Piz Gloria exists

 'Tis the season to be... spying? Those who have been following this blog for a while may know that one of my favourite James Bond novels and one of my favourite Christmas novels (as in, set during Christmas) is  of On Her Majesty's Secret Service . I try to revisit it every year, not read the full thing, but some chapters from it, just to get me in a darker seasonal mood. Anyway, I was reminded recently that Piz Gloria, the headquarters of Blofeld in both the book and the film, does exist. They even have an official website. Okay, so it was constructed with the help of the movie's funding, and thus did not exist when Ian Fleming wrote his novel, but still. I hope I can go there one day, on a Bondian pilgrimage. Probably not during Christmastime, but one can dream.

James Bond for #Noirvember?

You know my love for James Bond, both the films and the novels. You may also know that On Her Majesty's Secret Service  ismy favourite James Bond novel. It is one of my favourite Christmas reads, but it struck me that it could also be used for #Noirvember. Because it is one of Ian Fleming's most tragic novels, but also because only a portion (albeit a large one) is set during Christmastime. This quote form the novel suits perfectly the month: there is beauty, but we know evil lurks.

Christmas Spy Thriller

Merry Christmas everyone! As 'Tis still the season to be reading, I thought I would give everyone one last Christmas readint suggestion. I suggested it before and more than once, but every Christmastime I revisit it. I suggest it today for another reason: it is a spy thriller with an uncannily topical plot. I am talking of course of On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming. Maybe my favourite James Bond and favourite Christmas novel. On the track of archenemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld James Bond falls upon a conspiracy that involves biological warfare (when I said it was topical), the destruction of livestock (including Christmas turkeys) and heraldry. There's Blofeld as a murderous Krampus with a dash of King Herod reigning over his hideout of Piz Gloria in Switzerland, beautiful angels of death, hypnotherapy, Eros, Thanatos (in other words: sex and violence), blood on snow, a sort of Census and Bond finds love and loss with the Contessa Teresa di Vincenzo. So today, if you have time, instead of watching a movie, I suggest you snuggled up in a warm blanket, have a drink of something alcoholic (not necessarily a martini)and read this.

James Bond on Christmas Eve

This is Christmas Eve, and as this is getting closer and closer, when I have a few minutes, I try to read Christmas related things. One of my favourite, as my readers know, is On Her Majesty's Secret Service, a James Bond novel set during Christmastime. I find it almost sad that I have so litle time to truly appreciate it, as this the perfect Christmas read, where the beauty of an idyllic looking Christmastime hides danger and violence. Well, that's Yuletide for many of us. In any case, I thought I'd share a quote from the novel, since it is Christmas Eve. For context: Bond her eis escaping the headquarters of his archenemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld and there are killer pursuing him. I hope nobody has a Christmas Eve that dramatic, but I know some can feel Bond's pain.

James Bond for Christmas

As Christmas is getting closer and closer, I am suggesting to my readership both a novel and a movie on your list of Christmas entertainments.I am talking about On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which is set during Christmastime. I already plugged the novel two years ago and recent developments regarding the next Bond movie made me revisit the novel. In other words, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Bond's nemesis and primary antagonist in both novel and movie may be featured in Spectre. Rereading parts of the novel, I am more and more convinced that this will be the case.

So why is the novel such a great Christmas read? Partially because of the setting, of course: snowy Switzerland. Because of its key element of violence, which illustrates the darker aspects of the holiday. Blofeld may seem like a benevolent aristocrat, a Santa Claus of sorts, he harvests in fact a very sinister plan. Christmastime is not only about the Nativity, it is also about the murder of the Innocents, triggered by the paranoia of King Herod, about troubled times bringing up an uncertain future. Traditionally, it is also a time of Pagan excesses and gluttony, something that is illustrated again in Blofeld's scheme: he wants to destroy livestocks through biological warfare (his first "victim" in the novels is the production of British turkeys). Through a very modern, even contemporary theme, you have in fact expression of centuries old symbols. Anyway, it is a great read, and if you don't have time to start it now, give yourself an evening to watch the movie adaptation. Here is a scene from it, when Blofeld reveals his plan to Bond.

Do you know how Christmas trees are grown?

I upload this song almost every year. It is to celebrate the coming Christmas season, it is also, believe it or not, a song from a James Bond movie set during Christmastime. By the way, the original novel is a great Christmas read too. A warning to those who have not listened to it before: it has some of the silliest lyrics a Christmas song ever has. About rain freezing in winter and killing the tree if it does not have love. Things like that. That said, maybe it is because of the movie, or the circumstances where it is played in the movie, which you can read about in one of my previous posts. I may blog more about On Her Majesty's Secret Service in the upcoming weeks. In any case, to kick start the Christmas season, I thought this silly song was good enough.

Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?

Well, no, this is not a rhetorical question. And I know I have uploaded this song in the past (at least twice). I thought I needed to kick start the Countdown to Christmas (we are the first day of Advent) with a Christmas song. A very silly, yet irresistible song, in spite or because of its silliness. It was taken from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, an underrated Bond movie. In the movie, Bond is trying to escape Blofeld's henchmen, there is a huge Christmas celebration going on outside, in the Swiss Alps, the atmosphere is festive, and he is trying to save his life. The song is all about innocence and love, Santa Claus and reindeers and so on and so forth. I find this deliciously ironic. Maybe you need to watch the movie to really appreciate it, maybe by itself it is just something cheesy. Nevertheless, here it is.The picture on the left is a courtesy of my cousin.

Bond girls I admire

I didn't know what to blog about tonight, but fate or chance has chosen for me. So after blogging about my own republican feelings in French, I was reading about Republicanism in the UK on Wikipedia and I discovered that Honor Blackman is a republican. She even declined a CBE. Now that takes guts and principle. Honor Blackman, aka Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.  That made my evening.

Bond girls have often a bad reputation, but I always thought that the classic ones, the Fleming characters, were certainly well rounded, well defined female characters, with genuine depth. The early ones were certainly like this and played by admirable actresses. Diana Rigg is of course an amazing actress recognised as such who was already established when she became a Bond Girl (and what an entrance she had in the series, heck, what an exit too). I admire Diana Rigg as an actress (little side note: she is my dad's favourite actress because of her role of Emma Peel in The Avengers). I also admire Joanna Lumley, who had a much smaller role in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Well, maybe not admire as much as really, really like her. She is a cat lover, which is good enough in my book. I know she did also an amazing work for the Gurkha veterans. But it is as a cat lover that I connect to her.

That said, I raise my hat to Honor Blackman tonight. She shows that one does not need a medal or a title to be someone. Honor Blackman is an underrated actress, she is also a great, great, great person.

This the season to be reading

I try to read as much as I can during the Christmas season (I cannot really say Christmas holidays this year as I will not get much of them). I try as much as I can to read "seasonal". Books about Christmas, books I associate with Christmas, but also books set during Christmastime. I was lucky recently with Nick's Trip recently, but for me the quintessential Christmas novel is maybe On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which I read in December 2006.

I find it the perfect Christmas novel not only because it is set during Christmastime and in the Swiss Alps, but because the plot and the season blend together perfectly. You have Blofeld as the Satan/Bogeyman of the Bond world, trying to destroy in this time of abundance and excesses European food supplies: crop, poultry, etc. You have Blofeld wanting to gain a title of nobility, a sort of illegitimate king jealous of his power like Herod was in the Gospel (if not in history). You have Eros and Thanatos struggling over the novel, incessently (the Nativity story is in a way the story of a struggle between death and life, with the birth of Jesus and the massacre of the innocents both sides of the same coin), Bond finally committing himself in a monogamous relationship yet losing his bride straight after his wedding, forced to carry on his mission on Her Majesty's Secret Service. I enjoy the movie all right (it is among my Christmas movies, unsurprisingly), but I much prefer the book. I am reading at the moment another Bond novel, it is already enjoyable, but I wonder if it holds a candle to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which is maybe my favourite. I might read it again next year.

My movies for the Christmas season

My wife says I am a man of habits and rituals. She is absolutely right. As you probably know (you, my modest readership), I try to read and watch movies that in a way follow the seasons. It is a way like another to prioritise books and films when you have many on your shelf. It is also a good way to get into the seasonal spirit. During Halloween, this is easy enough: I read horror stories and watch horror movies. When Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat (although I eat turkey), it is trickier for me, because I don't like the marshmallow Christmas movies we are saturated with, with the silly two-bit moral and obvious consumerism. Maybe it has something to do with my Catholic past, maybe I think there is solemnity in the season that we lost, or whatever, but I prefer things that are not necessarily religious but more atmospheric. Jesus of Nazareth I consider it to be more of an Easter movie, so I watch it around that time. But here are some of the movies I watch around Christmastime:

-A Charlie Brown Christmas. Do I need to explain why? For me, it's the ultimate Christmas movie. Sweet, soft, simple, genuinely heart warming (without ever being preachy) and with great characters. The music is simply gorgeous and who can forget the classic speech of Linus about the meaning of Christmas?
-On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I mentioned it before, over and over again. Yes, it's a James Bond, but it is mainly set around Christmas and the scenes in the snow are beautiful. Whatever the time, a remote hideout on a mountain covered with snow is always menacing, but when one mixes it with a time of the year when you should be celebrating instead of chasing badguys (or being chased by them), it makes everything else worksI think Christmas works beautifully as a background for crime fiction (which spy thrillers are part of). The blood on snow, the Nativity story to emphasize the death that surround the protagonists, etc. Come to think of it, the Nativity story itself has its share of sinister elements, so using Christmas as a background for more sinister stories is a logical choice. In Victorian times, ghost stories were often set during Christmastime, it was a tradition to read them at this time. In Québec and in many other places, many tales are also set during Christmas.
-The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. I do watch them at other times of the year too, but simply because some of their stories are set around Christmas, I try to watch them at least once around that time. Any excuse is good to enjoy those classics.
-Eyes Wide Shut. A great underrated Stanley Kubrick classic. Beautiful and haunting. I absolutely love it. Oh, and it is set during the Christmas season too.
-La Guerre des Tuques. Translated in English as The Dog Who Stopped the War, which sort of gives a bit of the ending. A Québec classic, I used to love it when I was a child. The proof that children movies can also have serious themes and still be entertaining.
-C.R.A.Z.Y. A "new" classic, and my favourite recent Québec movies. The story of a child (then teenager, then man) born on the 25th of December growing up in the 60s and 70s Québec.

Savez-vous ce qu'il faut au sapin de Noël?

J'ai déjà placé cette chanson sur le blogue dans un billet récent. Mais j'ai décidé d'y consacrer un autre billet en français car il y a une version française de Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown, interprétée par Isabelle Aubret. C'est un peu quétaine (correction: c'est d'un quétaine absolu), mais c'est très mignon et ça met dans l'ambiance saisonnière. On retrouve la version allemande ici. Quand je l'écoute, j'ai toujours en tête la scène d'On Her Majesty's Secret Service où on l'entend pour la seule et unique fois. Elle est alors d'une redoutable efficacité pour établir l'ambiance et introduire la réapparition de Tracy Bond (interprétée par la grande Diana Rigg), ange sur patin venue sauver Bond. George Lazenby n'a jamais été un grand acteur, mais il joue admirablement bien ici. Alors je remets la chanson sur le blogue, histoire de passer le temps d'ici à Noël.

Do you know how Christmas trees are grown?

It might be a bit early, but my wife and I did the Christmas tree today. Tomorrow might have been more appropriate technically, as it is the beginning of Advent, but today is the weekend and we had time to spend on it, so it was more practical. Some people are so obsessive that they put it on early November, so we are not so bad anyway. Sadly, we bought by mistake the one with the slim line and not the large one (mea culpa, I am the one who picked it up), but it is our first Christmas tree so I won't complain too much. She blogged about it herself. Anyway, it is nice to have a Christmas tree, even an artificial one, it puts us in a festive mood. I can't wait to smell the real Christmas tree in my parent's house though. I put some pictures here of the tree. You can see at the top right the very first Christmas decoration I bought for here, when I started my job in 2007. For some reason, I am particularly fond of it.

Now, people may wonder where I got the title of this post. It is not from me, and I understand that it is ironic to have it as a title about an artificial Christmas tree. Still, it has a good ring to it, so I decided to put it here. It is actually the title of a song in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The song is a bit silly, but really enjoyable. In the movie, its silliness actually works to make the scene works beautifully. Because it is set mostly during Christmas time, On Her majesty's Secret Service is one of my favourite seasonal movies. I found the song on youtube (with rather poor and irrelevant images, sadly) and I put it here to kick start Christmas season:

Cinderella drowning in the sea

This blog entry is inspired by this one and it is a sort of follow-up. As you all know (you, my very small number of readers), I am a big fan of James Bond. My wife has to put up with it a lot, but it makes it easier for her to buy me presents for my birthday and Christmas. One of Ian Fleming's best novels, and one of the least appreciated of the Bond films adapted from his work, is On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I have never been a big fan of George Lazenby who took over from Sean Connery, but he did have some qualities and in spite of all his flaws and the movie's short comings, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is still a very good Bond movie. I particularly love the first scene. Lazenby's Bond is introduced beautifully, and so is the leading lady, played by the great Diana Rigg. She has the role of Teresa di Vicenzo, who will become the one and only Tracy Bond before being gunned down by Blofeld. I hope I haven't spoiled everything for you here, but the ending of the movie is one of the many reasons that makes this scene works. There is also the fact that it is an echo of the introduction or Honey Ryder in Dr. No, except Tracy does the opposite movement: instead of rising from the sea, she goes in it, in a botched suicide attempt. Bond saves her life, but unknowingly he sets in motion a chain effect that will result in her death later on, leaving him heartbroken. Tragic irony: she will die only after she will have learned to appreciate life and abandon all thoughts of suicide. I think Fleming wanted to link both Bond girls introduction, as in the novel he gave Tracy the physical appearance of Ursula Andress (who is mentioned in the novel). But both Bond girls are very different. Honey Ryder is a survivor who had a rough life, Tracy lived in luxury but is self-destructive. While Honey Ryder was for Bond a flicking romance after he had gone through the dangers of Crab Key, Tracy will be a significant relationship to him. After Bond saves Tracy, he is assaulted by two men, whose involvment in the story is never made clear (are they Draco's men? Were they following Bond under Blofeld's orders?). In the novel, they are sent by Marc-Ange Draco to protect his daughter and bring Bond to him. Anyway, fight ensues, one of the most violent and exciting fight of the series and Tracy runs and then drives away, leaving her shoes behind her. Bond mutters "This never happened to the other fellow", which is a nod to Connery and a breaking the fourth wall moment I never cared about much. The important thing is that he picks up her shoes, like the prince would have done with Cinderella's. Like in the Cinderella story, it will ultimately lead to a wedding. Unlike the Cinderella story, wedding will quickly be followed by her death. Then there are the opening credits, with flashbacks of Bond's past missions, linking Lazenby's Bond to Connery's. I therefore give the pre-title opening sequence of On Her Majesty's Secret Service and the opening credits. I hope you appreciate them.