Superman never made any money for saving the world from Solomon Grundy

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

[apparatus] In the meme time

Wikipedia says a meme (pronounced /miːm/) consists of any idea or behavior that can pass from one person to another by learning or imitation. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, gestures, practices, fashions, habits, songs, and dances. Memes propagate themselves and can move through the cultural sociosphere in a manner similar to the contagious behavior of a virus.

I say a meme is a groovy little blogosphere interaction you engage in, like this one, the alphabet meme, that I got from blogging buddy RAB at Estoreal, who got it from Blog Cabins via Movie Chunks. Here are the rules:
1. Pick one film to represent each letter of the alphabet.

2. The letter "A" and the word "The" do not count as the beginning of a film's title, unless the film is simply titled A or The, and I don't know of any films with those titles.

3. Return of the Jedi belongs under "R," not "S" as in Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi. This rule applies to all films in the original Star Wars trilogy; all that followed start with "S." Similarly, Raiders of the Lost Ark belongs under "R," not "I" as in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Conversely, all films in the LOTR series belong under "L" and all films in the Chronicles of Narnia series belong under "C," as that's what those filmmakers called their films from the start. In other words, movies are stuck with the titles their owners gave them at the time of their theatrical release. Use your better judgement to apply the above rule to any series/films not mentioned.

4. Films that start with a number are filed under the first letter of their number's word. 12 Monkeys would be filed under "T."

5. Link back to Blog Cabins in your post so that I can eventually type "alphabet meme" into Google and come up #1, then make a post where I declare that I am the King of Google.

6. If you're selected, you have to then select 5 more people.

Like RAB, I'm not specifically tagging anyone, but feel free to jump in with your own list. Here's mine:

Antonia's Line
Bubba Ho-Tep
Crimes and Misdemeanors
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Elling
Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control
The General
House of Games
I Heart Huckabees
Joe versus the Volcano
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Little Voice
Millions
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Once
Pieces of April
Quigley Down Under
Run Lola Run
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
The Third Man
Until the End of the World
A Very Long Engagement
The Wedding Banquet
X The Man with the X-Ray Eyes
You Can Count on Me
Zatoichi

As a bonus, here's Otis's list:

Amelie
Bourne Identity Series
Chocolat
The Darjeeling Limited
Escape from Alcatraz
Fargo
The Great Escape
Hero
In America
Joe versus the Volcano
King of California
Lars and the Real Girl
The Man who Knew Too Much
North by Northwest
Once
The Piano
The Quiet American
Rear Window
The Secret of Roan Inish
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Unbreakable
Vertigo
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
The X-Men Series
You Can Count on Me
Zatoichi

Jump in on your bog - just post the rules and the link. Here's the LNTAM index if you need some memory-jogging.

1 comment:

TS said...

Glad to see Bubba Ho-Tep made your list, as well as Fast, Cheap & Out of Control. Great stuff!