"Most petitions for annulment are successful... the Church can barely keep up with the case loads it has."

--from a Religion and Ethics Newsweekly report on Catholic divorce

"Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying around, I'd rather lie around. No contest."

--Eric Clapton

For your viewing pleasure: the five best Bond girls of all time and the ten worst. There seems to be a fair amount of agreement -- no women appear on both lists. Entertainment Weekly names the former Mrs. Charlie Sheen as the worst of the worst, saying, "Denise Richards played Dr. Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist who wore a tank top and hot pants." But isn't this a cliche now? "Scientists" in movies these days are always played by hot chicks wearing tight outfits, reality be damned.

But I'm more interested in the best Bond songs. A Google News search quickly turns up this poll at a Chicago Tribune blog. No ranking, but the post has what looks to be a complete list. It's a tough call. Shirley Bassey has to be near the top, and she does have three entries -- I'd go with "Goldfinger." Tina Turner does her best Shirley Bassey with "GoldenEye." But I can't ignore my fondness for Paul McCartney; "Live and Let Die" is a classic. But I'll be honest. When I think of Bond, I often get in my head Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill." It's just one of those "Bond songs." Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" might be a good song, but it just doesn't sound Bond, does it?

I haven't seen the new Bond film yet -- I should be at a Thursday night screening -- but I heard a clip of the theme, Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name." The song seemed fine, but not classic enough for a franchise with such a long tradition.

Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again.

--Menachem Mendel Schneerson

I had a few movie pieces in The Washington Times last week:

• A review of Driving Lessons, a British coming of age film starring Rupert Grint and Julie Walters.
  
• An interview with Jeremy Brock, writer-director of Driving Lessons and co-writer of The Last King of Scotland. (All you Brideshead Revisited fans -- and I know you're out there -- take note: Brock is co-writing the screenplay for the upcoming feature film, and I have some of his comments on this in my piece.)
• A review of Babel, the ensemble pic starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett alongside international unknowns.
• I also wrote this week's Beyond Hollywood column, which features my interview with Babel director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, as wells as briefs on the EU Film Showcase and a new DC movie tour.

It's nice to see that some authors have a sense of humor when it comes to reviews.