2012 Movie Madness Challenge - September Report

Time for my ninth status report for the Movie Madness Challenge.

Here is my code for the films:

New to me - N
Repeat viewing - R

I'll also be including how I viewed the films:

DVD
VHS (yes, we have a lot of those, and a VCR)
Network TV
Pay TV
Internet
In theatre

Iron Road
Network TV
N

Spinning Boris
DVD
N

Brad and I snagged this one at the CNE (Toronto Exhibition) at a mega DVD sale. We'd never heard of it before, but it's hilarious in an understated clash-of-cultures way. Prime Jeff Goldblum and Liev Shreiber.

The Invention of Lying 
Pay TV
N

Back to the Future
DVD
R

I adore this movie.

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
DVD
N

Sam Rockwell. LMAO

Admiral
DVD
R

I'd already watched this film in Russian without subtitles, so it was a real treat to see what I'd got right and what I'd missed. This tells the story of the White Admiral trying to hold his country back from the grip of the Reds during the Russian Revolution. Here in the West, we don't often think about the fighting and loss of life involved in the transition from the monarchy to the communist regime. It was always oversimplified to include the death of the royal family and then Communism. This film fills in a lot of the blanks.

Dredd 3D 
Theatre
N

The Brothers Grimm
DVD
R

The Astrologer (Zvevdochet)
DVD
N


A Russian spy series that any fan of Spooks/MI-5 will love. Here we get to be on The Grid of the other side!

A Knight's Tale
DVD
R

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
DVD
R

What a build-up to a major reveal. What a pay-off!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Total movies for September - 11

Total movies for 2012 - 71

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My updated list for August is HERE.

Preparing for Fan Expo last month kept my movie watching to a minimum, but the moment the four-day convention was over, my vacation began and I added seven titles to my previous total.

This month I exceeded last month's ten-movie total. Four more films and I will have my Movie Critic status.

No problem. Movie Master, here I come.  

25 Movies: Movie Newbie

50 Movies: Movie Fanatic

75 Movies: Movie Critic

100+ Movies: Movie Master

5 on Friday - Set 138

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

This set was triggered by hearing the first song while I was out and about last week. 

1 - I Belong to You - Lenny Kravitz

2 - Why Don't We Do It In the Road - The Beatles

3 - My Ever Changing Moods - The Style Council

4 - I Miss You Now - Stereophonics

5 - I Put a Spell on You - The Animals

5 on Friday - Set 137

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

This week's set is dedicated to my agoraphobic husband, who worked my Indie Artist Alley booth for all four days of Fan Expo last month.

1 - My Funny Valentine - Frank Sinatra

2 - I Will - The Beatles

3 - The Look of Love - Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66

4 - Can't Take My Eyes Off of You - Andy Williams

5 - The Wonder of You - Elvis Presley

I'm blogging at The Popculturedivas

I'm over at The Popculturedivas today, talking about the care and feeding requirements of my creative muse. 

5 on Friday - Set 136

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

Here's a bit of randomness due to having to clear a path wide enough to allow our old fridge to clear the basement when I would have been getting this week's set ready.

So here's to fresh starts.

1 - Don't Stop Me Now - Queen

2 -  You're the Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley

3 - Southside - Moby with Gwen Stefani 

4 - Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode

5 - Battle Without Honor or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei

Thursday Thirteen - 247 - 13 Things About My Fan Expo Author Event

1 - Nine months into being published, this August saw my third official author event, which took place at Fan Expo in Toronto Aug. 23 - 26.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my friend Tara for helping me to navigate the hoops and hurdles involved in being an exhibitor.

2 - After flying into Toronto, I made a quick dash downtown to snag gift certificates for my Fan Expo contest--one for Bakka-Phoenix Books and one for Silver Snail. Here I am with Chris, my good friend and the manager of Bakka-Phoenix.

3 - Day 2 in Toronto became Day 1 of Fan Expo. My brother-in-law Jeff drove us first to UPS Store 421 on Front St. to pick up my boxes of books, and then a few blocks further for the load-in at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Dino, the manager of the UPS store, had them all ready for me right by the counter. More strategic brilliance from Tara--thanks!

4 - It took awhile, but I finally got to the Artist Alley counter to pick up my exhibitor badge. Excitement was building...

5 - Once we trundled our way through the enormous convention centre and found my booth, we set up my books, along with a looped DVD showcasing my book trailers, my mom's watercolor ink prints (including her dragon print featured on the back cover of my Dragonsfyre series) and my contest for the book store gift certificates.

6 - My neighbor for Fan Expo was Alan Draven, horror and urban fantasy author.

The saying "when the student is willing, the teacher appears" pretty much sums up the cosmic placing of Alan next to me at my first convention. He sold out of his books by the last day with a few hours to spare. My husband could quote verbatim Alan's disarming pitches that stopped strolling convention goers in their tracks and ended up with a sale nine times out of ten.

He was on fiyah.

7 - The costumes of convention goers were phenomenal. I had to stop Jack Skellington for a picture.

8 - Day 2! Look at the hordes!

Look at my clear-sailing exhibitor entry. Sweet.

9 - Saw the Batman villains having lunch as I stood in the Pizza Pizza line-up. Hats off to Pizza Pizza for getting me through a 30-customer line-up in 15 minutes. And for somehow having pizza that wasn't dried-out or under-cooked.

10 - Since my blog readers voted Spike the Ultimate Vampire last October during the Take it to the Mat Ultimate Vampire Smackdown, I figured I should tell James Marsters about it, since he was at Fan Expo as well.

Okay, so he was headlining at his own panel and I was in the Indie Artist Alley, but whatever.

When I mentioned that he'd won "over the two True Blood guys," he said. "Well, that's because we had the better writers."

Spike = Ultimate Vampire

James = generous co-creator with writing team of the Ultimate Vampire

11 - My thanks to my brother-in-law Jeff, at left, for all the help with picking up the boxes of books on both Day 1 and Day 4 of Fan Expo.

To my sister-in-law Karen, second from left, for doing some early Christmas shopping!

And to my niece Pamela, at right, for getting my Dragonsfyre banner and author logo t-shirts ready for me.

Also enjoying a delicious Thai dinner out are my sister-in-law Violetta and her niece Natalia.

12 - Now that I'm back from my post-Fan Expo vacation, I held the draw for my contest last night.

13 - Whose name did I pick?

Check your email for a notice from me...

5 on Friday - Set 135

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

Last week in the Big City. How I shall miss it.

1 - Come Undone - Duran Duran

2 -  In the End - Linkin Park

3 - Hysteria - Muse 

4 - Crosstown Traffic - Jimi Hendrix

5 - Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads

I'm blogging at The Popculturedivas today

I'm over at The Popculturedivas today, talking about the fangirl and fanboy inside of every artist.