Ghost of a flea: Be yourself

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April 11, 2007

Be yourself

GQ has named Daniel Craig the best-dressed man of the year, saying the 007 look works for him as it "seems like an upgrade of what Craig would naturally wear." This is possibly the best articulation of what I have been trying to express through the Flea's crime-fighting panache. Be yourself, but more so.*

Yet even in the imaginary land of fast cars and faster women there is a feeling of unease and, forgive my German, Unheimlichkeit. James Rovira sees some cause for concern in a time when Bond has come to define the acme of post-war British masculinity. Worth the read even though, as with much film theory, it is difficult to infer whether the intent is criticism or lament. I particularly enjoyed this quoted screed by Tiger Tanaka from Ian Fleming's You Only Live Twice (hat tip to Agent Bedhead).

“Bondo-san, I will now be blunt with you, and you will not be offended, because we are friends. Yes? Now it is a sad fact that I, and many of us in positions of authority in Japan, have formed an unsatisfactory opinion about the British people since the war. You have not only lost a great Empire, you have seemed almost anxious to throw it away with both hands. All right,” he held up a hand, “we will not go deeply into the reasons for this policy, but when you apparently sought to arrest this slide into impotence at Suez, you succeeded only in stage-managing one of the most pitiful bungles in the history of the world, if not the worst. Further, your governments have shown themselves successively incapable of ruling and have handed over effective control of the country to trade unions, who appear to be dedicated to the principle of doing less and less work for more money. This feather-bedding, this shirking of an honest day’s work, is sapping at ever-increasing speed the moral fibre of the British, a quality the world once so much admired. In its place we now see a vacuous, aimless horde of seekers-after-pleasure—gambling at the pools and bingo, whining at the weather and the declining fortunes of the country, and wallowing nostalgically in gossip about the doings of the Royal Family and of your so-called aristocracy in the pages of the most debased newspapers in the world.”

Quite.

* In related news, Russell Brand was nominated as both the No. 8 best dressed man and No. 1 worst dressed. Shouldn't Agent Bedhead be dating this guy? It might bring the reading public some relief from the ongoing Pete Doherty barrage.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at April 11, 2007 07:23 AM

Comments

Oh good gawd - thanx for the dating suggestions, but Russell Brand is SO not my type.

Comedians are so insufferable.

Posted by: agent bedhead at April 11, 2007 09:51 AM

Not to mention elf booties = instant disqualification.

Posted by: Chris Taylor at April 11, 2007 10:03 AM

For a brief, shining moment it occurred to me he might be the son of Jo Brand; perhaps the best imaginable mother-in-law ever in which case you would have to reconsider. But no, he is not.

Posted by: Ghost of a flea at April 11, 2007 10:08 AM

Tiger Tanaka (Ian Fleming) was very correct and it can certainly be reprinted today and be equally accurate.

Then again, I am a Bond freak :) My dad was and named me after Sir Connery. ANd somehow, he and my mom managed to arrange to have me born on Ian Fleming day :)

Posted by: Gorthos at April 11, 2007 10:49 AM

Oh and BTW, Daniel Craig looks scrumptuous.

Thanks for the eye candy. ;-)

Posted by: agent bedhead at April 11, 2007 06:34 PM

My wife fully approves of his look and says it will work for me.. then again she added "you'll need six pack abs though".. grumble..

Posted by: Gorthos at April 11, 2007 08:30 PM

Daniel Craig...ugh what a knob that guy is...I haven't seen one interview yet where he does not come across as a total arse.

Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge at April 12, 2007 04:27 AM

Is that the voice of a Waitrose shopper?

Posted by: Ghost of a flea at April 12, 2007 06:48 AM

Er I do big shops in Tesco but my weekly bits & bobs come from Waitrose yes.

Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge at April 13, 2007 07:41 AM

Hrmm.. I see he is a mere one year younger than I.. I feel my days as a potential Bond actor are still ahead of me!!!

Situps, pushups, running, okay.. now to work on my steely gaze..

Wait a minute.. he is the shortest bond and is a full 4 inches taller than I.. damn.. maybe I can be a mini-he

Posted by: Gorthos at April 13, 2007 10:37 AM

For a variety of reasons, I would make a mediocre Bond. The key is to be a superlative Flea. This way future "What if?" style graphic novels can have a Bond vs Flea plot-line in which our special abilities are pitted against one another. And possibly fembots and the Elvistrooper.

Posted by: Ghost of a flea at April 13, 2007 10:53 AM