BBC News
I'm linking this article just because of the last two sentences.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
James Bond Music
So I got to thinking about the fact that every James Bond film has had a unique theme song. I decided to go through and find them all and pick out which ones were the best and the which were the worst. Turns out, most of them were pretty bad. Regardless, here are all the James Bond Theme songs ordered roughly by how much I liked them. I say roughly because I only listened to each song once and haphazardly added them to list vaguely where I thought they belonged.
Dr. No "James Bond Theme" This is the theme most associated with the bond films, first appearing in 1962 and in every James Bond movie since then. It would be a crime to not list it as number 1.
Live and Let Die Besides the "James Bond Theme", this is probably the most successful song written for James Bond. I didn't even know it was written for James Bond, despite knowing of the song and the movie of the same title.
Casino Royale If this song was in Eurovision, it would win hands down.
Goldfinger I get a feeling that I if I actually listened to the lyrics this wouldn't seem like a such a great song, but the trumpets and Shirley Bassey's voice work so well.
The World is not Enough James Bond hits another high note by having a different Shirley sing. Shirley Manson from Garbage, that is.
GoldenEye One of the few James Bond theme songs that actually sounds like it was written for an action movie.
View to a Kill Points for just being so typically '80's. The video is kind of interesting as it's filmed to make it look like Duran Duran is actually in the movie. Sure it's been done since then, but it was probably unique at the time.
The Man with the Golden Gun I rank this song higher in tribute to the guitar that died to give us this theme song.
You Only Live Twice Hard to go wrong with Nancy Sinatra. Not a bad theme song, but it doesn't seem like it could really stand on its own.
The Spy Who Loved Me I get the feeling that Carly Simon wasn't aware she was writing the theme to a James Bond movie.
Diamonds Are Forever Shirley Bassey fails to relive her success with "Goldfinger". Diamonds are ForeVVvvvEEEEERRRRR!
The Living Daylights More cheesy '80's than awesome '80's so doesn't get the same points that Duran Duran got.
Quatum of Solace The only duet to be made a James Bond theme. Too bad it's a really awkward pairing.
Moonraker Forget the song for a moment, is this video really the opening of Moonraker? Now back to the song, Shirley Bassey is brought back for another less than stellar song.
Tomorrow Never Dies Does Sheryl Crow seem like an odd choice to song the theme to a James Bond film to anyone else?
From Russia with Love Kind of a boring song, just sounds like they told the composer, write a song that says "from Russia with love" a lot.
For Your Eyes Only For some reason this song makes me thing of those entirely out of place j-pop ballads they like to play at the end of animes.
License to Kill Gladys Knight tries to ride off the success of "Goldfinger" by trying to turn it into a '80's love ballad. She succeeds, but that's not a good thing.
Die Another Day Exactly what the James Bond films needed, an electronica influenced theme song. Oh wait, no, that makes no sense at all.
Thunderball Just watch the video, even Tom Jones knows this song is ridiculous. Probably could have been a better song if anyone had any clue what a "thunderball" was.
Octopussy Unlike Tom Jones, Rita Coolidge doesn't even try to fit the ridiculous title of the movie into her song, even giving it a different name. Now all I can think is how much better having Tom Jones sing a song called "Octopussy" would have been.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service It's like whoever wrote it just thought they were supposed to be doing the original theme song, but at the the last minute were told to do a new song.
Dr. No "James Bond Theme" This is the theme most associated with the bond films, first appearing in 1962 and in every James Bond movie since then. It would be a crime to not list it as number 1.
Live and Let Die Besides the "James Bond Theme", this is probably the most successful song written for James Bond. I didn't even know it was written for James Bond, despite knowing of the song and the movie of the same title.
Casino Royale If this song was in Eurovision, it would win hands down.
Goldfinger I get a feeling that I if I actually listened to the lyrics this wouldn't seem like a such a great song, but the trumpets and Shirley Bassey's voice work so well.
The World is not Enough James Bond hits another high note by having a different Shirley sing. Shirley Manson from Garbage, that is.
GoldenEye One of the few James Bond theme songs that actually sounds like it was written for an action movie.
View to a Kill Points for just being so typically '80's. The video is kind of interesting as it's filmed to make it look like Duran Duran is actually in the movie. Sure it's been done since then, but it was probably unique at the time.
The Man with the Golden Gun I rank this song higher in tribute to the guitar that died to give us this theme song.
You Only Live Twice Hard to go wrong with Nancy Sinatra. Not a bad theme song, but it doesn't seem like it could really stand on its own.
The Spy Who Loved Me I get the feeling that Carly Simon wasn't aware she was writing the theme to a James Bond movie.
Diamonds Are Forever Shirley Bassey fails to relive her success with "Goldfinger". Diamonds are ForeVVvvvEEEEERRRRR!
The Living Daylights More cheesy '80's than awesome '80's so doesn't get the same points that Duran Duran got.
Quatum of Solace The only duet to be made a James Bond theme. Too bad it's a really awkward pairing.
Moonraker Forget the song for a moment, is this video really the opening of Moonraker? Now back to the song, Shirley Bassey is brought back for another less than stellar song.
Tomorrow Never Dies Does Sheryl Crow seem like an odd choice to song the theme to a James Bond film to anyone else?
From Russia with Love Kind of a boring song, just sounds like they told the composer, write a song that says "from Russia with love" a lot.
For Your Eyes Only For some reason this song makes me thing of those entirely out of place j-pop ballads they like to play at the end of animes.
License to Kill Gladys Knight tries to ride off the success of "Goldfinger" by trying to turn it into a '80's love ballad. She succeeds, but that's not a good thing.
Die Another Day Exactly what the James Bond films needed, an electronica influenced theme song. Oh wait, no, that makes no sense at all.
Thunderball Just watch the video, even Tom Jones knows this song is ridiculous. Probably could have been a better song if anyone had any clue what a "thunderball" was.
Octopussy Unlike Tom Jones, Rita Coolidge doesn't even try to fit the ridiculous title of the movie into her song, even giving it a different name. Now all I can think is how much better having Tom Jones sing a song called "Octopussy" would have been.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service It's like whoever wrote it just thought they were supposed to be doing the original theme song, but at the the last minute were told to do a new song.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Military Spending at its Best
CNN
The scientist that worked on anti-missile laser technology are now hoping to use the same technology to kill mosquitoes. The device would detect mosquitoes based on the sound they make as they fly and then fire a laser at them. So the laser would only fire if it hears a mosquitoes, meaning people near the device would likely not get hit by lasers.
It kind of sounds like a really expensive bug zapper, but then again, it only kills mosquitoes, nothing else. Seems pretty brilliant if someone is only looking to wipe out mosquitoes without harming anything else.
LA Times
The Pentagon has spent $400 million on developing spy blimps. The blimps would fly at 65,000 feet and could stay afloat up to 10 years. Seems like a lot to spend on what on the surface seems pretty low-tech, but considering it can cost up to $100 million to launch a single satellite, it's probably not a bad idea.
The scientist that worked on anti-missile laser technology are now hoping to use the same technology to kill mosquitoes. The device would detect mosquitoes based on the sound they make as they fly and then fire a laser at them. So the laser would only fire if it hears a mosquitoes, meaning people near the device would likely not get hit by lasers.
It kind of sounds like a really expensive bug zapper, but then again, it only kills mosquitoes, nothing else. Seems pretty brilliant if someone is only looking to wipe out mosquitoes without harming anything else.
LA Times
The Pentagon has spent $400 million on developing spy blimps. The blimps would fly at 65,000 feet and could stay afloat up to 10 years. Seems like a lot to spend on what on the surface seems pretty low-tech, but considering it can cost up to $100 million to launch a single satellite, it's probably not a bad idea.
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