Film of the Year

Alphabet Meme

Jacqueline tagged me for the Alphabet Meme.  Here are the rules:

1. Pick one film to represent each letter of the alphabet.*

2. The letter "A" and the word "The" do not count as the beginning of a film's title, unless the film is simply titled A or The, and I don't know of any films with those titles.

3. Thanks to some clarification by The Siren, movies are stuck with the titles their owners gave them at the time of their theatrical release.

4. Films that start with a number are filed under the first letter of their number's word. 12 Monkeys would be filed under "T."

5. Link back to Blog Cabins in your post so that I can eventually type "alphabet meme" into Google and come up #1, then make a post where I declare that I am the King of Google.

6. If you're selected, you have to then select 5 more people.

* I decided to only brainstorm films that were released up to the year I've reached so far on the Film of the Year project--1953.  With only that caveat in mind, here goes nothing...

A -  Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed, Die (1926)

B -  Bergkatze, Die (1921)

C -  Citizen Kane (1941)

D -  Duck Soup (1933)

E -  Enfants du paradis, Les (1946)

F -  Faust: Eine deutsche Volkssage (1926)

G - G.I. Joe (1945)

H - High Noon (1952)

I -  It (1927)

J - Jezebel (1938)

K - Kabinett des Doktor Caligari, Das (1920)

L - Ladri di biciclette (1948)

M - M (1931)

N - Napoleon (1927)

O - Odd Man Out (1947)

P - Play House, The (1921)

Q - Quai des brumes, Le (1938)

R - Robin Hood (1922)

S - Seventh Heaven (1927)

T - Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)

U - Ugetsu (1953)

V - Voyage dans la lune, Le (1902)

W - Wind, The (1928)

X -

Y - Yellow Sky (1948)

Z -

For X and Z I drew blanks.

Consider yourself tagged for the meme my friends:

Brian at Hell on Frisco Bay

Jonathan at Cinema Styles

Gareth at Gareth's Movie Diary

Chris at Category D

Pierre at Frankensteinia

It

I began the day sitting outside, enjoying the cool morning air and sharing a cup of coffee with a nearby Steller's Jay. Then I booted up the laptop and checked my e-mail only to discover that once again (maybe for the last time) I've been tagged to play along with a meme, which means , according to the dictionary, "an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation." Or as Pierre Fournier (the rascal who tabbed me for the meme) of the gruesomely great Frankensteinia blog puts it, meme is a fancy word for "Tag, you're it!" Thanks Pierre.

Here's what I had to do:

1) Pick up the nearest book.
2) Open to page 123.
3) Locate the fifth sentence.
4) Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing...
5) Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Well, I was outside and not near any book so I figured, "I'll pass on this one." Then I remembered how much I missed feeling part of the blogosphere when I was without a computer for a month or two. Here was an easy way to re-connect. Oh, what the heck...

So, back inside I go to pick up a book sitting on the coffee table...oh this is too perfect: The Playboy Interviews: The Directors (recommended earlier this year by Michael at The Evening Class). Flipping down to page 123, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of an interview film critic and cinema professor Arthur Knight conducted with actor/director extraordinaire, Clint Eastwood back in 1974. Counting five sentences down from the top (including one partial sentence from the previous page) leads to the following three sentences...

Eastwood: I've got a six-pack of beer under my arm, and a few pieces of paper, and a couple of pencils, and I'm in business. What the hell, I can work in a closet.

Playboy: What does Malpaso mean?

Could that have turned out more mysteriously? I mean, what the hell is Clint doing writing in closet with a six pack of beer? And just what does Malpaso mean? Well, there's no use in trying to resist. Back out on the deck I go with a fresh cup of coffee to read the complete interview with Eastwood. Hey, that Steller's Jay has brought along a few friends. Wish they'd pipe down; I'm trying to read...

Five bloggers tagged for the meme (let us see what's in the book nearest you guys):

Jennifer MacMillan, who sees through Invisible Cinema
Brian Darr, who raises Hell on Frisco Bay
Mike Phillips, who fearlessly composes the Goatdogblog
Adam Ross, who always entertains us with great DVD Panache
Shahn, who shakes up Six Martinis and the Seventh Art

(*it means bad pass or bad step.)

That Book Meme

After reading Girish's and Andy's responses to the book meme I've been wondering what my answers would be. It's been gnawing at the back of my mind and the suspense finally became too much so I decided to just sit down and write what comes to me. The exercise turned out to be more fun than I thought it would be.

1. One book that changed your life? I don't know about life changing, but there were a couple that nudged me into unexpected directions like The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. The most recent was Telling the Truth about History by Joyce Oldham Appleby, Lynn Hunt, Margaret Jacob.

2. One book that you have read more than once? I read Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges over and over. No matter how many times I get lost in his labyrinths I always come back for more. But, the most truthful answer is probably The Guitar Handbook. I've found that paying the guitar is like having a conversation with yourself. You can tell a lot about what is going on inside by how you play at a given moment— once you've mastered the basics, that is. This book is like the wiser guitar-playing older brother that I never had.

3. One book you would want on a desert island? Well, a complete set of encyclopedia would help pass the time best but if I have to choose one book to spend the rest of my days with on a desert island I'd better choose something that would help me keep my sanity and still be amusing over the years. Maybe The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book or The Arabian Nights.

4. One book that made you cry? A cookbook. (Onions, get it? ahem.) Seriously, it has never happened. Where The Red Fern Grows should have produced tears when my teacher read it aloud to the class, but I probably was busy drawing pictures of Spider-man or something and not paying attention.

5. One book that made you laugh? Naked by David Sedaris

6. One book you wish had been written? The story of my life so I could sneak a peek now and then to see if I'm making the right decisions.

7. One book you wish had never been written? I wouldn't banish any book from reality even those of which I disapprove. Poorly written works or ill-advised ideas will only reveal their shortcomings when read so I don't see the point in opposing their existence.

8. One book you are reading currently? I'm enjoying a few right now: From Hitler to Heimat: the Return of History as Film by Anton Kaes, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States by Charles Beard, Vamp by Eve Golden, and I'm anxious wating for the postman to deliver BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema by Richard Taylor.

9. One book you have been meaning to read? That list is too big, but here's a few: What Makes Sammy Run by Budd Schulberg (suggested by Betty Davis on TCM's recent replaying of the Dick Cavett show), Rereading Frederick Jackson Turner: The Significance of the Frontier in American History and Other Essays by Frederick Jackson Turner, Beds by Groucho Marx (hunting this one down), Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut, Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory by Edward J. Larson and most recently added to my list of must-reads, Poetics of Cinema by Raul Ruiz.

10. Pass it on. Open to all. Jmac have you done this yet?