successors

And the new James Bond is none other than...Daniel Craig? At least that's what British tabloid, The Sun, reports. And just who is this Craig Daniel? A very good question, especially since we all know that you should never trust anyone with two first names. So, are we to trust him to faithfully portray 007? It seems he has played several effective british characters, and is in fact british himself, in films such as Sylvia, Elizabeth, and more recently in Layer Cake, and the Jacket - none of which I've seen, so I'm wholly in the dark right now. With any luck, the Sun is wrong, and the next Bond will be Clive Owen.

On the somewhat similar subject of european type things: Monaco's Prince Rainier III is dead at the age of 81. He was perhaps most famously known for bringing some hollywood glamor to the mediterranian principality of 32,000 when he married american actress, Grace Kelly. With his passing, I recall havingng spent many a weekend sneaking in, and subsequently getting kicked out of, various Monaco(n?) bars (there is a drinking age of 18 in the principality) with my high school buddies. On one such night/morning a friend & I found comfort in some park benches after getting split up from our group at some sorted nightclub. We were rudely awkened, and soon escorted to the french border, by some of Rainier's gendarmes. It feels almost as if the late prince once had some semblance of royal power over myself, however removed it may have been. And with that - long live Prince Albert II, the natural successor to the throne. Oh, and let's give a couple of shout outs to Princess Stephanie & Princess Carolyn as well.

-just say yes to another success, neph-