The Sunshine Blogger Award {2024}

Sally Silverscreen from 18 Cinema Lane has nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award!  Always a treat — thank you, Sally!

Like most awards, this one comes with a few rules:

1. Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog.
2. Thank the person who nominated you.
3. Provide a link to your nominator’s blog.
4. Answer your nominator’s questions.
5. Nominate up to 11 bloggers.
6. Ask your nominees 11 questions.
7. Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts.

Those noted, let's proceed to Sally's questions and my answers.

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1. You’re about to introduce someone to a film genre. Which movie will you choose as the respective introduction?

Funny you should ask; I just thought about this subject the other day.  I was re-watching Belle (2013) on a flight home and was impressed once again by just how fantastic of a period drama it is.  It really does have everything:  stunning cinematography, sumptuous costumes you could eat up with a spoon, swoony but genuinely substantial romance (with no spice!), AND seriously, objectively high-stakes political conflict at its center.  It's got all the staple trappings of your standard period piece, but defies any accusation of fluff or frivolity.  So, though I've said this before on here and I'm risking redundancy, I'll reiterate that I'd probably select this film if I were introducing someone to the period drama genre.  Chef's kiss.

2. What episode comes to mind when the subject of “bad” episodes from “good” tv shows is brought up?

GIRL, GET SOME POPCORN 'CAUSE I'M STILL SALTY ABOUT THIS.  

*SPOILERS*  Y'all know the 2010s fairytale melodrama Once Upon a Time, yes?  Y'all know my love for that show, yes?  Y'all know my specific love for one of the couples in that show, Emma and Killian, yes?  Well, do y'all remember what the creators of the show chose to do towards the end of season six?  Yeah, that's right — they turned Captain Swan's long-awaited, richly-deserved wedding episode into a musical, of all things! *END OF SPOILERS*

Don't even @ me.  Why television showrunners fall victim to the trap of this monumentally idiotic idea time after time is beyond me.  STOP TRYING TO SWITCH GENRES FOR ONE EPISODE.  IT DOESN'T WORK.  IT'S STUPID.  IT'S ANNOYING.  ARGH.

don't apologize to me, apologize to Them™ 😩

3. Which series (movie, book, or television) do you feel has gotten “too big for its boots” (a.k.a. overrated/unenjoyable)?

Ooh, tea time, I see. 😅  I'm not a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (with exactly two exceptions).  I've never been a huge fan of it, but for a while I chalked that up to personal preference rather than any kind of objective critique against the franchise.  Lately, though, I've lost even vicarious patience with it.  I think the MCU places too much emphasis on boring larger-than-life special effects in an attempt to compensate for a lack of actual narrative substance or value in its characters, its arcs, its stories in general.

4. If a location from a book, movie, or television show was your dream vacation, where would your travels take you?

So many fave locations, so little space to answer!  At the moment, I'm really feeling that a jaunt into Mossflower Country (from the Redwall series by Brian Jacques) or the Hundred-Acre Wood (from the Winnie-the-Pooh series by A.A. Milne) would work wonders on my poor nerves.

     

5. You have the opportunity to travel back in time and visit the moment you started your blog. What piece of advice would you give to yourself?

It's going to take a while to build your reader/follower community, but you can accelerate the process by proactively interacting with other bloggers whose work you enjoy/admire.  People won't know you're here unless you tell them.

Also, you should do that sooner rather than later, because there are some pretty terrific people out there for you to meet. 

6. If you could revive a defunct business/store, which one would you bring back?

Hmm . . . maybe FYE?

Update:  Google has informed me that FYE is not, in fact, defunct, except in my own little locale.  Ahem.  I apparently don't know of what I speak. 

I also can't think of another defunct business I'd like to resurrect, so just skip it.

7. With Halloween on the horizon, which character would you dress up as if invited to a Halloween party?

At this point, for simplicity's sake, I'd probably decide to put together a detailed "Disney bound" costume.  I like the challenge of translating an animated film character's look into ordinary, everyday, real-life clothing.  I tried my hand at bounding a few times back in the day, and it'd be fun to take another shot at it.

I might decide to just go with Violet Parr, since I already own a tank top with the Incredibles logo, and I already have long dark(ish) hair.

I could work with it

8. In honor of my upcoming blogathon, Cabot Cove-thon, which actor or actress do you wish made a guest appearance on Murder, She Wrote?

I actually have not yet dipped my toes into the waters of Cabot Cove, but I have a vicarious semi-affinity for the show through a friend who loves it.  So, I really can't answer, but I respect the question. 

9. On April 14th, 2024, Turner Classic Movies celebrated their 30th anniversary. Which film would you like to see the channel air more often?

We didn't have cable TV at our house growing up, and I don't have it now that I'm on my own, either, so my only experience with the channel has been in others' homes.  I mention that only to say that I don't know how frequently the channel airs various films.  But I'll go out on a limb and guess that they don't offer a wide variety of musicals all that often?  So maybe one of the slightly less popular Golden Age musicals.

10. You’ve been given a once in a lifetime chance to design a theme park attraction! But here’s the twist: the theme park attraction can only be based on a stand-alone movie. Which movie will receive the honor of getting their own theme park attraction?

Well, since I just re-watched it recently, how about The Fall Guy (2024)?  I could see someone — not I, but someone — brainstorming a really neat, crowd-pleasing attraction that gives visitors the chance to be their own stunt people.

(Also, if you haven't yet watched The Fall Guy, PLEASE go watch it.  It may actually be the best movie I've seen yet this year.  So good, so fun.)

11. You have the power to give your favorite character a podcast! Who will host the podcast and what will it be about?

Fun idea!  The favorite characters who spring to mind (Faramir, Beth March, etc.) aren't necessarily ones who'd suit a podcast, in my opinion.  But my favorite moments in the TV show Gilmore Girls are the ones when the residents of Stars Hollow are getting up to all manner of simple small-town shenanigans (in other words, the moments when the focus isn't the titular ladies' relationship drama). So, I'd probably tune into a podcast hosted by Lorelai and Sookie or Babette and Patty (or all four of them together!) if they were just gabbing about all the humorous townie happenings.  Maybe with some media commentary thrown in for good measure, like album/film reviews by Lorelai and Sookie and show biz anecdotes by Babette and Patty.

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Now for my nominees and their new eleven questions!  As always, please feel free to answer the questions even if I didn't specifically nominate you.  The more, the merrier! 😉

I'll nominate:

Katie @ I'm Charles Baker Harris (And I Can Read)

Chloe @ Movies Meet Their Match

Astrya @ Inkling Corner

Ivy Miranda @ Revealed in Time

And I'll ask them the following questions: 

1.  If you could live anywhere in the world, with money being no object and with your friends and family happily moving with you, where would you settle?

2.  What is an obscure book, film, or television series that you wish more people knew and loved?

3.  Who are five of your favorite musical artists at the moment?

4.  Do you prefer to travel by car or by plane for longer trips?

5.  Are there any classic authors whom you feel are overrated?

6.  What is your favorite holiday and why?

7.  Do you prefer warmer or cooler temperatures?

8.  What are some skills or hobbies that you don't have but wish you did?

9.  What is your favorite animal?

10.  Are you an early bird or a night owl?  Or an afternoon . . . I don't know, crow, let's say?

11.  What are you currently reading?

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That's all for now, folks!  See you next time.