Last night I went to Borders for a ridiculously large cup of coffee and to pick up an ESV Bible and a copy of Fahrenheit 451
Afterwards I went to go see the new James Bond film, Casino Royale. I think it’s one of the best Bond films I’ve ever seen. It’s old school Bond. Notably missing are the crazy high-tech gadgets. Instead, Bond relies on social engineering and just kicking ass. He’s also a more human James Bond. He makes mistakes, gets himself into some serious jams and relies on others helping him out to escape death. He’s not immune to falling in love. But he does all this while retaining the wit, charm, style, and toughness that makes James Bond who he is as a character.
One thing that really made me chuckle was the Holdem poker tournament. In classic Hollywood fashion the hands were all over the top. In one hand the 4 guys at the table had a flush, full house, higher full house, and a straight flush. In a previous hand we saw quads (four-of-a-kind).
December 14th, 2006 at 11:14 am
In the book they played baccarat, but they changed it for the movie (I guess because the audience likely doesn’t know the rules of baccarat). As I recall, the hands in the closing stages of the baccarat game in the book were equally improbable…
December 14th, 2006 at 11:31 am
You read pretty good fiction. Fahrenheit 451 isn’t bad either.
December 14th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
I didn’t know you were going to the Journey - you just moved down near the hood then, right?
Haven’t seen Casino Royale yet but everything I’ve heard sounds good.
Nice snowflakes…
December 14th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Hey, Ron. I just started going to The Journey about a month and a half ago or so. I’ve actually lived in the Shaw Garden are for about a year and half. I’m on Cleveland Ave. with a view of the Botanical Gardens from my balcony.
December 14th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
AdamW: That makes sense. I know nothing about baccarat and I bet most people who watched the film wouldn’t either.
Panopticom: I’m assuming your comment is a back-handed compliment, but I’ll just say thanks all the same. If the Bible is fiction, it’s the truest fiction I’ve ever read.
December 19th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
thanks, jamin. nice site. “Living life forward and understanding it backwards”….jeez, amen to that.
i heard on npr last night that worldwide there are 100 million copies of the bible sold every year, and that it’s always the #1 best seller. as surprising as that fact was, it was mostly a funny/sad report about how the bible is marketed now as a fashion accessory–like “i need a purple bible to match my new snappy outfit”…. bibles covered in duct tape, faux metal bibles. yikes.
December 19th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
Thanks, Angela. I got that tagline from Kierkegaard:
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
Hmm..I can only understand the Bible covered in duct tape as a necessity. My old NIV Bible could definitely use some duct tape to hold it together. It’s been through a lot…
-j
December 29th, 2006 at 9:12 am
A James Bond fan, huh? My dad has almost every movie ever made with him. Maybe you could borrow a couple. It’s fun comparing him is his younger cowboy years to the newer spy movies.
January 3rd, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Gosh, Jamin, what are you talking about, I routinely see Hold’em hands where everyone has a full-house or higher.
Of course, I’m always the one with the lower full-house…