I am sorry to say this, but the latest James Bond film No Time to Die is a (major) disappointment, perhaps made more so due to heart-thumping previews and twice-delayed release date, vastly increasing the expectations and anticipation. I love Ana de Armas (Knives Out). I adore Lea Sedoux. I even like Daniel Craig. Not quite Sean Connery, The Artist of Bond, but his best replacement. But, as the WSJ review states:
The new installment is exciting for its energy and scale, despite its flaws and derivative themes, and makes a lovely valediction for its star. (I disagree.) Does that mean its release will bring the theatrical movie business back to full health, as many have hoped throughout the pandemic, and during all the delays that plagued the production? Of course not.
As threats to the planet go, the new one ranks high in toxicity and low in originality.
There’s also a new 007, given that Bond has been put out to pasture—a tumultuous pasture, as it develops—and his numerical designation along with him. Her name is Nomi and she’s played by Lashana Lynch. The character isn’t interesting, however.
The most notable breath of fresh air—a blast, not just a breath—is provided by Ana de Armas as Paloma, a CIA agent based in Havana. (I agree. I am looking forward to seeing her in the next John Wick.)
Now for some “real world” stuff. It is my immense pleasure to let you know that PBS will be screening the award winning WBCN and the American Revolution in more than 125 stations nationwide on November 19th (and on some stations also on November 20th)! Great job, Bill, in getting this done!
I know many of you have inquired when/where you can see the movie, and so you can see the schedule in the link above and and here is a preview of the movie.
As I had written in When I was Young, it is important to connect Content with Channel – Supply Chain Analytics with McKinsey, SmartOps with SAP, OrganJet with Harvard, Nudge Video with White House (and AOPO), Maximally Inverse Framing with WEF, Quantum Integer Programming with NASA (and Amazon) – and so, as one more illustration of this concept:
WBCN and The American Revolution with PBS.
Since we are talking about movies and such, here are some recommendations (thanks to Kathy Stecke for suggesting Hacks).
Candyman. Dune. Last Night in Soho. The White Lotus. Mare of Easttown. Hacks.
Now for some serious stuff. ☺️. I am happy to report that our paper on Liquid Biopsy, that I mentioned in Holy Grail of Holy Grail, was a winner in the INFORMS Pierskalla Award for Best Paper in Healthcare Applications. (I won this award previously for OrganJet in 2015.) Even more fun was the Johns Hopkins Conference, that I mentioned in Planned Spontaneity and The Next Pandemic, where I presented PEP: Physics-Economics-Politics as a framework to better understand what happened (and how to be better prepared for) in the Pandemic, extending the Healthcare Eco-System Map.
