Elf Christmas card

Recently, as a personal project, I created a one-off set of gold foil printed Christmas cards that play on dialogue from the well-loved 
film Elf. One satisfying way to spread the Christmas cheer!

007 shaken and stirred in a snowglobe

Would you see Daniel Craig wearing a bobble hat in a bond film today? Not even likely. Looking back, even though Roger Moore was edging dangerously close to swapping his ski poles for a zimmer frame, it didn't really seem to matter to audiences. The activity of skiing was exciting and glamourous. And seeing Bond skiing, in an exotic location, even in a bobble hat and shiny flared sellopetes, looked cool as he escaped the goons dispatched on him.

Snow scenes in the bond films are usually teamed with a heavy dose of action to propel the story along. Here, the pace is really rammed up and you could say there are certain formulas evident; Bahamas for the bikinis, Austria for the sellopetes. The audience is swiftly transported from one place and introduced to another location, bringing a grander scale to the picture. It it this aspect that is a key signature of the bond films, and one that Chris Nolan has admitted he was inspired by for Inception (check out the post here).

But for now, here's a round-up of the iconic Brit spy, being chased, giving, ahem, chase and generally handling tricky situations (garish wardrobes included) in the white stuff as easily as kicking back with a vodka martini.


“He’s branched off”
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
1969
Bond: George Lazenby
Snow scene: Piz Gloria, Switzerland

Bobsleds, trees and St Bernards. Blofeld (Telly Savalas) and Bond engage in a furious bobsled chase down Piz Gloria, culminating with Blofeld becoming snared in a tree branch and injuring his neck. Bond leaps from the out-of-control bobsled just before it crashes; he's rescued by a St. Bernard.


“But James I need you...” “So does England ”
The Spy Who Loved Me
1977
Bond: Roger Moore
Snow scene: Austria

Fur rugs, dodgy yellow skiwear and Union Jack Flags. Roger Moore
(a bond about as cool as your dad skiing and thinking “the mission’s in the bag”) is ambushed by Soviet agents, kills one during a downhill ski chase and escapes via a Union Flag parachute.


“I took the scenic route”
For Your Eyes Only
1981
Bond: Roger Moore
Snow scene: Cortina d'Ampezzo, Northern Italy

Ski jumps, chalet lunches interrupted, slightly better ski outfits. Another scene with Roger’s James (fromage) Bond. Kriegler attempts to kill Bond with his biathlon rifle, and pursues him on a machine gun armed motorcycle, over a chalet balcony, down a bobsleigh track, and into a farm where Bond escapes. Three other men also attempt to kill Bond on an indoor ice rink, but he manages to fend them off.


“We’ve nothing to declare”
The Living Daylights
1987
Bond: Timothy Dalton
Snow scene: Austria

Exploding sheds, Aston Martins and cellos. Bond and Kara (Maryam d'Abo) sledge down a mountain using a cello case as their sled and speed through the border customs kiosk.


“Morning Q. Sorry about the leg. Skiing?”
Goldeneye
1995
Bond: Pierce Brosnan
Snow scene: Severnaya Zemlya, Russia

Helicopters, huskies and IT geeks. Ourumov and Xenia steal a prototype Eurocopter Tiger helicopter fly it to a bunker in Severnaya, where they massacre the staff and steal the control disk for the dual GoldenEye satellite weapons. Natalya (Izabella Scorupco), is caught in the devastation and is the lone survivor.


“See you back at the lodge”
The World is Not Enough
1999
Bond: Pierce Brosnan
Snow scene: Azerbaijan

Snowmobiles, bug-faced henchmen and avalanche airbags. During a tour of the pipeline's proposed route in the mountains, Bond and Elektra (Sophie Marceau) are attacked by a hit squad in armed, paraglider-equipped snowmobiles.



“I have been known to keep my tip up”
Die Another Day
2002
Bond: Pierce Brosnan
Snow scene: Iceland

Satellites, ice palaces and spikey tyres. Bond attempts to rescue Jinx (Halle Berry), where he is discovered and chased by Zao. Zao dies after Bond tricks him into crashing his car into a flooded portion of the facility and causing a chandelier to fall on him.

Let Me In

This week Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) brings us his version of Let Me In, the drama/horror film based on the 2004 vampire fiction novel by Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist and the 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In, directed by Tomas Alfredson. It tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who develops a friendship with a vampire child (Chloë Moretzin - Kick Ass) in a New Mexico town in the early 1980s.

Alfredson was against Reeves' version. Concerned that his touching and haunting film has evolved into something mainstream he has stated "If one should remake a film, it's because the original is bad. And I don't think mine is. Remakes should be made of movies that aren't very good, that gives you the chance to fix whatever has gone wrong. I'm very proud of my movie and I think it's great, but the Americans might have another opinion."

The comparison between the films is perhaps playing on Alfredson's mind more than critics, as both films have/are being received well.

Let The Right One In had less of a commercial push and hype prior to it's release, however it's worth checking out. Brilliantly adapted from the novel with a chilling atmosphere; its good to see some originality in a story that steers away from the usual vampire-flick clichés. A decent time-filler whilst you wait for the Let Me In DVD to drop on your doormat.

Let Me In is released in UK cinemas 5 November
Tell me more about Let The Right One In
Check out the book

Simon's Cat 'Snow Business'

This cute fella of the furry kind needs little introduction, as he's been doing some hefty viewing rounds on YouTube lately. Like a low-fi (more funny) Garfield without the colour, the animation makes for a humble series of stories, with bags of charm.

Like this? You can find more on Simon's Cat's website.

Swiss Holiday Home

I've recently moved house, but seeing this one makes me want to order the packing boxes again and relocate to Scheidegg, Switzerland. With 5 meter long panorama windows, lawn chairs on decking with an outstanding view of snow capped peaks, I'd say that makes for a pretty amazing abode. The clean wood/concrete combo and hollow stairs, allowing light to flow through the open plan layout, is an impressive achievement. It certainly looks like a peaceful and idyllic location and some might say a little on the isolated side. But I'm sold, even if popping out to the shops to get milk for your cuppa ends up being a 2 hour errand.

Steven Seagal vs huskies and Lego hair

Love him or hate him, Steven Seagal tries hard, he tries really hard. It's probably fair to say the actor/producer/director/martial artist/guitarist/activist/deputy sheriff isn't blessed with cinema goers racing to see his latest flick. But like I said, the guy puts in the effort, albeit taking himself maybe a little too seriously.

Back at the peak of his career he could have really excelled. As a former Navy Seal taking on a group of mercenaries on a US navy battleship, Under Seige was his first big break. The film made him a household name, a fresh face in the celluloid industry that had people stopping and paying attention to this unknown and mysterious martial arts guru. But without sounding too harsh here, Seagal's choice of future films were like going on a second date with someone and realising the charisma and charm that was evident the first date is all but gone, leaving you thinking "what the heck did I see in them before?". Not that I'm saying Seagal was a romantic fascination or even a pin up stud to me, but audiences and myself had sobered up and promptly lost interest.

The studios were thrilled with the box office success of Under Seige, offering Seagal the sequel Under Seige 2. Seagal agreed, but only on the condition he could make and produce a film about Eskimos in Alaska. Eskimos? The studios didn't quite share the same enthusiasm, but Seagal was adamant and the film On Deadly Ground went ahead, despite skepticism from critiques and studios alike. To them it was simply career suicide. It was the equivalent of Jake Gyllenhaal deciding to make 'Teletubbies: The Movie' after the success of Brokeback Mountain.

However On Deadly Ground is so bad, that it's actually is quite good. The classic made-for-TV film that is often quite amusing, but for all the wrong reasons. Micheal Caine sporting blacker than black lego hair being just one of numerous reasons. Not simply content with peppering the plot with Seagal trademarks like knife wielding, semi automatic weapon handling and a frown that would snap a chopstick, Seagal wanted the film to have a heavy environmental message throughout. Our treat for the end of the film (once you get past the bad wire stunt work, angry huskies and hallucinogenic eskimo dream sequence), has Seagal's character, 'Forrest Taft', delivering a speech on pollution, corporate greed and the general fragility of Mother Earth. With oil rig villains dispatched, this is the poignant moment people, so pay attention. The speech was intended to be over 10 minutes long and thankfully was reduced to 4 minutes. Despite it's best efforts to captivate and educate, it was drowned out by the sound of seats flapping as the majority of the audience got up to leave the screening in complete disinterest. Oh dear.

See it and weep On Deadly Ground speech

Seagal doing the rounds

Golf buggie chase and movie pitch in the Orange ad
One for the ears Songs from the Crystal Cave
On TV Lawman

Like the illustration? Check out another here

Illustration: katejonesdesign.co.uk

Horizon Field: Antony Gormley

Famed for his remarkable Asian Field installation, Antony Gormley has created 100 life-size human figures to stand in solitary splendor in the Austrian Alps. As part of a two year art project in the ski resort of Lech in western Austria, the figures (made of cast iron) will populate 58 sq miles of some of Austria's most stunning scenery. Several figures are accessible by foot and when the winter season starts, can only be reached by skis. Just don't rely on them knowing the way back to the chalet.

Horizon Field in construction

To find out more about Horizon Field which has been put together by Kunsthaus Bregenz Museum, visit the website here.

Nacho Gil

Wonderful collection titled The Animals by Argentinean designer/artist Nacho Gil. Love the simple but beautiful execution of these graphical designs. My favourite? Has to be the snow leopard of course.

Eat the peas, or get stuffed

It would appear (according to scientific research) that the ice caps from the Antarctic are receding at an alarming rate. Evidently they have receded so much that polars bears have resorted to camping out in home freezers; in Birds Eye's latest ad campaign, a polar bear (albeit stuffed) is found exactly in that way. The ad takes on a slight hint of menace with the stuffed toy, voiced by Willem Defoe, pointing out to a housewife about her choice of frozen foods. 'You got it wrong again, didn't you...' is the (sorry for the pun) chilling tone set here. Talk about making the consumer feel like they have the brain size of an amoeba. The new campaign is far removed from the days of old Cap'n Birds Eye, but then again those ads seemed to have a whiff of 'the kid on santa's lap in the shopping centre'. A wise decision to move away from.

Agency: AMV.BBDO

View the peas advert here

View the fish fingers advert here

Star Wars galaxy

I came across Justin Van Genderen who's created simple but stunning poster art of the iconic planets found in a galaxy far far away.

Blurb books

You may have already come across this site but blurb.com has come up with a great idea to enable you to create your very own album as a printed book. There's a choice of paper, cover finishes and book sizes. The larger the book the more you pay, but it also means you could produce one for as little as £2.95 if you wished.

To get started, you download Blurb's software Booksmart and install it on your Mac/PC. It's more intuitive to use than some other online album publishing programs out there and as the software's not used via a browser you're not at the mercy of the internet suddenly cutting out on you.

I had a stab at using Blurb's software and put together a collection of snaps taken from skiing. There's a pretty good selection of templates to drag your images into to create your pages, allowing you to feature images or text or a combination of both to work up your spreads.

I was pleasantly surprised with the finished results, and personally it beats burying snaps under cheap pocket sleeves when you can show off images impressively across a spread for that 'oooh' reaction.