Scotland, ho!

During 2007, we watched the entire James Bond film series and also read several of the novels. Here is a chronology of the 007 movies and books:


Dr. No1962 Sean Connery
From Russia with Love 1963
Goldfinger 1964
Thunderball 1965
You Only Live Twice 1967
On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969 George Lazenby
Diamonds Are Forever 1971 Sean Connery
Live and Let Die 1973 Roger Moore
The Man with the Golden Gun 1974
The Spy Who Loved Me 1977
Moonraker 1979
For Your Eyes Only 1981
Octopussy 1983
Never Say Never Again 1983 (NOT EON) Sean Connery
A View to a Kill 1985 Roger Moore
The Living Daylights 1987 Timothy Dalton
Licence to Kill 1989
GoldenEye 1995 Pierce Brosnan
Tomorrow Never Dies 1997
The World Is Not Enough 1999
Die Another Day 2002
Casino Royale 2006 Daniel Craig
Bond 22 2008
Casino Royale (Spoof) 1967 David Niven, etc.

Ian Flemming Novels:
Casino Royale 1953
Live and Let Die 1954
Moonraker 1955
Diamonds Are Forever 1956
From Russia with Love 1957
Dr. No 1958
Goldfinger 1959
For Your Eyes Only 1960
Thunderball 1961
The Spy Who Loved Me 1962
On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1963
You Only Live Twice 1964
The Man with the Golden Gun 1965
Octopussy & The Living Daylights 1966

Here are a few of our favorites (and least favorites) from the James Bond movies:

Top 3 Favorite Bond Movies:
Debi:
1. Casino Royale
2. From Russia with Love
3. License to Kill

David:
1. Casino Royale
2. The Spy Who Loved Me (a big influence on me in my elementary school years).
3. From Russia With Love

3 Least Favorite Bond Movies:
Debi:
1. The World is Not Enough
2. GoldenEye
3. Diamonds are Forever

David:
Yeah, I pretty much agree. I basically didn't like any of the Pierce Brosnan movies. I grew up with Roger Moore playing Bond but I'd read the novels, so the movies were entertaining but too cheesy to be taken seriously at this point. My father introduced me to the series with the best Bond (in my opinion), Sean Connery. Brosnan killed my interest in the series (don't know why so many people like him in the role) and I didn't see any of the films after Goldeneye, until Daniel Craig took over.
Least favorite:
1. The World is Not Enough
2. GoldenEye
3. Tomorrow Never Dies

3 Cheesiest Bond Movies:
Debi:
1. Moonraker
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. GoldenEye

David:
1. Live and Let Die - In spite of a great theme song, a cool plot, some scary ideas, and at least a tenuous link to the novels, this is where the cheese began. The boat chase could've been amazing (and was, for the most part), but the introduction of the Sheriff J.W. Pepper was more than "comic relief." It was hilarious at the time (it didn't take much to make us laugh back then - the 70's were a funny time) but watching it now, I wish they'd played it a little more straight. It was a good story. It was also strange to watch Bond's clumsy and misogynistic approach to any female that crossed his path. Back then, it worked - now it seemed horrific. Times have changed, thank god. Still, it was interesting to view what was perceived as "seduction" back then. No, really. It was kind of like that. I think (I was very young then, I don't know). Still, if you look at the media from the time...no wonder there were so many divorces.

2. The Man With the Golden Gun - if only for the inclusion of Sherrif J.W. Pepper

3. Die Another Day - Too little, too late. Pierce's Bond got tough enough to command "M" to let him do his job, but it seemed like the producers were throwing in so many references to past Bond films, that they knew this was to be the last. It just seemed too nostalgic. Luckily, it seems to have been the end of an era indeed. If the films following "Casino Royale" keep the wit, mood, and stark realism (for a Bond film anyway) of the new film, the series will definitely be reborn.

Top 3 Favorite Bond Stunts:
Debi:
1. Bungee jump in GoldenEye
2. Free running sequence in Casino Royale
3. Stepping on crocodiles in Live and Let Die

David:
1. Free running sequence / stair fight with machete (two-way tie) in Casino Royale
2. Bungee jump in GoldenEye (It was really done!)
3. Stepping on crocodiles in Live and Let Die - Ross Kananga did the stunt, stepping over four live crocodiles. You can see him perform it here. He almost ended up as dinner (like his father before him).

Top 3 Favorite Villians
Debi:
1. Christopher Walkin as Max Zorin in a View to a Kill
2. Christopher Lee as Scaramanga in the Man with the Golden Gun
3. Robert Davi as Franz Sanchez in License to Kill

David:
1. Christopher Walkin as Max Zorin in a View to a Kill - Christopher Walken!
2. Christopher Lee as Scaramanga in the Man with the Golden Gun
3. Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale - kinda like Bryan Ferry gone bad, but very convincingly menacing. The "but you are SO WRONG!" quote towards the end of the torture scene really drove the point of the movie home.

Top 3 Favorite Bond Theme Songs:
Debi:
1. For Your Eyes Only by Sheena Easton
2. You Know My Name by Chris Cornell
3. Thunderball by Tom Jones

David:
1. The Spy Who Loved Me by Carly Simon
2. You Know My Name by Chris Cornell
3. Goldfinger / Moonraker by Shirley Bassey (two-way tie)

Top 3 Favorite Bond Girls:
Debi:
1. Ursula Andress as Honey Rider in Dr. No
2. Jane Seymour as Solitaire in Live and Let Die
3. Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love

David:
1. Eva Green as Vesper Lynd
2. Jane Seymour as Solitaire
in Live and Let Die / Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love (two-way tie)
3. Catherine Bach as Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me

We have a tradition of reading the same books (our own mini-book club)! This year Debi read more books for pleasure than any year in her adult life!!! We also saw many movies (thank you Netflix)! Here's a list of what we read and watched in 2007:

Books:
1. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (thanks Bonnie for the recommendation!!)
3. The Book of Lost Tales: 2 by JRR Tolkien
4. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (we read this one in the Caribbean)
5. Beowulf translated by Burton Raffel
6. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglass Adams (Debi's 1st time!)
8. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglass Adams
9. Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglass Adams
10. Rum: Nature's Island by Magnus Magnusson
11. The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
12. 1,000 Places to See Before you Die by Patricia Schultz
13. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (thank you Geoff!)
14. Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
15. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling (again...)
16. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (again...)
17. Light My Way by DL Grant (again...my favorite!!!)
18. The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker (thanks Suzanne)
19. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
20. Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel by Milorad Pavic (Debi read the female version and David read the male version)
21. Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming
22. First Steps Towards an Acting Career (random, short-lived interest...)
23. The Aeneid by Virgil
24. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco
25. Moonraker by Ian Fleming
26. The Languages of the World by Kenneth Katzner
27. Der Alchimist (in German) by Paulo Coelho
28. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
29. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
30. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
31. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
32. Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages by Mark Abley
33. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

All in all, over 13,000 pages!!!!

Movies of 2007 (in order of most recently watched):
1. Tomorrow Never Dies
2. White Christmas
3. This is Spinal Tap
4. License to Kill
5. The Living Daylights
6. Murder by Death
7. The 1900 House
8. Wings of Desire
9. A View to a Kill
10. The Knowledge of Healing
11. Never Say Never Again
12. Octopussy
13. Frontier House
14. 1776
15. Like Water for Chocolate
16. For Your Eyes Only
17. Moonraker
18. Trainspotting: Collector's Edition
19. The Spy Who Loved Me
20. The Man with the Golden Gun
21. Live and Let Die
22. Diamonds are Forever
23. On Her Magesty's Secret Service
24. Beyond the Fringe
25. The Thin Man
26. You Only Live Twice
27. Amelie
28. Thunderball
29. The Muppet Show: Season 1
30. Goldfinger
31. From Russia with Love
32. Dr. No
33. Strictly Ballroom
34. Law & Order: SVU Season 1
35. The Wire: Season 1
36. Monsoon Wedding
37. King Arthur

As you can see we have been watching all the James Bond films in order (there are quite a few!) We are almost done :)

Here's to more great books and movies in 2008!!

We are super excited to have a cat in our lives again! Ellie, a beautiful calico cat, is staying with us temporarily. She is older (11 or 12 years old) and is already set in her ways. She is very loving and it's great to spend some time with a kitty again! Isn't she cute?

2007 has been an amazing year for us! We've been able to travel a lot and enjoy each other's company, and that of our family and friends. Here's what we have been up to this year:


January

I (Debi) turned 30 this last January and to celebrate we took our first Caribbean vacation together to the U.S. Virgin Islands. We had an amazing 10 days vacation. We stayed in the hills on St. Thomas

(this is the magnificent view from our hotel room, which overlooked the bay). We quickly found the ferry to a neighboring island, St. John and a secluded beach. It was amazing!

Once on St. John, we took a short 20-minute hike through a forested area and arrived at a mile-long secluded beach (shared with maybe 10 other people). This became our daily routine: ferry to St. John, short hike, laying on the beach all day, hike back to downtown St. John, ice cream and dinner on the beach, ferry back to St. Thomas. We did visit another beach as well but this was our favorite. We also visited a pirate museum and a preserved sugar / rum plantation house museum as well. One of our favorite activities was a day of sailing and snorkeling!
















Lastly we also managed to make it out to the opera and saw
the world premiere of Tan Dun's (he did the music for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) the First Emperor. A really great opera!

February
After our big vacation we chilled out for February. We attended a super bowl party at our friend Eric's apartment and caught up with several old friends for dinner during the month.

March
There are a lot of family birthdays in March for both of us. My two sisters have birthdays as does David's brother. We decided to go down to North Carolina and surprise David's brother on his birthday. We worked out it all out with David's sister-in-law and managed to surprise Doug in the grocery store (Lizz picked us up at the airport under the pretense of running errands). We not only surprised him but also David's two nephews, who had no idea we were coming to spend the weekend. We had a great time! Check out the video here where David is calling his brother (pretending to be back in NYC) in the grocery store, one aisle away from him! (sorry in advance that I got so excited and forgot that I was filming!)




We also managed to see another opera in March by one of Debi's favorite composers, Richard Strauss. We saw the Agyptisches Helene with our friend Geoff. The staging was very modern but the production was great and innovative.

April
We both love the month of April, despite all the rain. We began the month on April Fool's Day by running the Scotland 10K race; both of us in skirts (David in a kilt and me in a tartan miniskirt)! We had a great time and it was such a beautiful day for the race. We ran it with two of our great friends (Eric and Mandi) as well. We also celebrated David's birthday by going to the cloisters with Dave and Suzanne to attend a reading of "Beowulf" in Old English. We then joined our friends at Swift's pub downtown for a "wee dram" and some ice cream in Washington Square Park afterwards.



May
In May we celebrated our four year anniversary and took another vacation together to celebrate. We spent five days in Santa Fe, New Mexico. David used to live in Santa Fe, so it was nice for me to see all of the landmarks and meet some of his old friends. The scenery is beautiful. We also treated each other to a day at the spa in the mountains!



Debi also managed to sneak off to the beach again this month when she went to Florida to attend a conference for work.

June
We celebrated the beginning of summer with lots of fun events in June. Several of our friends had parties this month including one rooftop party in the village and one birthday party on the beach! Debi also traveled again for work, this time going to Hartford, Connecticut for a conference. Debi was also on the radio this month and even got to answer questions from callers! David's brother, sister-in-law and nephews also came to town and stayed with us. We had fun showing the nephews our lightsabers! Check out this video of them dueling with the light-sabers (which, as we all know, can only end in tears). Debi also went to DC to see our friend's induction into the Foreign Service.



July
In July we focused on the beach and Harry Potter! We tried to spend as much time at the beach as possible this summer. In July, the OotP movie (Order of the Phoenix for non-Potter fans) came out and we saw it a couple of times. Also, the much anticipated book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out and we (David, Eric, Suzanne, Fran and I) stayed up until midnight to buy it at Borders (which included going in the morning to pick up a wristband to secure a place in line at midnight). Borders held a big party complete with a costume contest, music, face painting and tons of Potter fans milling about. We also went downtown to Potter Place; a huge one-block festival celebrating the book release (by the publishers Scholastic). After we all got our books, we parted ways to commence with the night reading of the book. David and I began reading over coffee at around 2AM, then stayed in bed for most of the next day and finished the 759 page book in less than 24 hours (and we STILL had a few friends...Bonnie, Suzanne who read it quicker than that!). From one obsession to another: We also managed to go see Wagner's last opera in the Ring Cycle (Gotterdamerung) performed by the Kirov opera by getting standing room tickets for this 6 hour opera. Boy, what a weekend! It will go down in history as the most fun 24 hours ever!

August
We continued our beach presence in August....my dad also came to NYC for five days and we enjoyed going around town and spending time with him. We went to a FABULOUS Yankees game (they won!), walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, ate pizza at Grimaldi's, went to the Times Square Church, went to the Top of the Rock (much better than Empire State Building in my opinion), went to the Met museum, saw the Bourne Ultimatum, went to the South Street Seaport, went to the Morgan Library and overall had a blast in the city!
David and I also managed (after several years of trying) to see a Shakespeare in the Park production. We saw "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and it was a great production. The funny thing was that we later recognized one of the actor's from the production in our favorite cafe (la Fortuna) and totally made his day.




September
More traveling in September! David and I flew out to Portland, Oregon to attend my niece's wedding. It was such a lovely wedding set in the Columbia River Gorge. We had such a great time catching up with everyone and celebrating this wonderful event! Here's a picture of us at the wedding.




October
This year we were blessed to be able to travel so much! In October, I (Debi) flew to Seattle and met up with my sister, and took the ferry to Victoria, Canada to run the Royal Victoria Half-Marathon! Despite room service difficulties the morning of the race and post-race sickness as a result of the delayed breakfast, the race went really well. The route was absolutely wonderful and followed the bay for several miles. After the race, Michelle and I had fun vegging out ordering room service and watching cable!

I also traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah for a week to attend a conference for work. I then made the first of many DC trips during the fall to see a Tori Amos concert. We also managed to make it out to the opera again this month and saw the new production of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Met (really nice!)

October is also when the yearly GrantFry Halloween party occurs and this year was no exception! Dressed as a flapper girl and Dr. David Livingston (I presume), we decked out the place and enjoyed spending the holiday with friends. Our decorating included a life size skeleton secretively placed in the bathroom (that WAS FUN! heheeheee)! We also had a bit of wacky fun with Dave afterwards...


November
The key word for November was Washington, DC! I went to DC at the beginning of November to attend a conference and went back again for our friend's Kristen and Frank's 11th annual pre-Thanksgiving feast! David and I also went and saw the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (Debi for the first time)! We watched the balloons go by, then went to Cafe La Fortuna for cappuccino and biscotti. We then came home and passed out (David had worked the night before). We celebrated Thanksgiving, just the two of us complete with Tofurkey.

December
December started out with Debi having jury duty. We also celebrated the beginning of winter up at the cloisters with our friend, Jenny. This month we also welcomed Ellie (a lovely calico cat) into our lives (more on her in another post). We celebrated Christmas with just the two of us and decorated our apartment for the first time with our own tree. We saw our last opera of the year with our friend Geoff (we saw Prokofiev's War and Peace). We welcomed in 2008 at our friend Sara and Shannon's party and we are definitely looking forward to another great year together!