Game: Ask the Person Below You

[Calidore]

Harlan Coben's novel Tell No One was very much improved by the French film version. I didn't read the original of L.A. Confidential, but enjoyed the movie and have read opinions that the movie improved on the book. Ditto the film versions of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, though people go both ways on that one. I also enjoyed the movie of The Bridges of Madison County, and have never seen anyone claim that book is better (or even good).

And while it may be sacrilegious to many, I thought the Lord of the Rings movies worked better as movies than the novels did as novels. I certainly genuflect to Tolkien's astonishing depth of world-building, but page-turners they are not.

While I like Daniel Craig's Bond very much, I really have no problem with any of them. All except Lazenby were excellent actors, and I think he was perfectly fine but gets much worse than he deserves just because he followed Connery. I do wish Dalton's run hadn't been cut short, though, because I liked his gritty Bond very much, and would have liked to have seen him develop it over a few more films. License to Kill is still my favorite Bond movie.

Continuing the anti-snobbery line (one of my favorites): Have you ever seen a remake that you preferred over, or even liked just as much as, the original? (Three of mine: Sorcerer/The Wages of Fear, The Ring/Ringu, and The Grudge/Ju-On.)

[Clopin]

I prefer The Once and Future King to Malory's original Le Morte D'Arthur.

Aside from that, probably but I can't think of anything I've seen or read which is a remake off hand.

Life of leisure or life of accomplishment?

[Pendragon]

If I have a life of accomplishment, I'll be able to afford a life of leisure!


Travel or stay home?

[bounty]

ive not seen any old film adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac yet, but it would be hard pressed to top the steve martin/Darryl Hannah film Roxanne, which was just precious.

I thought the princess bride was a better movie than book, same with forrest gump, and the fault in our stars.

I like both---I live in a cozy place in the country and I love being here. but there is something gratifying and good about being in other places. that said, life doesn't really occur unless we at least "travel" some. so id have to say, it would depend on when you asked. right now id really enjoy some travel.

if you were going to be stranded on a desert island for the rest of your life, and could only have five foods (or small combinations, like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or macaroni and cheese, or a salad), which five foods would you choose? (assume you have fresh water)

[Pompey Bum]

Human flesh

I didn't read the original of L.A. Confidential, but enjoyed the movie and have read opinions that the movie improved on the book.

The book was better (in my opinion) but both were overrated.

I like the (original) Lord of the Flies movie was better than the book, though. And David Lean's Doctor Zhivago, while not as good as Pasternak's novel, is a great movie nevertheless. I liked The Ring, but never saw Ringu, so I can't compare them. I don't think it had the kind of budget that The Ring got, but that doesn't always matter where scares go. The whole zombie apocalypse genre was started by George Romero for on about a dollar and change!

Even at the height of their beauty, were Elizabeth Taylor or Doris Day even remotely attractive?

[Pendragon]

Liz maybe, not Doris, but, hey, different strokes for different folks.

Why does a perfectly good movie suddenly cut to a gratuitous sex scene that has nothing to do with advancing the plot?

[Dark Muse]

Two possible reasons

1. Sex Sells
2. The makers of the movie want an R rating

What is the most adventurous thing you have done?

[bounty]

it might have been hitch hiking around Europe for a couple of weeks during college years...

I started in England, went to Belgium from there, through Holland into Germany, up to Denmark, back down to Germany and then over to france.


what's the weirdest food combination you eat?

[Pompey Bum]

Porcupine-monkey stew. Rat if there was no porcupine to be had.

Okra: disgusting or slime-o-licious?

[bounty]

I grew okra in my garden a few years ago but didn't get to eat any. a sad okra story. I grew some last summer, and didn't get to eat any, another sad okra story...I might grow some again this summer.

I think ive only ever had it fried, so delicious minus the slime (more or less).

have you ever watched a movie (or movies) that have made you interested enough to go read the book that inspired it?

[Pompey Bum]

If you ate shellfish, you could try Louisiana gumbo. All the taste and none of the slime!

Yes, I saw Doctor Zhivago before I read Pasternak's book. As I said somewhere else, they are both excellent (the book a bit better) but fundanentally different somehow.

If you were diagnosed with lung cancer, with less than a year to live, would you tell your friends? (Family doesn't count).

[bounty]

maybe I could do the gumbo without the shellfish...smiles...I have a recipe for roasted okra that I was looking forward to trying before the sad okra stories ensued.

I read watership down (which is one of my favorite books), the hunger games, insurgent, the fault in our stars, and the princess bride, all after seeing the movies.

I can see not telling my friends, yet at the same time, they are all so busy with their married and parenting and work lives, that I think telling them might be really helpful in making it so that I could spend time with them before I pass on. so id probably tell.

what are your three all time favorite cartoon strips?

[Calidore]

Humor: Calvin & Hobbes, Mutts, and Zits (it kills me to leave out Peanuts--can I do four?)
Adventure serials: Milton Caniff's original Terry and the Pirates, Dick Tracy through the '50 or early '60s, and Alex Raymond's original Flash Gordon (though I could see Modesty Blaise replacing Flash Gordon maybe)

What was the first comic book you remember buying?

[Pendragon]

Hummm... My mother was anti-comic-book, but I bought a boxed set of paperbacks that followed the first adventures of Spiderman and The Hulk as I recall.

What is your darkest desire?

[Pompey Bum]

To use Kim Kardasian's *ss as a writing desk while she's standing up.

There, PD, that's got to make you smile.

If you could relive one year of your life (without being able to change anything--just to experience it again), which would it be? In other words, how old would you be?