Movies and Music and Books…Oh My!

When Im not whoring my Xbox I spend my time doing other only slightly less wasteful things. Heres a quick run through of what Ive been watching, listening to and reading:

Movie: Casino Royale – Ive been a big time Bond fan for a long time (yeah I even liked Timothy Dalton) and this movie blew me away. It did so much to reinvigorate the Bond franchise that I hope the next one is in the works soon to continue to expand what was done in this movie. Every actor brings a certain style to Bond and Daniel Craig is no different. In many ways he channels the spirit of Sean Connery’s original Bond. Tough, hardnosed and out to kick ass. He is as M calls him “a blunt instrument”. He is something the government uses to beat its enemies without much fanfare when required. The history of who James Bond is fleshed out more in this movie then in all the others put together. You get glimpses into the life of M also. Casino Royale is a must see for anyone who is even remotely interested in Bond movies. Two Thumbs Up!

Music: Jonah Smith – A couple months ago my wife presented me with a CD of a guy I had never heard of. Well that CD has yet to leave my CD player and Im probably one of 6 people on the planet who call themselves Jonah Smith fans. I had the distinct pleasure of seeing him live at Headliners a couple weeks ago opening for Mofro. I didn’t really know what to expect but I was very excited. Sure enough Jonah delivered. He opened with an amazing rendition of “When We Say Goodnight” which really pumped up the crowd. My only complaint is that he didn’t have a sax player which really fills out the sound of the song. The band then worked through several songs off their latest album and some older songs which I had not heard before (which freaking rocked). The set was fairly short and I was really disappointed that he didn’t play “Killing Time” which is easily my favorite song from the new album. His voice was spot on and perfectly fits the style of music. A great performance all around.

Books: Star Wars: Dark Nest Trilogy: The Joiner King (Book 1) – I was very hesitant to pick up this book at first. Its been over 2 years since the completion of what is in my opinion the finest Star Wars book series (yes New Jedi Order was better then the Thrawn Trilogy). The New Jedi Order series was wrapped up very nicely and the Dark Nest Trilogy was supposed to tie up the one loose end which has been dangling since that fateful mission to Myrkr: what happened to Raynar Thul, Welk and Lomi Plo? Well it turns out they crash landed on a world inhabited by sentient insects. All three were nursed back to health by the insects where the unknowingly used the power of the force to get the insects to see them as their queens (or kings). The dark jedi then used their new insect army to start a war with the neighboring Chiss. Raynar Thul however uses his force ability to summon his fellow Jedi Knights to aid his hive. Overall I found the book rather dry and am not all that excited to finish the trilogy. However the next book in the series sounds really good so Ill probably plow through the next two books just to get to the good stuff.