None of that applies to me in regards to Silver Linings Playbook.

My first encounter with Silver Linings Playbook: on my trusty Audible app.

I have now read the book (well, listened to the audiobook) and seen the film. And while I have a number of feelings about their numerous differences I really don’t feel strongly in favor of one medium. And that is not to say that I did not like the two, both overall and in their own ways.

My experience with Silver Linings Playbook is as follows. Upon seeing the trailers for the film I was intrigued – football, dancing, crazy people, some humor, Bradley Cooper being serious. For some reason, however, it seemed like the type of adapted-from-a-novel story that would be even more interesting in print. So, again for some unknown reason, I committed not to see the film and rather download the audiobook (Audible.com really is the best). I finished the book quickly on a couple long drives and had subsequently not gotten around to seeing the film until late Sunday night.

(And from here on out I guess all normal spoiler rules apply. I don’t intent to maliciously ruin any plot points but if somehow I wasn’t the last one to see this – as the all but empty theater suggested – then watch out, I might ruin it all for you.)

I probably would never have gotten around to watching the film version if it was not being so widely praised and up for so many awards. After listening to the book (more on that later) I could not quite imagine how that story was translating to a film that was being treated with such a warm reception. I needed to see how this apparent masterpiece of adaptation had been worked.

My first impression upon seeing the movie was just how different it was from the book. Of course any adaptation, especially from a book with strong first person narration, will require some changes but in Silver Linings Playbook they just kept adding up as the film went on. Eventually it’s almost as if the two versions of the story exist in parallel universes: There are the same characters with (for the most part) all the same flaws and motivations, living in the same location and hitting some of the same key events, but at times they do things in completely opposite ways.

Some notable differences:

• Timeline of revelations: The information about what sort of craziness Pat and Tiffany are dealing with – their origin stories per se – are given to the audience much more upfront in the film. In the novel we don’t know what happened to Pat to send him over the edge or what happened to Tiffany’s husband until much later on. This is not necessarily a bad thing it just changes the lens we view their relationship through, from wondering what made them like this to wondering how they will interact and cope.
• Football: If the movie left you wanting for more football then check out the book. In the film version it seemed as if Eagles football was in the background or on the periphery whereas in the novel it is the blood that courses through the heart of the story. Obviously more football scenes would have wasted valuable time that the film didn’t have, but the minimizing of this part of the story certainly changed Pat’s character for me. In the film the Eagles seem to be something our protagonist likes by default – wearing the jersey, tailgating – but doesn’t really care about as much as everyone else – going for runs during games. In the book, however, Pat lives and breathes for the Eagles, with the team a constant topic of his thoughts and conversation. The scene that stood out to me in this contrast was when Pat’s mom gives him the newspaper his dad wanted him to read. In the book this is a huge moment because it signals that his dad want Pat to be well-read on the team so they can share a bond over discussing the fine details. Book-Pat even comments that this is a gesture his dad has never extended before. In the film, however, Pat brushes off the gesture saying that he does not have time because of his dance preparation.
• The parlay/gambling: The book doesn’t have any gambling plot points and because of the above importance of the football games doesn’t really need that extra incentive. It’s a change that helps to up the stakes of the film and make the dance competition a true climax. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, it led to probably my favorite scene of the movie when their excitement at the 5.0 is contrasted with the other competitors.
• The dance competition: Aside from the stakes being raised with the bet, the details of the dance competition are very different in the two versions. I won’t completely spoil it since it is a little bit of a twist in the book, but the importance/level of competition turn out to be extremely lower than in the film. I was also surprised by the choices to have Tiffany show weakness and doubt just before the competition whereas in the book she is the rock when it comes to dancing and has a crushing focus on this competition.
• There’s more I could say but I think I’ve made the general point that the story hits some of the same beats but in very different ways during the two tellings.

A lot of these choices are, of course, motivated by the difference in medium and storytelling tactics. A novel has time to play out and unravel story lines more slowly in a way that would allow movie audiences to lose interest and give up.

I found the book to be a very interesting character story about Pat and his sickness. The prose, led by his first-person narration, is almost neurotic at times with detail and explanation, a writing device that does an excellent job of making you truly connect with Pat. If you found that portion of the film interesting and want more of his craziness, how crazy he is and how he tries to handle it then you would enjoy the book.

I applaud the adaptation for turning this off-beat story into such a neatly rounded and enjoyable romantic comedy. Because that is what the film version of Silver Linings Playbook does, flattens some areas of the book and fleshes out others to make a very complete story.

The film is supported by amazing performances from just about everyone involved. Bradley Cooper nails a serious role most people probably thought he couldn’t. Jennifer Lawrence did a tremendous job vacillating from sweet to a terrible user of others to vulnerable. Tiffany’s character has some differences between the two versions but I think Lawrence’s performance warrants her character being more of a co-protagonist rather than a sidekick like she is at times in the book. (I did however find the scene when she suddenly goes from hating sports to knowing everything about them to be odd, out of place and off-putting, though through no fault of Lawrence.) Robert De Niro does well as a father whose character has been made much more likable in the film. One of the biggest changes in the movie is how much of an a-hole Pat’s father is not. It would have been interesting to see De Niro play that type of cold, almost villainous, unloving role and see how well he did with it (probably still great) but there was absolutely no time (for better or worse) in the film for the side-story of the parents’ troubled marriage.

I also believe that much of what has made the film so well received has been an excellent job technically. I think that it was shot in a way that made it feel more personal and human, only enhancing the connection we felt to these ultimately heartwarming characters.

As I thought about it last night, I left the film feeling more satisfied with the ending. As the medium tends to do, the film sanded off many of the rough, extraneous edges and left you feeling warm inside like Pat with Tiffany sitting on his lap.

Which will I probably end up revisiting? The movie – it’s certainly something I’d watch if on TV or Netflix. Which did I find to be a more intriguing and complex story? The book – which put us inside the head of a troubled person and gave a fuller sense of his sickness and his struggles.

When I read it I thought the book was good, not great; and despite all their differences I ended up feeling almost the exact same about the film. Both tell interesting stories while employing some unique technical devices but neither transcend above solid and enjoyable – not that that’s a bad thing; One thing I share with Pat is a soft spot for a nice, enjoyable story.

—

Reading music: Alabama Shakes since they were excellent on SNL this weekend and the credits of Silver Linings Playbook are set to this song.

Because of that I realize that I almost never do much reading in the days after the big game.  It’s so hard for someone to stand out amongst all the noise that prevails around the Super Bowl. This year I still didn’t read a ton of pieces out of New Orleans but there were three that I saw highly recommended on Twitter and enjoyed myself. (These don’t include a few great pieces ripping apart the TV coverage and how worthless typical analysts were proven to be during the blackout.)

“Ravens’ Ayanbadejo can’t celebrate just yet” by Kate Fagan for espnW:

NEW ORLEANS — Brendon Ayanbadejo is king of the world — for a few minutes, anyway.

The first piece is a spectacular example of picking a tight focus in such an expansive event. The other thing that really struck me was that I assume this wasn’t what Fagan expected the story to be before the game. Of course I don’t know her process, but there were a number of known reasons to pick Ayanbadejo for a feature ahead of the game, but she was open to adjusting as the story came to her and didn’t just stick with those previously reported storylines.

“Partying with Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco means parents, pop” by Robert Klemko for USA Today:

NEW ORLEANS — Joe Flacco has just hit the “trifecta.”

He has won the Super Bowl. He was named the MVP of a 34-31 Baltimore Ravens victory vs. the San Francisco 49ers. And he has a life-changing announcement to make to his family.

I’ve never read Klemko before but here he also focuses his attention on a single player, following Joe Flacco through the rest of his night after winning Super Bowl MVP. This is a classic chronological timeline piece, giving us a look at what one of the most debated (if dull) players does after winning the biggest game of his life.

(Note: For my midwest friends — you know who you are — this does not mean I endorse the use of the word “pop” to mean soda. It’s still wrong, I don’t care what you all or USA Today say.)

“Super Bowl brings NFL’s issues into the light” by Bruce Arthur for The National Post (Canada):

If you take a few steps off Bourbon Street on a Saturday night you can find the quiet parts of the French Quarter, the parts that sit still in the darkness. There are high iron gates and creeping vines and stately old houses, some in need of repair; it is where people live, rather than just visit. It’s a city where voodoo and ghosts are implied and accepted; one writer living in New Orleans told me his house was haunted, and he said the way to deal with it is to talk to the ghost, introduce yourself, try to make it work. He says he hasn’t had any problems, yet.

This week the Super Bowl came to New Orleans, and it brought all of the National Football League’s ghosts and voodoo with it.

I initially picked this one up (digitally of course) because Arthur is one of my favorite writers to follow on Twitter and his smart, poetic writing, peppered with moments of humor, have won him recognition as one of Canada’s very best. The piece itself is broader than the first two as it is his wrapup from a week in N.O. Despite covering just about ever aspect of the entire two-week circus, Arthur does a good job of keeping a common thread running throughout so it does not feel like a wandering and disjointed effort. With as many storylines as passed through New Orleans these past two weeks it is quite spectacular to be able to connect them all and draw on the bigger picture/questions circling around the entire sport.

—

That’s all for now. Thankfully we can be done with football for a little while. Start the countdown to pitchers and catchers reporting.

• Aliso Niguel was coming off a tough loss just two days ago to ranked opponent Mission Viejo. Wolverines head coach Keith Barnett mentioned the loss a number of times in his post-game comments, saying he thought that it could have been a factor in the lack of energy and urgency that he was displeased with.

• Tonight was the second time I’ve covered Aliso Niguel thus far this season and it seems to be a trend that Barnett isn’t ever pleased with his team’s effort. I had to be conscious not to use his displeasure as my out-and-out lede since I realized I did that last time. Still, it was impossible to use much of his post-game quotes without the tone coming through.

• Another assessment of my second time seeing the Wolverines: Scottie Lynds was not his usual self. Lynds has been the Register’s player of the week at least once and was a vicious attacking force the last time I saw him. Tonight he was kept relatively in check, scoring eight points on a field goal, a 3-pointer and three free throws. You can see Lynds’ quality when you watch him, but tonight was not his night. He didn’t have the same kind of gripping impact on the game as the last time I saw them.

• Capistrano Valley had some slick guard play. The Cougars’ leading scorer was a lefty who had success driving to his dominant hand. During Capistrano Valley’s biggest run Jake Vernig and Ayman Farah came alive. During one possession, Farah snapped of a breakneck look-away pass to a cutter underneath the basket, earning his teammate an easy two points.

• It was slightly mentioned in my story, but after a slow first half, this game turned into a real barnstormer after the break. The third quarter started with a few traded misses but then became an exciting, fast-paced shootout – all of a sudden the shots were falling for both sides. At one point the teams went 13 consecutive possessions without stopping one another. It was a tremendously fun series that nearly approached one-upmanship. As I wrote in the story, every time the visitors tried to dig into the lead with a bucket, the hosts defiantly came back and hit a response at the other end. This could have been a turning point and instead it seemed to wake up Aliso Niguel, forcing it to rise to the challenge as it maintained the lead.

• One of the stranger things to happen was the winning team hitting a half-court shot as time expired. Usually it’s not the team leading by 18 that is heaving up the ball at the buzzer but for some reason leading-scorer Jake Smith did and sunk it. I actually don’t even know where he released it from because like most people I had assumed that the Wolverines were just running out the final seconds. The sound of anticipation in the crowd made me look up while it was in the air and see it sail in. It wasn’t the most sportsmanlike thing and afterward his coach used it as an example of Smith not always making the right decisions – but it did get him to 26 points on the night and tied for the game-high with four 3-pointers. I decided not to ask him about it afterward since I knew it really was a footnote on the game anyway. I wanted to include a little something about it in the story, but it was one of my last sentences cut.

• The atmosphere in the building wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen but there was certainly some electricity and each side had a well-represented student section. Not sure it warranted the three cop cars parked outside (which sort of spooked me walking in) but I guess you never know with those league games. Also, they sold Chick-Fil-A inside the gym; I didn’t partake, but that is some next level concessions.

• I saw something I’d never seen before, a state championship banner for surfing hanging in the rafters of Aliso Niguel’s gym. Not exactly something you grow up with in Arizona.

I was so far south tonight that my preset radio stations wouldn’t even come through. I had to throw in a CD and I went with the Lumineers. I’ll leave you in their hands.

Since I have been known to forget things or get behind on things, I tend to keep a detailed calendar in order to not miss anything important. I make recurring events for work shifts and most anything I have to do that is planned ahead of time.

Well, as of this writing I have absolutely nothing planned ahead of time for the first time in a long time. Like, a really long time if I think about it. How long has it been since there truly was nothing getting larger on the horizon, counting down the months or weeks to something.

Even since graduating, when I didn’t have paying work I had my internship hours with the Galaxy that kept me busy a few times a week. And then I added a couple part time jobs and that calendar filled up quick with shifts and assignments.

But as of this very moment I am really beholden to nothing ahead. Sure, I’ve told the Register I can work any number of games this week and within 24-48 hours of writing this I will have some assignments, but at this moment I am just floating.

This isn’t a bad thing at all – like I said, in a day or two it will fill up again – but it just startled me to think about it. A job and a return to work beckons in the future, but for this short period of time, I have nothing upcoming other than enjoying myself and this time.

I’ll let the Stones play me out:

UPDATE NOT INCLUDED AT FIRST: Reading music for today is my most recent favorite song, which I fittingly discovered just before New Year’s Eve thanks to Kevin Stahl’s Spotify playlist. It’s not actually a new song (recorded in 2005 I believe), but it is new to me and the thing most frequently stuck in my head lately. It also makes a good affirmation for the new year.

I’m not usually one for the romanticism of New Year’s or making resolutions, but for some reason this year it feels like I should get into it. Maybe it’s because I believe I have a lot to look forward to in 2013. Sure, 2012 was great with my senior year of college, but I think 2013 is going to be another good one. I don’t know for sure, but I believe good news is coming on the job front and in the mean time I am happy to take the work I can and bask in this time to be around some of my great friends.

The one thing that I am putting myself up to as a semi-resolution is to get in better shape and eat healthier. Losing weight is most certainly something I have wanted to do for a long time and since getting in worse shape over the last couple years I have only ever tried halfheartedly to get back into a routine.

So now that I am back in LA, I have taken the initiative and begun somewhat of a plan to make this an actual resolution.

I have joined a gym. (Yes, I am one of those annoying people who joins a gym right after New Year’s.) I went to check out a nearby 24 Hour Fitness and just ended up going for it. For me, the best feature is being able to work out as late at night as I want. I tend to keep an odd schedule and am certainly a night owl, so being able to go work out at 10 or 11 pm if I’m so inclined is very nice.

Also, I bought a gym bag that I have determined I will equip with new clothes each time I get home so that the preparation cannot slow me down. Any time I feel like it, I can get up in whatever I’m wearing, grab that bag and be out the door. As soon as I get home, a new outfit goes in and the bag goes back by the door.

I’ve worked out the last three days (twice on Saturday, sandwiched around a beautiful 3-hour nap.) and while I know the tough part will come in keeping it up, I look forward to getting to the point again where going there is about pushing myself to get stronger not getting back to the basic benchmarks I have lost.

In what I think is the most important thing I am keeping track of everything I eat and generally trying to eat better/less. After reading both the New York Times’ Brian Stelter’s account of dieting and Deadspin/GQ’s Drew Magary’s “Public humiliation diet” I have come up with the guidelines that I think will work for me. I don’t know what it was, probably the profanity (which always endears Magary’s writing to me), but I connected a lot with that and it made it seem easier. While I still don’t particularly feel like tweeting my weight each day like him, I am trying a few of the things that Drew used (with quotes of his I find especially funny or pertinent): No snacking (“A snack, in my hands, becomes a seven-course meal.”); No seconds (“I used to eat two plates at dinner, minimum. I’d spend my first helping thinking about my second, which is idiotic. It’s the SAME FUCKING FOOD.”); Making sure I truly enjoy everything I eat (“If I’m only getting three legit meals a day, they better be fucking good.”); also kind of trying the idea of green tea after each meal as an appetite suppressant and bookend to not eat anything after that (“Breakfunchinner is a better meal than most people realize. Having a cup of tea at the end of the meal (usually decaf) was my way of reminding myself MEAL IS OVER, FUCKFACE.”)

Other than those, I am realizing after just three days that writing down even rough calorie estimates makes me much more conscious of what I am eating and again, to make it worth it. I have realized that with all the snacking I would do I was probably easily eating 3-4 thousand calories a day or more without really trying or getting much satisfaction from it. By being aware of how many I get every day (don’t worry I’m not placing some sort of Nazi cap on myself) it keeps me mindful of not eating too much and also only eating things that are worth it. And it kind of turns into a fun little math puzzle – I can eat so much of this and so much of that and I still only had that much today? So far all three days I have stayed in the 1900-2500 range without much trouble.

Part of both Stelter and Magary’s plan was that publicly talking about it held them responsible and that is something I have been reluctant to do until now. I don’t particularly want to talk about this with anyone, but at least feeling like I’m typing it out into the world means there is a record of it that I can hold myself accountable to. I’m probably not going to tweet my weight or even blog it here daily, but every once in a while, surely there will be updates just so I remind myself that if I fuck up I have to explain it to the vast interweb. Maybe someday I’ll become one of those obnoxious people who blogs about what they cook or their workouts, but for now this was tough enough, so it will have to do.

Who knows if this will work, but I’m going to give it an honest shot. For some reason it really doesn’t seem that tough. I’ll get back to you on that though.

• Part of the Wolverines’ victory was a decided advantage at the free-throw line. Aliso Niguel got to the line 24 times compared to just 10 free throw attempts for Whittier Christian. Whittier was efficient on the free throws they did get, making nine of those 10 while Aliso Niguel was not quite so proficient, but still solid, making 16 of their 24. The Whittier Christian fans behind me were certainly not happy with the discrepancy and let the referees hear about it, but for me it was primarily a product of Aliso Niguel being the agressor more willing to slash to the basket.

• Scott Lynds finished the game only 7 for 18 shooting from the field, but he was undoubtedly the driving force in the game. In addition to running the flow of the offense much of the game, he was frequently driving to the hoop and also showed plenty of confidence in his long-range shooting. Early in the second quarter with the lead hovering around double digits he drilled a pair of 3-pointers that were both a good couple feet behind the line. He stayed away from the long ball after missing his next two, but made a crucial one late in the game that, as I describe in the gamer, pretty much put the nail in the coffin of any Whittier Christian comeback.

• There’s a quote in the story about Lynds from his Head Coach. I had to cut part of it out to get under my length. In the quote, Lynds is praised for his leadership by example. The part I had to cut out but liked for showing his desire to get to the hoop as he did on Tuesday was: “Scottie’s just a great player, he’s so competitive. He’s 5 foot 9, he plays about 6-5; he goes up against those big guys,” head coach Keith Barnett said.

• Mauricio Campos actually ended up leading the Wolverines with 19 points despite missing his first four two-point field goals. He did knock down his first two 3s en route to shooting three of five from long range. He did a bunch of damage at the foul line, taking advantage of the previously mentioned free-throw disparity. Campos made six of seven FT attempts.

• Even though it was Blake Coleman who led Whittier Christian with 12 points, it was point guard Chris Cobar who stood out to me. While he only had seven points on two buckets and a pair of FTs, he had the ball in his hands a lot and was given a lot of responsibility for running the offense. Sure, he probably had a good number of turnovers (which I only track as a team stat) but he was tasked with a lot of the offensive duties against a team that tried to pressure him.

• Noah Evans also tied for the Heralds’ second-leading scorer with seven points (coming off the bench I believe).  He made some nice moves in the post and seemed to have good touch on a hook/floater shot near the basket. Fought hard for a sophomore.

• Also, what kind of school mascot is the “Heralds”? I guess it is referring to the definition as a royal arms officer or maybe someone who brings/announces news. Either way it just felt odd on my tongue/fingertips.

• Don’t bother asking me to explain the format of the North O.C. Championships. I took one look at the giant bracket taped to the wall and immediately felt lost. The 24-team tournament is taking place all week at a few different sites with group play and then knockout and consolation rounds as well until everything is settled.

• And here’s a song I listened to on the ride over as a token of my appreciation for reading this far:

That summer in Breezy Point, when he was eighteen and out of Madison High in Brooklyn, there was the Beatles on the radio at the beach through the hot days and on the jukebox through the nights in the Sugar Bowl and Kennedys. He was young and he let his hair grow and there were girls and it was the important part of life.

Last year, Tony Palma even went to see Beatlemania.

And now, last night, a thirty-four-year-old man, he sat in a patrol car at Eighty-second Street and Columbus Avenue and the call came over the radio: “Man shot, One West Seventy-second Street.”

Palma and his partner, Herb Frauenberger, rushed through the Manhattan streets to an address they knew as one of the most famous living places in the country, the Dakota apartments.

– Jimmy Breslin for the New York Daily News, “Are You John Lennon?”

This is a very good piece published right after the shooting of John Lennon. What makes it even better, however, is the note by the author attached to the bottom of this version. I encourage you to read it in his words, but to paraphrase: Breslin was in bed when the news broke and he hopped up, rushed between the crime scene, hospital and police station, reported the story and wrote it all within two hours while a special deadline was being held for the piece.

I don’t like quoting the endings of pieces because that kind of ruins all the fun of you reading it, but I can tell you this is a good one; it is sweet and sad and nostalgic and ultimately true. Even though I’m really not a Beatles fan at all (count me a Stones man), the whole piece truly is the kind of writing that I love – looking at an event through the not so obvious angle and telling its story eloquently.

And it was done all in two hours, with printing presses and giant reams of paper and people’s succes or failure waiting on him. It is a feat in itself that this was published at all, let alone how good the writing is. It blows my mind to think about a writer getting that done; it makes me hate the stress I feel over a 10 p.m. high school football deadline and most of all it reminds me I have to get better and that deadlines are not death sentences for beautiful narrative.

(article via Dan Van Natta Jr. on Twitter)

When a bullet sliced open her husband’s chest, Raquel Munoz’s first instinct was to hold his head up so he wouldn’t choke on his own blood.

– Heidi Grover for the Pacific Northwest Inlander, “Big Trouble in Little Town.” 

Woof. What a grabbing lede.

My initial reaction when I read this on Heidi’s facebook was to comment “What a fucking first sentence.” Maybe not my most eloquent statement ever, but that was my gut reaction to reading it. I couldn’t even get past the lede at first, I read it a few times and digested it before moving on.

For every english teacher who ever told you that you needed to grab your readers’ attention, that right there is how you do it. There is a lot of quality reporting in there, but most people wouldn’t get to it if it wasn’t for such a stunning piece of writing to begin the piece. I have no ties to this small town for its gang violence issues, but I sure read this entire article.

That’s what a hook/lede is supposed to do and why this is an amazing example of a great one.

Taking a TRiP to a small spot on the fringe of Santa Monica

The show was at a bar in Santa Monica named TRiP. A long skinny room with a bar running along one wall and bright pop-art murals painted on the other. The front of the room had a small stage and the back end had a compacted pool table. At no point was there ever more than 30 people in the place, but it was a perfect atmosphere. It brought me back to high school and seeing shows at small, dark venues like the Clubhouse and the Rhythm Room. Back then we stood closer to the stage because we couldn’t be at the bar, but last night sitting along to the side splitting a pitcher of Stella with another roommate was even better.

There’s something so special about seeing small, intimate shows like that. It feels like you’re being let in on a secret, enjoying something beautiful that few others even know exists.On the show itself, it was a really fun night of music with two very different acts.

The guy playing when we walked in was a big, bearded man playing guitar by himself on the stage. His act was much more than that though as he beatboxed to provide his own percussion, rapped at times and even mixed in some singing in spanish and french. He closed his time on stage with a song that began as the guitar riff from ‘Stairway to Heaven’ before he yelled “REMIX” and rapped a medley of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre verses over the classic rock guitar.

I was really excited to see the San Diego-based Ed Ghost Tucker since I had previously missed all of their LA shows. I had listened to their recordings online but a live show is something different all together. A five-piece outfit that liberally uses piano, horns, synth and different types of percussion. Somewhere between folk, jazz and indie rock they are an interesting group. I’m also an absolute sucker for anyone with a mixture of male and female lead vocals (see: Of Monsters and Men, The Head and the Heart, Grouplove, Straylight Run)

Check out a couple of their songs below.

The more up-tempo, indie rock sounding “Anyone”:

The more instrumental, spacey “Lesser Antilles”:

With range going from those two sounds it’s like your favorite indie rock band had a folky baby with Explosions in the Sky. They are just starting out, but give them a listen; I truly enjoyed seeing them for the first time. Not only was it refreshing to listen to some new, interesting music, it was nice to remember that there are venues and bands and nights like that out there.

p.s. I like to imagine that the name is actually Ed Ghost “Trucker” as I initially misread it to be. Makes me think that there’s a grizzly, bearded truck driver ghost listening to this spacey music while cruising down some icy ghost highway.

(Here’s the song. This is not, however the actual title sequence. Feel free to play this as the soundtrack for the rest of the post, since we all secretly or not love Adele.)

For what I had seen described as the most dark and serious Bond film, I was put at ease by the trippy, dream-like opening credits.

The more I thought about it, I do not have particularly strong memories of any specific classic Bond films other than loving them in general. A TV marathon of Bond movies was never something my Dad and I could pass up. Despite not being able to place specifics, I knew when I saw the kaleidoscopic opening scene with a catchy theme song it felt familiar. The heart of Bond was still there, no matter what the rest of the film held.

Moving beyond the credits, “Skyfall” was excellent. It is engaging and entertaining from start to finish with plenty of action and humor to pad a solid plot.

It certainly is the most human we have ever seen 007. Rather than being the spy who has it all figured out as he blazes his way through bad guys and women, this version of Bond has plenty of personal issues to deal with as he blazes his way through bad guys and women. In the past Bond was never allowed to be so vulnerable and unpolished, but it still fits him quite well without seeming out of place.

“Skyfall” delves into issues of abandonment, death and the desire to feel needed or useful. With both Bond and M, we see characters who are being pushed and tested and questioned about whether they have what it takes anymore. This theme of purpose and change adds a layers of depth and relatability to a movie about a charming spy who fights on top of moving trains and blows up castles — activities most of us movie-going public don’t engage in too often.

The characters are well-played all around. From Craig to Judi Dench, the cast come through with excellent performances across the board. The re-characterization of Q as a young tech genius is a perfect adaptation to the modern landscape of “Skyfall.” Javier Bardam plays an excellent — and very evil – villain. My only problem was that I kept thinking how much he was begging to be parodied by SNL’s Fred Armisen because of the uncanny resemblance.

I will never be confused for a harsh critic, but I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish by “Skyfall.” You get the best of both worlds with this film: the beautiful Bond girls, evil villains, gambling, explosions and killing you expect from 007, but at the same time a plot and themes that give Bond and his world some substance you could easily enjoy over and over.

The opening chase scene may seem straight out of any recent Bond film, but it is far from a simple reboot or just another cookie-cutter chapter in a trusted brand. That is the excellence of “Skyfall,” it is incredibly familiar while at the same time bringing something new to the franchise.