Here’s a long movie quiz from Sunday Stealing, or so it was described. I should note that any answers to the superlative questions should be taken with a grain of salt. I wrote the first film in the category I thought of, except for Casablanca, which is my favorite classic movie.
1. Best movie you saw during the last year. CODA 2. The most underrated movie. Cinderella Man, a boxing movie with Russell Crowe 3. Favorite love story in a movie. Love, Actually 4. The most surprising plot twist or ending. Sorry To Bother You 5. A movie that makes you really happy. Hidden Figures
6. A movie that makes you sad. Manchester By The Sea 7. Favorite made-for-TV movie. Brian’s Song. 8. A movie you’ve seen countless times. The Wizard Of Oz, once in a theater! 9. A movie with the best soundtrack. West Side Story 10. Favorite classic movie. Casablanca
REALLY hate
11. A movie that you hate. The Leech Woman 12. A movie that changed your opinion about something. Long Night’s Journey Into Day (2000), “four stories of Apartheid in South Africa, as seen through the eyes of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission” 13. A character you can relate to the most. Almost any character played by Jack Lemmon, but especially in The China Syndrome (1979) and Missing (1982) 14. A movie that is a guilty pleasure. Animal House. I can watch this from the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor to the end anytime. 15. Favorite movie based on a book/comic. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
16. A movie that disappointed you the most. The Manchurian Candidate (2004) 17. A movie from your favorite actor/actress. You Can Count On Me (Mark Ruffalo, 2000) 18. Favorite movie from your favorite director. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder) 19 .Favorite action movie. Speed (1994), which is the first movie I ever saw with my now-wife. 20. A movie you wish more people would have seen. The Grand Budapest Hotel
21. Favorite documentary. Summer of Soul 22. Favorite animation. Toy Story 2 23. Most hilarious movie you’ve ever seen. Young Frankenstein 24. A movie that you wish you had seen in a theater. Dr. Strangelove 25. Your favorite movie of all time. Annie Hall, maybe; I haven’t watched it this century
Baseball. Something Kelly said recently resonated with me. “I’ve been paying more attention to baseball the last few years than I had basically from 2000 to, oh, 2015 or thereabouts. In the 90s, I loved baseball, and I almost always had a game on the teevee if there wasn’t something else we were watching (and it was baseball season, of course). While I’m not much for televised sport anymore, I’ve found it appealing to follow sport the way people probably back in the days before television: they read about it!” This is exactly correct for me as well.
2. A quote to live by.
“No matter where you go, there you are.”
3. A city in the US you would like to move to.
Given the vagueries of climate change, it’d certainly be in the Northeast or upper Midwest. Madison, WI or Burlington, VT.
4. 3 beautiful little things in your life.
The door of our house refracts the light so that, most mornings, I see rainbows on the walls and/or the carpets. My very full built-in bookcase. Flowers that grow between the cracks in the sidewalk.
5. What made you laugh today?
Some off-the-cuff banter between a nurse and me.
6. A good deed you did today
Apparently, I was very nice to that same nurse, who had a subsequent patient be not nearly so nice.
7. Activities you like to do when you are bored.
I’m never bored. That said, play pinochle, chess, or spades on my phone; read.
8. Are you a procrastinator?
No. The consequences of procrastination make me anxious.
And then
9. Your thoughts about dying
There is about a 99.999999999999999999999999% chance that it will happen. To everything, there is a season.
10. What superpower would you like to have?
Flight, mostly as a timesaver. But also, I always enjoyed my dreams in which I am flying, so much so that I’ve awakened to be very disappointed that it did not actually happen.
11. Top 3 Netflix series
n/a – I’ve never had access to Netflix.
12. Things you want to do before you die
Go through my diary to scope out all of the FantaCo references, which would probably make ADD very happy. Make sure my daughter is reasonably secure in her life. Write a book: about what, I’m unsure.
13. Your biggest fears
Humans will make the earth uninhabitable via climate change, war, or another catastrophe.
14. What makes you angry?
Disinformation, which some folks are trying to fix.
15. Do you listen to podcasts?
Three regularly. Coverville; Brian Ibbott has been playing cover songs since 2004. AmeriNZ; Arthur Schenck, one guy, two countries, since 2007. Hollywood and Levine; writer Ken Levine, since 2017.
1. I am currently obsessed with old photographs. I used to work at a comic book store in Albany called FantaCo from 1980 to 1988. Specifically, my old boss Tom is looking for old photos from that period. As it turns out, I took a bunch of pictures with cheap cameras. They are in photo albums, in some semblance of order. I will wade through the photo albums and mail them to him. He will digitize them, then send the pics and the digitized files back.
BTW, if you have some FantaCo or FantaCon pics, feel free to email them to me or send them via Facebook. If you can identify any people, that would be great.
Simultaneously, I’ll be hunting for photos of an ex-girlfriend to give to someone who knew her in the same time frame.
2. Today I am happy because I’m going to see some theater, not just today but eight productions over the next ten months.
3. The age I am is apparently inappropriate to some people. The age I feel depends on the part. For instance, my head is about fifty, but my left knee is about 100.
4. My favorite place may be my office. It has 70% of my books, and I have a device on which I can play music.
5. Something I have been procrastinating on is creating a Wikipedia page for my late friend, the artist Raoul Vezina, who worked at FantaCo. I have enough material, but I’ve never done one of these things before.
6. The last thing I purchased was almost certainly recorded music.
Books!
7. The thing I love most about my home is the built-in bookcases in my office.
8. My most prized possession – IDK. Maybe the metal file box with all of my important papers.
9. If I could be one age for the rest of my life, I would want to be 37; it’s a prime number.
10. My outlook on life tends toward the pessimistic. Global warming, gun violence, and certain political philosophies are involved.
11. If you want to annoy me, be a poor listener.
12. I am completely defenseless when it comes to bubbles.
13. The bravest thing I’ve ever done was run out into traffic to scoop up a toddler who had wandered out there.
14. Something that keeps me awake at night is: See 10.
15. My favorite meal in the entire world is lasagna.
1. What’s the best beach or lake day you can remember?
I had torn the nail of the big toe of my left foot when I was about 12. The family went down to Jones Beach, on the south shore of Long Island. I’m not much of a beach person, but I did wade in the water. The saltwater did a remarkable job in healing the nail.
2. Describe your ideal picnic lunch
I’m pretty flexible. Bread that you tear apart. Cheeses of various types. Fried chicken and deviled eggs -the mother and child reunion. Lemonade. Grapes.
3. What flowers are in your bouquet?
Tulips, which we planted one very warm December 1. Lilacs: we had a bush next to our house growing up. Beyond that, whatever.
4. Silly ways to pass the time during a snowstorm
Whatever “silly” things one could do are not coming to me. If I’m snowed in and have things to read and, ideally, some music, I’m fine. With the right people, I’d play cards and/or board games.
When we were on our honeymoon vacation in Barbados in 1999, we could dine at one of three or four establishments as part of our all-inclusive package. All of the food was fabulous.
7. How many layers to your ice cream sandwich?
Sandwich, ice cream, sandwich. What more does one need?
8. Pretty things, which are faux patent leather
Literally, I have no idea.
9. What is the best way to eat chocolate?
Is there a bad way to eat chocolate? I always thought that fondue was wonderfully decadent.
Uni
10. Describe your unicorn’s special magic
The daughter of one of my oldest friends had a large stuffed unicorn. She, the daughter, thought that my daughter ought to have her unicorn. And it became so. Here are my daughter and Uni back in 2010.
11. All the fruits in your fruit salad
Blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, peaches, and mac apples.
12. Describe the soil, grass, trees, flowers, and rocks in your magical forest.
I think we started with perfectly fine soil, grass, et al., but we’re wrecking it.
13. The lyrics which move you the most are:
NUMEROUS. Here are the first that came to mind:
And I need you more than want you And I want you for all time – Wichita Lineman by Jimmy Webb
14. What are the best sauces in the world?
Hollandaise, sweet and sour, and marinara are the first to come to mind; there are probably plenty of others.
15. Write a haiku about nature
Climate change is real. Droughts, fires, floods, catastrophes. We must act right now. [Yes, I checked: fire can be one syllable or two]
This week’s Sunday Stealing is called Personal History, an interesting topic.
1. What would you like people to know about your mother?
I was thinking about this a lot this week. My father was the more outgoing and visible member of the couple. But I doubt they would have been been able to pay the bills if it wasn’t for my mom.
She was a bookkeeper at McLean’s Department Store in Binghamton, NY, then worked at Columbia Gas, not even a block away. When she moved to Charlotte, NC, she was a teller at First Union Bank, which eventually was swallowed by Wells Fargo. I probably got my love of numbers from her. When I told her we were learning base 2, which we were told was the basis of computers, she was clearly excited.
2. What would you like people to know about your father?
I’ll be writing about him on August 10, the anniversary of his death. My eclectic taste in music started with him.
3. What was your childhood bedroom like?
HA! After my second sister was born, my father put up two walls in the dining room, built a wooden shelf into the two walls, then put a mattress on top of that. My storage was under the “bed,” though my books were around the corner on a bookcase. My dad painted the solar system on the ceiling.
Ballgame
4. What was your favorite activity as a child?
Alone: playing with my baseball cards. With others: playing softball/baseball/kickball. And singing.
5. What was high school like for you?
When we first got there, there was a certain hostility from some because my friends were identified as against the Vietnam war. But by the time I graduated, most of the school was against the war. I was on the stage crew and president of the Red Cross club. I was also president of the student government, which is how I sort of got to introduce Rod Serling.
6. Write about your cousins.
I have no first cousins. My parents were only children. Well, essentially. My mom had a younger sister who died as an infant. So my cousins were my mother’s cousin’s kids who lived in NYC and were a decade or more younger than I. Still, aside from my sisters and their daughters, they’re the closest relatives outside my nuclear household.
7. What was your favorite food as a child?
Spinach. Totally indoctrinated by Popeye.
8. What was your most memorable birthday?
My 16th was held at the American Civic Association, so it was a real party. Lois, who I’ve known since kindergarten, gave me Judy Collins’ album Who Knows Where The Time Goes. She was afraid it might be too country for me; it was not.
9. What world events were significant to you as a child?
The integration of the high school in Little Rock, AR. Sputnik. The Cuban Missile Crisis – I didn’t really understand it, but I grokked adults all being nervous. The assassinations of Medgar Evers and John F. Kennedy. The massive 1965 blackout was the only time I ever heard my father worry about a possible Soviet plot.
To Starr Avenue
10. What did a typical day look like as a child?
During the school year, walk to school about half a mile, usually trying to vary my route. At lunch, walk home to my grandma Williams’ house for lunch, watch JEOPARDY with her sister, my wonderful Aunt Deana, back to school, then walk home with, in geographic order, Bill, Lois, Karen, Carol, and Ray. I’d walk home.
11. Write about your grandparents.
Gertrude Williams (1897-1982) operated out of making us afraid of the boogie man. I don’t remember her husband, Clarence Williams (d. 1958), though I may have gone to his funeral.
Agatha Green (1902-1964) was my Sunday school teacher and taught me how to play canasta. She was the first person I knew well to die, and I was devastated. McKinley Green (1896? -1980) was a custodian at WNBF-TV-AM-FM and would bring home stuff the station no longer wanted, such s the soundtrack to The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968).
12. Did you move as a child?
I moved from the second floor of 5 Gaines Street, Binghamton, NY, to the first floor when my mother was pregnant with her second child. Until college, that was it.
13. Who taught you to drive?
Several people tried, including the Okie, Uthaclena, my father, and a professional.
14. Which job has been your favorite?
FantaCo, the comic book store/mail order/publisher/convention, where I worked from May 1980 to November 1988.
15. What was the best part of your 30s?
Working at FantaCo, singing in the Trinity UMC choir