I figured now was as good of time as any to dig into the Fleming novels, having only read a handful of them over my life. Just finished Casino Royale a few days ago; I used to think it was a bit languid and completely eclipsed by the film, but now I feel the opposite. The Daniel Craig movie, fantastic as it is, adds a lot of gristle to the lean meat that is the book. Bumped it up from 3/5 stars to 5/5 on my GoodReads.
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I did a Fleming marathon last year and had a blast with it. If you can make it through the first 4 (Live and Let Die and Diamonds are Forever are the toughest reads for different reasons imo).
CR, OHMSS and YOLT have long been my favourite Fleming novels, not just because I think theyāre quality stories (FRWL is definitely in that conversation too), but for the significance they have in Bondās life. The more straightforward adventures like LALD, MR and DN are very good, and my appreciation has only increased. In time Iāll reacquaint myself with Goldfinger and the short stories.
I was surprised at how much I really liked the Doctor No novel. It is completely bat sh*t crazy and I love it all the more for that. CR is a breeze to get through (TSWLM is actually shorter, but more of a slog). OHMSS and YOLT are both excellent. The story story compilations can be difficult to get through as the quality of the stories is wildly inconsistent. For me, LALD and DAF are the two hardest to get through, for different reasons: LALD for all the old-school, uncomfortable racism and DAF for being very slow and boring.
DN is the most fun Iāve had with a Fleming novel. Weāre all so familiar with Thunderball, especially as itās been done twice on the big screen, but itās also a good read, even if I prefer others ahead of it.
DAF and TSWLM are slogs to get through, or I just canāt summon the same level of enthusiasm when approaching them. The same goes for TMWTGG. Thatās why Iāll be focusing on GF, which I feel is an overlooked gem on my behalf. Iām all about the internal dialogue and atmosphere Fleming creates.
Paris When It Sizzles is a remake of a marvelous French comedy called La fĆŖte Ć Henriette (1952, aka Holiday for Henrietta), co-written and directed by the great Julien Duvivier. I havenāt seen the Holden remake, but the original has aged very well and is a stand-out work of metafiction. The 2017 French Blu-Ray/DVD apparently has English subtitles, for anyone interested.
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Happy Birthday to the most dangerous Bond ever, Timothy Dalton!
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Weāre into the third season of Westworld now. Perhaps not the most uplifting viewing, but I find it brilliant, and it presents a different challenge from the one before us now. So it is a distraction of sorts. For much lighter fare, weāve been enjoying Miracle Workers and Avenue 5.
To ease the boredom of isolation, here are some nature-related streaming webcams that Iāve watched for years now:
Hancock Wildlife Foundation Eagle Cams (three of the four nests have eggs now, with hatching of the eaglets expected in April)
Nova Scotia Webcams (the osprey cam should be up and running soon, and the Shelburne waterfront and Sandy Point Lighthouse, where I live, are among the featured webcams)
Explore Livecams (they have a snowy owl webcam that goes live during the snowy owl breeding season, plus lots more webcams that are active now)
WildEarth Safaris (they stream amazing live safaris from South Africa twice daily)
The Log Cam (series of videos a photographer set up to capture the wildlife crossing a log across a creek)
Iāve wasted more time on these sites than I should, but I do enjoy them. Especially the WildEarth live safaris. Itās such an amazing thing to have a virtual āseatā on a safari vehicle, or āwalkā next to a guide during a bush walk, as they are happening. You never know what you are going to see!
For their afternoon drives (morning in my time zone), they usually start out with a kidsā hour. The drives are interactive, so viewers can post questions in the chat, and often the guides answer them during the safari. Itās especially fun when the kids ask questions, and the guides respond.
Usually the questions come from one or more school classrooms that are watching. But since schools are closed, this would be a really fun thing for kids to do at home. They never show live kills during the kidsā hour, but parents should know that sometimes they do after that time. They start out each drive with a caution about the possibility of a live kill happening during the webcast, so people know up front what may happen.
The great thing about the webcams that are on YouTube is that you can scroll back to see what you missed (usually a three-hour time frame). Sunday I was watching the Djuma cam, and a herd of elephants, including several babies, did their āwater runā down to the dam and started playing in the water. They were having so much fun! You canāt stay stuck in your head, watching that.
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Brilliant reading throughout.
Been playing a lot of video games and reading a lot of books while Iāve been stuck inside these last several weeks. I recently dug out my PS2 and played through Agent Under Fire and Nightfire. Itās been years since I played either and Iāve forgotten just how much fun they both are. Next up is Everything or Nothing and then From Russia With Love to round out the PS2-era Bonds.
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Iām still going to work, as I work in the pharmaceutical trade, but weekends I have been indulging on American comedy horror B movies, such as gingerdead man and evil bong!
Working from home while catching up on Smallville, Buffy and Angel. Thanks Hulu! 
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I know Iām really late seeing this but just wanted to say itās great to see a colleague in here.
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Always nice to meet a colleague! I salute you sir!
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Just checking in. Some of you may remember that I hail from Nova Scotia, where thereās a huge wildfire burning out of control in my county. We were without Internet for a while, which limited my ability to communicate.
The Barrington Lake fire (whose billowing smoke plumes are visible from across our harbor) is a massive wildfire, the largest ever in Nova Scotia. The Lake Road fire was a smaller wildfire northeast of us that triggered evacuation alerts fairly close to us Wednesday evening. We werenāt in the evacuation zone, but we had our bags packed in the car, just in case we had to leave.
We could see the Lake Road smoke plume from our front porch. We watched as Department of Natural Resources and volunteer firefighters, RCMP, emergency personnel and other crews raced to the scene. And, starting Thursday, we had many more water bombers on the scene. So that fire was brought under control very quickly.
We have heard that the food manufacturing plant where my husband works is still standing. The problem is that there is no power out there, and two bridges have collapsed, hindering access to the plant. They were able to get in and transport their inventory of frozen product to a freezer elsewhere in the county.
The sad thing is that human activity (people doing outdoor burning, when we are under an outdoor burn ban) caused these fires. So all this destruction, trauma and stress was completely preventable and unnecessary.
The ground and forests were bone dry. The soil is dust, even deep in the forests. Before yesterday, we hadnāt had significant rainfall since winter. The rains finally came yesterday, and we have had steady rain ever since. It wonāt put out this massive, extremely hot wildfire, but it will slow it down. And it will make the conditions far more favorable for our firefighters! But after the fire is finally doused, many peopleās lives here will never be the same.
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All the best to you and your loved ones!
My wife and I visited Canada several times and loved every second of it. Weāve been watching the news about the fires with deep sadness and hope things will turn around for the better for you and, of course, all Canadians.
Youāre pointing out absolutely correctly that those idiots who start these fires with their egoistic carelessness will keep on contributing to these situations. And, unfortunately, that is happening all over the world.
Stay safe and take care!
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