Frederick Forsyth's birthday. The ODESSA File (1972) is cool. The 1974 movie adaptation is good, too, once the viewer accepts Jon Voight's lame-ass German accent. It begins on the day of JFK's assassination, a nice touch.
Sean Connery's birthday, too. Here, a mockup from Goldfinger, the first Bond film I ever saw at the theater. It's in my blood -- What would Bond do? Only remember the cautionary (and ludicrously twisted) casino slogan, "Please gamble responsibly." How the "literary" name Pussy Galore made it to the big screen is still miraculous. I mean, really -- such a wicked end-run around censorship. It's hardly subtle double entendre, after all.
Elvis Costello's birthday! The wordsmith lives -- a complicated man, to be sure. In Chapel Hill in 1981, tickets to his show (with Squeeze as warm up band) went for a whopping $5. I skipped the second half of the Super Bowl to go. The Eagles lost anyway, to the Raiders.
Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.
Birthdays: Bret Harte, Saint Faustina (b.Helena Kowalska), Võ Nguyên Giáp, Van Johnson, Mel Ferrer, Sean Connery, Charles Wright, Frederick Forsyth, Martin Amis, Elvis Costello (b. Declan Patrick MacManus), Tim Burton, Blair Underwood, Mia Zapata, Jeff Tweedy, Claudia Schiffer, Fatih Akın, Sophie Cadieux.
Shaken, not stirred.
9 comments:
I'm way behind on my spy thriller reading. I haven't read the Odessa File. Or most of Ludlum or Jack Higgins' books. Some that I have read were quite good so I'm not sure why I haven't gone back to the well.
Pussy Galore would be ostracized today.
And "enjoy your addiction while you are being held fully accountable for your actions (during the time of complete unacceptability of your compulsive obsession)is an insane thought.
But, oh well, all bets are still on. We are a crazy folk, uh?
Happy Birthday Elvis Costello.
Must go...eat Beefaroni right now - no cooking today. "microwaved, not cooked conventionally . . . like: shaken not stirred.
Elvis Costello and The Squeeze for 5 bucks? Now, instead of going to a concert, I buy the entertainer's boxed set; at least it's cheaper.
I remember going with my dad to see The Odessa File when it came out. I saw it on television a couple of years ago, and thought it stood well.
That tour played in Chicago around the same time. I think Graham Parker might have played. At the time, Squeeze were billed as "The UK Squeeze," because there was a less successful American band by the same name.
Yeah, it certainly is bewildering how "Pussy Galore" made to the big screen in those days. Amazing really.
maybe the censor board liked cats?
Elvis Costello and Jeff Tweedy. A great day for music, huh?
I'm a big Forsythe fan. I've read nearly every book he's written. By far, my favorite was The Dogs of War.
Walken was great in that movie, too.
I've always liked "The Odessa File" film. At the very end I've always loved the final voiceover.
"If, after my death,
this diary should be found and read
... will some kind friend
please say Kaddish for me?"
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