'Twas the week before Thanksgiving

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

My extended family is abroad the next two weeks, so my brother and I are thinking of a low-key Thanksgiving possibly featuring Dave's Hot Chicken. Yesterday, though, he went to the office, where there was a spread of Thanksgiving vittles, and brought home chicken, stuffing, Brussels sprouts, and a slice of apple pie, all of which would gone to waste because there would be no one in the office today.

I'm grateful for the unexpected feast, so far the highlight of this year's Thanksgiving.

Squeezing In

Posted 2:30 AM by Gerald So

Thirty years ago, I was a junior at Hofstra and went to a meeting about starting a student literary magazine. Six people who joined the staff with me have been my best friends since then. Four of us are still in New York.

In recent years we've managed to get together at Dinosaur BBQ in Brooklyn the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Determined to beat the holidays, I suggested we have dinner two nights ago.

L to R: Andrew Carbone, Deshant Paúl, John Ricotta, Gerald So

Andrew suggested Luana's Tavern. He and Deshant had the Crispy Chicken Sandwich. John and I had the Tavern Burger.

EON James Bond Movies Ranked

Posted 2:30 PM by Gerald So

Image by Gerald So

Yesterday on Bluesky I ranked of EON's twenty-five James Bond movies:

25. No Time to Die
24. Spectre
23. Quantum of Solace
22. The World is Not Enough
21. The Man with the Golden Gun
20. Diamonds are Forever
19. Die Another Day
18. A View to a Kill
17. Octopussy
16. You Only Live Twice
15. Tomorrow Never Dies
14. Live and Let Die
13. Moonraker
12. Dr. No
11. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
10. The Living Daylights
9. Skyfall
8. Licence to Kill
7. From Russia, with Love
6. The Spy Who Loved Me
5. GoldenEye
4. Casino Royale
3. For Your Eyes Only
2. Thunderball
1. Goldfinger

You can tell right away I didn't like the continuity of Craig's run, but I do appreciate all the Bond actors. Of the four who made more than two movies, you find some at the bottom of the ranks, some in the middle, and some at the top.

UPDATE: A day after posting the above, I realized I had yet to rank EON's six James Bond actors:

6. George Lazenby
5. Daniel Craig
4. Pierce Brosnan
3. Sean Connery
2. Roger Moore
1. Timothy Dalton

This is based only on time as Bond, not my overall opinion of each. I mildly surprised myself ranking Moore ahead of Connery. That's on the strength of Moore's redefining Bond for the 1970s and '80s where Lazenby failed. Without Moore, EON might have made only seven Bond movies.

Also, initially I ranked Brosnan fifth and Craig fourth because Craig made more movies. I decided the fun of Brosnan's movies edged out the number of Craig's. Dalton? Simply my favorite.

I welcome debate in the Comments.