Waiting for a new James Bond movie? Wondering how long it will take before Daniel Craig scowls his way through another grim action flick with a wee hint of innuendo that gives a curt nod to Bond traditions while simultaneously rewriting the conventions? Aren't we all. I liked the last Bond movie; the bad guy had an actual Lair, and it blew up at the end. That's all I want. Gorgeous women, Lairs, Fire. We have simple tastes, we Bond fans.

Well, the next Bond movie has been delayed. MGM, the studio that owns the franchise, is being chopped up and sold off, and they can't make a movie until the corpse has been dismembered and distributed.

Odd fact: the 22 Bond movies have made $1.6 billion. That's all? That's it? "Quantum of Solace," the last, made over half a billion. I'm sure once you adjust it for inflation, "Goldfinger" made as much. (The lowest grossing Bond film was "The Spy Who Flossed Me," where Bond spent most of the movie as an orthodontist.)

Odder: the director of the next Bond film is Sam Mendes, director of "American Beauty." Oh, great. Deeply Conflicted 007, then, secretly a member of SPECTER but unwilling to admit it.

Photo: Karen Ballard/Sony Credit: DML - EON Productions