November 26, 2006 by dafyd
Because I’ve been getting hit quite heavily by comment and trackback spam here recently, and because I don’t really have the time or facilities to do anything about it at the moment, I’ve disabled all comments for the time being.
This is a temporary measure – comments should be back working as soon as I get a chance to fiddle with the settings and install some additional security measures when I get home.
This applies to other blogs on my system as well – David, Jennie, etc… sorry about that.
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November 24, 2006 by dafyd
Casino Royale
I think it’s fair to say, if you’ll excuse the Sun-style alliteration, that Bond is Back with a Bang. Casino Royale is certainly the best 007 film since GoldenEye 11 years ago, and possibly since well before that.
If you’re expecting the usual gadget-filled, high-gloss blockbuster, though, you may find yourself disappointed. This is rather a different film to the Pierce Brosnan ones, concentrating far more on the character of Bond himself. That’s not to say there aren’t sensational stunts or big explosions – there certainly are, from the parcours chase around a Madagascan building site at the beginning to a runaway petrol fuel at Miami airport, not forgetting a sinking Venetian mansion and a tragic waste of a (apparently 3, in fact) gorgeous Aston Martin DBS.
Now that MGM is owned by Sony, it was obvious that their technology would get some visibility in the film. Even so, I think it went a tad far… practically every Sony Ericcson mobile currently available was featured fairly prominently, and MI6 only uses Vaio computers. But the product placement didn’t stop with Sony – in the chase around the airport, every shot has a Virgin jumbo sitting there, and Richard Branson himself pops up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance. Both Rolex and Omega get namechecked (though 007 himself now only wears the latter). And, rather disturbingly, he drives a Mondeo. Ugh. And his DB 5. And the aforementioned DB S. And a Jag. Ford got themselves a good deal.
But that’s Hollywood, now, and you get used to it. The film itself, is, as I said, full of the usual Bond action with a twist: this is Bond’s first mission as a double-0 agent (try to ignore the logic – the original Casino Royale tried to explain it, failed miserably) so his self-doubt (briefly) and M’s lack of confidence in him play a fairly large role. Judi Dench, incidentally, reprises her role as M, the only actor from the last few films to return.
Martin Campbell, who reinvented the franchise 11 years ago for Pierce Brosnan, has done a sterling job once again with Casino Royale. That the script was tinkered with by Oscar-winner Paul Haggis (of Crash fame) can’t have hurt. But it’s the combination of a strangely believable Bond, some excellent explosive set pieces, and a cracking story that really makes Casino Royale one of the best Bond films for quite some years. When, at the very end of the film, Daniel Craig utters, for the first time, “Bond, James Bond”, the young Egyptians in the cinema burst out clapping. Must be a cultural thing. But it was certainly deserved.
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November 24, 2006 by dafyd
…it’s not a great idea to listen to I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue or The Now Show through the BBC’s Listen Again thingy.
I’ve been getting some very funny looks for the last hour…
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November 19, 2006 by dafyd
I was flicking through this month’s Egypt Today (a magazine basically aimed at expats in Egypt) when I came across this article.
Anyone else a little concerned that nuclear reactors and a country that can’t even run a railway network isn’t necessarily a good combination?
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November 10, 2006 by dafyd
Armageddon is awesome in Arabic. They even get Lev’s Russian accent.
That is all.
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November 10, 2006 by dafyd
Ooh… I’ve uploaded lots and lots of photos to Flickr.
They’re all from the last month or so – including Luxor and Thebes, a brief return to Cairo, and the Pyramids… and camels!
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November 5, 2006 by dafyd
Since I discovered last week that Costa were taking over the Whitbread Book Awards, I’ve been ruminating on what that means. Don’t ask why… it just seems to have got stuck in my mind.
It’s not just that asking “Who won this year’s Costa?” sounds even worse than “Martin Amis won last year’s MAN Booker”.
One thing that immediately sprung to mind was this article from the BBC, from when Whitbread announced that they would be stopping sponsoring the award. Yup, makes sense – very few people would immediately (or ever, in fact) associate the Whitbread Book Awards with TGI Friday’s or Premier Travel Inn, so the sponsorship makes little commercial sense. Same problem the Booker keeps facing. The line that interests me is a quote from a Whitbread representative:
After long consideration, we decided our sponsorship was no longer commercially sensible, even under one of our other brand names.
But Costa IS one of Whitbread’s other brand names. Has it really taken Whitbread a year to realise that they can’t find anyone else to sponsor the awards? Or have they decided to keep hold of it for the time being?
Costa, of course, operates coffee shops inside several bookstores, including my Waterstone’s. I can’t help feeling that there will be certain merchandising advantages to the new deal, but I wonder whether there could be downsides, too… Waterstone’s, for example, has always heavily promoted the Award, but not all of its coffee shop concessions are operated by Costa. Will a Waterstone’s with a Coffee Republic on its second floor really be able to devote a window to Costa? I don’t think so, somehow…
Oh – why this obsession with Costa, all of a sudden? Well, there is one here in Alex. Two, in fact. Strange, but true. I’ve not spotted a Starbucks, but there are a couple of Costas.
In other book news… I really, really recommend reading The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips. Fantastic read, terrific adventure story, gloriously funny. Helps that I can picture where he’s talking about…!
Category 1 | Tags: books,costa,waterstones | Comments Off
November 5, 2006 by dafyd
The mobile phone market in Egypt is as big as in any European country, from the looks of things. And the same seems to be true for ringtones.
Our bawaab (appartment chappy) is always trying to get us to listen to his newest tone. We try to ignore him.
But the fun thing is that a lot of people have decided that one of the default ringtones on their phone is pretty funky, and have started using that. They don’t realise (and why should they?) that it’s We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Much fun.
Category 1 | Tags: egypt,phone,yearabroad | Comments Off
