Thank you, Nina Czeszejko, for the nomination. In six years of blogging, I am just now aware such a thing exists. I was truly delighted to read your comment!

Rules

  1. Thank the nominator in your award post.
  2. Place the award logo somewhere on your blog.
  3. You must state up to 11 facts about yourself.
  4. Complete the questions that your nominator provided.
  5. Nominate as many bloggers as you’d like (11 is the maximum).
  6. Ask your nominees a series of questions (11 is the maximum).

Facts

  1. Lived briefly in USA, Italy, Canada.
  2. Despite the above, I only speak one foreign language fluently.
  3. Bacardi and Coke became my favorite drink by accident.
  4. Tried to force myself to be a lefty as a teenager because it looked cooler.
  5. Tore the meniscus in my left knee shooting a ball because of the above.
  6. Famous person encounter: while smoking, I recognized and greeted Freddy Adu (then aged fifteen) as he left his DC United team bus to enter Denver airport.
  7. My favorite film, Heat, is responsible for a curiosity for sprawling, overpopulated megacities.
  8. My lucky hand in poker is six-three, suited or otherwise.
  9. Used to have a superstition about Tuesdays. Learning I was born on one, I stopped.
  10. Obsessed with seeing a cinematic approximation of the video games Resident Evil 1 & 2 & 3 instead of PWS Anderson’s bastardized versions.

Answers

  1. If you could have dinner with anyone from history, who would it be?
    I have to cheat and pick two. Cleopatra or Niccolo Machiavelli. I can’t think of who has more to say about cunning and social intelligence.
  2. What would be on the gag reel of your life?
    It would feature a lot of malapropisms.
  3. Which fictional character would be the most boring to meet in real life?
    Any Adam Sandler stock character, although he was great recently in Uncut Gems.
  4. If you could read minds, whose would you want to read?
    In cinema: Gaspar Noe while he watches his favorite films. Maybe while in Paris just to hear what he feels about France again. Or just his quarantine thoughts.
    In sports: Bill Belichick. Not on the sideline during a game, but when he’s away to use the bathroom—I’m curious what he thinks of his team then.
  5. What problem or situation did TV / movies make you think would be common, but when you grew up you found out it wasn’t?
    Disaster movies with planes. Fatal plane crashes are luckily not common.
    Also, movies lead you to believe pregnancies are common when in reality the ovum only survives two days if unfertilized.
  6. Do you judge a book by its cover?
    No. I do find it interesting that older prints use different covers. I am not an avid reader but what few books I will pick-up are either carefully selected or chosen as a diversion. My most recent batch of books is from three years ago: Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano. Punch Rum by Elmore Leonard. A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay.
  7. What wastes the most time in your day to day life?
    Following my favorite sports team’s news, especially during the off-season.
  8. What’s the one food you could never bring yourself to eat?
    Cabbage and orange juice. Not together. Not separately.
  9. If your life as a movie, what songs would be on the soundtrack?
    The World is Yours by Nas. Mr. Brownstone & Yesterdays by Guns n’ Roses. Hungarian Rhapsody by Liszt. Strawberry Letter 22 by the Brothers Johnson. Superstition by Stevie Wonder. The Sky is Crying & Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Doe Doe and a Skunk by Suga Free. Cuka Rocka by Chingon. Vagalumes by Affosinho.
  10. What terrible movie do you love?
    The Night Flier. It’s a cheesy B movie from a Stephen King short story which he likely wrote to pay a bill. Miguel Ferrer is great in it and never appears to be mailing it in.
    Love is a strong word, so it has to be Resident Evil: Apocalypse. I only saw the first two but after Apocalypse, I felt the rest of the franchise could never live up to the second movie. Nemesis and Lickers and Raccoon City became the only intersection of source with adaptation material before, I imagine, the total deviation in subsequent entries.
  11. If you had to live in a different country, what would it be?
    Practical answer: USA because I know the language and it has all kinds of weather and topography. Quixotic answer: somewhere cold or in the Southern Hemisphere.

Nominees

Questions

  1. At which point during a film do you realize it is average, bad or plain atrocious? And do you ever decide that quitting is permissible if not a noble obligation?
  2. State your unpopular opinion in cinema, whether that is regarding a director, a film, an actor or an award.
  3. Do you have a blogging rule? A posting schedule? Word count?
  4. Recommend one TV series with legitimate kinship to cinema (more are welcome).
  5. Name one diversion outside of your cinephilia that closely rivals it in terms of attention. Mine is sports and some gaming.
  6. DVD extras. Do you rate them? Sit through all of them? Or are you blase?
  7. YouTube, podcasts, or written reviews? Professional or amateur? Name at least one trusted voice for either medium.
  8. Editing and cinematography are unheralded crafts within filmmaking. Name one unsung practitioner according to your estimation.
  9. What is your dream destination or vacation activity?
  10. Were you able to achieve a postponed goal, fulfill a project or rekindle a pastime during lockdown?

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