Four Movies

So this morning, I read an article on the A.V. Club that asked what four films define you.

Now, this isn't supposed to be your favorite movies, but those that helped make you who you are.

So let's see...

Star Wars (1977)

Superman (1978)

The Princess Bride (1987)

... and, hmmm.  Let me think.

So, let's start with Star Wars.  It shaped so many of my generation, but it became the center of so much growing up.  The toys were a collection to be completed, but I was forced to stop collecting midway through The Empire Strikes Back sets.  The music was everything to me.  It was what I listened to always.  John Williams became the standard against which all other composers were measured.  And then there was the beginning of the concept of what a Jedi is and what they can do.  Star Wars also began the slow trickle of science fiction into my life.  Surte, it's actually space fantasy, but it still piqued my interest.

Superman was a given that I would watch with my love of comics, but again there was more to it.  It was truly giving in to the hype that "You will believe a man can fly."  It was the amazing score again by John Williams with the main theme that I would use to test any new sound system.  Or for celebration.  And seeing my favorite comic book hero looking so real just kept me waiting to be a better person.

And speaking of being a better person, we come to The Princess Bride.  Released the autumn of my freshman year of college, it had everything Peter Falk's character promised: Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...  Fencing became very interesting to me, and I even took a weekend class on it.  The more I learned about it, the more amazed I was at the choreography in the movie.

My fourth is difficult because there are two that helped bring me into my groups of friends in Maryland for high school and California in high school and college.  The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension has to become a close fifth movie, but the true fourth is Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).

Monty Python had been something that I watched with my parents and their introduction to me of the movies was vital to those who became my friends.  In my high schools in Maryland and California, I bonded with other members of the marching bands.  It was where I first learned about the entertaining call and response aspect of reciting lines.  In college, that was only reinforced.  And then there's just the whole structuring of my sense of humor.

Movie Anniversaries

So, decades are big for us because we've got ten fingers and so use base ten.

I found out early in the year that there are two films that were big influences on my life that have nice round numbers associated with the time since their first release.  Today I saw that another movie also falls into that category, but it's not going to be quite as hyped as the other two.

I learned about these two movies reaching their 40th and 30th anniversaries from FathomEvents and TCM.

The oldest at 40 years is "Smokey and the Bandit".  This was absolutely my favorite movie as a kid.  It was one of the first movies my parents and I watched when we came to California.  I had a competition with my neighbor on who could see 100 black Trans Ams first.  When the movie came out on Showtime, we taped it on VHS, and I watched it whenever I could.  It became one of the first movies that I could quote along as it played.

The next movie at 30 years is my absolute favorite movie "The Princess Bride".  THis was a movie I watched with my mom at the theater in Sun Valley Mall.  I know playing the soundtrack pissed my first college dorm roommate off to no end.  I wore out two VHS tapes (purchased this time), before DVDs came out, and then my first Blu-Ray was a copy of this movie.  This is another one that I can quote along with the movie.

At 20 years old, "Chasing Amy" was the first Kevin Smith movie I saw in theaters.  It was a whole new perspective on things and shifted much of my views on things.  I've since seen almost all of his other films in theaters.  It's not a TCM classic movie yet, but maybe someday.

There were a lot of cool movies that came out 10 years ago: "Enchanted", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Stardust", "Across the Universe".  However, none of them left the same mark on me that the previous three did.

Music Thoughts

Yesterday, Mark Knopfler's song "Going Home" from the "Local Hero" soundtrack came on my iPod.  I think I listened to it four times.

When touring with Dire Straits, Knopfler used to close the concert with that song.  I first heard it as the last song on the live concert album Alchemy.  It's an amazing song.

And actually the entire "Local Hero "soundtrack is interesting with some very touching portions.  And listening to "Going Home" you can easily see why he was chosen to do the soundtrack for "The Princess Bride".

It's Just Not Done

So, today I found myself struggling a bit with using what I feel is the correct word.  I discovered that popular culture has limited me on the words that I feel comfortable using.

I do not like to use the word "assume".  Essentially this goes back to an old episode of "The Odd Couple" when Felix is on the offensive in court.  The man he's up against states that he assumed that something had happened.  Felix latches on to it and writes the word "ASSUME" on a chalkboard.  He then circles three parts of it saying, "When you assume, you make and ASS out of U and ME."  This was one of the funniest things I had heard at that time, and it really stuck with me.

Then of curse there is Yoda.  A geek never "tries" to do anything.  For as the master says, "No!  Try not.  Do or do not.  There is no try."

Sean Connery fans would never do their best.  "Losers always complain about doing their best.  Winners go home and fuck the prom queen."

When a person asks how you think they did, you don't tell them " That'll do," because likely in the back of their mind they'll hear, "...pig." at the end of it.

And what is the best way to acknowledge a request made by someone you love?

"As you wish."

Chapter One, The Bride

I've said before that while I do get up early, I do not quite rise at the same hour as Ninja Space Monkey.  This morning as I was getting in the elevator at the hotel (yes, still in Lodi), I received a YIM beep.  NSM has sent me a link to a webcomic that we regularly read: Alina Pete's Weregeek.  Specifically, today's strip:

Now anyone who knows me and/or has read this blog, has surely discovered my deep and abiding interest in "The Princess Bride", and I have read the book as well.  I even wrote in for the bit that William Goldman teases about.  I think I have the letter folded up inside the book.

But this was my movie in college.  As I've said, I wore out two VHS tapes watching it before I got the DVD.  Becasue of this, NSM told of a coworker of his (and future coworker of mine) as a teller at Wells Fargo who tried to stump him with a quote.  I'm not sure of the quote itself, but it wasn't an altogether obscure one.  NSM threw out the countersign with a bit of derision, and asked the guy if he didn't realize how many times I had watched it.  NSM would watch it with me, but while he was working on our next game.  He picked up a lot on a subconscious level.

Happy Halloween

Maybe I've said this before, but my favorite single movie is William Goldman's "The Princess Bride". And my costume this year is the Dread Pirate Roberts. ("No one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Westley.")

I've got my Faire shirt and pants, plus my sword belt and sword, but I've added a sash to the belt, gloves, and a headscarf. Plus I made my own mask. Oh, and I shaved my beard to a thin moustache. I promise to post pictures once I get some taken.

And to get me into character more, Jennifer insisted we watch the movie last night. I was finishing some things up for the party on Saturday, so I skipped the beginning, but came in for my favorite part: the sword duel. ("I do not mean to pry, but you do not happen to have six fingers on your right hand?")

Between the training and choreography, and Mark Knopfler's soundtrack, that is an incredible scene. And it pays tribute to the classic sword fights of Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power.

And the rest of the movie is so much fun.