October 24, 2014

  • 'Limitless' Movie Has Wisedom

    bradlimit

    This article contains many spoilers about Limitless. See the movie first, then come back to this article.

    Our hero Eddie gets access to 100% of his brain by using a smart pill called NZT. He tells us via narration, "Everything I'd ever read, seen and heard was now organized and available."

    Us in the real world can't access that much brain power, but with Google Search, smart phones and some clarity of mind on our part, we can have tons of information ready to use, if only we make the decision to do so.

    "All fear and shyness was now gone," Eddie tells us. Yes, those are success blocks. But we don't need a pill to rid ourselves of those blocks. Classes, books, hypnosis or just diving into where we have to go, can start eliminating fears.

    After hooking up with higher caliber friends (his useless relationships are "better forgotten and put away in mothballs," he says) and going to Puerto Valletta, Eddie says,"Mere lounging wasn't enough."

    Yes, being a 'lounger' will not move us closer to what we really want. In that scene Eddie gets it: "Suddenly I knew what I needed to do. But it would take money to get there."

    Ah, money. Here's where we lose a lot of people. My success teacher Dr. Paul Mastrodakus once said: "I can announce a seminar that says this coffee pot is God and I'll get 100% sign up. But any seminar that has 'money' as the subject, people just don't seem to want." I wonder why? Maybe getting money sounds like work. But money, that symbol of energy, is a must in the real world to accomplish our goals and live our dreams.

    With increased brain power, Eddie apologizes to his ex-girlfriend saying, "My power for self sabotage wasn't boundless after all." He then asks her, "Why did you stay with me for so long?"

    When she asks when his book is coming out, he replies, "Next year," and then immediately asks her about her job. It seems our hero has got off of his own problems and is now giving out interest to other people.

    In the beginning of the film, when Eddie is standing on the ledge of the building ready to jump, he talks about "Wanting to make an impact on the world, instead of the pavement." When explaining his book in the bar, Eddie mentions a 'utopian society.' So we can guess that his final goal might be helping the world.

    When Eddie is accused of having 'delusions of grandeur' he retorts with, "I have an actual recipe for grandeur." Ah, a plan. Definite plans get definite results. Indefinite plans do not get 'indefinite results', they get NO results. Eddie says, "I wasn't high, I wasn't wired, I was clear. I knew what I needed to do, and how to do it."

    Notice the first thing that Eddie does once he's on NZT. He cleans up his 'base of operations,' his apartment. Where have you heard this before? Actually he first smoothes over his bad relationship with the landlord's wife and helps her write her law class paper. Eddie is a giver.

    Next as the 'enhanced Eddie', he gets a haircut, new clothes, exercises and starts learning; studying languages. Yes, sounds like the Rules Of Living the James Bond Lifestyle. He then finishes his novel in four days. This is possible without NTZ if you type 5 pages an hour,16 hours a day, for four days = 320 page book.

    Yes, all this can be done without the NZT.. It just might take a little longer to reach the success level that we want.

    Eddie says, "There are moments in your life when you cross a bridge and know that your old life is over." This can scare some of us as it gets us out of our comfort zone to accept a change, even a positive change. But if a new life means, not having to run to the bank in 100 degree weather, because my car is broken, to make a $20 deposit to cover my overdue electric bill, then I'll take that new life.

    And while a high level of success is necessary to express our true selves, Eddie cautions us with, "We are all wired to over reach. Look at history, all the countries that ruled the world. No one stopped and said, 'We've got France, Poland, a big Swiss bank account. Let's not invade Russia in the winter. Let's go home, pop a beer and live on the interest.'" Yes, better not fulfill the Peter Principle and rise to our level of our incompetence.

    We see that Eddie can access classic literature when he compares Robert DeNiro's energy customers to "Oliver Twist begging for his bowl of gruel." Not bad to have an understanding of a few classics under your belt.

    DeNiro makes a good point about earning your power by experience. He tells Eddie:

    "Your super intellect is a gift from God, but you didn't earn it because you're careless with your power, flashing it around like a trust fund child. You never had to earn it year by year. You don't know how to assess your competition because you never had to compete."

    Finally Eddie overcomes his challenges to get where he wants to go, the U.S. Senate. His next step will be the Presidency where he can accomplish the most good. However, the now evil and manipulative DeNiro wants to control Eddie so Eddie can pass laws to benefit DeNiro's various companies. But now Eddie has learned to compete and gets rid of DeNiro with verbal strategy. Eddie won't be corrupted.

    Leaving the theater, after watching Limitless, I heard a patron remark, "I wish I had that pill." To me it sounded like, "I'm not going to even try to 'enhance' myself' like Eddie. I want a free ride."

    In fact, even on NZT, Eddie worked hard, studied, exercised, worked on his finances and upgraded his appearance. Things anyone can do without NTZ.

    To me, real NZT is water, as 90% of the human brain is made of it. Just Google 'benefits of water' and see the 10 things water does for humans and how much more we should be drinking.

    In fact, it's Eddie's 'baptism' in water, after he dives into the ocean, where he realizes his real purpose in life, which seems to unfold as: Improve himself to the point of being able to serve others and make a positive difference in the world.

    Finally, like all success that we accept as ours, Eddie's success in now internalized and natural. When he speaks to a waiter in Chinese, his girlfriend looks at him in awe. Eddie turns to her, sees her expression and says, "What?"

    END -

    How to Live the James Bond Lifestyle - KINDLE - Read 30 sample pages.
    Also on iTUNES

  • Frank Sinatra Learns About True Friendship

    sinatra dimag

    In 1952 Frank Sinatra was down on his luck and singing to small
    audiences at Skinny D'Amato's club in. He planned to go to
    Africa to visit his wife, Ava Gardner, who was there filming the
    movie "Magambo" with Clark Gable. She had sent him the airfare,
    But Sinatra was broke.

    Seated at a lounge table with Joe DiMaggio and Skinny D'Amato,
    Frank asked the baseball legend for a thousand dollar loan so
    that he could buy Ava a gift.

    DiMaggio refused. When Sinatra was absent, DiMaggio said to
    D'Amato, "I never loan money to a has-been." D'Amato asked
    DiMaggio to loan it to him. Fiquring the powerful nightclub
    owner was good for it, DiMaggio gave D'Amato a thousand
    dollars. Later D'Amato gave it to Sinatra. Not loaned, gave.

    On top of that, D'Amato bought Sinatra a solid gold watch
    saying, "This is to remind you that you'll be back on top
    again. And bigger than before." When Sinatra became the most
    powerful man in Hollywood a few years later, he never forgot
    his loyal friend and performed every year at the 500 Club for
    free.

    This story has a lot of different things in it to examine. If
    you happen to be down on your luck now, or have a close friend
    that is in a slump, you can see:

    1 - The importance of a loyal friend.

    2 - The power of a new watch. (Whether you buy it or receive it
    as a gift).

    3 - The power of good words to a friend that needs encouragement.

    4 - The beginnings of Joe DiMaggio's well earned reputation as
    a cheapskate.

    5 - The paying back of help received in difficult times.

    Whether you're up or down, you help a friend or not, you're
    cheap or giving, you are always relating with people. And you
    are always either building or destroying a career, friendship,
    or reputation.

    * This Sinatra story was confirmed via Grace D'Amato's book,
    TV interview, and books on Sinatra and DiMaggio.

    This is an excerpt from How to Live the James Bond Lifestyle - KINDLE - Read 30 sample pages. http://amzn.to/wZ661f
    Also on iTUNES: http://itun.es/isB5XC

February 20, 2014

  • Boris Karloff's Work Ethic

    thriller

    Lessons from the monster.

    You know Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein monster in Universal Studios first three Frankenstein movies. You may know him from watching old Roger Corman movies, or as the host for TV's Thriller series, now on dvd.

    Karloff, was not only the host, but sometimes acted in the episodes. In the episode titled The Prediction, Karloff, age 75, was filming a scene where he was injured and lying in the road in the pouring rain. It would take hours to finish. The angle that Karloff was lying at was allowing the water running down the street, to go up his pant leg.

    The director said, "Boris, you should change your position so that the water doesn't run up your pants."

    Karloff asked, "What position is best for the camera?"

    The director said, "Well, that position you're now in, is best for the camera. But you can change position."

    "No, I can't," Karloff said. "This is my work."

    Another time on the set of Thriller, another director came up to Karloff and said, "You've been smiling all day long. What's up?"

    Karloff replied, "I'm 75 years old, and I love my work."

    Lesson learned for us James Bond Lifestyle agents:
    Try to find the work you love. If not, have the work ethic that Karloff had lying in the rain.

    More celebrity success examples can be found in How to Live the James Bond Lifestyle - Kindle. "Look Inside": http://goo.gl/IsNrU

    On iTunes: http://itun.es/isB5XC

December 10, 2012

  • My SKYFAll Japan Experience

    SKYfall poster  

    Contains spoilers. See the movie first.

          It's a cold and rainy December 1st in Japan; Skyfall opens today. The first show is sold out, but there are a few single seats for the noon show and I purchase one next to the wall, mid-way to the screen. Perfect for me, only one person to my right, never a slim girl, always a sumo wrestler.

    Skyfall starts off with a knowing twang and it's James Bond in a shadowed hallway walking into a lit close-up. I don't even notice that there isn’t a gun barrel opening. Bond is told by M to leave a wounded agent that he is helping, his first decision. He follows M’s orders.
    The motorcycle rooftop chase to the train is breathtaking with the intercutting of MI6 support adding tension and clarity. I know from the trailer that Bond will be shot and 'skyfall' off the train, but now “Take the bloody shot” has more meaning. I like the title song and the good title sequence makes me feel that I'm underwater with Bond. So far, so great.
    Next, Bond pushes a girl against the wall and starts kissing her, the first love scene. No, I'm wrong. It cuts fast to a shot of Bond deep in thought on the bed, not paying attention to the girl. This movie will be about thinking, not kissing and innuendos. Also, the obvious scenes of Bond washed ashore, doctor patching his wounds, meeting the girl are not shown. We're moving fast. This is different.
    There's aood scene of Bond in a bar having a drink with a scorpion. Now the story starts with both M and MI6 in trouble. Bond returns to his motherland to help his mother. I'll soon come to understand that M = mother.
    The middle of the story moves nicely. What impresses me is what is missing; no sudden gunshots from a henchman that starts that chase music for 'another chase'. Those were fun in the past, but this movie is -- what? Ah, it's real, I think. Missing also are the over-edited, quick-cut shots that hid the blurred action in Quantum of Solace. And the usual blaring music is more subtle and ominous, the photography more moody, yet clearer.
    Bond is ‘dead’, M is being pushed out of her job, so this is shaping up to be a story of Bond's “resurrection” as he puts it, and M’s survival, both professionally and physically. 
    Unlike Nietzsche's idea that 'Whatever does not kill you, makes you stronger', Bond is weaker from what didn't kill him. He has to retest his abilities to go on active duty. What's this? His hand trembles as he aims his pistol? He can't hit the target, even when he walks closer to it? If Bond doesn’t pass his tests, he’s out.
    This is a damaged, unshaven Bond who is struggling to keep up his indestructible and arrogant image. Later, we find out that Bond failed his tests, but M secretly passed him. Bond can't even pass basic spymenship, but I'm with him all the way because a few days earlier I did my spinning back-kick as briskly as ever, but it arrived at the bag much later than I expected. Bond and I are having the same problems.
    What is Skyfall anyway? Going in, I thought it was Bond falling out of the sky and into the water. But no, he's asked about Skyfall and Bond replies, 'Done." So it must be the code name from some operation like Thunderball was.
          It's suggested to Bond, "Why not stay dead? There's no shame in saying you've lost a step," by the same guy that wants to push M out of her job. This rings true to me because ever since high school there are always people who want you to quit, want to take over your space, and that continues into adult life, never stopping. I'm 100% on board for this Bond story about age, technology and returning to one's past for strength.
    My interest continues as Bond ends up on the island strapped to a chair with the villain Silva introduced in one continuous take. Silva tells a story of rats, his grandmother's advice, and that he and Bond will be the two remaining rats. We'll soon learn that Silva has a 'mother' that he wants to kill, namely M. "The two survivors. This is what she made us,” Silva tells Bond about M. “Mommy was very bad.”
    Bond shrugs off Silva's ‘romantic’ proposal with a "What makes you think this is my first time?" remark that is just a "can't scare me, 'cause I've done it all" attitude, not that he 'did it' in the past. And Bond is probably referring to being tied to a chair.
    Next Bond is forced to shoot a shot glass off the leading woman’s head using an old-style, inaccurate dueling pistol. It’s real suspense, rare in a Bond movie. We know Bond is now a bad shot, but he has a gun to his head. He aims wide, missing her on purpose. Silva shoots her. What? No, I think. She just fainted. But I'm wrong. She's dead. It’s a sickening death for me; she just quickly folds over as the rope holds her to the rock. The close-up of the shot glass hitting the ground is not so much an editing accent, but a death punctuation, because we can see the woman’s feet buckling under her dead weight.
    This is indeed a different Bond movie and Silva is a different villain. “What do you say to that?” Silva asks Bond about the brutal killing. Bond replies, “It’s a waste of good scotch.” It’s not the usual glib remark that we are used to in earlier Bond movies. No, Bond’s remark catches both the audience and Silva’s men off guard as he jumps into lightning fast action, shooting Silva’s men to death. The helicopters arrive to save Bond and capture Silva. In an instant, we forget the death of the girl, the story changes and we’re back in London, a brilliant piece of storytelling.
    Silva now gets to confront M for her betrayal of him. Silva was a MI6 agent left for dead. His story of torture and a painful suicide attempt gains my sympathy. I can’t believe that I have sympathy for a man that, just a few minutes earlier, sickened me with his casual attitude about killing a woman. This story is going deep into uncharted Bond waters.
    Silva escapes by using a subway train that almost lands on Bond. Wow, that looked real. There were no passengers, so we don't have to deal with another 'Knowing' subway massacre of citizens, so I enjoy the grandeur of the scene. It didn’t look CGI or even a model to me. Everything in Skyfall is looking real, and the characters are acting real. If this keeps up, the movie will transcend a Bond movie and be the best spy-thriller ever. But many great movies have fallen to pieces in the middle or blown it at the end.
    Next comes Bond racing to save M at a ministry meeting where she has to defend her actions. Is she going to be fired? Maybe worse, she might be killed. Now comes what seems to be the final wrap-up; Bond chasing Silva through the subways on his way to kill M, intercut with M at the ministry hearing. She is warned to leave, but starts quoting Tennyson, with the last line: Heroic hearts made weak by time and fate, but strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. I sit there loving this 'eye of the tiger' stuff.
    Suddenly, it occurs to me that M is not only getting too old to serve her Majesty's Secret Service, but too old to serve Bond movies, as well. The producers must have told the director, “No matter what, kill off M”. I'm right; Bond arrives too late to save her and she is shot and falls to the floor. No, wait. I'm wrong. She's not hit, but put into a car which speeds off. She's kidnapped. So that was Silva's plan. But I’m wrong again. It’s Bond driving the car. "Where are you taking me?" M asks him. Bond replies, “We’re going back in time." I know the movie won’t head into science fiction territory, but what does he mean? It sure has my interest. I thought the movie was over.
    However, the movie isn't over; it just felt over. Later, I would learn that this is the longest Bond movie ever. But as I sit watching it, I have no feeling of time. I never looked at my watch, only the screen in great interest for every capturing moment. The last time I thought a good movie had ended, was when watching Pulp Fiction. I thought the movie was over when Bruce Willis pulled out of the motel with the Outer Limits music playing. Very good I thought, but no, the best was yet to come. Travolta was alive again and the story of redemption started up anew. So now it's the same with Skyfall, and like Pulp Fiction, it would go into overdrive. Overdrive in fact, in the Goldfinger Aston Martin.
    I see the Aston Martin and let out a 'Wow'. Later, I would hear that audiences in America stood up and cheered. My audience in Japan sits there like an oil painting. These people must be hardcore Bond fans to come on the first day that is cold and rainy to see their hero in action. But there’s not a sound, no reaction.
    As for me, Skyfall has gone into overdrive with the DB5. I’m in love with Skyfall. But before that emotion can come to fullness, M, riding in the DB5, says, "It’s not really comfortable, is it?" Bond says, “Are you gonna complain the whole way?” and flips over the car's shift cap, revealing the red ejector button, which I know and love so well. Oh my God, he’s going to eject M, I think. "Oh, go on then, eject me. See if I care," she tells Bond. It’s the biggest laugh in Bond movie history and the audience remains silent. I try to control myself, but I start chuckling. The guy next to me turns to see if I pose any danger to him. Well, I tell myself, they have new theaters with state of the art projection and sound, but it's still Japan, and the Japanese are still Japanese.
    The city scenery shifts to Scotland with no one around but Bond, M and my favorite car. The damaged Bond, the old woman and the old car stand alone in the foggy hills bent on trying to stay alive. There is a pause as M mentions Bond’s past, a hint at what “Going back in time' means?
    Bond drives up to an old mansion on the moor and there I see Skyfall on the gate. No close-up, but it's clearly there. Ah, his old home, time travel back to his youth where we get some back-story on 007. I’m watching the Bond movie with the most meaningful title. So this is what the movie is about. And now, instead of Bond attacking the villain's fortress, as he usually does, this is the first time Bond has to defend a position, that being his own home, and with only basic weapons to do it. When Bond gets his hands on his father’s weapon (mythic), he’s a crack shot again.
    This is a great set-up for me. The setting evokes The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Wolfman with the prodigal son returning home, only this time it’s the prodigal 007. The movie has been perfect up to this point. I thought it was over and was satisfied. From now on, it’s all bonus story and action, no matter what happens. But I’m surprised again. The final encounter goes beyond ‘bonus’ territory, it goes into high Shakespearean drama with the attack of the Oedipus complex villain.
    Silva’s henchmen arrive for the final attack. Bond puts the Aston Martin into good use. The car is getting old too, but it can still get the job done with its double machine guns. All are killed in the final shootout. Once again, I’m wrong. Silva is not among the dead bodies.
    What? More bonuses coming? Yes, in the form of a helicopter blaring out The Animals’ song of 'Boom boom boom boom. Gonna shoot you right down. Take you in my arms. There is a close-up of the helicopter’s speaker on; I'm in love with you', a message to M. The theater reeks of Freud, shotguns, blood and fire. "Welcome to Scotland."
          Now we see Silva out there in the foggy cold with a bunch of killers he's hired, trying to kill his 'mother'. He yells out, “Everyone, listen to me. Don't you dare touch her! She's mine!” That’s what a guy yells out about the woman he wants to bed, not about the mother that he wants dead. And I had sympathy for this deranged guy? Doesn't he have anything better to do than to waste his time and life on this? He now becomes my favorite Bond villain, replacing Donald Grant and Rosa Klebb in from From Russia with Love.
    Klebb wanted power and position, Grant wanted to do the job, kill for fun and, oh yes, he loved gold sovereigns. But Silva just wants to cause pain to the mother that abandoned him. She did it to save others, but Silva isn't having any of that. Silva's 'brother' James Bond, the good son, understood M's 'take the shot' attitude to save others and got passed it. But not Silva, he wants his mother to “Think on your sins,” wants her to suffer before he kills her. The use of the word ‘sins’ will soon pay off in a church, where Silva says is the perfect place to end it all. This is a truly sick and damaged human. Silva scares me as I sit in the theater. The last villain that truly scared me was in Deliverance.
    Before the church scene happens, Bond looks out the window to see the Aston Martin blow up. He looks like he lost a friend, seems to get angry and lights the fuse that will destroy the home he ‘never liked’. It's Shakespeare mixed with Edgar Allan Poe. It's the House of Usher burning down, consuming the family secrets of incest. But in this case it's Silva's incest attitude about M. Thank God for Roger Corman. I never would have researched Poe in the 9th grade if it weren't for his movies.
    Skyfall is now seemingly coming to a close. Bond is 'baptized' again, this time in ice water. Silva still has another sick surprise for us when he puts his pistol into M’s bloody hand (Yes, I get it.) and says, “Free both of us. Free both of us, with the same bullet. Do it. Do it. Only you can do it. Do it.”
          Bond arrives in time to stop his mother's 'punishment for her sins' by stabbing his 'brother' in the back and is the 'last rat standing'. M doesn't die in some spectacular fashion, as she might have if this had been a regular Bond movie, this is more realistic. Thanks to Bond, M has a peaceful death from wounds incurred on the job. Thusly, her death evokes feelings from me, both as M dies, and actress Judi Dench leaves the series. I’m sitting in the theater thinking, “This is not only the best Bond movie, this is the best spy-thriller movie ever made.”
    Now comes the cool shot of Bond on the MI6 roof top. I feel like something is going to happen. It can’t be another action scene, but it can’t end up here on the roof either. I have no idea what it will be, or if it will be.
    The woman that had backed up Bond in from the first scene has had enough of field work. She turns out to be named Eve Moneypenny, who takes her destined place behind her desk in the new M’s office. M asks Bond, "Are you ready to get back to work?" Bond replies, “With pleasure M, with pleasure.” And then the classic image of Bond in the gun barrel shot comes up. Fantastic. I'm in heaven. I want to stand and cheer, but I have to go along with my audience, so I sit there like I'm posing for the fifth position on Mt. Rushmore as the credits play.
    However, I leave the theater extremely excited and empowered. Hell yes, I’m ready to get back to work, too. I’m ready to finish off some tough projects that I started, ready to get my spinning back-kick up to speed.
    I don't rank things that I love, but I know that when it's summer and my blood is up and ready to hit the road for some adventure, I'll fire up my Blu-ray of Casino Royale. However, whenever it's a damp, drizzly November in my soul, I'll put in my disk of Skyfall, so I can be resurrected.

October 18, 2012

  • Schwarzenegger's Money Lesson

    arnold james Arnold's Money Lesson

    Arnold Schwarzenegger had his first lunch meeting for the first Terminator movie with director James Cameron and producers Gale Ann Hurd and John Daly.

    In his memoir Total Recall Schwarzenegger said:

    "At that kind of meeting the actor never pays. But when the check came, it was like a comedy with all three of them searching for money. None of them could pay, so I paid and they were very embarrassed. After having to borrow money once from Maria, I never leave the house without a thousand dollars in cash and an unlimited credit card."

    The incident about borrowing money from Maria that Arnold mentions is when he was invited by her, at a tennis event, to go to her family's home for the weekend on the east coast. Arnold had to borrow $60 from her to get an airline ticket back to Los Angeles. It was one of their first meetings and Arnold was embarrassed about it, thusly never getting caught without cash again.

    As for whether or not money make you happy Arnold said:

    "Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million dollars, but I was just as happy when I had $48 million."

    Rule #7 of the James Bond Lifestyle is: I carry enough cash and credit to operate efficiently. It seems Arnold is a JBLS agent, without even knowing it.

    More more JBLS rules and techniques read the first 30 pages of How to Live the James Bond Lifestyle for free on Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.to/wZ661f

    Also on iTUNES: http://itun.es/isB5XC

October 14, 2012

  • MoneypennyBond Did James Bond Sleep with Moneypenny?

    Lois Maxwell answers that question.

    Did you ever wonder if James Bond and Miss Moneypenny had ever been intimate? The character of Miss Moneypenny has been in more James Bond movies than any other character except for Bond himself. She is the assistant to M, head of the British Secret Service. All agents and technicians must pass through Miss Moneypenny's office to reach M's office.

    Lois Maxwell played the character of Miss Moneypenny in 14 Bond movies, From Dr. No (1962) to A View to a Kill (1985). Miss Maxwell said:

    "Sean and I, and director Terence Young decided on the relationship between James Bond and Miss Moneypenny. That is, when he was a trainee and she was in the secretarial pool, they had gone off together for a lovely holiday weekend to a rose covered cottage and fully appreciated each other's qualities. But she realized that if she allowed herself to fall in love with him, he would probably break her heart. And he knew that if he allowed himself to fall in love with her, he would never get his double 0."

    And there's the answer straight from the Penny's mouth. However, if you ask me, Lois' most powerful part was as Doctor Markway's wife in The Haunting. After a suspenseful scene with Julie Harris on the shaking spiral staircase, Julie looks up in a medium shot and then suddenly Lois' face jumps into close-up with a horrendous music stinger. It a body freezing scare.

    Lois is not around for the 50 year anniversary of her Bond debut, but she'll forever be, "Good ol' Moneypenny. Britain's last line of defense," as Bond calls her in which movie?

    Read the first 30 pages of How to Live the James Bond Lifestyle for free at Amazon Kindle. Updated and expanded for 2012. urlm.in/pbkk

August 24, 2012

  •           GAVIN        John Gavin was James Bond

    After On Her Majesty's Secret Service finished production, Sean Connery's replacement for the role of 007 George Lazenby, decided not to do another Bond movie. This, once again left the role open.

    In 1971, the 6' 4" ex-Universal contract actor John Gavin was signed to be the next James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever.

    Gavin is best known today as Janet Leigh's boyfriend in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and as Julius Caesar in the Kirk Douglas production of Spartacus.

    The 007 producers gave Gavin $50,000 in advance and he signed the contract to be the 3rd James Bond. Gavin didn't just come close to the part, for a while, he was James Bond.

    However, when Sean Connery was lured back to play Bond by offering him 1.25 million dollars (astronomical for the times), the producers told Gavin to keep his advance and he stepped aside. He went on to be the President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1971 to 1973 and play more roles in films and TV.

    In 1981, President Ronald Eagan appointed Gavin as Ambassador to Mexico, serving for five years. Gavin's mother was of Mexican descent and his father was descended from a high ranking family in Spain, so John Gavin grew up completely bilingual in English and Spanish.

    When asked if he regretted losing out on the role of 007, Gavin said, "No, because it might have prevented me from fulfilling my real childhood dream, to be U.S. Ambassador to Mexico."

    This all proves that if we persevere though disappointments and life changes, we can ultimately achieve the larger dream that is inside us.

    And speaking of our 'ultimate dream', that's what the James Bond Lifestyle is all about.

    You can read the first 30 pages at Amazon Kindle.

    342 pages of techniques. Updated and expanded for 2012. http://amzn.to/JYG7y1

     

July 31, 2012

  • Chuck Norris' Brainstorm

                                                                         CHUCK

    When Chuck Norris was trying to break into movies and searching for one million dollars financing for his movie Good Guys Wear Black, he met with various financiers with no luck. When he was asked, "Why do you think this movie will make money?" Norris would say, without much conviction, "Well, all action movies make money."

    After two years with no success, Norris finally gave serious thought to what he could say to investors for the next day's meeting. He went to sleep with that thought on his mind and woke up with the answer.

    At the meeting, when asked the question, "Why do you think your movie will make money?" Norris answered confidently:

    "There are four million karate practitioners in American. I was the undefeated karate champion for six years, so all those practitioners know me. The only way they can see me now would be in a movie. If just half of them see my movie, that's a six million dollar gross on a million dollar investment."

    The financiers said yes and offered him $40,000 to star in it.
    Why hadn't he thought of that idea two years earlier?

    Working on my movie Weapons of Death, I rented a jeep to be used in the film. While driving to the location, I ran out of gas in the middle of a two mile tunnel with no place to pull off in the two lane tunnel.

    Cars honked, trucks zoomed by and people yelled. It was a nightmare. Finally a guy in a pick-up pushed me out of the tunnel and then took me to a gas station. I walked back a mile with a can of gas and finally was on my way.

    I told this to the guy I rented the van from. He said, "What? Didn't I tell you that there were two tanks of gas? All you had to do was flip the lever under your seat to switch to the other tank."

    Don't be caught sitting on the answer to your problem like I was. And like Chuck Norris did, concentrate on a different angle of attack on your problem, and one day soon, you'll wake up with the answer.

     

    For more success techniques, read the first 30 pages free of How to Live the James Bond Lifestyle on Kindle. Updated and expanded for 2012. http://amzn.to/JYG7y1
     

    Also on iTuneshttp://itun.es/isB5XC

     

May 23, 2012

  • Sean Connery's Pistol is a Rat Killer.

     pellet guy
     
    Do you like the look of that powerful gun Bond is holding? It's Walther all right. But not a PPK. It's a Walther competition pellet gun.
     
    Photographer David Hurn had a studio in London. When Sean Connery and the Dr. No art director arrived, the art director realized that he had forgotten the Walther PPK for the shot. How he could have forgotten that important prop is another story. But by chance, photographer Hurn had a Walther LP Mode3l 53 4.5 caliber competition level air pellet pistol. He used it to kill rats that were over-populating his basement.
     
    So the new 007, Sean Connery, posed with that airgun. They figured that they would photographically shorten the barrel during the retouching stage. It some shots that were released it was, in other shots it wasn't.
     
    That famous shot of James Bond was created because of the photographer's battle with rats. No rats, no iconic 007 photograph.
     
    When something doesn't go right, like the art director forgetting that important prop, improvise, adapt and overcome. It might turn out better than your original plan.
     

    How to Live the James Bond Lifestyle - Kindle

    Read the first 30 pages free on amazon: http://amzn.to/ABtqye

    Also on itunes:

    342 pages updated for 2012. Read the Table of Contents.

    Every subject you need to upgrade your life quickly.

May 17, 2012