to me as a seven year-old.

As for artistically expressive, this might be deviating from the true meaning of the question but Miyazaki’s Spirited Away was the first animated film where I could see the images were more than just there for a visual purposes and had an emotional significance for both Miyazaki and the story. Otherwise Murnau’s Nosferatu purely for the seminal shadow sequence of Graf Orlok ascending the steps.

 

8. What is your opinion on silent films?

I love silent films. Sadly they have become much maligned because of their age, their static simplicity and hokey acting but this is only because of the lazy stereotype they have been subjected to in their wake, subject on limited exposure to certain types of silent film. Yes, many are technically rudimentary but you had to start somewhere and one just has to look past the archetypes to see the true innovation and advances that were made when the potential of the art form was fully realised. 

Having been fortunate enough to be able to explore a wider spectrum of silent films from Europe as well as Hollywood, it is a revelation to witness the genius of some of the filmmakers in what they achieved with limited resources, simple technology and a vivid, limitless imagination. If anything the time period in which these were made make these films more special and should be treasured and revered for their ingenuity and for providing all subsequent filmmakers with the inspiration, blueprints and vocabulary for their craft.

 

9. What would you consider your one top obsession?

I don’t know if I am truly obsessed by any one particular thing but my passions are films, anime, music, writing and wrestling, but you should already know that if you’ve read this blog before… (which I hope you have)

Without wishing to sound like a cyber-stalker I think I can be a little POsessive about people sometimes. If I think I am getting on with someone online really well or feel a specific and deep connection with them, I find myself being impatient about chatting with them again or feel a little jealous if they talk to others online before me, even feeling disappointed and left out if they confide in others or enjoy themselves with them – which in my mind makes me think I probably value the relationship much more than they do, but that is my hang up and not theirs I suppose. 

I don’t want to keep blaming my ASD for such things but I am sure in this instance it is partially responsible, although my own inherent loneliness and weakness in falling hard when I actually get attention is equally culpable. This is something which I am aware of but, no matter how many times I tell myself I won’t do it again, I always do and the consequences are my own humiliation and fewer friends.  

 

10. What is your opinion on those younger than you?

At my age quite a lot of people are younger than me!

I have mixed feelings which makes for a often awkward experience when dealing the truly young (buy that I mean teenagers). The first thing is how attractive many young girls and women are these days – often due to societal pressures in sexualising women – which is a huge concern when you find out their real age. Not that anything would happen in my case but the immense guilt and discomfort I feel if someone over half my age turns my head has a huge adverse effect on my conscience and self-esteem.

There is the issue of intellect, which usually yields one of two results: either the youth possess an intelligence and articulation greater than mine, thus I feel inferior and dumb next to them. It is great that there are studious and smart at such a young age but for someone like me it can be quite intimidating. Conversely there are youths who frighten me because they are the opposite – totally dumb, wayward and living unethical and immoral lives which they are wasting by indulging in decadent, promiscuous and criminal activities.

So in that respect I find it difficult to gauge how to approach them, which might be me being judgemental – making the moral of the story, “take each one as it comes”!

 

11. What are some of your biggest regrets in life?

The main one would be that my Asperger’s wasn’t diagnosed much sooner, although understanding of it and ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) in general is still hazy ground and many people still get misdiagnosed or don’t receive the proper help, how much it would have helped back then we shall never know.  However, my life and quality of it could have been so much brighter and I might have made less mistakes in how I conducted myself and in getting a better education, and probably might not have a huge 20 year black hole in my life.

To that end it is difficult to pin point certain instances as regrets since I now know it was my ASD which played a part in those incidents turning out as they did, although I regret that they did go down the way they did.

 

Thanks again to Duchess Of Prunes for her questions. Now for mine:

 

1. When it comes to movie productions, is bigger always better?

2. If you could be a wrestler, what name or gimmick would you give yourself and what would your finishing move be?

3. What song, if any, has made you cry?

4. If you were to write an autobiography, what would the title be?

5. What do you fear most about getting old?

6. If you could swap gender for a day, what would be the one thing you would most look forward to doing?

7. Is there any possession – childhood or otherwise – you simply cannot throw away, regardless of its current dilapidated condition?

8. If the opportunity arose for you to have memory erased of just one film so you can watch it again for the first time, what would that film be?

9. What song do you want played at your funeral?

10. What was your favourite subject at school and why?

11. If you could be reincarnated as an animal which one would you choose?

 

Finally my nominees (mostly film related again) although I couldn’t make 11, these nine blogs are still great:

 

Cinema Parrot Disco

Enchanted By Film

Film Grimoire

Silents Please!

Silver Screen Serenade

The Otaku Judge

Veronika’s Film Reviews

Writer Loves Movies

Where The Wild Things Are

 

Whew! Got there in the end! If you have made it this far, thank you so much for your patience and for indulging me in this exercise. Again, I am indebted to Duchess Of Prunes for her nomination and questions and I look forward to seeing the response from the fine and worthy nominees you see above.

Thank you again and Peace to one and all!

P.S – I hope the Pingbacks work! I could never get them right…. 😦