Bland, James Bland & Celebrity Swag

I confess - I'm one of those 007 fanatics. Not just the films - I've actually read all the Ian Fleming books and my particular favourites were the ones featuring covers with the sexy girls posing on the larger than life guns. Some femi-nazi's took offense to that so they were yanked off the shelf.

I love the Bond films to the extent that I religiously attend the first screening on the day it is released. When I was in school, now in business, it doesn't matter -- I'll be there.

But back to the issue at hand - the casting of the new Bond or Bland, James Bland...

Sean Connery -- Starred in 6 films beginning with Dr. No. I know a lot of purists swear by Connery and for them he is the be all end all. I don't mind him but he's not my fav.

George Lazenby -- He starred in one film because he sucked so bad, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which totally sucks because that was the best book of them all.

Roger Moore -- He starred in 6 films beginning with Live and Let Die. Moore really captured the 1970's mentality. The debut film is disappointing to me because the book had such vivid and graphic incidents that were so sugar coated in the film -- case and point - in the book, Felix is strung up alive and eaten by sharks.

Timothy Dalton -- Starred in 2 films. A lot of people didn't care for Dalton but I liked him. He was a refreshing change because he was chivalrous but had a streak of brutality that made him more believable as a secret agent than Moore did.

Pierce Brosnan -- Starred in 4 films. I really like Brosnan in this role -- chivalrous, serious yet a hint of humor. I was so disappointed to hear he wasn't signed for a 5th round.

Daniel Craig -- I've yet to find ANYTHING positive written about Craig being cast as Bond. I really don't know what the hell the producers were thinking to have cast him. The situation is SO bad that there is even a web site set up to boycott the next Bond film by the die-hard fans -- you can find it at www.CraigNotBond.com

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In other mindless news, sometimes I really love the fact that I work in the media / celebrity world because of the swag.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, one of the definitions for swag is: Stolen property; loot. In the entertainment world -- it translates to making out like a bandit.

Von Dutch sends you apparel & sunglasses; 12 cases of Rockstar Energy Drink delivered to your personally, comped Nokia cell phones & unlimited airtime accounts, comped passes to a major Festival and comped passes for meals at Hooters -- and that's just in the past 7 days. Don't think that doesn't add up -- that's more than $470 just for the Rockstar.

Being in entertainment whether before the cameras or not, you actually save a small fortune while being able to have the coolest cutting edge stuff at no charge.