47 Great Things About this Past Year

Today is my birthday!  And more than that, it’s my 47th birthday.  What does that mean?  Well, it means I’m getting on a bit, I guess.  And it means it’s only three years to 50.  It means I’m closer to 80 than I am to when I was born.  Goodness.

But as regular readers know, 47 is my favorite number.  Even if I don’t think it’s really all that important, I’ve decided to celebrate it a bit, and one of the small ways is to write this post.  Looking at the last year–June 7, 2016 until today–what have been some of the great things?  Some of the things I’ve really enjoyed or appreciated or been grateful for?

47 Movie Blogs #47 – Great Movie Moments Where Victory is Snatched from the Jaws of Defeat

An exciting victory by the hero–one that is clever, resourceful and maybe most of all, unexpected–is one of my favorite things about a good adventure story.  For this post, I’ve been asked to write about some of the best ones.

So, I was Interviewed…

It doesn’t make me famous or anything, but a while ago a fellow blogger, whose work can be found over at https://scifipie.me/my-blog/, must have come across some of my movies and I decided to ask me for an interview.  He just sent me a list of questions to answer in an email, so it wasn’t very interactive, but it was the first time I’ve discussed my filmmaking at length with a complete stranger, so that was interesting.  I also mention in it a few projects that I was hoping to have completed soon at the time, which are still not done, so that’s a bit sad.

Anyway, the results of this have just recently gone online, and you can read them here.

47 Movie Blogs #46 – Movies That I’m Embarrassed to Admit Made Me Cry

I think that I probably cry more than the average guy.  Or at least more than society assumes that guys cry.  In fact, I find I cry pretty regularly in movies, and not always at the saddest bits.  Sometimes it’s when something happens that has to do with fathers & children.  And often it’s as I’m simultaneously criticizing the film for its emotionally manipulative storytelling.

And while it’s rare that I’m genuinely embarrassed about crying in a movie, it does make me feel a bit uncomfortable.  I guess I think it will look weird to my friends or my kids or whomever.  

47 Movie Blogs #45 – Movie That I Have Considered to be My Favorite

What’s your favorite movie?  Some people can answer that very easily, others have a hard time.

Answers I’ve heard from others to that query have included Fight Club, The Wild Bunch, The Mummy, The Princess Diaries (parts 1 & 2), Avatar, Good Will Hunting, and Step Up 2  .

But what’s my answer? That’s the question.

47 Movie Blogs #44 – 5 Favorite Historical Dramas

Ahh, the historical drama, a classic genre of film making.  Indeed, a favorite genre at Oscar time.  But today, according to the instructions I’ve been given, we’re going to limit the definition a bit.

47 Movie Blogs #43 – “Chick Flicks” That Guys Should Watch for Their Educational Value

So, right off the bat, I guess I should say that I don’t really believe in “chick flicks”.  I mean, I do, of course.  I understand the idea that some films are marketed more at a male audience and some are marketed more at a female audience.  And sometimes, for some people, that it is a really important difference.  “Chick flick” is a term generally reserved for movies that focus primarily on romantic or sentimental topics, and usually have a female lead character.

47 Movie Blogs #42 – Movie Recommendations for a First Date

What are you looking for in a film that you want to watch on a first date?  Maybe something funny?  Something romantic?  Or something a bit scary, in order to facilitate cuddles?

47 Movie Blogs #41 – Seven Movies That My Apocalyptic Bunker Would Be Stocked With…In the Darkest Timeline!

So the idea here reflects back on the entry in this series from 5 posts ago, where I talked about the seven movies I’d stock my apocalyptic bunker with.  You can read it here.  But in this case, it turns out that not only am I in the middle of some sort of global apocalypse, but also I’m in the darkest timeline.

47 Movie Blogs #40 – Great Opening Titles

In theory, I’m really into opening titles – the blend of music, movement and graphic design that tell you what the film you are watching is called and who all the cool people are who were involved in making it.  In practice, I often don’t remember them.  But when I was asked to do this blog-post, I found there were a handful that I could recall in a certain amount of detail, and with a certain level of fondness.