If you know me you know of the deep admiration I have for a certain British MI-6 agent. To use two of my new favorite adjectives, he is both brilliant and magnificent! Yes, I am aware that he is a fictional character, but that is what makes it so much fun! He encompasses everything a super secret agent/superhero should be! He's strong, intelligent, mysterious and sexy. And there's something inside of him that has been broken. Therefore you can imagine the excitement I was experiencing on Tuesday when the newest installment of James Bond 007, "Quantum of Solace" was released on DVD. I know there are some out there that were not very fond of this newest Bond film, but I thoroughly loved it. Daniel Craig has in just two films, become my favorite Bond. He has not only brought everything that Sean Connery built Bond to be, but has added a new depth of mystery and personal agony I have not seen other than briefly with Timothy Dalton. He is able to portray the character of Bond as I picture him when I read Ian Fleming's stories. He is absolutely magnificent! And so, I will leave you with five of my favorite Bond films. I love them all, but these are five I tend to watch over and over.- Casino Royale
- License to Kill
- Dr. No
- Live and Let Die
- Quantum of Solace
Yes kids that's right, it's time to dust off those #2 pencils and get them sharpened because March Madness has officially begun! With Selection Sunday less than a week away most of the NCAA schools will face off in their respective conferences in what has fittingly been dubbed "Championship Week." With a season that has seen multiple teams clinch the #1 ranking and then lose it just as quickly, almost as if they were walking through a revolving door, it is anybody's guess who will bounce (no pun intended!) out on top. The next four weeks promise to be nothing short of magnificent. And so, as Championship Week, and a great deal of March Madness, looms ahead of us I have been contemplating why it is I love the game of basketball so much. Is it the perfect mathematical arc of the three-pointer. Is it that instantaneous adrenaline rush you experience while standing in an arena amongst thousands of screaming fans just as the lights go out and a spotlight illuminates center court? Maybe it's that perfect swishing sound the ball makes as it travels through the net, hitting nothing else on its way through? Or is that exhilaration you feel for days following your favorite team's triumph over its arch enemy? Could it be that jaw-dropping wonderment felt when watching a 6'8" center elevate 3 feet over two defenders to slam a ball through a hoop standing 10 feet high? And maybe it is simply that feeling of personal greatness as, no matter how terrible a basketball player you may be, you sink that one perfect shot. For me it is obviously every single one of these reasons and so many more that make the game so great! With that, I am wishing you a very wonderful and surprising March!
