I have never gone to a movie theatre to see a James Bond Film, ever! But now a tv channel here (free to view) is playing 20 James Bond films over consecutive Saturday Evenings, so I've been popping in to see what I never missed.
I can't remember who played Bond in the first one up, but it did instill an understanding of the formula in my mind. Second (or was it third?) was a Pierce Brosnan Bond - the one where the huge great dish shaped aerial comes up out of the sea next to the "baddies' island, and it was good/okay viewing.
GoldFinger with utterly lovely Sean Connery came next - I agree that it is a classic and a "Top Bond Fillum".
A week later ......... my sense of humour was tickled, thankfully, because there is nowt else to recommend Roger Moore and "For Your Eyes Only" unless you're a student studying the cold war, bad movie stereotypes and beyond. You could tell the "baddies" were Soviet Russians because their characters:
1 - all spoke English with "Hollywood" Russian accents
2 - all wore "those" fur hats
3 - continually referred to each other as "Comrade" (in an almost joyous tone
compared to the delivery of the rest of their lines)
4 - appeared in every outdoor "baddie land" scene with snow laying all about, at
least knee deep
This was followed by a Timothy Dalton Bond. I quite enjoyed his dark broodiness and inability to smile - maybe we saw a glimmer of a smile or was that indigestion? And - No, I can't remember the plot at all - was there a plot?
A couple more have shown. This just past Saturday was "Tomorrow Never Dies", with dear Pierce again. Progress -the English and the Russians had top Military bods together (!Cold war over!) in the very control room where all the "goodies" see it all going belly-up. Now, naturally, the Chinese are blamed, however it seems is all down to a major, nasty baddie - a Media Mogul.!!!!
So far my fav and bestest Bond Actor is, and will ever be Sean Connery - if only they'd let him speak with his natural Scots accent, he'd have been even sexier.
My own No. 2, from what I've seen with my "partial" watching is unsmiling, brooding (or is he desparately trying to remember his lines without it showing on his face) Tim Dalton.
So there is room for Daniel Craig - or is he Craig Daniel??? - to step in, with his 21st century version.
The bestest part of watching Bond films on TV = as the music speeds up in tempo for exciting bits so does my knitting speed up in pace, yet not a wrong stitch from Mickle so far. The dark pink/maroon stole made great progress on Saturday night.
And whatever may happen in the latest Bond ..... Zebbycat snoozles on the beddybize........ and Zebby sends happy snoozles and I wish happy times for the coming week, xxxx and zzzz
Mickle's Pickle: from our World's Southern most Capital City.
29 March, 2010
16 March, 2010
First Kamokamo (Zucchini/Kumi hybrid)
The first beauty from my garden, together with the first picking of beans.
I sliced and grilled the zucchini to include in ....
... vegetable lasagne, enjoyed with the beans. The lasagne fed me for 2 nights and another 2 servings are in the freezer.
Zebbycat just snoozled on as there was no meat in this cooking
13 March, 2010
Storm was really fast: all is okay at my place
Somehow Mickle and Zebby escaped the worst. All we got was lots of horizontal rain, sleet and hail with a rapidly descending temperature. Plus confirmation the landlord of next door now needs to do some guttering down-pipe maintenance. But elsewhere - from Radio New Zealand's news:
Updated at 11:37pm on 12 March 2010
A man has been taken to hospital after suffering an electric shock in the intense storm that blasted through the Wellington region, cutting power to up to 25,000 customers on Friday.
The weather bomb also hit Marlborough, Wairarapa and regions further north.
Westpac Rescue Helicopter service - which flew the Waikanae man, 63, to Wellington Hospital - says he was directing traffic around a power line.
MetService recorded 3500 lightning strikes as the southerly punched through Marlborough, Wellington and Wairarapa.
In the capital, winds gusted up to 140 kilometres an hour, tearing off roofs, felling trees and bringing down power lines.
Wellington Electricity Lines Ltd says up to 25,000 customers were cut off, with the worst affected suburbs Upper Hutt, Naenae, Belmont, Newlands, Evans Bay and Island Bay.
Company spokesperson Damien Batey says its call centre struggled to cope with the number of alerts rung in by the public.
Mr Batey says all of the company's available field resources were out, and would be working overnight.
He asked for customers to be patient in the interim.
Northward path
MetService duty forecaster Heath Gullery says the weather bomb tracked north during the evening.
On the west coast it went through Horowhenua, and shortly before 8pm Wanganui, heading for Taranaki.
On the east coast it hit Hawke's Bay mid-evening, heading for Gisborne before moving across Coromandel and Auckland, where it is expected to weaken, in the early morning.
Wellington damage
A mini-tornado ripped off the auditorium roof and dumped piles of iron in front the administration block at Samuel Marsden Collegiate in Karori*.
School principal Jenny Williams says the winds rushed through at 4.20pm. She says no-one was injured but had it been half an hour earlier, students would have been coming out of classes.
Mini-tornados were also reported in Hutt Valley.
At St Bernard's College in Lower Hutt, the wind blew iron stacked for re-roofing around and blew over a wire mesh construction fence.
An alert for a kayaker missing in Wellington Harbour turned out to be a sighting of a marker buoy, but the police launch was checking if anyone else was in trouble.
Emergency services received more than 200 weather-related calls.
Wellington police say they had twice as many calls as usual in the two hours since the storm hit, and the Fire Service had all its trucks on the roads attending to storm-related callouts.
Trains halted
Buses replaced train services on the Hutt Valley line, with trees blown on to the rail tracks at Epuni. The Wairarapa line was also affected.
Tranz Metro said shortly before 8pm services were beginning to run again, although it expected delays for the rest of the evening.
Interislander sailings continued and, despite large waves in Cook Strait, a spokesperson said the service was running to time on Friday evening.
Numerous flights in and out of Wellington Airport were delayed, as airline staff worked to clear a backlog of passengers.
MetService says wind gusts of close to 140 kilometres were recorded at the waterfront and airport, and in Kelburn.
Marlborough hit
Rescue teams freed a teenage boy trapped under a tree at Rarangi near Blenheim. The 15-year-old was taken by helicopter to Wairau Hospital with injuries to his back, and a leg.
Hail several centimetres thick coated the roads near Kaikoura, and forced drivers off the road.
A group of American tourists hit by hailstones while walking on Kaikoura Peninsula had to take shelter off the track.
Kaikoura Constable Lindsay Tilbury says the storm arrived suddenly and with great intensity, which would have caught out the walkers, who were in their sixties and seventies.
Copyright © 2010 Radio New Zealand
* Karori is the suburb next to where I am. This storm certainly arrived very, very fast. Mickle and Zebbycat are very thankful we were safe throughout. And, wouldn't you know it, Saturday will be fine, lots of sun and moderate wind from the (warm) North.
Updated at 11:37pm on 12 March 2010
A man has been taken to hospital after suffering an electric shock in the intense storm that blasted through the Wellington region, cutting power to up to 25,000 customers on Friday.
The weather bomb also hit Marlborough, Wairarapa and regions further north.
Westpac Rescue Helicopter service - which flew the Waikanae man, 63, to Wellington Hospital - says he was directing traffic around a power line.
MetService recorded 3500 lightning strikes as the southerly punched through Marlborough, Wellington and Wairarapa.
In the capital, winds gusted up to 140 kilometres an hour, tearing off roofs, felling trees and bringing down power lines.
Wellington Electricity Lines Ltd says up to 25,000 customers were cut off, with the worst affected suburbs Upper Hutt, Naenae, Belmont, Newlands, Evans Bay and Island Bay.
Company spokesperson Damien Batey says its call centre struggled to cope with the number of alerts rung in by the public.
Mr Batey says all of the company's available field resources were out, and would be working overnight.
He asked for customers to be patient in the interim.
Northward path
MetService duty forecaster Heath Gullery says the weather bomb tracked north during the evening.
On the west coast it went through Horowhenua, and shortly before 8pm Wanganui, heading for Taranaki.
On the east coast it hit Hawke's Bay mid-evening, heading for Gisborne before moving across Coromandel and Auckland, where it is expected to weaken, in the early morning.
Wellington damage
A mini-tornado ripped off the auditorium roof and dumped piles of iron in front the administration block at Samuel Marsden Collegiate in Karori*.
School principal Jenny Williams says the winds rushed through at 4.20pm. She says no-one was injured but had it been half an hour earlier, students would have been coming out of classes.
Mini-tornados were also reported in Hutt Valley.
At St Bernard's College in Lower Hutt, the wind blew iron stacked for re-roofing around and blew over a wire mesh construction fence.
An alert for a kayaker missing in Wellington Harbour turned out to be a sighting of a marker buoy, but the police launch was checking if anyone else was in trouble.
Emergency services received more than 200 weather-related calls.
Wellington police say they had twice as many calls as usual in the two hours since the storm hit, and the Fire Service had all its trucks on the roads attending to storm-related callouts.
Trains halted
Buses replaced train services on the Hutt Valley line, with trees blown on to the rail tracks at Epuni. The Wairarapa line was also affected.
Tranz Metro said shortly before 8pm services were beginning to run again, although it expected delays for the rest of the evening.
Interislander sailings continued and, despite large waves in Cook Strait, a spokesperson said the service was running to time on Friday evening.
Numerous flights in and out of Wellington Airport were delayed, as airline staff worked to clear a backlog of passengers.
MetService says wind gusts of close to 140 kilometres were recorded at the waterfront and airport, and in Kelburn.
Marlborough hit
Rescue teams freed a teenage boy trapped under a tree at Rarangi near Blenheim. The 15-year-old was taken by helicopter to Wairau Hospital with injuries to his back, and a leg.
Hail several centimetres thick coated the roads near Kaikoura, and forced drivers off the road.
A group of American tourists hit by hailstones while walking on Kaikoura Peninsula had to take shelter off the track.
Kaikoura Constable Lindsay Tilbury says the storm arrived suddenly and with great intensity, which would have caught out the walkers, who were in their sixties and seventies.
Copyright © 2010 Radio New Zealand
* Karori is the suburb next to where I am. This storm certainly arrived very, very fast. Mickle and Zebbycat are very thankful we were safe throughout. And, wouldn't you know it, Saturday will be fine, lots of sun and moderate wind from the (warm) North.
12 March, 2010
Definately Autumn now
Half an hour ago I was walking down the road in full sunshine, watching dark clouds approach from the south.
20 minutes ago I was out emptying Zeb's litter tray and felt the first few wee spots of rain.
Now it is sleeting, horizontally because of the high winds, plus there are hail showers mixed in. I'm going offline as the lightening and thunder has started. Time to disconnect electronics and comfort Zebbycat.
Postscript: One hour later and I just heard on the radio that some trees and power lines have blown down, and a ew houses have had their roofs blown off. Zebby and Mickle are okay as outside the first storm of Autumn is whalloping Wellington around.
A further 2 hours and it is all over. Will need to contact the owner of the next flat up the steps from mine as his guttering downpipe is a little loose so all the water from it is landing on my front porch. I had to rescue the pots of mint and parsley.
20 minutes ago I was out emptying Zeb's litter tray and felt the first few wee spots of rain.
Now it is sleeting, horizontally because of the high winds, plus there are hail showers mixed in. I'm going offline as the lightening and thunder has started. Time to disconnect electronics and comfort Zebbycat.
Postscript: One hour later and I just heard on the radio that some trees and power lines have blown down, and a ew houses have had their roofs blown off. Zebby and Mickle are okay as outside the first storm of Autumn is whalloping Wellington around.
A further 2 hours and it is all over. Will need to contact the owner of the next flat up the steps from mine as his guttering downpipe is a little loose so all the water from it is landing on my front porch. I had to rescue the pots of mint and parsley.
07 March, 2010
Early Autumn brings me ......
....some incredibly beautiful sunsets. I took this shot a couple of days ago as I just looked up from the laptop to the window on the right of me (in Mickle and Zebbycat's bedroom).
Zebby would have been sleep/snoozling in his current place of safety and security - on the bed under his beloved and much battered "quilt"
Sometimes nature is very kind to me.
Zebby would have been sleep/snoozling in his current place of safety and security - on the bed under his beloved and much battered "quilt"
Sometimes nature is very kind to me.
02 March, 2010
The Wrap - Progress Report
The marino yarn is beautiful to knit with, so soft and cosy. I really like the stitch pattern.
The ball of yarn on the right is the one I'm knitting from - I don't seem to have made that much of an impact on its size so far.
Progress will slow for a few days as I work on a "rush special project" - more once this new project is finished and in the hands of its very special recipient.
The ball of yarn on the right is the one I'm knitting from - I don't seem to have made that much of an impact on its size so far.
Progress will slow for a few days as I work on a "rush special project" - more once this new project is finished and in the hands of its very special recipient.
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