The Sunshine Blogger Award

On By Ola GIn meta, movie, Ola, tag

sba2

As you can see, Re-enchantment got its first blogging award 😉 Big thanks to bookorbit for the nomination!

Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
2. Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
3. Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
4. List the rules and display the sunshine blogger award logo in your post/or on your blog.

I received only one question, thankfully, so I will answer it and then proceed in bending the rules even further 😉

What’s your favourite movie of all time?

Here’s a surprise 😉 For all my love for fantasy and science fiction, my favorite movie is actually far from the regular hunting grounds of this blog. I don’t claim it’s a grand, groundbreaking piece of cinematic art, nor the best movie I’ve seen – but it’s a wonderful, lyrical, small film which never fails to lift me up.

David Lynch, The Straight Story (1999)

Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania lynch straight story

As the title suggest, the story is straight as an arrow – a chronicle of a journey of a seventy-something man on a lawn mower through the US Midlands, from Iowa to Wisconsin, to visit an ailing, estranged brother. It’s also a story of one Straight, Alvin Straight. That’s all there is to it, really – and, I dare say, if not for an accomplished director and an incredible performance of Richard Farnsworth in the titular role, it would have been a forgettable experience the type of, say, The Bucket List.

Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania lynch straight story
Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight

But Lynch took a leap of faith and believed in the strength of simplicity, transmitting the message of the movie with surprising restraint, without his trademark darkness, quirks or embellishments, while the handful of supporting actors skilfully did their job and let Farnsworth become Alvin Straight. In this movie he behaves as if he doesn’t act, but just is on the screen, creating a truly extraordinary, wonderfully memorable role. Exquisitely filmed rolling vistas of the Midlands are accompanied by hauntingly beautiful music of Angelo Badalamenti, and everything conspires to make it a genuinely unique cinematic experience (provided you don’t fall asleep or leave the room in the first fifteen minutes! ;). Because, let’s be honest, after all it’s a movie about an old man traveling on a lawnmower with the terrifying speed of 5 Mph through the least exciting part of the US!

All right, now to bending the rules ;). For those poor souls that I nominate I have only one question, but it can have up to 11 answers :D.

Name (and, if you wish, describe) up to 11 books which influenced you the most.

 

Clarification: They don’t need to be the best books you’ve read – they should be the ones that stayed with you for years, changed your views on a subject, irritated you to no end… In short, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And the beautiful too!

 

And here’s the list of nominees (feel free NOT to do it ;)):

Chris at Calmgrove, Bormgans at Weighing a pig doesn’t fatten it, Derrick at Bookstooge, Maddalena at Space and Sorcery, Paula at Book Jotter, Erik at The Past Due Review, Lashaan at Bookidote.

Thanks All!

28 thoughts on “The Sunshine Blogger Award”

  1. Just as an FYI, you have to link to a specific page on a blog for that blogger to be notified. I usually link to someones “About” page or their latest post. It just helps them know you stabbed them in the back! 😉

    Liked by 2 people

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        1. Here you go then 🙂 A bit artificial, granted, but better than nothing 😉 Hope the weather gets better soon! I find that it always affects my mood as well – so a bit sun is always welcome! 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
    2. piotrek

      Thanks! We’re new to this. Also, I think we’ll concentrate on book reviews now, at least until the next Marvel movie hits cinemas 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. Hi you two, don’t be offended but I don’t usually do these award thingies, not because they’re not a lovely gesture (and indeed they usually are) but for other reasons, which are to do about my anxieties.

    First, it feels like a combination of phishing and pyramid selling which I’m uncomfortable with, even though it’s neither.

    Secondly, even though some questions (like the one you were asked) are tempting as well as innocuous I’d rather have control over what I reveal about myself in a post as I’m basically a very private person.

    And lastly … I’m anxious about nominating bloggers in case it feels like an imposition, possibly because that’s how it makes me feel! Does that make sense? But please note, I’m really chuffed and gratified you’ve invited me! 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

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    2. I’m with you Chris on that one! 🙂 As you can see, that’s our first such a tag and I’ve bent the rules of it a bit 😉
      I do feel a bit like backstabbing fellow bloggers by nominating them so I chose my favorites in hopes they don’t take it the wrong way 😉

      Liked by 2 people

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    3. piotrek

      Agreed! I’d say that such an insightful analysis of the phenomenon could be counted as a good enough reply… you’re off the hook as far as I’m concerned 😉
      Although I started to think about Ola’s question myself, maybe I’ll create my own list… how much do I remember about books that were very important to me in my teens? What was the last book I’ve read that felt really important? The game might be silly, but the quest is intriguing…

      Liked by 2 people

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  6. Thanks for tagging me! I appreciate the thought. Love your pick though. I’ve heard great things about David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and have that on my To Be Watched list (it’s just as insanely huge as my To Be Read list). 😀 The Straight Story sounds really good too!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. You’re welcome! The funny thing is that I actually don’t like Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, LOL! 😉 It’s beautifully filmed, with an evident painting imagination, but it’s a movie in which you as a viewer need to frame into coherent whole 😉 Plot and logic were definitely not the main concern here 😀 While in Straight Story the painting vibe is very much present, but tied to a strong, emotionally moving story arc. But do watch it for yourself – I’m very curious of your opinion!

      Liked by 1 person

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  7. Pingback: Literary influences – Calmgrove

  8. Thanks for the nomination! Somehow I didn’t see this, I only got here after following the link in Chris’s post. I have the feeling sometimes the WP reader on my phone doesn’t work 100% in showing new posts. Also didn’t get a pingback of you linking to my site or how do you call it. Nevermind.

    I’ll think about your question. If I can come up with an interesting answer, I’ll do a post, although it might take some time too.

    Good choice for a movie btw. I’m overtly fond of Elephant Man too, and Lost Highway was very influential for me as well. Have you seen the new Twin Peaks? As for Mulholland Drive: it’s pretty analyzable as plot goes, actually. You only need to see it 7 times and read up on it a lot online. 🙂

    I think my movie would be Heat. Fantastic acting, fantastic character development (even for nearly all the side characters) and great action scenes.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. You’re welcome! 🙂 WordPress does strange things sometimes 😉 I do hope you’ll have fun with the question – I’m guessing you’d have some interesting choices! 🙂
      I haven’t seen the new Twin Peaks, but as for the Mulholland Drive I’ve read somewhere an interview with Lynch where somebody actually asked him what the movie was about. He answered something along the lines: “I don’t know. It was supposed to be a TV series pilot, and I hoped to know it by the final episode” 😉 I use this movie as an example of the reception model in mass communication where as an independent receiver you create your own interpretation of the message.
      Heat is great indeed – the mirror characters of de Niro and Pacino are outstanding and phenomenally played, but so is the supporting role of Kilmer. An intelligent, character driven action movie – that’s a rarity!

      Like

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  9. Pingback: Patricia A. McKillip, Winter Rose (1996) | Re-enchantment Of The World

  10. Pingback: 11 books that influenced me the most | Re-enchantment Of The World

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