Saturday, October 25, 2008

Bullet Points

• Even though some in the London press are noticeably unimpressed by the forthcoming, 22nd James Bond, Quantum of Solace; and even though the captivating Eva Green will apparently not reprise her Vesper Lynd role in this new picture, I’m willing to sample Solace for myself. Having seen 21 Bond adventures already, I am obviously addicted.

• All Bond, all the time. Total Film magazine is rolling out a month’s worth of content to celebrate the debut of Quantum of Solace. My favorite features thus far: “A-List Actors Who Must Never Be Bond” (stick to your day job, Johnny Depp); “9 Sexy Starlets Who Should Be Bond Girls” (Kate Beckinsale in an Ursula Andress bikini--I’d pay triple for the tickets to see that one); and “Real-Life Celebrities Who Should Be Bond Villains” (Rupert Murdoch, yes, but how about the erratic John McCain, too?).

• Lee Goldberg considers the worst Bond film moments.

• Thirty years after publishing The Stand, Stephen King tells Salonwhat haunts him about religion and today’s politics.”

• Uh-oh. It looks as if plans are delayed as far as turning the 1970s British TV series The Persuaders into a big-screen hit. According to the blog Double O Section, one of the film’s stars, Steve Coogan, told Total Film magazine that “it’s in development hell …,” but not dead yet. “The actor seems confident that The Persuaders will still find its time; that time just hasn’t come yet.” For more on the original series, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis, check out Permission to Kill’s developing commentary about its individual episodes.

• Screenwriter David Mills offers up some tidbits about the proposed HBO-TV dramatic series Tremé, from The Wire’s David Simon. Read his comments here.

• What sorts of books are readers turning to in these bad economic times? Cookbooks and crime fiction, according to Reuters.

Zöe Sharp submits her novel Third Strike to Marshal Zeringue’s “Page 69 Test.” You’ll find the results here.

• Hard Case Crime’s Charles Ardai talks with National Public Radio.

• B.V. Lawson champions established authors who produce short-story collections.

• With the 125th anniversary of Sherlock Holmes’ debut in print coming this Christmas season, the magazine Mental Floss invites you to take a not-too-difficult quiz that tests your recollection of the revered Holmes canon.

The Republican Party has fallen and it can’t get up. But at least this and this give me hope for the country’s future.

• I’m not usually persuaded by book trailers, but the one created for John le Carré’s new novel, A Most Wanted Man, has caused me to move that book up in my TBR pile.

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