#the writting on the wall

[yestolerancepro]

My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to The Beatles without earmuffs!” A blog inspired by the music world of James Bond   Part 4 Bond Songs that didn’t hit the right note with me at least to start with and the Bond song I really hate

Introduction

Hello there and welcome to another episode of my blog that looks at the musical tastes of James Bond over the last 60 years the last episode looked at the Bond films that I don’t like for viarous reasons this chapter continues that trend.

 This also looks at a few of the Bond themes that took some getting used to plus the one Bond theme I really can’t stand.

Are there any James Bond Songs I don’t like ?

On first hearing Madonna’s title track for the Perice Brosnan Bond film Die Another day I hated it I think it was because it tried to do something different with the Bond format it was the first time I heard a Bond song that was aimed at the dance genre but it has since grown on me thanks to repeated listening.

The film itself is also very good if a little unrealestic in places with the the use of CGI  the kite surfing sequence being the worst offender Toby Stevens is excellant as the baddie of the film.

The two Bond girls in the film are very good as well Rosamand Pike as Miranda Frost and Hallie Berry Both were featured in recent articles about James Bond Movieweb made Miranda Frost one of there Deadliest Women of the James Bond Franchise coming in at number at Number 4

“I know all about you, 007. Sex for dinner, death for breakfast. Well, it's not going to work with me.”

Played by British actress Rosamund Pike, Miranda Frost is an Olympic fencer and a Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6) agent who is actually working for the diamond tycoon Gustav Graves. When Bond (Brosnan) is tasked with eliminating a North Korean colonel, Miranda reveals his identity and motives to the latter’s right hand, which leads to his long-term capture.

When Bond later faces both Graves and Miranda, he realizes that his gun was emptied by her when they were in bed together. In the end, the arrogant femme fatale is killed by Bond’s ally, the American operative Jinx Johnson (Halle Berry), in a memorable sword duel.

Jinx Johnson (Halle Berry) meanwhile came in at number 11 in the Colider film website of the 16 Bond women that redefined the Bond Franchise.

Jinx Johnson – ‘Die Another Day’ (2002)

The final installment of Pierce Brosnan’s Bond films didn’t do a hell of a lot right. The story and tone were unbalanced, the action largely missed its mark, and – considering the other spy movies of its time – it undermined the franchise’s history of cinematic relevance. One thing that did work for it was Halle Berry’s Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson.

The NSA agent is tasked with assassinating rogue a North Korean agent and works closely with Bond to accomplish the mission. A tough and resourceful operative who matches Bond’s flare for personal vendettas, she excels as one of the franchise’s most empowering women and even manages to pay homage to Ursula Andress’ original Bond Girl in the process.

Q Branch

Die Another Day marked the James Bond franchise's 40th anniversary. So quite if not all of the gadgets from the prevous James Bonds appear in the Q Branch scene in the film

Its such a shame then the Desmond Lewelyn died shortly after making the world is not enough I would love to have seen him in this. John Cleese who had been introduced as R in that film became the new Q a lot of R comedic excesses of the World is not enough have gone as he takes his job as the new Q more seriously

I love the way John Clease channels Desmond Lewelyn when Perice Brosnon makes Jokes about the invisable car as I learn’t from my predecessor Mr Bond I never Joke about my work perfectly delivered by Clease and a line said by Q in the classic James Bond film Goldfinger more on that film later.

Gadgets introduced in Die another Day include :

Single digit sonic agitator

A "standard issue" ring for the finger which is actually an "ultra high-frequency single digit sonic agitator unit" that can shatter bullet-proof glass (or any " 'unbreakable' glass", as commented by Q in the movie) or disable another person.[9]

Omega Seamaster Wristwatch

Omega Seamaster 300M Chronometer - Contains an explosive detonator and laser beam cutter. The new Q states that this watch is Bond's 20th, which is a reference to the fact that Die Another Day is the 20th James Bond film.

Dream simulator

Gustav Graves uses this device to have dreams as he has insomnia.[90]

By far the best Gadget in Die another Day is the Aston Martin Vanquish which Q Branch has nicnamed the vanish because of its talent to turn invisible this car with all its toys came 2nd in Den of the Geeks top 10 gadgets featured in the James Bond films behind tha rocket pack

This is what Den of the Geek said about that magic car :

2. The Invisible Car

Back to Bond’s his for cars. If a submarine vehicle wasn’t enough, Die Another Day saw the character step into an invisible car; state of the art technology that the real-world still hasn’t managed to master. This was a moment of pure spy fantasy that thrilled moviegoers worldwide in its concept, although perhaps took some out of the experience because of its use of CGI.

Regardless, is there anything more Bond than a car that produces imagery based on adaptive camouflage, allowing the vehicle to blend into its environment and resulting in an action-packed snowy car chase? Well in fact, the only thing that could make this more 007 heavy is the brand of the car in question. The movie used a British Aston Martin V12 Vanquish for the sequence, playing heavily into a tradition that’s been maintained throughout the franchise. Cloaking device technology is still in development in reality, and right now they aren’t being pulled off quite in the same way as Her Majesty’s Secret Service managed to onscreen. Still, this makes for a memorable entry both for better and perhaps worse but has ranked so highly because of how it pushed the boundaries of the series.

To watch a trailer for Die another Day click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTznf1x4khc&list=PL17vqAEJv6CUxmeZBk3JGDLBbcPEd4CDp&index=10

to watch a trailer for for Perice Brosnan’s best moments from the Stormchaser Z YouTube channel click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf00BHDwUtA&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=289&t=21s

To read an article about how the Peirce Brosnan James Bond films rank with James Bond fans click here https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2559531/james-bond-pierce-brosnans-movies-ranked

To watch a tribute video for Tommorow Never Dies click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTKx5fITnzs

Writing on the Wall Spectre Sam Smith

I can also remember not liking Sam Smiths Writing on the Wall the title track for Daniel Craig’s Bond film Spectre on first listen but I love that too now.

the single became the first Bond movie theme to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart.The song won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards[8] and the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards, making it the second consecutive Bond theme to win (after "Skyfall" by Adele in 2012).

I may like the song now but I still hate the film ha ha

According to this article on the Slash film website the Rock band Radiohead were the orignal choice to provide the title music for Spectre but were dropped at a late stage in the process to read about it click here https://www.slashfilm.com/1430955/james-bond-radiohead-unused-spectre-theme/

To watch a trailer for Spectre click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujmoYyEyDP8

Anyway back to the original question the only James Bond song I don’t like Another  way to Die from Daniel Craigs second Bond film Quauntum of Solace sung by Jack White and Alicia keys I am not really a big fan of the film either for me it was released too soon after Daniel Craig’s debut as Bond Casino Royale (which I loved)  the story in the film feels a bit rushed which makes it for me hard to follow the fact that the film was taking place during a writers strike might have something to do with it lol

To read an article about how the James Bond films of Daniel Craig rank with film fans click here https://collider.com/daniel-craig-james-bond-films-ranked/#:~:text=%E2%80%98No%20Time%20to%20Die%E2%80%99%20to%20%E2%80%98Skyfall%E2%80%99%3A%20Daniel%20Craig%E2%80%99s,Spectre%20...%205%205.%20Quantum%20of%20Solace%20

To watch a video highlighting Daniel Craigs best moments as James Bond click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozfccPhvFg8

If you wondering have I seen No Time to  Die yet the answer to that is No I know how it ends though the ending  was spoilt for me I won’t spoil it for you guys I won’t watch till I  know how the film producers plan to fix that cliffhanger

A lot of work has gone into this blog if you have read it and enjoyed it please consider giving a donation to the Tolerance project by clicking on the above link https://gofund.me/5cf25de4

Pictures

1) Die another Day UK Poster

2) Rosamand Pike as Miranda Frost

3) Hallie Berry as Jinx Johnson

4 The Aston Martin Vanquish

5) Spectre Poster

6) Quantum of Solice poster

Notes Thanks to the following websites Collider film for their 16 best Bond women that redifined the Franchise

Den of the Geek for their ten best ever gadgets seen in the Bond franchise

Cinema Blind for their James Bonds ranks series

Google images for the pictures  and Wikpedia for providing some of the background material on the gadgets

[crashlanding-skywalker]

[The batch in a restaurant]

Waiter, to Crosshair: what would you like to get?

Crosshair, trying to scare the waiter: I want to devour the unborn.

Waiter: ....

Tech, already tired of crosshairs sht: eggs, he wants eggs.

[nirmiti]

Somewhere between letter number one and letter number twenty-four, I'd fallen in love with her. Fallen for her words, her strength, her insight and kindness, her grace under impossible circumstances, her love for her children, and her determination to stand on her own. I could list a thousand reasons that woman owned whatever heart I had.

- The Last Letter

[farther-north]

IM BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS MAN, SCARS (Crane wives) IS SO GOOD MAN!?!?!?

Like, live is amazing, don't ever get me wrong on that, but the studio, HOLY FRICK MAN, the intro gives me legitimate CHILLS, the random echoes???? How Emilee says 'apart' at the end !???

Crane wives I love you, can't wait for the lyric video in a few hours :D

[whispers-frombeyond]

My likeness

Sometimes, when I look at my reflection, it shows someone else.

In the moments between one day and the next, right before midnight strikes, I see you. In the mirror, I catch a glimpse of you, your gaze instead of mine. From the corner of my eye, in the windows of Paulownia Mall, it's like your life bleeds through mine. In the pools of blood of the dark hour dripping dripping a different face is shown. The gleam of a different blade, as it tears the shadows apart, do your friends see it too?

Does Orpheus appear differently to them too?

You with the mop of blue hair covering one eye, earphones always drowning out the world.

You with auburn hair pulled into a high ponytail, adorned with Barrets in the number 22.

Are you the apathetic boy?

Are you the energetic girl?

Grey eyes that appear pale blue in the light.

Brown eyes that shine ruby red in the light.

They are the same, both empty, staring abysses. 

Do your friends look beyond the apathy to find the kindness beneath? 

Do they see past the smile to recognize the hollowness inside you?

Empty empty empty. Fill it with the shine of others. Drown out the imminent despair. Don´t let them be too close, lest they recognize you are not completely human. That death is your closest companion.

It's like reflecting a reflection of a distorted mirror, echoing another time.

The Universe at your fingertips, pointing at the sky. Let us save the world one final time.

I am him, she is me, my other self.

[nortlas]

I've been on the art block for a good while since I haven't drawn too much, but currently, I'm really interested in over the garden wall, and I just finished it today :)

[katkit-drops-alt]

Me: *spending hours researching and finding out little details about each song in the Thunder Saga while bawling my eyes out at how tragic and heartbreaking it is*

Also me: YO GIRL ON A SCALE OF ONE TO AMERICA 🦅 🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 HOW FREE ARE YOU TONIGHTTTTTT

[divinekangaroo]

Was contemplating the whole ‘Tommy has no friends except Alfie’ thing/thought (it’s my own internal running joke too) but it can't really be true?

Tommy appears to have this huge social network, groups of people he’s still in touch with from the war, including internationally, and including in the officer class; these supposed very reliable contacts in Ireland which I can only assume ties back to the family connections to Ireland and maybe some visit across in his past; the huge respect (and edge of fear) network in Small Heath extending broader into Birmingham; seemingly a very *useful* social-climbing networking he's developed to be able to get the mayor and various politicians to the Grace Shelby charity opening in S3, a society networking which he maintains and builds upon all the way through to Tommy being able to invite actual upper crust society to a ballet at his house (and people attend!)

I mean, there's a level of reserve (rank/war respect) or transactional basis (professional tit for tat society networks), but he also had more friend style connections with say Barney, Freddie (even if it’s soured by the time we see it) and Danny (again, changed by Danny’s own PTSD into that Sergeant-Major thing, but lots of hints it wasn't always like that).

I’ve imagined Tommy puts a significant effort into his social (and society) networking as he does into his business - staying in touch, staying useful, even to the point of using Arthur (or let's imagine his secretaries, his ministerial aides, Polly; picking the right 'hand' who can maintain that relationship for him) to ensure letters and communications keep happening so people remain aware of him, and he stays alive in people’s minds at any possible level of class. He'd have to be maintaining that network like a garden.

The party for Lizzie also didn’t seem like a first time thing for them so I also imagine he hosts quite a lot of social affairs to remain current and connected, which becomes vitally imperative in a different way as a politician compared to a businessman.

But I think that default inner joke, Tommy has no friends and is isolated, is sometimes the claustrophobia of the actual seasons/scenes we see, which are so zoomed into him, into the family, into the worst, that I sometimes double think myself. Just...there’s no way he’s as successful as he is without pouring buckets of effort into society. Admittedly, maybe hardly any of these networking connections are deep connections in the odd way Alfie became one, or Ben Younger could have been one, but Tommy would be talking and meeting and greeting and hosting and writing letters allllllll the time

[longagoitwastuesday]

So so indebted to u for posting those lovely illustrations from Cyrano <333 & even more so for yr tags!! I'm completely in love w yr analysis, please feel free to ramble as long as u wish! Browsing through yr Cyrano de Bergerac tag has given me glimpses of so many adaptations & translations I'd never heard of before! I'll be watching the Solès version next, which I have only discovered today through u ^_^ As for translations, have u read many/all of them? I've only encountered the Renauld & Burgess translations in the wild, & I was curious to hear yr translation thoughts that they might guide my decision on which one I buy first (not necessarily Renauld or Burgess ofc). Have a splendid day & sorry for the likespam! 💙

Sorry for the delay. Don't mind the likespam, I'm glad you enjoyed my tags about Cyrano, and that they could contribute a bit to a further appreciation of the play. I loved it a lot, I got obsessed with it for months. It's always nice to know other people deeply love too that which is loved haha I hope you enjoy the Solès version, it may well be my favourite one!

About translations, I'm touched you're asking me, but I don't really know whether mine is the best opinion to ask. I have read... four or five English translations iirc, the ones I could find online, and I do (and especially did, back when I was reading them) have a lot of opinions about them. However, nor English nor French are my first languages (they are third and fourth respectively, so not even close). I just read and compare translations because that's one of my favourite things to do.

The fact is that no translation is perfect, of course. I barely remember Renauld's, but I think it was quite literal; that's good for understanding the basics of the text, concepts and characters, but form is subject, and there's always something that escapes too literal translations. Thomas and Guillemard's if I recall correctly is similar to Hooker's in cadence. It had some beautiful fragments, some I preferred over Hooker's, but overall I think to recall I liked Hooker's more. If memory serves, Hooker's was the most traditionally poetic and beautiful in my opinion. Burgess' is a whole different thing, with its perks and drawbacks.

Something noticeable in the other translations is that they are too... "epic". They do well the poetic, sorrowful, grief stricken, crushed by regrets aspects of Cyrano and the play in general, but they fall quite short in the funny and even pathetic aspects, and that too is key in Cyrano, both character and play. Given the characteristics of both languages, following the cadence of the French too literally, with those long verses, makes an English version sound far too solemn at times when the French text isn't. Thus Burgess changes the very cadence of the text, adapting it more to the English language. This translation is the one that best sets the different moods in the play, and as I said before form is subject, and that too is key: after all, the poetic aspect of Cyrano is as much true as his angry facet and his goofy one. If Cyrano isn't funny he isn't Cyrano, just as he wouldn't be Cyrano without his devotion to Roxane or his insecurities; Cyrano is who he is precisely because he has all these facets, because one side covers the other, because one trait is born from another, because one facet is used as weapon to protect the others, like a game of mirrors and smoke. We see them at different points through the play, often converging. Burgess' enhances that. He plays with the language itself in form and musicality, with words and absences, with truths masking other truths, with things stated but untold, much like Cyrano does. And the stage directions, poetic and with literary value in their own right in a way that reminded me of Valle Inclán and Oscar Wilde, interact with the text at times in an almost metatextual dimension that enhances that bond Cyrano has with words, giving them a sort of liminal air and strengthening that constant in the play: that words both conceal and unveil Cyrano, that in words he hides and words give him away.

But not all is good, at all. Unlike Hooker, Burgess reads to me as not entirely understanding every facet of the characters, and as if he didn't even like the play all that much, as if he had a bit of a disdainful attitude towards it, and found it too mushy. Which I can understand, but then why do you translate it? In my opinion the Burgess' translation does well bending English to transmit the different moods the French text does, and does pretty well understanding the more solemn, cool, funny, angry, poetic aspects of Cyrano, but less so his devotion, vulnerability, insecurities and his pathetism. It doesn't seem to get Roxane at all, how similar she is to Cyrano, nor why she has so many admirers. It does a very poor job at understanding Christian and his value, and writes him off as stupid imo. While I enjoyed the language aspect of the Burgess translation, I remember being quite angry at certain points reading it because of what it did to the characters and some changes he introduces. I think he did something very questionable with Le Bret and Castel-Jaloux, and I remember being incensed because of Roxane at times (for instance, she doesn't go to Arras in his version, which is a key scene to show just how much fire Roxane has, and that establishes several parallels with Cyrano, in attitude and words, but even in act since she does a bit what Cyrano later does with the nuns in the last act), and being very angry at several choices about Christian too. While not explicitly stated, I think the McAvoy production and the musical both follow this translation, because they too introduce these changes, and they make Christian as a character, and to an extent the entire play, not make sense.

For instance, once such change is that Christian is afraid that Roxane will be cultured (McAvoy's version has that infamous "shit"/"fuck" that I detest), when in the original French it's literally the opposite. He is not afraid she will be cultured, he is afraid she won't, because he does love and appreciate and admires those aspects of her, as he appreciates and admires them in Cyrano. That's key! Just as Cyrano longs to have what Christian has, Christian wants the same! That words escape him doesn't mean he doesn't understand or appreciate them. The dynamics make no sense without this aspect, and Burgess (and the productions that directly or indirectly follow him) constantly erases this core trait of Christian.

Another key moment of Christian Burgess butchers is the scene in Arras in which Christian discovers the truth. Burgess writes their discussion masterfully in form, it's both funny and poignant, but it falls short in concept: when Cyrano tells him the whole discussion about who does Roxane love and what will happen, what they'll do, is academic because they're both going to die, Christian states that dying is his role now. This destroys entirely the thing with Christian wanting Roxane to have the right to know, and the freedom to choose, or to refuse them both. As much as Cyrano proclaims his love for truth and not mincing words even in the face of authority, Cyrano is constantly drunk on lies and mirages, masks and metaphors. It's Christian who wants it all to end, the one who wants real things, the one who wants to risk his own happiness for the chance of his friend's, as well as for the woman he loves to stop living in a lie. That is a very interesting aspect of Christian, and another aspect in which he is written as both paralleling and contrasting Cyrano. It's interesting from a moral perspective and how that works with the characters, but it's also interesting from a conceptual point of view, both in text and metatextually: what they hold most dear, what they most want, what most fulfills them, what they most fear, their different approaches to life, but also metatextually another instance of that tears/blood motif and its ramifications constant through the whole text. Erasing that climatic decision and making him just simply suicidal erases those aspects of Christian and his place in the Christian/Cyrano/Roxane dynamic, all for plain superficial angst, that perhaps hits more in the moment, but holds less meaning.

Being more literal, and more solemn, Hooker's translation (or any of the others, but Hooker's seems to love the characters and understand them) doesn't make these conceptual mistakes. Now, would I not recommend reading Burgess' translation? I can't also say that. I had a lot of fun reading it, despite the occasional anger and indignation haha Would I recommend buying it? I recommend you give an eye to it first, if you're tempted and can initially only buy one.

You can read Burgess' translation entirely in archive.com. You can also find online the complete translations of Renauld, Hooker and Thomas and Guillemard. I also found a fifth one, iirc, but I can't recall it right now (I could give a look). You could read them before choosing, or read your favourite scenes and fragments in the different translations, and choose the one in which you like them better. That's often what I do.

Edit: I've checked to make sure and Roxane does appear in Arras in the translation. It's in the introduction in which it is stated that she doesn't appear in the production for which the translation was made. The conceptualisation of Roxane I criticise and that in my opinion is constant through the text does stay, though.

[uraandri]

wall decor i back up

[aceinacloset]

Guys, Gales, and non binary pals, I need to talk about this, cause for some reason it makes me laugh the more I think about it.

What is the FNAF franchise (books specifically) and making Baby a skinny legend and a breakable twig.

I don't get it

Like look at this sh- tf ( while eleanor isn't really Baby, she sure took her drip) I don't get it because dare I remind you

Baby is 7'2 and built like a brick wall, she could pick me up easy and throw me and these books want me to believe they are the same...hell no

I love baby being 7'2 and able to crush my ribs in with one foot.

While the graph novel doesn't make the skinny Baby from the fourth closet overly sexual.

It still doesn't change my problem with it.

Why make Baby thin, (yeah I know most likely fan service) but come on why Circus Baby out of every character why her, and also we must not forget while I believe and have made endless art interpreting Baby and liz as two separate entities sharing one body ( mostly because SL seemed to make it clear they were two separate people sharing one body) canon does not interpret them that way by all extention on canons front they are now one, which makes all this gross...

Bring back baby being a 7'2 mech. in the books canon fnaf, the best Baby is the one that could end you easy that's what made her cool and creepy.

[andreaheartscats]

I'm still awake. It's 4am and i still cannot get myself to fall asleep. It's been months since i slept well, the thought of you never left my mind once ever since you left.

I put a cigarette in between my lips as i light it up and inhale the smoke, staining the filter with my lipstick, a dark shade of red. The one that you said looked good on me when you saw me.

The filter was now stained with red as well as my cheeks from the tears and my lungs from the smoke.

I knew you hated when i smoke, i couldn't help but wonder what would you say to me now, but now that i think about it. You probably wouldn't care.

I keep wondering what you're up to. I pick my phone up with the idea of texting you, but then i look at our chat and see the message that never got delivered. Right, you blocked me.

As i took the last drag of the cigarette i put it out in the ashtray.

The thought of you never leaving my head

[iirulancorrino]

There really is no floor to the degree to which anti-abortion activists and politicians hate women. Tell me how this whole system isn’t perfectly designed to punish women for sexual activity and to keep them impoverished and dependent on men.

[nirmiti]

Empty ceiling makes me sad. Dead flowers on the corner of table. Empty chair in sunlight, too. People, mostly the ones, who couldn’t love because of religion, caste, creed or for being poor. Stray animals that can't get the love and home that they deserve. An untouched canvas waiting for the first stroke of paint. The feeling of a book unopened for too long. The moonless sky. A neglected corner of the garden. The lonely strum of my old, unused guitar in a dusty corner. The gentle purrs of my cats, those I've lost to deah, lingering at the core of my heart. Memories and pictures of them. The forgotten playlist that used to be played the most once, replaced by a new one. Unfinished sketchbooks. And memories of that known stranger too.

-nirmiti

[chroncruik]

It’s that time of the year to watch Over the Garden Wall again!