James Bond Film Rankings

In honor of the James Bond marathon taking place this weekend, a tradition that I partake in just about every Thanksgiving, I've decided to put together a ranking of the 23 Bond films.  Let me stress that these rankings are just a personal opinion.  So if you don't agree, that's fine.  I'm always up for a good discussion so let me know where you think I screwed up.  But let's get to it.

1. Goldfinger
This is the best and probably most well known Bond movie.  Everything about this movie is great.  The villain, the girl, the story, the action, it's all awesome.

2. Thunderball
This is another great film.  Even audiences think so, as this film, when adjusted for inflation, is the highest grossing Bond of all time.  Plus, this movie has my favorite Bond girl, Domino.  She is absolutely gorgeous.

3. Dr. No
Being the first Bond this film has some flaws, but it holds together really well and is a good introduction to the franchise.  We get a quality villain and good story.

4. Skyfall
This has been by far the best of the Daniel Craig Bond movies.  And it is one of the best overall Bond movies as well.  Everything about it was absolutely entertaining.

5. The Spy Who Loved Me
The best of the Roger Moore Bond films.  Great chemistry between Bond and XXX.  Yes, the Bond girl's name in this film is Agent XXX.  Plus, we are introduced to one of the greatest henchmen in this film, Jaws.

6. From Russia With Love
For some reason this film rarely plays on TV.  And it's a shame because it is one of the better Bonds.  In fact, this is Sean Connery's favorite Bond film.

7. Casino Royale
The first Daniel Craig offering is very good and highly entertaining.  A great start to a new series in the franchise.

8. Live and Let Die
As the first in the Roger Moore series, this film is admittedly silly.  But the action is really good and Solitaire, the main Bond girl, is gorgeous.  Plus, it has arguably the best title song.

9. You Only Live Twice
This film features the first appearance of Blofeld's face.  It also features Charles Gray, a future Blofeld, in a different role, which always confuses me when I watch this movie.  While this film is still good, you can tell that Sean Connery was getting disinterested in the role.  He is still the best, though.

10. The Man with the Golden Gun
This film is widely panned as one of the worst Bond films.  While I understand the issues critics have with it, I still find it entertaining.  I like the dynamic between Bond and Scaramanga.

11. Moonraker
Another silly Bond that seems very much inspired by the success of Star Wars.  This film marks the return of Jaws and features another favorite Bond girl of mine, Dr. Holly Goodhead.

12. Goldeneye
The first and best of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films, this was a welcome return after the disaster that was Timothy Dalton.  I have mixed feelings about Brosnan as Bond, but this was a good film.

13. Diamonds are Forever
This marked Connery's return to the role after a one film hiatus.  It's not his best work, but it holds up OK.

14. For Your Eyes Only
I like the villain in this film and some of the action scenes are very good, but there's something about this movie that just seems flat.

15. Octopussy
As a kid I loved this movie, but as an adult I see how ridiculous it is.  Bond is a clown, literally, in this movie.  The Bond girls, however, are top notch and make up for some of the shortcomings.

16. A View to a Kill
Christopher Walken is at his over the top finest as the villain in this film.  But Roger Moore feels too old to play Bond.  This is still a watchable movie, but it could have been better.

17. Quantum of Solace
My biggest issue with this movie is that it is difficult to watch as a stand alone film.  You almost have to watch Casino Royale right before watching this, which seems to go against the pattern of the Bond films.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good movie, but I have to rank it lower because of the sequel issue.

18. Tomorrow Never Dies
This isn't a bad movie, but it isn't very good either.  Brosnan is still pretty good as Bond, but we start to see the issues that plague the final two Brosnan films creep into this one.

19. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Plot wise, this movie is OK.  But I can't get past the staleness of George Lazenby's Bond.

20. The World is Not Enough
Three words: Dr. Christmas Jones.  There was very little to like about this movie.

21. Die Another Day
There was even less to like about this one.  This was awful and in all honesty may very well be the worst of the Bond films.  It's a shame that Brosnan had to go out like that.

22. and 23. License to Kill and The Living Daylights
How do you judge either of these films as being worse than the other?  Timothy Dalton is by far the worst Bond and he makes these movies altogether unwatchable.  Story, villain, and Bond girl wise, they may not be the worst, but Dalton is and these have to be ranked last.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my list, and are enjoying the marathon that is on.  I know I am.

My Thanksgiving Playlist

As I was driving home from work today I started thinking that there aren't really any Thanksgiving songs, at least none that I'm aware of.  So I thought it would be fun to put together a Thanksgiving playlist based on the songs on my iPod.  I didn't really put the songs on here based on their content.  I really just looked at the title.  So in all reality many of these songs have no relevance to Thanksgiving other than a title.  So here's my list:

"Be Our Guest" - Beauty and the Beast soundtrack
This one seems the most fitting for obvious reasons.

"Hungry Eyes" - Eric Carmen
Seeing all the food definitely gives me hungry eyes.

"Sweet Potato Pie" - Domino
This song really isn't about pie.

"Flava in Ya Ear" - Craig Mack
I prefer the flavor to be in my mouth, but still.

"November Rain" - Guns N Roses
Thanksgiving is in November after all, and sometimes it rains.

"Holiday" - Madonna
What?  It's a holiday!

"Honey" - Mariah Carey
Honey seems like an appropriate Thanksgiving Day food.

"Hungry Heart" - Bruce Springsteen
Much like having hungry eyes, when you love the food you get a hungry heart too.

"Hunger Strike" - Temple of the Dog
Hopefully, you're not on one during Thanksgiving.

"I Want it All" - Warren G
All the food, that is!

"Peaches and Cream" - 112
This sounds like a good dessert.

"Juicy" - Notorious BIG
The turkey is juicy!

Again, these are just songs that I pulled from my iPod.  I'm sure there are more fitting ones, so feel free to share what songs you think should be included.

Why Do We Listen to Sad Songs When We're Sad?

You know those times when you're feeling sad or depressed?  Do you ever listen to music to make you feel better?  If you're anything like me you do.  Except, I realize that I tend to listen to sad music when I'm sad.  The songs don't necessarily make me feel better, but exacerbate the feelings of sadness.  I can't imagine I'm the only one who does this.  In fact, I know I'm not.  But it got me thinking why we do that.  I mean I have a full playlist on my iPod that I will play just when I'm feeling down.  These are some of my go to songs when I feel sad.

TLC - "What About Your Friends"

Soul Asylum - "Misery"

2Pac - "Me Against the World"

Big Boi - "Tremendous Damage"

Smokey Robinson - "Tracks of my Tears"

Because I have these songs on my iPod they sometimes come up when I shuffle all, even if I'm not listening to that specific playlist.  But if I'm not sad I don't necessarily want to listen to them because they make me sad.  So I started to wonder why I listen to these songs when I'm already feeling sad because they don't make me feel less sad.  It's really a backwards way of doing things.  I do the same thing when I'm angry.  I have a playlist full of angry songs that just fuel my anger.  I think, though, that I, and perhaps we, do this because I feel like the artists can relate to how I'm feeling at the time and it's nice to know that others have felt the same way.  At least I think that may be why I do this.  What do you think?  All in all, I'd probably be better served listening to songs like this when feeling down to try to pick me up.

Bobby McFerrin - "Don't Worry, Be Happy"

Aqua - "Happy Boys and Girls"

I probably won't though, because during times of sadness it often feels easier to wallow in my misery than to try to get out of it.  Who knows, though, maybe just writing this post will inspire me to do something different.  And maybe it will inspire you to do the same.

Enhancing My Creativity

Every day I try to go for a walk around campus while at work.  I do this for two reasons.  First, to add a little bit of exercise to my day so I'm not just sitting at a desk for eight hours.  And second, to break up the monotony of my day by giving myself something new to think about each day.  This helps me continue to think creatively.

I've read multiple books by Keith Sawyer, a creativity researcher.  His latest book. Zig Zag, details eight steps to enhancing creativity.  I highly recommend it if you get a chance.  One of the things he talks about in the book is that in order to think creatively when you need to you can't restrict yourself to only think creatively at those times.  You have to practice creativity and constantly train your creativity, much like your muscles and your education.  Step three of this process is Look.  This step challenges you to look differently at various things.

So I've decided to use my daily walks as a way to Look differently.  Every day I challenge myself to look for something different and try to do something with what I've found.

- Some days I try to look for different shapes and notice where I see those shapes and try to determine if there is a pattern to where I see the shapes.  (In case you were wondering, there are very few circles to be found at UA.)

- Some days i give myself a particular color to look for and pay attention to all the places I see that color.

- Some days I notice all the people who are using their phone and try to create stories for each of them about what they are saying, texting, listening to.

- The other day I tried something new and tried to look for random letters.  At the end of the walk I took those random letters and tried to create different phrases and words.

Invariably, I often find myself distracted by other things along my way only to find myself finding something that triggers my mind back to my goal.  It's a really a fun way to spend 20 minutes a day.  And it's a challenge to come up with new things every day to challenge myself with.  But ultimately, I think it helps keep me thinking creatively more consistently.

My Pet Peeves - Things People Say

There are some things that people say that really drive me up the wall.  I'm here today to share those sayings, and hopefully influence you to stop saying them.  Of course, in reality, some of you will probably just say them more when you're around me just to drive me nuts.  Well, that's a risk I'm willing to take.

1. Starfish
This may sound silly, but THEY'RE NOT FISH!  I hate it when people refer to starfish.  The proper nomenclature is Sea Star.  I understand the need to call everything in the ocean a fish, but just stop it!  SEA STAR!  Learn it!

2. Muscle Memory
OK, let's get this straight, muscles don't have memories.  So stop referring to muscle memory.  It just doesn't exist, and frankly it sounds stupid.  Again, just stop it.

3. Could care less
If you "could care less" about something that means you do care.  If you want to show that you don't care about something the correct phrase is "couldn't care less".  Think about it.  It makes sense.  If you already care as less as possible then you couldn't care less than that.  If you could that would mean you exhibit some form of caring already.  So all you have to do is start using that extra contraction to show how little you care.

4. Funner
I know this is technically a word, but I hate it.  It just doesn't sound right.  In fact, I think it sounds stupid.  I prefer to use "more fun" when talking about something that is more fun than something else.  Funner just sounds ignorant to me.  But, again, I know it's a word so I can't hate people too much for using it.  But I will.

And then there's this:

Supposably?  Supposedly?  I know the difference, but do you?  This one actually makes me laugh more than it frustrates me.  I attribute that to Friends.

But what about you?  What phrases or things people say drive you bonkers?

TV Theme Songs That Constantly Play in My Head

Do you ever go through your day and just start singing or humming a random song?  I'm sure you do.  It's pretty normal.  But do you ever get random TV themes stuck in your head?  I do.  And most of them are older shows, some of which I haven't watched in years.  Why the theme song is constantly in my head, I may never know.  But this is a list of the most popular themes that play in my head.

The first theme on the list should come as no surprise to those who know me.  It's The A-Team.  This really should just be my theme song because I listen to it and hum it so much.

The next song that I find myself singing regularly is a little bit more obscure.  It's the theme song to Dragnet.  I haven't seen this show in ages, but for some reason the theme song has stayed with me.

Up next we have The Little Rascals.  Even though this show is older, I feel like the theme song is pretty well known to most.  Well, maybe not.  I'm just trying to make myself seem less odd.

This next one is a little more current, but not by much.  It's Duck Tales.  Those who grew up with the Disney Afternoons can probably understand this one.

Finally, we have a classic 80s sitcom

I'll admit that I have many of these songs on my iPod which could be why I get them in my head.  But they play in my head constantly and I find myself humming them while working just about everyday.  I can't explain why, but they usually make me smile so I'm good with it.

Things I'm Thankful For

Today at work we had a Thanksgiving potluck.  While we feasting we went around the room and said what we were thankful for.  I shared a few things, but there are many more.  I know over the next few weeks there will be many posts like this, but my list will probably be much more enjoyable for you to read.  So, without further ado, here it is.

Root Beer
Pie
The A-Team
Natalie Portman
Space Mountain
In-n-Out
Baseball
My car
My pins
Natalie Portman
Star Wars
Magilla Gorilla
Time Machines
Bobbleheads
Grand Canyon
Jurassic Park
Secret Squirrel
James Bond
Mystery Novels
Zoos
Museums
High Fives
Natalie Portman
Grape Ape
Disneyland
Slurpees
Slinky's
The University of Arizona
College Basketball
Twinkies
Natalie Portman
Ice Cream
Marvin Gaye
Beyonce
Goofy
Being able to see the Wright Brothers plane!
Phillie Phanatic
Ding Dongs
Groundhog Day
Animaniacs
Lasagna
Natalie Portman
Funny videos on YouTube
Churros
Having close friends that I can count on (although, I wish they lived closer)
French Fries
Gummi Bears (the candy and the cartoon)
Reese's Pieces
E.T.
Moose (especially ones on the loose drinking juice)
Platypuses
Hula Hoops
Marbles
Hammer Pants
Old School Hip Hop
Natalie Portman
Trivia
Saved by the Bell
Legos
Waffles
Milkshakes
Candyland
Shark Week
Koalas
Quelf
Quick Draw McGraw
Baywatch
Natalie Portman
Writing
Arizona Camp Sunrise and Sidekicks
Bacon
Frozen Yogurt
Rainbow Sprinkles
IMAX Theaters
Looking like Brad Pitt
The Godfather
Die Hard
Natalie Portman
Family (even though they forget about me and drive me nuts)

This really is just a small sampling of the things I'm thankful for.  I hope you enjoyed reading.  Feel free to share a list of your own.

The Greatest Scene in Movie History

A couple weeks ago I got into a conversation with some coworkers about the greatest scene in movie history.  To me, it's a no-brainer.  There is one clear cut winner.  But I like to debate and I'm open to hearing what others have to say.  Unfortunately, this conversation was left with an "I'll have to think about it" and we never got back to it.  But I thought it would be a good idea for a post.  I even asked a friend of mine, who's an avid movie fan, for some of his suggestions.  He gave a lot of good ideas, none of which I thought could top mine.  When thinking about this post I thought about making a list of the top five greatest scenes, but upon compiling the I realized the difficulty of crossing genres, drama versus humor, dialogue versus cinematography, and so on.  In the end I thought it best to just showcase the scene which I think is clearly the best of all time.

The baptism scene from The Godfather is absolutely perfect.  The dichotomy of the two worlds portrayed, the church and the mafia, reflects the perpetual struggle of good vs evil.  It also represents the conflict that Michael Corleone will struggle with as the new godfather.  As he is publicly renouncing Satan and his sins, men are carrying out hits that he authorized in order to right the wrongs against his family.  It is such a powerful blend of imagery.  In my opinion, this is hands down the greatest scene in movie history.  I welcome your arguments and suggestions.  Did I get it right?  If not, what do you think is the greatest scene?  Please share.

I'm Tired...

I'm tired right now.  I'm tired of a lot of things.  I'm tired of being a nice person and then being made to feel like shit for it afterwards.  I'm tired of being taken advantage of.  I'm tired of feeling marginalized.  I'm tired of doing nice things for others and not seeing any reciprocation.  In fact, I'm tired of not even seeing any gratitude.  I'm tired of being too trusting and trying to look for the good in people.  I'm tired of having to be an asshole to make up for the fact that I was too nice in the first place.  How does that even happen?!  I'm tired of having to become more calloused just to survive in this world.  I'm tired of living in a society that seems to value rudeness over kindness, that glorifies people who treat others like shit, that creates such mistrust in others.  I'm tired of reading about another public shooting every week.  I'm tired of people posting stories about others doing nice things instead of getting out there and doing the nice things themselves.  I'm tired of people complaining about the lack of kindness and civility in the world and not doing anything to be better at it themselves.  (Yes, I realize the irony in that last statement.)  I'm tired of wondering how bad things have to get before they get better.  I'm just really tired.

Today was a roller coaster of emotions for me.  In fact, this year has been a roller coaster for me.  And, frankly, I don't think I've handled it all that well.  Now, I'm just tired.  I'm tired of wondering who my friends are.  I'm tired of feeling like people are only friends with me when they want something.  I'm tired of feeling forgotten.  I'm tired of putting in effort with people and not seeing the same effort returned.  And I'll be honest, the past few months I've been a shitty friend, mostly because I'm tired.  But no one seems to care.  No one has called me out on it.  No one has reached out to me to see what's going on.  It's kind of felt like I don't really matter to anyone.  (I should qualify this by saying this doesn't apply to everyone and I hope those who are exempt know who you are.)  But I don't know why all of this is coming out now or why I felt the need to write it down and share it.  I guess I felt that if I didn't it would continue to stew inside of me and get worse.  Not to mention today was just a roller coaster of emotions.  Have I mentioned that yet?

I've had to deal with an uncomfortable situation as a result of my being too trusting.  At the same time I heard from a lot of people today that I don't normally hear from, mostly as a result of a fluky chain of events that I started.  I don't know how to feel about any of it.  Even the nice things I've heard from people today have made me feel like shit.  And not because I don't believe them, but because I wonder if they were only said as a result of something I said or did and not because they actually mean them.  Then I feel even shittier for thinking that!  I want to believe that my friends value my friendship and that they believe I'm a good person.  And I want them to know that I think the same thing.  I try to randomly do nice things or send random messages to my friends just to brighten their day and let them know that I'm thinking about them.  I don't get around to everybody, I'll admit that, but I try.  I don't see the same attempts from others.  I even had a birthday come and go a few weeks ago which most of my friends and family forgot.  I can understand if a few people forget, after all people do get busy.  But this was the majority of people I know and it hurt a little.  I'm probably partially to blame because I don't make a big deal or draw attention to my birthday, but that doesn't mean I want people to ignore me on my birthday.  I'm not saying I want a big shindig every year (although every few years would be nice), but at least a text message would be nice.  Hell, even a text message not on my birthday every now and then would be nice.  As I'm writing this I'm realizing this bothered me a lot more than I thought.

So now I have a challenge for anyone reading this.  Focus on doing something nice for people on a more regular basis.  Try saying something nice to someone without being provoked by something they say or do.  Show gratitude regularly.  And don't just do all these things in the next day just because I'm asking you to.  Keep doing them six months from now when no one is asking you to.  Do these things because you want to.  Do these things not because they make you feel good, but because they make others feel good.  You never know how much a random hello might mean to someone.  Start showing the people in your life that you care about them instead of just telling them.  Let's start being the niceness that we want to see in others.  Thank you to those of you who got past the rantiness and down to the end.  I appreciate your loyalty.  Now maybe I can get some sleep tonight.

American Blackout

This morning I decided to watch the National Geographic special American Blackout.  For those who haven't seen it or heard of it, it is a movie about what would happen if a catastrophic blackout left America without power for ten days.  It's a rather chilling and disheartening look at what could happen.  Parts of it were like watching a bad horror movie.  There were times when I just wanted to yell at the characters to "stay inside!" or "don't go down the stairs!"  Those parts were really quite stupid.  But the movie got me thinking about a lot of things.

First, it got me thinking how long I could go without power based on the supplies I have in my house.  I'm not gonna lie, it probably wouldn't be long.  I do have Twinkies, though.  Watching this does make me want to buy a case of water just to have on hand.  I could probably survive on the food I have for ten days, even if it means eating dry pasta, but water would be an issue.

Another issue would be getting in touch with friends and family.  I could power my cell phone and probably find ways to recharge it, but the cell phone towers would be down so you still couldn't call or text people.  I don't even think you could send email because the Internet would be down.  That could cause some problems.

There are some things that bothered me about the movie, too, though.  One of the storylines followed a group of people stuck in an elevator.  They managed to climb out and end up on the roof of the building, but then got stuck up there.  Now, I'm sure there would be a lot of people stuck in elevators across the country if this happened.  I'm wondering what the protocol would be to get those people out, or if they would just leave them all in there.  And I can't imagine that people would just be stuck on a roof with no way down.  In the movie there were no people on the street to yell down to, and that seems suspicious to me.  Don't most tall buildings have a fire escape, also?  I wasn't buying that.

I also felt like martial law was declared really soon after the blackout.  After two days people were shown resorting to killing and looting.  I'm sure some of this would happen as panic sets in, but not to the extent that was shown in the movie.  At least I hope not.  I'd like to think that people would band together and support each other through this.  We've seen this happen during Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.  People show themselves to be good.  I'd hope that would be the case during a massive blackout as well.

A rather humorous, yet sad, scene in the movie involved a couple who, upon securing a can a fruit to eat, realized they couldn't open it because their can opener was electric.  When trying to open the can with a knife the man severely cut himself.  Do people really not have a manual can opener?  I only have a manual one because I've never been able to figure out how to use an electric one.  My parents make fun of me for this, but at least I could open cans in a blackout.

Finally, I couldn't help but compare this movie to the Twilight Zone episode, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street."  At the end of the episode (Spoiler alert, but seriously it's a 50 year old show) the aliens who cause the blackout on the street basically say that all you have to do is turn off the machines and wait for the people to destroy themselves.  This movie showed a lot of the same things.  It would be interesting to see what really would happen.  Although, I hope we never do have to see it.

Bottom line, this was an interesting, thought-provoking movie.  If you haven't seen it and you get a chance, I recommend it.