Bond, a t-shirt, 60 hours (and a bit of small change)

The new CBn fan t-shirt, available only for a short time

The CBn fan t-shirt ‘KEEP CALM AND CALL BOND‘ will only be available for two more days. For the price of just $ 15.00 you get a Hanes Tagless Tee in – almost – British Racing Green, with a spectacularly cool tagline, devised by CBn forum members themselves. At the time of writing this a mere 13 further orders are needed to meet the goal. Want to make a beloved one happy? Need a little gift for Easter? Do you feel calm and in a calling mood? This is the article you are looking for.

Worth another shot… in February

Oscar one and a half, image by James Salmond Furniture, used with kind permission

As everybody can plainly see with a glance at the image that comes with this shot, February was clearly dedicated to the Academy Awards, the James Bond tribute at said sad event, and of course the spectacular congregation of all six Bond actors on stage! That even more spectacularly – after repeatedly being debunked by various parties – really didn’t happen then. Scandalous!

Which is why we won’t waste further words on this event.

CBners’ new fan shirt creation, supposedly comes with Bond’s private number

What we will mention in this shot is the brand-new, all British-Racing-Green CBn fan t-shirt, designed by CBners themselves and up for grabs for the next six days. Provided the goal of 25 orders is met by then. Shouldn’t really be a problem, the rumour mill suggests this t-shirt comes with the number of Bond’s direct line at SIS HQ and the number of his secure home line. In code of course (something to do with the number of threads used, divided by the square root of the moon phases). The shirt asks for a mere $ 15.00, hardly too much for Bond’s phone number, even if you shouldn’t be able to decipher it.

In other news: CBn started a side-career in the building industry! Our first project is Build BOND 24, a multiple choice poll game in – currently – five brand new threads in the CBn Forum Games section. Starting with the basics (Bond, girl, villain),   going to locations, the must-haves (conventions, bling and signature lore),  a story and a ride, and finally some kind of noise to go with the whole experience, you can choose amongst a wealth of carefully worded suggestions as well as add your very own personal scintillations. Be sure to leave a contact address and don’t move too far from your phone, just in case you get a call by a certain production company.

And now for something completely different…

Matt Helm – somewhat of a ‘colleague’ of Bond from the other side of the Atlantic – is finally coming back! Starting this February Titan Books reprints the popular tough-as-nails secret agent series by Donald Hamilton. The first two – DEATH OF A CITIZEN and THE WRECKING CREW – are already out; April, August and October will see further reprints. That’s not news, you say? So you already knew about the prequel MATT HELM: THE WAR YEARS, too? Well, for those that don’t, it’s a brand new Matt Helm story by Keith Wease, a long-time Matt Helm fan whose work, according to Donald Hamilton’s son, captures the voice of his father quite successfully. Currently MATT HELM: THE WAR YEARS is available on Kindle.

Worth another shot will return, once we’ve upgraded our deciphering hardware. Until then keep calm and…

Bond 24 will still root Bond in reality.

John Logan, the soul director of the next two Bond films, and co writer of Skyfall, has said that Bond 24 will still remain Faithful to Ian Flemings original incarnation. Speaking to the Financial Times, Logan said that “Fleming’s courage in showing Bond’s fear and vulnerability and depression was really interesting and something that a modern audience can accept,” said Logan. “I think Skyfall demonstrated that they want more layers to that character. And those are the layers that Fleming wrote.”. You can view the article here, via IGN, or if you so wish, catch up with Logan’s stage and film work on the like supplied for the financial times.

Could Guy Ritchie direct the next film?

“Bookmaker William Hill has named Guy Ritchie as the favourite to direct the next Bond film, following the news that ‘Skyfall’ helmsman Sam Mendes has ruled himself out.

The director of ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and the recent ‘Sherlock Holmes’ films is being given odds of 4-1.”

Read the full story here.

While I must admit I’m not too familiar with Ritchie’s work. I have seen Snatch and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and thought they were both really good films. So I’d be on board with this if it were true.

Sam Mendes will not return for Bond 24

Empire broke this story and got an official response from EON: Sam Mendes will NOT return to direct Bond 24.

Which leaves all sorts of possibilities open now, even a better time table for the production which could not have started before the beginning of 2014 due to Mendes´ theatre projects.

So, who will take over?

See the Empire story here: http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=36712

A look back at the Oscars “tribute” to 007

Last week at the Oscars they put together a small celebration of James Bond. Seeing as last year marked fifty years of 007, this seemed appropriate. Rumors quickly spread that every Bond actor would show up onstage together, now while this was a nice thought. I never really expected it to happen. What I didn’t expect however, is what we ended up with.

continue reading…

Happy 100th Birthday, Mr Goldfinger

“No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!” – It’s one of the most famous lines, not only in Bond history, but also in movie history. They were, of course, spoken by Auric Goldfinger, the man with the Midas touch, played by German actor Gert Fröbe. But the golden words he poured in our ears weren’t his own. Even though Michael Collins did a great dubbing job, the fact that Gert Fröbe’s own voice can’t be heard in “Goldfinger” may be considered one of the great missed opportunities in Bond history. But it wasn’t meant to be. Fröbe’s English was so bad, the producers even had to hire Nikki van der Zyl (who would later dub Shirley Eaton in the movie) as a voice coach to make sure he would at least make the correct mouth movements. But as a side effect of this, his English became good enough to be used in later movies like “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines” and of course as Baron Bomburst in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. Gert Fröbe was born 100 years ago, on 25th February 1913.

continue reading…

Another Oscar for Skyfall!

After marking the very first live performance of Skyfall tonight, Adele, fought off top rivals Les Miserables and Life of Pi to claim the number one spot for best original song. James Bond is back on track.

Skyfall: An Oscar Winning Bond film.

After sadly missing out to Cinematography and Sound Design, The James Bond franchise has picked up it’s first Oscar in 46 years. Tied with Zero Dark Thirty, Skyfall has managed to secure it’s first Oscar for Sound Editing. Congratulations to all involved! Remember, there’s still ‘best original song’ and ‘best soundtrack’ to go. Will Skyfall go away with three Oscars in one evening?

SKYFALL’s props reveal M’s real name

Comingsoon.net has posted a very interesting article on the various details of SKYFALL´s props.

Including the real name of Judi Dench´s “M”…

Be surprised here: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=100663