17 | March | 2012 | "DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!"

(thanks, ohwhatamindblast!)

OK, I know I haven’t been keeping you guys and gals up to date in terms of this feature, but that’s what happens when one tries the world domination thing – you end up with too much stuff on your plate and some things get dropped. Speaking of world domination and dropping things, this fun to watch James Bond pastiche from 1967 happened to pop into my head as a film I haven’t seen in ages that’s worth tracking down. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s great for a laugh or three and some excellent set pieces keep things quite cool. Even better, in terms of all the Bond spoofs on that landed in theaters during the period, it’s one of the more polished efforts.

Granted, Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond is NOT a spy, but an updated version of the classic British detective for the swingin’ 60’s set and thus, sure as heck looks and feels like a fun Bond knockoff. Richard Johnson ably plays Drummond as a Bond not so lite tough guy insurance investigator (that’s longhand for detective for hire) who’s good with his fists, pistols, a snappy quip or two and the ladies (not necessarily in that order). He’s put on the case of a dead oil company executive and soon finds out that there are some sexy female assassins (the drop-dead gorgeous Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina) and a mastermind behind the whole thing to deal with in his particular (albeit Bond-like) manner…

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OK, I needed a break from gaming for a tiny bit, so yesterday, I took a trip down to the Whitney Museum of American Art here in NYC to check out the 2012 Biennial. It was definitely interesting to see what’s been going on in the art scene since I hadn’t been to a decent museum in a while and over the past two weeks, I’d been to a few galleries in Brooklyn poking around to see what’s what (and finding some nice surprises). I was expecting a lot of contemporary art in the usual forms (painting, sculpture, film/video, et cetera), but after experiencing some engaging performance art (of the audience perception challenging kind, especially if you don’t “get” Jaques Tati and dislike nudity, even if it’s cleverly silk-screened on different articles of clothing), seeing a dance rehearsal work in progress (made up of dancers and non-dancers), an entire artist’s studio moved into the museum (with the artist included, happily interacting with attendees) and other stuff you’ll need to go see for yourself, I have to say my brain is cooked up pretty good.I feel like making soemthing arty, but I haven’t a clue just what yet…

A lot of other art there was a bit odd, but really interesting from a few perspectives. I’ll probably go back again next week (Friday after 6pm is a pay what you like admission) and maybe do the life drawing session, as it’s been ages since I drew anything from a live model and I’m supremely rusty. Or maybe I’ll stay home and play some more games, as I need to catch up on a few reviews as well as get through the pile of other stuff I’ve started this year. Speaking of reviews, yeah, the two I’m working on are late, but fear not. They’ll get done and posted over the weekend. Not today, though – I have one more arty stop to make, but it’s kind of game-related, too…