Why James Bond is Not Defunct

As we all hail Danny Boyle and Daniel Craig for the anticipated James Bond 25, everyone will start asking in the world of Marvel, is Bond still relevant?

Well, of course he is, he's still good box office, stupid.

But now even more so.

When Connery started off almost 60 years ago, the world was at the height of the Cold War.
Bond represented the secrecy of that and played on our paranoia.

Through the years, Bond has mirrored (mostly) what has happened in world economies - despots, reds under the bed, drug lords, space race, détente, the collapse of communism and even the changes in media moguls.

All through that, he had to compete with wonderous imposters with the same initials (I wonder if James Bourne or Jason Bond would have had different career paths) as well as the aforementioned invaders from another space.

Now more than ever is Bond relevant.
Brexit completes the circle.

We are entering a potentially new (or old but revisited) environment of protectionism, paranoia, lies, more lies and deceit with both the changing of the guard on both sides of the Atlantic, which must be ripe material for a new Bond script.

Nerve agents on door handles, nuclear threats from unfamiliar faces, as well as standard political gamesmanship, you can almost imagine either Moriarty from Sherlock, not to mention Blofeld from Spectre either escaping from the grave or a mental asylum just to stir things up.

Both the last outings about Bourne and Bond were really about Bourne and Bond.

This time Bond can be a small cog in a bigger wheel, than just a mere pawn in some already predetermined game of cat and mouse.
This time he can be the thug he should be, callous, cold thinking and bereft of empathy as he takes aim at the master of turmoil he will no doubt have to combat.

This time he will be more relevant again than in a long time.

Urlabogurd

The mythical belief that youth is captured by a different color of tonsorial appendage.

Taking a Serious Approach to Jobs

Farmleigh, think tanks, special task forces , you get the picture. All these big ideas, come from gatherings of people who have already made it-and their money IN THE PAST. When these 'committees' are established, how many people need jobs or have an element of an idea in their head are invited(apologies to Paddy Cosgrove)? If we want to start something, it will have to be small;why not start/invest/support a Dublin//Cork/Galway Internatioanl Fashion Week? I'm not thinking of something that is for people with vulgar amounts of gold jewellery to be 'seen ' at; I'm thinking of one where young fashion designers,students(we have excellent colleges in case you didn't know,as well as extremely creative designers) where they are supported by the wheels of industry that sit around the aforementioned 'summits' - the press,the broadcasters,Failte Ireland/Tourism Ireland and instead of wasting money on people who will,dependent on disposable income, arrive at our shores anyhow. It may be small, it may not be the sexy big bang, but when you have eat an elephant of national debt, the best way is to do it in small bites.

The Presidential Race

First there was Kurosawa’s film Seven Samurai and then the Hollywood remake to The Magnificent Seven and I can’t help but think of analogies to the Irish Presidential election.

Similar to the Irish Presidential campaign, The Magnificent Seven had a long recruitment process, with some players dipping and then dipping out and some last minute recruits to the campaign.
In the 1960 John Sturges remake, there were seven American gunmen played by Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, and Horst Buchholz.

Each character had their own demons to confront; Chris (Yul Brynner) the ageing gunslinger realising his era is coming to an end; the hotheaded  Chico (Horst Buchholz), is Mexican and hates the culture of farming. Harry Luck (Brad Dexter who was Ol’ Blue Eyes’ minder at one stage), joins because he believes Chris is looking for treasure. Vin (Steve McQueen) signs on after going broke from gambling. Other recruits include Bernardo O'Reilly (Charles Bronson), a gunfighter of Irish-Mexican heritage who is also broke and befriends the children of the village, strong silent type Britt (James Coburn), fast and deadly with his switchblade and Lee (Robert Vaughn), who struggles with nightmares and fears the loss of his skills.

If I was to play a game, which candidate would I associate with each character? Hmmm…

The only problem with this is that four of the original Magnificent Seven die leaving three at the end, but the can only be only one winner in the Presidential race – With the last man/woman Standing, Last Man Standing being a Bruce Willis Hollywood remake of Yojimbo, a 1962 film by Kurosawa, which is where I started off.

I wonder would Primetime have the chutzpah to play Elmer Bernstein’s from the movie for the debate.

Keep on dreaming.

Ireland's Calling - Part Two

OKAY, OKAY let's not PANIC.
 To continue where I finished off last time - 'Who Goes You Decide?'

Well for a start, D'Arcy, Murray, Earls and Jennings.

Murray needed game time, fair enough - but surely he should have had that prior to selection for the plane.He didn't get good service from the pack, which is inexcusable, considering their dominance. At the same time, he's a back, not part of the pack and should have got ball out quicker, despite the forwards' shortcomings.
As for D'Arcy- he hasn't been in form for so long and it shows; bluntly McFadden gets the nod, if only for making the Aussies do more homework on his playing style.
Earls and Jennings - they are very capable players- Earls is a super footballer , but out of his depth, indeed he was playing for his place on Saturday and just didn't cut it. Jennings showed great pace and great defence and textbook tackling, he's just not the guy for Australia. He will play again.

The backs have shown no progress since Kidney took over, in fact, some would argue that the Grand Slam winning team was a result of O'Sullivan's work more so than Kidney's inspirational leadership.
Sexton is having a mare, but putting him straight in with a rookie scrumhalf doesn't help. The play between the two was non existent - beit part of the management strategy or not enough time for gelling, the result has been negative for both half backs.
Kidney needs to understand that, in as much as O'Sullivan made mistakes in keeping with his 'chosen ones' resulting in no competition for places; Kidney has not got the luxury to tinker with the team at this stage - he had August for that.

I'll stand over what I said before - It's the backs that win the games in International rugby.
Bringing Trimble in at such a late stage meant nothing. Changing both half backs doesn't answer any questions, as Sexton could have fared better with Reddan as he plays with him provincially.
If Kidney thinks this will create competition for places - he is mistaken as all it does at this stage is knock confidence in the players.

He needs to tell the players today who is playing on Saturday and then let them play - both BOD and POC need to really and I mean really take the reins on the pitch and show everyone why they were both captains of the Lions.

Ireland's Calling

Just read the opening article in the Irish Times Rugby World Cup supplement and I am wondering when Gerry Thornley wrote it. It goes on about how wily coach Declan Kidney is, though in looking at Kidney's face when interviewed at the end of each of Ireland's warm up games, he looked more bemused than wily.

I must admit that I felt against Scotland, it was a second string team hoping to impress; the first test against France I felt the Irish protagonists were at least only operating at 70/80% optimum and even still in the second test against the French, the Irish team started with venom, though they eventually let the French show their might. There was at least, hope.

Against the English, they were mauled. Badly.

Each time Kidney looked at the camera in his post match interview with a little smirk and gave the 'disappointed with the result, but happy with the progress' reply. Indeed.

What progress is that Deckie? Kidney has at his disposal one of the most potent attacking backlines in Irish rugby history, the majority of whom have won honours in the Heineken Cup. However under his tutelage, they are flat passing from side to side without breaking the gain line.

I've seen better at Under 10's mini rugby.

How can this be ?
Kidney's main success has been with Munster's rightly proud record in the Heinken Cup. Most can remember the miracle match, but many will forget, since the emergence of Leinster's Lady Boys, that it was through the forwards that the Munster team ground out results. The backs were efficient, but nothing spectacular, bar of course, O'Gara's kicking. So he's good with the forwards. Fair enough.
It's the backs that win the games in International rugby though.

So he has barely played his first choice half backs together , Reddan and Sexton. He put his trust in O'Leary, though O'Leary has been out of form, and let him suffer at the expense of the team and O'Leary himself.
He has put Earls, a great footballer, but not a great centre, in at centre. Earls can't pass and looks out of his league when confronted with the English beef on Saturday.
He has put McFadden on the wing, when his best position is centre. Fine, McFadden has played it at Provincial level, but International can destroy you.
And he left Geordan Murphy stew, whilst trying out another first timer.
So Murphy comes in late and Murray comes in with less than an hour of international experience.
For the World Cup. Right Ho.
And to finish with poor David Wallace. Kidney picks him with no match time, expects miracles in the last game, and he gets creamed in a bone crunching tackle. A cruel blow for Wallace, but hardly well prepared. Kidney's love of  'the Munster Way' doesn't cut it on the International stage - you need forwards AND backs to work together.
One hopes that Jennings will grasp the opportunity and not feel a little low in motivation, for being a last minute filler.

I  listened to George Hook on RTE on Saturday, and for once he didn't make me laugh, Pope was laughing for sure, but George, he was making a lot of sense.
There WAS no semblance, evidence or otherwise proof of coaching of the backline.

So here is what I am left with-
a) this was all a training session for the Irish team to get match fit and they have loads of moves that they have saved for the tournament
b) the management and coaching team have only one strategy - ' doing it for your country' , leaving O'Driscoll and O'Connell to take charge on the pitch and change the tactics in order to win as, well, the coaches can't do anything once the game has started. This is known as the 'Ashton Strategy' ' following what the English did at the last World Cup; dumped the coach's plan and ran the team
c) put my money on Australia as Ireland won't even make the quarters.

In the immortal words of Big Brother - 'Who goes?-You decide'

New Technology Is Old Hat

So Jennifer O'Connell in The Sunday Business Post laments the the death of the 'old fashioned landline phone', how she has fallen out of love with the old fashioned phone call.

She finds it ironic that in an age of constant always on communications, there is no place for the phone.

What desert island has she been living on?

The phone is a tool to communicate, people still talk - on their mobile PHONE - that fact that it is not tethered to a piece of copper wire is irrelevant.

When Bell introduced the phone it didn't have a dialler, and when touch tone was introduced, there was no uproar in society losing its grip on the evolutionary ladder.

Oh and by the way a four year old doesn't know that one can see one's daddy whilst using Skype - she just wants to see her daddy.

The only irony is that she is using an old fashioned print medium to criticise technology.