It's maybe the first of many wonderful Saturdays in the unofficial/official Summer 0f 2014 and I'm trapped indoors nursing a damn head and chest cold without a nurse. Today was a planned day to spend partly indoors to ready my house for sale. Instead I'm occupying my La-Z-Boy recliner watching television. I would have spent the time reading but that requires full concentration which I hardly have any at this time. Between constant hacking coughs and trips to the bathroom (I'm filling up on plenty of fluids), I have little interest on concentrating on story lines. However, television is aptly nicknamed, "Idiot Box." I can watch hours of television.
The first program I watched is dear to me as I once was told that I resembled this individual, who I've respected and enjoyed for years, Mike Ditka. Yes, it may be hard to believe, but years ago when I was a few pounds heavier and wore a mustache, I had an uncanny resemblance to the man.
While channel surfing, I landed on the NFL network in time to watch "A Football Life - Mike Ditka." I learned a lot about Da Coach of Da Bears that I did not know. For instance, the man could never turn down an opportunity to endorse a product even when he discouraged his players from doing so. He has a product line which includes wines, restaurants, barbecue sauces, premium meats and sausages, and a limousine service in the Chicago area to name a few. I also learned that besides the Bears, he played for the Eagles and the Cowboys. I did not know he played in Philadelphia. I had yet to be an Eagles fan when he played. I was young and foolish and a Giants fan. The only item I learned that discouraged me was that he supported Sarah Palin for her run for Vice Presidency. He describes himself as an ultra ultra-ultra conservative. This goes to prove that our heroes are only human. It's on again at 7 p.m. tonight on the NFL Network.
The second program I watched was a BBC 4-episode series, "Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond" that aired on BBC America. This takes us through the life of Ian Fleming, the creator of the MI6 spy/special agent, James Bond. He authored 12 novels and 2 short story collections of Bond's adventures.
The program deals strictly with his life during WW II. Fleming lived his life very much like his fictional creation. He worked with military intelligence reaching the the level of Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves. He created the 30 Assault Unit, a British spy unit of the Naval Intelligence Division. He infiltrated behind enemy lines to steal Nazi plans. By everyone's standard, he was rogue and danced to his own tune. This is available On Demand on Xfinity and not on that crappy Fios.
Fleming died from a heart attack in 1964. He saw two of his books turned into films starring Sean Connery. The third film was released just after his death. Besides his written legacy, there have been other authorised writers of Bond material, including John Gardner, who wrote fourteen novels and two novelizations and Raymond Benson, who wrote six novels, three novelizations and three short stories. There have also been three authors who wrote one book each, Kingsley Amis (writing as Robert Markham), Sebastian Faulks and Jeffery Deaver. Additionally a series of novels based on Bond's youth—Young Bond—was written by Charlie Higson. (Wikipedia)
There have been 25 Bond movies played by seven actors.
| Portrayed by | Sean Connery (1962–1971; 1983) David Niven (1967) George Lazenby (1969) Roger Moore (1973–1985) Timothy Dalton (1987–1989) Pierce Brosnan (1995–2002) Daniel Craig (2006–present) |
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My favorite Bond is still Connery. My second favorite is Pierce Brosnan. My least favorite is a tie between Niven and Lazenby. I found Dalton's Bond portrayal to be dark, gruff and not at all suave. He sits just above the other two. My first Bond movie I saw in a movie theater as a teen on my own without parental accompaniment was "Live And Let Die" starring Roger Moore. It is one of my top ten favorite Bond movies. "Dr. No" is probably my favorite. "Goldfinger" would be close behind.
I wrote this blog in the time it took to watch the last three of the four part series. I guess I will take a shower now. It's almost dinner time. I should have taken a nap but I slept until 10 a.m. So the least I can do is to steam some of this phlegm from my lungs and not offend the cat with my B.O.
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