Our BAL Has a Name!

Hello, and Welcome to our Festival of Blogging!

News: F.O.B. has participants! Who could have expected it?! Let's all give a big, warm welcome to Brooke and Parisa and Knitty Yoda, who will also be keeping up with the questions. I've thrown down some rules- snort, laugh, me, rules?- let's say guidelines for the blogs. I'll post my comments first thing in the morning- today not withstanding- and if you choose, use the same questions and if something strikes your fancy, post on that and maybe we'll follow your lead. Exciting, yes? Feel free to join at any time. You can see what a formal group we are.
So, for F.O.B. # 19 Show Me:

Nineteen Favorite Characters (Films, Plays, Books, Television) and maybe a little word about it.

19. Emma, from Jane Austen's book of the same name- I think I'm The One who liked Gwyneth's portrayal of her.

18. Albus Dumbledore, from any of the "Harry Potter" series, but preferably from the last two, Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore is "The Only One He Ever Feared.". Chills. Right up the spine. Every time I read it.

17. Lucy, from Chronicles of Narnia, especially "LWATW". And the girl who played her!- The Hubba and I wanted to go to England, put her in our suitcase and smuggle her home. She was that cute. (That wasn't meant in the slightly disturbing way it sounds, by the by.)

16. Tommy and Tuppence from the Agatha Christie's series. They're fantastically British.

15. Luke Wilson playing Ben Stone from the film "The Family Stone." What with this being a holiday BAL you'll be hearing more about that film, but, for now, FAAWW goes to Luke.

14. Dori from "Finding Nemo." If I was a fish, I would want Dori's attitude. Scratch that, I'm a human and I want Dori's attitude.

13. Vizzini from The Princess Bride, book and film. Could Wallace Shawn BE anymore perfect in the movie? "Never mess with a Sicilian when death is on the line! AHAHAHAHA."

12. Radcliffe Emerson and bad guy Sethos, from the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. How can a character on the written page be so romantic and sexy and funny? I love the whole family, but another FAAWW goes to those two fellas. Forget the books' younger generation, those two are so worth a lifetime digging through the desert.

11. Max, from Where the Wild Things Are. No one says "NO!" better.

10. Robert Redford, as Denys George Finch Hatton in the film "Out of Africa." Sadly, I've never read the book, but if the real character was anything like the one in the book/movie, than WOW. What a FAAWW-ella.

9. Reese Witherspoon playing June Carter in the film "Walk the Line." I want a shirt that says "What Would June Do?"

8. Dr. Cox, from the TV series "Scrubs." The character is, well, perhaps an example (and we all know Knitter rarely uses *language* but in this case it doesn't work otherwise) from the show is best. Dr. Cox tells guest star doctor Heather Graham, "The world is full of bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling." Maybe not my personal philosophy but The Hubba and I hee-hawed for days. All it took was one of us saying "The world is full..." and off we'd go again.

7. Donald O'Connor as Cosmo Brown in "Singin' in the Rain." "Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously."

6. Margaret from the book "Howards End". The movie, also, with Emma (how I love Emma! and true love lasts a life time) are both too good for words.

5. Stewie from "The Family Guy." Just- just watch one show.

4. Amelia Peabody, see the earlier reference. Start with the first book and you'll be hooked.

3. Ruby Thewes from "Cold Mountain." I will, one day, in the near future, finish the book. Because, goodness sake, I loved the film. Renee as Ruby- priceless.

2. Bridget Jones. No further explanation needed.

1. Aunt Elner from the Fannie Flagg books "Welcome to the World, Baby Girl," "Standing in the Rainbow," and, most recently, "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven." This woman is my role model. She is spectacular.

Good news: these will get shorter every day. I actually struggled to come up with nineteen characters, isn't that weird? Of course part of it is that Memory Black Hole that happens when you're put on the spot. Such as someone says, "What's that holiday? The big one in December? About a baby in a manger and a fat guy in a red suit and presents and turkey?" and you hear yourself saying "aawww, if you hadn't asked me, I could have told you." You know what I'm talking about.