It's Rex Manning Day!

Stolen from Nicole.

The Movie Meme

1. Name a movie you have seen more than 10 times.
Ghostbusters. It was one of the ones my younger brothers watched over and over and over. Luckily, it's good and funny.

2. Name a movie you've seen multiple times in the theater.
Lord of the Rings: all three of them.

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie.
Viggo Mortensen

4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie.
Will Ferrell

5. Name a movie than you can and do quote from.
Empire Records, Shaun of the Dead, and Babe
(sorry, I just couldn't keep that to one)

6. Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs.
The Sound of Music

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with.
The Sound of Music, Grease, Rent

8. Name a movie you would recommend everyone see.
I don't really do this. People have very different tastes and I respect that. Since I've been going to the Sundance Film Festival for the past few years, I do get asked for suggestions from what I see. My recommendation from this year's fest for most folks to see is Rocket Science. It will have a limited release in the U.S. this coming August.

9. Name a movie that you own.
Well, there are hundreds, but I'll go with Sing Blue Silver, the 1984 Duran Duran tour documentary.

10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops.
David Bowie. Okay, not really surprising, but I like him as an actor too.

11. Have you ever seen a movie at a drive-in? If so, what?
Yes. The first movie I saw at a drive-in was E.T. More recently, I've seen Over The Hedge, Mission Impossible III, Forbidden Planet, and The Tingler from my car. Actually, I saw an indie film called Kill House at Eric's mobile drive-in last Friday.

12. Ever made out in a movie?
No, I can't say that I have.

13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Monsoon Wedding

14. Ever walked out on a movie?
Yes, in high school I walked out of Ice Pirates. There are so many more I wish I had.

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater.
Geez, what movie doesn't make me cry? Grace Is Gone, the John Cusack film I saw at Sundance this year. It was a great film, I'd recommend it, but yeah, I cried through nearly the entire damn thing. Before that, I think it was The Fountain.

16. What was the last movie you saw in the theater.
The Last Mimzy. It was okay.

17. What is your favorite/preferred genre of movie.
It really depends on my mood. I love a good comedy, but probably prefer dramatic as a genre. Followed closely by documentary.

18. What is the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
I remember seeing The Sound of Music, but I'm not sure if that's true so I'm calling my Mom to check my facts. (Confirmed!)

19. What movie do you wish you'd never seen?
Highlander III. I really should have been smart like Sarah, saved my money, and stayed home.

20. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?
Kung Fu Hustle

21. What is the scariest movie you have seen?
The Ring. Hated it.

22. What is the funniest movie you have seen?
Borat

Oh, and not that it was asked, but my favorite movie snack is popcorn (no butter) and a Diet Coke. And I like to sit in the middle of the theater, or Middle-Middle as I like to order my seats at the Arclight, my favorite theater.

Pam. Please call security!

So, as many people know, I'm a bit obsessed with The Office. I can't help myself. It's just so funny. However, that does not mean that I want to have real-life experiences similar to events on the show the very same week. I did not really appreciate some asshole spraying pepper spray into the intimate Henry Fonda Theater right when the band came on last night. Luckily, we'd been hanging out in the rooftop lounge area and were heading downstairs just as the Danish indie rock group Mew was hitting the stage. I saw several people rushing out of the theater, coughing and covering their mouths and noses. Once we got to the bottom of the stairs, it hit me too. Shit. My asthma is triggered by chemicals and I started coughing and wheezing, as my lungs constricted. When I have a bad attack, I tend to panic, which only makes it worse.

After hanging out by the open front doors for a bit and using my inhaler a couple of times, I could breathe again and we went inside, but on the opposite side. They had opened all of the doors and the air had cleared. I somehow felt violated though and pissed off that some jerk created such a scary situation. Security never found the guilty party.

Oh yeah, the band. I was not very familiar with Mew, aside from one song, "Comforting Sounds." Their Wikipedia ("the best thing ever") entry quotes them as saying they are "the world's only indie stadium band." They are loud, that's for sure and not necessarily a great match for the crappy acoustics at the Fonda. I can't say I have a new favorite band, but the performance was enjoyable (once I calmed down and could breathe) with some really interesting, and occasionally creepy, visuals. E describes them as having a very 70's prog rock sound, like early Genesis, which is I'm sure what drew him to them initially. Through in a dash of Metallica and you have Mew. Not to be confused with the Pokémon character.

Michael: I could go for an appeteaser. Do you have any bagel bites or something?

I complained to Ren that I needed some blog ideas. I wasn't fishing for questions from her, but she sent me some anyway. Of course, she admitted her ulterior motive of being able to answer the same inquiries and get a "free pass" for an entry. She is a clever one. By the way, her answers will most likely be much more in-depth and interesting than mine. That's how she rolls.

1. What is your favorite ride at Disneyland?
I'm really bad at picking favorites. Grrr...it's annoying that I make it such a hard task. It is really hard for me to pick just one, so I'm going to say the Indiana Jones ride with The Haunted Mansion following closely behind.

2. What is your favorite candy bar?
I don't know if a Peppermint Pattie is considered a bar, but that's my answer and I'm sticking to it.

3. What is your favorite breakfast, lunch and/or dinner? You know, the easy go-to one that you can always rely on making you happy and full.
Pizza, pizza, pizza. If there is cheese and sauce readily available, I'll make pizza toast, pizza pitas, pizza whatever. I'll even eat frozen pizza, such as Bagel Bites or Lean Cuisine's French bread pizza. My favorite pizza is thin, New York style, with pepperoni and the place I like the best is Albano's. I was bummed when they recently temporarily closed their Studio City branch, but I did get a $5 discount for driving over to Melrose to pick up a pie last weekend. I also really love the "Emerald Alien" personal size pizza at the Nova Express Cafe. I get it on a honey wheat dough crust. It has olive oil, mozzarella, pesto, and broccoli. Yum!

4. Who is your favorite cartoon character (or Muppet)?
I'll just go with Snoopy (and Elmo). This may be one of the easier "what is your favorite..." type questions I've been able to answer.

5. Do you have a favorite food that you are slightly embarrassed to admit? (It should be FRITO PIE!)
I am in NO way embarrassed by my love of an occasional Frito Pie. I also refuse to be embarrassed by my love of Peeps, which apparently is pretty well known at this point. I'll just put it this way...I haven't really had to buy any this season...people just keep giving them to me! I'm probably more ashamed of being such an incredibly picky eater and not liking so many things that I feel like I should enjoy like sushi (or most fish, really), meatloaf, eggs, milk, etc.

6. If you could have any kind of car in the whole world, what kind would you like?
This is a tough question because in spite of my obsession with Car Talk, I am not a "car person." I really, really wanted my little Scion xA and I love it. I guess if I could have anything though, I'd like something electric.

7. You know that phrase you had in the high school yearbook? Like they may have put it under your name or in your profile or something? The quote that was supposed to define and sum up your high school years? If you could write that NOW for THEN, what would you write?
Okay, I thought I had answers to more of these questions than I actually do. Um, I didn't have this in any of my yearbooks. I guess I'd say something like Once A Dork, Always A Dork. Maybe I'd paraphrase a song: I Was Never Cool In School. I Know You Won't Remember Me.

8. What is on your calendar this year?
The usual film festivals, pet related events, concerts, Comic Con, summer at the Hollywood Bowl, and as many free or cheap things we can find to amuse ourselves. The thing I think I'm most looking forward to is seeing The Police live this summer, which is something I've dreamed about for a long time. It may very well be the second year in a row that I don't fly anywhere, but we'll see...there is a small chance. Hopefully, there will also be some weekend getaways, but nothing is scheduled yet.
Turns out, Ren literally meant, what is on my calendar. Well, let's see...I always have several. I have my two standard wall calendars at home. The one in the office has Mr. Winkle (sounds kind of dirty, eh?) and the one in the kitchen has American Eskimo Dogs. For work, I have a Moleskine planner. I also have a Bad Dog desk calendar, but after an oral sex joke and a drug use joke, it just seemed inappropriate for my workplace (which involves children), I put it in my cabinet.

9. What summer movie are you most looking forward to?
This is a harder question that I thought, as I don't even really know what is coming out this summer. I'm am looking forward to the last Harry Potter book that's coming out, but you said movie. Hold on...I'll look it up...oh hey! Son of Rambow comes out on July 20th. I really want to see that. There was great buzz about it at Sundance, but I missed it there. I'm also looking forward to The Simpsons and Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. I forgot about both of those. And oh yeah...Hot Fuzz!

10. If you could give the 16 year old you a onesentence piece of advice, what would it be?
It's not you, it's him...he's gay, so move on and stop wasting your time.