Dr No

As the 28th of May was the birthday of Ian Fleming I thought it was fitting to give one of his novels as reading suggestion for today. I chose Dr No. Again, the movie adaptation is more famous than the source material , but the novel stands perfectly on its own. In it, James Bond, having recovered from poisoning after the events of the previous novel, is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of the station agent and his secretary. He is quickly put on the trail of Dr Julius No, a Chinese-German living in the island of Crab Key. Dr No turns out to be on USSR's payroll (well of course), as well as a sadist researching on physical pain, eager to use Bond as a guinea pig. During the novel Bond has to face many physical dangers, among them No's henchmen, a centipede, a fake dragon and a true giant squid. The Bond girl of the novel is Honeychile Rider, or Honey Rider for short, innocent woman child, wild, whom James Bond meets as she rises from the sea like Venus. Eros, Thanatos, there is just so much to enjoy here.

Kingston Calypso

I thought I would upload a song tonight, a summery song. I have actually uploaded it before, but the video disappeared from YouTube, beside this is the whole song. It is a song that obsess me from time to time, from the very first Bond movie. It is about three blinde mice, a pussycat and a rat, but in fact the three blind mice are three killers passing as blind men, the pussycat is James Bond and by proxy the British Empire, and the rat is of course the evil Dr. Julius No. Immortal Joseph Wiseman. But in the end, it is such a beautiful atmospheric song called Kingston Calypso. Which I hope you enjoy.

Jump up

I have uploaded the book cover of Dr No somewhat arbitrarily, as this topic is only peripheral to the novel (great novel though, although not my favorite of the Bond novels). But it is a great book cover, like most of the Penguin book cover for Bond novels. It has been feeling summery today, with warmer days, temperature staying reasonably warm at night. And it is a bank holiday, on top of this. I feel like watching Bond movies (those set in tropical locations), read Bond novels (although I read all of the original Fleming ones) and listen to summery music, or a little bit of all of this.

Which leads me to, well, this song I am going to upload. It is from the movie Dr No.I particularly love the soundtrack of the movie, which is very atmospheric and worth a watch in itself. So as to give a bit of atmosphere to this blog, and to share the mood, I have uploaded Jump up here.

Geeks, nerds et autres espèces humaines

Je viens de lire cet article dans Cyberpresse sur les geeks. Une question qui me revient parfois: suis-je un peu geek, voire nerd? Une anecdote à ce sujet: mon petit frère et moi, on regardait nos nombreuses cartes de Donjons et Dragons étalées par terre, avec les différents royaumes, humains, nains ou elfiques, les lieux mystérieux et sacrés inventés, on discutait des lieux et du meilleur endroit pour cacher un artefact (le centre de notre présente campagne) quand il dit, du ton d'un homme qui vient d'avoir une épiphanie: "Guillaume, on est des nerds!"

Je sais qu'il y a une différence entre nerd et geek, mais je n'ai jamais eu l'intention de devenir l'un ou l'autre, pourtant j'en ai certaines caractéristiques: je suis souvent socialement inepte, je m'intéresse à des sujets les geeks/nerds (D&Dr, James Bond, les vieilles séries télé, il fut même un temps où je regardais Star Trek, c'est dire) et je ne suis pas sportif. Ca m'angoisse un peu rien que d'y penser.

Ah oui, la photo a été prise au Bond Museum à Keswick, c'est la reproduction du tank dragon que l'on voit dans Dr No. J'ai traîné ma femme là. J'ai été déçu du musée, mais il est la preuve qu'on peut être un geek fini et en faire une occupation profitable.

RIP Joseph Wiseman

I neglected to mention this piece of news, but Joseph Wiseman died recently. He played Dr No, the first ever cinematic Bond villain in the movie of the same name. He was a great underrated actor who defined the role of the badguy in Bond movies, he was also a fellow Montrealer. At 91, it is not exactly a tragedy, but it is still in order to honour him.

Venus rising from the sea

This is one of my favorite scenes from a Bond movie. You know the one I am talking about. You have probably seen it all. Maybe not the movie, but the scene, you sure did. Of course, Honey Ryder (played by then unknown Ursula Andress) rising from the sea is an iconic moment of cinema, but you have to take time to appreciate how much this scene works on so many levels. First because it is successfully constructed as an allegory: it is a modernisation of Venus Anadyomene. In the original novel, this is even more obvious as Honeychile Ryder is naked, save for a belt, just like Aphrodite in the myth. Like Aphrodite, Honey Ryder's appearance is associated with shells (but she carries them instead of being carried by one). Like Aphrodite at her birth, Honey Ryder is innocent. She arrives in Crab Key oblivious of the dangers the island is hiding. Andress has never been a great actress, but she displays perfectly the innocence of the character. It also works because of the subtext. There is this brilliant song which I talked about in a previous entry, Underneath the mango tree, in itself a sweet love song, is here a wonderful piece of irony: here is this girl, who has dreams of a simple family life, with a stable and loving marriage, who is going to meet her prince charming: a bachelor who has nothing but dislike of simple life, whose work is nothing like the thing she hopes for, and who is oblivious to notions of stable relationship, love or even sexual exclusivity. Bond will nevertheless use the song shamelessly to get in contact with Honey and in the meantime court her. Ursula Andress was dubbed by Nikki Van der Zyl for the dialogues, but by Diana Coupland for the singing part, so we should also give credit to Mrs. (Ms?) Coupland. She sure had a lovely voice. Sean Connery was also dubbed, because he couldn't sing a damn. Finally, before I show you the scene again, there are the brilliant lines and the beautiful surroundings that really make it stand out. Anyway, I hope you enjoy... It's not quite a song, but it's just as good for a feel-good Friday.

Dr No and his three deadly mice

It's sunny, it's hot and I have no idea what to blog about. I want to 1)have a job (it's inhuman to jobhunt on such a nice day) and 2)go on holiday. I want to go to go and take a dip in a pool.
Anyway, ever watched Dr No? The intro is famous for the gunbarrel sequence and for the very first use of the James Bond theme, but there is more to see: the way the action starts from the credit sequence is brilliant, and so is the Kingston Calypso song, innocent enough the first time you hear it, but deliciously ominous you pay attetion to the lyrics. You can find the complete song here (I don't like much of the rest of the site, but to find James Bond music it's very good. You have the introduction of Dr No down here, with gunbarrel and the three blind mice in question:



What a way to start a movie, and to kick off a franchise!

20,000 Leages Under the Sea

Hey, You can find 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on youtube. There's a nice little adventure movie right there. I always loved it. I am feeling a bit guilty about watching it on youtube, but sometimes it is the only way to get your hand on something when you want to watch it. And it has been put there by people who genuinly love the movie. I will need to buy the DVD eventually. Summer puts me in the mood for escapist movies and literature, especially sea adventures (that said I never watched Pirates of the Carribeans nor cared about it), or stories with tropical settings. If I want to watch a James Bond this time of year, it will most likely be Dr. No or Thunderball. If I want something a bit more serious, it will be Moby Dick with Gregory Peck. I was crazy about that movie when I was a child. Anyway, I read Moby Dick twice (once when I was 11 after watching the movie, once when I was 18 in cégep) and I promised myself to read it in original English. I will also have to read the original 20,000 Lieues sous les Mers novel one day. This year, I already have a lot to read for the summer and I don't have the book yet. I want to read it in original French of course. Jules Verne was not a great writer, but he was inventive. Sometimes that's all you are looking for. I am surprised I haven't read it yet actually. When I was a child, my brothers and I had an obsession for high sea adventures. Our family got a pool at an early age, and our child out games during summertime set around the pool usually evolved around pirates (ancient or modern), shark attacks, giant squid attacks, typhoons (use making waves in the pool) or a variation of everything. We had a wild imagination.

Underneath the Mango Tree

Maybe it's because of the weather, it's feeling really summery today, but I have that old song from Dr. No in the head. I loved that aspect of Dr. No: the way the music was part of the plot. ironic as well that Honey Rider was singing this when Bond found her, it's a love song about marriage and the joys of a quiet, normal life, something James Bond was never really fond of. Anyway, here's the song I had in the head all day.