The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[English Agent]

Buonasera

'Bocelli' eh!, never heard of him, or is it some sort of food poisoining?

Silvio Berlusconi......now we all know him in the UK.........he's a naughty boy isn't he?
Do Italians like him?

Italy, brilliant place to visit, been several times and will probably go there cycling sometime during the summer.

Its true about Tuscany, everyone mentions that region when talking about holidays, i.e Pisa, Siena etc.
Strangely enough thats one region i havn't been to!

Many Brits like to go to the Amalfi coast for their hols in Italy.

X-factor, oh my god, its fun at times to see the awful acts, but its taken over weekend evening TV during autumn in the UK, and has become all too much.

EA
ciao adesso

[Alessandra]

Mmmm,Italian food. I almost want to throw up when I see ads for places like Olive Garden.Their food always looks so nasty, to say nothing of having *no* nutritional value whatsoever.I'm part Italian and could make a meal that runs circles around places like Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill.

I am certain you can cook a perfectly good Italian meal, Katie. And for sure way better than Olive Garden I saw an ad on TV (I have online payment services to watch US tv online) for Olive Garden, the same one quite a few times and I was That stuff looked NASTY and NOTHING that would ever and I mean EVER be served in an Italian restaurant, let alone an Italian home!

BJ, I have actually been mentioned the Becco place before and I have had a look at the menu before and it isn't horrid. It's not a place I would go to given the choice, I would pick other places, but it is most definitely not horrid. That woman is an absolute nobody here but that doesn't mean her restaurant can't have an at least decent menu One of the places I love in NYC is Fig & Olive Oil. It's mediterranean rather than just Italian, but they serve VERY good Italian stuff like bresaola, prosciutto di Parma etc. Very good and varied menu and a decent selection of wines, too. I prefer the one in the Meat Packing district, as it's got a nice crowd and music throughout the evening, but there are I think another couple, one is near Saks Fifth Avenue and I've had lunch at it with a friend, nice too but much smaller than the Meat Packing district one. Then of course there are the gourmet Italian restaurants, those are a whole different level. One of the most famous Italian restaurants in NYC, San Domenico, just opened a "hipper" version of their restaurant at Madison Square Park. It's called. It's called SD26 (LOL makes me laugh that it's almost like SD-6, the evil people in Alias). I think this new one is actually better than the original one in some way because it has a more modern menu... the big problem with most Italian restaurants in NYC is that they do not serve what you would eat in an actual Italian restaurant now, their menus are so outdated and only offer menus that not even my grandmother would cook. As in very old, heavier dishes that people hardly eat anymore, or really really traditional ones, that, again, would never be served in good restaurants here in Italy. Anyhow if you want very good food, hip environment, nice, stylish crowd then I'd definitely go to Fig & Olive in the Meat Packing district. It's really good and it offers a nice variety of Italian/French/Spanish contemporary cuisine.

EA: Amalfi coast is BEAUTIFUL and it's one of the places where I've had the best food ever. And if I say so, trust me it means it was AMAZING. I am extremely fond of seafood and pasta with seafood so that was paradise! I stayed there for three days when Italy was playing Davis Cup against Spain about 5 years ago. I had breakfast in the morning on a marble terrace LITERALLY over the sea/beach, with lemon trees on it. And they had local tangerine/orange/lemon jam which was simply delicious (it's a specialty of the area). Of course I always have tea and toast with marmelade/jam in the morning, like every good Britonized Italian Of course when given the chance I also have my croissant (rigorously with apricot jam filling), or a cappuccino mid-morning. But when I wake up and have breakfast, it MUST be tea (with milk) and toast.

Oh GOD, you had to mention the douchebag. Berlusconi, that is. The majority of completely IDIOTIC Italians is still being fooled by this IDIOT. I should say not really, since he gets 30% of the vote, but his coalition thanks to the, how can I say, CHEATING (of course) electoral law they approved gets like 60% of the seats in Parliament. Just don't get me started. A lot of people are finally opening their eyes after people like my family and friends have been preaching about what an effing CRIMINAL this guy is for years, and it took this prostitute scandal. Unbelievable. I am just embarrassed... by everything he does and says. He puts the whole country to shame. Not that there have been many we have been proud of in terms of foreign policy, but at least they were DIGNIFIED people. Not clowns who offended any sense of public decency and decorum not to mention all our allies. And I'll leave it at that. The day can't come soon enough when we get rid of this douchebag. We've been dealing with him for FIFTEEN years. It is ridiculous. I swear, it only happens in this country. Hopefully, my work visa for the US will be ready before I have to endure much more of him.

[katied]

San Diego's only truly good Italian restaraunt is a place called Flippi's. The original location is in Little Italy(and it is little-only several city blocks, nothing like what they have in New York).When you walk in, they have a market with all sorts of food-you can buy cold cuts-salami,proscuitto, the like.You have to walk to back to get to the restaraunt. The food is kinda Americanized but it is delicious.

[bjmdds]

http://www.figandolive.com/wp-content/u ... acking.pdf What are your favorites here Ms. Bouvier, should I decide to peruse their establishment? The problem is their September 2010 restaurant inspection was not good. It was fine last month though, on followup. FIG AND OLIVE
420 WEST 13 STREET MANHATTAN 10014
212-924-1200
Score
5
As of 02/16/2011
More Information
Citywide Inspection Results
How We Score and Grade
Map
Map data ©2011 Google - Terms of Use
Map
Satellite
Hybrid

Street View

Inspections
Sanitary
Date Points
02/16/2011 5
09/01/2010 11
08/19/2010 17
10/07/2009 13
12/22/2008 0
Violations from 09/01/2010 Inspection
Tip! "Critical" violations are displayed in red.

Violation points: 11

Violations were cited in the following area(s).

Sanitary Violations
1) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
2) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.

[bjmdds]

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/rii/index.shtml When in New York City always look up the restaurant inspection reports on this website. Type in name of the restaurant and check all of their inspection results by dates shown over the last few years.

[Blowfeld]

The Sun has Anthony Hopkins as 'close to signing on' and no I don't believe it any more than the Al Pacino and Sean Connery rumours.

A source said: "The only stumbling block seems to be the number of films he is signing up for. There is a chance the character they want him to play could become a regular feature, like Blofeld back in the day."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... llain.html

[Kristatos]

The Sun has Anthony Hopkins as 'close to signing on' and no I don't believe it any more than the Al Pacino and Sean Connery rumours.

Again? Why do the same d**n rumours keep resurfacing for Bond film after Bond film? Can't they be bothered to make up new lies?

[Blowfeld]

The Sun has Anthony Hopkins as 'close to signing on' and no I don't believe it any more than the Al Pacino and Sean Connery rumours.

Again? Why do the same d**n rumours keep resurfacing for Bond film after Bond film? Can't they be bothered to make up new lies?

Good question. A lot of reasons I do not believe this, one of the considerations is Anthony is 73 going on 74 is a long term commitment to a movie series practical? I would like Anthony to be a Bond baddie, in a proper Bond movie. To me he narrowly avoided a mistake when he sidestepped TND. It was not a movie where his presence on screen would have been used to proper effect. I really think this is fan rubbish from a forum nobody is fact checking, probably becuase there is nothing going on so there is nobody to check with.

I was thinking the other day I would like Anthony as 'M', again in a proper Bond film, however he is only a few years younger than Judi.

[katied]

Anthony Hopkins is always being suggested to play M. While I am a *big* fan of Tones("Well Hello, Clarice!"),I seriously doubt this is true.

[bjmdds]

Hopkins as M, and Jackman as Bond! Samantha Bond as Moneypenny again, as Alessandra suggested, and pick a good Q. That's my combo!

[Mazer Rackham]

That Craig dummy must be in the chamber of horrors.

This one is even more terrifying.

Fleming would be horrified.

Anyone familiar with Trevor Howard?

[Kristatos]

Hopkins as M, and Jackman as Bond! Samantha Bond as Moneypenny again, as Alessandra suggested, and pick a good Q. That's my combo!

I wouldn't have a problem with John Cleese coming back as Q, provided he played it relatively straight and it wasn't just John Cleese playing John Cleese playing Q. When I say "relatively straight", I mean like Desmond Llewellyn - with a slight twinkle in his eye, perhaps, but not in full-on Basil Fawlty mode.

[Kristatos]

Anyone familiar with Trevor Howard?

Trevor Howard as a naval commander in Father Goose, made in 1964, the same year as Goldfinger:



I concur with Fleming's judgement.

[shaken not stirred]

That Craig dummy must be in the chamber of horrors.

This one is even more terrifying.

Fleming would be horrified.

The resemblance is uncanny .

[Alessandra]

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/rii/index.shtml When in New York City always look up the restaurant inspection reports on this website. Type in name of the restaurant and check all of their inspection results by dates shown over the last few years.

ha! I had no idea this site existed. I always found the place very clean, that said I'm glad they passed inspection now

Out of the menu, should you decide to peruse the premises BJ (I warmly recommend, it really is a good place to eat, I've eaten there various times) I LOVE quite a few of the crostini: the bresaola ones (but I replace goat cheese with mozzarella, I don't eat cheese other than mozzarella, robiolino or ricotta if it's raw and if it's cooked parmigiano mozzarella, scamorza), the prosciutto ones, the eggplant ones are delicious, so are the salmon ones (seen as I have eaten these, you can stay assured LOL I'm not just judging by the menu, I've actually HAD the stuff :mrgreen). The Salmon Ceviche is also good. The warm branzino carpaccio is divine. (Branzino is a fish). If you've never had Burrata, it's a special type of mozzarella from southern Italy and it is absolutely delicious. They have a fabulous Provence Vegetable and Burrata Platter as appetizer. Main: the Penne Mediterraneo are good but not sensational. The grilled fish dishes are basically all good. I had the grilled branzino with figs and balsamic vinegar and it was VERY good. And of course since I am an absolute lover of Paella (best one I've had was in Barcelona and in Formentera) I also had the Shrimp and Scallop Paella, that too is great. Also had very good steak last time I was there (about a year ago).

And, if you want to drink white wine, please don't have the super banal Pinot Grigio. Have a Vermentino instead (it's listed under the Chardonnay wines). It's a white wine from Sardinia, much more perfumed and fruity than Pinot Grigio (also stronger). It's a very good wine for fish meals, perfect for Paella, too! The funny thing about this, is I was at Fig&Olive about 4 years ago with a few friends, and one of them was British. She asked my advice on wine, since of course she would have gone for Pinot Grigio. I told her to have the Vermentino and she couldn't stop raving about it! AND, last year I read an article on a big Italian food magazine that said Vermentino mania had hit New York I laughed so hard, my mom said "this was YOUR doing, you started it!"

Now, back on topic

What is it with these Anthony Hopkins rumors? And, he's supposed to play a villain? Well great, he would definitely play a good villain! Too bad this is the usual recycled stuff, and too bad that EVERY single actor associated to the project so far ended up being a "oh no I'm not doing it".

Shaken: Day of the Dead well if Craig is a wax candle turned actor as BJ often says, surely this applies?

ETA: Blowfeld's avatar just scared me! I jumped!

[Mazer Rackham]

Anyone familiar with Trevor Howard?

Trevor Howard as a naval commander in Father Goose, made in 1964, the same year as Goldfinger:



I concur with Fleming's judgement.

He was McClory's choice for Bond in 1959, Fleming disagreed although his choice was only a year younger later he said Bond should be young unknown actor.

"I would be happier if the part could be given to a young, unknown actor, with established stars playing the other roles"
"I wonder how many people who follow the James Bond strip in the Daily Express would see Howard as that character. Not many, I bet"
There is the possibility of a CR, MR and The Diamond Smugglers screenplays written by Fleming in existence someplace.

[katied]

Daniel Craig's resemblence to the zombie from Day Of The Dead-and a wax dummy-are uncanny.

[bjmdds]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lumqCF2YU1g Cr-egg should pop out of this. Eon's yearly Board Of Directors dinner. Maybe Broccoli took lessons from Miss Crabtree on how to cast CR. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SMJj8tz ... re=related

[Alessandra]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lumqCF2YU1g Cr-egg should pop out of this. Eon's yearly Board Of Directors dinner. Maybe Broccoli took lessons from Miss Crabtree on how to cast CR. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SMJj8tz ... re=related

oh EW! Craig shouldn't be popping out of anything, especially not if it's on my screen!

[Omega]

Mazer are you the source of this Onion report?

James Bond in Libya
http://www.thespoof.com/news/magazine/j ... a_8706.htm