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Ok ok ok – I’m a big kid. I still love reminiscing about Lego despite being a quarter of a century old. Here’s what kids of today can look forward to getting this year:

Ace looking space truck

Lego shades

Scary aliens

Lego Cthulhu?

Lego Death

[Via Joel Johnson]

We ate some weird foods in Budapest. Not really way out weird, but just a bit different. Here’s my list:

• Sour raspberry and yoghurt flavour Knorr cuppa soup – tastes like raspberry juice but weirder. I can’t understand why you’d drink it as soup. Yuk.
• Fruit corner with yoghurt one one side and strawberry mixed with dessicated coconut on the other – definitely a good combination.
• Cottage cheese corner with cherry compote – tasty because it’s not as sweet as yoghurt. I can’t see why this wouldn’t catch on over here.
• Soft white cheese in a finger stick coated in chocolate with strawberry or apricot down the middle – lovely smooth texture and really tasty.
• Blackberry, blackcurrant, blueberry and banana Solero – I’m sure this one will be in the UK next year.
• Tiramisu chocolate Milka roll – tasty good.
• Cherry and grape juice – hmmm mmmm.
• White cheese and sesame pasty thing from the equivalent of Greggs – worth trying to make at home.
• Pear and carmel yogurt/Apple, cinnamon and cookie yogurt – not too sweet but very yummy.
• Chocolate ball with petrol liquor centre – tasty but weirdly like petrol.
• Wafers with butter cream and smokey coffee flavours – very sweet. Nice though.

Carroll Shelby has turned a stock 1968 Mustang into the Shelby Black Hornet and is auctioning it off to benefit the Carroll Shelby Children’s Foundation. Bidding starts on eBay at $100,000. Anyone looking for Christmas presents for me should take note!
[Via Uncrate]

Well… I saw the 22nd Bond film, Quantum of Solace, last night and I was really impressed. Really really impressed. With Daniel Craig staying around for at least another two movies I think he’s looking to be a very successful choice (even though I still think that he’s a bit wooden). The whole feeling of the film was more punchy than previous films (and is, in fact, the shortest Bond film to date). Since films never quite please everyone I though I’d say what I’d like to see in the next one:

Bond 23 Wish List

• More of Judi Dench – it was good to see her get a bit more of a starring role.
• Bond at home in London/the UK – Fleming mentions so many things about Bond’s flat, his London haunts and what Bond does with his free time. Surely these things are still relevant to Daniel Craig’s Bond.
• More freerunning – freerunning rocks!
• Active service – Bond’s “Commander” status hasn’t been used lately… let’s get him back out on a boat or sub.
• Less CGI – the fight in the tower (on top of the scaffolding) really stuck out as being in-your-face CGI’d. Less of that please!
• Give a little bit more back story – cutting the script to the essentials is good but it shouldn’t be taken too far.
• A little more humour – I didn’t even notice the fact that Agent Fields’ first name was Strawberry! Did Bond even comment on it? Connery would have had something to say about that!
• More of Feilix Leiter
• More “Bond, James Bond.” – the line was cut from Q of S.
• Training – what does Bond do when he isn’t out in the field? Quite a few of the other films have featured snippets of this kind of stuff; playing with new weapons, working with the Navy and training routines. Fleming talks at great length about Bond’s routines when he wakes up in hotels and returns from fights.
• More exciting free-time sports – cards, skiing and golf are all Bond staples but a modern Bond would surely be into something a bit more sporty and a bit less staid; rock climbing, mountain biking or canoeing for example. Sure, loads of extreme sports appear in the films but there must be more to what the man does with his own time than the more recent films have revealed.
• More homages – Agent Fields’ death was such a fantastic touch
• More of the gritty, serious and real feel which some of the reviewers seemed to dislike – critics are wrong!
• A little more flirtation – the Agent Fields scene could have done with a little more something. Whilst it’s almost plausible with the old films to believe that ladies look at James Bond and want to sleep with him the new films don’t have that feel and there was no chemistry at all between Fields and Bond.
• Technology/Gadgets – the step back from the ridiculous futuristic “gadgets” to cutting edge technology is a very good idea. Although some of the creations from old films came true some of the more recent attempts (I’m thinking the invisible car here) were just dumb.
• Some new locations – it’s clear from the map that there are still plenty of countries for Bond to head to!

I’m sure that there are tons of things that could be added to the list but that’s it for starters.
So… overall Quantum of Solace is a great film (that I’m sure I’ll see at least 10 times)! All Bond fans should check it out and I can’t wait for Bond 23.

With something to drink, something to eat and a special code to tell you which homes are Wonka-tastic all you need now is to mod your Lego men to scare the hell out of the other Lego men.