I Live And You Die

...is the title I thought was more fitting for James Bond's adventure Live and Let Die. The 2nd novel in Ian Fleming's seminal series, Live and Let Die takes 007 from the streets of Harlem to sunny Florida and across to tropical Jamaica. Reading this book, it seemed closer to the James Bond movies in scope and expanded on Bond's friendship with CIA agent Felix Leiter. Having said that, it differed quite a bit from what would become the movie that served as Roger Moore's debut (I often thought Moore looked the closest to Fleming's description of James Bond physically, minus the facial scar).

First, the pluses of Live and Let Die. Fleming does a great job of broadening Bond's character, his attitudes towards women (very sexist - women are to be desired, pursued and protected only), towards other races (pre civil rights benign racist) and food (one thing I have noticed in these books is every freakin' meal gets detailed. Dude loves his eggs in the morning). A slow tension builds throughout the story, the feeling of always being watched and worrying about every move being a give away to his cover is almost palpable.

At the same time the cause of the tension is troubling because the book has such a pre-civil rights attitude towards other races. This made the first half of the novel hard to get through because it's built on the premise that all black people know each other and form a network that leads to a Mr. Big who keeps authority through fear of his voodoo powers. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this approach since the book was written in the '50's when people referred to each other in more openly racial tones, just from modern eyes it's hard to stomach.

The second half of the book is when the story gets cracking. A great section comes when Bond decides to sneak into an exotic fish warehouse maintained by Mr Big at the docks in Florida. After CIA agent Felix Leiter investigated the same place and was half eaten by a shark, 007 stealthily sneaks into the building and finds the hidden criminal loot he's after in a fish tank before he's spotted and dodges enemy fire. Though he is temporarily captured, Bond is able to overpower his holder and force the enemy into the shark pit. This whole part was adapted in the Timothy Dalton era Bond movie Licence To Kill (1989) and comes across even better on page then it did on film (which was pretty good on this part).

An even better section occurs with Bond's approach of Mr. Big's Jamaican base. He has to walk underwater through shark and squid infested territory to sneak up on the island. You can feel fear as every air bubble risks detection as squids and sharks swim around while Bond carries a large explosive with him. This part I don't remember being in any Bond film (though I guess Thunderball could get close) and is a thrilling part of the book.

Live and Let Die was used as a sort of general outline as Moore's first cinematic venture as the famed spy bears only slight resemblance to the source material. Because the movie was made in the early 70's it edged more towards the popular exploitation films of the time ("Did you mess with that?") and had bigger stunts of course (the book doesn't have record breaking boat jumps). Plus you can't hear a killer Paul McCartney theme song from a piece of paper. And I kept picturing Jane Seymour as Solitaire, she does fit the description Fleming gave of the virginal psychic. Still, the book is miles ahead of the movie, you almost can't compare the two. So for Live and Let Die the book, Dixie says:

Royale With Cheese

The artwork on this book reminds me of the decor of a Korean restaurant I ate at yesterday.

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His name is Bond...James Bond. The original James Bond. My cousin picked up a full collection of James Bond novels written by Ian Fleming in a nice paperback set. She lent the set to me so I'm going to do some book reviewing on these as well as comparing it to the movies they spawned. I've been a fan of James Bond for a long time now, since College though I've seen some of his movies before then. Of the books, I've only read two or three so this should be fun. A new discovery so to speak.

The first book in the series is Casino Royale. Being a book instead of a movie, it functions differently just by its nature. James Bond in the book is more of a brooding type of fellow, more emotional and nervous. It seems Timothy Dalton had the right approach as far as bringing this version of the character to life on screen. Bond is not cool and impervious as he waltzes through danger zinging one liners left and right. This James Bond is a tense man, always aware of his role as a spy and trying to figure out the schemes he's embroiled in. Sometimes he's right, sometimes he's way off. He is given to more emotions than the films imply, showing anger or love or surprise openly.

There are similarities to the films though, James Bond is a spy with a double O number (meaning he has killed in the line of duty) who is a bit of a risk taker. He goes to exotic locations and meets beautiful women and evil men. The evil men are not people out to rule the world, just small parts of it so to speak. Not a lot of gadgetry and there are some differences in his trademark devices: Bond carries a Baretta with a skeleton grip as his gun of choice and drives a Bentley instead of an Aston Martin.

Reading the book, of course I was picturing Daniel Craig because this was his first movie as 007. I was surprised that the film more or less followed the story presented in the book. James Bond is sent to Casino Royale to gamble against Le Chiffe (an overweight monger as presented in the book versus the sleek red blood crying guy in the film) to force the bad guy to lose money needed to fund Russian operations. Assassination attempts are made against Bond which he survives by luck and desperation. Like the film, Bond defeats Le Chiffe at the tables so Le Chiffe kidnaps his female partner, the beautiful Vesper Lynd. Le Chiffe captures Bond by forcing a car accident (with a spike strip) and tortures Bond similarly to the movie. But SMERSH, the Russian killer arm of their secret service, is unhappy with Le Chiffe's activities and kills him.

So very close to the movie so far, minus the Die Hard / Raiders Of The Lost Ark like airport fight and the assassination attempts are carried out differently. Being the 1950s when the books are written, James Bond is much more sexist here than in the films. When Lynd is kidnapped he goes to rescue her out of duty more than affection because it feels its her sex that causes her stupidity in capture.

It's the second half of the book that differs from the movie a bit. It takes Bond longer to recover in storytelling time and it is during that recovery that he falls for Vesper. They take a vacation together that has a bit of a Vertigo feel as the pace of the story slows. 007 becomes reflective and philosophical about his line of work and whether he would be happier married to Vesper doing something else. Meanwhile Lynd becomes mysterious, running hot and cold on Bond depending on the day. An underlying tension develops as Lynd seems to panic about mysterious men and secret phone calls until she eventually kills herself. Her suicide note to Bond reveals she loves him but is a double agent working for the Russians (this is the Cold War, working for Russians is very bad!). She was trying to keep her first love held by the Russians alive by being a double agent.

Further than the movie goes, it was Lynd who tipped off the Russians of Bond's assignment including developing opportunities to have 007 killed. Granted this isn't as exciting as a fist fight in Venice inside a crumbling building and because of the movie I knew a betrayal was coming, yet this version of Lynd's death had a lot more power. Like Jimmy Stewart in Hitchcock's famed film, he discovers true love only to have it taken from him like a kick to the stomach. I actually wish it was the book version of the story that was filmed, but then again who knows? When Casino Royale was made it was rumored to have reshoots because there wasn't enough action.

As a book on its own, Casino Royale is packed with adventure to far off places. More background on the places Bond goes is here. He is less of a ladies man in the book and is fooled more easily as well. The story is told in a taut pace and I finally learned how baccarat works. Because this is pre-Civil Rights, the book take on Vesper Lynd is that she is appears less intelligent and accomplished than her cinematic version. Much more manipulative though.

The movie adaptation introducing Daniel Craig as the super secret agent stays true to the most part to the spirit of the book which is cool. Even though details are changed the story arc and intent is pretty faithful to the source material.

Casino Royale is a strong spy story with a nice angle focusing on the intense gambling of the first part and the Vertigo like mystery of the second part. Dixie likes this one, she gives Casino Royale the book an:

Marley and Me, Tom Clancy & Journey

Having been off work for the past week, I've had more time to be a little prolific with blog posting. I also had some time to do some reading and video game playing. I finally finished reading Marley & Me, a book about a hyper and destructive lab. The book was a gift from my mother in law last December. Having a dog that's half lab myself (the other half is Sharpei) that acts similar I found the story very relatible. The book followed the story of a news paper columnist and his wife building a family and choosing a dog as part of that. The couple had fond memories of obedient dogs from their childhood. What they chose would turn out to be an uncontrollable Lab, hyperactive, undisciplined and very destructive. While my dog, Dixie, was never quite as crazy as Marley (Marley was able to break out of metal crates, drag heavy furniture he was tied to, destroy drywall) there were definite similarities. Reading the book gave me an appreciation of my crazy dog.

Dixie is somewhat large but not as big as a regular Lab. We got her in 1999 and was named after the Jeep that Daisy Duke drove in the original Dukes of Hazzard TV series. Over time, she has garnered a number of nicknames, like "Doodle", "Suede Face" and "Major Hoolihan". There are other nicknames, but they are meant in fun (like "Bucket Head"). She has been very energetic for years though she is slowing down a little bit now. Like Marley, Dixie is a beloved member of the family and is the undisputed princess of the household. She is friendly, but not cuddly and is very clingy to people. Also like Marley, Dixie becomes destructive when left alone as Dixie has eaten parts or all of trunks, blankets and walls. She is very stubborn and is difficult to discipline. But, despite her faults she is very loveable and has more friends in the neighborhood than me or my wife. She's nuts, but she's ours!

Another gift I've recently had time to invest in is PS2's Rainbow Six Lockdown. A gift from my cousin, Rainbow Six is part of the Tom Clancy series of video games. The game is about being a sniper and/or operative in a anti-terrorism task force. It gives fairly realistic game play and gives a variety of missions in the infiltrate and shoot 'em up mode. It is intense but fun to play and the AI is unusually clever for the enemy agents compared to most games.

After playing this game for a while, I came to a conclusion: It's a REAL good thing I never went into the military. I get killed so often in this game I spend half of my game play time saving and re-loading just to make progress on the various levels. My character is always in critical condition, I try to sneak up on the enemy while the Commander screams "You're losing blood Alpha 2!!!" on the comlink. I accidentally shoot my own team members and drop grenades on civilians. This adds up to a simple math equation: Me + Gun = Bad.

In other Journey news, it seems Jon Cain of Journey has clarified the reason for dropping Jeff Scott Soto is so they can sound more like their classic material. So much for creative reinvention, Soto sounded very Steve Perry live so it must be that old "creative differences" that got in the way. Here's to hoping Kevin Chalfant gets his shot!