Mike Browne’s Blog

CBC Arts: Craig – Daniel Craig – confirmed as new Bond
Sure Daniel Craig will do a bang up job with what is put in front of him script-wise, but there hasn’t been a truly decent James Bond film since Roger Moore as “Bond, James Bond” in The Man With the Golden Gun in 1974. Bond hasn’t evolved at all since then and has become a mindless sissy ass who relies on gadgets to get his job done and overcompensates for latent homosexual tendencies by bedding everything female with a weird name he meets. He gives brits a bad name frankly.

Bond needs an overhaul. Bond needs to go away from the upper class snobbery and be a more working class everyman. Perhaps more like an ex-SAS operative than the Queen’s butler. Bond and Miss Moneypenny should be doing the nasty and he just blows off all the other advances out of loyalty to her. That’s cool. Also, he needs to be a little tougher. Bring some big monkey (Jaws from Moonraker size) in and have Bond scrap it out with him winning only by inches. He can have brains and brawn and some class too, but I sure as hell don’t relate to him as he is.

Want a real everyman’s hero? Watch Raiders of the Lost Ark again. Indiana Jones is the best.

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip. You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just read the post straight through, and you’ll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners .

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care .

Pass this on to those people who have made a difference in your life.

“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.” (Charles Schultz)

Thanks to birthmom Dianne for this. See you on Saturday!

Even the venue was creepy for the HP Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon this past weekend. Carol and I had a blast seeing many shorts and features all based (some more loosely than others) on Lovecraft’s work.
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BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Texas Massacre tops horror poll
This comes to you from from MovieBlog.com.

Their list:

1. Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
2. Halloween (1978)
3. Suspiria (1977)
4. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
5. The Shining (1980)
6. Psycho (1960)
7. The Wicker Man (1973)
8. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
9. Don’t Look Now (1973)
10. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

Interesting list but I’m not sure I agree with all of their choices. I haven’t seen the bottom two on the list yet so I can’t comment on those.

Here’s my list:

1. The Exorcist (1973)
2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
3. Jaws (1975)
4. Halloween (1978)
5. Psycho (1969)
6. Evil Dead 2 (1987)
7. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
8. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
9. John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982)
10. Alien (1979)

What do you think?

We’re off to The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival: Cosmic Horror & Weird Tales in Portland, Oregon. Very Exciting! As well as a number of shorts and feature films based on Lovecraft’s works Stuart Gordon, director of Re-Animator and From Beyond will be doing 2 Q & A sessions. Also of note punk rock icon Patti Smith will be performing on Saturday night.

And we’re off. Hopefully there’s internet connection nearby to blog all of our adventures. If not we’ll do a recap when we get home.

In celebration of the NHL’s return (and yes the Canucks won game one against Gretzky’s Coyotes!) we bring you NHL Academy. You can learn to be a professional hockey player in your own home and my bet is that the salary you’ll be worth will help any team stay well within that salary cap.

Remember Kanye West’s little outburst on the telethon with Mike Meyers? Anyway, they dealt with it on SNL’s season opener last week.

Check out the video: Kanye West and Mike Meyers on SNL | The Superficial

Too funny. Cool that everyone involved actually played along. Where was Chris Tucker though?

I love Arrow in the Head, JoBlo’s Horror site, and now this blog is mentioned on it! Cool! At least they’re giving me credit. Some of the other prominent horror sites out there aren’t mentioning me at all. Bastids. Too Arrow in the Head spelled my name wrong, but I’m used to it. People always miss the ‘e’ on the end of Browne. Check it out here – Arrow in the Head News: Wicker Man pics
UPDATE: Wait, I just checked the web stats for the site and found I was linked to from Upcoming Horror Movies too… article here (No mention of my blog, just a link), GoreZone, Dark Horizons, Ain’t it Cool News (which brought over 11000 vistors), Bloody Disgusting, eSplatter.com, HorrorMovies.ca, and IMDb (which brought 3000+ vistors).

CBC Arts: British comedian Ronnie Barker dead
Sad. We used to watch The Two Ronnies a lot as kids.
It’s goodnight from me. And, goodnight from him.