Worth another bloody shot… in November
‘Well, it’s Christmas time again,
decorations are all hung by the fire.
Everybody’s singin’
all the bells are ringing out,
and it’s Christmas all over again…’
Rule of thumb: when you are struggling to find a halfway-decent hook for your tiny piece of monthly column, and it’s already the 3rd and you can’t decide on the hook, the layout or the images to go with it… then there is nothing better than inspiration provided by The Admiral himself. Kudos to Dave Winter for helping me out here.
What’s it all about? In the words of The Admiral:
Keep calm and… TAKE THE BLOODY SHOT!
Order a t-shirt for $20 within 7 days in order for the campaign to be a success (we need 50 orders for the shirts to be printed): http://teespring.com/takethebloodyshot
Enjoy Skyfall? Now wear the T-shirt with the fantastic quote from M in the pre-titles sequence.
Given the fact it’s that time of the year (yet) again, this item might be just the right thing to buy your significant other for the stocking. Add one for yourself, too. This shirt is decidedly shirt-ish, the colour sufficiently bright to lighten up the dark winter days (and nights), and the slogan is downright unbeatable in terms of cultural impact – Bond can attest to that. A modern classic for generations to come. Elegant, stylish, timeless – just what the tasteful Bond fan is looking for.
And now – TAKE THE BLOODY SHOT!
While we’re at it it’s perhaps fitting to acknowledge the current state lots of people are in due to the approaching holiday season: frantically hunting down bits and pieces to present their nearest and dearest with. Bond fans are not different in this regard, they just face greater dilemmas. After all you can spend everything from nothing (for AskMen’s iPad app teaching you the Bond Lessons) to a King’s ransom for a Diamonds Are Forever manuscript with notes by Fleming himself, (thanks to ‘quantumofsolace’ for pointing to this) or the budget of a small US secret intelligence service for MGM shares to finally have your say in the series (thanks to a persistent nightmare for haunting me with that possibility).
My own indulgence this year was – relatively speaking – restrained. I opted for Bill Desowitz’s JAMES BOND UNMASKED , Taschen’s giant-sized JAMES BOND ARCHIVES and Robert Sellers’ THE BATTLE FOR BOND. No Blu-rays for me, no Macallan, not Bond-phone, not even – what is this lovely fragrance called? – ‘007 James Bond EDT‘ (though it wouldn’t be a stretch, next to every supermarket has it around here).
But the avalanche of Bond and Bond-related merchandise is also a blessing; there is something for everybody and every budget. We all can have our see-through thin slice of Bond and his adventures. And we bloody will, won’t we?
By the by, where is the guy? Why, Bond of course! The literary version, that is. [Everybody knows where film-Bond is, busy earning his first billion, provided all works out.] According to John Griswold’s entertaining IAN FLEMING’S JAMES BOND – ANNOTATIONS AND CHRONOLOGIES Bond would be studying heraldry from end of November until December 15th, at least in 1961. If you always wondered what Bond does where, in which book, and what significance the brand of cigarette or bourbon has – well, this then is the book for you.
Meanwhile in the real world fans are starting to get impatient for lack of information on William Boyd’s entry into the Bond canon, due for release in autumn 2013. John Cox – aka ‘Zencat’ – chased down a tiny snippet of info the author revealed in an interview he gave the Los Angeles Times. According to Cox’s The Book Bond his new Bond novel will see 007 at 45 in 1969. So far nothing new. But Boyd fiendishly hinted at
“…an ordinary mission for a middle-aged spy that goes hideously wrong.”
A microscopic revelation that nonetheless immediately fuelled further speculation, as can be seen here. We expect to hear more of this in the near future.
Finally there is the chance to nominate ‘Skyfall’ for the Jameson Empire Awards. I seriously doubt the nomination stage will pose anything remotely resembling a hurdle for the film, but please vote anyway. Thanks to CBn forum member ‘thecasinoroyale’ for pointing to this.
With this I shall end this bloody shot.
Worth another shot will return… in January.
2013, not 1961…