What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
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   Tuesday, October 19, 2004

RAISE A GLASS

I'm a big fan of John Cleese, not just for his impressive comedic legacy of "Monty Python," "Fawlty Towers" and "A Fish Called Wanda," but for his ability to multi-task.

In the last couple years alone, he's
-- carried on in the role of Q in the "James Bond" films (and video games!?)
-- spent a season on "Will and Grace"
-- popped up in "Charlies Angels 2"
-- appeared in two "Harry Potter" films
-- done a voice-over for "Shrek 2"
-- written and hosted a documentary series on "The Human Face"
-- begun developing a new website
-- continued the series of corporate training films he's produced and appeared in since he founded the company in the seventies.

Busy guy.

But what I really admire is the life he's created for himself, in which he's been able to blend intellectual whims, artistic endeavors and business opportunities. An interest in psychiatry led to the best-selling book "Life and How to Survive It," co-written with Robin Skinner. An interest in lemurs led to their cameos in "Fierce Creatures" and, later, a Discovery Channel special in Madagascar.

Now, he's created a helpful new Food Network special called "John Cleese's Wine for the Confused" because, he says, "I felt it was a shame that something that is such a source of pleasure should have become restricted by all this snobbery."

In other words, Cleese is rescuing wine from upper-class twits -- nice to see that nothing's changed.