The Stylish Blogger Award

Venus Armida of the blog "They Had Faces!" has bestowed upon the Monkey the "Stylish Blogger Award"—hey, good for me! Like the Monkey, Venus has devoted herself to, in her own words, "discovering, and helping others discover, the cool interesting world of silent films." A worthwhile mission, if I may say so myself.

According to the rules of the award, I have to post a link to Venus's blog, reveal seven facts about myself and pass the award along to seven more stylish bloggers. The first is easy (done), the last well-nigh impossible, the second is as follows:

1. I've been watching the animated series Archer on FX recently. A cross between James Bond, Charlie Sheen and Brewster Rockit, Sterling Archer is the sort of spy who can't quite grasp why it's not a good idea to loudly announce he's a spy everywhere he goes.

"M as in—what?!"
"Mancy. What'd you think I said?"
"Nancy! You idiot!"
"Oh. Yeah. I could see how you might—"
"Tell me what to do!"
"Uh, do you have parachutes?"
"No!"
"Because that would be, you know, problem solved."

The entire first season is available for instant streaming on Netflix.



2. Speaking of Cold War jibber jabber, I ran across this photo on Unexplained Cinema, a blog I follow and that you should follow, too:

Yes, I used to tell my toys the same thing, but I recently had an epiphany, that our solar system's sun will one day burn out and when it does, the human race will vanish from the universe like a soap bubble, which not only means that the whole of human endeavor is completely pointless, but also that I can safely skip my law school reunion later this week. Win-win.

3. By the way, the kid is reading from the wrong text—this is Marxism for beginners:

4. No, actually the epiphany was, as Thomas Boswell put it in the Washington Post sports section this morning, "Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you have." And I woke up recently and realized I am a happy man. Probably after napping with Katie-Bar-The-Door while watching The Thin Man for the hundredth time.

"Nickie, can you reach the water? No, I just—I don't want it. I just wanted to be sure you could reach it."

5. Just to underscore that I'm not a nihilist, I built this train layout for my brother's kids a couple of Christmases ago:

Nihilists rarely build train layouts for their brother's kids, especially at Christmas. It's like a rule or something.

6. Speaking of brothers, I have two, which you may have surmised from careful reading of this blog over the years. My older brother is the one who lives in Auburn and saw the Beatles play live. My younger brother has played drums and guitar live with some of the finest session musicians Nashville has to offer—which is to say, the finest in the world. As our former neighbor and lifelong friend Bobby Bare Jr. once sang, "In Nashville, Tennessee ... the world's greatest living guitar pickers can deliver you a pizza." Talk about the boulevard of broken dreams!

7. And lastly, a family portrait:

I'm more of a speak-no-evil kind of Monkey myself, but I've seen and heard plenty. And I keep meticulous notes. So don't get any ideas.

As for passing this award on to seven more bloggers, well, that's easier said than done—I follow something like 160 blogs and I like them all. There are a few, however, I owe a favor for various reasons; perhaps this will balance the books:

Zoe at The Big Parade who once tagged me with the Kreativ Blogger award.

Hanner at Hanner's Blog Mmkay? who inspired one of my own favorite posts.

Who Am Us at Who Am Us Anyway who inspired the "Missed It By That Much Award."

Movie Nut 14 at Defiant Success who inspired the Movie Nut Trivia Award.

Mister Muleboy at The Mouth O' The Mule who buffaloed me into writing this blog in the first place.

Monty at All Good Things because, dammit, you need to get over there and vote in the 1960s bracket of the March Madness greatest actress tournament.

and Ginger Ingenue at Asleep In New York who has haunted this blog of late during her late night bouts of insomnia.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't check out The Vintage Vamp, Erik Beck (of the Boston Becks), Carole & Co., whistlingypsy at Distant Voices and Flickering Shadows, The Lady Eve's Reel Life, Dawn at Screwball Cinema, Thingy at Pondering Life who is practically family, Plain Chicken who is family, and hundreds of others who I encourage to leave a comment and demand a plug for their blog.

Postscript: Oh, and I forgot to mention KC at Classic Movies! Now I know why acceptance speeches at the Academy Awards run so long.

Oh, well, God bless what's his name, to quote Julie Andrews.

Post-postscript: ... and Page at My Love Of Old Hollywood, and Clara at Via Margutta 51, and Pink Champagne For Dancing and Sketches and Other Thingies and Classics Forever and Dr. Heckle and Flappers and Flickers and ... Lord, I read a lot of blogs.

P.P.P.S. ... Oh, and Cool Beveridge and She Blogged By Night and Open The Pod Bay Doors, Hal and Film Noir Photos ... cue the music.