Four Things I Miss

1. James Bond Week On TBS - I remember a million years ago in December around my birthday TBS used to show a full week of back-to-back James Bond movies. I would always make a point of watching as many as I could and taping all the best ones. Sadly, TBS quit doing that at some point and now on rare occasions some other cable networks will halfheartedly put together a “James Bond Weekend”, but they never show all 22 films and it’s just not the same.
2. Using My Bike As My Mode Of Transportation Before I Could Drive - As a youth before I had my drivers license my friends and I roamed all over the local area only on our bikes. We would ride up to a nearby gas station and buy sodas and junk food snacks or ride up to the library along the narrow two lane road. Traveling was an adventure back then, something driving a car just doesn’t seem to match.
3. Wizard Magazine - Wizard was a magazine about comic books that isn’t published anymore. In the days before the internet was so common all the big news for geeks like me came from the pages of Wizard Magazine. They always had articles and lists that sparked hours of debate and conversation amongst my friends and I. Some of the happiest reading times of my life were when I had a brand new issue of Wizard and a study hall period in middle school.
4. Martin Scorsese Gangster Movies - Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed*…Scorsese just doesn’t make movies like this anymore. I’m well aware that Scorsese has been pegged as a “gangster movie-maker” even though the majority of his 52 films don’t deal with gangsters…but you know what? If you do something better than everybody else you should embrace it. I would be perfectly happy if Scorsese made one gritty gangster movie every 5 years, that way he could make all these other movies he wants to make but he still is providing the world (a.k.a. me) some good old fashioned mob drama!

*I’m not counting Gangs Of New York. That was a period piece and not a true gangster epic.