I read this because I have a vague long-term goal to watch all the Bond films in order, and thought this could be a bit of a quick-start guide. It does fulfil that role, although it is also a bit snobbish in repeating the fact that the books are better than the films. I also want to read the books too, so that was not necessarily a bad thing.

Loved it! All the subtle James Bond references, all the 50th anniversary nods, they were all brilliant. The story itself was a heck of a lot easier to follow than those in previous instances, and it was great to see a bit more character out of, well, everyone. I didn’t notice that it was so long, the time seemed to fly by. I almost felt as though this is the James Bond we should have had straight away from Craig, it was a bit less camp than Brosnan but just as cheesy at times. However, I can see that they needed some serious ones to go first to set the character on his own path. Loved Ben Whishaw, as well.

With the Olympics taking over everything, I thought I’d spare five minutes to note down some thoughts on what I’ve seen so far. These are just scrabbled notes, not arranged in much of an order, Opening Ceremony Highlights Rowan Atkinson’s moment of glory was fabulous. The ability of one man to captivate what turned out to be an audience made up of 26 million is so good. I’m sure there are people that don’t and didn’t like him, but I thought it was perfect. Likewise, giving Tim Berners-Lee centre stage was one of the top moments for me. We watched and commented the opening ceremony over on Sidepodcast which increased the experience ten-fold, and it wasn’t lost on us that without TBL, we wouldn’t have been able to do that. “This is for everyone!” The chimneys! There were plenty of moments where we scratched our heads wondering how it had been done, but the chimneys came out of the ground so smoothly, it was genius to watch. Kenneth Branagh’s slightly smug and proudly happy smile as he watched those Olympic rings being forged - something tells me there wasn’t much acting going on there, and it gave a bit of a warm glow inside. The Queen! HRH gained herself a lot of respect with the James Bond sketch. Lighting the flame. I wasn’t particularly bothered who got to do it, I hadn’t actually realised that was such a big deal. So I wasn’t moved or disappointed when it was the seven youngsters. It was still captivating to watch, and the moment all the individual flames came together to become one giant roaring fire was glorious. Opening Ceremony Lowlights It was quite long! I had to go bed late for the second day in a row, and I am too old for such things! Dizzee Rascal. I know not all of it was going to be to everyone’s tastes, and I’m fine with the vast array of stuff that was on display. I’m even fine with Dizzee getting some air-time, but did it have to be Bonkers? I hate that song so much. The gold armpits on the Team GB suits. Really, really bad. No wonder Stella McCartney distanced herself from them. Although I have my own issues with the team kits that she designed anyway. No Brian May. Or Brian Blessed. Actually, there was a distinct lack of Brians throughout. Days 1-5 Highlights Falling in love with athletes all over again. I tend to forget from one event to the next, but already I’ve become attached to Hannah Miley and Jennifer Pinches. I’m also desperate for Beth Tweddle to win that bars final but part of me is dreading the day actually arriving. That moment you finally win gold. I commented this on Sidepodcast at the time - whilst it must be nice to be like China and the US, racking up medals all the time, there’s something to be said for less is more. That buzz in the office when we found out about our first 2012 gold in the rowing… priceless. The overflowing Twitter feeds. I was just starting to put into place a system where I could catch up with my timeline and not miss anything, but I’ve had to throw that out the window. It’s great though, lots of updates and fab people to follow. So much choice! There is always something to watch, never a dull moment. I spent the entire weekend in front of the TV and could have kept that up all week too. Curses at having to go to work. Princes in the audience. I spotted Princes Wills and Harry in the audience when we got silver in the gymnastics (quickly demoted to bronze) and then silver in the horsey stuff. They are silver lucky for us! Learning about all different kinds of sports and enjoying them with the live comments. If you have any spare time over the next week or so, you should join in. It makes things heaps more interesting and plenty more fun! Days 1-5 Lowlights Finding out hockey is quite such a brutal sport. People keep getting carried off in stretchers and the Team GB women’s captain had to have surgery on her jaw. Now I feel like we got off lightly at school. Not managing to make it through the catch-up stream of the women’s gymnastics team final before they put up a lengthy highlights package on the TV anyway. Not so much from a spoilers point of view, but just because by then it was like… argh, give it up. Watch the highlights. Move on! Not comprehending the road cycling race with it’s peleton that I kept on referring to as a pelican. Still frustrated by it.

I’m sure you’ve all seen this by now, but the teaser trailer for the new James Bond looks gooood. Whilst I appreciate these new James Bond films for what they are, part of me does miss the silly Pierce Brosnan ones. Die Another Day was on TV yesterday and I didn’t get to see it but I wanted to. That was one of the few DVD’s I owned and I used to watch it over and over. Pretty Halle, crazy Madonna, silly Pierce and driving fancy cars around a melting ice palace. What more do you need in life?

Oh, so much better than the first one. All the action - perhaps even slightly too much action - but no drawn out gaps with little story. My worries about the standalone story didn’t seem to matter too much - I suspect you could get the gist of what was happening without having seen the previous film. They also left the door open for the story to run and run, although I think the studio troubles may have put pay to that.

Started out great, building up the character as the off-hand, rogue and independent Bond, with the great naivety of a new double oh. The airport stuff was brilliant. Then it all went a bit wrong.

Stuntman hurt in Bond car crash What is going on out there?

Ovation for Darius’s Rhett Butler I didn’t know this was what he’s doing now. A step up from Popstars, eh? Still, if the critics hate it, it’s bound to be good. McDonald’s savours designer look Wow. How much do I want a scarf with a big fat M on it? Driver fined for Bond car crash Right, sorry, isn’t he a stunt driver? How can it be dangerous driving when it’s his job?

… Believe me, there is nothing, and I mean nothing, more boring than people wanting to describe their dreams to you … Trust me on this, it kills relationships stone dead. The day one partner wakes up and starts saying ‘It was amazing, there was this rabbit in a bowler hat cooking an omelette…’ that’s when love dies. Scaramouche, We Will Rock You But, I’m going to anyway. Just in time for the weekend, I woke up on Friday morning with an intense sore throat. You know what that means? A cold coming. And, as expected, throughout the day, my nose got snifflier and sorer and sneezier. I hate the feeling of knowing that I’m gonna get sick and there’s nothing I can do about it. Anyway, I don’t actually feel too bad, a bit woozy, but it’s mostly my nose that’s stuffed up. This, of course, results in a lack of ability to breath, which results in a lack of sleep. Or bizarre dream-filled sleep. So, here you go.

Well, I’m snuggled under a duvet, with a mug of hot orange squash (was anyone else brought up with that as the staple hot drink to recover from a cold?), and half watching my favourite James Bond movie. I know, I know, I should be in bed, but sleep rarely finds me in the middle of the day and if I go there, I’m only going to lie down and fidget and sigh and get a headache, so I might as well be being productive, right? Of course, if that theory is true then there’s not really a good reason why I can’t be at work, but as I attempted to go in this morning and got a little scared by the dizziness and the hot and cold flushes, I thought it best to come home.

Today I watched James Bond - one that I haven’t seen for ages. It’s such an institution, it always cheers me up. Yesterday, I wrote a lot of notes for the software testing that I learnt and I also started a new book on UML. My hands are hurting from too much writing! I’ve been a little obsessed with bid-up.tv the last couple of days, it really draws me in. My favourite auctioneer is Peter Simon - he used to be on kids tv!

We went to see the James Bond film yesterday, I really enjoyed it! I know it’s been around for a while, we were going to see it before but somehow never got round to it. It is good though, and Halle Berry, she has perfect skin.