The musicians and soundtrack in Singles the movie (1992)

(I'm going to meet a co-star of this movie later this week.  Guess who it is.)

I'm a bit ashamed, but Cameron Crowe's syrupy sweet romantic comedy Singles is one of my favorite movies of all time.  It's about a group of hip and attractive 20 somethings who live in Seattle and hang out at a coffee shop.  Sound familiar?  It was the basis for the TV show Friends.

What's not to like?  It's got all the stars of the early 90s.  Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, Matt Dillon, Kyra Sedgwick, and Campbell Scott are in it.  And the future stars of the 00s are in it too-- like Jeremy "I was bald in 1992 so how come I've got a full head of hair in 2010?" Piven and Paul "I will only be known for Sideways" Giamatti.

The cars are pretty cool too.  Dillon drives an old Ford delivery truck, Campbell an old Saab, and Fonda a Mark I Scirocco (see below).

But the music made the movie truly great.  It introduced the rest of the country, and the world, to grunge music, which, in my opinion, is the music genre of Generation X.  My vast collection of flannel shirts in college can only be explained with one word: Grunge.

The movie soundtrack contains a who's who of Seattle sound, circa 1991.  And many of those musicians had roles in the movie.

Here is Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.  He and his band played members of Dillon's band called Citizen Dick.    Vedder definitely has a future in acting.

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden makes a brief appearance in this scene involving the infamous VW.  For those of you who don't know Cornell, he sung "You Know My Name," the title song to the James Bond movie Casino Royale.

We've also got Alice In Chains, another one of my favorites:

Predictably, Nirvana was too-cool-for-school and refused to be involved in the project.

(Hint to question raised above: The star I am meeting is in one of the Youtube clips above.)

Bond 23 update and other James Bond 007 news

It appears that the next James Bond movie, the 23rd, is on hold indefinitely because of MGM's financial problems.  Insiders predict that it will come out in 2012, at the earliest.  Sam Mendes is in contention for the director role.

In other "news", Daniel Craig was seen kissing a dude at a bar in Venice Beach.  *Snore*

While we wait for the next movie, here is the Aston Martin V8 Oscar India chase from The Living Daylights.

Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong Rolls-Royces

Since 1970, the luxury hotel has been using Brewster green Rollers to shuttle its guests around.

Here is a Silver Shadow in Bond's The Man With the Golden Gun.

Separated at birth: Never Say Never Again's Klaus Maria Brandauer and It's Always Sunny's Jimmi Simpson

Who's creepier?  Maximilian Largo or McPoyle brother Liam?

Perfume ads with Bond girls and cool cars

Sophie Marceau (The World Is Not Enough) ad with Citroen XM:

Carole Bouquet (For Your Eyes Only) Chanel No. 5 ad with Ferrari:

Old School Ski Racks

During my trip through the Sierras, I saw an old rusty Porsche 924 parked on the street with a ski rack. Only the sub-arctic weather and my hunger and exhaustion prevented me from whipping out my camera to take a picture.

The first thing that came to my mind was my Hot Wheels Porsche 944 with removable plastic skis.

The second thing to come to my mind was Roger Moore's Lotus Esprit with a ski rack in For Your Eyes Only.

I wonder what happened to the rear mounted, angled ski rack. I haven't seen one of these set-ups in decades. There aren't that many hatchbacks now, but I don't even remember seeing these on 300ZX's or RX-7's in the 1990s.

Is it because they hurt the aerodynamics? Or is a rear wheel drive two seater not the first choice for people when they head to the mountains to go skiing?

Top 10 Songs Videos About Cars

I am going to be incommunicado for at least a few days. In the mean time, enjoy my favorite songs/videos about cars.

10. You're Gonna Get Yours, Public Enemy: I was a huge PE fan growing up. This song about an Oldsmobile 98 was in their debut album Yo! Bum Rush the Show.

9. You Might Think, The Cars: This is one of the first videos I remember watching on MTV. The special effects were insane.

8. Millennium, Robbie Williams: The James Bond spoof with the Aston Martin DB5 is a shoo-in on my list.

7. Low Rider, War: Old school.

6. Fast Car, Tracy Chapman: Artistically, easily the best song of this lot.

5. Let Me Ride, Dr. Dre: Light years better than today's hip-hop.

4. All I Want, Toad the Wet Sprockets: This has nothing to do with cars per se, but it reminds me of a road trip I took to Santa Barbara via the Pacific Coast Highway.

3. Alfa Romeo 159 Ad, Artist Unknown: I found this ad a few weeks ago and I can't get it out of my head.

2. Sabotage, Beastie Boys: SA-bo-TAGE!

1. East Bound And Down, Jerry Reed: I can't believe my favorite song is a country and western song.

James Bond's Martini

I had a great Vesper Martini yesterday at Knoxx in Lafayette. Here is the recipe:

Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel.

CKY

Classic VW Beetle James Bond Commercial

The Roger Moore look-alike. The soundtrack. The gadgets. It's got it all, and it's in espanol.

CKY

Quantum of Solace Location Fonts

This weekend, I bought Quantum of Solace on DVD to complete my 007 collection. After watching it again, this time on the small screen, I came to realize how beautifully shot the entire movie is. What caught my eye again were the unique fonts for each of the movie locations.

Britain's Tomato hand-designed the fonts. But what do the different fonts signify? I don't have insight into the mind of the designer, so here are my own interpretations. Talk about a Rorschach test!

Talamone (Matthis's home): This was an old Etruscan city. The font reminds me of the Etruscan alphabet.

Siena: The "S" looks like a treble clef. Siena is known for its art and architecture.

London: Uptight, formal, understated.

Port Au Prince: Haphazard, chaotic.

Bregenz: Founded as a fortified town, the bottom of the "G" looks like a pike.

La Paz: The blue Pacific, the blue peace.

Kazan: Industrial city, stenciled paint job.

CKY

Bond Villains (2): Rosa Klebb

Misogyny in James Bond films has been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere. But what about misogyny and homophobia? Bond fans quickly assume that Messrs. Wint and Kidd were the first gay Bond villains. In fact, it was Rosa Klebb.

First, the evidence of Rosa's sapphic tendencies. She had short, parted hair. She wore very unflattering and drab clothing. When Red Grant's trainer touched her elbow, she flinched and shot a look of disapproval at him. When she met Tatiana, she ordered her to take off her jacket and to turn around. She touched Tatiana's knee. She brushed her hand against Tatiana's shoulder, neck,.... Well, you get the picture.

By portraying Klebb as a villain, the movie demeans lesbians, feminists, and strong-minded women. The 1963 film lumps all of them into one frumpy and shrill category. The link is made expressly with Klebb's name. In Russian, khleb i rozy means "bread and roses", a slogan for the international labor movement with a strong feminist bent.

And just what is wrong with strong women like Klebb? Well, they have a mind of their own (she defected from Soviet counterintelligence), she is serious (she is not a ditz), she is unattractive aesthetically, and worst of all, she is sexless (at least in the sense that 007 could never successfully seduce her.)

It is interesting that at the end of the movie, it is Tatiana, another woman, who kills Klebb. Tatiana, as a slave in our patriarchal society, re-affirms her allegiance to that very system by eliminating a figure capable of disrupting, if not toppling, that system. Tatiana killed women's rights.

Bond villain ranking:
1. Dr. No (Dr. No)
2. Rosa Klebb (From Russian With Love)

CKY

Bond Villains (1): Dr. No

This crazed villain is a complete mystery to us. Few outsiders have stepped foot in his domain. Even fewer have come out alive to tell about it. He is an anomaly even among his fellow "Orientals". The East, and especially China, should be allied with him. Yet it has rejected him. Because of his outward, exotic appearance, the West has likewise rejected him. He has nuclear ambitions and is interested in weakening America's long range missile capabilities. He desperately wants to fit in, but is only accepted by a loose confederation of fellow tyrants and pariahs.

Was that a description of Dr. Julius No or Kim Jong-Il?

We in the West have been afraid and distrustful of "Orientals", the Other, since time immemorial (see the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan). Dr. No, played brilliantly in a stereotypical late 50s/early 60s Hollywood manner (see Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's) by Joseph Wiseman, fits the fear-inducing role perfectly.

I am by no means defending No and Kim. They are bad men. But because we do not understand the cultures and families in which they were raised, we automatically pigeon hole them one-dimensionally, without more. They are complex people with unique emotions, temperaments, experiences, and hang-ups, just like the rest of us. No's motives and personality have much to do with being raised in China by a German missionary father and a Chinese mother. He was never accepted by the East and rejected by the West. For Kim, he did not rise to power through ruthless cunning and charisma. He was handed the throne on a silver platter by his father, the even Dearer Leader.

Under Bush, we saw Chavez, Castro, Ahmadinejad, and Kim as equally maniacal, insane, and non-sensical. They became caricatures. But they could not be more different from each other. If we are to make this world a safer place, we must deal with these people. But before we talk to them, we must understand them.

Bond villian ranking:
1. Dr. No

CKY

The Best Bond Villains

It's gonna be a while before the next Bond film comes out, so I'm going to start a series on the Bond Villains. The first review will be on Dr. Julius No. Stay tuned.

Plus, I'm going to try to find a Bond-Austin Powers link in each movie as I go through them.

CKY