Group 1 Web Diary

Richard's favourite Videogame Spyro The Dragon

2009-07-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

Spyro The Dragon

1. Spyro The Dragon (1998): Before the game begins, the five Dragon families lived in harmony in their five worlds (these being Artisans, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers and Dream Weavers). Their lives were happy and peaceful until Gnasty Gnorc broke the rules. He was an unpleasant creature that the Dragons didn't like. Because of this Gnasty resented the Dragon families. More than anything, he detested their beautiful, shiny jewels. He hated them because every time he looked in them he would see reflections of his own ugly face. Gnasty became such a problem that he was banished to the Dragon junkyard, a world that they thought would perfectly suit Gnasty. As soon as he got there he renamed it "Gnasty's World" and overtook all the worlds located in it. He also built his home there, as well as an industrial settlement to keep all his stolen treasure. Gnasty began to experiment with magic spells and, after a while, he discovered two he wanted: a giant spell to trap all Dragons in crystal and a potion to animate the radiant gems and turn them into an army of Gnorc soldiers.When the game begins Gnasty cast the freeze spell he had been working on after he heard the Dragons insulting him on a documentary style video. The spell trapped all the dragons in crystal halfway through the filming of their documentary. He then turned all the gems he could find into his willing minions. One thing he didn't consider was Spyro the Dragon. Spyro was so small that the spell shot straight over his head. Spyro, the only unfrozen dragon, travels the six worlds – including Gnasty’s deformed industrial world – releasing the Dragons and collecting the stolen treasure. In the meantime, Gnasty’s army of minions (transformed from the Dragons’ gems) are doing their best to stop him. As Spyro releases the trapped Dragons along the way, they return a favour by giving hints and tips up until the final conflict where Spyro battles with Gnasty. After Spyro defeats Gnasty another documentary is presented on Spyro. If the player collected all gems, saved all the dragons, and rescued all the eggs, then an alternate ending is presented.

2. Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage (1999): In the distant, fantasy realm of Avalar, local residents Elora, Hunter, and The Professor have been working on their latest and largest portal. During a test of it, Hunter enters his birthdate (22475, which could mean February 24, 1975 or April 22, 1975) as the portal's target coordinates, inadvertently activating it and allowing a small wizard named Ripto into the realm along with two large and dimwitted dinosaurs, Crush and Gulp. Identifying that the land has no dragons, Ripto declares that he is going to "move in" and take it over; however, Elora is able to de-activate the portal by instructing fairies to remove the orbs powering the portal. As Ripto begins to terrorize Avalar, Elora and the Professor plan to 'catch' a dragon in order to drive Ripto off.Meanwhile, the Artisans have been under rainy weather for some time; Spyro, declaring he needs a vacation, locates a portal to the realm of Dragon Shores. However, after travelling through the portal, he finds himself instead landing in the realm of Avalar by means of a smaller portal, built by Avalar's Professor. Ripto enters the scene and destroys the portal, objecting to how the Professor succeeded in bringing a dragon to the world of Avalar. Ripto is, however, forced to retreat when Gulp accidentally swallows Ripto's magical scepter, and Spyro is asked to help save the realm of Avalar by defeating Ripto.Each of Avalar's homeworlds is captured by Ripto after Spyro enters them. In a dungeon area, Ripto and one of his minions wait for Spyro. The only way to access these dungeons is to collect all of the Talismans in the overworld, or in the final confrontation, to collect 40 orbs. The talismans are being held by the leaders of each homeworld. Somehow, perhaps using his magic, Ripto has convinced the citizens of the realm to turn against each other, causing outbreaks of war between worlds and races. Also, Ripto has sent his minions to terrorize citizens and stop Spyro from saving the worlds of Avalar.The journey ultimately leads to a final showdown between Spyro and Ripto in Winter Tundra. The two battle it out using many forms of magic, and just when it seems as if the fight is destined to end in a stalemate, Ripto converts the arena into a pool of lava and attempts to escape on a metal eagle. Spyro gives chase and a dogfight ensues, in which Spyro destroys the eagle and sends Ripto plummetting into the lava to his apparent death.The inhabitants of Avalar are grateful for Spyro's help, and as a reward, show him the portal to Dragon Shores.

3. Spyro: Year Of The Dragon (2000): The game opens with a celebration in the land of the dragons, where Spyro and his kin are celebrating the "Year of the Dragon", an event that occurs every twelve years when new dragon eggs are brought to the realm.[14] During the celebration, however, a cloaked rabbit girl, Bianca, invades the Dragon Realms with an army of creatures called Rhynocs and steals all of the Dragon eggs, bringing them back to the Sorceress, who scatters the eggs throughout several worlds. The worlds are split up into four realms, all of them are named after a time of the day, and types of geography; Sunrise Springs, Midday Gardens, Evening Lake, and Midnight Mountain.[14] Spyro, along with Sparx and Hunter, are sent down a hole to find the thieves and recover the dragon eggs.[7]While pursuing the thief, Spyro discovers a realm once inhabited by the dragons, but long abandoned and forgotten. This realm is ruled by the Sorceress and her Rhynoc army; only a few creatures stand and fight against the Sorceress' rule. Spyro learns from one such inhabitant, Sheila, that when the dragons left the realm, the magic of the world began to dry up.[15] Spyro travels through each world in the forgotten realm, acquiring aid from the local inhabitants and rescuing the dragon eggs. It is revealed that the Sorceress is seeking not the baby dragons themselves, but merely their wings to concoct a spell that can grant her immortality.[16] Once Bianca discovers this, she feels sorry for the baby dragons, and defects to side with Spyro and his allies. Spyro eventually fights and defeats the Sorceress, and celebrations occur throughout the realm.The Sorceress survives her battle with Spyro, however, and waits for Spyro with the last of the dragon eggs. Spyro and the Sorceress battle again where the Sorceress is finally defeated; Spyro returns all the baby dragons to the Dragon Kingdom.

4. Spyro: Season Of Ice (2001): Spyro starts off in the Autumn Fairy Home one of the four seasonal fairy realms in the game. In the realms, gems can be collected, critters like sheep can be destroyed for healing butterflies (and ones to grant extra lives), special objects (like pumpkins) can be ignited, fairies can be defrosted from their ice prisons,baskets can broken for more gems and you can talk to Bianca and Hunter in various spots. Spyro can never die in the seasonal realms, with the fairy magic force protecting him from drowning in the water and no enemies present. The realms link to several places via portals. To access them, you need a number of fairies procured, indicated next to the level name.Some of the portals will take you to levels which are similar in gameplay to the realms except they have enemies to destroy, dangerous territory that harms Spyro, water which Spyro can drown in and special encounters. There are always characters you can talk with. Some will give you hints, while others will give useless information. One or two characters in a level will give you a request to do something in exchange for a fairy. In some levels Spyro can catch thieves, which can be tricky to do. When you destroy all enemies, a portal that takes you back to the realm you entered from appears.Some of the portals will take you to a long stretching horizon landscape in which Spyro flies across. The game can be played in Normal and Hard modes, but both will have to be played and won to obtain two fairies. The object of these levels is to move around the screen, flying through hoops, destroying lines of enemies and scattered enemies in a set time limit. Destroying enemies with a different colour from the latter and going through hoops grants Spyro extra time. At the end of level, Spyro must face a boss or two and destroy them.Some of the portals, Spyro cannot go through with Money Bags guarding them, but Money Bags will allow Sparx to enter for a fee. The fee is only paid once. Sparx enters a level with killer bugs and insects. Destroying the nests of those bugs, prevents them spawning. Keys will enable Sparx to access more of the level. Electric panels can be destroyed to disable barriers that protect certain nests. Weapons can be procured to give Sparx limited increased firepower. At the last room of the level, Sparx will have to face and defeat the boss bug to open a portal back to Spyro and save a fairy.One of the portals which Bianca stands near, lead from one seasonal realm into the next. Past the winter to spring portal, Spyro will encounter a boss fight against Grendor. Grendor will defend and attack with his fire projectiles and Spyro is required to ram him several times to defeat him so he can proceed to the next realm. The portal in the summer realm leads to a second and final boss fight against Grendor, which is similar to the previous one except Grendor uses ice attacks. If Grendor is defeated, the story ends, but the game can continue.If the player collects 100% of all the gems and fairies from all levels and realms, they are granted the opportunity to enter a portal to play the extra game "Dragonfly X". To get all the gems Moneybags got from you, you can can get them all back if you get all the fairies by talking to him at the special portal.

5. Spyro 2: Season Of Flame (2002): Spyro 2: Season of Flame is a platform game released for the Game Boy Advance in 2002 in North America and the PAL regions. The game was not released in Japan. The game begins where Spyro: Season of Ice ended and it re-uses many of its elements, including the isometric view. Unlike Season of Ice, this game places Spyro on Fiery Island, along with an old ally, Sheila the Kangaroo.[1] This is the first game in the franchise to feature the ability for Spyro to breathe multiple breaths.

6. Spyro: Enter The Dragonfly (2002): The story begins shortly after Spyro: Year of the Dragon. The dragons are in celebration of a rite of passage for the young dragons, and for the Grand Dragon Parade, with the arrival of new dragonfly guardians for the young dragons. However, during the Party, a strangely alive Ripto (the circumstances of his return are left unexplained) teleports in via a portal and disrupts the celebration, intent on capturing the new dragonflies to weaken the young dragons. However, his spell misfires, and the dragonflies become scattered throughout the Dragon Realm. Spyro is tasked with recovering the realm's new crop of dragonflies. Spyro eventually completes his mission, and faces Ripto once more. Spyro wins the battle, and Ripto runs for his life

7. Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs (2003): Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs (known in Europe and Australia as Spyro Adventure) is platform game released for the Game Boy Advance for North America and the PAL regions in 2003. It was not released in Japan. It was the first game to not feature a lives system and was the third game in the franchise to appear on the GameBoy Advance.

8. Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy (2004): Doctor Neo Cortex, Crash Bandicoot's sworn enemy, has joined forces with Spyro the Dragon's enemy, Ripto, in a plan to get rid of both Spyro and Crash using Ripto's monsters. Aku Aku and Coco ask Crash to recover the crystals to save the world before Cortex does.Meanwhile, the Professor and Hunter ask Spyro to close the portals and get rid of the monsters. Unfortunately for Crash and Spyro, they were tricked because on Crash's world, the Riptocs are dressed as Spyro and on Spyro's world, they are dressed as Crash.Crash and Spyro meet and engage in a bridge fight, until they realized they have been tricked. A new friendship blooms between them and they joined forces to defeat the two evil villains.Not even Tiny Tiger and Crush and Gulp can stop them, but Cortex uses his niece, Nina Cortex, to kidnap Coco and the Professor. Spyro rescues Coco and the Professor while Crash distracts Nina. Finally, Crash and Spyro defeat Nina at her own game.Coco has an idea, if they put a tracer on Cortex and Ripto, they could track them to their headquarters. Crash and Spyro reach to the headquarters in space. As a team, Crash and Spyro defeat Cortex and Ripto. Then, they thank each other and the game ends when a photo was taken of Crash with Spyro in a friendly headlock.

9. Spyro: A Hero’s Tail (2004): It has been a long period of peaceful time in the Dragon Realms since Spyro's last adventure. Suddenly, a mysterious dragon named Red is using a group of life-draining stones called the Dark Gems to poison the life of the world. Not only that, he is enlisting Gnasty Gnorc from the the first game and his army of Gnorcs to do his dirty work. After freeing a Dragon Elder, Spyro destroys all the Dark Gems in his realm, and defeats Gnasty Gnorc. Eventually, with the aid of the Professor, makes it the Lost Cities realm, destroying all Dark Gems there and defeating Ineptune, a powerful mermaid like being. Making it to the Icy Wilderness realm, he is attacked and captured by a mammoth working for Red, but Hunter and Sparx, working together, free him, and Spyro defeats Red in battle. Red escapes to the Volcanic Isle, where Spyro and the Professor follow him. After entering Red's laboratory underneath the volcano, Spyro discovers that the Professor has been captured and forced to turn Red's Gnorc army into robots to make them stronger. After accidentally turning Red into a robot with the Professor's machinery, and after the Professor accidentally increases Red's size, Spyro battles Red and defeats him in battle. The Professor then shrinks Red down to a smaller size.

10. Spyro: Shadow Legacy (2005): The game starts at the end of a vacation at Dragon Shores, with Spyro's friends departing back to their homelands before wishing him the best of luck with some magic training at the Dragon Temple. Not long after he falls asleep on the beach prior to going there, a dark storm appears and trapped everyone within the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Realms in a strange dimension known as the Shadow Realms. After initial guidance and being granted the Shadowstone from Elder Tomas, Spyro embarks on an adventure to master the martial art of dragon-kata and the use of magic, rescue everyone and unravel the mystery of the Shadow Realm.

11. The Legend Of Spyro: A New Beginning (2006): The game begins inside a temple, where a large red dragon named Ignitus is watching over an egg; it is the "Year of the Dragon", a time every twelve years when new dragon eggs are brought to the realm. A dragons' prophecy tells that every ten generations, a rare purple dragon will be born, who will direct the fate of that era; Ignitus is looking after such an egg.The dragons are, however, at war with an enemy known as the "Dark Master" who also knows of the prophecy, and lays siege to the temple, intent on destroying the brood of eggs. Ignitus escapes with the purple dragon's egg, leaving it to drift downriver into a swamp, hoping for the best. The egg is discovered by a family of dragonflies, and upon hatching, Spyro is adopted into the family and raised as one of their own, alongside Sparx, a young dragonfly born the same day.One day, after coming under attack by strange foes and discovering that he can breathe fire, Spyro is told that he is not a dragonfly himself but a stranger from a distant land; Spyro decides to leave the swamp in search of his true home; Sparx, though reluctant at first, decides to follow along. Spyro is pursued by hostile forces, but eventually comes into contact with a distraught Ignitus, who although pleased that Spyro is alive, fears that with the Dragon Temple under occupation by their enemy, and led by an enemy dragon named Cynder, their war is already lost.Spyro convinces Ignitus to lead him to the Temple, and is able to drive Cynder's forces out, after which Ignitus tells Spyro more about their war against the dark armies, offers Spyro some training in the art of the fire element, and then sends Spyro off to rescue three other dragons from Cynder's forces. One by one, Spyro clashes with Cynder's armies, rescues the three other dragons, while acquiring new skills and training along the way. It is learned that Cynder has been draining the dragons' power into crystals, and also that Cynder herself is merely a pawn serving the Dark Master -- Cynder originally being born from the same brood of eggs as Spyro, though they are not related.Cynder, however, attacks Spyro shortly after he rescues the final Dragon Guardian, Terrador; Ignitus intervenes to fight Cynder but is captured. It is revealed that it was the four dragons who originally sealed away the Dark Master, and that Cynder is using the dragons' drained powers to weaken the seal. Ignitus's power is the final key in unsealing the Dark Master, so Spyro is sent on a final, direct assault against Cynder's fortress.Spyro attempts to fight Cynder, but Cynder succeeds in draining Ignitus's power of fire into a crystal, and escapes to the sealed realm of the Dark Master. Ignitus fears that it is too late to stop her, but Spyro pursues Cynder and forces a showdown, eventually using all of his power in a final attack which defeats her, purging her of the Dark Master's influence and returning her to her true form, a young dragon the same size as Spyro. The realm begins to collapse in on itself; Sparx insists on making a quick exit but Spyro declares he will not leave Cynder behind with the Dark Master; though barely, Spyro is able to grab Cynder and escape safely.Though victorious, the battle cost Spyro much of his own strength and powers, and both Spyro and Cynder suspect that the Dark Master is still alive somewhere; the war is still not over.

12. The Legend Of Spyro: The Eternal Night (2007): The story begins with Spyro following Cynder through the jungle surrounding the Dragon Temple. Spyro catches up with her and asks her not to leave. Cynder then leaves saying she's sorry for what she has done in A New Beggining. Cynder runs off, leaving Sparx and Spyro alone. Soon after she is gone, the Temple is attacked by an army of apes. After Spyro repels the attack, Ignitus, the leader of the dragons and master of fire, sends Spyro to seek out a tree that Spyro saw in a vision (that in his dream, he gets his powers back, as he lost them at the end in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning) while Ignitus looks for help against the Apes. As Spyro searches for the tree, he also searches for another dragon known as the Chronicler, who asked Spyro in a vision to find him. After he finds the tree, Spyro is captured by pirates, and taken on board their ship to take part in gladiatorial combat.while onboard, he catches up with Cynder, who was captured by the Apes during the battle.After Spyro escapes the pirate ships, he discovers that the Apes have established a base on the Mountain of Malefor, also known as the Well Of Souls, in an effort to revive the Dark Master using a lunar alignment called the Night of Eternal Darkness. He also discovers that they are keeping Cynder prisoner hoping to turn her to their side.Spyro eventually finds the Chronicler, who tells him about the Dark Master. According to him, the Dark Master was the first purple dragon; his raw power allowed him to master practically every elemental power. When his growth failed to stop, he was exiled and sealed away by the dragon elders, but not before he taught the Apes how to use dragon magic. The Chronicler wants Spyro to hide from the Apes until a later time, but Spyro insist on going to Cynder’s aid.When he gets to the mountain, Gaul, the Ape King, orders Cynder to attack Spyro. When she attacks Gaul instead, he knocks her out and challenges Spyro himself. During the fight, the lunar alignment comes, and the evil energy it generates is channeled through Spyro. He uses his immense power to kill Gaul, and then leaps back into the beam of evil energy. Cynder awakens and knocks Spyro out of the beam, freeing him from the beam's power. When the alignment passes, the mountain begins to crumble around Spyro, Sparx and Cynder. Remembering the Chronicler's words about riding out the storm, Spyro uses his powers to encase himself, Cynder and Sparx in crystal to protect them as the Well Of Souls collapses. After the end credits, an image of Spyro and his friends are shown in the crystal, and the Chronicler's voice says: "Young dragon, all our hope now lies with you... when you wake up; it'll be a different world. but know this.. you are not alone.. you have... allies..." and an image of Hunter is seen looking over the encased heroes from a distance

13. The Legend Of Spyro: Dawn of The Dragon (2008): The game begins with Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx being broken free of their crystalline prison by mysterious enemies. Spyro and Cynder are chained together, and carried away as Sparx is found by Hunter of Avalar, who was watching them from the shadows. Meanwhile, Spyro and Cynder find themselves in a dark, volcano like area. When they try to leave the area, they cannot as they are chained to the platform they awoke on. After several waves of enemies and avoiding the Golem that attacks them soon after, they manage to escape with the help of Hunter, who is with Sparx. He explains the situation to them after they leave the Catacombs, and he shows them what the Dark Master has done since his escape from the Well of Souls during the Eternal Night. But before anything else can be explained, they are captured by Hunter's tribe. An attack on the village leads to Spyro and Cynder going free to help a missing villager, Meadow, and they encounter someone called "The Hermit". He manages to get completely under Cynder's skin by saying she hasn't changed at all since the time she was evil, before heading back into his seclusion.With the key they needed in their possession, they escort Meadow home and are granted passage to the Dragon City of Warfang. Here, the dragons and Hunter are separated as the city is under siege by Malefor's forces. After a long and fierce battle that ends in the Golem's defeat, Spyro, Cynder, and the Dragon Guardians are reunited. Later that night, the Dark Master, Malefor, sends them a message. He has revived the Destroyer, an ancient creature whose only purpose is to renew the world by bringing about its destruction. As they will be unable to catch up with the creature if they fly after it, Ignitus and Cynder hatch the plan that going underground is the only way to catch up with it in time. Cynder and Spyro manage to open the gates to the underground Ruins of Warfang, which leads the attack forces to the canyon where the Destroyer will complete the Ring of Fire. By destroying a nearby dam, they manage to stall the Destroyer long enough to destroy its Dark Crystal heart, but it was an effort spent in vain. The Destroyer manages to complete the Ring of Fire, and Ignitus orders everyone underground as he escorts Spyro and Cynder to the Ring of Fire, in order to get them to the Burned Lands, which will lead them to Malefor's Domain. But he perishes in the crossing, and Spyro nearly follows after in his grief.After getting through the Burned Lands and Floating Islands, they arrive at Malefor's Domain and confront him. He gets under Spyro's skin by telling him that the destiny of all purple dragons is to bring about the worlds destruction, then turns Cynder against him. Spyro refuses to fight back, which brings Cynder back to her senses. After a long series of battles against Malefor, they reach the heart of the world. Malefor is defeated by the combined efforts of Spyro, Cynder, and the spirits of the Ancestors, but the world is still falling apart. Ignitus' spirit gives Spyro hope, and Spyro tells Cynder to flee, but she refuses to leave him. As Spyro unleashes a powerful Fury wave, Cynder whispers "I love you". Spyro's magic restores the planet, and Sparx and the others come out of the caves into the warm sunshine. Later on, the Chronicler passes his mantle to Ignitus, but not before telling him that though he has tried his best, he cannot find Spyro in the book that details dragons that have passed away. The last scene of the game is Spyro and Cynder flying though the sky in Avalar, having survived their journey to the world's core, finally earned their happy ending.

By Richard Moody

Richard's favourite Columbo Complete Season 5

2009-07-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

Columbo six episodes

"Forgotten Lady" (9/14/75)
Janet Leigh is Grace Wheeler, an aging former movie star, now married to a wealthy doctor, Henry Willis (Sam Jaffe). John Payne is Ned Diamond, her long time song and dance partner. The pair is fashioned after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. When Henry refuses to finance her return to the spotlight, Grace coldly kills him in his sleep, and tries to pass it off as a suicide. Her butler, played by Maurice Evans, believes she was in the screening room the entire time, watching one of her classic films. This is the only episode where the murderer is not arrested as Diamond falsely confesses, to save Grace, knowing that she is dying of a brain disease she herself is unaware of. Columbo goes along with the ploy, and by the time Diamond is cleared, Grace would have passed away after spending her last days living happily in the past.
This episode features excerpts from the 1953 musical comedy Walking My Baby Back Home which starred Janet Leigh.

"A Case of Immunity" (10/12/75)
Hector Elizondo is Hassan Salah, the chief diplomat of the Legation of Swahari, an Arab nation with a new young king. Hassan enlists Rachman Habib, played by Sal Mineo, to help him stage a robbery at the Legation; the real aim is to murder the head of security. Hassan pins the murder on the now absent Habib, who as part of the plan has gone into hiding. Columbo quickly unravels the truth, but finds himself stymied by the fact that Salah has diplomatic immunity and cannot be arrested. Columbo gets Salah to confess the murder with his monarch in the next room listening. To stay in this country rather than face Middle Eastern justice, he waives his immunity from prosecution. The King himself offers a warning: "In case you are thinking of rescinding your waiver of immunity, we will be waiting to welcome you home."

"Identity Crisis" (11/2/75)
Patrick McGoohan is back as the villain, this time as CIA operative Nelson Brenner, who is really a double agent. The Agency sends an operative, codenamed "Geronimo" (Leslie Nielsen), to cut a deal with Brenner's alter ego. Geronimo recognizes Brenner as a double agent from the past and puts the squeeze on him. Brenner must kill Geronimo before he can reveal his secret. In the course of his investigation, Columbo finds himself blocked at every turn by a man accustomed to keeping secrets secret. But not even a visit from the Director of the Agency, portrayed by David White, can deter the determined Lieutenant. McGoohan directed the episode as well as starring in it. Note: The name used by the Director of the Agency on his identity card bluntly reveals him to be "Phil Corrigan" — from the Secret Agent X-9 comic strip! (McGoohan also uses the "Be seeing you!" line so prevalent in episodes of The Prisoner.)

"A Matter of Honor" (2/1/76)
Ricardo Montalban is Luis Montoya, a former matador renowned throughout Mexico for his courage in the ring. Retired from bullfighting, he raises the bravest bulls in the world. His long time assistant and friend, Hector Rangel, sees a chink in Montoya's armor when they must face a bull that has gored Hector's son. Montoya realizes, that to protect his own reputation, he must kill his lifelong friend, which he does cleverly using the same bull and a small amount of tranquilizer as the murder weapon. Surely nobody would dare to question the word of Luis Montoya. Well, nobody that is except Columbo, who just happens to be in Tijuana for the weekend when the murder takes place. The local chief of police recognizes Columbo as the man who solved the mystery on the cruise ship the year before and enlists his help in solving this crime as well.

"Now You See Him..." (2/29/76)
Jack Cassidy returns for a third bout as a murderer. This time he is the Great Santini, a magician extraordinaire. It turns out however that he is also Stefan Mueller, formerly a Nazi SS prison guard. Jesse Jerome (Nehemiah Persoff), owner of the Cabaret of Magic, the club where Santini is headlining, discovers the secret and blackmails Santini. If Santini refuses to pay, Jerome promises to turn him over to the Immigration Department. Santini conjures up a murder. A true magician, Santini commits the murder in the middle of his famed water tank escape act, thereby giving himself what he believes to be an airtight alibi. But then, Santini has never matched wits with Columbo before. Sgt. Wilson is back to lend a hand, and is actually instrumental in solving the case. Robert Loggia portrays the club's maitre d' and Jerome's partner Harry Blandford.

"Last Salute to the Commodore" (5/2/76)
Someone has killed Commodore Otis Swanson (John Dehner), a retired ship builder who would rather sell his business than let his son-in-law Charles Clay continue to run it. It looks as though the deed was done by Clay, played by Robert Vaughn, the cruise ship murderer from a prior Columbo episode. But when he turns up dead as well, the mystery deepens with surprises that even Columbo would not expect. This episode departs from the normal Columbo format in that we do not know whodunit until the end of the show. Sgt. Wilson is gone, presumably promoted after his pivotal role in capturing Santini, but Columbo has a new sidekick, Sgt. 'Mac' Albinsky. Diane Baker portrays the Commodore's alcoholic daughter Joanna, and Wilfrid Hyde-White is his lawyer Kittering. Patrick McGoohan took his third turn behind the camera to direct this episode.

By Richard Moody

The Best Of James Bond Novels

2009-07-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

Novels

1. Casino Royale (1953): Monsieur Le Chiffre ("the cypher"), the treasurer of a Soviet-backed trade union in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, is running a baccarat game in the casino at Royale-les-Eaux, France, in order to recover union money he lost in a failed chain of brothels.
Expert baccarat player James Bond (British secret agent 007) is assigned the defeat of Le Chiffre, in the hope that his gambling debts will provoke Soviet espionage agency SMERSH to kill him. Bond is provided an assistant, the beautiful, emotionally unstable Vesper Lynd, who becomes his lover. After hours of intense play Bond beats Le Chiffre. Soon after, Le Chiffre abducts Vesper and uses her to lure Bond into a near-fatal car chase, which results in Bond's capture. Le Chiffre tortures Bond. However, when it becomes clear to Le Chiffre that Bond will not tell him where the money is, he threatens to castrate him. Seconds later a SMERSH agent assassinates Le Chiffre for his betrayal, shooting him through the head with a pistol. Unintentionally, the SMERSH assassin (whose organisation becomes the hero's bitter nemesis in later adventures) spares the captive Bond, saying: "I have no orders about you" — yet cuts the Cyrillic letter "Ш" (шпион, shpion, spy) in the back of Bond's left hand, "for future reference".
Bond spends three weeks in hospital recovering from his torture at the hands of Le Chiffre, expressing intent to resign from the secret service, and spends his convalescence with Vesper Lynd. After his recuperation he becomes suspicious of her because of the combination of apparent dishonesty and her terror of a man with an eye patch called Gettler. Believing that Gettler is a SMERSH assassin sent to kill her and Bond for her disobedience, Vesper commits suicide by an overdose of sleeping pills, leaving Bond an explanatory note where it is revealed that she is a Soviet double agent who was ordered to ensure Bond did not escape Le Chiffre. Her betrayal inspires him to remain in service; he tersely reports to HQ: "The bitch is dead now."

2. Live and Let Die (1954): James Bond is sent to New York City to investigate "Mr. Big", an underworld voodoo leader who is suspected by M of selling 17th century gold coins to finance Soviet spy operations in America. These gold coins have been turning up in Harlem and Florida and are suspected of being part of a treasure that was buried in Jamaica by the Welsh pirate Sir Henry Morgan. Although Bond is at first reluctant to take on the mission, his attitude quickly changes upon learning that Mr. Big is an agent of SMERSH and that this mission offers him a chance of retaliation for previously being tortured by SMERSH operative Le Chiffre and having a Russian (Cyrilic) letter carved into the back of his hand by a SMERSH assassin in Casino Royale.
In New York, Bond meets up with his counterpart in the CIA, Felix Leiter. The two decide to visit some of Mr. Big's nightclubs in Harlem, but Mr. Big is aware of their movements through his network of informers and they are easily captured. Bond is personally interrogated by Mr. Big, who uses his fortune telling-girlfriend, Solitaire, to determine if Bond is telling the truth. Solitaire lies to Mr. Big, supporting Bond's cover story. Mr. Big decides to release Bond and Felix with only a mild beating, and has one of his men break one of Bond's fingers by pulling it backward until it snaps, but Bond then escapes and kills several of Mr. Big's men in the process. Leiter is released by a sympathetic gang member who shares his love of jazz.
Solitaire later contacts Bond and they travel to St. Petersburg, Florida. While Bond and Leiter are scouting one of Mr. Big's warehouses that is used for storing exotic fish, Solitaire is kidnapped by Mr. Big's minions. Felix later returns to the warehouse by himself, but is either captured and fed to a shark or tricked into standing on a trap door over the shark tank. He survives, losing an arm and a leg. Bond finds him in their safe house with a note pinned to his chest "He disagreed with something that ate him". After getting Felix to the hospital, Bond investigates the warehouse himself, and discovers that Mr. Big is indeed smuggling gold by placing it in the bottom of fish tanks holding poisonous tropical fish. Bond destroys much of the warehouse and then causes Mr. Big's gunman to fall into the shark tank without leaving evidence that he has discovered the coin-smuggling scheme.
Bond continues his mission in Jamaica where he meets Quarrel and John Strangways, the head of the MI6 station in Jamaica. Quarrel gives Bond training in Scuba diving in the local waters. Bond swims through shark and barracuda infested waters to Mr. Big's island and manages to plant a limpet mine on the hull of his yacht before being captured once again by Mr. Big. In the grand finale, Mr. Big ties Solitaire and Bond to a line behind his yacht and plans to drag them over the shallow coral reef and into deeper water so that the sharks and barracuda that he attracts in to the area with regular feedings will eat them.
Bond and Solitaire are saved when the limpet mine explodes moments before they are dragged over the reef. Bond and Solitaire are protected from the explosion by the reef, and Bond watches as Mr. Big, who survived the explosion, is killed by the sharks and barracuda. Bond and Solitaire then stay in Jamaica for a brief holiday in the book's close.

3. Moonraker (1955): M asks James Bond to investigate the multi-millionaire businessman Sir Hugo Drax, who is winning a lot of money playing bridge at M's favorite club, Blades. M suspects Drax of cheating, but although claiming indifference, he is concerned why a multi-millionaire and national hero, such as Sir Hugo, would cheat at a card game. Bond confirms Drax's deception and manages to "cheat the cheater" — aided by a cocktail of powdered Benzedrine mixed with non-vintage champagne and a deck of stacked cards — winning £15,000 and infuriating the out-smarted Drax.
Drax is the product of a mysterious background, unknown even to himself (presumably). As a supposed British soldier in WWII, he was badly injured, and stricken with amnesia, in the explosion of a bomb planted by a German saboteur at his field headquarters. After extensive rehabilitation in an army hospital, however, he would eventually return home to become a major aerospace industrialist.
Now, Drax and his firm are building the "Moonraker", Britain's first nuclear missile project, intended to defend the UK against its Cold War enemies (c.f. the real Blue Streak missile). Essentially, the Moonraker rocket is an upgraded V-2 rocket using liquid hydrogen and fluorine as propellants. It can withstand the ultra-high combustion temperatures in its engine thanks to the use of columbite, of which Drax has a monopoly. Therefore, because the rocket's engine can withstand higher heat, the Moonraker can use more powerful fuels, greatly expanding its effective range.
After a Ministry of Supply security officer working at the project is shot dead, M assigns Bond to replace him, and also to investigate what may be going on at the missile-building base, which is located between Dover and Deal on the coast of England. Oddly, all of the rocket scientists working on the project seem to be German.
At his post on the complex (where he is billeted in the Drax mansion), Bond meets Gala Brand, a beautiful Special Branch agent working undercover as Personal Assistant to Drax. He also uncovers some clues concerning his predecessor's death, concluding that the former Security Chief might have been killed for witnessing the clandestine delivery of some secret cargo by submarine off the coast.
Drax's henchman Krebs is caught by Bond while he snoops through his room. Later, an attempted assassination nearly kills Bond and Gala under a landslide, as they swim beneath the Dover cliffs. Drax takes Gala to London where she discovers the truth about the "Moonraker" (by comparing her own launch trajectory figures with those in a notebook picked from Drax's pocket) - but she is caught. She soon finds herself captive at a secret radio station (intended to serve as a beacon for the missile's guidance system) in the heart of London. While attempting to rescue her in a car chase, Bond is captured, as well.
It turns out that Drax was never a British soldier and has never suffered from amnesia. In fact, he was a German Skorzeny commando unit commander and the saboteur (in British uniform) who set the bomb at the army field headquarters, only to be injured, himself, in the detonation. The amnesia story was simply a cover he used while recovering in hospital, in order to avoid allied retribution - though it would lead to a whole new British identity. Drax, however, remains a dedicated Nazi, bent on revenge against England for the wartime defeat of his 3rd Reich Fatherland and his prior history of social slights he suffered as a youth growing up in England before the war. He now means to destroy London with the very missile he has constructed for Britain, by means of a Soviet supplied nuclear warhead that has been secretly fitted to the "Moonraker". He also plays the stock market the day before to make a huge profit from the planned disaster.
Brand and Bond are imprisoned under the Moonraker's booster engines so as to leave no trace of them once the Moonraker is launched. But before this first (supposedly un-armed) test firing, Bond and Gala escape. Gala gives Bond the proper coordinates to reprogram the gyros and send the Moonraker into the sea. Having been in collaboration with Soviet Intelligence all along, Drax and his henchman attempt to escape by Russian submarine - only to be killed as the vessel flees through the very waters onto which the "Moonraker" has been re-targeted.
Later, after their de-briefing at headquarters, Bond meets up with Gala, expecting her company - but they part ways after Gala reveals that she is engaged to be married. It is the only Bond novel (discounting some of the short stories) in which Bond does not end up having a romantic relationship with the girl.

4. Diamonds Are Forever (1956): The novel takes place just over two months from the end of Moonraker, which ended with James Bond taking a short holiday in France to recover from injuries received on that assignment. When Diamonds Are Forever begins, M, acting on information received from Special Branch, tasks Bond to infiltrate a smuggling ring, which is running diamonds from African mines to the United States. Bond's job is to travel down the "pipeline" as far as he can and find out who is behind it all.
Using the identity of Peter Franks, a country house burglar who decided to become a diamond smuggler, he meets a mysterious "go-between" named Tiffany Case, with whom he eventually falls in love. Bond discovers that the smuggling ring is operated by a ruthless American gang called "The Spangled Mob", which is run by the brothers Jack and Seraffimo Spang.
As Bond learns, the pipeline begins in Africa where a dentist would pay miners to smuggle diamonds in their mouths which the dentist would extract during a routine appointment. From there the dentist would take the diamonds and rendezvous with a German helicopter pilot. Eventually the diamonds would go to Paris, and from there to London. In London, Tiffany would get an assignment from a phone contact only known as ABC, she would then meet with "the hire" (in this case, Bond masquerading as Peter Franks) and explain to that person how to smuggle the diamonds to New York City. After an attempt to pay Bond surreptitiously through a rigged horse race in nearby Saratoga fails, the pipeline leads to Las Vegas where Bond finally receives his payment through a rigged blackjack game. Seraffimo Spang owns the Tiara hotel, headquarters of the Spangled Mob, and an old Western ghost town, named "Spectreville", that he has restored into his own private vacation retreat. (Spectreville actually has no connection whatsoever to Bond's nemesis SPECTRE, which appears later in Thunderball and is established at the start of the James Bond film series in Dr. No).
Felix Leiter plays a major part in the story, assisting Bond with inside information on crooked horse racing. They find that they are both investigating the same people. Leiter has left the CIA due to injuries sustained in Live and Let Die and is working for Pinkerton's as a private detective. It is through Leiter's actions they make sure the rigged horse race plot fails, so that Bond can then demand his still outstanding payment from the Spangled Mob.
Bond disobeys his orders by continuing to gamble in the casino after "winning" the money he is owed in a rigged gambling game. Spang suspects that Bond may be a 'plant' and has him captured and tortured (a "Brooklyn stomping" administered by Wint and Kidd, hired enforcers for the Spangled Mob). However, with Tiffany's help he escapes from Specterville aboard a railroad pushcar with Seraffimo in pursuit aboard an old Western train. The train is rerouted to a side line and Bond shoots Seraffimo Spang before the resulting crash.
Leiter then helps them get to California, and from there to New York.
Bond and Tiffany then travel back to London aboard the Queen Elizabeth. However, Wint and Kidd kidnap Tiffany, planning to kill her and throw her overboard, but Bond rescues her and then kills them both. For precaution, he makes it look like a murder-suicide.
Jack Spang (who turns out to be the mysterious ABC) shuts down his diamond smuggling pipeline by killing its participants. He himself is killed when his helicopter is shot down by Bond, right where the story started, in Africa.

5. From Russia With Love (1957): From Russia with Love differs from Fleming's previous Bond novels in that the first third of the novel revolves around SMERSH executioner Red Grant, as well as the organization, SMERSH itself. (Bond himself is not mentioned by name until the end of Chapter 5, and does not actually make an appearance until Part 2 of the novel commences with Chapter 11.)
The novel is a series of elaborate plots and counterplots between the British and the Russian intelligence agencies. It begins with SMERSH, the Soviet counterintelligence agency, seeking to redeem itself from a series of failures that have made some within the Soviet government begin to criticize the organization. SMERSH plans to commit a grand act of terrorism in the intelligence field. For this, SMERSH has targeted British secret service agent, Commander James Bond. Due in part to his role in the defeat of Le Chiffre, Mr. Big, and Hugo Drax, Bond has been listed as an enemy of the Soviet state and a "death warrant" has been issued for him.
He is to be not just killed, but "killed with ignominy", his death precipitating a major sex scandal which will run through the world press for months and leave his reputation and that of his entire service in tatters.
Kronsteen, SMERSH's chess-playing master planner, and Colonel Rosa Klebb, head of Operations and Executions, devise the operation. They persuade an attractive young cipher clerk, Corporal Tatiana Romanova, to pretend to defect from her post in Istanbul, claiming to have fallen in love with Bond after a glimpse of his file photograph. As an added incentive, Tatiana will provide the British agent with a SMERSH decoder, a prize much coveted by MI6. She is not told that the plan, if successful, will entail not just Bond's death but also her own.
After all the actors on the Soviet side are introduced and the assassination plot is launched - although its full details have not been revealed to the reader - the action moves to London, where Bond is introduced. MI6 believes Romanova's story, and M orders Bond off to Istanbul where much of the book takes place. Bond meets and quickly forms a comradeship with Darko Kerim, head of the British Service's agency in Turkey. Kerim shows Bond his secret means of spying on the Soviet Consulate. Kerim takes Bond to a celebratory meal with some Gypsies, in which Bond witnesses a brutal catfight, interrupted by an attack by Soviet agents. In retaliation, Bond helps Kerim assassinate a top Bulgarian agent.
Bond duly encounters Romanova and the two make love. He and Kerim believe her story, and in due course she delivers the Spektor machine as she promised. Bond, Kerim and Tatiana board the Orient Express for London, but they have not got far before Bond is alerted by a train conductor: Kerim and an MGB agent are both dead in their train compartment, having killed each other.
Bond is on the alert, and is relieved when an awkward fellow MI6 agent, Captain Nash, arrives on the train to serve as added protection for the rest of the trip. Tatiana is suspicious of Nash, telling Bond that nash is Russian for "ours", but Bond reassures her that Nash is "quite a common English name." But when Bond wakes up to find Nash pointing a gun at him, he realises that it has all been a trap: "Nash" is none other than Donovan Grant. Bond has given Nash his gun and is helpless. The trap has closed.
However, there is a flaw in Kronsteen's plan. Although SMERSH accurately predicted the responses of Bond and his fellow Brits to the carefully selected stimuli, they failed to remember that Grant is not only a homicidal psychopath who enjoys killing for its own sake but also an Irish Catholic from Northern Ireland, who although in no sense religious or a coherent holder of any nationalist ideology, evidently shares the anti-British attitudes common in the society where he grew up. (In Grant's biography in the early part of the book, it is mentioned that he had been marginally involved with the IRA.)
Instead of killing Bond immediately, as Kronsteen's plan called for, Grant cannot resist crowing at him, becoming careless and overconfident: when he is about to shoot Bond, his farewell words are "Sweet dreams, you English bastard". Grant's lapse of attention gives Bond the chance to improvise a defence, with the result that the two fight, Grant is killed and the entire Soviet scheme collapses.
Later, after successfully delivering Tatiana to his superiors, Bond has a final encounter with Rosa Klebb, which leaves her captured but 007 poisoned and seemingly dead from the final kick of her poisoned toe, though he would recover in time for his next adventure. Tatiana, who has no further place in the Bond saga, has successfully defected to the West, entirely at the initiative and instigation of SMERSH (since for herself, she had been quite content to live out her life in Moscow).

6. Dr. No (1958): From Russia with Love ended in a cliffhanger with the status of James Bond unknown. Bond was poisoned by SMERSH agent Rosa Klebb and collapsed at the end of the novel. In Dr. No, M learns from the firm's neurologist that the poison was tetrodotoxin, which is obtained from the sex organs of the Japanese fish fugu. Tetrodotoxin paralyses the muscles of the victim while they stay fully conscious until eventually they die from asphyxiation. Bond is given first aid treatment by his friend Rene Mathis, while a doctor is urgently summoned (Klebb, we learn, is captured and has died). The Doctor had spent time in South America and had dealt with various poisons. He diagnoses curare poisoning and treats Bond accordingly. But his chances of survival are extremely slim.
Nonetheless, Bond survives. When he returns to duty, he is sent by M on a rest cure to Jamaica, a simple assignment to investigate the disappearance of Strangways, the head of Station J in Kingston, who had previously appeared in Live and Let Die. He learns that Strangways had been investigating the activities of Doctor Julius No, a reclusive Chinese-German who lives on an island called Crab Key that is said to be the home of a vicious dragon. Bond soon realizes that he is being watched. His hotel room is searched, a basket of poisoned fruit is delivered to his hotel room (supposedly a gift from the colonial governor), and then a deadly centipede is placed in his bed while he is sleeping.
With help of old friend Quarrel (who also previously appeared in Live and Let Die), as well as the beautiful Honeychile Rider, who visits the island to collect valuable shells (who, apart from her belt and diving knife is completely naked when Bond first sees her), Bond discovers that Doctor No, who operates a business harvesting and exporting guano, is also working with the Russians and has built an elaborate underground facility from which he can sabotage American missile tests. Dr. No was previously a member of a Chinese "tong" (criminal gang) and he was tortured and then had his hands cut off by order of the "tong" leaders after he stole a large amount of money from the "tong" treasury. The "tong" hit men then shot him in the chest, but No survived due to having dextrocardia (heart on the right side of the chest). No survived all this without revealing the location of the money he had stolen, and was left with artificial hands — and great wealth.
Bond and Honey are captured by No's men after Quarrel is burned to death by the Doctor's dragon – actually a flamethrower-equipped armoured swamp buggy to keep away trespassers.
Doctor No is interested in the ability of the human body to withstand and survive pain and stress: Bond is forced to crawl and climb through an obstacle course constructed in a section of the facility's ventilation system. Bond is kept under regular observation, suffering electric shocks, burns and an encounter with poisonous spiders along the way. The ordeal ends in a fight against a captive giant squid, which Bond defeats through his ingenuity at improvised and stolen objects made into weapons, as well as physical toughness. After his escape he rescues Honey from her own "ordeal" – she had been pegged out to be eaten by crabs but the crabs ignored her.
Bond kills Doctor No by taking over the guano-loading machine at the docks and diverting the guano flow from it to bury the villain alive in bird dung. Bond and Honey then escape from Dr. No's complex in the dragon buggy.

7. Goldfinger (1959): The novel begins in a similar fashion to Moonraker with an acquaintance of Bond, (Junius Du Pont, from Casino Royale), meeting him at a Miami airport and requesting that he observe a two-handed Canasta game between himself and the eponymous villain of the novel, Auric Goldfinger. Du Pont suspects Goldfinger of cheating, and offers to pay Bond to confirm his suspicions. It turns out that Goldfinger is indeed cheating, and Bond forces him to admit his guilt and pay back what he has unfairly won from Du Pont.
After Bond returns to London, he inquires into the background of Goldfinger, to find that he is the richest man in England, the world's top gold smuggler, and treasurer for the Soviet assassination agency SMERSH.
Bond is sent to collect information from Goldfinger, and Bond manages to join him for what turns into a high-stakes game of golf. Goldfinger cheats by switching golf balls, but Bond beats him at his own game and wins. Bond is then sent on a mission to find Goldfinger's supply of gold that he has been smuggling, and bring it back to England. Bond manages to trace Goldfinger to a warehouse in Geneva where the white-gold armor of Goldfinger's Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is regularly being melted into aircraft chair-frames, to be smuggled into India. Bond is then captured and tortured for information (being promised a slow death by buzz saw rather than a quick one, if he doesn't talk). This continues until Bond blacks out.
He then wakes up in New York and is taken to Goldfinger's warehouse, where he is told he and Tilly Masterton will be working for Goldfinger, essentially as secretaries and personnel managers. Bond had earlier offered his services, pretending to be a huckster, but had seemingly been refused and had expected to die. Bond has observed Goldfinger making dead drops of gold bars in Europe, for SMERSH. Bond learns that Goldfinger intends to finance SMERSH's schemes by stealing one billion USD worth of gold bullion from the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky, an operation codenamed "Operation Grand Slam". This involves the help of Pussy Galore, the lesbian leader of an all-female criminal organisation from New York City called the Cement Mixers. They had previously been circus acrobats and cat-burglars. Her group, as well as various other mobs including the Mafia and the Spangled Mob from Diamonds Are Forever, have been employed to aid Goldfinger in the planning and execution of "Operation Grand Slam".
Bond, along with Felix Leiter, works to prevent the villain from executing his plan, which involves killing the soldiers of Fort Knox with water-borne nerve agent (GB, also called sarin) and then using a stolen U.S. tactical atomic bomb missile warhead to break into Fort Knox's impregnable vault. They do not succeed in stealing any of Fort Knox's gold, but they do manage to escape after failing the robbery when it becomes apparent the poisoning hasn't worked. Goldfinger's henchman, martial arts expert Oddjob, kills Tilly with a metal-rimmed bowler hat.
After foiling Goldfinger's plan, Bond is drugged and kidnapped by Goldfinger, and brought on board his private jet plane, which is bound to Moscow with Goldfinger's remaining stocks of bullion. With the aid of a concealed knife, Bond breaks a window in the aeroplane; the depressurisation sucks Oddjob to his death. Bond and Goldfinger grapple in the tumbling aircraft, with Bond eventually strangling Goldfinger. Bond then orders the pilots to crash-land in the ocean. As they recover on board a weathership whose crew fetches them out of the water, Pussy tells Bond that, as a child, she was raped by her uncle (she says, "Do you know what a virgin in [the south] is? It's a girl who can outrun her brothers. In my case, I couldn't outrun my uncle").

8. For Your Eyes Only (1960): "For Your Eyes Only" begins with the murder of a Jamaican couple who had refused to sell their estate to Herr von Hammerstein, a former Gestapo officer who is the chief of counterintelligence for the Cuban secret service. When they refuse they are killed by two Cuban hitmen at the direction of Major Gonzales, all three of whom work for von Hammerstein. The Havelocks turn out to be close friends of M, who served as the groom's best man during their wedding in 1925. M subsequently gives Bond a voluntary assignment, "off-book" from sanctioned Secret Service duties, to sneak into Vermont via Canada, track down von Hammerstein at his rented estate at Echo Lake, and prevent further harm to the Havelocks' only daughter by any means necessary. When Bond arrives on the scene, however, he finds the Havelocks' daughter, Judy, intends to carry out her own mission of revenge. Judy kills von Hammerstein from 100 yards by shooting him in the back with a bow and arrow at the exact moment he dives into a lake. A shootout then occurs between Bond and Major Gonzales and the two Cuban gunmen. Bond kills all of them.
Many of the details of this story are used in the film For Your Eyes Only, including the fact that a couple named Havelock are murdered by a hitman named Gonzalez. In the film, though, the daughter's name is Melina and the murder takes place in Greece. Melina Havelock does take her revenge in the film very much as Judy Havelock does in the story, but the subject of Melina's crossbow assassination is Gonzalez and he is killed while diving into his swimming pool.

9. Thunderball (1961): Thunderball begins with a meeting between M and Bond, during which he tells agent 007 that his latest physical assessment is poor, because of excessive drinking and smoking (sixty cigarettes daily). M sends Bond on a two week vacation to the Shrublands health clinic in the country to reduce the bad habits and improve his health. At the clinic, Bond encounters Count Lippe, a member of the Red Lightning Tong criminal organisation from Macau. When Bond learns this, Lippe tries to kill him by tampering with a spinal traction machine, in the effort that Bond will not connect him to SPECTRE. Bond, however, is saved by nurse Patricia Fearing, and he later retaliates against Lippe by trapping him in a steam bath, resulting in second-degree burns and a week's stay in hospital.
Upon returning to London, Bond is a new man, following a new diet and smoking less. The new Bond is ready for action when the SIS receives a communiqué from SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) telling them of having hijacked a Villiers Vindicator (V bomber) and so possess its two nuclear bombs, and will destroy two major cities unless a £100,000,000 ransom is paid to them.
SPECTRE is headed by mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld who is intolerant of failure. Count Lippe was dispatched to Shrublands to oversee Giuseppe Petacchi, of the Italian Air Force, at the Boscombe Down Airfield a bomber squadron base. Though Lippe was semi-successful, Blofeld considered him unreliable, because of his childish clash with James Bond; consequent to Lippe's hospitalisation, Blofeld has him killed.
Acting as a NATO observer of Royal Air Force procedure, pilot Petacchi is in SPECTRE's pay to hijack the bomber in mid-flight (by killing its crew) and flying it to the Bahamas. Once there, Emilio Largo (aka SPECTRE Number One), and the crew of the cruiser yacht Disco Volante, kill Petacchi as per Plan Omega.
The Americans and the British launch Operation Thunderball to foil SPECTRE and recover the two atomic bombs. On a hunch, M assigns agent 007, James Bond, to the Bahamas to investigate. There, he rendezvous with Felix Leiter, who is again with CIA, because of the Thunderball crisis (previously, Leiter was a private detective after having lost an arm and a leg in helping Bond in the Live and Let Die case). While in Nassau, Bond also meets Dominetta "Domino" Vitali, Largo's mistress and the dead Petacchi's sister. She is living aboard the Disco Volante, and believes Largo is on a treasure hunt. For reasons she does not understand Largo makes her stay ashore while he and his partners hunt hidden treasure. After they have sex, Bond informs her that Largo killed Petacchi, he then recruits her to spy on Largo. Domino reboards the Disco Volante with a Geiger counter to ascertain if the yacht is where the two nuclear bombs are hidden, however, she is discovered and made prisoner; Largo tortures her with fire and ice.
Bond and Leiter alert the Thunderball war room of their suspicions of Largo and join the crew of the American nuclear submarine Manta as the ransom deadline nears. The Manta chases Disco Volante to capture it and recover the bombs enroute to the first target. An undersea battle ensues between the crews, while Bond fights Largo. Bond, now very weak from his efforts to disable the bombs, tries to get away. But Largo corners him in an underwater cave and easily overpowers him. Before Largo can finish Bond off Domino shoots him through the neck with a speargun. The bombs are recovered and Bond spends the remainder of the story with Domino in the hospital.

10. The Spy Who Loved Me (1962): The central character and narrator of The Spy Who Loved Me is Vivienne "Viv" Michel, a young Canadian woman who ends up running a cheap motel in the Adirondack Mountains to pay for a trip through America. The novel is broken up into three parts: 'Me', 'Them', and 'Him'.
The first section of the book deals with Viv's past love affairs, the first being Derek Mallaby who took her virginity in a field after being kicked out of a cinema for indecent exposure. The physical relationship ended that night and Viv was subsequently dumped later when Mallaby sent her a letter from the University of Oxford saying he was forcefully engaged to someone else by his parents. Viv details her second love affair to her German boss, Kurt Rainer, who would eventually get Viv pregnant. After she learned of her pregnancy and informed Rainer, he dumps her and pays for her to go to Switzerland to have an abortion.
The second section of the book details Viv's return to her native Canada, her plans to journey through America, and how she came to work at "The Dreamy Pines Motor Court" in the Adirondack Mountains for managers Jed and Mildred Phancey. At the end of the vacation season, the Phanceys entrust Viv to look after the motel for the night before the owner, Mr. Sanguinetti, can arrive to take inventory and shutter it up for the winter. However, two mobsters, "Sluggsy" Morant and Sol "Horror" Horowitz, show up under the guise of working for Mr. Sanguinetti and say they are there to look over the motel for insurance purposes. In truth, the two have been hired by Mr. Sanguinetti to burn down The Dreamy Pines Motor Court so that Mr. Sanguinetti can make a profit on the insurance. The blame for the fire would fall on Viv, who was to perish in the fire. The mobsters, specifically "Sluggsy", are very cruel to Viv, beating her when she attempts to escape and threatening to rape her if she doesn't cooperate.
The two mobsters are stopped from raping Viv at the very end of the second section of the book when the door buzzer sounds. The third section of the book opens with British secret service agent James Bond appearing at the door asking for a room, having had a flat tire while passing by. Clued in by Viv, Bond quickly realizes that Horror and Sluggsy are mobsters. Pressuring the two men, he eventually gets the gangsters to agree to providing him a room. As a means of passing the time, Bond then tells Viv why he is in America. He recounts that in the wake of Operation Thunderball, which Viv recalls reading about in the newspapers, SPECTRE was engaged by the Soviet Union to assassinate a Russian nuclear expert who came over to the Allied side and now lives in Toronto. Bond was detailed to protect the engineer as part of his quest to ferret out SPECTRE's boss, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, as SPECTRE was hired to murder the Russian expert by the Russian government.
After recounting this story, through a series of Bondian events, he protects Viv through the night as Sluggsy and Horror set fire to the motel and attempt to kill Bond and Michel. Ultimately Bond kills Horror and then Sluggsy in two separate gun battles, and ends up sleeping with Viv.
When Viv awakens Bond has left, but he has left a note in which he promises to send her police assistance, and which he concludes by telling her not to dwell too much on the ugly events through which she has just lived. As Viv finishes reading the note, a large police detachment arrives. After taking her statement, the officer in charge of the detail, a rather fatherly man, reiterates Bond's advice, but also warns Viv that all men involved in violent crime and espionage, regardless of which side they are on - including Bond himself - are dangerous and that Viv should avoid them. Viv reflects on this fact as she motors off at the end of the book, continuing her tour of America, but despite the officer's warning still devoted to the memory of the spy who had loved her.

11. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963): For more than a year, James Bond, British secret agent 007, has been trailing the private criminal organization SPECTRE and its leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, in 'Operation Bedlam'. This pursuit is partially described in The Spy Who Loved Me, where Bond explains to Vivienne Michel the aftermath of 'Operation Thunderball' and the escape of Blofeld. By the time of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond is convinced SPECTRE no longer exists. Frustrated by his inability to find Blofeld, Bond composes a letter of resignation for M. Meanwhile, Bond encounters a suicidal, beautiful, young woman named Teresa di Vicenzo and interrupts her attempted drowning. He and the woman are then captured by professional henchman.
They are taken to Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Unione Corse, the biggest European crime syndicate. Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo ('Tracy' to her friends) is the daughter and only child of Draco. Draco believes the only way to save his daughter is for Bond to marry her. To facilitate this, he offers Bond a great dowry; Bond refuses the offer, but agrees to continue romancing Tracy while her mental health improves.
Afterwards, in answer to a question, Draco uses his contact to quickly inform Bond that Blofeld is in Switzerland, but does not know precisely where. Bond returns to England only to be given another lead: the London College of Arms has discovered that one Ernst Stavro Blofeld has assumed the title and name Comte Balthazar de Bleuville, and wants formal confirmation of the title. Blofeld has undergone plastic surgery to physically pass as heir of the de Bleuville bloodline — to the degree that he has asked the College to declare him the reigning count.
On a visit to the College of Arms, Bond finds that the family motto of Sir Thomas Bond is 'The World Is Not Enough', and that he might be (though unlikely) Bond's ancestor. Impersonating a College of Arms representative, Sir Hilary Bray, Bond is able to infiltrate Blofeld's lair atop Piz Gloria, where he finally meets Blofeld.
At Piz Gloria, Bond learns Blofeld has been curing a group of young British and Irish women of their livestock and food allergies. In truth, Blofeld and his homely aide, Irma Bunt, have been brainwashing them into carrying biological warfare agents back to Britain and Ireland in order to destroy Britain's agriculture economy, upon which post-World War II Britain depends.
Believing himself discovered, Bond escapes by ski from Piz Gloria, killing a few SPECTRE opertives in the process. Afterwards, in a state of total exhaustion, he encounters Tracy. She is in the town at the base of the mountain after being told by her father that Bond may be in the vicinity. Bond is too weak to take on Blofelds henchmen alone and she helps him escape to the airport. Smitten by the resourceful, headstrong woman, he proposes marriage, and she accepts. Bond then returns to England and works on the plan to capture Blofeld.
Helped by Draco's Union Corse, Bond mounts an air assault against the clinic and Blofeld. Blofeld escapes down a bobsled run, tossing a grenade after the pursuing Bond, who narrowly misses being killed. Blofeld, however, escapes. He later avenges himself on James and Tracy Bond by killing Tracy in a drive-by shooting, shortly after their wedding.

12. You Only Live Twice (1964): James Bond, his career fading after the wedding-day murder of his wife Tracy Bond, is promoted by M to a special branch of MI6. M had been planning to offer Bond a dismissal from the secret service, but later changed his mind as a last chance opportunity for Bond to shape up. Bond is subsequently re-numbered as 7777 ("four sevens"), and assigned an impossible mission: convincing the head of Japan's secret intelligence service, Tiger Tanaka, to provide information about an informant within the Soviet Union, informally referred to as Magic 44. In exchange, Tanaka asks Bond to kill Dr. Guntram Shatterhand, who operates a politically embarrassing "Garden of Death" where people go to commit suicide, whether they later decide they want to or not. Bond accidentally discovers that Shatterhand is his nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and gladly takes the mission, keeping his knowledge of Blofeld a secret so that he can exact revenge for his wife's death. Aided by former Japanese movie star Kissy Suzuki, and, with make up and training, Bond attempts to live and think as a Japanese in order to penetrate Shatterhand's castle. Bond is renamed by Tiger as Taro Todoroki while on the mission.
Bond becomes an expert in sword fighting, karate, and judo. He also learns how to calm his senses with the practice of Yoga.
Bond ultimately exacts revenge on Blofeld in a sword duel, and kills Blofeld by strangling him, but, on escaping, suffers a head injury leaving him an amnesiac living as a Japanese fisherman/merchant with Kissy, while the rest of the world believes him dead. While Bond's health improves Kissy conceals his true identity so as to keep him forever to herself. Kissy eventually sleeps with Bond and becomes pregnant and hopes that Bond would propose marriage after she found the right time to tell him. At the novel's end, Bond browses through some of Kissy's personal papers and finds a newspaper article about Vladivostok, making him wonder if the far-off Russian city is the key to his missing memory.

13. The Man with the Golden Gun (1965): A year after James Bond disappeared during a mission in Japan, he is presumed dead. Then, a man claiming to be Bond appears in London and demands to meet M. After much scrutinising and interrogation, the man's identity is confirmed, but during his debriefing interview with M, Bond tries to kill him with a cyanide pistol; the attempt fails. The British Secret Service soon learns that after destroying Blofeld's castle in Japan, Bond suffered a head injury and subsequent amnesia. Having lived as a Japanese fisherman for several months, Bond travelled north into the Soviet Union to learn his true identity. While there, he was brainwashed and assigned to kill M on returning to England.
Now deprogrammed, Bond is given a chance to prove his worth as a member of the 00 section following the assassination attempt. M assigns him to Jamaica and the seemingly impossible mission of killing Francisco "Pistols" Scaramanga, a Cuban assassin known as "the man with the golden gun" (because of his golden revolver) who is believed to have killed several British secret agents.
Bond locates Scaramanga in a Jamaican bordello, and manages to become Scaramanga's temporary personal assistant under the name of Mark Hazard. He learns that Scaramanga is involved with a hotel development on the island with a group of investors that consists of a syndicate of American gangsters and the KGB. Scaramanga and the other investors are also engaged in a scheme to destabilize Western interests in the Caribbean's sugar industry and increase the value of the Cuban sugar crop. The group is also involved in running drugs into America, smuggling prostitutes from Mexico into America, and operating casinos in Jamaica that will cause friction between tourists and the local people.
Bond discovers that he has an ally who is also working undercover at the half-built resort. Felix Leiter has been recalled to duty by the CIA and is working ostensibly as an electrical engineer while setting up bugs in Scaramanga's meeting room.
Scaramanga tells Bond to control the other gangsters in case things turn nasty and guard the door while he is meeting privately with individual "investors." However, while eavesdropping on one of Scaramanga's meetings, Bond learns that Scaramanga plans to eliminate "Mark Hazard" when the weekend is over.
Bond's identity is confirmed by the KGB agent, and Scaramanga makes new plans to entertain the gangsters and the KGB man by killing Bond while they are riding a sight-seeing train to a marina. However, Bond manages to turn the tables on Scaramanga, and with the help of Felix Leiter (who smuggled himself aboard the train) kill most of the conspirators.
Scaramanga escapes, wounded, into the swamps, where Bond pursues him. Bond finds Scaramanga and holds him at gunpoint while trying to get up the nerve to shoot and kill his wounded enemy. When he asks Scaramanga if he has any last words, a message to be given to someone, or someone he wants Bond to "look after," Scaramanga laughs and asks Bond if he plans to give him his gun and leave him alone so that he can kill himself in private. Scaramanga adds that if Bond actually did that he would crawl after Bond and kill him with his own gun.
However, when Bond tells Scaramanga that the time has come, Scaramanga begs for the opportunity as a Catholic to say a final prayer before he is killed. Bond allows him to do this, and Scaramanga lulls Bonds off-guard with a lengthy prayer and then shoots him with a golden derringer he had hidden behind his neck. Bond is hit but returns fire and shoots Scaramanga several times—killing him at last.
Scaramanga's bullet had been "dipped" in snake venom so that even a slight wound would be fatal, but a doctor recognizes the symptoms of snakebite and administers antivenom in time to save Bond (Leiter is also injured in the process of killing the gangsters but is also found in time and nursed back to health).
Bond is offered a knighthood for his achievement. Bond already has CMG for past and present services to Britain, but says that he does not wish to become a public figure, so he refuses it.
The story ends with Bond enjoying the company of Mary Goodnight but with the realization that he will never be able to settle down with one woman for very long.

14. Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966): Before his death, Ian Fleming reportedly had intended to compile a second book of short stories in the same vein as For Your Eyes Only. After his death, Glidrose Productions followed this plan.
Initially, the book contained only two short stories: (i) The final James Bond short story to be published, "Octopussy," which was first serialised in the March and April 1966 issues of Playboy magazine, some two years after Ian Fleming's death; and (ii) "The Living Daylights", which was first published in The London Sunday Times colour section on February 4, 1962. It was later printed in the American publication Argosy in the June 1962 issue under the title "Berlin Escape" and again under the same title in the November, 1965, issue of Intrigue Magazine.
1967 Pan Books paperback first edition. Added "The Property of a Lady" for the first time. Note shortened title.
When the first paperback edition of the collection was published in 1967, it was expanded with a third short story, "The Property of a Lady" which Fleming wrote, in 1963, for inclusion in The Ivory Hammer, the annual publication of Sotheby's auction house. (The story was subsequently reprinted in the January, 1964 issue of Playboy). In the collection's second edition, the title was shortened to Octopussy: Most paperback reprints of the 1970s and '80s used the abbreviated title.
The third edition of the collection appeared in 2002, expanded with a fourth short story, "007 in New York." Titled by Fleming in its manuscript form as "Reflections in a Carey Cadillac," it was however first published under the name "Agent 007 in New York" in the New York Herald Tribune in October of 1963. In 1964, it was retitled simply "007 in New York" when published in the American edition of Thrilling Cities. The short story was written as a consolation to readers in New York City due to Fleming's otherwise expressed grim opinion of the city. This story was never published in Britain until the late 1990s.
Editions of the collection published since the mid-1990s have used the original full title, Octopussy and the Living Daylights. As of the third edition of 2002, the order of the stories is as follows: "Octopussy", "The Property of a Lady", "The Living Daylights", and "007 in New York". Like the For Your Eyes Only compilation, however, each story is a standalone and there is no narrative continuity between them, so they may be read in any order.
It is not known for certain whether any of these stories were ever actually earmarked by Ian Fleming for his never-completed collection, though it is likely "The Living Daylights," at the very least, would have been a strong contender since it (unlike the others) had already been widely published by 1964.
"Octopussy" provided the title of the eponymous 1983 film, and the background for the movie character Octopussy, who in the short story is an Octopus whom the villain attempts to befriend, but who in the film is said to be the villain's daughter. The film also used plot elements from "The Property of a Lady" (specifically the Sotheby's auction sequence; the story's title is also referenced in dialogue). In 1987, "The Living Daylights" was closely adapted for part of Timothy Dalton's first James Bond film of the same title. According to some sources (such as The Bond Files by Andy Lane and Paul Simpson), The Property of a Lady was to have been the title of Dalton's third James Bond film to be released in 1991, but it went unfilmed; little of the original short story would have been available for use, given its having been used in the Octopussy film. "007 in New York" provided the name of a character, Solange, who appeared in the 2006 version of Casino Royale; otherwise, no other plot elements from the story have been used as yet.

15. Devil May Care (2008): A savage execution in the outskirts of Paris starts a chain of events designed to lead to global catastrophe — a narcotics tide threatens to lethally engulf Sixties Britain, a British airliner disappears in Iraqi airspace, and the thunder of war echoes throughout the Middle East.
James Bond is assigned to the case, and first meets Dr Gorner at a tennis match, through Scarlett Papava, who wants him to help her rescue her twin sister, Poppy, from Gorner. Bond defeats Gorner at tennis, and learns about his factory in the Middle East, where Poppy visits him at risk to her life. Bond travels to Persia and meets his contact there, Darius Alizadeh, before investigating a warehouse, identified by Poppy, to find an Ekranoplan stored there that Gorner uses to smuggle drugs into the Soviet Union, before shipping them round the world to his other factories.
Bond returns to his hotel room, where he meets Scarlett again; she accompanies him to the warehouse again where Bond attempts to photograph the Ekranoplan, but Gorner's right-hand-man, Chagrin, awaits and captures them. He takes them to Gorner's desert base, where Dr. Gorner shows off his factory to Bond, and reveals that he hates Britain and wishes to flood it with drugs, but is impatient and has decided to attack the Soviet Union with nuclear warheads using his own pilots and a stolen airliner disguised as a British aircraft to provoke a Soviet nuclear counter-attack against London. At this point he orders Bond to accompany Chagrin in transporting drugs across the desert, where Afghani rebels usually attack them.
Bond is used as a distraction to draw their fire, while Chagrin and his men travel past safely. Bond barely survives the ambush and, after making a failed escape attempt, is taken back to the base where Gorner reveals his plan to force Bond to fly the stolen airliner/bomber into Russia.
Bond is returned to his cell, but manages to escape and lets Scarlet escape from the building to hide aboard the airliner, while allowing his recapture. In the morning, he is taken aboard the aeroplane, but, before the airliner can bomb the Soviets, Bond kills the guards, with Scarlet's (who had been hiding in the airliner) help. They parachute to safety as the stolen British airliner crashes into the mountains.
Meanwhile, Felix Leiter and Darius know about the Ekranoplan and a potential attack on the Soviet Union and meet with CIA agent J.D. Silver (A.K.A Carmen) , who goes to call Langley to have them dispatch fighter planes to shoot down the Ekranoplan. Silver is working against them, and tries to stop communications with Langley. Darius manages to contact 'M' before he is shot and killed by Silver, who is about to kill Felix, when Darius's driver, Hamid, saves him by killing Silver by hitting him over the head with a rock. RAF Vulcan bombers attack the Ekranoplan in time, destroying it before it reaches its target.
Bond and Scarlet travel through the USSR, returning to Helsinki, but Chagrin attacks them aboard a train from Leningrad. With Scarlet's help, Bond overpowers Chagrin, killing him when they push him out of the carriage window; Chagrin is decapitated as the train enters a tunnel.
Bond and Scarlet arrive in Helsinki, then travel to Paris, where Bond reports to 'M', who tells him he must meet the new agent 004, after the last one died in Germany. Bond travels around Paris; he boards the Mississippi paddle steam boat Huckleberry Finn, to kill time until his meeting with agent 004, however, Gorner has followed him and tries killing him aboard the paddle boat; Bond overpowers Gorner's assassin before hunting Gorner. Bond shoots and wounds Gorner, but he derives no pleasure from it; Gorner jumps into the river to escape, but is pulled into the wake of the Huckleberry Finn's paddle, which crushes him dead.
Bond goes to meet the new agent, 004, after René Mathis clears up matters with the local police about Dr Julius Gorner's death. Bond learns that agent 004 is in fact Scarlett Papava, who had made up the story about her twin sister Poppy so that 007 would allow her to help; had he known Scarlett was a double-O agent, she feared he wouldn't have worked with her.

By Richard Moody

Eastmas 08

2009-03-06T02:23:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I got DVDs I got a DVD of Shameless, Gavin and Stacey, Little Britain USA, Doctor Do little four and DVD of Stereo phonics

On Christmas day I watched Shameless that I got for Christmas, then we had dinner and we had roast duck with roast spuds and stuffing balls.

On Boxing Day my Aunty Rosemary and Uncle Graham, my cousin Nicola my Cousin-in-law Simon, my Cousin David my uncle Peter and my grand parents came to my house, on boxing day evening and we had a buffet.

On new years eve night I went to the 3 horse shoes the music was loud like in a nightclub they had one of them really big speakers, I had half a mind to call home and get some ear protectors but I didn’t want to look silly.

On New Years Eve me and my dad went to Ponds forge, we went down the flumes and in the wave machine and in the whirl pool. It was really good fun.

Christmas

2009-01-30T03:06:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I got DVDs I got a DVD of Shameless, Gavin and Stacey, Little Britain USA, Doctor Doo little four and DVD of Stereo phonics

On Christmas day I watched Shameless that I got for Christmas, then we had dinner and we had roast duck with roast spuds and stuffing balls.

On Boxing Day my Aunty Rosemary and Uncle Graham, my cousin Nicola my Cousin-in-law Simon, my Cousin David my uncle Peter and my grand parents came to my house, on boxing day evening and we had a buffet.

On new years eve night I went to the 3 horse shoes the music was loud like in a nightclub they had one of them really big speakers, I had half a mind to call home and get some ear protectors but I didn’t want to look silly.

On New Years Eve me and my dad went to Ponds forge, we went down the flumes and in the wave machine and in the whirl pool. It was really good fun.

My Christmas Interview By Richard Moody

2009-01-23T02:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas

What Did You Do in Christmas Day?
I was watching “Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death” & “Blackadder: Christmas Carol.” I had a turkey, cranberry sauce, sprouts, crokettes, potato carrot sauce, gravy, peas, Yorkshire puddings, sausage & bacon, stuffing’s & mustard & mayonnaise.

Who you Saw Over Christmas?
Uncle John came to stay for Christmas dinner.

What You Did over the two weeks?
I’ve been walking in woods in winter I usually stayed at home I was watching “John Mills” War Movies I remembered I watched “Time Bandits” with Grandma & Dad my Grandma finds it funny she said it was from a pantomime show. I also watched “Dick Whittington, Aladdin, Cinderella & Jack & The Beanstalk” pantomime TV shows Julian Clary was in all four pantomime TV shows.

What Did You do in Boxing Day?
I was with mom, Wendy & James to see a movie called “Australia” with Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman & Bryan Brown we went to “PREZZO” I had a Calzone and Chocolate Biscuit Cake for desert back at home I was watching “Casanova” with Heath Ledger who plays Casanova I’ve got his biography book at home.

What Did You Do in the New Year?
I was watching a DVD with Grandma called “Airplane” with Robert Hays, Leslie Neilson, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges & Peter Graves. I was gonna watch “Life of Mammals” but Dad wanted watch “Shrek 2.” I missed Shrek back in 2004

What you Enjoyed?
The bit I enjoyed was I was listening to CD biography called “River Phoenix” when I was watching “Carry on Cowboy” Going to Cinema to see “the Spirit & Bedtime Stories.”

Did you like coming back to college?
I was a bit scared about new changes coming back to college like Ben Lindley was leaving in January but I think I’ve got it wrong. My first day back was I was fine I was OK with David the transition worker I remember James was here and Ben was Ill he came back at second week of January.

By Richard Moody

2009-01-23T02:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas

On Christmas day I went up to my mums house to open my presents and I got Lap top computer, jumper, and 1000 jigsaw puzzle with Disney & Bullseye in my pocket key ring.

On Christmas day I had some turkeys for dinner and a Christmas pudding.

For 2 weeks I stayed at Dads house over holidays for new years eve I been up to mums house to say happy new year.

I enjoy my Christmas holiday because I’m excited bu Christmas.

It was ok to see everyone back at college.

Labouring and demolition

2008-10-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

Last year my Dad filled the gap in between the 2 houses, first I knocked and pulled out the plasterboard that that was boarding up the garage doors.

I took the wall down between the front garages I used an electric chisel to take down the wall and to clean the bricks, then I stacked them.

My cut a piece of the garage flour for the foundations then broke it up with the breaker, I was stacking bricks but I kept breaking off the bricks to help my Dad shovel sand, and helped him with ait of the digging as well.

In the 6 weeks holidays last year me and my dad took down the gable walls of the 2 landings where my Dad filled the middle in between the 2 houses, before it used to be a flat roof on top of the 2 utilities.

by Ben Lindley

2008-09-12T03:09:00.000-07:00

Summer Holidays

Over the summer holidays from college I have been out for lots of trips. We went to Cinemas to see Get Smart and Mamma Mia.
Mamma Mia was a good film because they were doing Abba songs Abba are one of my favourite 70s groups my favourite song was Dancing Queen.
On Wednesday 15th July I went to Daneshill Lake with Mike because theres a railway line there, I watched some fast trains going past to London and Scotland.
On Wednesday 27th August we went to Nottingham into the Victoria Centre we watched the fountain go off , we drove past the KFC site were my Dad works near the Level Crossing. At the level crossing the barriers were down with the red lights flashing and a 2 carriage train went past.
I went to Doncaster shop outlet with Jo and Kelly for look around, we went to the RSPCA we saw cats and puppies. So I enjoyed this college summer holidays.

lamps and lamposts

2008-07-04T03:12:00.000-07:00

Lights and Lamposts

I like lampposts because I like noticing when they come on at night and when they are not working.

On Arno Vale Road, near where I live, one of the lampposts has not been fixed for 3 years because the tree fell down on it and the council can’t get in to fix it and so they don’t bother with it.

On Walsingham road opposite where I live the lamppost was broken for 5 weeks but I think the council has fixed it by now.

On Grouville Drive the lamppost are all still here as always and they all still working.

On mapperley top near Budgens petrol station they put some new lampposts up because they building some new houses and they changed the lamp heads because they didn’t match.

On Arno Vale Road they put up some lampposts because people couldn’t see were they walking when its dark.

travel with eric

2008-06-27T03:07:00.000-07:00

Travelling to college with Eric

I travel to college with Eric and Margaret I have been travelling with them for about 4 years. Every morning they pick me up at 8:25am in the sprays minibus, I sit in the front.

I normally travel along mapperley plains but if there is some road works on Mapperley plains I have to travel through Arnold. If I was travelling onto Mapperley Plains I would pass the Budgens Petrol Station and Garden Centre. When travelling down the A614 there are some traffic lights because of accidents. A614 can be a dangerous road.

On my journey I see Rufford Park, Wonderland Pleasure Park, White Post Farm and Clumber Park. I enjoy travelling with Eric and Margaret. I listen to Smooth Radio and Radio 2.
I arrive at college at 9:05am.

foreign holidays

2008-06-20T03:07:00.000-07:00

In May 1991 I went on holiday to Portugal with my 2 sisters, mum, dad, Nanny and Grandad before my 8th birthday.

In Portugal I stayed in a villa and it had a swimming pool outside.
We went out in the car to the beach to paddle in the sea.

On 31st December 1994 I went to Florida on new years eve. In Florida there is Sea World, Universal Studios, Disney World and Florida Mall. On that holiday I visited all of those places. In our villa there was a swimming pool with a light in it. At the magic kingdom I saw Mickey Mouse and had breakfast with Winnie the Pooh. I really enjoyed this holiday.

Richard & Darren's Hip Hop Music Story

2008-06-20T02:24:00.000-07:00

2004: In October I first met Darren Walmsley he was pleased about starting at Whitegates College. It took a while to get used to him, I was a bit anxious about Darren because I was sixteen years old he was quite loud and I didn’t understand his jokes. I was with Fred Orwin to do woodwork I was working with three students on a table stand.
In December at the Rugby club disco Darren would eat all the buffet he loved the Rugby Club I was dancing there were some of songs I didn’t like Steps, Aqua, Five, DJ Otzi & S Club 7 because it was pop music. I like was Hip Hop music my favourite hip hop music groups are “Jadakiss, 2Pac, Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Doggy Dogg, D-12 & Beastie Boys” when we came back to college Darren was drunk because he’d drink five Bacardi Breezers, I was tired and sweating.

2005: I got used to Darren because I gave him some complete 80’s music on CD then I gave him some hip hop CD’s, Darren liked “Goldie Lookin Chain” but when I listened to the CD called “Greatest Hits by Goldie Lookin Chain” I thought to myself their hip hop music sounds terrible because the group come from Newport in Wales and hip hop should be made by Americans. My mom started to hate “Goldie Lookin Chain” and Darren said his carer Michelle didn’t like it either. Darren had an idea to do an own hip hop group called “the Lizzards” I think it was a great idea.
On Thursday in March we made a first EP Cassette called “Americano Talent by the Lizzards” it was made on March 10TH we made about four songs together they are called “N 2 Gether Now, My Name Is Richard David, Darren Walmsley Rocks & My Generation.”
Then at non term time me, Darren & Phillip Judge were watching a Brandon Lee movie called “The Crow,” I’ve seen all five of Brandon Lee’s Movies, one of my favourite ones was “Rapid Fire” made in 1992 I remember Darren pinched a DVD called “Hard Candy” he took it home then he brought it back when non term time was finished.
At Rugby Club me & Darren gave the CD to the DJ to play hip hop music I chose a song called “Mama Say by The Bloodhound Gang” we were very good doing the rapping words but the audience thought we sucked I remember Julie Kirk thought our Hip Hop music was rubbish when we got back to college we started thinking about in our first album our group.
A friend of mine Duane Bestwick left Whitegates College because we were good friends with Duane Darren and I stayed in touch with him.
Darren & I went with the group in Rother Valley College in Dinnington our tutor in Rother Valley College was the best tutor there her name is “Jenny Piper.” One of my favourite sessions was finding clues by listening to mystery cassette tapes. At lunchtime Darren had big foot and chips (hot dog and chips). At home I had weird scary dream I was having a big foot hot dog suddenly it got like eyes like when the food attacks Watson in the movie “The Young Sherlock Holmes”.

2006: We had an idea of our first album for our group “The Lizzards,” me & Darren were listening to a CD called “Cipes and the People” one of my favourite songs is called “Free Me” then Darren started singing and altered the song and words to make own our private song. He was listening to the song “Free Me” by Cipes and the People he called it “Loo Me” he made the song into a comedy he did a voice of one of his favourite comedians “Roy Chubby Brown” he also sang “Alice” by Smokey Robinson & Roy Chubby Brown but those two song were not on our first album.
Then we started to make our first album, it was called “Eat at Joes” it was Darren’s Idea featuring songs called “Break Stuff, Got Your Money, Do For Love & Me myself & I.”
Rother Valley College it was the last day of the year college and one of my friends from Whitegates (Phillip Judge) was leaving Whitegates in July.
At Christmas I didn’t go to the Rugby Club Disco again I stayed at Whitegates College I was watching a DVD called “The Goonies & the Explorers” Darren went to the disco he enjoying his party he was eating lots of buffet food!

2007: Darren & I went to Bay 6 to do this coffee shop for whitegates I was helping the other students in Bay 6 I really enjoyed working on Bay 6.
On July Darren left Whitegates because he’s got a new college in Rotherham I was really upset so I gave him some more CDS called “80’s memories & Happy Hardcore music” like “The Prodigy” hardcore music.
He left us a gift to remember he and I wrote a story called “Whitegates: Darren Walmsley the Story” that’s how I remember him.

THE END (by Richard Moody)

Rosehill School In Nottingham

2008-06-13T03:09:00.000-07:00

Rosehill School
Rosehill School is in Nottingham on St Matthias Road in an area called St Anns.

In September in 1994 I was in Mary Todd’s classroom. At first I was doing PE, walking into town, going to the Victoria Leisure Centre swimming baths and doing music.

In September 1996 I was in a different classroom with Peter Hill doing Science, going on computers, doing cooking and going bowling.

In September 1998 I was in a different classroom with Chris Woe upstairs doing Youth Award Scheme, going bowling, going out in the bus and going to Cowlick Park to walk around the lakes.

In September 1999 I started to be in 16+ classroom with Fiona Speirs doing different things like going to south notts college and going to Broxtowe college that’s were Marie Fitzpatrick used to work. I left Rosehill School in July 2002 and started at White gates.

Dads Project

2008-06-06T03:04:00.000-07:00

Dad’s new project work

In Nottingham in an area called Snienton there used to be a pub called the magpies. My dad got the job to knock it down and now he is starting to build a new KFC.

On the building site there are some cabins where the lads sit in for break. There are 3 cabins, 1 for the toilets, 1 for the kitchen table and 1 for the office.

Outside the project there’s a level crossing where trains or trucks go through. Outside the project I could see burger king, a JJB sport shop and Nottingham forest football club’s city ground stadium. So I enjoy this project because there are lots of good things to look at.

Labouring and demolition

2008-06-06T02:33:00.000-07:00

Last and year my Dad filled the gap in between the 2 houses, first I knocked and pulled out the plasterboard nthat that was boarding up the garage doors.

I took the wall down between the front garages I used an electric chisel to take down the wall and to clean the bricks, then I stacked them.

My cut a piece of the garage flour for the foundations then broke it up with the breaker, I was stacking bricks but I kept breaking off the bricks to help my Dad shovel sand, and helped him with ait of the digging as well.

In the 6 weeks holidays last year me and my dad took down the gable walls of the 2 landings where my Dad filled the middle in between the 2 houses, before it used to be a flat roof on top of the 2 utilities.

By Ben Lindley

James Conlons South Notts College

2008-05-23T03:08:00.000-07:00

South Nott’s College

I used to go to South Notts College in 1999-2002.
At south notts I did science with a tutor named Sue Morris.
I went to the canteen for lunch and it has a staircase in the corner going up to the staff room.
I used to do art with a tutor named Denise who has long brown hair.
The woman who works in the student centre with glasses is named Sue. I used to do city search with a tutor named Tim in 2002 this was my favourite lesson. We used to get on the bus to go to ruddington to look at the church and go to the shops.
I used to go in the gym and I went on a treadmill I went with Rose hill School and Louise.

My Favorite Famous Families Stars

2008-05-23T02:26:00.000-07:00

Pictures: Lloyd Bridges, Beau Bridges & Jeff Bridges

Lloyd Bridges (1913 – 1998)

I first heard Lloyd Bridges he was two movies called “Airplane” one of his popular movies was “Airplane, Sahara, Around the World under the Sea, Cousins, Hot Shots! Part Deux & Honey I Blew Up the Kid.

Early life
Bridges was born in San Leandro, California, the son of Harriet Evelyn (née Brown) and Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Sr., who was involved in the California hotel business and once owned a cinema. Bridges graduated from Petaluma High School in 1931. He studied political science at UCLA, where he we a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter. He also met his future wife there, Dorothy Dean Simpson; they married in 1938 on St. Pete's Beach at sunrise.
Career
Bridges made his Broadway debut in 1939 in a production of Shakespeare's Othello. He made a few film appearances before enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard. Following World War II, he returned to film acting. He was blacklisted briefly in the 1950s after he admitted to the House Un-American Activities Committee that he had once been a member of the Actors Lab, a group with links to the Communist party. He resumed working after being cleared by the FBI, finding his greatest success in television.

Bridges in The Sound of Fury (1950)
Bridges gained wide recognition as Mike Nelson, the main character in the television series Sea Hunt, which ran from 1958-1961. Following that success, he starred in the eponymous anthology The Lloyd Bridges Show, which included appearances by his sons Beau and Jeff. Bridges was offered the role of Captain Kirk on Star Trek before the role went to William Shatner. Additionally, he was a regular cast member in the Rod Serling western series The Loner (which lasted one season from 1965 to 1966), and in the two NBC failures San Francisco International Airport (1970/71) and Joe Forrester (1975/76). Later, he appeared in Paper Dolls (1984) and Capital News (1990), both for ABC, and again with Harts of the West (1993), this time for CBS. He played the role of Commander Cain in the Battlestar Galactica two-part episode "The Living Legend".
Bridges played significant roles in several popular mini-series, including Roots, How the West Was Won, and The Blue and the Grey. For more than forty-five years, Bridges was a frequent guest star on television series. He earned two Emmy Award nominations four decades apart. The first came in 1957 for an episode of The Alcoa Hour. Then he was nominated again in 1998 for his role as Izzy Mandelbaum on Seinfeld.
Bridges appeared in more than 150 films. He started as a contract performer for Columbia Pictures, appearing in classics such as High Noon, Little Big Horn, and Sahara. By the end of his career, he was a staple of parody films such as Airplane!, Hot Shots!, and Jane Austen's Mafia!.
Personal life
A world federalist, Bridges once said, “The devastation caused by war and the pollution of our environment knows no boundaries. Only an effective world government could provide sufficient law and have the power to control these destructive forces". He was also involved in several organizations, including the American Oceans Campaign and Heal the Bay, a Los Angeles-based group.
Bridges died of natural causes at age 85 on March 10, 1998. He was the father of actors Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges and the grandfather of Jordan Bridges.
An episode of Seinfeld ("The Burning") was dedicated in memory of Lloyd Bridges. He had played the character of Izzy Mandelbaum in the episodes "The English Patient" and "The Blood".

Beau Bridges (1941 - )

I only know in one movie called “The Fabulous Baker Boys”.

Bridges was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Dean Simpson. He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes' son in Gone with the Wind, the title of the book they were reading at the time. Bridges is also the older brother of actor Jeff Bridges, born in 1949. Their sister Cindy was born in 1950. In 1989, he starred opposite his brother in perhaps his best known role, as one of The Fabulous Baker Boys.
In 1949, Bridges played a secondary juvenile role in the movie The Red Pony. Wanting to be a basketball star, however, he played his freshman year at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and later transferred to the University of Hawaii. Realizing his height was holding him back from excelling in basketball, however, he dropped out of school to continue acting instead
Bridges enjoys playing guitar, collects Native American percussion instruments, loves the ocean (as well as swimming and surfing), and is also active in handgun control and environmental protection.
After the release of the 1989 movie The Wizard, Beau earned the nickname "Bumblin' Beau Bridges" due to his character's constant bumbling throughout the film
In 1995, Bridges starred in the first ever two-part episode of the new series of Outer Limits. In 1998, he starred as Judge Bob Gibbs in the one-season Maximum Bob on the ABC. He had a recurring role in the Showtime series Beggars and Choosers (1999-2000).
In 2001, he guest-starred as Daniel McFarland, the stepfather of Jack McFarland, in two episodes of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace. From 2002 to 2003, he took on the role of Senator Tom Gage, newly-appointed Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, in over 30 episodes of the drama series The Agency. In January 2005, he was cast as Major General Hank Landry, the new commander of Stargate Command in Stargate SG-1. He has also played the character in five episodes of the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis.
In November 2005, he guest-starred as Carl Hickey, the father of the title character in the hit NBC Comedy My Name Is Earl. Bridges' character has since become recurring. Bridges received a 2007 Emmy Award nomination for his performance.

Jeff Bridges (1949 - )

Personal life
Bridges was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Dorothy Dean (née Simpson) and actor Lloyd Bridges.[1] He shared a close relationship with his brother, actor Beau Bridges, who acted as a surrogate father during his earlier life when their real father was busy with work.[2] He is an uncle of Jordan Bridges. He married Susan Geston on June 5, 1977 after meeting her on the set of Rancho Deluxe in 1975, filmed on a ranch where Geston worked as a maid. The couple have 3 daughters, Isabelle (b. 1981), Jessica (b. 1983), and Hayley (b. 1985).
Film career
Bridges's first major role was in the 1971 movie The Last Picture Show for which he garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated again for the same award for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. One of his better known roles was in the 1982 science-fiction cult classic Tron, in which he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1984 for playing the alien in Starman. He was also acclaimed for his roles in the thriller Against All Odds and the crime drama Jagged Edge. His role in Fearless is recognized by some critics to be one of his best performances. One critic dubbed it a masterpiece;[3] Pauline Kael wrote that he 'may be the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor that has ever lived'.[4] He also appeared as "The Dude" in the Coen Brothers' classic cult film The Big Lebowski.
In 2000, Bridges was nominated for his fourth Academy-Award for his role in The Contender. He also starred in the 2005 Terry Gilliam movie Tideland, his second with the director (the first being 1991's The Fisher King). He plays the role of Obadiah Stane in the 2008 Marvel motion picture, Iron Man.
Other work
In his off time while on set, he has been known to document the filmmaking process by photographing fellow actors and on-set staff with a Widelux panoramic camera. He began doing this during the filming of Starman at the suggestion of co-star Karen Allen. He has published many of these photographs online and in print titled "Pictures".[5][6][7][8][9]
Bridges is also a cartoonist. Some of his "doodles" have appeared in various films, such as K-PAX and The Door in the Floor (a short story-within-story by John Irving).
Bridges narrated the documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002), a singular filmographic witness of the "unmaking" of a Terry Gilliam retelling of Don Quixote, tentatively titled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which would have starred Johnny Depp as Sancho Panza and Jean Rochefort as the quixotic hero. Bridges has worked with Gilliam on The Fisher King and Tideland. Bridges also narrated the documentaries Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West (2002, IMAX), Raising the Mammoth (2000, TV), and The Heroes of Rock and Roll (1979, TV). He also voiced the character Big Z in the animated picture Surf's Up.
Bridges can be heard most recently as the voice behind Hyundai's 2007 "Think about it" ad campaign.

Lloyd Bridges Filmography
Freshman Love (1936)
Dancing Feet (1936)
The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance (1941)
They Dare Not Love (1941)
The Medico of Painted Springs (1941)
The Son of Davy Crockett (1941)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Our Wife (1941)
Harmon of Michigan (1941)
Two Latins from Manhattan (1941)
You Belong to Me (1941)
Three Girls About Town (1941)
The Royal Mounted Patrol (1941)
Sing for Your Supper (1941)
Honolulu Lu (1941)
Harvard, Here I Come! (1941)
West of Tombstone (1942)
Blondie Goes to College (1942)
Cadets on Parade (1942)
Shut My Big Mouth (1942)
Canal Zone (1942)
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942)
North of the Rockies (1942)
Alias Boston Blackie (1942)
The Wife Takes a Flyer (1942)
Sweetheart of the Fleet (1942)
Riders of the Northland (1942)
Flight Lieutenant (1942)
Atlantic Convoy (1942)
The Talk of the Town (1942)
A Man's World (1942)
The Spirit of Stanford (1942)
The Daring Young Man (1942)
Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942)
Pardon My Gun (1942)
Underground Agent (1942)
Counter-Espionage (1942) (uncredited) (waiter)
Commandos Strike at Dawn (1943)
City Without Men (1943)
One Dangerous Night (1943)
Destroyer (1943)
Passport to Suez (1943)
Hail to the Rangers (1943)
Sahara (1943)
The Heat's On (1943)
There's Something About a Soldier (1943)
Crime Doctor's Strangest Case (1943)
Once Upon a Time (1944)
She's a Soldier Too (1944)
Louisiana Hayride (1944)
The Master Race (1944)
Saddle Leather Law (1944)
Secret Agent X-9 (1945)
Strange Confession (1945)
A Walk in the Sun (1945)
Abilene Town (1946)
Miss Susie Sagle's (1946)
Canyon Passage (1946)
Ramrod (1947)
The Trouble with Women (1947)
Thunderbolt (1947)
Unconquered (1947)
Secret Service Investigator (1948)
16 Fathoms Deep (1948)
Moonrise (1948)
Hideout (1949)
Red Canyon (1949)
Home of the Brave (1949)
Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949)
Trapped (1949)
Colt .45 (1950)
Rocketship X-M (1950)
The White Tower (1950)
The Sound of Fury (1950)
Little Big Horn (1951)
Three Steps North (1951)
High Noon (1952)
Plymouth Adventure (1952)
Last of the Comanches (1953)
The Tall Texan (1953)
The Kid from Left Field (1953)
City of Bad Men (1953)
The Limping Man (1953)
Pride of the Blue Grass (1954)
The Deadly Game (1954)
Wichita (1955)
Apache Woman (1955)
Wetbacks (1956)
The Rainmaker (1956)
Ride Out for Revenge (1957)
The Goddess (1958)
A Pair of Boots (1962)
Around the World Under the Sea (1966)
Daring Game (1968)
Attack on the Iron Coast (1968)
The Happy Ending (1969)
Scuba (1972) (documentary) (narrator)
To Find a Man (1972)
Running Wild (1973)
The Fifth Musketeer (1979)
Bear Island (1979)
Airplane! (1980)
Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
Weekend Warriors (1987)
The Wild Pair (1987)
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
Winter People (1989)
Cousins (1989)
Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)
Hot Shots! (1991)
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992)
Earth and the American Dream (1992) (documentary) (narrator)
Mr. Bluesman (1993)
Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
Blown Away (1994)
Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998)
Meeting Daddy (2000)
From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff (2002)

Beau Bridges Filmography
Force of Evil (1948)
Village of the Giants (1965)
For the Love of Ivy (1968)
The Landlord (1970)
Child's Play (1972)
The Other Side of the Mountain (1975)
Swashbuckler (1976)
Two-Minute Warning (1976)
Greased Lighting (1977)
The Runner Stumbles (1979)
Norma Rae (1979)
Silver Dream Racer (1980)
Night Crossing (1981)
Love Child (1982)
Heart Like a Wheel (1983)
The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)
Alice in Wonderland (1985)
The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
Signs of Life (1989)
The Wizard (1989)
Without Warning: The James Brady Story (1991)
Sidekicks (1992)
Million Dollar Babies - the shocking true story of the Dionne Quintuplets (1994)
Kissinger & Nixon (1995)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Hidden in America (1996)
Nightjohn (1996)
Rocket Man (1997)
Voyage Of The Unicorn(2001)
Sightings: Heartland Ghosts (2002)
The Agency (2002-2003)
Evel Knievel (2004)
10.5 (2004)
Smile (2005)
The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005)
Into the West (2005)
Stargate SG-1 (2005-2007)
My Name Is Earl (2005)
10.5: Apocalypse (2006)
The Good German (2006)
Spinning Into Butter (2007)
Stargate: The Ark of Truth (2008)
Stargate: Continuum (2008)
Don't Fade Away (2008)
Max Payne (2008)

Jeff Bridges Filmography
The Company She Keeps (1951) uncredited
The Yin and Yang of Mr. Go (1970)
Halls of Anger (1970)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Fat City (1972)
Bad Company (1972)
Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973)
The Last American Hero (1973)
The Iceman Cometh (1973)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Hearts of the West (1975)
Rancho Deluxe (1975)
Stay Hungry (1976)
King Kong (1976)
Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978)
Winter Kills (1979)
The American Success Company (1980)
Heaven's Gate (1980)
Cutter's Way (1981)
Tron (1982)
The Last Unicorn (1982) (voice)
Kiss Me Goodbye (1982)
Against All Odds (1984)
Starman (1984)
Jagged Edge (1985)
8 Million Ways to Die (1986)
The Morning After (1986)
Nadine (1987)
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
See You in the Morning (1989)
Cold Feet (1989) (Cameo)
The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
Texasville (1990)
Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas (1991) (documentary)
The Fisher King (1991)
American Heart (1992)
The Vanishing (1993)
Fearless (1993)
Blown Away (1994)
Wild Bill (1995)
White Squall (1996)
The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
Hidden in America (1996)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Arlington Road (1999)
The Muse (1999)
Simpatico (1999)
The Contender (2000)
Scenes of the Crime (2001)
K-PAX (2001)
Lost in La Mancha (2002) (documentary) (narrator)
Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West (2002) (short subject) (narrator)
Masked and Anonymous (2003)
Seabiscuit (2003)
The Door in the Floor (2004)
Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate (2004) (documentary)
Backstage at the Bowl (2005) (documentary) (narrator)
The Amateurs (also known as The Moguls, 2005)
Tideland (2005)
Stick It (2006)
Chasing the Lotus (2006) (documentary) (narrator)
Surf's Up (2007) (voice)
A Dog Year (2008)
Iron Man (2008)
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)
The Open Road (2008)

By Richard Moody 20.05.08

California USA

2008-05-23T02:06:00.000-07:00

CALIFORNIA USA Part 3

This is me in a hotel sleeping for five minutes. I was listening to my mom’s IPOD when my mom was taking pictures around the hotel. I was really thirsty, I started watching TV, I was watching comedy central TV I was watching “Beavis & Butthead, Strangers with Candy.” I changed the channel and there was “According To Jim” on TV with James Belushi. Then my mom took me to the café to get our snack I had an American deli sandwich and a giant chocolate cake I also had a drink of Root Beer (it tastes like Dr. Pepper).

My Took A Photo of Elastigirl & Frozone from the Incredibles
I was at California adventure next to Disneyland we were looking around, we went to see a show called “The Muppet Show” in real life it was on 4D, and we had to wear 4D glasses. Then my mom took a photo of Elastigirl and Frozone from The Incredibles, then we went to see a show called “Aladdin” it’s a brilliant show.

My favorite character in Aladdin is Genie, I liked the bit when he holds his umbrella, and when Aladdin wanted to see Jasmine she didn’t want a prince to get married she wanted to be with Aladdin, she didn’t realize that the prince was Aladdin in disguise. Then some Arabian guards had to take the umbrella back and went home then Genie said “hey come back don’t take my umbrella Ella, Ella a, a” he must have took that bit off the Rihanna the song called “Umbrella” featuring Jay-Z. One of the best songs was “A Whole New World” and “Friend like Me.” The song “Friend Like Me” was originally sung by Robin Williams. When the show was coming to a happy ending the end title song was sung it is “Friend Like Me by Genie” when we came out of the show we went for an ice cream then Minnie Mouse came about.

We suddenly went to a cinema show about “Golden Dreams” in America narrated by Whoopi Goldberg she played the character Califia the Queen of California I’ve always loved Whoopi Goldberg, one of my favorite movies is “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” Whoopi was in the phone booth when a truck carried the phone booth away. It is my favorite funny movie.
In the “Golden Dreams” cinema Guests enter the theater which is a replica of the previously mentioned Bernard Maybeck façade of San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts, a famed Bay Area landmark constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.
As the show begins, two tall art noveau statues of a single goddess-like woman, one on either side of a film projection screen, are bathed in golden light. The statue on the right "comes to life," personified by Ms. Goldberg, through a video of her face, which is projected from the rear into the translucent head of the figure. The statue introduces herself as "Califia, the Queen of California." Califia explains that she is the spirit within California, and an inspiration to many famous Californians. Goldberg appears within some of the filmed sequences which follow as Califia -- in disguise -- to comment or offer encouraging words to various characters who find themselves in challenging situations. Occasionally one or the other of the faces of the two Califia statues lights up to make additional observations.
The 70-mm film highlights admirable and regrettable eras and incidents in the history of California, including vivid picturizations of injustice which do not sanitize reality. Scenes featuring Chumash Indians living a peaceful life on the shore, for example, are followed by the same Indians being held captive by Spanish missionaries and conquistadors.
After the establishment of California, events such as the troubles endured by Chinese laborers working on the railroad and miners during the Gold Rush of 1849 are presented. The immigration issue faced by Japanese women seeking to live in the United States, more specifically California, is also shown. Japanese and many other Asian people were denied entry, although wives of established immigrants were allowed to enter. Many women became "picture brides," agreeing to marriage on the basis of exchanged photographs in order to come to the United States. A powerful dramatization of the crushed hopes of one young picture bride whose husband is far older than represented in the photo he has provided, is particularly affecting. The film continues into the 20th century, with the stories of the famed and infamous water and civil engineer William Mulholland, the hardships of those seeking a new life during the Great Depression, film producers of the 1930s, and women taking over "men's jobs" to achieve victory in World War II. Still photos of the Japanese brides and of impoverished women in a migrant camp in the 1930s are the work of noted photographer, Dorothea Lange.
After the war, thousands of people moved to California to seek good living, sunny weather, and suburban life. The new luxuries of freeways, amusements (more specifically - Disneyland), and easy life are shown. After the 1950s, the turbulent counterculture of the 1960s is depicted. Finally, the technology boom of the later part of the 20th century is featured, with the story of Steve Jobs and the creation of the personal computer.
The film, among the most sophisticated in any of the Disney parks, ends with a montage of notable events and Californians. The montage is reminiscent of a similar finale to the American Adventure film in the U.S.A. Pavilion in the EPCOT Center, World Showcase, in which a cavalcade of fading images of noteworthy Americans and historical incidents is similarly and effectively set to a stirring orchestral score. A concluding salute to discovery, fortitude and imagination is given by Califia. Her eyes then close as her face falls back into statuesque repose, the light within the statue fades, and the house lights come up.
The 22-minute film was directed by Polish director Agnieszka Holland.

In Hollywood California I was on a tourist bus it took a long time to get there I saw a recording studio called “Captiol Records” some famous musicians like Frank Sinatra, the Beastie Boys and Nina Simone have recorded there.

We stopped near the town on the road called the Hollywood Walk of Fames featuring stars like “Martin Landau, George Clooney, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Sylvia Hult, Humphrey Bogart, Bugs Bunny, Kermit The Frog, The Dead End Kids, Laurel & Hardy, Casey Kasem, Tony Petty & The Heartbreakers, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collin, Edwine E. Aldrin Jr, The Simpsons, Milton Berle and many more.

In this photo I’m standing on a long high pavement. In Santa Monica walking down to the pier I saw the graves of the American soldiers buried on the beach. They were killed in the Second World War. Then I saw two guys who were doing hip hop music the people watching gave them some tips. I had an ice cream & waffles for a treat it was delicious. Then I went to the muscle beach.
From the 1930s to the 1950s, the original Muscle Beach was located in Santa Monica immediately south of the Santa Monica Pier. Popular gymnastic exhibitions were routinely held there on city-provided equipment. In the late Fifties the popularity began to wane and the area grew less attractive. Outcry over an alleged rape at the site led the city to shut it down in 1959.
The site of Muscle Beach Venice has inherited the modern fame and attention that was initially generated by the original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, as the weight lifting platform from this earlier facility had been removed by the City of Santa Monica due to difficulties in the day-to-day maintenance and supervision of the original Muscle Beach site in 1959. Yet the original regulars of Muscle Beach in Santa Monica continued to congregate at the world-famous setting with an emphasis on gymnastics events, acrobatics and adagio training and performances.
In 1989, the City of Santa Monica officially rededicated the original Muscle Beach and today it serves gymnasts, acrobats and youth with an extensive gymnastics training area. Meanwhile, the City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department has continued the primary barbell, weightlifting and bodybuilding activities and events of the original Muscle Beach fame at the Venice weight pen. In 1987, the City of Los Angeles officially dedicated "Muscle Beach Venice" with the added word of 'Venice' in the title to pay careful respect to the one and only "Muscle Beach" in Santa Monica.
After the closing the original Muscle Beach, the bodybuilding attention shifted south to the somewhat lesser-known Venice Beach Weight Pen, operated by the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department. A small, spartan weight pen was built near Windward in 1952, later replaced by the large current facility during a complete renovation and Muscle Beach Venice redevelopment effort in 1990, which sports a huge concrete barbell on the roof and bleachers for spectators.
Today it is an open playground for with a gated area that encloses weight lifting equipment, the second area is a sand box with gymnastic, rope climbing, and acrobatic bars.
By extension, it refers also to a high concentration of weightlifting and fitness businesses in the area.
Harold Zinkin, Gordon Mitchell, Richard Harrison and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stanley Tookie Williams used to be regulars, among many famous bodybuilders and actors who have trained there.
When we came back to the bus we went straight to the National Lampoons Studio here are some movies should see.
1. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
2. National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982)
3. National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
4. National Lampoon Goes to the Movies (1983)
5. National Lampoon’s Joy of Sex (1984)
6. National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
7. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
8. National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon (1993)
9. National Lampoon's Last Resort(1994)
10. National Lampoon's Deadly Sins (1995)
11. National Lampoon's Senior Trip (1995)
12. Vegas Vacation (1997)

A new National lampoon movie was called “Pledge this” starring Paris Hilton. One of my favorite movie stars is John Belushi. He was meant to be a star in National Lampoons Joy of Sex but he died of an overdose on 5, March 1982 so somebody had to take his place. He was also meant to star in “Ghostbusters” which Dan Aykroyd was writing for him, he was replaced by Bill Murray. The two movies were released in 1984 without John Belushi. Even without him the sequel of The Blues Brothers movie was made in 1998.

Sea World It’s the first time that I got to see SeaWorld in real life I love Shamu because they put some great music in the beginning Americas saving Life Creatures. Then Shamu came and jumped up and down and splashed the audience. There was a kid on the stage and he told the audience his dream was to be a baseball player one of the swimmers who works at SeaWorld said his dream is to at be SeaWorld saving creatures. My mom took some photos we really enjoyed it

This is me and an American girlfriend who is dressed as Collette from the movie “Ratatouille.” My mom took a photo of Emile the rat from the movie “Ratatouille” it was released on June 19, 2007 in USA. In England the movie was released in October 27, 2007. The voice actors in the movie are:
Patton Oswalt voice as Remy the Rat
Ian Holm voice as Skinner
Lou Romano voice as Linguini
Brad Garrett voice as Gusteau
Peter O’Toole voice as Anton Ego
Peter Sohn voice as Emile
Brian Dennehy voice as Django
Janeane Garofalo voice as Colette
Will Arnett voice as Horst

The movie was dedicated to Joe Ranft (1960 – 2005) who used to work at Disney Pixar movies.

In Disneyland we went a lot of rides and we had dinner in Mickey’s place.

In Universal Studios we went to a live performance to see “The Blues Brothers Live” one of the actors who played Joliet Jake Blues was “Marlow Vella.” One of my favorite songs is “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love and Soul Man” then Elwood looked at me. Then he danced with a lady from the audience.

I was with Crash Bandicoot & Woody Woodpecker one of the characters crash & woody they were also with Scooby and Fievel then we went on a Universal Studio tour. It was brilliant going back to the hotel I had swim in the pool. I really like California and I love to go back and see walk of fame again and eat some Californian food.

THE END by Richard Moody

Lions Go Roar

2008-05-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

In the wild lions live in sub Saharan Africa and in Asia.
Lions also live in zoos.
Lionesses do most of the killing they can run at (40 mph).

Lions spend most of there time asleep just like pet cats.
They spend an average of two hours a day walking and 50 minutes eating.
Lions live for approximately 10-14 years in the wild.
The white lion just a normal lion but with white fur.
Lions also cross with tigers there babies are called Ligers Tigons.

By James Conlon

The National Media Museum

2008-04-18T03:18:00.000-07:00

The National Media Museum

I am studying media on a Wednesday afternoon with Jane and Claire.

On Wednesday 9th April we went to National Media Museum in Bradford. Then we went to the IMAX Cinema we watched a film in 3D about lions, it was on for about an hour. On TV we watched bit of Red Dwarf.

Me, Jane and Richard went on a ride, it wobbles you about and you look at a screen so you feel like you are on a rollercoaster.

I think the National Media Museum was fantastic.
By James 18.04.2008.

Jigsaws with Jordan

2008-04-11T02:13:00.000-07:00

Jigsaws with Jordan

Jordan is one of my friends at college we both really like jigsaws.
Sometimes I help Jordan with his Jigsaws because sometimes he’s not there so I have to deal with them. When Jordan is out all day on Tuesdays I have to finish it off for him.
I help Jordan with his jigsaws because he finds it a bit difficult sometimes.

North Notts College

2008-04-04T02:02:00.000-07:00

North Nott’s College

Some students from North Nott’s college came to our coffee shop.
I asked “what do you want for a drink” and wrote it on my list. They enjoyed it and to say thank you they invited us to Laura’s birthday party.

On Tuesday I went down to North Nott’s College because it was Laura’s Birthday. We made Laura a card. Then we had coffee and biscuits there.

I used to go to North Nott’s College a long time ago in 2002-2004.
I was so glad I visited again because Karen Williams still works there and she used to work here at Whitegates College.

James's Jigsaw

2008-03-14T04:38:00.001-07:00

Jokes by Ben Lindley

2008-03-14T04:14:00.000-07:00

Q. Why did the potato jump off a building?A. Because he wanted to be a mashed potato!

A man walks in to a bar with a piece of tarmac under his arm and said a pint please the landlord added and 1 for the road

Q. Why did the man freeze his money?
A. Because he wanted cold hard cash.

Q. Why did the kid start a gardening service?
A. Because he wanted to rake in some cash

Q. Why did the man put bulbs in his garden?
A. So the worms could see.

Q. Why didn’t the skeleton go to the dance?
A. Because he had nobody to go with.

By Ben Lindley

Nana and Grandads

2008-03-14T03:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes at the weekend I go down to see Nana and Grandad with my Dad. They live in Sneinton which is famous for its windmill. They live in the Bungalow which has a lovely garden.

My Dad’s Dad watches the football a lot. He supports Nottingham Forest.

My Dads Mum watches Eastenders every Mon, Tue, Thu and Fri night.
Nana and Grandad have got a budgie bird named Dinky and he is yellow. He whistles and says a word that sounds like a swear word.

I like going to Nana Grandads its really nice to see them.

By James Conlon 14.03.2008.

2008-03-07T03:10:00.000-08:00

Cuckoo Clock

The woman that works at the fish chip shop is called Diane.
In the Fish and Chip shop café there is a Cuckoo Clock that pops out on the hour and a second bit of the Cuckoo clock plays a musical tune, with men that spin around on it.
Another thing is when the Fish and chip shop closes they have to turn off the Cuckoo clock; because people who live in the flat have said that the clock can wake them up. So Diane turns it off so they can get their sleep.
We have been in to see the clock and we like to watch it go off.

By James Conlon 08.02.2008.

2008-03-07T02:18:00.000-08:00

Research into foreign language learning

In 2004 a report by the Michel Thomas Language Centre in Britain suggested that speaking a second language could increase an average worker's salary by £3,000 a year or £145,000 in a lifetime. Further results showed that nine out of 10 British companies thought their businesses could benefit from better language skills. Studies show that a person that is bilingual or multilingual can make a greater salary than a computer programmer or engineer because they can use their abilities in foreign language to obtain success in any career they desire. Also due to the increase of international population, a multilingual can easily communicate and translate to perspective viewers.

Also in 2004, a study by University College London (UCL) examined the brains of 105 people who could speak more than one language. The study found that people who learned a second language when younger had denser grey matter than those who learned one later. Grey matter is the part of the brain where information is processed.

Other research has shown that early exposure to a second language increases divergent thinking strategies, helping not only in language-related tasks, but also in areas such as math. Children early on have different ways of expressing themselves, such that they better understand there is more than one way to look at a problem and that there is more than one solution.

by Ben Lindley

Las Vegas USA Part 2

2008-02-29T02:21:00.000-08:00

USA PART 2

LAS VEGAS (USA) PART 2

We went on American Airways the aeroplane takes you all around America and it’s got air conditioning. At 3:50pm we arrived in Las Vegas we caught the bus and the outside temperature was 110 degrees it was boiling hot.
We stayed in the Luxor Hotel it has 4,000 rooms, and four lifts we were on floor number 17.

At 6.00pm we walked around the other hotels we went to Excalibur and MGM Studios. In the Excalibur we went to a restaurant I had a bacon vegetable, chicken, cheese burger and my mom asked for the burger without fries the waitress was surprised because she never had an order without fries and one burger on its own. I didn’t realise they serve so much junk food in America I enjoyed the lunch it was lovely.

We went to see Legend In Concert it’s where people dress up like ‘Ray Charles, Tom Jones, Janet Jackson, Ricky Martin and Elvis Presley.’ Elvis came to Las Vegas back in 1969. I took a photo of mom with Elvis & Ray Charles.
Going back to Luxor we saw the water dance at the Bellagio Hotel next to Caesars Palace. We relaxed back in the Luxor Hotel.

Charles Ponzi (1882 – 1949)
By his own account, Ponzi arrived in the United States in 1903 with two dollars and fifty cents in his pocket, having gambled away the rest of his life savings during the voyage. He quickly learned English and spent the next few years doing odd jobs along the East Coast, eventually taking a job as a dishwasher in a restaurant, where he slept on the floor. He managed to work his way up to the position of waiter, but was fired for shortchanging the customers and theft.
In 1907 Ponzi moved to Montreal, Canada, and became an assistant teller in the newly opened Banco Zarossi, a bank started by Luigi "Louis" Zarossi to service the influx of Italian immigrants arriving in the city. Zarossi paid 6% interest, double the going rate, on bank accounts, and was growing rapidly as a result. Ponzi found out that the bank was in serious financial trouble because of bad real estate loans, and that Zarossi was funding the interest payments not through profit on investments, but by using money deposited in newly opened accounts. The bank eventually failed and Zarossi fled to Mexico with a large portion of the bank's money.
Ponzi stayed in Montreal and, for some time, lived at Zarossi's house helping the man's abandoned family while planning to return to the United States and start over. As Ponzi was penniless, this proved to be very difficult. Eventually he walked into the offices of a former Zarossi customer and, finding no one there, wrote himself a check for $423.58 in a checkbook he found, forging the signature of a director of the company. Confronted by police who had taken note of his large expenditures just after the forged check was cashed, Ponzi held out his hands wrist up and said "I'm guilty." He ended up spending three years in a Quebec prison as Inmate # 6660. Rather than inform his mother of this development, he posted her a letter stating that he had found a job as a "special assistant" to a prison warden.
After his release in 1911 he decided to return to the United States, but got involved in a scheme to smuggle Italian illegal immigrants across the border. He was caught and spent two years in an Atlanta prison. Here he became a translator for the warden, who was intercepting letters from a famous mobster, Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo. Ponzi ended up befriending Lupo, but it was another prisoner who became a true role model to Ponzi; Charles Morse convinced doctors he was dying by eating soap shavings, and was released early.

We went to aquarium to look around the fishes then a lady gave us some headphones to use to listen the creatures from under water like sharks, piranhas, electric eels, crocodiles and fishes.
We were moved to go to the Heli USA.
We were waiting for the bus but it didn’t arrived at 3:30pm it was arrived at 5pm I was nervous about helicopters in the station they were showing a video of about helicopter goes to the Grand Canyon there was an American Indian praying something about the hills.
In the HELI USA I was very scared and stressed but when we up high for 3 minutes I was fine.
Some of photos my mom took were we in the helicopter.
· A view of Lake Mead
· Marina on Lake Mead not far from where Celine Dion lives
· A desert Lake Mead
· The Hoover Dam
· The Helicopter Captain
· The rocky terrain
· Welcome To Grand Canyon

In the returning traveling back to Las Vegas the captain put some songs like “Vangelis – Chariots of Fire, Huey Lewis and the News – Back in Time, Van Halen – Jump & Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - Also Sprach Zarathustra (Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey)”

MGM Grand

Lion Habitat attraction at the MGM Grand

Planet Hollywood

Harrah’s Hotel, The Mirage Hotel, Caesar’s Hotel (Bellagio)

Dolphin Painting Gallery In Bellagio

King Atlas Story Show

In the river gardens In Mirage Hotel we went to see some dolphins then this girl she is talking about the Dolphins history then in downstairs we looked in the glass under water.
I had a drink of Diet Coke then we saw the next pool we saw a Dolphin and a baby Dolphin.
In the gardens there are some White Tiger and a White Lion

The Venetian Hotel

Treasure Island Hotel

Evening Show – Sirens of Treasure Island

A Half an Hour Show

What it is about there are two ships one for boys and for girls but the girls came in first the this guy went up the girls ship to find treasure then the girls tied him up then some boys ship wanted the guy back and they wont the treasure a guy dresses up as a parrot its like a cheeky show.

THE END

Frog Clock

2008-02-29T02:20:00.000-08:00

Frog Clock

At the Milton Keynes City Centre there is a Frog Clock in the Shopping Centre.

When the big hand gets to 12 o clock, it starts to move. The frog blow bubbles his eyes lights up and it plays a tune. There is a big fan comes up and starts to play music.

I've been to see it with my Mum, Martin and my Nanny. I've been to see it go off about 6 times.

The Frog Clock has been in Milton Keynes City Centre about 6 years

James Conlon 29.02.2008.

Cooking with Mike

2008-02-01T03:04:00.000-08:00

I have a cooking session with Mike and my group every Monday morning. I Write a shopping list with Mike listing what we need for the cook and eat session. We go down to Iceland to choose the food on the shopping list. Before I start making the food I always wash my hands and put an apron on. If I had spaghetti hoops for lunch I know how to take the tin off and put it straight in the bin because its sharp.

I heat the food up I chill out while it cooks then I enjoy my lunch! After lunch I need to wash up.

James Conlon 01.02.2008.

The Electric Chair Barber Shop

2008-02-01T02:27:00.000-08:00

I go to the Barber Shop to have my hair cut when it has got too long. I go to the Electric Chair Barber Shop on Porchester Road in Nottingham. The Barber Shop is called The Electric Chair as a joke and it makes people laugh.

The hair dresser man is called Julian and he’s been there about 9 years. I have had my hair cut by him for about 8 years.

Julian is a nice man and cuts my hair for me and he always does a good job.

By James Conlon 01.02.2008.

2008-01-25T03:08:00.000-08:00

Baptist Church

I go to see the Baptist Church where my dad is working.

Me and my Dad went on Saturday to see what work had been done.

The roof has not been finished, neither had the windows. this building work is taking a long time.

I sometimes have a bit of fun with my Dad, I tell him to get on with it! because I like to pretend to be a boss. We have a cabin outside the church for the workmen to use. We make cups of tea and have our break in there. I go in the cabin to be in charge of the workmen, I really enjoy doing this.

Coconuts By Scott Mackenzie

2008-01-18T02:09:00.000-08:00

Coconuts are fruit that come from trees in the heart of the tropics. They have a hairy brown coat on the outside and a luscious white juicey surface on the inside. They contain mouthwatering milk inside. The fruit can even be used to make a chocolate bar called Bounty. Coconuts can also be used to make exotic mothwatering meals.

Wood butchering - By Ben Lindley

2008-01-18T02:00:00.000-08:00

At home I cut and chop up wood for the open fire. At the bottom of the garden me and my Dad built a log shelter in the Easter holidays 2006, because there was a big pile of logs that were rotting away. The log shelter hasn’t got sides, its got supports that are made of square metal tubing and at the other end the roof is joined on to the garage.

Richard’s Holiday USA September 6 – 23 (2007)

2008-01-11T03:20:00.001-08:00

San Francisco

In the city tour went to the golden gate bridge where this place was filming a long time ago I was Standing on a step behind to the golden gate bridge it was freezing cold in the car park I was interested about the golden gate bridge.

In The Japanese gardens one of the Japanese lady’s weren’t speaking Japanese they were speaking American. I took a photo of the Buddhist Pagoda. Then I was standing on a bridge my mom took a photo of me and the Japanese Tea Room.

The Movie Tour in San Francisco:
Greed (1924)
Old San Francisco (1926)
Barbary Coast (1935)
San Francisco (1936)
After the Thin Man (1936)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Born to Kill (1947)
Dark Passage (1947)
I Remember Mama (1948)
D.O.A. (1950)
Vertigo (1958)
Experiment in Terror (1962)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
A Gathering of Eagles (1963)
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967)
Bullitt (1968)
Psych-Out (1968)
Dirty Harry (1971)
What's Up, Doc? (1972)
Play It Again, Sam (1972)
Magnum Force (1973)
Freebie and the Bean (1974)
The Conversation (1974)
The Enforcer (1976)
Foul Play (1977)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
48 Hrs. (1981)
Sudden Impact (1983)
A View to a Kill (1985)
Quicksilver (1986)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Burglar (1987)
Innerspace (1987)
The Dead Pool (1988)
The Presidio (1988)
The Joy Luck Club (1989)
Another 48 Hrs. (1990)
Pacific Heights (1990)
Basic Instinct (1992)
Kuffs (1992)
Sister Act (1992)
Mrs Doubtfire (1993)
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)
Golden Gate (film) (1994)
So I Married an Axe Murderer (1994)
Copycat (1995)
The Fan (1996)
The Rock (1996)
Metro (1997)
The Game (1997)
Dr. Dolittle (1998)
The Bachelor (film) (1999)
Bedazzled (2000)
Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)
Haiku Tunnel (2001)
Sweet November (2001)
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
Hulk (2003)
Sucker Free City (2004)
Twisted (2004)
Just Like Heaven (2005)
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (2005)
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Zodiac (2007)

In Pier 39 we were looking at the sea lions on the pier 39 boards my mom said to me “the sea lions have stolen the show.”

My mom took a photo of me of the big shark’s mouth behind the aquarium bay it was from the movie called “Jaws.”

On The street band they were performing like reggae music from Jamaica sometimes they want the tips.

In the bakery factory of French recipes they were baking sourdough bread it tastes like sour lemon flavour it is the favourite bread found in 1849.

Up above we were up at the top of the famous ‘Lombard Street’ this road goes down like spaghetti going down about left and right.

Next day we were on the ferry to go to “Alcatraz” the famous prison state same as like “San Quentin” it took us there about 15 minutes. My mom had a photo took of me of the lighthouse ruins inside the Alcatraz if you were arrested you have to put own clothes off and put a new black & white stripe outfit to put on.
We were wearing like Ipods to listen to personal cassettes like that American guy was narrating about the story one of these pictures of four inmates the names are Leon ‘Whitney’ Thompson, John Banner, James Quillen & Darwin Coon. My mom took a photo of me in prison and the outside prison. A picture of correctional officers were standing in the line was a retired chief called “Warden Johnston.”

Coming back to San Francisco I was hungry we went to this pizza place I had a XXL 16 inch pizza it was a mushroom chicken pizza the World’s biggest pizza in America.
We went on High Street Pier about histories of ships and we went up that street again with all these cable cars.

Near to “Fisherman’s Wharf” we went in a Black Limosine that took us to the airport to go to Las Vegas.

END OF SAN FRANCISCO

Fun at the baths by Captain Conlon

2008-01-11T02:31:00.000-08:00

I like swimming loads, I go swimming every Thursday.
When I go swimming I like to;
jump in the water and shout and scream loudly I make a big splash!

Squirting someone in the pool with a squirty fish I like to squirt Barry, Dave, Claire T, Debra and Vicky.

I like chasing people, I warn them " I'm coming to get you"
I swim after them and grab their feet.
I chase Claire T and Vicky.

I enjoy jumping in the water and wetting people.
I enjoy swimming under water with my goggles on and my nose clip.

I like swimming breast stroke I can swim 4 lengths.

By James Conlon 11.01.2008.

New Years Resolutions By Richard Moody

2008-01-11T02:28:00.000-08:00

To help my mum make the bed
To go to Cineworld Sheffield Cinema everyweek
To go to New York City The Big Apple In America or Dubai in the United Arab Emirates
To cook a little bit
To go on YouTube - Broadcast Yourself at home and college
To go shopping with mum
To share the money with mum to go and see "The Buddy Holly Show" in London

My New Years Resolutions By James Conlon

2008-01-11T02:25:00.000-08:00

To keep helping with my Mum with the cleaning.
I like watching TV and make sure I watch the Bill.
I like to go before the Christmas holidays to the Victoria Centre.

New years resolutions by Ben Lindley

2008-01-11T02:14:00.000-08:00

To help my Mum cook at least once a week.

2007-12-07T02:14:00.000-08:00

80s music by Ben Lindley

I like to tap the rhythm with my hands and I like to sing under my breath. I also do my own percussion sounds with my mouth using my tongue, to imitate the beat and the sound of the singer’s voice so it sound like a tape or a CD playing. I enjoy it very much as I always have a smile on my face.

The band members began as mates who knew each other from various colleges and school across Birmingham. Before any of them could play their instruments Ali Campbell and Brian Travers traveled around Birmingham promoting the band, putting up UB40 posters The band purchased its first instruments with £4,000 in compensation money that Campbell, who would become the lead singer, received after a bar fight during his 17th birthday celebration. I like this band because I like the rhythm in their music.

The Human League are an award winning, Grammy nominated British synthpop /New Wave band formed in 1977 who, after a key change in line up, achieved great popularity in the 1980s. They have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1990s, 2000s up to the present day. I like the human league because I like the songs. My favourite songs are; Together in electric dreams. Don’t you want me baby?

2007-11-30T02:28:00.000-08:00

80’s Music

I love 80s music because I used to listen to it when I was a little kid and it reminds me of happy times. I love all the music made between 1980-1989 like every single no 1s. I like singers such as Human League, Duran Duran, Talk Talk, Madonna, Queen, Adam and the ants, Thompson Twins and David Bowie.
One of my favourite songs is Lets Dance by David Bowie because I heard it lots of times. I now listen to 80’s music on a television and radio and you tube.
You tube is great because I see the videos as well as the music. I download music from the internet on website like limewire instead of going to the shop.

In early 1997, music journalist Martin Hennessy started publishing an email newsletter called the Las Vegas 80's Nuts to friends to keep them up to date about music news. The newsletter dropped the "Las Vegas" in 2000 when a majority of the subscribers weren't from the city and many international readers signed up. The change also moved to eGroups (which would be purchased by Launch.com) entering their second decade of publication.
Duran Duran are an English pop group notable for a long series of popular singles and vivid music videos. They were the most commercially successful of the New Romantic bands and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States. During the past three decades they have placed 21 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 and 30 in the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, and have sold more than 85 million records.[1]

a-ha is a Grammy Award-nominated band from Norway. They are the best selling Norwegian band worldwide with a total of 75 million albums and singles sold (approximately sixteen times the entire Norwegian population). They rose to fame during the 1980s, but continued to be globally successful in the 1990s and 2000s. The trio, composed of lead vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (Pål Waaktaar until his marriage in 1994) and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, formed in 1982 and left Norway for London in order to make a career in the music business.

Paul Antony Young (born 17 January 1956) is an English pop musician. He is not to be confused with the late singer Paul Young who was in Sad Café and Mike & The Mechanics.
Paul was born in Luton, England. He has an older brother Mark and a younger sister Joanne. After school, he went to work at the Vauxhall Motors factory and in his spare time played in several bands as bass guitarist. The first group for which he became lead singer was Kat Kool & The Kool Kats. In the 1970s he joined the Streetband, who had one Top 40 hit in the UK with the humorous track "Toast", reaching No. 18 in 1978.

Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. (born June 20, 1949), professionally known as Lionel Richie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor who has sold over 100 million records.

Madonna is a contraction of an Italian phrase meaning "My Lady".
Madonna may refer to:
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Madonna (art), a portrait of Mary
Madonna and Child, portraits of Mary and the infant Christ
Madonna (entertainer), an American singer and actress
Madonna (Madonna album)
Madonna (Trail of Dead album)
Madonna (Edvard Munch), a painting by Edvard Munch
Madonna (skateboarding trick)

By James Conlon

2007-11-27T06:14:00.000-08:00

Scott MacKenzie

Music

Music is a philosophy of sound, pleasure and entertainment. It combines mind and manner with pure confidence.
Several forms of music exits including Country music, R & B, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Pop music, Heavy Metal and Classic Jazz.
Musicals are quite special as well where classic stories were interpreted by remarking songs.
Once there was a time that ancient music consisted of pure notes written on traditional rice paper.
Several Composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Milenkos, James Brown, Tim Rice, John Williams, Ron Kristy, Kenny G, Phil Round, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Harry Dracre, Scott Bradley, Elmer Bernstein and Gustav Holzst have contributed to the most spectacular vision of pure musical entertainment.
With some thoughts in mind, music could be played in distant areas across the globe, even in stormy deserts.
Music is always full of pride and possibility to the high standards of the human ear.

2007-11-27T06:01:00.000-08:00

Pets

Mike is my Tutor he’s got a cat named Ralph. He’s black and white he is a killer cat he kills pigeons, Butterflies, mice and birds.

Kate is my Tutor she’s got a cat named Malo. She’s Tortoiseshell, she does rolly pollys all over her floor. Malo stays in because she does not like helicopter noises, when she heard one she ran straight back in and hid under the bed.

Kelly is a Learner Support she’s got two cats named Duke and Kiki. They play together like kittens do they like fighting and stuff like that. Duke kills mice and brings it in Kelly’s house and shows it her - Kelly was not happy.

Marie is a manager she’s got a cat named fudge he’s ginger. He is a great cat, he eats too much, he has grown into a big cat like Ginger.

Gabrielle is a manager she’s got a cat named Cilla. She’s Black and she is friendly sometimes but not always. Sometimes she scratches. Gabrielle calls her Cilla because she’s Black like Cilla Black when she used to be on Surprise Surprise and Blind Date.

By James Conlon

2007-11-27T05:57:00.000-08:00

Swimming

I like swimming underwater with my goggles because I like to able to see under water and like leisure centres with wave machines/ water flumes/ and whirlpool. In Doncaster were I come from there’s a leisure centre called the Dome it hasn’t got a wave machine but its got water flume’s an outdoor swimming pool and rain machine, the rain machine is a certain of rain that comes down a bit like a monsoon. It’s not a bad place to visit.

By Ben Lindley