Nominated for the Liebster Award! :)

Hello everyone- I have just been nominated for the Liebster Award by my friend Jia Wei (AKA “JW”). He’s a very sharp and friendly guy who keeps a brilliant blog reviewing films over at Film & Nuance. You should check it out.

So thank you, JW, for the nomination!

Funny thing: just now I was lucky to catch my laptop autocorrecting the post title from “Liebster” to “Lobster.”

I present you with this lobster to commemorate all your writing efforts

Or maybe I wasn’t lucky, since people might’ve clicked on masse to find out what this Lobster deal was all about. At any rate, my computer keeps correcting me and I keep slapping its hand, so hopefully no errant lobsters will be sneaking in.

This is my second Liebster (just did it again) nomination and I have to say they’ve updated the graphic quite nicely since a month ago.

The Liebster Award is an online award for bloggers to gain more support, recognition and just to get to know the person behind the blogger. It also helps others to discover new blogs and to build a sense of community in the blogging world.

How does the Liebster Award Work? Here are the rules:

• Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you
• Answer the 11 questions the blogger gives you
• Nominate 11 bloggers that you think are deserving of the award but more importantly help to promote newer bloggers with fewer followers.
• Let the bloggers know you nominated them
• Give them 11 questions of your own

 

The Part Where I Answer JW’s Questions:

1. What is your favourite hobby other than blogging(if it already is)? And why do you love it so much?

I’d love to say traveling, since it’s my favorite thing to do in the entire world, but I don’t know if I travel often enough for it to qualify as a hobby.

So I’ll stick with reading. I love books. I buy hardbound books, kindle books, any kind of books and if I’ve gone over budget for the month, there’s a good chance I spent it on books.

I love different genres and will read whatever strikes my fancy, be it Walking Dead comic books, stuffy tomes on Tudor history, novels that happened to catch my eye, or funny biographies.

Since I’m a freelance writer, this only makes sense.

2. What are your top 3 movies of all time? And your worst 3?

Hmm, I love films so much that my answer would probably be different, depending on when you asked me. But the first one that comes to mind is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

ESOTSM is a very odd film, one whose layers unfold every time you watch it. I’m a fan of Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey (who is a better dramatic actor than his Ace Ventura days would indicate). I love how this film wrestles with questions about whether we would be better off if we could erase life experiences that cause us pain, or if they are too critical to forget.

Do we remain eternal children, or should we accept the painful life experiences that can blunt our optimism, even as they deep our perspective? Do we need these painful lessons or are we doomed to repeat our mistakes?

My second pick is Life of Pi. I don’t know if this film will stand the test of time for me, but I was blown away by its message of universality and the meaning of “Truth.” Are symbols and interpretations just as or even more valid than unpainted facts?

Finally, I’ll say Raiders of the Lost Ark. I love the dialogue and this film is incredibly nostalgic for me (having seen it as a little kid). I loved Marion and didn’t think any of the other Indiana Jones heroines could touch her.

Incidentally, a good friend of mine once tortured me with a reasonable argument about the film echoing sexism in the 80’s, since Marion starts off being all tough and cool, but ends up un a torn dress screaming for Indy to save her.

I’m gonna call BS, though. Marion is a badass and trying to get away from thousands of writhing deadly asps isn’t weakness. It’s just good sense.

I can’t pull the lever to stop Indy and the kid from being impaled by massive spikes because there’s a bug on it. I also can’t  figure out how to use a stick to push the lever. I’m just that big an idiot.

Besides, my buddy’s favorite film in the trilogy was Temple of Doom, which introduced us to one of the most idiot female characters ever conceived from a screenwriter’s brainfart. There’s no way ROTLA was more insulting than that garbage.

 

And the worst three? Hmm… I usually skip movies that look terrible to me.

I seriously hated Breaking the Waves, though critics loved it. Bleak is fine when there’s a point, but it felt like Breaking the Waves was just trying to make everyone throw up in their mouths for a few hours.

I was also not a fan of Failure to Launch. I thought it would be light and funny with SJP and Matthew McConaughey, but it bored me to tears. I turned it off about halfway through.

I also hated Short Cuts (with the exception of Lyle Lovett as The Cake Man). Not the worst movie of all time, but I’m including it because it’s generally considered a decent film. I found its imagery extremely disturbing and misogynistic.

3. If you had a chance to rewind life to any point in your life, would you? If yes, then to which point in your life? If no, why not?

Whoa, that’s an interesting and difficult question. I’ve always planed to write a story, btw, where some characters go back in time to fix a mistake and find out everything turns out the same way. Maybe I’ll get to it someday.

I suppose I would rewind, but only if I knew what I know now. I’d probably rewind to college when I was living in LA and not blow off my production assistant internship this time.

4. Name your most anticipated 2016 movies?

Ones I’ve seen or the ones I’m anticipating seeing? I’ll go with the latter.

First is Zootopia, since it’s supposed to be excellent and I have two kids under five. That means I see a lot of kid movies right now and I’m grateful when they’re good enough for me to love too.

I’m also looking forward to 10 Cloverfield Lane. It looks great, received great reviews, and who doesn’t love John Goodman?

5. Recall your favourite childhood memory or a particular instance where you felt overjoyed?

My family took a vacation in Nice, France when I was eleven years old, where I took a French class for a few weeks.

I was allowed to walk back to the hotel all by myself, which felt extremely grown-up. Especially in a foreign country. Every day I’d walk along the ocean, feeling the mediterranean sun on my shoulders, and would buy either a pretzel or a chocolate ice cream cone en route.

Walking by myself, buying something myself, and successfully managing transactions in a foreign language made me feel great. Like I wasn’t a helpless kid anymore and the whole world was at my fingertips.

6. If you could be any character from any movie/tv series/book, who would you be? And why?

This is a toughie.

Maybe the elf queen from the Lord of the Rings series, because she has all kinds of magical power and lives for centuries. Plus, Cate Blanchett is cool.

7.  Would you rather lead a safe, conventional and routine life or a life bound only by your own rules? Why?

Might not be worth all that freedom

Well so far, I’m an eccentric who lives a fairly safe, conventional life… I guess I’d prefer to live by my own rules and throw more caution to the wind than I have (I still wish I took that offer to work under the table at the Parisian Youth Hostel a few years ago, but I felt like I was obligated to return home).

I figure you’re more “alive” when living an adventure than when falling into a routine coma, but I’ll take the coma if the adventure came about from the total collapse of the social order. Like, for example, in an zombie apocalypse.

8.  What are the collectibles (e.g. posters, toys, figurines, plushies etc)/ objects do you have and are most proud of? It could be movie/book related or anything really.

Hmm, I don’t really collect much, but I do have a Princess Leia figurine around here somewhere. She’s dressed for the Ewok party.

I’m kinda tempted to buy some of the Walking Dead toys, though.

9.  Walking in the park or walking in the city?

Walking in the city, if you have one to walk through. Much of America is built for cars, so there aren’t a ton of places where you aren’t dependent on them.

But given the option, I love strolling through the heart of a big city. There’s so much to see, so much going on.

10. If you could be fluent in one other language, what would it be?

The easy answer would be French, because I already know quite a bit and like traveling where it’s spoken.

But that feels like a waste since I already know quite a bit of it. So I’d probably pick Chinese, because it seems like the most bang for my buck. There are so many people on the planet who speak it and it’s a difficult language for an English-speaker to learn.

11.  Why did you start blogging?

Well, I love to write and so much of our lives are spent on the internet nowadays that it seemed obvious to try…

I also went from working office jobs to staying at home with my kids while doing freelance work. I super mega crazy adore my children and feel lucky to be able to take care of them right now, but have also found I miss the socialization of the office. The blogging community kind of fills that need.

Life is also all about the kids when you have very young children. They need so much of your time and attention. It’s wonderful, but you can also start to feel like you’re losing yourself if you don’t get a chance to do your own thing. Blogging helps me remember my own voice.

And here are my questions for my nominees:

1. How long have you been blogging?
2. What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from blogging so far?
3. Why do you think the idea of a zombie apocalypse is so popular right now?
4. If you could spend five years in any time period in history, what would it be and why?
5. If we could resurrect any extinct animal, Jurassic Park style, which one would you pick?
6. If we could clone any dead person and bring them back to life, which one would you pick and why? Ignore the ethical issues involved in cloning people and you aren’t allowed to pick a family member.
7. If you could have any superpower, which one would you pick and why?
8. What do you think is the most under-appreciated film?
9. If you had to live in any film’s universe, which one would you pick?
10. How do you think the world has changed in the last 20 years?
11. How do you think society will change in the next 20 years?

My nominees:

I understand that not everyone likes to participate in these challenges, and this one is fairly lengthy. But even if you don’t want to play, I hope you’ll take my nomination as a sign of my appreciation for all your hard blogging work. 🙂

1. Mind and Life Matters
2. This is How the Light Gets In
3. I Can’t Possibly be Wrong All the Time
4. Midlife Margaritas
5. Welcome to My Life, Part 2
6. Life beyond Mommy
7. Planet Simon
8. Just In Queso
9. Itsmeharsi
10. Kirst Writes
11. Cider Bob