Skyfall premiere here we come!!

As many of you probably know from my exhaustive and often lengthy pieces on the true history of James Bond one William Stephenson of turn of the 20th century Winnipeg that I am both a Winnipeg booster and a James Bond 007 fanatic.  I have been to pretty much every opening night of the Bond saga that I could crawl to since I was a teenager growing up in Fort Frances, Ontario.

Well I am happy to say that the latest James Bond production Skyfall will be no different and even a bit better as Darlene and I will be attending the Winnipeg premiere courtesy of the Winnipeg Free Press.

Free Press movie reviewer Randall King recently published a Bond trivia challenge in the pages of the weekend edition of the Winnipeg Free Press and I am the happy winner of that competition.

Even though I am a geek of some long-standing, I must freely admit that I found the questions very challenging.  I first probed my mind for the easy questions, the song whistled by the janitor in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (the theme from Goldfinger);  to the most obscure asking about James’ witty comeback lines and motivations for the femme fatale bond girls. YIKES!

In any event I must have scored well or been given extra points for showing my work, as I included not only the movie but also character names and actors names for all that I could uncover.  In all it probably took me longer than the movie to come up with the quiz answers but being able to count myself among the first in North America to see Skyfall is priceless.

PLUS as readers of my blog you all will get a great review on Thursday so you all can judge for yourselves if you want to plunk down some coin and see Daniel Craig as James Bond shoot up the silver screen in his 23rd film.

So stay tuned same Bond time, same Bond Channel people.

Here’s a taste to make sure you come back for more.

 

Related articles

• ‘Skyfall’ star Naomie Harris on joining the world of (and shaving) James Bond (insidemovies.ew.com)
• Skyfall premiere before Royals (bigpondnews.com)
• Product placement in pictures: Skyfall (brandsandfilms.com)
• SKYFALL Trailer 2012 – James Bond 007 Movie – Official [HD] (wealth-structuring.com)
• LISTEN: Adele’s Skyfall Song Is Here, In All Its Big, Brassy Glory (huffingtonpost.co.uk)
• Double O Seven (fakethemoment.wordpress.com)
• James Bond Skyfall Distressed Leather Jacket (unfinishedman.com)
• Get to Know the New Bond Girl: Bérénice Marlohe (fabsugar.com)
• Ben Whishaw on playing Q in Skyfall: ‘I don’t even have a computer’ (telegraph.co.uk)

 

Firing it up with Johnny Reid

Last night was one of those occasions where Dar and I had concert tickets for a show that I really could have passed on, but after seeing the show in person I am sure glad that I got to attend.  Johnny Reid, for those of you stuck under a rock somewhere, is one of those classic entertainers that just defies categorization.  He’s one part Johnny Cash, two parts Tom Jones with just a dash of Joe Cocker  and Joe Walsh thrown in for fun.  He’s not quite country, he’s not quite a crooner and definitely not all the way rock and roll but a wild Scottish/Canadian hybrid all of his own design. One thing is for sure though he’s one hard working man on a mission to make sure that every dollar spent in his name is one that he’s earned to the full.

The night opened with Canadian country songstress Carolyn Dawn Johnson doing a bare bones acoustic set.  Her haunting lyrics and country philosophies speak to a life lived in search of love and family.  The set really did showcase her singing, basically it was her and a backup steel guitar player and a room full of eager ears.

Carolyn Dawn Johnson

After a short intermission the houselights came down and Darlene and I were expecting another opening act but the booming horn section and pounding bass drum could only signal the arrival of Mr. Johnny Reid.   The opening strains of Let’s Have a Party washed over the overwhelmingly over 40 crowd and got the audience dancing in their chairs if not in the aisles.   At the end of the opening number pyro blasts boomed and confetti and streamer cannons let loose with a torrent of shiny red and gold party favors.  Johnny said let’s have a party and apparently he meant it!

Johnny Reid with the band.