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Longtime readers may remember that I was a big fan of the show Magnum PI back in the day. That is, the original show, the one that ran in the 1980s, and not the new reboot show that is running, well, now. (Nothing against the current incarnation, which I’ve watched a couple of times; it seems like a perfectly acceptable procedural show, but it’s never going to replace the original for me.) Being in Hawaii, where Magnum was set, gave me a chance to see some familiar locations from the show up close. The biggest draw for an old Magnum fan would almost certainlyDown the rabbit hole….

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And at last, here we are: the top five James Bond movies. I like that my top five has quite a bit of variety: it spans more than 40 years of films, and five of the six men who have played James Bond are here. I’ve always considered it a point of personal pride that my Bond fandom does not center on one or two particular actors; you’ll never find me offering up an opinion of who the best Bond was, or the worst. I find such discussions limiting and honestly downright boring, and not just in terms of James Bond. When youDown the rabbit hole….

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So here we go: the first half of my person Top Ten James Bond movies! Let’s refresh our rankings to this point: Part One: 26. LIVE AND LET DIE 25. DIE ANOTHER DAY 24. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME 23. GOLDFINGER 22. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER 21. A VIEW TO A KILL Part Two: 20. TOMORROW NEVER DIES 19. QUANTUM OF SOLACE 18. THUNDERBALL 17. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE 16. SPECTRE Part Three: 15. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN 14. NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN 13. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH 12. DR. NO 11. MOONRAKER With lists like this, the ones at the top probably end up as vexing as the ones at the bottom, especiallyDown the rabbit hole….

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With this entry, we move from my bottom half of the Bond rankings into the top half. It’s worth remembering that this is all relative: there’s only one movie, Live and Let Die, that I find basically unwatchable. Every one of these movies entertains me on some level, so when I throw rocks at a particular movie, one shouldn’t assume I’m throwing particularly large or hard rocks, or that my aim is very good. By way of refresher, here’s my ranking as we enter this post (nos. 21-26 here, nos. 16-20 here): 26. LIVE AND LET DIE 25. DIE ANOTHER DAY 24. THE SPY WHODown the rabbit hole….

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Continuing my Official And Correct Ranking of the James Bond films! This time we will go from Number 20 to Number 16. Our first entry contained the one Bond film I outright dislike, followed by several that just don’t do a whole lot for me and which are almost never my flick of choice when I decide I want to watch a Bond movie. With this list, we start getting into “Not my favorite, but watchable and sometimes I’ll turn it on for fun” territory. Here’s the ranking thus far: 26. LIVE AND LET DIE 25. DIE ANOTHER DAY 24. THE SPY WHODown the rabbit hole….

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It’s only natural that with the arrival of a new James Bond movie, the eternal cottage industry of ranking all of the movies up to that point revs up production again. I’ve seen a whole lot of these articles popping up the last month or two, and as I start writing this I’m listening to a podcast that is generating a ranked list of the Bond films via a “draft” like a sports draft. That particular podcast is taking its sweet time: two episodes, each of which is more than four hours long! So we have a group of peopleDown the rabbit hole….

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 Happy birthday to George Lucas! It’s no accident, or exaggeration, when I say that George Lucas is the biggest influence on my storytelling. Star Wars imprinted on me at a very young age, and it is still my guiding star, even with all the other influences that I’ve blended (and, let’s be honest, pillaged and stolen from). I’ve gone so far as to dedicate The Savior Worlds to Mr. Lucas. In terms of the stories that are in my heart, I may not owe him all of them, but I owe him a whole damn lot of them. Thank you, Uncle George! ShareDown the rabbit hole….

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 A couple weeks ago, we finished watching Season Two of The Mandalorian, so here are my thoughts on the show, including thoughts on Season One. None of this is in any particular order. In fact, it’s pretty damned random, because that’s how I blog. This is the way. (Note: I know that his name is actually “Din Djarin”, but I’m going to refer to him as either “The Mandalorian” or “Mando”, as he is dubbed by the Carl Weathers character.) ITEM the ZEROTH: OK, before I begin talking specifically about The Mandalorian, I have to once again complain about howDown the rabbit hole….

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 There’s a vintage advertisement for the fantasy role playing game Dungeons and Dragons that makes the rounds once in a while, so this time I decided to play a game of “Who Wore It Better”. I think I did it pretty well! I’m happiest that I was able to be accurate down to the brand of overalls the kid is wearing. Score! Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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OK, so now that I’m done cranking out the words every day in a final push to complete a novel draft, what should we talk about? Why…how about the teaser trailer to Star Wars Episode IX that dropped a few weeks ago? If you haven’t seen it, here it is: As with all teasers, there’s simultaneously a lot to unpack there and…there’s nothing to unpack there. Teaser trailers are designed to tantalize in any of a hundred different ways, and since this thing showed up online during the Star Wars Celebration fan festival, the Interwebs have been all a-tizzy asDown the rabbit hole….