Saturday, July 08, 2017

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE

"She likes you.  I can see it." "I'd like to know the name of your oculist"--On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Last night was the History Meetup.  We talked about Canadian History and the dummies book, but there were just four people. (A fifth was in the Robarts Library but couldn't find us.) That wouldn't have been so bad, except that two of them got into a spat, and they both left! I wish one of them had stayed, at least.  But Ann did stay and we had a pretty good conversation. (She wrongly blamed herself for the spat.)

Today I went to Dawna's Regent Park screening and saw the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service for the first time. That's the one with George Lazenby as Bond, getting into a serious relationship with Diana Rigg, leading to a tragic wedding day. (Spoiler, like it wasn't predictable...) I ate potato chips for the first time in donkey's years!

It was one of the series' less popular entries, though Peter Hunt staged some good action scenes in the second half, including two ski chases.  When I was little, I looked at the poster and thought that Diana Rigg was "her Majesty"!

The China Mirage says a lot about China-born Henry Luce of Time magazine (the son of a missionary) and his favouritism toward Chiang Kai-shek.  I've always resented that magazine's tendentiousness and shameless promotion of favorites such as Nixon and Reagan.  One especially funny Time cover came after Nixon's resignation when they showed his successor Gerald Ford with the headline "The healing begins." (A note of wishful thinking there...)

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