Pairs [no.1]

It's a new year! For your enjoyment... here are four pairs of pictures! I'll be doing little installments like these throughout the year - I tend to try and associate images with others when I see them, so this little project is sort-of a representation of the way I mentally archive and enjoy media.

↑ 1: unknown via bolshenebudet

2: WEIRD GIRLS ep.7 by Sara Vilbergs
3: unknown
4: unknown
5: Zuma Series (1977) by John Divola
6: Zuma Series (1977) by John Divola
7: shoes by Martiniano Lopez for MARTINIANO
8: Lotte Lenya in From Russia With Love (1963)

Disco face

Hi friends and pals! For Halloween this year I was a disco fairy / James Bond villain (depending on who asked). I wore some big silk pants and a pair of green velvet platforms.

Makeup Tip: If you ever want to cover your face with something - use eyelash glue! If you're not allergic to latex, it's a great way to safely adhere things to your face. My glitter didn't budge all night even though I was dancing like a disco queen / with aspirations in world domination. It's not exactly a nice natural beauty treatment but it does wash off easily with makeup remover or a bit of oil.

↑ Private

Smoke Bomb

      I would love to experiment with colored smoke bombs but, when you live on an island, using flares and distress signals for art will warrant a visit from the coast guard. Even inland. So, you know. Excitinnnng!

↑ Vita Cagnone for D-Mode Magazine by Antonella Arismendi

↑ Untitled by ▲ Levitsky

↑ Silence/Shapes no. 2 by Filippo Minelli

↑ Silence/Shapes no. 11 by Filippo Minelli

      Roger Moore's James Bond gets desperately creative with a smoke flare in A View To A Kill (1985)

So, like, PRETTY MUCH: During a snowy downhill chase, an orange Commie helicopter blows up Bond's orange stolen Commie snowmobile and he uses the broken ski from the now defunct Commie snowmobile to shred down the glacial mountain doing 'gnar tricks 'n cliff jumps (Tom Sims) while dodging Commie machine gun fire (all while wearing a white parka trimmed with fur and makin' it look, like, so easy) and when he gets to the bottom of the mountain the orange Commie helicopter is still raining bullets down so he grabs for his pack and draws out a distress flare and with a practiced hand shoots is straight into the cabin of the 'copter and the Commie pilots are pissed and they start spinning out of control in a beautiful haze of smoke, blaze orange against the white snow and blue sky, and then they BLOW UP. James Bond then makes his way to a submarine disguised as an iceberg where a beautiful scantily clad babe is waiting for him to make out with her.

Goldfinger Brownjohn

      Simplistic in concept and artfully minimal in design, artistic director Robert Brownjohn's title sequence for Goldfinger (1964) is perfectly executed.  What a brilliant idea to project sequences from the film onto the gilded body of glorious 'glamour-girl' Margaret Nolan!  A simple/cheeky idea, meticulously executed + perfect typography + the velvet rumble of Shirley Bassey = quintessentially sexy spy-junk history! His piece is not only timelessly modern and sophisticated, but stands alone as one of the most iconic pieces of 1960's design and cinema.


      SPEAKING of which... One of the MoMA's exciting recent acquisitions is none other than a series of photographs by Herbert Spencer which document Robert Brownjohn's preparatory studies for the Goldfinger title sequence! NYC friends, this collection is being presented in conjunction with the film exhibition 50 Years of James Bond and is on display until March 18th, 2013. The following are just a few of the photographs on exhibition. So beautiful:

Honey Ryder

      Nikki van der Zyl is a German voice actress famous known for lending countless Bond Girls of the 60's and 70's their seductive purr, darling. Her work for the franchise began with Guy Flemming's Dr. No. (1962) as the voice of Ursula Andress' Honey Ryder. (Nikki performed all of the female dialogue in the film apart from that of Lois Maxwell's Moneypenny.)

↑ Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder in Dr. No. (1962)

       Nikki on voicing Honey Ryder:

"The problem with Ursula Andress was that not only did she have a strong Swiss-German accent, but she tended to put the emphasis of a word on the wrong syllable. They felt her accent might be too difficult for the American audience to understand and, in any case, it wasn’t sexy enough."

       Nikki has not been acknowledged in the credits of any of the Bond films she's done and, over the years, the lack of recognition for her work has lent her a bitterness. Who wouldn't be miffed?

"Many of the Bond girls built their careers on their performances in the films, which in part was due to my voice"

↑ Nikki on the set of Dr. No

      During her work across a decade of spy junk, Nikki loaned a little extra velvet to the dialogue of many a Bond Girl:

↑ Ursula Andress as Vesper Lynd Casino Royale (1967)	↑ Corrine Clery as Corrine Dufour Moonraker (1979)
↑ Jane Seymour as Solitaire Live and Let Die (1973)	↑ Mie Hama as Kissy Suzuki You Only Live Twice (1967)
↑ Claudine Auger as Domino Thunderball (1965)	↑ Eunice Gayson as Sylvia Trench From Russia With Love (1963)
↑ Nadja Regin as Bonita Goldfinger (1964)	↑ Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson Goldfinger (1964)

      Since her days as the self-proclaimed "First Lady Of Bond", Nikki has practiced law, gone skydiving, appeared on antiques roadshow, and found a deep fondness for opals. Her autobiography, "For Your Ears Only" is due out next month.

      These days, you can catch up with Lady Bond on her vast labyrinth of a website. Nikki continues to seek recognition for her role in the history of the Bond franchise. With the world "celebrating 50 years of Bond" this year, maybe she'll finally get a little nod?  (Now if only that pesky Shirley Eaton would kick the bucket.)

Bang Bang

        The King of America and a European boy holding guns:

       What a cutie-pie! Maybe someday this little scamp will grow up to be a happy healthy ego-maniacal Bond villain.  His maman must be so proud.