Absolutely James Bond

The Bond That Went Too Far

2010-09-02T19:02:05Z

In the over-the-top often tongue-in-cheek world of Bond, only one man’s films have been able to actually cross the line and step into the world of becoming parodies of themselves. While I’ve no doubt that many would instantly think of Sir Roger Moore in such terms, I have no intention of putting down the man that carried Bond throughout the seventies. No, I’m thinking of a slightly more modern era and the man who picked up the reigns a full 10 years after Moore put them down, Pierce Brosnan.

I was born under the sign of AVTAK, and much too young to appreciate Bond before Brosnan’s tenure began. I distinctly remember seeing Goldeneye for the first time at a friend’s birthday. “Not bad.” Those were the modest thoughts of the kid that would grow up to be the man with a tattoo of the 007 logo. Two years later, I went with my uncle and cousins to see Tomorrow Never Dies in the movie theater. I was, in a word, underwhelmed. I didn’t hate it or even dislike it, but I was certainly not captivated as a soon to be die hard fan might be expected to be.

It wasn’t until two years after the release of TND that I finally got interested in Bond, and The World is Not Enough had nothing to do with it. I was 14 and feverishly trying to impress a friend of mine, a friend that happened to be a huge Bond fan. I caught a televised marathon of Bond and was, for the first time, exposed to Connery, Moore and Dalton. I can’t say how many hours of Bond I watched that holiday weekend, but it was the beginning of a love affair that would long outlast the friendship that lead to it. I was (and remain) hooked.

Following that fateful weekend, I got to know Bond better than most (though, I humbly submit, not nearly as well as many here at AJB). I watched all of the films, read some of Fleming’s books and even read books about the Bond legacy. Brosnan landed firmly in third place, behind the brooding Bond of Timothy Dalton and the sophisticated ruthlessness of Sir Sean Connery. Brosnan’s suave depiction, after all, was the Bond of my generation. Moore’s various was decidedly too light hearted, and Lazenby was Lazenby.

As I grew older, my prefrontal cortex finished its development and Daniel Craig moved the character forward by going backward (in many ways), I began to realize the Brosnan Bond did not deserve automatic reverence (if you can call fourth place reverence). He was surely still better than Moore and Lazenby though, right? The man was, after all, born to be Bond in the eyes of many. What suddenly made him so undeserving of my affection?

The answer hit my square in the chest one night as I drunkenly responded to the question “What was the worst Bond movie?” My mind flashed back to a televised showing of Tomorrow Never Dies, and I boastfully submitted that as the worst Bond film of all time. Why? It knows it’s a Bond film.

Certainly TND is not the first Bond film that suffers from this affliction. DAF, TMWTGG, MR and other Moore titles are certainly guilty of the same to some level. The difference lies in the fact that they are actually aware of their own value as parody, and this makes it passable for me. The audience is clearly in the on the joke and all involved are aware of the outlandishness of what they are doing. The belly dancer screams that she’s lost her charm and Roger straightens his tie and says “Not from where I’m standing…” and he may as well be winking at the camera as he says it. If you don’t agree that they know they are ridiculous, please see: double-take pigeon.

TND is the film that both parodies itself and takes itself seriously while it is doing it. The character of Bond is actually a caricature of Bond. Quite simply film tried to become the embodiment of every “canon” Bond trait imaginable. There was not a drop of originality and it was as if someone handed them the “how to make Bond film” playbook and they ran it step by step. I imagine a lengthy check list that demanded a specific number of one liners, explosions, gadgets and other various Bondian elements. There was nothing organic about the film.

I could talk about being handcuffed to hot girls with BMW motorcycles, the words
“I’ll be right back,” cunning linguists, and Jake Wade, but it might just be better if you watch the film. Actually, I implore you to watch the film as if it is an actual parody of a Bond film, and see what you think. If you felt like following it up with TWINE (let me straighten my tie under water) and DAD (do I need examples?), I’m relatively certain you’d find the same elements at work. At the moment, I am undecided about GE. I think it may have also been too Bond to be Bond. Still, it had a freshness that came from a 6 year gap, which did add something relatively special to the film.

I always wondered why my earliest experiences with a character I came to love so dearly never gripped me in any meaningful way. I’m thankful that I’ve finally been able to discover the answer.

Barry versus Arnold

2010-09-02T18:50:04Z

It just seems to me that with John Barry, Marvin Hamlisch, Sheena Easton, etc. that we got better melodies, better lyrics, more love themes than we get presently with David Arnold. His Bond music, although well-produced, is a bit edgy for those, like me, who are looking for the love angle in Bond films....thoughts?

50th Anniversary James Bond One-Sheet

2010-09-02T18:01:37Z

Well, I'm glad I found this website! It's a little early but I put together this 50th Anniversary One Sheet showing virtually every one sheet poster I could find. There are a few minor variation posters missing, but I was limited to 81 posters. Did I miss anything major? This picture is a highly-condensed version of my master image, which is 27x41@ 300dpi:

Update: This forum apparently downsizes pictures, so the below picture looks "squished" and pixelated. It looks much better uncondensed. So click the below link to see a much better picture. Your browser may also downsize it, so you may have to click to magnify to it full size:

http://www.posternirvana.com/misc/Final … 20this.jpg

Mel
My Posters @ www.posternirvana.com
My Bond Posters

Best scene from a Bond movie -- ever!

2010-09-02T17:53:02Z

In another thread, Barry Nelson mentioned the scene where Bond "ski[ed] off cliff and ha[d his] parachute open after long drop." That was a great scene. So I got to thinking, which is Bond's best scene?

I'll vote for Timothy Dalton escaping from a hoard of scuba divers by shooting his spear gun into the pontoon of a passing sea plane, climbing up the cable, throwing out the pilot, and flying away!

There are similarities between LTK & Clear and Present Danger...

2010-09-02T17:38:20Z

If you've never seen Clear and Present Danger on TV, or in the movie theater, this will be entirely lost on you, but if you have seen it, and if you've seen Licence to Kill too, then you should take notice of the atmosphere in both films. Licence to Kill and Clear and Present Danger have almost identical surroundings and the heroes of both films were dealing with a drug dealer.

Another Bond tie for every wallet...

2010-09-02T17:15:35Z

Here we go again...

http://cgi.ebay.com/QUANTUM-SOLACE-Tom- … 3cb05afa64

and now a scarf too...

http://cgi.ebay.com/QUANTUM-SOLACE-Jame … 3cb05b309e

What do you think of Moore's Bond films?

2010-09-02T17:09:33Z

I think most of Roger Moore's Bond films stunk except for The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only.

Joint Private Signings with Sir Roger Moore

2010-09-02T17:02:58Z

The Lois Chiles private signing deadline has been extended to Monday 6th September

http://www.bondstars.com/loischiles/private/

We are now also holding a joint private signing with Sir Roger Moore and Lois Chiles, deadline is Monday 6th September

http://www.bondstars.com/loisroger/private/

Joint private signing with Sir Roger Moore and Richard Kiel, deadline is 20th October

http://www.bondstars.com/richardroger/private/

Joint private signing with Sir Roger Moore and Britt Ekland, deadline is 20th October

http://www.bondstars.com/brittroger/private/

regards

Andy

Time for a new M?

2010-09-02T16:29:38Z

let me first put this out that I think Judi Dench has done a great job as M and is a great actress so I am not bashing her, but I was watching Dr. No for the 420th time and was reminded how much I miss the old M Bernard Lee, and the sense of intimidation that Bond had of him. I liked the fact that M was more of a boss and not trying to be a friend or equal to Bond.

So who would make a good M these days? and what are your thoughts on this?

My art dump

2010-09-02T16:02:38Z

I thought I'd share a few things that I'd done over the last couple of weeks. Let me know what you think:

This was a pinup I did last winter to strengthen my portfolio. My good buddy in Jersey inked it and I think that he did a fine job. It's apparent by now that I have a Batman bias...I'm sure LyleDark can appreciate that...

For those who loved (clears throat) that new Superman movie:

Here's a page from a story I did when I worked with Speakeasy Comics:

Here's the cover of my comic's first issue that I painted. The look is based on my childhood friend's dad Mr. Mussina back in New York. What a great guy...

These two pics were done by my 8 year old son Mac.

I guess the kid is mine or my wife was seeing another artist...

Hope you enjoy these.

Theme Songs Elimination Game!

2010-09-02T14:08:50Z

Me and Loeff agreed to each host a different elimination game simultaneously. So whilst he hosts the bond actors game (which should be much shorter than this one), I will host the themesongs game!

I have tried to include as many as I can think of, and came to a list of 35 songs featured on bond films.

The rules are the same as the bond girls game... vote twice per day, cannot vote twice in a row. +1/-1 until further notice.

Here is the list of the 35 songs:

James Bond Theme (John Barry) [10]
Kingston Calypso AKA Three Blind Mince (John Barry) [10]
Underneath The Mango Tree (?) [10]
From Russia With Love – Instrumental (John Barry) [10]
From Russia With Love (Matt Munro) [10]
Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey) [10]
Thunderball (Tom Jones) [10]
Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Dionne Warwick) [10]
Casino Royale (Herb Alpert) [10]
The Look Of Love (Dusty Springfield) [10]
You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra) [10]
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (John Barry) [10]
We Have All The Time In The World (Louis Armstrong) [10]
007 (John Barry) [10]
Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey) [10]
Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney And Wings) [10]
The Man With The Golden Gun (Lulu) [10]
Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon) [10]
Moonraker (Shirley Bassey) [10]
For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton) [10]
All Time High (Rita Coolidge) [10]
Never Say Never Again (Lani Hall And Herb Alpert) [10]
A View To A Kill (Duran Duran) [10]
The Living Daylights (A-Ha) [10]
If There Was A Man (The Pretenders) [10]
Where Has Everybody Gone? (The Pretenders) [10]
Licence To Kill (Gladys Knight) [10]
If You Asked Me To (Patti Labelle) [10]
Goldeneye (Tina Turner) [10]
Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crow) [10]
Surrender (K.D.Lang) [10]
The World Is Not Enough (Garbage) [10]
Die Another Day (Madonna) [10]
You Know My Name (Chris Cornell) [10]
Another Way To Die (Jack White And Alicia Keys) [10]

Happy voting!

S.D.Studios Magnetic Mine

2010-09-02T13:58:10Z

More pics to share

SD Golden Gun/ PPK Duel Set

2010-09-02T13:46:51Z

There seems to be a bit of an "SD Studios Theme" going on here at the moment... therefore,it's only fair that I add my contribution to the forum...

The top case contains a 1st Gen golden Gun
The bottom case contains the SD "Matched Duel Set"

enjoy

Golden Gun Update

2010-09-02T11:15:11Z

I've just had an email from Factory Entertainment.

Pre-ordering of the both editions of the Golden Gun will commence on 18th June.

Price will be $449 for the LE Edition ($150 deposit required) and limited to 1000 pieces.

Price will be $649 for the SE Edition ($260 deposit required) and limited to 400 pieces.

Will be delivered during September 2010.

Much cheaper than I had expected - this is fantastic news. My order will be placed accordingly.

Andy.

Being James Bond Press Release

2010-09-02T08:37:04Z

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

‘BEING JAMES BOND: VOLUME ONE – POCKET EDITION’
RELEASED IN PAPERBACK
‘If James Bond can do it, YOU can do it!’

Ridgewood, New Jersey - August 30, 2010 - ‘Being James Bond’, the successful podcast which has been running for four years on iTunes (average rating 5-stars), has released ‘Being James Bond: Volume One - Pocket Edition’ as a paperback book.

‘Being James Bond: Volume One - Pocket Edition’ is a guidebook on living more like James Bond by
mastering the same skills that Bond has. ‘Being James Bond’ is a ‘How-to Guide’ on anything James Bond can do, or has done, and serves as an instruction manual for the reader to make James Bond’s knowledge and skills his own. This book, the first volume in a series of eight, is a collection of eight instructional
essays on the various abilities of James Bond. In addition to the introduction chapter, ‘Volume One’
explores such topics as playing Texas hold’em poker, learning to ski, traveling to London, drinks and mixology, horseback riding, bungee jumping, and even learning to fly an airplane. Informative and fun,
each chapter will bring the reader one step closer to being James Bond!

The 244-page book is also filled with positive testimonials from listeners of the ‘Being James Bond’
podcast, and is endorsed by Paul Kyriazi, film director and author of How to Live the James Bond Lifestyle, and Sandy Shepard, lifestyle trainer and author of Fempowerment: A Guide To Unleashing Your Inner
Bond Girl and The Fempowerment Playbook.

Copies of ‘Being James Bond: Volume One - Pocket Edition’ can be ordered at http://stores.lulu.com/beingjamesbond. Also available as a digital download.

# # #

For more information on ‘Being James Bond: Volume One - Pocket Edition’ or to schedule an interview, please e-mail at headofsection@beingjamesbond.com.

Contact:Joseph Darlington
SNS Publishing
38 East Ridgewood Ave., No. 110
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
973-615-2226
headofsection@beingjamesbond.com