And Another Gardner Arrives

I received "Win, Lose Or Die" in the mail today.  Like the other Gardner reprint received last week, this copy is also from Pegasus and part of the Dan Mogford US Anniversary series.  I'll hopefully add the book to the website tonight.

Unfortunately, as disclosed on The Book Bond website a couple of weeks ago, these two reprints appear to be the last to be released from Pegasus until early next year.

Another New Gardner Reprint Arrives

I received another book in the mail today, a copy of John Gardner's "Brokenclaw" from Pegasus.  It's part of the Dan Mogford US Anniversary series.  There are now just nine books missing from this series, although only one of those nine has been reprinted so far - "Win, Lose Or Die".  I'll try and add a scan of this "Brokenclaw" cover to the website ASAP.

Bond, Shaken Not Stirred

Just a couple of months after the announcement that the "Designing 007: 50 Years Of Bond Style" exhibition is coming to Melbourne Museum on November 1, 2013, another event is being held here to celebrate 50 years of James Bond.  "Hollowood Costume: Up Late" will hold an event on May 2, 2013 at ACMI (Fed Square) for one night only to also celebrate 50 years of Bond. 

According to details on the ACMI website (http://www.acmi.net.au/up_late_bond_shaken.aspx) there will be music, conversations and pop-up workshops.  They will also "pay homage to the designer behind the famous gun barrel opening and his latter-day colleagues.  We will question whether the litany of Bond women are empowered or one dimensional. And do not miss Dave Kerr, cocktail master and owner of The Beaufort, who will present us with the history of the Martini and other Ian Fleming favourites."


Sounds very exciting.

ps. Lucky my wife noticed this one

Melbourne International Comedy Festival Again + Two Op Shop Visits

My wife and I visited the City again last week to see another gig at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.  On the way to the venue we walked past an electronic store and I took this photo of the entrance.  The latest James Bond film for purchase on DVD and Blu-Ray was being prominantly promoted.

The same electronic store had this free in-store mag which I picked up.

Before reading about my two Op Shop visits below, here's some non-Bond related pics I took during our walk to the comedy venue.  I love the City at night.

Flinders Street Station at about 6:40pm.

We then visited Hosier Lane next door to the Forum Theatre famous for it's graffitti.  I don't usually like graffitti but this art is very impressive.  This laneway is often used as a location for wedding and tourist photos.

 Detail of the woman's face above.

Detail of the graffitti above.

I like this style of art too.  There were a few examples of this in the laneway.  I know the famous graffitti artist Banksy has visited Melbourne in the past, although I doubt any of the art shown here is his own.

Fed Square over the road at night.

And the venue, the Forum Theatre again.  This is the same venue we visited at the other day.
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Then last weekend I visited a strip of shops in Bentleigh where there are plenty of Op (Opportunity) Shops.  These are also known as Thrift or Charity Shops.  Here's some photos of two.

This Op Shop only had one Bond, a Higson Young Bond.

 

The second Op Shop had a number of Bond paperbacks as you can see above.  These books were well categorised so I had to move them about to take this photo of the 7 Bonds above.  I actually took one photo, then found another Bond and took the photo again, then another Bond and so on so this is the fourth photo I think. Unfortunately I had them all though.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival

In the past few days my wife and I have visited the City twice for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. On the first night after seeing a great comedy gig we walked past Her Majesty's Theatre where "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was still playing.  I had already decided I should have purchased a programme of the play after seeing it a few weeks ago.  So inside I went.  I also took some better photos than last time.

 

 

Then last night we attended another comedy show, this time at the historic Forum Theatre with some friends.  (The faux Roman interior is brilliant.)  While on our walk to the show I managed to grab these photos of "Skyfall" DVD/Blu-Ray advertising on the side of some trams.

 

And then before the show started I quickly ran over the road to Fed (Federation) Square where book stalls are setup every Saturday.  Unfortunately they were just pulling the stalls down as it was after 5pm, however I managed to find 5 Bond novels - two Book Clubs ("Dr No" and "Colonel Sun"), a 2nd edition Cape ("Thunderball"), a Penguin paperback ("OHMSS") and another paperback I'd never seen before ("James Bond: His World Of Values" by Lycurgus M. Starkey Jr).  I didn't purchase any of them though.  I wonder if these were the same books Luke mentioned in his comment on this blog a couple of months ago?

And finally some photos of the Forum Theatre while we waited to go in for the comedy gig.

Photos From A Toilet !

A friend of mine visited New Zealand two weeks ago and had dinner at the The Bunker Restaurant in Queenstown.  While there he visited the toilets.  Nothing unusual I suppose after a couple of drinks.  However while in the toilets he took some photos (yep, sounds dodgy), and even more strange, he took them for me !

Relax... this isn't "Borat". Strangely the walls in the toilet were covered by framed (repro) lobby cards from James Bond films.  Here's some of the selection of photos he took:

 

Also, while not Bond related, he also took this photo of a menu from another restaurant he visited.  "Head shot by shooter Callum Hughes" ???

Thanks Steve.

Two New Non-Bond Fleming Books Arrive

I received two new Ian Fleming reprints during the week from the US.  They were "Thrilling Cities" and "The Diamond Smugglers".

I really like the covers, especially the detail in the "Thrilling Cities" cover, and they match the Archie Ferguson Black And White series which is pretty cool.

Vintage Books in the UK have also released the same titles to match the Vintage 007 series, and hopefully I should be getting them in the mail soon.