Professor Guy From Somewhere in Time's Late Year Quiz or Something

I've decided to do my own quiz because I've been thinking, "Why should Dennis have all the fun?" Besides, how hard can it be right? I mean, you throw together some questions, you hit 'post', you're done. Piece of cake.

First I gotta choose a name. Easy, that professor dude from Somewhere in Time that Christopher Reeve asks about time travel. I can't remember his name and I can't find a picture of that scene anywhere online and I don't own a copy so screw it, he now looks this as far as I'm concerned and his name is Professor Skippy. So far so good.



Okay, now for the questions. Answer them here or own your own blog or just make up your own quiz or just pretend you answered them. Either way, I'm good. And now for the quiz. Fire away:

1. Dinah Shore or Russell Crowe?

2. What was the last movie you saw on DVD? In a theatre? In a large abandoned warehouse with a Satanic cult in the corner trying to hold a ritual while yelling at you, "Hey man, turn it down!"?

3. Second favorite Carrie Henn movie.

4. The Cat From Outer Space. Yes or No?

5. If you were eating yogurt and I walked up and said, "Mmmm yogurt," then took a big spoonful without asking, then went, "Ewww, gross!" and spit it back into the yogurt cup, would you keep eating it? Why or why not?

6. Most misunderstood film of 1907.

7. When was the last time you punched someone in a movie theater? (submitted by Marilyn)

8. Marie Dressler or Robert Wagner?

9. Why do the ladies love Bill so much? (submitted by Bill)

10. Favorite movie with a scene where a t-rex terrorizes two children in an electric SUV stalled on a track while the lawyer that was in the car with them has fled to the bathroom and two scientists, one a mathematician and the other a prominent archaeologist, are in another stalled electric SUV behind them? Mine's Marty.

11. How many fingers am I holding up?

12. Jeff Conway or Hoot Gibson?

13. Movie you would like to see remade entirely with squirrels?

14. When will Larry Aydlette delete his current blog? Two months from now? Three months? Tomorrow?

15. Where have all the flowers gone?

16. Donna Pescow or Lloyd Nolan?

17. You know how in Casablanca Louis keeps his mouth shut about Rick shooting the stinkin' Nazi? Isn't that fucking awesome?

18. What in the hell is that awful smell?

19. So at the end of The Godfather after the door closes on Kay, Michael opens it back up and says, "You know what, I lied. I did order Carlo's death. Forgive me?" as he makes a puppy dog face. Then Kay says, "Oh okay, I forgive you. [wagging her finger in mock disapproval] This time! Hey, how about ham salad for lunch?" Michael says, "Sounds good. Kissie?" Then they peck a couple of times and rub noses while the other guys all pretend to look at the bookshelves. Then Kay goes off humming "Come on-a My House" while Michael says before closing the study door, "Who's up for a game of backgammon?"

Better ending, right?

20. 21st favorite question on this quiz.

Okay, that wraps it up. I hope everyone enjoys answering these brain-busters as much as I enjoyed thinking them up. Look forward to your answers in the comment section. Professor Skippy says, "Get cracking!"

Everybody was dancing in the blog-light

And what a warm light the blog gives. This blog was tagged by Marilyn, proprietor of Ferdy on Films and inventor of the dance blogathon. This time it's a meme concerning fifteen favorite dancers on film. Well here's the thing: I don't know if I have fifteen favorite dancers on film that wouldn't be everybody else's favorite fifteen but the good thing about memes is you can knead them and mold them into whatever you want. So I'm going to go with ten and not just ten favorites like Kelly, Astaire, Charisse and so on. Oh no that would be too easy. I'm going to go with the ten dancers I never got to see enough of for any number of reasons: they weren't glamorous enough for leads, they had a style not suitable to very many films, they weren't the right race to succeed in the classic era of Hollywood, and so on. They almost all succeeded gloriously on Broadway but Hollywood was another story. With that explanation allow me to now present the Cinema Styles 1st Annual Underused Dancers of the Silver Screen.

Gwen Verdon. She just didn't have the right face for Hollywood. Oh it was pretty and had an appealing over-bite and the hair was good and... but you know, she just didn't look like you're supposed to look to be a Hollywood glamour queen.

Ben Vereen. He's more known for his dramatic role in Roots than his dancing and it was his dancing, specifically the kind choreographed by Bob Fosse, that made him famous (if that sentence makes any sense please let me know). Thing is, in the seventies, musicals were box office poison. Vereen came about at just the wrong time.

Bob Fosse. Since he's so closely associated with the first two dancers on this list I might as well make him number three. His choreography is well known but his on-screen output is, like everyone on this list, tantalizingly small.

Russ Tamblyn. He was an incredibly athletic dancer. He could do the back flips, jump over a car and do full splits seven feet in the air without breaking a sweat. But he didn't light up the screen dramatically and had a boyish face. And that doesn't translate into dance idol success in Hollywood.

Michael Kidd. Again, like Fosse, his choreography is known but despite a few good roles he's not really as known. And he was around at a time when there was only room for one Gene Kelly.

Fayard and Harold Nicholas. They could move like no others but they were Black and it was the thirties and forties and if I have to explain to you why they didn't get any leads in big budget musicals coming out of MGM then your knowledge of Hollywood history is woeful.

Leland Palmer. (No, not the Twin Peaks character although I bet Ray Wise can really cut the rug if he wants to) Again with the Fosse but hey, he had a knack for finding terrifically talented dancers that didn't have perfect noses for Hollywood cinematographers to frame. So again we get tiny glimpses, mainly from All That Jazz.

Ann Reinking. Okay, I guess I should just rename this the 1st Annual Bob Fosse's Dancers List. Anyway, she did have the right nose but... well... she just didn't have much onscreen presence, but maybe that's because she kept getting cast in non-dancing roles!

Savion Glover. He's done choreography, tv and been in exactly one film, Tap. Let's face it, you come of age as a tap dancer in the nineties and you can forget about ever being immortalized on film.

Joel Grey. What the hell, let's make the Fosse circle complete. And really, outside of Cabaret and Dancer in the Dark, what the hell do the movies have to offer Grey in the way of dancing? Fortunately, he's a pretty damn good character actor. It's just too bad we couldn't have more dancing on film from him.

And that wraps up my top ten (although this one goes to eleven thanks to the Nicholas Brothers).

I now insist, nay, DEMAND that Bill, Krauthammer and Ryan come up with their own since they were whining about it the other day (and in Krauthammer's case, I just want a new post to go up, period). In fact, they have to list their top 500(!) dancers in film. No. 1500! Get to it gentlemen, and Bill, Edward Woodward better be on your list. Thank you.

_______________________

p.s. - Since Marilyn put videos of all of her selections up and I didn't I feel I have shortchanged you. Please view this, perhaps the greatest dance routine ever committed to film, as a catch-all proxy for the missing videos above.

Alternate Reality: Blogging in the Seventies

10 >> Hi everyone, no time for a full post today as I have a
20 >> hot tub party to get to and I can't be late again.
30 >> Just wanted to throw some links out there for all
40 >> of you who couldn't access the comp lab last week.
50 >> First off, Rick at Junction817332alt/loc.glc/systems has
60 >> a great post up on George Segal where he wonders if
70 >> any other actor will ever be as big a star. The title
80 >> of his post is "Golden Boy."
90 >> Next up Marilyn at glob/sys/344/msmovie has a great
100>> write up of last year's SILVER STREAK. She swoons
110>> over Gene Wilder and says, "Jill (Clayburgh), you are
120>> one lucky lady!"
130>> Jim Emerson uses a projector and film reel at the AV
140>> center on the north side of campus to explain why
150>> LOGAN'S RUN is a bad film based on a three second
160>> clip he has obtained and dissected frame by frame.
170>> That anonymous merry prankster Arbogast has
180>> another post up about Dolly Parton and Uschi Digard
190>> and wonders who would win in a "Boob-Off" contest.
200>> Dennis Cozzalio is going to be an extra in a college
210>> based comedy next year called, get this, ANIMAL
220>> HOUSE. Could that title be worse? Take a picture
230>> Dennis because this one's going to come and go if
240>> you know what I mean.
250>> And of course there's me. Don't forget to check out
260>> my seventeenth post on STAR WARS, the most awe-
270>> inspiring masterwork the cinema has yet produced.
280>> I uploaded it to the main-frame at the computer lab
290>> yesterday. In it I discuss how Luke Skywalker
300>> played by Mark Hamill (God what a performance!)
310>> could be taken as a stand-in for Bob Woodward and
320>> Carl Bernstein and Darth Vader as Nixon. You
330>> probably don't see how that could possibly work
340>> but it does! Really! Anyway, I've got to go.
350>> MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU - ALWAYS!

A Diamond as Big as the Ritz

That's the world of blogging to me, to borrow a phrase. I try to add my little chips to it but it's huge and sometimes can feel so overwhelming I find myself struggling for survival like John T. Ungar trying to keep himself alive in the unsurveyed hills of Montana. There is much to be done and much that is being done.

There are two upcoming Blogathons that I will be participating in that I am very excited about. One is the Invitation to the Dance Blogathon hosted by Marilyn Ferdinand at Ferdy on Films, Etc. I have my posts all ready to go with clips in tow. As with all blogathons there is an apprehension on my part that my entry will be duplicated by several others. You think, "I don't want to do something too obvious but if I go for cutting edge, how many others will too?" It's the same feeling you get when you're stuck in traffic and think, "A-Ha! I'll turn down this little known sideroad and run end-around everyone!" Then you turn and realize 17,346 other drivers had the same thought.

It's one of the reasons I never know when to post in a blogathon. Should I do it the second it begins so I'm out there first or should I wait a few days and see where everyone's going with it? I must be the only blogger on Earth that actually gets anxious about Blogathons. I can't even imagine hosting one.

The other blogathon will be Cerebral Mastication's Indiana Jones Blogathon from May 16 - 23, hosted by Ali Ariken, CM's Blogger and frequent Scanners and House commenter. This one is a little different for me for one big reason. This blogathon is centered around the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and I am probably one of the few cinephiles who is not looking forward to its release. I know that plenty are and I know that plenty found the trailer exhilarating but I did not. I loved the opening where Jones is introduced with his silhouette against the car as he puts on his hat. And then it took on the look of CGI cutscenes from the latest PS3 game and my heart sunk. It looked too hyper kinetic, too rushed, too fake, too... 2008. But that's the great thing about a blogathon. I get to write about the Jones character, or serials of the thirties, or my favorite adventure movie and how it relates. I don't have to write about The Legend of the Crystal Skull for which I am grateful. However, I should make it clear that I am holding out hope that it will be a fun time at the movies, although nothing could match the experience I had as a young lad seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark in the theatre upon its release. Still, I've got hope. It's just that with the trailer and the fact that I fear Spielberg's heart wasn't in it (just a sneaking suspicion that he did this more for Lucas and Ford than himself, having devoted more time to less action oriented projects lately) my hope is quite thin and dangling by a thread.

As for me nothing's different here although I am dividing up my time creatively lately (another reason I had to streamline things with my blogging). I'm working on a couple of films right now. One centers around movement in film and is very time consuming but thoroughly enjoyable to do. I had hoped to have it ready for the Dancethon but it will take at least another month. At least. The other is a fiction piece that you probably won't see at all because it would require putting myself in front of everyone in connection with this blog and that's not something I'm willing to do yet. But for those who know what name to search on YouTube, hopefully it will be fully edited with music compositions added and up by the end of summer. As for video posts here I haven't forgotten about them, I just haven't had a performance or actor that I've felt like doing recently but when I do, it will be video post, as promised.

So that's my biweekly Monday update. And if you live in Pennsylvania (and it seems like an inordinate amount of movie bloggers do) be sure and vote tomorrow in the primary. Everyone will be watching. Everyone.