To discuss a month in review: November- It's the PMS for December

I feel like November gets screwed over. November always gets the shaft, because unless you're having a birthday, getting elected for office or a turkey farmer, you'd much rather it be December, when the real fun begins.
I did enjoy watching all of you struggle with NaBloPoMo. You seemed consumed by the monumental task of posting every day. I can't shoulder that responsibility. It's hard enough for me to remember to put on pants in the morning.
Nevertheless, November is over, so here are the highlights and lowlights:

• Favorite movie: "Quantum of Solace" It had everything you could want from a Bond movie- action, thrills, international conflict, a reason to like British people, and PG-13 sex scenes...Runner-up: "Role Models" and "No Country for Old Men"
  
• Least favorite movie: "Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights." It's just not good. I didn't see many terrible movies this month (did you?) but maybe that's because I'm just blocking it out like it never happened, kind of like Britney Spears' marriage to that Jason guy.
  
• Favorite song: "Gamma Ray" Beck. This might at one point qualify for its own entry, because there are several groups/singers I like now that I didn't get at all when they first came out. "Odelay" was OK for me at first, but now it sounds genius, as does his new stuff. Runner up: "Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You," Black Kids and "Love Lockdown," Kanye West (despite me mocking him).
  
• Least favorite song: "If I Were a Boy" Beyonce. If you were a boy, you wouldn't be able to wear those mini-dresses that show off your birthing hips, now would you Beyonce? Stick to the moneymaker...Runner-up "So What," P!nk. She really needs to write a song that involves a key change and varying beats. O?ay, P!nk?
  
• Favorite album: Home Alone soundtrack. I can't stress enough that the holidays aren't complete without me listening to "O Holy Night" sung by little children, and that sweet-ass rendition of "White Christmas" with the falsetto.
  
• Best TV Show: "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." The season just wrapped up with Charlie writing his own musical, which inadvertantly includes a rape scene and child molestation. In other words, just another day on IASP. All that is right and wrong with the world can be found on this show (it's on FX). Runner up: "The Office" and "House."
  
• Worst TV show: "Heroes." What the hell happened to this show? I had to stop watching it. I don't like the characters anymore, the plots are full of holes and are hard to follow, people die and come back all the time and there doesn't seem to be a point to it all. All I want to do is punch Hayden Panettiere in the face. Hard. Twice.*
  
• Best moments: Creating Feliz Navidad 2008, my co-blog experience with Ben and Thanksgiving.
  
• Worst moments: Calling my blog crush the wrong name.
  
• Best decision: Having Capricorn meet my parents before Thanksgiving, so there would be less pressure for the holiday weekend. Things are going along great with her (we're past two months). That's good, because my mom still wants those overdue grandchildren. And they don't make themselves (unless you're the Virgin Mary or Clay Aiken). Runner Up: Deciding to do Get to Know Me week. And voting.
  
• Worst decision: Turning off the spam filter for the comments. Although the results were funny.
  
• Favorite Blog Entry by Me: Writing my Dream Date for Ben, and writing about Taxicab Confessions for Haute Pocket.
  
• Favorite Blog Entry by Someone Else: So many to choose from, as I made a lot of new blog friends this month. All of your Get to Know Me entries were great- I was seriously impressed. Some of my favorites include this one by AmyXXOO about becoming possessed, and Sara's impressive list of things to know about her. What were your favorite GTKM posts?
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  * Once with brass knuckles.

To discuss a Movie Review: Quantum of Solace is at least a better title than most Star Wars movies

(There are limited spoilers. But if you cared about spoilers, you'd read this after seeing the movie, anyway.)

When your girlfriend compares the new James Bond flick, “Quantum of Solace,” to the shoot-em-up assassin movie, “Hitman,” you know this isn’t your father’s James Bond.

Capricorn had never seen a James Bond movie before. Coincidentally, this summer I saw the new Indiana Jones installment with a friend who had never seen any of the Indiana Jones movies before. On a related note, I evidently hang out with hermits and see movies under a rock someplace.

I walked into the theater on Sunday night expecting a Bond movie with the same class, action, thrill, laughs and violence as the initial Daniel Craig-led Bond, 2006’s “Casino Royale.”
QOS did not disappoint, except of course for that silly title that sounds like an angst-ridden teenager trying to title their poem about death and despair. I think “Revenge Best Served Shaken, Not Stirred” would have worked better.
At least it’s not “Revenge of the Sith.”

From the opening moments, Craig encapsulates all that people want in their Bond, as it is, after all, our Bond. He’s intelligent, witty, debonair— yes, debonair, like Cary Grant with an automatic assault weapon— and as physical as any Bond before him. The action scenes could have found a home in any of the “Bourne” movies. I’m always impressed with the different ways Bond producers allow the title character to get his way out of trouble, too. In QOS, Craig gets to use a car, a dirt bike, an SUV, a plane and a boat. He was one train away from starring in a sequel with Steve Martin and John Candy’s corpse.

For a full synopsis of the movie, go here. The basic premise is Bond seeking revenge against a secret terrorist agency, Quantum. His girlfriend, Vesper, had killed herself because she was forced by Quantum to betray Bond at the end of “Casino Royale.” At the center of Quantum, there’s a new villain, Dominic Greene, who is trying to connive world leaders into investing in his environmental group, Greene Planet, which is a front for his secret plan to control a huge, untapped water supply in Bolivia. Talk about An Inconvenient Truth.

The action picks up an hour after “Casino Royale” left off, and there are plenty of chase scenes to go around in the opening minutes to rival the excellent scene in “Royale” when Bond chased his target up, around, and on top of a construction site.

More than the action, what sets these most recent two Bond movies apart from previous installments is their ability to delve more deeply into the characters. Craig gives Bond depth beyond the “agent with a license to kill” mindset, showing compassion, sorrow and pain, but not to the point that it interrupts his work.

The new Bond girl, Camille, is played adeptly by the gorgeous Olga Kurylenko, who holds her own in scenes with Craig and isn’t just a sex object. That might be because it’s also the first time Bond doesn’t get in bed with the main Bond girl, as he’s too busy most of the time recklessly killing suspects, much to the chagrin of his boss, M, and the rest of the British government.

Not to fear, though, traditional Bond fans. Bonds finds time to sleep with another woman, Strawberry Fields, a red-haired beauty sent by the British Consulate to take Bond in for debriefing. Let’s just say things don’t go well for Ms. Fields, and I’m not talking about contracting a disease from Bond, who is approaching Wilt Chamberlain territory after all of these movies’ worth of lovemaking. You know he's not using protection.

Revenge and killing, not romance, serve as the primary fodder for QOS, however. Bond is unusually brutal this time, in part because he’s full of anger after the death of Vesper, a woman he loved. Craig does well in showing some restraint so as to not make Bond cartoonishly vengeful like some Sylvester Stallone movie. It’s also refreshing that Greene, played by Mathieu Amalric, does not have any gimmicky physical traits that have long been a staple of Bond movies.

That forces Amalric to become despicable and emotionally disturbed on his own volition, which he does well in his limited scenes. In all, QOS is a perfect blend of Bond qualities. I’m sure all of those fans who protested Craig’s selection as the new Bond feel silly now. Craig’s Bond is on par with the best of Bonds before him, and with the ability to beat up those past Bonds, as well.

And yes, Capricorn greatly enjoyed QOS. Now all I have to do is get her to see Casino Royale.