50 years ago today, Sean Connery was announced as the actor to play Bond in Dr. No. Today, the 50th anniversary film, due out in October 2012, was announced - title: Skyfall. Javier Bardem will play the main villain. It better be good. Quantum of Solace was lacklustre.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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In my opinion, the James Bond franchise has gone steadily downhill since Sean Connery made so much money that he was able to take early retirement. It is also extremely unfortunate that some of that spoil has now found its way into the coffers of the SNP.
Best wishes from Simon