Not a big deal, but I'm not sure HN is the best place for this stuff. None of us were at risk not hearing about this from other sources (unless you only read HN, in which case maybe that's what you're going for). I tentatively suggest HN should only cover deaths of famous people when they have a direct connection to the tech community (e.g., Steve Jobs) or when the person had important intellectual contributions that can be discussed. This isn't a good place for pure nostalgia or entertainment news.
I'm sympathetic to this argument insofar as the seemingly-off-topic post can generate intellectually (rather than just emotionally) stimulating comments. That's why a small number of well-written politics articles should be here. Seems a lot less likely for celebrity deaths. You can never completely predict that in advance, but you have to draw a line somewhere.
I wish HN would implent tags so we could just filter out stuff like this. I mean, it seems a bit disrespectful to flag it, but it is clearly off-topic. Sadly, so is much of the content on HN these days, especially at weekends.
I've upvoted the Reddit thread and am going to just leave this un-voted because I agree it simply doesn't belong here. Sad though the news is, as someone who grew up watching Moore's Bond films.
I understand the desire to see tech related stories, but HN is not a newspaper with an editorial staff. If the community doesn’t think this is a topic worth discussing, it will not bubble up. If you are seeing it on the front page, it’s likely of interest to this community.
Actually, HN has an excellent editorial staff in the form of moderators who routinely remove, or reduce visibility of, highly-voted content for not complying with site guidelines.
My dad took me to see most of the Bond movies in the late 70s/early 80s (The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only) and these were some of the fondest memories I have of growing up and spending time with him.
There was just something about Roger Moore as Bond. He managed to hit the perfect blend of suave and exciting, with just the right amount of irreverence and camp.
It's subjective, but since Sean Connery starred in many other high profile movies and thus diluted his image a bit, Roger Moore's may be the one true James Bond. His James Bond movies were epic, e.g. Moonraker (launching several Space Shuttles at once anyone?).
I concur. Moore's epoch and completely over the top plots gave us most of what was later fuel for spy satires, and even though Connery (and now Craig's) era became more "realistic" (even as the Cold War faded), Moore's smirk and deadpan were iconic.
"For Your Eyes Only" will always stand out to me as the highest quality Bond movie he did. They were trying to take the franchise back from being too many gadgets -- I think it worked well. Love the ski chase scene.
That said, I still think "A View to a Kill" is the most enjoyable campy Bond movie.
The Bond of Sir Roger Moore, enjoyed being James Bond. The Bond of Daniel Craig, seems to hate being James Bond. I for one prefer the escapist Bond of Roger Moore.
On a different note, whenever I watch those old Bond movies and see the photos of the actors, I am reminded again of how short life is. The actors in the James Bond movies were picked to be some of the most glamorous people available when the movie was filmed, and now they are gone or else very old.
Dalton and even Lazenby actually hold up quite well. Perhaps it has more to do with the script and directing than the actor. The films of these least "successful" Bonds are among the best Bond films, and far better than the worst outings by Craig, Brosnan, Moore and even Connery.
Brosnan is the Bond of my generation. I loved Golden Eye, but I think the later films were just bad, not because of the actor(s) but because of the script and plot.
He did impress me in interviews where he talked about imitators of the Bond franchise and how Bond changed over the years. This included the comment that it changed with the time and it was correct it did. He had praise for Daniel Craig and his version of Bond. His self depreciating humor was always good, like when he called Craig and actor and those interviewing him were like, and you?
While not directly related to tech, Bond films actually do have a great deal of tech, some was SciFi, but now real some still SciFi. Such articles are iconic and can give people ideas for tech.