The Liebster Blog Award, Take 2

Kevyn Knox of The Most Beautiful Fraud in the World, and an actual movie historian and film critic, has bestowed on the Monkey the Liebster Award. Like me, he won the award way-back-when and now it has circled the globe and we've won it again. Since then, the award has gathered a lot of moss—questions to answer, questions to ask, and a pay-it-forward requirement, all in multiples of eleven.

Jeez-o-pete!

So first I'll interrupt my review of Mary Pickford's Daddy-Long-Legs to tell you eleven things about myself:

1) I am stuffed with fluff.
2) I have buttons for eyes.
3) I am a distant relative of the first sock monkey who was handcrafted in 1932 at the Nelson Knitting Company. Or so they say.
4) My father was Mighty Joe Young. My mother was Zira on Planet of the Apes.


5) Michael Nesmith was my favorite Monkee as a kid—I dig the stocking cap.

6) I figured prominently in a Kia car commercial, you know, the one with the song "How You Like Me Now" by The Heavy.



7) The "Mom" tattoo was a fake.
8) I did my own stunt driving.
9) The teddy bear threw up on me.


10) I hate the beer commercial that uses "How You Like Me Now"—so you can poke a hole in the can, so what?
11) John Lennon was wrong—everybody's got something to hide, especially me, the Monkey.


And now eleven questions from Mr. Knox, along with my answers:
1. What is your favourite film of all time? Casablanca—although these days I'm more likely to put The Thin Man, The Thing From Another World or Rio Bravo in the machine.
2. What was the first film you saw in a theater? In a theater? Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, maybe. I was very young.


3. What is your opinion on the Oscars? If they get it right, it must be an accident.
4. On average, how many movies do you watch per year? Dividing the number of movies I've voted on at imdb.com by my age, we get 116.9.
5. What is your favourite decade in cinema? The '40s? Although I spent most of the '70s in a movie theater.
6. If you could switch places with any movie character, who would it be? Off the top of my head, Robert Mitchum in The Big Steal, riding around Mexico with Jane Greer.


7. What is your favourite guilty pleasure movie? I never feel guilty about movie pleasure.
8. Audrey Hepburn - worthy of her hype? For me, yes, absolutely. See Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, Love in the Afternoon, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Charade. And other stuff, I'm sure.


9. How long have you been writing about movies? In blog form, since March 23, 2009.
10. Who is your most hated movie character? Possibly Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire. The only thing that makes me madder is the Delaware Toll Plaza.
11. What is your favourite movie musical number? Gene Kelly, "I Got Rhythm," An American in Paris


And now I'm supposed to think up eleven questions and bestow the award on eleven more bloggers.

Not a chance.

How about I ask you three questions and you respond in the comment section?

1) I met Katie-Bar-The-Door thirty years ago next month on, coincidentally, her birthday. What would be a good present?
2) What should I cook for dinner tonight? Will it require me to go shopping? (a two-parter)
3) What should we watch on television tonight? a) the Washington Nationals game; b) The Closer on the DVR; c) watch television? Don't you have a life? (multiple choice)