Kris Kristofferson Drove Me Home Once

Happy New Year! This year has gotten off to a busy start and I suspect that I won’t have much time for blogging about film in 2010 since my interests are shifting more towards other things and I do want to focus more energy on my personal writing, art and photography. This does not mean I’m planning on abandoning Cinebeats but you can probably expect less frequent updates in the coming months. You can still find me posting semi-regularly at Mid-Century Living as well as at If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats. I also recently contributed some thoughts to an interesting piece written by Adam Hartzell for SF360 (in association with the San Francisco Film Society) titled Citizen Critics Found New Outlets, Faced Challenges in 2009.

I thought I’d kick off the New Year by contributing to two memes (masquerading as “awards”) that are currently making their way across the blogosphere. One is called the Kreativ Blogger award and no, I didn’t spell that wrong. I was given the Kreativ Blogger award by my generous fellow film blogger, Neil Fulwood of Agitation of the Mind. The other award is called the Zombie Chicken award and I was gifted this humorously titled award by Uranium Willy of Necrotic Cinema. Many thanks to them both!

Here are the rules you must follow after you receive the Kreativ Blogger award:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated

As for the Zombie Chicken award, it only has one simple rule but here are the funny details: “The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken – excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least three other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…”

Kris Kristofferson in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah; 1973)

First up, here are 7 things about me that you may find interesting if you haven’t heard them before. I tried to keep them all somewhat movie related:

1. The first actor (and professional musician) I ever met was Kris Kristofferson in the early 1970s. I was a very little girl living in Idaho at the time with my parents. My father was working as a forest ranger & firefighter and Kris knew some friends of the family. He drove me home one day in his pickup truck and I talked to him about Barbie dolls. What I remember most about Kris Kristofferson was his deep calming voice and the way he seemed to listen intently to my childish babbling about dolls. I also remember thinking that he had very large hands that seemed to engulf the steering wheel of the truck he was driving.

2. When I was in elementary school I wanted to be an actress and tried out for just about every school play. Unfortunately, I had (and still have) a terrible stammer so the teachers never wanted to give me any roles. I finally got a real starring role in my school’s third-grade stage production of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol when I was about 9-years old. I got to play The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come who didn’t have to say any lines. All I had to do was point my hand and look menacing in a black hood, which was a lot of fun!

3. My first movie star crush was on Elvis Presley. I got a tape recorder as a Christmas gift when I was 10 years old and I used it to record his films on cassette tapes when they played on TV so I could listen to them over and over again (this was before the invention of videotapes and home video recorders). Elvis was also my father’s favorite musician and he kept an incredible collection of original Elvis records. I still have few of them.

4. Popcorn with butter is my favorite movie snack but I try to only treat myself to it once or twice a year because it’s not the healthiest thing to eat. I also love Red Vines & Hot Tamales.

5. I once posed as an FBI agent during a Salman Rushdie book signing. The British Secret Service that was in charge of protecting the writer did not have enough people with them to secure a large book signing event so the bookstore where I worked asked me to stand guard by one of the store entrances and pretend to be part of the security team (maybe it was because I was studying & practicing kung fu at the time?). Naturally I agreed since I got to meet actual “secret agents” and that was a real thrill! I used Agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) and Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as my role models. Academy award winning actor Sean Penn was in attendance during my “performance.” I consider it to be my greatest acting achievement.

6. My family did not get a color TV until the late ’70s so for years I assumed that many color movies I saw were shot in black and white.

7. I try and collect vintage dolls based on popular actresses from the ’60s-70s whenever I come across a reasonably priced one and can afford to purchase it. Currently my collection consists of Linda Thorson (as Tara King of The Avengers), Angie Dickinson (as Police Woman), Lindsay Wagner (as The Bionic Woman), Twiggy (famous model and the star of Ken Russell’s The Boy Friend), Junko Sakurada (appeared in Japanese films such as Tokimeki), Agnes Chan (appeared in Hong Kong films such as Nian qing ren), Farrah Fawcett (as Jill Munroe in Charlie’s Angels, which I’ve owned since childhood) and Cher (singer and actress). Current dolls at the top of my “Most Wanted” list? An original Patty Duke doll made by Horseman in 1965 and an original Anne Francis as Honey West* doll made by Gilbert also in 1965. If you were considering buying me the perfect gift, one of these dolls would be it! (*Note: I finally got my Honey West doll in 2011!)

A snapshot of my Linda Thorson doll made in Japan during the 1960s

I’ve decided to cheat a little and combine these awards. I’m giving them both to the following 10 bloggers and they can decide which one they’d like to take. I suspect that some of these recipients have already received one or more of these awards so this should make it easier for them to follow-up if they decide to. Usually when I participate in these things no one seems to follow-up but here goes nothing…

1. Arbogast on Film – Arbogast makes every movie he writes about seem worth watching. Even when he apparently hates them.

2. Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule – The first person who left a comment for me here at Cinebeats.

3. Cinema Styles – Greg is everyone’s best blogging buddy.

4. Cossa Creek Cinema – For some strange reason whenever I’m thinking about a particular film, director, actress or whatever, Rick seems to be thinking about them at the same time and writing about them as well.

5. The Last Picture Show – I don’t own a Blu-ray player yet but Steve really makes me want one.

6. Coffee, Coffee and More Coffee – Peter is the only film blogger I know of that writes about Hong Kong musicals. Do I need to say more?

7. Eternal Sunshine of the Logical Mind – Bob watches a lot of Japanese films and so do I. If you don’t see me mentioning a new Japanese DVD release you can probably find Bob writing about it.

8. Self-Styled Siren – Lots of exciting stuff happening over at the Siren’s blog lately including discussions on films about Russia and a Film Preservation Blogathon.

9. Impossible Funky – Funky, fresh and dope.

10. Destructible Man – Hours and hours of fun.