Books read in 2017

Instead of showing the post most liked or sharing my memories of 2017, I decided to post the list of books I read during the year.
Here´s my summary. Only a few books. Some of them assignments from The Big Thrill, but managed to include a couple of classics.

The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne
Ruler of the Night by David Morrell
Oath of Honor by Mattew Benley
Say Nothing by Brad Parks
Doctor No by Ian Fleming
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Full Wolf Moon by Lincoln Child
The Spy Across the Table by Barry Lancet
The Hounds of Baskerville by Arthur Conan Doyle
Hunger Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff
Capital Gaines by Chip Gaines
The Secrets of Chicory Lane by Raymond Benson
Carnaval de Piedras by Juan Funes
Who Moved my cheese? By Spencer Johnson MD
Direct Fire by Anthony J. Tata
Operator Down by Brad Taylor
Glass Town by Steven Savile

I must add a debt of gratitude to NetGalley for granting me access to some of those books.

SPECTRE

Despite the bad reviews that have surfaced lately, I still took the family to see the new James Bond movie. How could I not? I’ve been a fan for the most part of my 43 years. When I was in my teens during the 80s, I was able to see all of the James Bond films from the 60s and 70s. For some reason I can’t recall, the producers saw fit to issue a theater release of them. At a pace of one per month, it took me over a year to catch up. But I consider myself privileged to have experienced all of them in a movie theater, as they were meant to be seen.

I believe every fan grows fond of the first Bond they meet. For me, it was Roger Moore, whom I even met personally when he visited Honduras as a Unicef ambassador. My kids have a soft spot for Pierce Brosnan. However, we all agree that Daniel Craig did a good job of shedding 40 years of patterns and customs with the new beginning that was Casino Royale. That was until now.

So it is safe to say we enjoy the films—all of them, even the maligned Quantum of Solace. Spectre has garnered some bad rep, and yet it is the first movie from Craig that has all the classic elements of a Bond film: the walk down the barrel, the pre-credits sequence, the gadgets, the women, the cars, the unique henchman, and the megalomaniac antagonist with contrived ways of killing 007. Don’t fool yourself, Spectre has it all. In fact, the movie has so many references to previous ones that this should have been the anniversary feature instead of Skyfall.

I think people are put off because we have grown accustomed to a different kind of Bond movie. Daniel Craig’s previous entries have set us up to expect a sober, gadget-free agent, one that is almost too real. So now that we get this throwback action flick which evokes its predecessors it is bad-mouthed. Spectre may not a perfect movie, but I consider it's a good Bond movie if you judge it by the average of 20+ films standards and not just the last three.

Could James Bond be a Time Lord?

I’m sure in the fifty years of both franchises this question may have aroused before, but at no time better than our present is this theory more plausible, after a fashion.

Let’s analyze the points of intersection of the two characters:

James Bond’s canonical debut was in 1962 with the movie Dr. No. while the first episode of Doctor Who aired in 1963. So at one year apart, they are roughly the same age.

Eleven actors have played the Doctor, while six have played Bond. Every incarnation of both had somewhat similar personality, and up until Daniel Craig took over Bond’s role, both characters would share previous incarnation’s memories.

The Doctor uses a T.A.R.D.I.S., Bond always finds an Astor Martin.

Both have used gadgets. Speaking of gadgets, don’t you think the breather device used in Thunderball does look a bit like a stylized sonic screwdriver?

And what about companions? Always pretty damsels-in-distress seem to populate the path of both characters. As to the different levels of intimacy they reach with the companions, I won’t comment to keep this post PG-rated. But they have certainly fallen in love in more than one occasion: Rose Tyler and Joan Redferm for the Doctor, and Tracy Di Vicenzo and Vesper Lynd for Bond.

Would you like more tangible proof? I’ll give you two:

1. Timothy Dalton played both James Bond, and the Lord President of the Time Lords!

2. Upon M’s escape from Silva’s assassination attempt, James Bond swifts her away in his DB5 and utters: “We’re going back in time.”

Last year we celebrated Bond’s fiftieth anniversary with an above-average excellent movie, a side show of parachuting with the Queen of England into the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Now things are gearing up for Doctor Who celebration that will, or should, be quite memorable as well.

So, what do you think?

My List... but the not the one you think.

It is that time of the year again when you make resolutions.

This is not my resolution list. I’m still working on mine. Although it would be pretty simple: write more, lose weight, love more…you know, the same old, same old.

Be warned: the actual content of this post will border more in the realm of “ranting,” but not quite there.

If you have read my previous posts you’d know by now I am a huge fan of movies. Now that we are past the purported end of the world, I am grateful Hollywood producers did not fall for such idiotic “predictions” and continued with business as usual. I’m looking forward to several movies in 2013; my top five are Man of Steel, Iron Man 3, and Star Trek into Darkness, A Good Day to Die Hard and The Great Gatsby.

From 2012, my favorite has been Skyfall. Yep, I’m a diehard James Bond fan. The Avengers was awesome, too.  I didn’t enjoy The Dark Knight Rises, so sue me. At least, I managed to escape watching any of the Twilight flicks.

And now, for the “ranting” part of this post: What the heck is wrong with Hollywood producers? Is there no end to their greed? I know a man won an Oscar for claiming greed is good, but come on!

It all began with the 7^th Harry Potter book that they thought it would be great to split tale into two admission tickets, two DVD’s (or Blue Rays), two batches of games or action figures, etc. They succeeded because we ate it up. Little did we know that a “Part 2” would soon become the new trend! New Dawn soon followed suit, so did the people behind The Hobbit who boldly stretched the 300+ book into three movies! Today I learned they did the same trick to the third book of the Hunger Games.

I say “trend” because I harbor a small hope that the procedure would die down soon enough. Hopefully.

End of Rant! 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.