Today I've decided to share with you a couple games my siblings and I enjoy playing. We invented these games ourselves (clever, what?), and since they're movie games--and movies is what I talk about most on this blog--I thought it wouldn't be too awfully random of me to tell you about them. (And anyway, I just wanted to. Do I need a reason?)
The first one is called "Initials." It's a guessing game where one person thinks of a character in a movie and the other person has to find out who it is. We always begin by giving the initials of the character we are thinking of--for example, E.F. Once these mysterious letters have been revealed, the following type of questions ensue: "Is it a boy, girl, man, or lady?" Man. "Is he the main character?" Yes...well one of them. "Is he married?" No. "Does he get married?" No. "Does he fall in love?" No. "WHAT KIND OF MOVIE IS THIS? No love story? How unutterably dull." (That is my typical reaction...)
One of the things I particularly like about this game is that as you begin to collect information about the mystery person, you begin to create your own story...and I do enjoy creating stories! The tale thus forming in your imagination is a very strange and interesting one, and it remains so until you find out who the person really is; whereat everything suddenly falls back into the familiar. Your new found story becomes an old one and you wonder how in the world you hadn't guessed it sooner...as it was all so absurdly simple! Ha!
That's one game we play.
The other one is a bit different. It doesn't have a name, but it consists of linking one movie to another in a continuous chain until you've arrived at the ultimate movie...which, for us, always ends up being The Lord of the Rings. (Why The Lord of the Rings? Don't ask me. Ask my brother. He's the one who began it.)
Here's an example for you of how this game plays out. We're going to start with It's A Wonderful Life and end with The Lord of the Rings. Be aware, this can be a rather long process, so I apologize ahead of time if I lose you somewhere along the way.
{It's A Wonderful Life}
Obviously, this movie stars Jimmy Stewart. Well, Jimmy Stewart also acts in...
{The Glenn Miller Story}
...alongside June Allyson, who plays Jo in...
{Little Women}
(Get the picture? We're traveling from movie to movie, one actor at a time.)
In this version of Little Women, Amy is played by Elizabeth Taylor--who takes us straightway to...
{National Velvet}
{National Velvet}
From here we can take Mr. Brown (I don't know the actor's name) over to
{Pollyanna}
...because he plays the mayor in that movie. And from here Aunt Polly (or Jane Wyman) is obliging enough to take us to...
{The Yearling}
...where we find Gregory Peck and move on to...
{ The Scarlet and the Black}
Oh, look! It's Captain Von Trapp--or rather, Christopher Plummer. So! Where are we now?
The Sound of Music?
Nope. Sorry. We could go to The Sound of Music, of course, but instead I've decided to take Captain Von Trapp (I mean, Christopher Plummer) over to
{Nicholas Nickleby}
because there we can find Romola Garai (who plays Kate Nickleby) and travel with her to
{Emma}
(Are you confused yet?)
The man who plays Mr. Weston in this movie also plays in...
{Downton Abbey}
And in Downton Abbey we have Mr. Bates who happens to play Mr. Timmons in...
{Lark Rise to Candleford}
Here we find Miss Lane (Julia Sawalha), whom you probably recognize as Lydia Bennett from...
{Pride and Prejudice}
and now that we've arrived at this movie all we have to do is take Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) over to...
{The King's Speech}
...where we find Anthony Andrews--otherwise known as...
{The Scarlet Pimpernel}
(And, good news! We're almost done!)
In this film, Anthony Andrews plays alongside Ian McKellen who is none other than--you guessed it!--
Gandalf!
So, there you have it! We've arrived at The Lord of the Rings, and the game is over.
And wonder of wonders, so is this post! (What a relief, eh?) Tra la!
Have you ever played games like this?
What are some things you and your siblings do to amuse yourselves?
Hello! I just found your blog... today, actually. Your posts are quite lovely.
ReplyDeleteMy sister play the first game. I've never heard of any game like the second one. But it sounds like fun. :) Out of those movies, I've seen six. (Well, actually seven. I've seen P&P, just a different version.)
-The Girl with the Gold Pen
Aww. Thank you. I'm glad you think so. :)
DeleteIt's cool to hear that your sister plays the first game. I was wondering if there wouldn't be other people who had played it. :)
What six movies have you seen on this list? Was the P&P version you saw the one with Keira Knightley? I've seen that one, too.
Thank you for your sweet comment. It was awfully nice to meet you!! :)
Oh no! I was trying to say 'my sister and I play the first game.' But then I started thinking about what to say next... and it just came out terrible. I must seem like such a moron. :/
DeleteI've seen:
It's a Wonderful Life, Little Women, Pollyanna, The Scarlet and the Black, Emma and Lord of the Rings.
Yes, it was the Kiera Knightly version.
It was wonderful to meet you, too. :D
-The Girl with the Gold Pen :)
A moron? No indeed! :) It's perfectly understandable. I do that, too-- getting ahead of myself and thinking what I want to write next without properly attending to what I'm writing at the time. Nothing to worry about. :)
DeleteOh, those are such good movies! We own all of them. I haven't heard of very many people who have seen The Scarlet and the Black, so it's cool to find someone who has. Gregory Peck is excellent in that role, isn't he?
What do you think of the Kiera Knightly version of P&P? Personally, I've never liked it, but I grew up on the longer version so I'm kind of biased. ;) I do know some people who like the shorter version better than the long one, though. Have you read the book of Pride and Prejudice?
Aww. Thanks! And thank you for another lovely comment. :)
Hello again!
DeleteI actually haven't seen Gregory Peck in anything else. (I think...) But he's really wonderful in that movie. :)
Actually, my sister and I just finished the BBC P&P yesterday. (haha... no, I did not rush to see it just now since we talked about it. ;) We had been planning to watch it for a few weeks.)
Goodness, I cannot decide which version is better.
I do think I like the Kiera Knightly one better (it was probably because I saw it first. That usually happens with me.)
But the BBC version shows so much the KK one does not.
Hmm. Well, I guess could debate with myself for hours. ;)
Isn't Lydia the so aggravating?? I found it sad and awful that she was so happy with Wickham. That horrid man. *shudders*
I love Mr. Darcy in both version. Which Darcy do you like better?
It was fun chatting with you!
-The Girl with the Gold Pen
You just watched it? How delightful! I'm glad you liked it, though I perfectly understand why the Kiera Knightly one would still be your favorite. :) When you've liked a movie for a long time it's hard to switch over to something different.
DeleteHaha! No need to debate it, just say you like both of them!! That's easier. ;)
Yes, Lydia is an aggravating character. She doesn't bother me especially because I'm so used to her, but it is pretty awful how she can be so happy with a man like Wickham. And all the time she acts like she's done a pretty clever thing in running off to get married! Seriously? I guess with that kind of attitude she sort of deserved what she got.
Oh, I definitely like Mr. Darcy in the long version best. Darcy in the '05 movie is too melancholy for my taste. And the movie is just too short I can't get into the characters properly. (When you're used to seeing the story played out slowly over five hours, it's really hard to go to something shorter. Everything seems in fast forward then. Haha!)
Oh, I've had fun, too! I love chatting back and forth with people. That's one of the best parts about blogging! :) Thank you for all your lovely comments!
~Miss March
Ha! I play this game too! And it's so much fun! :-D (Cranford is also VERY useful for this game; because ALL the actors are in it. :-P)
ReplyDeleteDo you realise you've been posting more than me this week? :-)
~ Naomi
You play this game, too? How fun! Actually, this strikes me as the kind of game you would play. Not sure why, but it does. :) And yes, you're right. Cranford would DEFINITELY come in handy in this game. For sure.
DeleteNo!!! Can that even be possible? I post more than Naomi? That's ridiculous! Something is seriously wrong here. ;) ...Ah! But I see you made up for it on Saturday. Whew. Everything's back to normal. Heehee.
~Miss March
Oh, Miss March--you have a fabulous talent for making me laugh out loud! ""WHAT KIND OF MOVIE IS THIS? No love story? How unutterably dull."" Unutterably dull, HAHA, I'm with you! :D
ReplyDeleteWait a moment, who's E.F.?! You can't leave me hanging like that.
I would rock your second game if my siblings knew movies and actors well enough to keep up. ;) It sounds like so much fun! Lord of the Rings as the last movie goal, what could be better?!
~Cordy
Aww. That makes my day. I love making people laugh! :)
DeleteAnd yes, exactly. What is a story without a little romance? Heehee.
Who's E.F.? Well, that's the mystery. You have to guess it. Haha! Just kidding. Have you ever seen Boys' Town? It's an old black and white movie starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. E.F. is Edward Flanagan (or Father Flanagan). He's a priest. Hence why he never falls in love. ;)
~Miss March
I haven't seen it. But now I can see why romance wouldn't be involved. :P Haha.
Delete~Cory
We've played games like this! But just not with MOVIES, 'cause we're not a big movie family. Some people get scared watching the tense stuff, some people just don't care to look at the screen, and so on :P
ReplyDeleteYou know, I never lost you. All the way through. It made perfect sense :)
We often quiz each other "What did I wear on Saturday?" "Describe the colors of a common black hawk" and so on. And we play things like Twenty Questions and Rock Paper Scissors. Oh, and card/board games. LOTS of them :)
That's interesting that some of your family members don't care to watch movies, because in my family movies are the first thing everyone thinks of when trying to decide what to do. It's a bit of problem actually. My parents are constantly having to say no to the younger kids because they'd watch movies all day if they were allowed. Haha. :P
DeleteOh, good. I'm glad it made sense. That's a comfort. I hate to be confusing. :)
Sounds like you and your siblings have a lot of fun together. It's amazing how many different games there are. Speaking of Twenty Questions, we used to play that, too, and I think that's how our "Initials" game got started. Oh, and Rock Paper Scissors. That's a fun one. What kind of card/board games do you usually play?
Yeah . . . we are a bit out-of-the-ordinary, that way :P It definitely must be hard to always say no!!
DeleteOh, we have loads of fun :) For card games, we usually play Go Fish, War, Crazy Eights, or a strange combination game that we call Bridge, but I seriously doubt it has anything to do with the REAL Bridge game :P And for board games we play Monopoly, Scrabble, Shoots&Ladders, chess, checkers, and many many others. Oh, and we play a lot of Battleship and Mastermind, though they aren't TECHNICALLY board games :D
Oh, I've played a lot of those games. War, Monopoly, Scrabble, Shoots&Ladders, chess, checkers, Battleship. I don't play them very often, though. We sort of tend to go in spurts when it comes to games. One game will be the popular one and we'll be playing it all the time, and then that one will get boring and another will take it's place...or we'll just go for weeks without playing anything.
DeleteSounds like you and your siblings have a lot of fun together! :)
Haha, this was really fun! :) And it made COMPLETE sense! I don't play games like that, actually... I'm the main one in the family who knows actors names, although my eldest brother does too - only I doubt he'd care to play such a game. I guess I could try. :D And I know almost every single movie here... I DON'T know "The Scarlet and the Black" or "The Yearling" and I've only heard of "The Glenn Miller Story", and I know a lot about (and hope to watch) "Downton Abbey", "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Nicholas Nickleby" and "National Velvet" (saw it yeeears ago) but I know all the others like the back of my hand! And Lord of the Rings is a great place to end. ;D
ReplyDeleteOh, and I agree with Cordy - WHO is E.F.?!!! I'm afraid I'd be bad at the initials game. :P
~Miss Meg
I'm glad you enjoyed it! And, wow, you do know a lot of these movies! :) You should try playing one of these games with your brother sometime. You never know, he might actually enjoy it. ;)
DeleteHaha! Alright, I'll tell you. E.F. is Edward Flanagan from the movie Boys' Town. It's an old black and white movie starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. Edward Flanagan is a priest, so yeah...that kind of explains why he never falls in love and gets married. You should watch it sometime. It's really good.
Oh, I'm sure you wouldn't be that bad at playing the initials game. Just ask enough questions and you'll get it eventually. You do have to be in the right mood for it, though, as there are some days when I just CAN'T think, and then it gets very frustrating because I feel like I've asked all the questions in the book and I'm still as lost as lost can be. :)
Thank you for your comment, Miss Meg. I always enjoy hearing from you.
Okay, I officially love your family. First off, WE'VE PLAYED THE FIRST GAME YOU MENTIONED!! The initial game! I used to do it a little with my dad and brother. It was great fun. :D
ReplyDeleteWe've never played the second game, but I have thought of that before (in how you can link one movie to another via its actors) and the chain you came up with is SO GOOD! I love that you always end with LOTR. That's hilarious. :D
Basically, your family sounds like tons and tons of fun. haha!
Oh, I LOVE it that you've played this game with your dad and brother! That's so much fun!! :D
DeleteHaha. I'm glad you approve of ending with LOTR. ;)
Really? Aww. You just made my day! Because we really do have a lot of fun together as a family, and I'd love to be able to share some of that here on my blog. :)
Thanks, Natalie. Your comments make me way too happy. :D
Doing fun things with my family is definitely one of my favorite things, so I loved hearing your "stories" too! :D I hope you share more sometime.
DeleteAwww, that is so sweet! Thank you! Your comments always make me so happy too!
:D *big huge grin*
DeleteYou might be interested in knowing why I finally show up as your follower now! I've been following you for so long-but anonymously! I tend to do that before I "commit" to following a blog. ;) Obviously, your blog was cemented as one of my favorites a long while ago, but I must have forgotten to change my status over to public. Whoops!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I'm finally "officially" following you. :D
Yeah, anyway...what's up with that? (Haha! Just kidding.) I had a feeling you might be following me anonymously, because I remember you saying a while back that you like to follow anonymously for a while before making it public. I think that's a very good idea.
DeleteAnyway, THANK YOU, Natalie! I'm so happy to have you as my thirteenth follower! The fact that you consider my blog to be one of your favorites means so much to me.
And just so you know, I'm currently following your blog anonymously. :) I REALLY want to follow publically because your blog is DEFINITELY one of my favorites and I'm certain that's not going to change, but I'm currently in a bit of a pickle. You probably noticed that I followed your blog several weeks ago, and then un-followed. That's because I realized my profile picture and name weren't showing up in the followers widget, but instead my real name and a blank picture. (Did you notice that?) Anyway, I didn't know what to do about it, so I un-followed. And I'm still not sure how to fix it. Do you know anything about how that works?
Haha, yay! Glad I figured it out so that you weren't left wondering about me. ;) Yes, I love the anonymous following feature. It makes it so much easier to figure out if I like a blog without having to worry about possibly hurting someone's feelings if I decide to unfollow.
DeleteHm, that's strange! I actually didn't notice that! I'm not sure how to fix it either....do you have a google+ profile with your real name? Maybe that's showing up instead of your blogger profile...I honestly don't know what the problem could be. Do you have two gmail accounts? Meaning that your blogging account is separate from your "personal" account? Sorry if that's confusing. I've never had that problem before. :/
Computer problems are the worst! I hope you can figure it out, but if you can't, don't worry about it. I don't mind if you have to stay as an anonymous follower. :) And thank you so much! I'm so happy you think of my blog as one of your favorites, too! :D
So true. It is an excellent feature, indeed.
DeleteNope, I don't have a google+ profile, and my blogging account is the same as my "personal" account (at least, I think it is.) Haha! Shows you how much I know!! ;)
Dear me, yes. Computer problems are extremely annoying. I suppose I'll have to remain anonymous for the time being, because I'm thoroughly stumped over the whole thing. ;) But thank you SO much for your thoughts on the matter. I really appreciate that. :)
Hmm. I really don't know what else to offer, then. Sorry! Except, I did think that if you have your name typed in anywhere (profile, email account etc.) , maybe you could change it to simply "Miss March". But then, I don't know how much trouble it would be to go about finding that and changing it so....yeah. Wish I could be of more help! :(
DeleteAww. Don't worry about it, Natalie. It's really not a big deal. I actually did try changing my e-mail name to "Miss March" but that didn't work either, so yeah...I'm at a loss. Thank you so much, though, and please don't feel bad that you couldn't figure it out. Computers are nasty, ornery things. :P And sometimes I think THEY don't even know what they're doing. Haha! ;)
DeleteAww, thank you. :)
DeleteUgh, aren't they, though? Yes, indeed. Computers are so confusing and just...troublesome. :P
Heehee. My thoughts exactly. ;)
DeleteHaha! These sound awesome! (Who was E.F., btw? I was guessing Edward Ferrars, and then the following questions ruled him out...)
ReplyDeleteE.F. is Edward Flanagan (or Father Flanagan) from "Boy's Town." Have you ever seen it? It's an old black and white film starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. :)
DeleteThose games sound like a lot of fun:)
ReplyDeleteFor the second one do you decide beforehand which movie you should end with, or do you just continue forever?
We always chose a movie to end on. That way we know where we're headed and it's not so confusing. :)
DeleteWoooooowww!!! You guys know so many (old) movies! I want to say I don't know that many movies/actors AT ALL, but maybe I do... Either way, I'm POSITIVE we couldn't start out with an older movie like It's A Wonderful Life because we know so few old-timey actors! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I suppose we do watch a lot of old movies. Either that or movies set in a bygone era. We're kind of an old-fashioned family, I guess you could say. :)
DeleteI've gotten that impression. :) Don't worry, it's a good thing!
DeleteOh! I like the character game! But isn't E. F., Edward Ferris? That was what I thought but then the answers weren't lining up, who is it please? I really need to know now!
ReplyDeleteOh! Your other game is like Six Degrees of Separation! My sisters and I play this all the time!!!
Haha. That's what some of the other girls thought, too. But no, he's actually Edward Flannigan from Boy's Town. (An old black and white movie starring Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy.) He's a priest, actually, so that's one big reason for why he never falls in love and gets married. ;)
DeleteThere's a name for it? Who would have thought! That's so cool that you and your sister have a game like that, too!! <3
I don't mean to insert myself into the conversation, but I just had to say, you've see Boy's Town? That's so cool! I really like that movie. :)
DeleteNatalie! I didn't know you'd seen Boy's Town! (Wow. You learn something new every day. ;)) Isn't it a good movie, though?
DeleteYes, indeed! It is a great story. :) Do you have a favorite character? Mine is Tony. :)
DeleteOh, yes! Tony's such a sweetheart. I like him a lot! Can't quite decide on an absolute favorite though, because I like Whitey a lot, too. :)
DeleteWhitey is great, too. :D
Delete:D
DeleteI don't know any of these old movies except the Scarlet Pimpernel + Sound of Music, but now I have to check all the actors I know...
ReplyDelete(note: I am commenting here, despite being very new, because Mr Smart Alec said I could. Even though I am not usually "GOOD AT TAKING A HIIIINT!!" and will instead pick it up, dust it off, and hand it back while mentioning that you dropped it.)
So! Mr Woodhouse (Michael Gambon) in Emma is also in the King's Speech, so I managed to cut a few corners there. Or I could go Emma (Michael Gambon) Amazing Grace (Benedict Cumberbatch) the Hobbit (seriously, take your pick) LOTR!
I was figuring out how to get from P&P to LOTR, and I went from P&P (Colin Firth) to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (haven't seen it, but Benedict Cumberbatch) to the Hobbit, then (through whatever character you like!) to LOTR; this is just as long as your version, though!
Methinks I'll be playing this game a lot, now. Thanks for sharing!
(And does Dr Who count? because SERIOUSLY BBC DO YOU NOT HAVE MORE THAN A DOZEN ACTORS that would make things easier.)
HELLO, Jem Jones!! I'm so glad you commented!! :D
Delete(Heehee. Your note made me smile. Thanks for letting me know about the hint I dropped, and for taking such good care of it for me. ;))
I'd forgotten that Michael Gambon was in The King's Speech! That certainly would cut some corners. :) Isn't it fun, though? There are so many different ways you can do it.
Oh, you're most welcome. Have fun with it! :D (And yes, Dr Who would certainly count. There's probably a lot of actors in that series that you can trace to other movies, huh?)