Oh, For Goodness Sake!

So, I watched two James Bond movies today:

This one (Goldfinger),

and this one (Die Another Day),

…and I’m here to tell you that not all Bond movies are created equal. It will come as no surprise to most that I very much preferred Goldfinger to Die Another Day. Actually, I was very impressed with Goldfinger. It actually held my interest through 90% of it, which for a Bond movie, is kinda awesome. Sean Connery was extra special scrumptious in this particular flick, which helped the interest factor.

Which brings me to Die Another Day. Sigh. Frankly, it was the punniest movie ever. Raisin Bran claims to have two scoops of raisins in every box? Well Die Another Day had about two HUNDRED puns in their script. To be fair, I really enjoyed the first 45 minutes or so. It was actually pretty dark in the beginning. Then…well, the only way to sum up would be to say that all forms logic, scientific believability and decent dialogue when crashing out the back of a plane.

• Who knew that a Lamborghini could fall out of a plane flying at a pretty decent altitude, crash nose first into the ground and barely suffer a dent. Dang, I just gotta get me one of those cars! They must be the safest things on the planet!
• Who knew that you could sit in a helicopter that was being sucked out of the back of a plane (yes, the same one as before), fall into a dead spin and still start the helicopter mere seconds before impact on the ground. I thought that helicopters didn’t tend to like pesky things like burning embers raining down on them, or plane parts whooshing by, or STARTING while plummeting to the earth.
• Who knew that a human being could dive off what looked like a 200 foot high cliff into the water below and SURVIVE! Gravity and physics be damned, Halle Berry can do it!
• Who knew that people could gosh darn switch DNA!?!?!
• Who knew that 60 minutes of screen time could have so many puns!

On a better note, now I’m watching Over the Hedge. It doesn’t seem quite so annoying…and already the script is better.

RJ:
That is an S.U.V; Humans ride in then because they are slowly losing their ability to walk.

Penny:
Jeepers, its so big!

Lou:
How many humans fit in there?

RJ:
Usually, one.

Love it!

What’s in a date?

When Should a Kid Start Kindergarten?

This article by Elizabeth Weil for the New York Times magazine, tells a story that I’m sure most people don’t think about. Many cultures, throughout history, cautioned parents not to enter their children to school until they were old enough to perform some kind of test that proved they were able to handle it. We in America, the land of the free, base this instead on a date that means nothing in terms of child development. This country is so obsessed with competition, we don’t think about whether or not we are doing our children real harm by entering them into school before they are emotionally ready. Anyhow, read the article, it’s quite interesting. Having spent the last year in a 1st grade classroom, I can readily attest to how immature children develop problems (be it behaviorally or educationally) in class. Why set your kids up for failure?