I have to take a break from practical fare to share these two videos from mime and comedian David Armand. Normally I don’t get this excited about mimes, but Mr. Armand’s rendition of Natalie Imbruglia’s hit song “Torn” is amazing. Words do not do it justice, you need to see it to understand the genius. This is Armand live with Natalie Imbruglia at Amnesty International’s Secret Policeman’s Ball. Watch Natalie closely at the end…

At first I was just going to add this to my link feed in the footer, but I think it’s cool enough to deserve it’s own post. If you visit SportsLogos.net you will find high resolution logos from almost every sports to to ever play. Not only do they have all the major sports like football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and more.

In addition, they’re not constrained to only logos from the major leagues (NFL, MLB, etc), they have logos from smaller and more obscure leagues like Roller Hockey International. They also have a full catalog of logos from defunct leagues like the XFL.

The catalog isn’t constrained to pro leagues either. College sports are well represented by past and present NCAA teams, in all divisions and conferences, in lots of sports.

And as if that still weren’t enough, they also have a chronological history of all the logos every team in their massive database has EVER used throughout their history.

The archive also contains logos for sports related events or groups that aren’t teams per say, for example every games’ Summer Olympics logo or the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

All in all, it’s a fun browse if you’re a sports fan, or even a designer looking for artwork (remember copyright laws if you use them for commercial purposes).

Just got back from seeing Casino Royale a second time, and it’s by far the best Bond movie in recent memory (currently at 95% on RottenTomatoes), much better than all of Brosnan’s movies (and I like Brosnan’s portrayal of Bond). The story isn’t outlandish like the lasers-from-space-apocalypse in Die Another Day. The writing is excellent, developing the Bond character from an ordinary Mi6 agent to the Bond we all know and love. He transitions from blunt instrument to “half monk, half hitman”. Throughout the course of the movie, Bond discovers his favorite car (Aston Martin), favorite drink (“Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel.”), and we are shown exactly why he will never trust anyone again. Bond bleeds in this movie – a lot. It gives him a deeper, more human feel, he’s not simply a tuxedo.

Which leads to the statement that will probably raise the hackles of Bond fans everywhere: Daniel Craig will be the best Bond ever. Better than Brosnan. Yes, even better than Connery. Craig portrays Bond with grittiness and authenticity that is lacking in previous portrayals. Craig’s Bond succeeds because of his rough edges, not his skill in delivering a sexual double entendre. I believe that over the next few films, Craig’s Bond will become more polished and suave, as the character develops further. Which is why I qualified my statement with “will be”. One film does not a legend make. However, if Daniel Craig turns in two or three more performances of this caliber, he will go down in history as the definitive James Bond, 007.

PS – I really enjoy the Chris Cornell song played during the intro, “You Know My Name”. You can hear it online at his MySpace page (I can’t believe I just linked to MySpace).