AMA Answers #1: Eva, Movie Critic, and Quiggy

Good morning!  It's time to start answering all the charming and intriguing questions you've all asked me in response to my AMA post.  As promised, I'm sharing my first vlog attempts!  I'm answering one question from each person in vlog form, and the rest as regular blog posts.  I got so many questions, I'm just going to answer three people per post, so there will be multiple posts!  And multiple vlogs, one per post.

Also, if you had questions for me, but never got around to asking them, post them on the AMA post before the end of this week, and I'll add them to the ones I'm answering :-)

Here we go!

Eva asked:

Who is your least-favorite superhero?

Cyclops.  I don't like him in the comics I've read, I don't like him in the first set of X-men movies, and I don't really like him much in the second set of X-men movies either.  In the comics, he spends all his time moaning and weeping over the fact that he's rich, handsome, gifted, and loved by this woman he loves back.  In the first movies, he's snotty and always mocking my Wolverine, which is Not Allowed.  And in the second movies, he's just.. boring.

A book you consistently recommend to people?

Pretty sure I've recommended Jane Eyre and The Outsiders to basically everyone I know.  Whether or not they would actually like them, heh.

Favorite Glenn Ford movie? Role?

My fave movie of his is 3:10 to Yuma (1957), and my fave role is Richard Dadier in Blackboard Jungle (1955).  Haven't seen any to top those yet.

How many adult coloring books do you own?

See vlog at the end of this post :-)

What's your favorite sound?

Possibly sleigh bells.  Or horses hooves striking hard-packed dirt.  Or the noise that mens shoes make on hard floors in old movies.  Or a really good, bright (but not too brash) trumpet.

What's your favorite Bobby Darin song?

"Mack the Knife."  It's actually the song that led me to listening to his music, back when I was like 16 or 17.  For some reason, we were watching like a Boston Pops thing on PBS, and they did this cool rendition of "Mack the Knife" and talked about the history of the song and famous recordings.  I thought it was the neatest song ever and really wanted to hear it again.  So I got all obsessive about listening to our oldies radio station and hoping they'd play Bobby Darin's version it.  And they just never did.  For months.  Even though I knew I'd heard them play it before, but not paid much attention to it.

So I broke down and bought a cassette tape of his "greatest hits" that had it.  And the first time I listened to that tape, like four songs in, I knew I was falling deeply in love with that voice and that my life would never be the same.  Yeah.

Twenty years later, I'm still not tired of that song.

Movie Critic

Least favorite movie?

That would be The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974).  A friend talked me into watching it with her on Halloween when we were in college, and NO.  Just... no, no, no.  I've worked very hard for years to scrub it out of my brain, and still haven't quite succeeded.

Least favorite book?

This is a harder question!  So I was thinking that I didn't really have one least-favorite book, and I started making a list of five I really very much dislike, but then I realized that actually, I do.  I hate, loathe, and despise Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

Favorite post you have done?

My 100% made-up review of a film noir adaptation of Hamlet called Murder Most Foul.  I'm still really wish that movie existed, and I enjoy re-reading it from time to time because it's just so fun!

Plus, how crazy is it that I cast Alan Ladd as Hamlet in that before I was in love with Alan Ladd?!?

Favorite book you've written (Mwahaha)?

My sixth novel, Fickle Creek.  It was the first novel-length western I wrote, and the first truly YA book too.  I really love the characters and story, and one day I will get it out into the world.  It needs some pretty heavy-duty revision, though.

Favorite blog party you've hosted?

My annual Tolkien Blog Party over at my book blog, The Edge of the Precipice.  This year was the fifth one, and I look so much forward to it every September.

Favorite hobby?

Day-dreaming.  I can never spend enough time day-dreaming.  It lets me work on stories any time, any where.  It lets me imagine myself in situations I'll never experience "for real."  It helps me work through problems of all sorts.  I really love to day-dream.

Fun fact about you?

See vlog below :-)

Least favorite LotR book (Mwahaha, there isn't one!)?

Actually, there IS one!  I have to force myself to read Book Four, aka the second half of The Two Towers.  It goes on and on and on, and the only way I get through it is to focus on Sam's character growth.

Have you ever read the Chronicle of Narnia, if so favorite one?

Yup, I've read all the books twice, and I've read The Horse and His Boy probably five or six times.  It's definitely my favorite.

If not, favorite series?

I'll just answer this one too :-)  My favorite series would be the Sherlock Holmes canon.

Quiggy

If you had 20 Alan Ladd movies, and one friend took 10% of them, and another friend took 20% of them, how many friends would you have left?

See vlog :-)

THE VLOG!

Okay, that's it for today.  More answers coming up in a day or so!