Liebster on a Deserted Island

Kate Gabrielle at Silents and Talkies answered my Liebster Award questions a while back, and she posed such fun questions herself that I've answered hers in return! I first answered them in her comments, but I had such a good time with them that I've decided to post them here too so I can illustrate them :-D

1. If you were stuck on a desert island with one actor, who would you pick? 

 John Wayne. He probably brought lots of books with him, so we wouldn't be bored for a long time. Also, he did know how to do a fair number of useful things like fishing and sailing a boat. Also, except when drinking, he was a quiet guy, so it's not like I'd be super annoyed by some chatterbox.

2. If you were stuck on a desert island with one actress, who would you pick? (Note - this is not necessarily your favorite actor/actress, but someone you'd want to spend months, years, possibly the rest of your life eating coconuts and building sandcastles with)

 Emma Thompson! She is such an intelligent, fascinating, funny person.

3. If you were stuck on a desert island and could only watch one movie on repeat for the rest of your life, which would you pick? 

Branagh's Hamlet (1996), as it's 4 hours long, and I always notice new things to think about when I watch it (well, that's true of all Hamlet adaptations, even bad ones, but his is longest, so hey, it would kill more time.)

4. If you were stuck on a desert island with any movie character, who would you pick? 

Illya Kuryakin, as played by Armie Hammer in The Man from UNCLE (2015).  I feel certain we would survive, and have fun doing so.

5. If you could watch a movie with any two actors/actresses stuck on a desert island together, who would you pick? If you've got some free time, elaborate a bit on the plot! 

Well, I would happily watch a movie in which Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) and Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) are stuck on a desert island. I expect that they were on a top secret mission to board an enemy submarine and rescue a kidnapped dignitary, but it went horribly awry, and now they've washed up on a deserted island with nothing but each other and their witty wits. Much bickering ensues, along with both Illya and Solo one-upping each other with their survival skills. All goes relatively well until Solo's surprise dessert of bananas en flambe sets all the banana trees on fire (for a special agent, Solo's not having a very special day), but that serves as a beacon for Mr. Waverly to rescue them with his helicopter. Gaby has already rescued the dignitary while the boys were stuck on the island, but she's very happy to have them back because their next mission is in the Arctic and she's not very good at driving dogsleds.

6. Who is the last actor you would ever want to be stuck on a desert island with (cough, Tyrone Power, cough)?

Colin Farrell. Gag.

7. You're stuck on a desert island with Edmund O'Brien. What actor shows up in a giant pirate ship to whisk you away to safety and/or a life of adventure on the high seas? 

Alan Ladd.  Obviously.  And I'll opt for the life of adventure on the high seas, thank you!

8. If you were stuck on a desert island with a movie cook, who would you choose -- Felix from Christmas in Connecticut or Mildred from Mildred Pierce? Who would make the most out of all the coconuts and tree bark? 

Felix :-D

9. If you were stuck on a desert island with me, what movie would you force me to watch? I can't get away! I can't escape! I HAVE TO WATCH IT! 

Haha! How about Branagh's Hamlet since I already have it with me?

10. You're on a life raft with Herbert Marshall, Joel McCrea and Laraine Day but your weight is sinking the raft. Do you: a) sacrifice yourself to save these three amazing actors or b) push one of them into the water. If you chose b, who did you push and why?! 

Save Joel McCrea! DKoren would never forgive me if I didn't. I probably would just jump overboard and swim to some other bits of wreckage.

11.If you could choose any movie animal to be stuck on an island with, who would you pick? Some ideas -- Asta, Lassie, Pongo, Perdita, The Pie, Cat (from Breakfast at Tiffany's) 

The Black Stallion. Every time.  The original book is the whole reason I'm obsessed with deserted islands!

Well, boy howdy. How cool is this?

That, my friends, is the title page image for my story.  So when you open up Five Magic Spindles, at the beginning of my story, you'll be treated to this image!  If you're on Facebook, you can see the pictures for the other four stories here.  They're all so cool!  But I like mine best, which is as it should be, I suppose.  I mean, mine has a cowboy AND a horse, and what could be better than that?

"The Man from Snowy River" (1982)

This has been my favorite film since I was two years old.  And I've already written a lot here about my relationship to this film, so today I will just review it briefly.

The Man from Snowy River himself is Jim Craig (Tom Burlinson), a young Australian man who is orphaned early in the movie when his father dies in an accident due to a mob of brumbies (wild horses).  

Jim Craig (Tom Burlinson)

Jim has to earn the right to live up in the mountains on his father's homestead, so he goes down to the flat country and winds up working for Mr. Harrison (Kirk Douglas), a wealthy American rancher.  

Mr. Harrison (Kirk Douglas)

Jim falls in love with his boss's daughter, Jessica (Sigrid Thornton), but Mr. Harrison hates mountain men, so he forbids the match.

Jessica Harrison (Sigrid Thornton)

Then this really valuable horse goes missing, and Jim is blamed for the disappearance.  To clear his name, he joins the group of men hunting down the horse, which has joined the same band of brumbies that caused his father's death.  And then a lot of amazing horse riding commences.  

The super-famous shot of Jim riding his horse down a steep mountain.

This is Jim's chance to clear his name, prove he's grown up and can live on his own up in the mountains, and show Mr. Harrison he can succeed at really hard things, thereby maybe earning his permission to court Jessica.  "Prove yourself" is a very important theme to me, though I'll never know if it's because of this movie, or if I love this movie because I was going to love that theme no matter what.

I love some of the costumes in this movie!  Jessica gets some very Victorian dresses, as does her Aunt Rosemary (Lorraine Bayly).  I managed to capture this, which shows off Jessica's bustle and most of Jim's usual outfit.

There's a scene or two where Mr. Harrison, his daughter, his sister-in-law, and some guests wear evening clothes.  They spend the whole time seated at a table, so this is about all you see of them, though you do get close-ups now and then.  I love all the period props in this shot too.

But Jim Craig and most of the men wear your ordinary Aussie-western apparel.

Jim meets his horse.

Jessica watches Jim return to the homestead.

The Harrison Homestead.

Is this a family-friendly movie?  Pretty much.  There are a handful of bad words, and there's a question about Jessica's true paternity, though I can tell you from personal experience that the latter flies right over the head of a small person.

Well, there you have it, a brief review of my favorite movie of all time.  I got to watch it over my birthday with one of my best friends, which was a great pleasure.  I'll leave you with one final shot of The Man himself, tipping what I consider to be one of the greatest hats in cinema history.

The Coolest Bathroom Ever

I now have the coolest bathroom ever!

See?  Add a self-adhesive border and transform a generic, boring bathroom into shiny awesomeness.

I don't recommend hanging these things while small people are around, as you may be tempted to mutter unsavory expressions under your breath.  But all in all, this turned out better than I'd expected, if not easier than I'd hoped.  I had to dunk the rolls in water for 10 seconds, which was supposed to moisten all the glue on the back.  Except it didn't, so I had to add more water to dry patches, which was awkward and messy.  But hey, it turned out cool and I didn't destroy anything in the process :-)

Day 30 - Your favorite film of all time

I have had the same favorite movie since I was two years old:  The Man from Snowy River (1982).

Yes, I really have had the same favorite movie for nearly 30 years.  I have never seen another movie that I loved more than this one.  Why?  It's not the best movie I've ever seen.  It's not the first movie I ever saw.  But I love it dearly.

The Man from Snowy River is inspired by a poem of the same name by A.B. "Banjo" Patterson, who is sort of the national poet of Australia.  He also wrote "Waltzing Matilda," the unofficial Australian national anthem.  I love the poem too, it flows magnificently and is really easy to memorize -- without trying, I've learned the first couple stanzas, and maybe one of these days I'll go ahead and learn the whole thing, which you can read here.

Tom Burlinson as Jim Craig, the Man from Snowy River himself

The movie is about a young man from the mountains, Jim Craig (Tom Burlinson), whose father is killed in an accident while trying to catch some "brumbies" (aka wild horses) to break and sell.  Jim can't make a living in the mountains on his own, so he has to hire out down in the flat country.  He winds up working for Mr. Harrison (Kirk Douglas), an American who made a fortune in Australia and is now a wealthy rancher.  Turns out Harrison has a twin brother called "Spur" (also Kirk Douglas) who was good friends with Jim's father, but is bitter enemies with Mr. Harrison.  And then, of course, Harrison has a beautiful, headstrong daughter named Jessica (Sigrid Thornton).

Sigrid Thornton as Jessica Harrison 

Jim and Jessica are attracted to each other, both being young and attractive, but of course it would never do for the boss's daughter to fall in love with the lowliest hired hand, right?  Anyway, Jim gets accused of stealing a very important horse and gets thrown off the place.  The horse has actually run away and joined the same bunch of brumbies that killed Jim's father.  The movie culminates with a glorious twenty-minute segment about lots of horsemen chasing down the brumbies to try to get Harrison's colt back.  Jim comes along, invited by crack drover Clancy (Jack Thompson) over Harrison's protests.  And, of course, no one can ride in the mountains like a born mountain man...

Jim Craig chasing the brumbies down the mountainside

I first saw it in the theater when I was two, and according to my parents, I loved it immediately.  From then on, one of my favorite things to play with my dad was "Jim and Jessica," which reportedly just involved Dad being the horse and me being Jim and riding around my room.

Jim and Jessica taking a break from riding around in the mountains

When VHS and VCRs were invented a few years later, this was one of the first movies my parents rented because I was still so nuts about it.  My mom had found the sheet music and would play the main theme for me every once in a while, and one time when they rented the video, she used a tape recorder to make me a recording of the opening and closing music.  On that tape, if you listen very closely, you can hear a little girl asking repeatedly, "When are the horsies coming?  When are the horsies coming?"

(Disney made a sequel in 1988.  I'm not a fan.)

The very first CD I ever bought was the soundtrack for this movie.  I've had the piano version of the main theme memorized since I was eleven.  I can replay the entire film in my head, word for word and shot for shot, any time.  I simply, absolutely, unreservedly adore it.

Burlinson and Thornton in 2009 reprising the iconic shot above.

But why do I love it?  I think by this point, it's mostly because I have seen it so often, I am best friends with all the characters, in a way.  Partly, it's because it inspired a life-long love of horses and Australia.  This movie has so many themes that resonate with me:  false accusations, forbidden love, proving yourself when others doubt your abilities... do I love the movie because of those themes, or do I love those themes because of this movie?  At this point, there's no way I can know.

In the end, I don't think I can really explain why I love this movie more than all others.  I just do.

And here endeth this movie meme!  Took me long enough, huh?  :-)

Jim Craig one more time cuz I love him.  And his hat.

Day 13 - Favorite childhood show

As a kid, there was only one show we watched on a routine basis, and it was already done airing and out on VHS.  In fact, it's the first show I saw every episode of.  That show is Five Mile Creek.  It's a little-known show that ran for three seasons on the Disney Channel from 1983 to 1985.  When I was a kid growing up in MI, we would watch two episodes every week, rented from the local video store.  I think we made it through all 39 episodes three or four times.

Five Mile Creek is loosely adapted from a Louis L'Amour book, The Cherokee Trail.  Only it's set in the Australian outback, not the American west.  It begins when an American named Maggie Scott (Louise Caire Clark) and her young daughter Hannah (Priscilla Weems) arrive in Australia in search of their husband/father, Adam Scott (Jonathan Frakes), who's already there hunting for gold.  He's supposed to meet up with them at the port, but he never does, so Maggie and Hannah find a temporary haven with Kate Wallace (Liz Burch).  Kate's just starting up a way station for the fledgling coach line, the Australian Express.  Kate asks Maggie to stay and help out until Adam comes to get her, as Kate's only help at the way station is a somewhat disreputable Irishman, Paddy Malone (Michael Caton).

Con and Jack driving a coach.

 The Australian Express is run by an Aussie named Jack Taylor (Rod Mullinar) and another Yank who came on the same ship as Maggie and Hannah.  His name is Conway Madigan (Jay Kerr), and he's an honest-to-goodness Texas cowboy and one of my earliest crushes.  These are the main characters, along with an orphan named Sam (Martin Lewis) and an old muleskinner pal of Con's named Ben Jones (Gus Mercurio) who join us later.  Eventually, in the later episodes, we also meet up with a former Pony Express rider named Matt Buckland (Shannon Presby) and a spunky sheepherder named Annie (a young and gorgeous Nicole Kidman).  And I can't forget Charlie Withers (Peter Carroll), the banker who grudgingly loans the Australian Express its start-up money.

Jay Kerr as Con Madigan

They encounter bush rangers, they fall in and out of love, they deal with all kinds of trials and tribulations, and they form a make-shift family in the process.  All that, with horses, a bit of gun play now and then (generally involving Con Madigan), and completely gorgeous scenery.  Because my favorite movie since I was 2 has been The Man from Snowy River, which is also set and filmed in Australia, I was primed to love this show, and love it I do.  I own the first season on DVD, and fervently wish Disney would release the other two seasons.  Meanwhile, I'm acquiring the VHS tapes of the remaining eps.

Nicole Kidman as Annie

Cowboy asked me why it's called Five Mile Creek.  It's because the way station is situated next to a creek called Five Mile Creek.  One can assume it is five miles long, or five miles from somewhere.  They never really explain, at least not that I can recall.

"Flicka" (2006) -- Initial Thoughts

Cowboy took me to see Flicka tonight. By accident. He thought he heard someone talking about it and saying it was really funny and involved rabbits... but I think they were talking about some other movie.

Anyway, Flicka is awesome! Totally in love with it! Probably my third-favorite horse movie now (after The Man from Snowy River and The Rogue Stallion). In fact, if I see it a few more times I might even start to like it more than TRS. Seriously, a good horse movie. In fact, just a plain good movie. Lots of family conflict, but without someone being evil. The dad doesn't understand his kids, but it's not 'cause he's bad or mean, just 'cause he's stubborn. It reminded me of the many times I went head-to-head with my own parents. I'm hideously stubborn, after all ;-)

As I believe John Ford once said, although I can't find the exact wording at the moment, there's no more beautiful image you can put on film than a running horse. And Flicka is full of horses. Lots of sweeping shots with nothing but horses and amazing Wyoming countryside. I want to move there right now, buy a ranch, and spend the rest of my life sweaty and dirty and smelling like horses.

Oh, and if they should suddenly decide to make a movie about my life right about now, Alison Lohman can play me. Totally. Can you believe she's actually a year older than I am though? Weird!