CATCHING UP WITH FILM - THE QUEST FOR A PERSONAL CANON

I’ve always been a sucker for pub trivia, and I almost like creating trivia quizzes more than competing in them. The answers to the first nine questions are all connected by a theme, and the tenth is the theme. Feel free to share this quiz, and no Googling when you’re trying it! (What’s the fun in that?) Answers will be posted next week with the newest quiz. This is the heavenly body closest to the sun. Homer sent a famed Greek warrior on a ten year journey in this epic poem. The petals of a flower are collectively known by this Latin term, which approximately means little crown. This cream filled donut is named after a state in Southeastern Germany. This Spanish girl’s name comes from a tra

I’ve always been a sucker for pub trivia, and I almost like creating trivia quizzes more than competing in them. The answers to the first nine questions are all connected by a theme, and the tenth is the theme. Feel free to share this quiz, and no Googling when you’re trying it! (What’s the fun in that?) Answers will be posted next week with the newest quiz. Fast food chain whose founder is Dave Thomas. He is the director of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. In olden times, a person who travels from place to place mending metal utensils as a way of making a living. This famous TV show features the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. In a song, the part that is supposed to catch the ear of

Inspired by the 1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die, Edgar Wright’s 1000 favorite films and other lists, I am striving to come up with my own personal canon of films. I am slowly realizing that social satire is my favorite genre of film. Perhaps it is the presence of many people in my life who urge me to never just blindly accept the status quo, or perhaps the genre appeals to my basically cynical nature - that things can never be as good as they purport to be. I prefer to think that, when these movies are done well, they can be extremely entertaining, yet shake their viewers out of their complacency and see the world as it really is and that there will always be a need for satirists because

Inspired by the 1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die, Edgar Wright’s 1000 favorite films and other lists, I am striving to come up with my own personal canon of films. Art that explores the disparity between the very rich and privileged and everyone else exists in all culture, but other than American and Korean culture, I have been fascinated by just how pronounced this disparity is in British culture, a country with one of the most influential monarchies in world history and for a long time, the most powerful force of imperialism in the world. In America, there has been much discussion and conflict over the one percent and the lopsided distribution of wealth since time immemorial, but time i

I’ve always been a sucker for pub trivia, and I almost like creating trivia quizzes more than competing in them. The answers to the first nine questions are all connected by a theme, and the tenth is the theme. Feel free to share this quiz, and no Googling when you’re trying it! (What’s the fun in that?) Answers will be posted next week with the newest quiz. Maroon 5 song about staying in bed while it’s raining. The daughter in The Addams Family. The name of Robinson Crusoe’s native companion. Famous American movie that popularized disco and the Bee Gees. Book by Mitch Albom about his last few meetings with his former sociology professor who was dying of ALS. The nickname for the National Gu

Inspired by the 1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die, Edgar Wright’s 1000 favorite films and other lists, I am striving to come up with my own personal canon of films. Shakespeare has always been a tricky bastard to adapt. His works are so ingrained in Western culture that artists often treat his work with too much reverence, or they completely miss the point of his works entirely. I have seen too many adaptations of Shakespeare’s works, and my favorites, by far tend to be works that take the plays to new and brilliant extremes: Kurosawa’s Ran (King Lear), My Own Private Idaho (the Henriad). I’ve come to appreciate Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet in which, while the actors definitely do not get

Inspired by the 1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die, Edgar Wright’s 1000 favorite films and other lists, I am striving to come up with my own personal canon of films. Towards the beginning of Simon of the Desert, a man with no hands visits with his family the great saint Simon Stylites, who has stood atop a pillar for six years, six weeks and six days. He begs Simon for a miracle since he needs to provide for his family. Simon prays and the man’s hands are restored. Instead of crying out of gratitude or some other appropriate reaction to this miracle, the man immediately accepts his new reality and becomes all business, stressing the need to go back to work immediately. The first significant

I’ve always been a sucker for pub trivia, and I almost like creating trivia quizzes more than competing in them. The answers to the first nine questions are all connected by a theme, and the tenth is the theme. Feel free to share this quiz, and no Googling when you’re trying it! (What’s the fun in that?) Answers will be posted next week with the newest quiz. When life gives you sour fruits, you can make this. The legal age in most states to drink alcohol in public spaces. What seniors will experience around May or June. The year the Berlin Wall fell. When you have perfect eyesight you have this. Inception, 10 Cloverfield Lane and Insidious all belong to this movie genre. Passionate nickname

Inspired by the 1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die, Edgar Wright’s 1000 favorite films and other lists, I am striving to come up with my own personal canon of films. Woman of the Lake starts off with an intimate scene between two lovers, Miyako (Mariko Okada) and Kitano (Tamotsu Hayakawa), in bed. They are in their own world, so much so that Miyako allows Kitano to take nude pictures of her. It is an intensely claustrophobic, yet also voyeuristic scene, since the two are presented as objects of beauty that are meant to be memorialized on film. Yet the film soon breaks us of this illusion when Miyako’s purse is stolen as she is walking home, and soon, the thief makes it clear that he means t

Inspired by the 1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die, Edgar Wright’s 1000 favorite films and other lists, I am striving to come up with my own personal canon of films. Young Girls of Rochefort walks a fine line between frivolity and melodrama. It is a musical grounded in the real life, though people burst out in song, contrary to reality. The music is catchy, yet deceptively complex, while the lyrics are decidedly mundane. A less forgiving person might even call them trite. We are seeing the town of Rochefort at its best, when a fair is coming into town so of course the streets will be bustling with people and the whole atmosphere would be festive and colorful. Demy makes no attempt to hide t

I’ve always been a sucker for pub trivia, and I almost like creating trivia quizzes more than competing in them. The answers to the first nine questions are all connected by a theme, and the tenth is the theme. Feel free to share this quiz, and no Googling when you’re trying it! (What’s the fun in that?) Answers will be posted next week with the newest quiz. The Star-Spangled Banner, God Save the Queen and La Marseillaise are examples of what? The title of a series of children’s books in which the purpose is to find the titular character in often visually complex puzzles. (Looking specifically for the character’s name in U.S. or Canada) Famous Christmas carol by the Jewish Irving Berlin and