Book Returns - Ep 1

On Saturday I returned to Farrell's Bookshop in Mornington where I returned the slightly damaged copy of "Hurricane Gold" I had purchased from them a week before. 

During the week they'd even received another copy of the same book but as is such with these covers it was also slightly damaged.  I guess I'm very fussy.  Regardless the person behind the shop counter had no hesitation in giving me a refund.

My wife and her sister also travelled with me to Mornington, so while they were clothes shopping I visited the two second hand bookstores in town.  No luck though.

Books By The Bay

Chapter House Books

50 Years Of Bond

I've purchased a couple of items recently celebrating 50 years of James Bond on the cinema screen.  Nothing at all to do with the PizGloria website, but essential buying as a fan. My wife has declared that I can have one item now and the other will be a gift for me at Christmas and hidden in a cupboard somewhere. I've just got to select which one.

"Skyfall" is yet to be released in Australia and it's been hard avoiding spoilers on the web.  The film premieres here on November 22, however I managed to book an advance screening with my wife and friends.  Not sure why the delay in the release over here but based on what I've heard about the film so far it sounds like it's going to be great.

Almost... But No Cigar

On Sunday my wife and I drove to Farrell's Bookshop in Mornington.  The drive took us over an hour from our home, but it's a great independant store that I've purchased new Bond books from in the past, and Mornington is always a nice place to visit.

I'd already rang the store in advance to confirm they had a copy of "Hurricane Gold" in the Kev Walker cover series.  With just 15 minutes to go until the store closed I found the book sitting on the shop counter waiting for me, I explained I was the person who had rang, the staff member handed it to me and I checked it out before purchasing it.  Job done.  I now had the complete set of this series... or so I thought.

So Sunday night I took a photo of the book for this blog. 

But as I lifted it I felt something strange on the back, and turning it over I noticed a small 3/4 cm tear at one edge, and the pages nearby were damaged.  Spewing !  I'm really not sure how I didn't notice.

Anyway, I rang Farrells yesterday and they said they were sorry and had no problems about me returning it.  And I know it wasn't the fault of Farrell's Bookshop but now I've got to find time to drive back down to Mornington next weekend to return the only copy they had.  And the hunt I thought was over will have to begin again.

The joy of collecting !

Nobody Likes A Smartarse !

A strange thing occurred while I was driving home from my small book hunt today.

I often listen to an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) radio station in the car.  It's run by the government and provides great news and information about local and world events.  I like to listen to it while driving to and from work as I never get to see the 6pm News on TV.

I occasionally listen on the weekend too, especially when there's cricket on.  Luckily I had it on tonight because the guys on the radio had just discussed "SkyFall" and were asking listeners to call in for a Bond film music quiz.

So I pulled the car over and rang them, and low and behold I was the first person through.  This must be the third time I've ever been on any radio station so I was a bit nervous.

They introduced me and then asked a question like "What was the title of the theme song to 'Live And Let Die' ?".  Anyway I might have (stupidly) elaborated on the answer by also saying it was performed by Paul McCartney and Wings, and they said "Well that was the next question we were going to ask so we'll skip that now".  They then asked a question about the producer of the song, George Martin.

Out of curiosity they asked who my favourite Bond actor was, before they continued with the quiz.

The next question was something like "Who sang the theme song to 'OHMSS' ?".  I explained that "OHMSS" only had an instrumental theme song by John Barry, and the song I thought they might be referring to was Louis Armstrong's which occurred during the film.  They said "We think you're going to know all the answers to the quiz tonight, so how about we just give you a prize and then continue the quiz with some other callers".  I said no probs.  I did come across as a bit of a smartarse.  Anyway, they're still sending me a sports prize and the guy who asked for my address at the end said "The guys have never done anything like this before".

I was very lucky too because the next question was "What was the title of the theme song to 'Quantum Of Solace' ?".  I knew it was sung by Jack White and Alicia Keys but couldn't recall the title so I would have got the next question wrong!

Regardless, perhaps I should have curbed my enthusiasm.

ps."Another Way To Die"

Hunting For "Hurricane Gold"

I spent an hour travelling between stores today on the hunt for the last Kev Walker Young Bond "Hurricane Gold" that I'm missing.  Today I was in Melbourne's South East suburbs.  I first visited Dymocks at Southland Shopping Centre.  No luck there though, they only had the previous Charlie Higson Young Bond covers.

Then I travelled to Brighton where two stores exist almost directly opposite each other on the main street.  Top Titles Books is a great independent store with a huge collection of new books including hundreds of children's, all well organised within a relatively small floor space.  Back in 2009 I ordered the two Vintage "Devil May Care" novels from the US through this store and they arrived in perfect condition.  Unfortunately no luck today though.

Then I walked across the road to Thesaurus Books, another independent store, containing heaps of new books too.  This is a really long shop, well lit and always stocking the latest books.  Again no luck today.

Another Saturday Book Hunting

Last week I received a call from Howard at Howard Bolton's Bookshop in Northcote to say he'd received some more Bonds and did I want to have a look before he put them on the shelf.  So inspiring a book hunt, yesterday I paid him a visit (while my very patient wife waited in the car).

Unfortunately I had them all but it was good to catch up with him again, tell him of my latest aquisitions and find out how he'd been going.

Photo of some of the Bond titles on his shelves.

I also managed to visit three other stores in Northcote all within 50 metres of each other, followed by Readings in Carlton

Allsorts Secondhand Books - (second hand) about 5 Fleming's from the 60s and 70s.  I purchased a very clean copy of the 1967 Pan "Casino Royale" as a replacement for an existing one.  The spine is slightly bent but the cover white is amazingly almost "as new"

The Book Grocer - (new) no Bond's that I could see

Brown And Bunting Booksellers - (second hand) about 10 Bond's from many different series.  Also on the shelf was a very damaged Jonathan Cape "You Only Live Twice" (including dust jacket).  I managed to find an unread copy of Triad Granada's "OHMSS" again to replace an existing one

Readings (Carlton) - (new) unfortunately no new Kev Walker Young Bonds here but there was a new "Silverfin" graphic novel which I decided to buy having passed on it when it was first released several years ago

Final photo of my purchases - two replacement copies and the "Silverfin" graphin novel

Three More Archie Ferguson Bond's Arrive

I received three more Archie Ferguson Bond novels today.  That brings the total to thirteen, so there's just one to go.  I'll scan these covers and add them to the website ASAP.

Another Kev Walker Young Bond Purchased

I had an RDO today so I visited a few book stores searching for the two Kev Walker Young Bond titles I'm missing - "Blood Fever" and "Hurricane Gold".  I first visited Glenferrie Road in Malvern where there are three (almost) independent stores selling new books all within 100 metres of each other.  I see this as very unusual, but also handy when searching for new books.  The three stores are "Readings", "Jeffreys" and "Books In Print".

And fortunately the last shop I visited, "Books In Print", had a copy of "Blood Fever" I needed.

I was also very surprised today.  Visiting Chapel Street in Prahran only a few suburbs from Malvern I found that Dymocks have opened a new store.  Gutsy move but good on Dymocks, especially as only about two years after Borders closed their store on the same street.  Unfortunately no Young Bonds here though.

So now there's only "Hurricane Gold" to go in this series.

Pretty Cool Book Depository Feature

I purchased some Bond books through The Book Depository the other week.  Then while looking around the wesbite I found a really cool feature called Live that showed what books were being purchased in what countries at that moment in time.  So I waited and voila... there was one of my purchases.

Facebook Photos Of My OHMSS Display

I found these photos on Facebook - "James Bond - 007 Heaven" today posted by someone who must have attended the George Lazenby / OHMSS screening at The Astor Theatre last Saturday night.  Don't know who it was but pretty cool to see someone else admiring my items on display.  Thanks

A Record Number Of Books Arrive

Yesterday I received 18 books while at work.  It's the most I've received in one go, and because there were so many the post office people even provided an Australia Post parcel container to carry them in.

I opened them last night, pleased to find that all but one had arrived safely.

And the parcels contained the remaining seven books in the Vintage "There Is Only One Bond" series, one more book in the Pegasus (US) Gardner series and ten books in the Thomas And Mercer "Archie Ferguson series" - all of which are yet to be scanned on the website.

The Astor Theatre Featuring George Lazenby

As I've mentioned a million times recently, George Lazenby did a Q&A on Saturday night prior to a screening of a restored 2K digital print of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" at The Astor Theatre in Melbourne.  My estimate was that there were about 400 to 500 people in attendance.

 

  
James Sherlock began proceedings by explaining what a thrill it was to introduce Mr Lazenby and "OHMSS".  He said he even remembered introducing the film to cinema audiences when the film was first released in '69.

And then after a brief introduction Mr Lazenby appeared on stage.  

 He answered Mr Sherlock's questions and spoke for over an hour about his recollections of the film and about his life.  He said much of his life revolved around women, he admitted he wasn't a really smart person, spoke about all his female conquests, how he was paid $1,000 in advance to appear in a Bruce Lee film only to have the actor die just 3 days later.  He spoke about his early childhood of kidney problems and 48 operations and how he believed those experiences had a huge impact on his life.  He also talked about how he won (nay bluffed) the role of James Bond, how while being Bond he never had to pay for anything, how it helped with the women and how it affected his life.  At one point he even said that there were times in his life he'd have preferred never to have been James Bond, probably especially when he had to move back home with his Mum in Queanbeyan, NSW. 

I found Mr Lazenby really interesting and really humorous at times.  There were questions from fans, and a really annoying little kid who kept screaming.  But overall it was a great start to a brilliant film.

Here's a couple of other reviews I've since found on the web about the same event from other people who were there:

http://permissiontokill.com/blog/2012/10/15/ohmss-astor-theatre-w-george-lazenby

http://tysonarmstrong.com/tag/george-lazenby/ 

http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/7109-GEORGE-LAZENBY-BONDS-WITH-HIS-ORIGINAL-OHMSS-ASTON-MARTIN-DBS.html

Armageddon Expo (Part 2) Featuring George Lazenby

It was an amazing sight to see George Lazenby in the flesh for the first time walking through the crowd toward his chair, about to sign autographs at the Armageddon Expo.  So my wife and I waited in line and when it finally came to my turn I got him to sign a hardback Centenary edition of OHMSS as well as Charles Helfenstein's brilliant "Making Of OHMSS".  Strangely Mr Lazenby didn't recognise the cover of Mr Helfenstein's book so I told him it was "... the best making of book for a Bond film".  Just before he autographed them he asked if I wanted my name included and I said "No thanks, just your name and number".  I also got one of my Piz Gloria business cards numbered on the back and I gave him another card explaining the purpose of the site (he wasn't really interested!).  I think I shook his hand three times that morning... Stalker alert !

 

Anyway, here's some photos:

Just before beginning signing.

Me getting my books signed.

Mr Lazenby in front of the DBS.

Armageddon Expo (Part 1)

Prior to his Q&A at The Astor Theate on Saturday night George Lazenby also attended an event called the Armageddon Expo in the City that morning.  Neither my wife nor I had ever attended one of these events before and surprisingly it was pretty good and well organised.  There were heaps of people dressed in costumes, artists showing their art and stands selling items, as well as a  number of actors (including the afformentioned Mr Lazenby) signing autographs and having photos taken.  This entry is just some general photos from the event.  The next entry features Mr Lazenby.

Also present was an Aston Martin DBS like the one featured in OHMSS.  When I spoke to the owner of the vehicle I discovered he'd purchased it over 30 years ago, had it shipped in from Europe and it was confirmed as the actual vehicle from the film.

OHMSS Display At The Astor Theatre

A couple of months ago I was very excited to discover that George Lazenby would be appearing at The Astor Theatre in Melbourne to do a Q&A before the screening of a newly restored 2K digital print of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".  So I got in touch with The Astor asking if they'd like me to lend them some items to display in one of their glass cabinets in the cinema lobby.  They said they'd be most appreciative.

Last week I went through my books and magazines for OHMSS specific items.  Nothing rare or valuable but nonetheless still important to me.  I also got some large photos copied as 6x4 prints.  These were the items I provided:

And on Saturday night when my wife and I attended the The Astor I was very pleased to see how they were displayed.  I noticed a few people looking at the items and some were pointing.  Here's some photos I took of the display: