The Bond-athon Post

This week marked the release of the recent Bond outing; Casino Royal. I was very fond of the film when it premiered towards the end of last year and have been anticipating its DVD release for some time. I recently inherited the family Bond box sets (they released new ones and Dad upgraded) and decided to watch them all*, in order before Casino Royal came out. Over the past few weeks I’ve sunk a lot of time into the Bond’s and walk away with a much better understanding and appreciation as a fan. It was also very interesting to see the films evolve as the times changed. Bond’s demeanor, style, attitude towards women as well as each movie’s enemies and plotlines are all every indicative of their respective releases. I finally feel like I can back up my opinions about which films are the best, and which actor best played the role. With that said here are my best and worst Bond films:

The 5 Worst:
The Man With The Golden Gun- The emphasis was placed on Christopher Lee’s character and failed to deliver any suspense, twists or climactic battles. Though it did have Knick-Knack. Bless his little soul.

The Living Daylights- Honestly if this was what we had to expect from Dalton, I’d not have invited him back for another stab at Bond. Uncharismatic and stale.

Die Another Day- This seemed like an attempted launching platform for Halley Barry’s Jinx character more than a Bond film. Plus Madonna has a cameo and Bond’s car can turn invisible. Crap.

You Only Live Twice- Train for weeks and undergo facial modifications to become ‘Japanese’ only to run in and shoot some people. Terrible terrible movie. Plus he never looked Japanese at all.

Dr. No- Honey Rider was gorgeous. That’s about all this film had going for it. We don’t even see the doctor till the very end, and he’s rather slow and disappointing. Poor start to a terrific series of films. I’m glad they didn’t stop here.


The 5 Best:
Goldeneye- The perfect Bond movie. Great twists, brilliant villains and a lot of action. Cements Brosnan as one of the best Bonds.

Casino Royal- The new badass take on Bond. Daniel Craig defies the naysayers and delivers in a terrific and moderately realistic Bond flick that’s a breath of fresh air.

From Russia With Love- The first ‘true’ Bond film. Harrowing escapes, espionage and intrigue, and a showdown on the Oriental Express. Great film. Classic.

Goldfinger- Lots of Bond mainstays start to form here with Goldfinger. My favorites being the elaborate death plots, superhuman badguys (OddJob) and treating Bond like royalty when being held captive.

License To Kill- Dalton, though a weak Bond, is blessed with a great story here. Terrific opening scene with Blowfeld getting his overdue death makes this a fanboy favorite.

*I didn’t watch Never Say Never Again, the Thunderball remake, simply because its not part of the box set and is an ‘unofficial’ Bond film.

The Wipeout Post

Sunday, Sarah and I headed to Adrenalina, at the Florida Mall to sign up for their flow rider machine. It’s basically a mock wave with optimal surfing conditions generated by massive jets that shoot water up a plastic wave shaped slide. It’s about 10ft tall and probably 30 ft long, and kept inside a giant boxed in area in the back of the store. The store sells extreme sporting gear, like boards, paintball markers and mountain climbing gear, and has this gigantic tank in the rear with the wave machine in it. The store fills with onlookers who crowd around the tank and cheer (or jeer) the surfers inside. There were some pros there that were pulling off some pretty cool moves, but more importantly there were shumcks (like us) who busted their asses and ate a lot of wipeouts. Unfortunately we weren’t able to take any footage of us hitting the waves, but we did get some shots of the people who went on before us. Check out the video below to get an idea of what it was like. And then THIS ONE to see how painful it can be... Loads of fun, we had a great time. Glad we did it.

The Published Nerdyness Post

Yesterday at work I made some awesomely nerdy shirts based off of my latest gaming vice; Crackdown. It came up as a joke with Live buddy Treebeerd that they should make t-shirts featuring the game’s cheese-ball announcer’s phrases. We have a t-shirt printer here at work, so I figured I should whip up a few. The shirts came out awesome, so I snapped some piccies and let 360 Fanboy (a blog I regularly read) know about it, and today they wrote a post on them. You can check it out over at the address below:

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/03/08/remember-agent-crackdown-tshirts/

The Saturday Post

Meant to get this up sooner, but figured spending time with Sarah was more important that writing about spending time with her.

Sarah and I scored some free tickets to both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure this weekend from my buddy Craig. We hit the parks early on Saturday and blew through ‘Studios in a couple of hours. We hit all the good rides (Mummy, Men in Black etc) and managed to sneak in a trip on Back to the Future, which incidentally is being closed down to make way for a new ride in 2 weeks. We got all our ride photos for free as well cus…well you know…I got the hook up. I think I got quite obnoxious wandering the parks commenting on how I never usually have to wait in lines and random facts about the park. Sarah put up with me though, which I am appreciative of.

Lunchtime came and we hit Citywalk, eating at Margaritaville which was pretty awesome surprisingly. Had me a Landshark Lager (which I am determined to make my new beer) and a crab cake sandwich. Both were excellent. Sarah enjoyed her veggie-mushroom-thingy too, so all went well.

Next up was Islands, which was loads of fun. Did Spiderman and both the Dueling Dragons before it started to belt rain. Hoped inline for Hulk ‘cus the wait was 20 min and it was indoors, hoping to ride out the rain…nope. We rode it in the POURING rain and got absolutely saturated. The rain was beating down so hard it actually hurt to open your eyes. Fun times. Soggy. But fun times.

Later that night, after a nice nap and a good shower, we met up with Buck and Lola downtown for some Thai. Never eaten at a Thai place before, so it was a bit of an adventure for me. I tried the red curry with shrimp and chicken, after a recommendation from some of Buck’s DJ friends who ate with us. I really enjoyed it and think I might try whipping it up here sometime. After dinner we hit Crooked Bayou for a drink then headed to Suite B to see the aforementioned DJ friend running his set. Didn’t stick around for long because I was knackered after a long day.

The Near Death Post

Today on the way to the gym, Sarah and I were in some harrowing car action when a guy coming the other way cut across into our lane at quite a clip while we were turning a corner. Fortunately I’ve got mad stunt-driver quality reflexes and cut the corner via the ditch and avoided the oncoming car. Actually I kinda didn’t even realize what was happening until we’d missed him. But the guy was completely in our lane, almost as if he was trying to hit is. Here a shot of my awesome driving skills as taken by a nearby bystander with impeccable timing (and a tripod). Being the manly man that I am, we shrugged off the near death experience, went to the gym where I promptly benchpressed a dumpster and then went on to work.

The Mini Golf Post

Last night Sarah and I went out to Hawaiian Rumble minigolf off of International Drive. I had a discount card left over from the service industry night party at Glo Lounge that got us in half price, so I figured we should use it. The course featured a 50ft fiberglass volcano with steam and a waterfall pouring out, as well as some other pretty cool landscaping elements. Sarah managed to send her first ball into the river and swept away on the first hole. She’d later send one flying out of the park and into the parking lot behind the course. I don’t think its because Sarah’s bad at mini-golf, moreso I blame the poor course design. Oftentimes our shots should find themselves rolling backwards towards the walls and sticking in the bricks. While it may not be the best-designed course it was a lot of fun and we had the run of the place to ourselves due to it being later on in the night. I managed to eek out a win with a hole in one on the final hole, which is pretty sweet.

The Waiting Game Post

I am here waiting to go to the airport anxiously hitting reload on the Northwest website to see if Sarah’s flight has finally decided to behave itself. Originally she was supposed to get in yesterday, however due to a snowstorm up in Canadaland she was bumped till tonight. Further making her trip undoubtedly more miserable, her flight from Detroit has been delayed over two hours now…

The Lucasfilm Approval Post

Today I got lots of pats on the back after a successful volley of Star Wars APs* came back from Lucasfilm with the green light. I am particularly pleased with the Darth Maul one getting approved as when its photographed it looks pretty sweet (Star Wars fanboy bias aside). The other shots are composed from numerous different images and put together in believable arrangements to mimic scenes from the movies. I’m pleased that they went through and are on thier way to the parks now.

*APs or ‘Amazing Pictures’, are products we make here at work and sell out at the theme parks and select stores. At the location we take a picture of a guest and map their face onto a character from a movie or TV show etc.

The Zoo Post

Saturday I went to the zoo with Buck and Laura up in Sanford. It was a smallish zoo in comparison to Animal Kingdom’s safari or the National Zoo up in DC, but had a fair few attractions. The elephant show was pretty cool, and due to the small nature of the place you get pretty close. Funny how all zoo animals have the same ‘animal’-smell. It’s like goat poop and burnt hair. Delightful really. Sue and Arnold from work met up with us there and brought their little boy Haden (the unofficial cutest kid ever). He doesn’t talk yet and communicates with claps and giggles for yes, and burying his face in the nearest person’s leg, for no. The trip took the majority of the day, and there were plans to go to a club downtown later on in the night, but I was feeling a tad carsick after sitting in the back of Jess’s SUV on the trip down that I decided to stay in and watch another Bond.

The Lazy Blog Post

This week I’ve gotten lax about my blogging. Not sure why really. In a nutshell here’s what I missed posts on:

A stolen car was spotted by our UPS guy on Wednesday, underwater in the lake behind our office building. Cops arrived on the scene and sent a subversive robot camera down to ID the tags. It was reported stolen last week and used in a bank robbery. They hoisted the sucker out and expected to find a body inside, sending all onlookers away. Alas nothing quite that cool was inside (actually they found nothing at all). Snapped a few shots.

In other Orlando crime news, Cathleen (the new girl) had her first day at work put on hold as she was down at the police station all day and didn’t make it to the office. She apparently witnessed a vehicular homicide on her way to the office. A dude decided it was a good idea to run his girlfriend over with his car outside her apartment… Seemed like a good idea at the time I suppose.

My 360 made its triumphant return to Chateaux Guy. I’ve got it hooked up and running as before, and besides a few clicks whenever it stops reading a disk that I don’t recall, it’s as good as ever. Old Spice announced their Rewards program on the console that nets you some pretty cool prizes if you raise your gamerscore 1,500pts between now and April 12th. Xbox Live buddy, Treebeerd and I have been attempting t reach that goal already and are getting pretty well into it (I think I’m at 350pts at this point).

In news from up north; Jevan got himself a new step-mom this week when Mr. Pradas proposed on valentine’s day with a Spanish poem to his girlfriend for 5-months. Not to be outdone in family news his cousin also announced her engagement on the same day, as well as coming out of the closet. Sorry George, you’ve been trumped.

Got a letter from Stefan the other day. He’s doing well and is out of the first stage of his training. So no more obstacle courses and gas chambers, which is a good thing. Weapons training is next, which sounds pretty kick ass. He seems quite happy and enjoying the process despite its intensive nature.

The Smoking Aces Post

Jeremy Piven is Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel, a Vegas showman turned smalltime gangster. Unfortunately he got too chummy with the big guys in the crime world, and wasn’t low key enough to not get busted. So the feds come down on him and turn the wannabe gangster into a snitch. This doesn’t go over well with the mafia, who put a bounty on his head and cause a whole slew of unsavory characters to make attempts in Buddy’s life.

The plot; awesome, The lineup of actors; impressive. So why does this movie leave a bad taste in your mouth and ultimately walking to the exit disappointed? The ending.

There are so many cool characters, interesting subplots and fantastic situations in this movie than it can handle. So to tie it all together the ending seems lackluster in all but a few of the sub-stories. However the ‘main’ storyline with Buddy, the Feds and the Mafia has the worst ending I’ve seen in a long time. It’s flawed, its outlandish, it doesn’t fit the plot arc and it generally cheapens the overall movie and the character’s integrity along with it. But the cast does a terrific job (less Andy Garcia; who seems to be limiting himself to one-tone dialog and no more than 2 facial expressions the whole movie), and the cameos and bit roles from stars like Jason Bateman are brilliant. Alicia Keys makes her acting debut here as a hit-woman, and does a surprisingly good job of playing a cool and collected killer.

Overall it’s a great movie until the last chapter. So if you time your popcorn and bathroom breaks right it could be the best movie you ever missed the end of.

The 24 Inch Post

So the other day I was speaking with my coworkers about my monitors (they were giving me a headache) and was told to ask Glen in Tech to see if we had any non-CRT monitors I could use laying about. Glen’s away on vacation currently so I put it out of my mind as something to do in a fortnight or so. Today however I was talking with Victor about getting a new monitor in a jovial manner because he was being bugged by all the ladies in the office for new speakers. (Apparently the new girl in Human Recourses got a subwoofer, which sparked a ‘my speakers don’t even work’ and ‘I’ve been asking for new stuff for my office for years’-sorta thing). Anyway, 15 minutes later Victor emerges from the warehouse carrying a brand new 24 inch widescreen monitor. Told me he’d called Glen and cleared it, and set it up for me. It’s freaking sweet! Nice to know that the company wants me to have whatever I need to get the job done too. Very reassuring feeling.

To celebrate the bigness of my new screen I’ve made a widescreen panorama of my desk. Sure the monitor doesn’t look all that impressive in this shot due to the distortion…but whatever, its awesome trust me. Also take note of the bad ass talking Davy Jones figure I got off eBay. “99 souls....3 days!”

The Holehouse Post

After work yesterday there was an open house of sorts at the new café behind our office. They had snacks, free coffee and lots of executive types milling about. Not being a fan off coffee or ties, I wasn’t that impressed. However next door to the café is an art gallery that was also having an open house of sorts. An artist by the name of Jim Gerard Holehouse was having a show at his brother’s gallery. His brother specializes in elaborate framing, while Jim works with canvas, so together they put out some interesting pieces. Hung around talking with the guy for a good half hour sipping on a beer they sent my way and had a nice time listening about each of the paintings. He gave me a poster sized print when we left and offered to sign it too which was pretty cool. The original is pictured below. It was a pretty cool, if not unexpected experience. They offered to frame my canvases from me too and give me a discount if I wanted to sell my work through them. Personally I don’t think any of my 20-dollar Michael’s canvases are worth a $1,000 frame job… nor am I comfortable enough with the quality of work to sell anything… but its cool to have the offer made.

I recently posted a few shots of my recent canvas attempts on Facebook to show my buddy some of my work, and received much unexpected praise from my friends-list. It’s very flattering when art students and old friends all want to own some of my work. I like the idea of having a friend put some of my work up on their wall, and will gladly paint pieces for anyone who would like one (who wouldn’t mind paying for the supplies and shipping also). The one stipulation I’d have is that you have to display the work prominently (over the mantel, the front foyer, in place of pictures of loved ones etc.) and whenever anyone asked about it you’d have to not only say you know the artist personally and he’s a good friend, but you have to ad some exaggerated story to go along with it. Like he painted this while wrestling nazi-aliens in WW2 or something. So if you make me look good, I’ll make your wall look good (or at least try to).

The Heist Post

I could have sworn I posted this last week… but apparently not. Attached is a scan from the local paper. It’s a nice little article featuring the corner on which I live. My apartment complex is directly across from this bank, I can see the lot from my mailbox. Kind of scary.

The XLI Post

The Superbowl was fun. Though the game only really kept my attention for the 1st half, I had a good time. I went over to Buck and Laura’s house to watch, which was cool. Loads of good food and fun company. Unfortunately their new hot tub wasn’t warm enough for use (they had just powered it on that morning), but I was impressed with the new deck and hot-tub area. Apparently its up to temperature now, so hopefully I’ll get to try it out sooner rather than later. It’s been a bit chilly down here as of late (low 50s) so a nice dip could be good. I look forward to seeing how their backyard develops, it’s a pretty sweet location and has potential to be awesome once the legwork is put in.