A Triple Dose of Sunshine

It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten a Sunshine Blogger Award. Like a really long time. Not that I’m complaining, but it has been a while. And then…whoodathunkit…I got THREE of them. One from Sally of 18 Cinema Lane, one from Rachel of Hamlette’s Soliloquy, and the third from RosTy, a new friend on Substack (click to read his post here and my answers here. Thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone!

This prestigious award, of course, comes with certain proprieties, and here they are:

• Thank the person or persons who nominated you.
• Answer their questions.
• Nominate eleven more people
• Ask them eleven questions of your own.

As anyone who’s read Sunshine Blogger posts knows, these questions are definitely large and varied, and it’s always fun to see what people come up with.

Speaking of which, here we go…

Sally’s Questions

1. Which actor or actress do you wish had starred in a historical fiction/historical period picture? I honestly don’t know. Everyone I think of has starred in period films, although some more than others (Looking at you, Orlando Bloom).
2. What two shows would you pair for a crossover? Gilmore Girls and Dawson’s Creek. When Chad Michael Murray as Tristan tells Rory he’s leaving Chilton to go to boarding school in North Carolina, that was, of course, a veiled reference him playing Charlie on Dawson’s Creek, which filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina. It would have been fun to see more Gilmore actors show up, even if they were just onscreen for a minute or two.
3. Which food-related movie promotion would you bring back? I miss the Rick and Morty Szechuan sauce at McDonald’s. Yeah, I know Rick and Morty have never gotten their own movie, but that sauce was good.
4. You’ve been tasked with designing a popcorn bucket! What movie do you choose and what does its popcorn bucket look like? The Harry Potter franchise, with a bucket for each Hogwarts house. Some people may want just one, while others might want more. It’s got possibilities.
5. When was the last time you saw a made-for-TV movie? It’s hard to say. With all the streaming stuff out there, the line between theatrical and made-for-TV is pretty blurry. Although, there’s a Shania Twain biopic on Tubi that has very obvious ad breaks.
6. What is your least favorite trend in movies? Projectile vomiting. Pretty much every horror movie nowadays has at least one character upchucking black fluid and it’s just gross.
7. Which movie would you like to see from a different character’s perspective? It might be interesting to see The Women from Crystal Allen’s perspective. Then again, it might be sort of depressing and annoying.
8. Is there a movie poster or trailer you wish you could fix? If so, which one?

   

9. What movie related mystery would you like to see solved? How many pairs of ruby slippers were made for The Wizard of Oz? How many, really? Kurt Warner took great delight in keeping the answer to this question all to himself, which is understandable, but it hasn’t stopped movie fans from asking. And what happened to the Bugle Bead shoes? Inquiring minds want to know.
10. Is there a “lost” or “partially lost” film you wish was recovered? If so, which one? Anything with Theda Bara because I don’t think anyone living today has ever seen one of her films all the way through. Also, it would be nice to see Saved From the Titanic, which starred survivor Dorothy Gibson and which was released a month after the sinking. The exploitation factor is tackily off the charts, but so is the immediacy.

And now for…

Rachel’s Questions

1. What classic movie have you seen most recently? I don’t know about how classic it is, but I just reviewed The Ghost of Frankenstein. It’ll be up on Saturday.
2. What modern movie have you seen most recently? I’m going to see Tron: Ares and Roofman today. Hope they’re both good.
3. What’s movie that was made in your birth year that you really enjoy? There are a few, actually. The first Rocky movie came out the year I was born, as did All the President’s Men and That’s Entertainment, Part Two. Not too shabby.
4. What’s a movie you wish you had seen much earlier than you did? Jaws. I don’t know what I was afraid of.
5. What movie are you hoping to watch soon? Shelby Oaks. We’ve been hearing about this thing for years. It’s time.
6. What’s a movie you have been wanting to see for years, but still haven’t? Probably Silk Stockings. The clips I’ve seen of that movie have been wonderful.
7. Have you ever watched the same movie more than once in the movie theater? Yes. I saw The Fellowship of the Ring four times and Dick Tracy twice.
8. What movie needs a sequel but never got one? I can’t say, really. So many movies nowadays get unnecessary sequels and threequels and so on, until what was once an effective story gets worked to death. Most of the time it can be best to leave well-enough alone.
9. How do you watch most movies? (Streaming? DVD? Theater? TV?) All of the above. I’ll even resort to YouTube or Internet Archive. Under no circumstances will I use torrenting sites, though.
10. Have you ever changed your mind and started liking an actor/actress you formerly disliked? Harry Melling, but that’s mostly because Dudley Dursley was so irritating. The guy is actually a very impressive actor.
11. Have you ever visited a filming location? (Share photos if you can!) Yes! The 1996 John Travolta movie, Phenomenon, was filmed in my hometown of Auburn, California, and a few years ago I went to some of the locations in Old Town to photograph the way they look today. I also visited Ferndale, California a couple of years ago, where the 2001 movie, The Majestic was filmed. Plus, I used to live in Fremont, California, where Charlie Chaplin very briefly lived and worked. The respective blog posts about all of these topics can be found here, here, and here.

Okeydokey, now that that’s done, it’s time for our nominees. I don’t know if any of the wonderful bloggers on this list have been nominated recently, but either way it’s no big deal. Here we go…

• Whimsically Classic
• Hoofers and Honeys
• Cinematic Catharsis
• The Flapper Dame
• The Wonderful World Of Cinema
• Silver Screenings
• The Midnite Drive-in
• Realweegiemidget Reviews
• Speakeasy
• A Full Rich Blather
• I’m Charles Baker Harris (And I Can Read)

Congrats, everyone! And now for the new round of questions…

1. What was the first movie you remember watching at home? In a theater?
2. You’re visiting the Hollywood Heritage Museum and the Hollywood Museum. What exhibits would you most like to see?
3. You’ve learned how to sculpt with chocolate. Which actor, actress, or movie scene do you create first?
4. What trend in classic movies do you wish could come back in today’s films?
5. Do you prefer regular broadcast TV or video on demand? Or both?
6. Which celebrity (classic or current) was or is born to do a podcast?
7. This may be a divisive question, but I’m going to ask it anyway: Who shot first–Han or Greedo?
8. Is there a favorite movie you wish would come back to theaters?
9. Did you have teachers who would show movies during classtime? Do you remember which movies they showed?
10. Is there a classic movie that you think was miscast? If so, which one?
11. Which five movies would you take to a deserted island? Provided there’s a way to watch movies, of course.

Thanks again, Rachel and Sally! Hope everyone enjoys answering the questions. Another post is on the way Friday…