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Wednesday, August 31, 2022

OF MUSICAL BONDAGE

A friend just asked me for my list if the Top 10 James Bond songs, so here is my opinion, and I urge you to give each a listen:

1. Thunderball (Tom Jones) My favorite, for its summation of Bond himself in its lyrics. That and Jones belting it out like his life depended on it. This is the one that I break out on the rare occasions when I got to karaoke.
2. Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crow) I love the mournful quality of this one, and I cannot restrain myself from wailing along with the chorus. (Yes, I can hit the notes.)
3. You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra) Evocative and haunting, the perfect theme for Bond's adventure in Japan.
4. Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey) Brassy and bombastic, this is perhaps the definitive Bond theme tune, though over the course of almost sixty years it has become something of a self-parody. A classic nonetheless.
5. A View To A Kill (Duran Duran) An absolute banger and arguably the best thing about the movie. The instrumental version on the B-side of the single also slaps.
6. You Know My Name (Chris Cornell) Fraught with tension, the perfect theme tune with which to reboot the franchise.
7. Where Has Everybody Gone (Pretenders) The oft-overlooked song heard during the end credits of THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, this should have been the lead song rather than that piece of shit titular number by one-hit wonder a-ha.
8. Skyfall (Adele) They had me at Adele, but her gift for heartbreaking vocals lends itself perfectly to one of the more somber entries in the series, especially considering some of the events in the story.
9. Kingston Calypso (Byron Lee and The Dragonaires) One of the many evocative Jamaican numbers from the first Bond outing.
10. We Have All The Time In The World (Louis Armstrong) If you have seen ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, you know why this made the roster.

 

CRUISED BY POPEYE

When I get situated at dialysis, lately I have been seated to the left of another patient, an old Russian guy who looks like Popeye. From the moment I arrive to the moment I leave, his head is turned to facilitate staring at me for the next four hours. When I happen to look in his direction, I notice that he does not blink, but he invariably grins like a loony. I thought I was misreading him, but today added fuel to my slowly-growing suspicion that he’s into me. As I collected myself and packed my treatment bag for departure, he suddenly spoke in heavily-accented English and said “You move like dancer!!” which was followed by flashing me a mostly toothless grin. I nodded to him and made my getaway.

I don’t know what the fuck he sees when observing me, but I assure you it’s nothing especially graceful. But whatever the case, I find it quite amusing.

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

UGLY BUT HEALING Part 2

 

The current state of my toe, before today's cleaning with alcohol, a slathering of Neosporin, and bandages.

Tuesday, August 02, 2022

UGLY BUT HEALING

The current state of the previously infected toe. Believe me, this wins a beauty prize when compared to what it started off as. And yes, I am about to re-bandage it.