Shane Life

In honor of the U.S. opening of Quantum of Solace this week, expect a few more potential Bond-related posts. I must first say that I love everything about James Bond and the whole series. I’d love to take a weekend and watch all 22 of them from Dr. No to Casino Royale. How great would that be? I thought that to kick off Bond Week, I’d have a little list of my own…Shane’s James Bond Actor Rankings from Worst to Best. Starting with…

#6 George Lazenby

Starred in: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Most people forget about poor George Lazenby. He’s kind of a punch line among Bond aficionados like myself, having starred in only one installment of the storied series. What Lazenby lacked in emotion, he made up for in woodenness. Plus, he had the added bonus of not even being blessed with a script that had any of the cheekiness that many of the other movies sometimes overdo. It’s not really his fault, but as we’ll see, it is possible to overcome a weak script with acting chops and style.

#5 Timothy Dalton

Starred in: The Living Daylights and License to Kill

There are lots of folks that really liked the late-1980’s Bond, Timothy Dalton. I wasn’t one of them. Dalton always seemed a little too frail to play James Bond. However, Dalton came at a necessary time. Roger Moore had gotten much too old to play the part, although I think that he would have continued to play it until he keeled over and died. Dalton was intended to be a breath of fresh air, but he just wasn’t that great.

#4 Pierce Brosnan

Starred in: Goldeneye, Tommorow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day

Pierce Brosnan really sullied his Bond image with the meh TWINE and the absolutely ridonkulous Die Another Day. If Brosnan would have stopped while he was ahead with the first two movies (or at least held out for better scripts and co-stars in the final movies), it’s very likely that Brosnan could be higher on my list than Roger Moore. But Brosnan gets knocked down for two reasons: the final line in The World is Not Enough (”I thought Christmas only came once a year”) and the surfing scene in Die Another Day. Pierce can’t be blamed for Halle Berry, who I maintain is one of the most overrated actresses of our time, but he should have put his foot down in those two instances.

#3 Roger Moore

Starred in: Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and A View to a Kill

There are lots of reasons not to like Roger Moore. He didn’t look very athletic, he kind of had a mullet, and…well, that’s really it. He got to star in the ONLY JAMES BOND MOVIE WITH BOTH GRACE JONES AND CHRISTOPHER WALKEN. Sure, A View to a Kill wasn’t a very good movie, but there was a fight scene on the Golden Gate Bridge and it had Christopher FREAKING Walken. He was full of cheek, but he owned it, whereas with Pierce Brosnan, you never really believed him when he had to say those lame lines. Also, he starred in two movies with Richard “Jaws” Kiel. And Richard Kiel was in Happy Gilmore.

#2 Daniel Craig

Starred in: Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace

I know it is a bit much to put Daniel Craig this high up on the list. I went into the movie theater to see Casino Royale with a lot of reservations. First, Daniel Craig is blond. James Bond is not. I was dead set on Clive Owen being the next Bond. The selection of Craig threw me for a loop, but I was blown away by his performance. He was serious, he was severe, but it worked. I can’t wait for many more Bond movies to come, as long as they keep up the decent scripts and great directors. I can’t wait. Look out Connery.

#1 Sean Connery

Starred in: Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and Diamonds are Forever

Sean Connery is the man who built the Bond brand. He was the perfect combination of cheekiness and athleticism and charm. While he probably shouldn’t have come back for Diamonds are Forever, it was necessary to save the franchise from George Lazenby. Just take a look at his list though…the classics are all there and the reason that they are awesome is Sean Connery.

So there is my list. Discuss.

Besides The Catcher in the Rye, my all-time favorite book is High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. The main character (played by John Cusack in the movie version) is obsessed with making lists.

I love making lists. In fact, one thing that I like to do when interviewing people I will potentially work with is I ask them their top five movies of all-time. Say what you will, it’s my version of a personality test and I think that your top five movies say a lot about who you are as a person.

My love for making lists is what led me and my brother to name our company topfivedesign.

So when my friend Allen came to me with his idea for a site - a place where people could list their favorite of anything.

“I always seemed to be looking for recommendations from people on products and places and wanted a site where I could easily find something like ‘Favorite brand of refrigerator’.”

I’ve been beta-testing Topulist for the past several months. It’s a straight-forward website that’s easy to use and very addicting. Think of it as a social networking version of Consumer Reports, only it’s not limited by anything. You can list your favorite Marvel Comics character, your favorite game for the Wii, your favorite hybrid car or even your favorite McDonalds Dollar Menu item.

You can create your own Topulist and Allen’s ninja Rails skills make sure that it’s not already up there.

It’s a cool site and you should totally go check it out.

Inspired by Rachel, I thought that I would do something like this because I haven’t blogged in a while and I need to do something besides PowerPoint. I came up 5 short of her list, but I might add more later…

1. I have resided in the Kansas City area for most of my natural life. For 3 years when I was little, I lived in Lamoni, Iowa and I returned 14 years later to attend college, where I would major in English.
2. I graduated high school 10 years ago from Blue Valley Northwest and I do not intend to attend my 10-year reunion. Not for $63/person!
3. I have been married for five years to Allison Ann Arnold.
4. We have a dog. His name is Dreyfuss because even as a puppy, he looked like he was a 70-year-old man in a little puppy body.
5. I like the smell of my dog. He smells like Fritos and I love it.
6. I go to the same church that I was baptized in.
7. I am a trivia junkie. I like to think that my brain contains the highest concentration of useless information in the region. I am particularly proficient in television and movie trivia.
8. Subsequently, my favorite board game is Trivial Pursuit.
9. I love game shows. Especially old ones like Press Your Luck, but my all-time favorite is Jeopardy. Before I die, I am going to go out to Los Angeles and do the “game show circuit”.
10. For a long time, I just didn’t understand what the big deal was about Macs. Then I tried OS X. I’m proud to say we are an all Mac household although I have to deal with the dreaded Windows environment at work. I’ve got a 20″ iMac G5, Alli has a 17″ Powerbook. Our wireless router is even an Airport Extreme Base Station.
11. I have worked for Perceptive Software in Shawnee, KS for 5 years, holding 3 different jobs and 2 official titles.
12. Currently, I’m a designer at the company, but I do it on the side too.
13. I am a sucker for movies. Anything really…I have very questionable taste…some people don’t trust my opinion because they say I like everything.
14. The last movie I saw was Must Love Dogs. The best movie I’ve seen this year is Batman Begins.
15. My favorite actor is Jeremy Piven.
16. My favorite movie of all-time is Good Will Hunting, but I reserve the right to change my mind at any time. Rounding out my top 3 are Fletch and The Matrix.
17. My favorite TV show of all-time is Friends. Following close behind is Alias.
18. I watch too much TV.
19. I’m 6′3″, but I tell people that I’m 6′4″.
20. I have played volleyball since I was in 7th grade. I still play as much as I can.
21. I drive a Dodge Durango. I don’t really have a dream car, but if I did, the Durango is not it. It works fine, but guzzles gas.
22. I’m a geek. I like computers a lot.
23. I have 2 ipods. One is a 20GB 2nd generation brick, the other is a 512MB shuffle. I love them both in very different ways.
24. I am a music junkie. I wish that I had a running soundtrack to my life, like in the movies…I’ve even got certain songs picked out. Right now, I would have “Reminder” by the Perishers playing.
25. My iTunes library contains 7,220 songs and the most played song is “Warning Sign” by Coldplay.
26. My favorite style of music is sad, maudlin college piano rock (Ben Folds, Elliot Smith, etc.).
27. I like photography…my dream job would be to work for the Associated Press as a photojournalist.
28. I like golf. I’m not very good at it. I have a penchant for losing golf balls. Last time I golfed, I lost 8.
29. If I could, I would eat cheeseburgers every day for the rest of my life. That and Pizza Shack (Lamoni, IA).
30. The most recent vacation that I went on was to Santa Fe, New Mexico with Alli for our 5-year anniversary.
31. I am very particular about a couple of household chores. I prefer to load the dishwasher myself because I think that I can optimize the number of dishes in the washer better than most people. I also prefer to do my own laundry because I am very particular about how my stuff is folded.
32. I like my Playstation 2. I don’t buy many games, but I enjoy mostly sports games like Madden and Tiger Woods Golf.
33. I am, predictably, somewhat enamored by this recent poker craze.
34. I have been to 8 countries outside the United States. So far, England is my favorite.
35. My dad travels a lot more. In fact, he’s going to be in Korea in 2 weeks. Some times, he goes to places I can’t even pronounce.
36. My brother lives with us and has since February. Prior to that, Alli’s sister lived with us. In the 5 years we’ve been married, we have lived by ourselves for about 1.5 of them.
37. I think that the new Black Pepper Jack Doritos are GENIUS.
38. I have an English friend at work named Phil who I love listening to, but mostly because he can say words like “bollocks” and “wanker” and “tosser” and it sounds funny. When I say them, it just sounds weird.
39. Almost all of the friends that I grew up with live in this area. We still hang out. Not many people can say that they have friends that they still hang out with that they have known since they were 5.
40. I have a large tattoo that surrounds my right calf of a volleyball and a tribal design that spells the word “PERSEVERE”. I have the design of my second tattoo and am ready to get it on my back.
41. I have no less than 10 e-mail addresses to my name. (Thanks, Gmail!)
42. I consider myself a decent web designer.
43. I have never had a broken bone, but I have had stitches in my leg and have had a cyst removed.
44. I cannot stand when people drive during the day with their lights on.
45. My favorite books of all-time are The Catcher in the Rye, The Lords of Discipline, and High Fidelity.
46. I am typing this blog post at a desk that I hate. I am determined to build my own desk in my oddly-shaped office and paint it red.
47. If someone gave me an hour-long shopping spree at any store I wanted, I’d probably go to either Best Buy or the Apple Store.
48. I can’t stand Summer. It’s too hot. I’m all about Winter. Give me football, chili and a sweater and I’m good to go. Spring and Fall are OK, but Winter rules all. It might have something to do with my birthday being in December, but I think I would still much prefer the colder months.
49. One of the reasons that we live in the Midwest is that I love the change of the seasons.
50. I cannot draw.
51. Or run.
52. Or sing.
53. I can act a little. I was the star of my middle school’s production of “Up the Down Staircase“.
54. I’m a decent public speaker. I was selected by my high school classmates to give a speech on Class Day. It was pretty good (I think).
55. My favorite smell is barbecue.
56. My favorite candle smell from Yankee Candle is “Buttercream“. It smells like frosting.
57. I only get sick about once a year. This has been true my whole life. My parents rewarded my good health by giving me one “mental health day” each semester when I was growing up.
58. My legs are considerably shorter in proportion to my torso. My wife is a foot shorter than I am and has the same inseam.
59. If I had cosmetic surgery, the only thing I would have done is that I would have my back lasered.
60. States I have not been to: Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alaska, Hawaii. That’s 17 states!
61. My favorite web site is IMDb.com.
62. I should have gone to bed an hour ago.