A STAR WARS quiz

This was completed by Jaquandor. I’m going to do it anyway!

1. Which film is your favorite of the Original Trilogy?

I’ll steal Jaquandor’s answer, in part: “The one that started it all, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. I know, most people consider The Empire Strikes Back to be the greatest of the Star Wars films, but for me, it’s the first one that always has that special something, the one that took us into that amazing universe for the first time.” BTW, I HATE the retronym numbering and naming of the first film released.

2. If you enjoy the prequels, which one is your favorite?

I saw Episode 1 and was bored to tears. Never saw the other two. And while I wasn’t thrilled by Jar Jar, he wasn’t as offensive as I thought – or more likely, I was told beforehand how TERRIBLY offensive he was, and the actual wasn’t as bad as the anticipation.

3. How old were you when Episode 1 came out?

I was 46.

4. Which of the movies have you seen in the theater?

Four, five, six and one, i.e., every one I saw. I want to say I saw the original at the now-defunct FOX Theater in Colonie, NY, but have no idea about the others.

5. Did you go to any of them on opening night?

The original I saw MONTHS after it opened, but it was still playing first run. I doubt I saw any of the others opening night since the number of films I’ve seen opening night, or in preview numbers about five.

6. Who is your favorite character from the Original Trilogy?

Yoda. He’s green. And wise.

7. Who is your favorite character from the prequels, if you have one?

Obi Wan Kenobi.

8. Have you read any of the books or comics?

That Facebook "answer so many questions" meme

There’s one of those Facebook things whereby people are supposed to give you a number – is it randomly generated or does it have a deeper meaning? I have no idea – and you are to answer with that many previously unknown facts about you. Except that no one asked me. You might think this would be upseting me greatly, but you would be wrong.

So the number is 10, since my birthday is 3/7, or 7/3 in the civilised part of the world.

1. In third and fourth grade

Yer basic book meme

I’m not doing this because SamuraiFrog did it. I’m not even attempting it because Jaquandor completed it. I’m doing it because I haven’t written a blog post in five days, and MAYBE it’ll jump start the process. And what I have determined is that sometimes, my answers change, so I find that interesting.

1. Your favorite book:

I used to say the World Almanac, and it was probably even true. I used to devour it, at least the year in review section. But now…

Lisa thinks I’m a Liebster?

So Lisa decided that I “deserve an award for being darling; beloved, liked very much, favorite, pre­ferred above others, liked or loved above others.” And who am I to argue with her?

The rules are simple … post 11 random things about myself, and answer 11 ques­tions the sender asks, then tor­turetag 11 blog­gers and give them a set of 11 ques­tions to answer. The goal is to drive each other crazy help others dis­cover new bloggy friends. And we all need more friends, right?

11 new random facts that haven’t already been cov­ered (as far as I know):

1. I know lots of odd facts. But The Wife will almost always ask something about it and I’ll have no idea. For instance, I read about a couple married 81 years, and my wife will ask, “Where are they from?” I have not a clue. But I remembered he was over 100 and she under.

The blog at random

This is a thing I’ve been doing at the beginning of the year: pick a post for each month of the previous year, using a random number generator. See how well it reflected that year just passed. Pretty sure I got this from Gordon, who lives in Chicago, who remains the only non-local blogger I ever met.

January:

In 1969, I HAD to root for the New York Mets over the Orioles, and of course, the Amazin’s won.

(Re: Orioles manager Earl Weaver, who had died recently.)

The 2013 quiz

One of those year-in-review quizzes from Jaquandor.

Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Didn’t really make any, so didn’t have to worry about failing to keep them. But then I read Richie’s post and wondered if I’ve been doing it all wrong.

Did anyone close to you give birth?

No.

Did anyone close to you die?

The Normblog questions answered by Dustbury

Stolen from normblog

A couple months back, Dustbury wrote about Norm Geras, who died in October of prostate cancer, again belying the narrative that no one dies from it; my father did.

Chaz wrote: “In the online community, however, he may be best remembered for the normblog profile, in which he sent four dozen or so questions to leading bloggers and asked them to answer any thirty of their choice.” Here is a list of all the hundreds of bloggers who answered the call.

I had opted to answer the questions that Norm posed to Dustbury that Chaz deigned to answer.

Well, except that the next day, Chaz wrote Norm’s instructions:

“Please NB that you should not answer all 50 questions, but (as requested on the document itself) just 30 of them — enabling you to select those questions most congenial to you and leave out any that aren’t.”

Chaz added: “The wisdom of this practice really didn’t dawn on me until I’d submitted my answers, when I realized that this was how Norm knew what you really valued above all else.” Which means I’m going to chuck *Which English Premiership football team do you support? since it is NOT in my area of expertise.

But I will add some questions answered by John Green, but NOT by Dustbury, just because.

*Why do you blog?

Therapy is too expense.

*What has been your best blogging experience?

Getting comments about my grandfather, who died in 1980, years after I wrote about him.

*What has been your worst blogging experience?

Some haranguing guy at my Times Union blog who was complaining every day about something I wrote.

*What would be your main blogging advice to a novice blogger?

Find a schedule and try to stick with it. Once a week or twice a day, but be consistent. Three posts in a day, then nothing for three days isn’t as good as once a day.

*What are you reading at the moment?

What Your Reading Rules Reveal About Your Personality

OK, is that a pretentious title, or what? My “personality”? My preferences, maybe.

Anyway, the meme comes from Jeanette at Book Riot. Then Jaquandor did it, and added questions (after #5). SamuraiFrog did it, and added #9.

1. Always stop at the end of a chapter. Always.

Well, I’m not hung up on that.

50 signs of aging

The fine blogger Shooting Parrots, from across the pond, did this quiz: “Do you feel like you’re getting old? Take our 50 signs of ageing test to find out.” They – the quiz writer and SP – are from England, so obviously they can’t spell “aging.”

Feeling stiff
Yes – especially the left knee

Groaning when you bend down
Well, no. Not yet, anyway.

Saying: “It wasn’t like that when I was young.”
Occasionally. Usually it was to suggest that Republicans, such as Jacob Javits, Everett Dirksen and William Scranton were quite all right fellows, unlike most of their recent counterparts.

Saying: “In my day.”
No, because I would sound like my maternal grandmother.

Losing hair
Yes, but I’ve been losing it since I was about 18, so it’s hardly a function of getting old.

Not knowing any songs in the top 10

Disney Animated Feature Challenge

SamauraiFrog did this Disney Animated Feature Challenge a couple months ago…

1: Your favorite character
My favorite Disney character is Roger, the adult human in 101 Dalmatians, who sings Cruella de Ville. But of the more anthropomorphic, Donald Duck, who I used to do a poor imitation of.

2: Your favorite official princess
I suppose the more modern ones, like Tiana from the Princess and the Frog, or Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

3: Your favorite official prince
Excluding The Beast, they are pretty much interchangeable.

4: Your favorite heroine (that isn’t an official princess)
Dumbo’s mom, Jumbo, protecting her child.

5: Your favorite hero (not an official prince)
Tramp, from Lady and the…

6: Your favorite cast of characters