Recognition Redux

It’s award time in the blogging world! Well, it’s always award time, and my sweet friend Gill of Realweegiemidget Reviews has nominated me for another Blogger Recognition Award and another Sunshine Blogger Award. Thanks so much, Gill!

Two awards mean two sets of rules, of course, and we’re going to start with the Blogger Recognition Award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
2.  Post the award banner on your blog.
3.  Share the reason you started your blog.
4. Share two pieces of advice for new bloggers.
5. Nominate a maximum of 15 other bloggers.
6. Tell your nominees about the award post, so they can participate.

Items One and Two are checks, so on to Items Three and Four:

How I Started My Blog…

Since we’ve been here before, I’ll spare you guys any redundancy. Suffice it to say, I started my blog because I felt like doing more writing than I was already doing. A touch of fire in the belly helps, too (See more details here).

Advice For New Bloggers -or- Your Comment Section and You (Plus Everyone Else)

• Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam. This is obvious, but it bears repeating: Spammers can get really aggressive and annoying, so keeping an eye on your comment numbers is a boon (I once got a thousand comments in two weeks. Ninety-five percent spam.). Plus it’s pretty much guaranteed your blogging platform won’t always catch all the flotsam, even if you have a spam detector like Akismet. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen confused Russian bitcoiners and “Muchas gracias. ?Como puedo iniciar sesion?” in my Comment section, I could vacay in Costa del Sol for a month. Thank goodness for WordPress’s bulk edit feature. Block and delete, rinse and repeat!
• Go mobile. If your blog platform has a phone app, I highly recommend downloading it so that you can manage comments and fix minor errors when you’re away from your computer. It comes in handy, especially if you’re on vacation. The one drawback is formatting is a little harder, and most of the time you can’t make scheduling changes from the app. Oh, and in the case of WordPress, the iPad version of the app is basically worthless. Other than that, being able to watchdog your blog from your phone can be a real lifesaver.

And now for the Sunshine Award rules:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you in the blog post and link back to their blog.
• Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
• Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.

OK, on to the questions:

1. Have you ever met a celebrity somewhere random? Yes, although it wasn’t a conventional meet–Michael W. Smith and I waved to each other in a Y of the Rockies parking lot on the first night of the 1999 Christian Artists Seminar. I was walking to dinner with some friends and he pulled up in a white Bronco.
2.  Have you ever had a celebrity write to you in response to your fan letter? Another yes! In the eighth grade I sent a letter to Bryan Duncan and he wrote back. I was completely bowled over. Not to brag or whatever, but since the advent of social media we’ve gotten to be friends. He’s very cool.
3. What’s your favourite advert with an actor or actress? I always liked those Max Factor ads from the forties and fifties, but if I had to pick something from today I’d say any Chanel or Dior ad.
4. If you could ghostwrite a celebrity’s autobiography with their permission who would it be? Ann Rutherford. She was a nice lady who had tons of stories.
5. Have you ever been on telly or in a movie? A few times, actually. Sort of. I sat in on a taping of the Rush Limbaugh show in 1994 when my parents and I took a trip to New York, and you can see me yukking it up with a New Zealander in the back row. Plus, when I studied dance with Betty Gentry her year-end recitals were always broadcast on the local public access station. Then later when I toured with the Continentals we were on the news a few times because we went to some very rural areas of the Midwest and it was a big deal. People who live in major fine arts markets like California have no idea how big a deal it was–a lot of times whole towns would turn out to see us. We even signed autographs.
6. Who was your first film or TV love? Kirk Douglas (See the other guys here).
7. You are allowed to snog, marry or avoid three movie or TV stars.. who are they? Snog and Marry: Milo Ventimiglia. Avoid: Adam Sandler.
8. If you could give out an Oscar which category would it be for? Music. Song or score. I’m not picky.
9. Who would you like to accompany to the Oscars? Denzel and John David Washington. I think they’re really classy.
10. Which film would you watch again and again? The Wizard of Oz, The Princess Bride, To Kill A Mockingbird and Since You Went Away. Also, pretty much anything with my five favorites.
11. What’s your favourite TV Movie? I like Harvest of Fire and The Attic. Who knows, I may review those sometime.

Questions down, and now for our nominees. Drum roll, please…

• Realweegiemidget Reviews 
• Silent-ology
• The JLH Collective
• Up On the Shelf
• KN Winiarski Writes
•  Thoughts All Sorts
• The Midnite Drive-In
• Whimsically Classic
• Vienna’s Classic Hollywood
• Silver Screenings
• Phyllis Loves Classic Movies
• Speakeasy
• Flapper Dame
• 18 Cinema Lane
• MovieRob

Can’t forget those all-important questions:

1. What’s your hope for 2021?
2. What helped you stay sane in 2020?
3. Are there any movies you’re looking forward to this year?
4. You can visit any five celebrity homes from any era. Which ones would you pick?
5. You’re about to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. What, if anything, would you take that the experts might frown on?
6. Who are your three favorite film critics and why?
7. When you’re watching stuff other than movies, do you prefer YouTube and streaming services or traditional broadcast TV?
8. If you could adapt a TV show into a movie, which one would you pick and why?
9. Which film prop or costume would you most like to own?
10. Who is your favorite movie or TV couple? Your least favorite?
11. What was the last album you listened to?

OK, that’ll do it. Congrats to all my nominees, thanks again, Gill, and thanks for reading, everyone! A new post is on its way Monday…