Penguin “Quantum of Solace” one of LA Times three favorites of 2008

In tomorrow’s (December 7, 2008) Los Angeles Times Books section, they have an editorial roundup of their favorite releases of 2008. In the “paperbacks” department, it’s a great pleasure to see the Ian Fleming short story omnibus, Quantum of Solace, listed as one of editor Richard Rayner’s three favorites of the year. recently published by Penguin, Quantum of Solace (ISBN-10: 0143114581) gathers together all the James Bond short fiction into one handy volume.

The tagline of Rayner’s article announces that “James Bond’s adventures in Quantum of Solace is a reminder of Ian Fleming’s talent.”

To which we say “hear, hear!,” and thus direct your attention to the full article.

Bruce Lee turns Dino into a kickin’ fool

One of the oddities of the 1960s spy craze was The Wrecking Crew, the fourth, and final, Matt Helm movie starring Dean Martin. It has the distinction of being Chuck Norris’s debut (as a thug) and one of the final appearances of Sharon Tate.

But perhaps the most unusual aspect was the participation of Bruce Lee as “karate advisor” (his on-screen credit). In this YouTube video, we see a series of stills of Lee helping to prepare Dino, Sharon Tate and Nancy Kwan for fight scenes:

Here, we can see the finished product:

Also, here’s a longer clip where Norris shows up, asking Dino for his gun.

Sometime back, HMSS ran an article examining all four Helm movies, comparing them to the much-more serious Donald Hamilton novels upon which they were based. To take a look click RIGHT HERE.