Gone fishin'

I don't really have much to say these days so I'm just going to suspend this blog for a while. Cheerio.

Sex, sadism and snobbery

This seems like as good a time as any to come out of retirement for Her Majesty and provide a brief summation of all things Bond.

31 October sees the UK release of Quantum of Solace, the 22nd James Bond film (we're not counting Never Say Never Again, cos it's total clownshoes). Two official trailers have been released and you can find these on the official website.

No new Bond film is complete without its own theme and this time around it's Another Way To Die by Jack White and Alicia Keys. An instrumental version has been used in an advert for Coke Zero, leaving Jack White displeased.

Perhaps they should have just used the songs by Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish instead.

It's also about the time the Ian Fleming Centenary celebrations are coming to an end, but not without a gala evening hosted by Stephen Fry at the London Palladium to celebrate the author's most popular creation. Not forgetting the Imperial War Museum is still running its Bond and Fleming exhibition into next year though.

Films, music, exhibitions, swanky evenings in town, soft drinks. This still might not be enough for you, so why not indulge in the complete James Bond lifestyle. Food, drink, cars, clothers, gadgets and girls, everything an aspiring secret agent needs.

Or, if you just can't wait for the film, pirate copies of Quantum Of Solace are available in Harrow.

Double-O Heaven

This year mark's James Bond author Ian Fleming's 100th birthday. Sadly of course, the old scribe is no longer with us, but there's still a host of double-O shenanigans to mark the event.

8 January sees the release of a set of first-day covers from the Royal Mail depicting the original artwork from Flemings books; good for the collector or to frame for the wall, I'd think. On 17 April the Imperial War Museum exhibition For Your Eyes Only will devote a new exhibition to both the life and works of Fleming. The exhibition will also be accompanied by a new book from Ben Macintyre.

April continues apace with an exhibition under the banner of Bond Bound: Ian Fleming and the Art of Cover Design, at the Fleming Collection on Berkeley Street, Mayfair, on 22 April. As the name suggests, this event will focus in particular on the artwork used for the original novels. To round off April, Radio 4 will apparently be broadcasting a special radio adaptation of Dr No.

Perhaps the most significant event in the first half of the year though is the release of a brand new James Bond novel, Devil May Care, on 28 May - Fleming's birthday. Penned by Sebastian Faulks (writing as Fleming), it promises to take our hero back into the Cold War era for more thrills and spills.

November brings something quite different though: the 22nd James Bond film. Production is currently underway and the first spy pictures are leaking out, but many facts do remain a mystery. What we do know is that the film begins apparently only a few minutes after the end of Casino Royale, Jeffrey Wright will return as Felix Leiter, Mathieu Amalric is a key villain and that British actress Gemma Arterton has landed one of the female roles (but probably not the main Bond-girl). Director Marc Forster has claimed the film will be 120 minutes long and Daniel Craig apparently let slip on GMTV that the new film will have the simple title of '007', but this is far from certain.

The year promises to leave us both shaken and stirred. Sorry.

Ice cream...

I had an experience the other day that was akin to something like the scene in 2001: A Space Oddysey when Dave goes hurtling through time and space. It was induced by a trailer for Channel 4's 25th birthday in which they used the old channel ident. Instantly I was transported back to a time of Beano's for 12p, penny chews, and peddling my racing bike as fast as possible round Budgen's car park.

The nostalgia continued with the revelation that seminal video-game Speedball II is making a comeback, albeit on the Xbox Live (watch the trailer). Surely still one of the best theme tunes from a game? Mind you, I saw a revamped version of Sensible Soccer in Woolworths the other day, and it looked like nothing other than a huge disappointment.

Speaking of football nostalgia, what about Gazza (smooth segue huh)? Who can forget his schoolboy's own stuff (or something like that) against Arsenal, undoubtedly a better TV experience than watching the Mary Rose being raised. I know I've lept more than a few years in that comparison, but let's be fair: everyone was extremely disappointed to spend hours watching a very wet and muddy piece of wood brought slowly to the surface.

Still, there's no one who has bad memories of this.

The Spy Who Blogged Me

I'm sure you wouldn't mind seeing a few James Bond covers apropos of nothing, would you? Thought as much.

Coldplay get things started with a cracking version of You Only Live Twice:



Damn, I want that as an MP3 now. Anyway, let's see how Radiohead move into Roger Moore territory with a frankly creepy version of Nobody Does It Better:



Finally, northern upstarts and professional George Formby tribute act, The Arctic Monkeys thrown their cloth cap into the ring with Diamonds Are Forever at Glastonbury:



But then again, your best bet is just to go and buy David Arnold's Shaken And Stirred album.

It's the Pits

Just thought I'd furnish you all with a few YouTube videos on one of my favourite subjects: Formula 1.

First up, we have the musical Renault:



The following video is becoming increasingly ironic with each race. But who knows, maybe one day Alonso will actually allow Hamilton a fair race.



Racing has changed a lot over the years, but there's nothing wrong with a little nostalgia. Sadly, not all of the memories are happy:

Labels: fernando alonso, formula 1, formula one, lewis hamilton

Shedding more light?

Ok, so I'm running very much behind the rest of the internet, but here's a few more clues that might reveal a little more about the mystery trailer below.

J.J. Abrams has said that the only site actually connected to the mystery movie that has so far been FOUND is the official site, but why then are there a wealth of others aligning themselves to the 1-18-08 mantra?

http://www.ethanhaas.org/

Looking at the source code reveals some text:

The great cycle, the beginning and the end, turns just as the plans of the gods turn once again to the world of men.

And they will come upon the earth only after the skies rain down fire and the very earth itself is made to shake and the great cities of men fall into ruins. Their plans are set and their purpose is clear; they come for war.

Ethan Haas 7cm

And then, a whole host of links to other sites:

http://www.abz3293.com
http://ethanhaaswaswrong.blogspot.com/
http://www.ethanhaaswasright.com
http://www.slusho.com
http://ethanhaas.org/cloverfield/

And an email address: 7cm@ethanhaas.org

I loves a good mystery I does!

Labels: cloverfield, ethan haas, j.j. abrams