i m N s h o

So with much fanfare and hype, the James Bond series rebooted itself once again this past weekend, and all was good again in the world of Bond. Reviews were great, Daniel Craig seems to have stepped up and done a more than credible job as the new Bond, and the series has a "grittier, more realistic" feel. Doesn't sound bad. But then, we've heard that all before, right? Anyone else remember Timothy Dalton saying he was trying to bring the character "back to it's roots" and make him more real? And we all know how those Bond films fared. (I don't know what Bond he was channeling, but the 'heart on his sleeve' Bond that he brought to the screen was one of the more boring excursions of the series.) By no means coincidentally, I'm sure, Spike TV started its apparently annual Bond marathon this week, and I managed to catch the last of the Brosnan Bond films, Die Another Day . By no means the worst of Brosnan's Bond films (that "honor...

I have to admit it was pretty giddy around here yesterday, at least among those voting Democrat. A veritable "ding dong the Witch is dead" feeling surfaced when we heard Rumsfeld had resigned. It felt like the ending of The Return of the Jedi , complete with cloying ewoks prancing around. And yes, I DO mean the annoying version. There's a reason for that. Frankly, I'm not surprised by the reaction. This is the first "Election Results" day since the 90's that I haven't greeted with a mixture of horror and contempt. And it's not like some of the giddiness isn't justified, I think. After all, Democrats needed about 16 seats in the House to take control, they got 33. Prior to the election, the Senate was questionable at best, but by the end of the day, we'd taken the Senate back as well. Democrats won a sizable number of Governorships. The day was being hailed as a repudiation of "Stay the Course" and the end of the Neo-Con revolut...

OK, it's not that I'm mocking the idea of recruiting for the CIA . Good intelligence is exactly what we need to minimize the threat of terrorism (not to mention what a little dose of decent intelligence could do for Washington). But I'm kind of amused by the latest ad campaign I've seen on TV and heard (incessantly) on the radio lately. Are we sure Joe Shmoe listening to KROQ is really the "exceptional person with a strong sense of patriotism" the CIA is looking for? I honestly think I was more comfortable with the thought of CIA spooks skulking around college campuses and hand-picking their recruits. At least there's a sense that there's some process involved here. Not just "throw open the doors… we'll see what sticks!" And let's face it… there's gotta be some sense of irony in the thought of the National Clandestine Service advertising for spies.

Yesterday, while waiting for Flushed Away to begin, we saw a trailer for the upcoming Christmas film, The Nativity . I'll wait for the reviews on this one before deciding whether I'm going to see it, but I had to laugh at the trailer. (Head over to the videos link from the above link to check out the theatrical trailer.) We get the requisite brief glimpses of scenes from the movie, followed by scrolling text and that oh-so-dramatic Mr. Moviephone voice-over, intoning "A message foretold in the heavens… a prophecy that would threaten an empire." Now, there's no denying the truth to that statement… Christianity ultimately did shake Rome to it's core. But it's the sensational treatment of this that had me laughing. All we needed was the listing of Academy Award® nominated actors playing Joseph, Mary and Pilate to complete the feeling of "big… Hollywood… blockbuster!", a seemingly inappropriate approach to a story such as this one, I would think. (A...

Last week, the Pres said that his administration would no longer refer to our policy in Iraq as "stay the course" (or words to that effect). He then went on to point out that HE had NEVER referred to our policy in such a way, and my first thought to that was 'what are you, 2?'. This got me thinking that I might be onto something. (In a rare moment of public disagreement, VP Cheney went on record the following day, saying that the government may no longer refer to our Iraq policy as "staying the course" but that is indeed the policy. Looks like the Pres got off-script in his previous statement. I assume he was chastised accordingly.) Bush has been mocked for his apparent lack of intellectual prowess, almost from day one of his campaign… a mockery that I have been happy to embrace, if for no other reason than that I find it amusing. But, realistically speaking, for all his touting of his "C" average at Yale, he can't really be as stupid as has b...