Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Spaceopoly The "Know Your Legion Worlders" Game Round Five

Five more up, five more down. Sheesh, I watch a lot of movies! I'm with you, Quis, on the praise for "Europa, Europa"... one of the most enjoyable foreign films I've seen.

By contrast, I don't know that "La Dolce Vita" was enjoyable, per se. It didn't really have much of a cohesive plot, being more of series of vingettes about life in Rome. It was sort of funny, though, to see Nico before her Velvet Underground days, as the Italian girls refer to her as "that German cow".

I've also seen Lasse Hallström's "My Life as a Dog," a nice coming-of-age story. I would descibe it as sort of a Swedish "Wonder Years". Very nice film.

Wim Wenders's "Wings of Desire" I have seen probably ten times. I would say it is probably in my top five movies of all time. A beautiful, beautiful film, it is almost a poem set down on celluloid. It's about angels who walk amongst humankind fascinated by our "human-ness". Here's a scene that doesn't get into the plot but gives a great sample of the mood of the film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi8sYY0pCdE

And "Seven Samurai" I saw out of what I thought was just a cinematic obligation, like: "Oh, if you see any foreign films you've got to watch Kurosawa". I'm so glad I got over that because "Seven Samurai" was such a good movie. So many of the action and western tropes that we take for granted were created by Kurosawa's films and "Samurai" is a great introduction to his style.


So, then, of the remaining films, which one have I not yet seen:


1. Au Revoir Les Enfants
<strike>2. Blue</strike>
3. Breathless
4. Brotherhood of the Wolf
5. Caché
<strike>6. Che</strike>
7. City of God
<strike>8. Europa Europa</strike>
<strike>9. La Dolce Vita</strike>
<strike>10. M</strike>
<strike>11. My Life as a Dog</strike>
12. Persona
<strike>13. Seven Samurai</strike>
14. The 400 Blows
15. The Bicycle Thief
<strike>16. The Double Life of Veronique</strike>
<strike>17. The Seventh Seal</strike>
18. The Vanishing
19. Wild Strawberries
<strike>20. Wings of Desire</strike>

14. The 400 Blows Because it sounds like it could be a porno flick (I know it isn't)

15. The Bicycle Thief

4. Brotherhood of the Wolf

Seen each of those as well.

That's funny, Quis. That never even dawned on me; before seeing it I though it meant something like "beaten down by life," but it turns out "400 Blows" is a bad translation of a french idiom meaning "Hell Raiser". It's sort of the seminal "angry young man" film, but a bit dated as you're like, "this kid isn't a menace... he's just a rabblerouser".

"The Bicycle Thief" is a decent enough film... but horribly depressing.

"Brotherhood of the Wolf," I'm torn on. I really enjoyed the majority of the film, but the end sort of went into ridiculous M. Night Shyamalan territory. I do like that Vincent Cassel, though.


So, seven left, one of which I haven't yet seen:

1. Au Revoir Les Enfants
<strike>2. Blue</strike>
3. Breathless
<strike>4. Brotherhood of the Wolf</strike>
5. Caché
<strike>6. Che</strike>
7. City of God
<strike>8. Europa Europa</strike>
<strike>9. La Dolce Vita</strike>
<strike>10. M</strike>
<strike>11. My Life as a Dog</strike>
12. Persona
<strike>13. Seven Samurai</strike>
<strike>14. The 400 Blows</strike>
<strike>15. The Bicycle Thief</strike>
<strike>16. The Double Life of Veronique</strike>
<strike>17. The Seventh Seal</strike>
18. The Vanishing
19. Wild Strawberries
<strike>20. Wings of Desire</strike>

12. Persona

I guess my last guess shows what a dirty mind I have.

19. Wild Strawberries

Of the two other Bergman films on the list, I have seen "Persona," but have not yet gotten to watch "Wild Strawberries".


Next round to Quislet.

Falling back on this question. What book am I currently reading?

1) Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges

2) The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason by Victor J. Stenger

3) Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent

4) Life Ascending: Ten Great Inventions of Evolution by Nick Lane

5) Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

6) Captured by the Indians: 15 First Hand Accounts 1750-1870 by Frederick Drimmer

7) Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South by Stephanie McCurry

8) Scoundrels in Law: The Trials of Howe and Hummel, Lawyers to the Gangsters, Cops, Starlets, and Rakes Who Made the Gilded Age by Cait N. Murphy

9) Autobiography of Mark Twain vol. 1 by Mark Twain

10) The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World by Alan Downs


Interesting note: All these book, including the one I am reading, are in my Amazon.com recommendations. But the book I am reading I saw elsewhere and checked it out of the library.

3) Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent

7) Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South by Stephanie McCurry

10) The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World by Alan Downs

Tempest got the book on the first guess. It is a pretty interesting book. I'm about half way through. Of the others, I have read Cleopatra: A Life. That wasn't so good. A lot of the book is about the politics of Rome, Julius Ceasar, Marc Antony, et al. and less about Cleopatra. Granted Rome et al were a big impact on Cleopatra, but if I wanted to read about that, I would have gotten a book on those things.

Which acting book am I currently enthusiastic about reading?

1. Audition by Michael Shurtleff
2. Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen
3. A Challenge For The Actor by Uta Hagen
4. The Art of Acting by Stella Adler
5. Sanford Meisner on Acting by Sanford Meisner, Dennis Longwell and Sydney Pollack
6. An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski
7. The Technique of Acting by Stella Adler and Marlon Brando
8. Word of Mouth: A Guide to Commercial Voice-over Excellence by Susan Blu, Molly Ann Mullin and Cynthia Songe
9. The Art of Voice Acting: The Craft and Business of Performing Voiceover by James R. Alburger
10. Voiceovers: Techniques and Tactics for Success by Janet Wilcox
11. Vo: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-over Actor by Harlan Hogan
12. Acting for the Camera: Revised Edition by Tony Barr
13. Acting: Make It Your Business - How to Avoid Mistakes and Achieve Success as a Working Actor by Paul Russell
14. No Acting Please by Eric Morris, Joan Hotchkis and Jack Nicholson

7. The Technique of Acting by Stella Adler and Marlon Brando

9. The Art of Voice Acting: The Craft and Business of Performing Voiceover by James R. Alburger

Nope to both

10. Voiceovers: Techniques and Tactics for Success by Janet Wilcox

8. Word of Mouth: A Guide to Commercial Voice-over Excellence by Susan Blu, Molly Ann Mullin and Cynthia Songe

And Quis has it!

I am current watching some Dr. Who. What episode am I watching?

1) The Chase
2) The Time Meddler
3) The Dominators
4) The War Games
5) Inferno
6) The Time Warrior
7) Pyramids of Mars
8) The Talons of Weng-Ciang
9) Earthshock
10) The Five Doctors
11) The Empty Child
12) Turn Left

7) Pyramids of Mars

That was a great story, but it was not the one I was watching.

8) The Talons of Weng-Ciang