Ask the Flying Monkey! (May 14, 2009)

Ok, others here are clearly religious about Torchwood, Supernatural, Harry Potter, LOTR, but I'm religious about the James Bond movies: I was even a member of the Official James Bond Fan Club when I was a wee lad. So I have to say that I take offense at the stereotyping of Bond Girls as "Vacuous and Compliant"!

Think about this for a moment: these women, while perhaps intended as male fantasies, have largely been--yes, I'm going to say it--pre-feminist pioneers: they were independent, sexually liberated and strong-willed before the feminist movement of the 1970s came along. Of course, they're also beautiful, but many of them are highly accomplished and courageous.

Soviet Intelligence Corporal Tatiana Romanova risks her life to betray both her country and the nefarious SPECTRE to help Bond smuggle a decoding machine out of Istanbul in From Russia With Love.

Pussy Galore, despite the obscene name, is an accomplished pilot with her own "Flying Circus," a team of women pilots; she, too, risks her life by betraying Goldfinger to help Bond.

Dr. Holly Goodhead is not only a CIA agent but also a NASA trained astronaut who pilots a space shuttle in Moonraker, and initially refuses Bond's advances, but then beds him for her own scheming purposes.

Melina Havelock is an expert marks-woman with the crossbow and has knowledge of undersea diving and submersibles and is seemingly fearless when dragged by Kristatos through a sea of sharks with Bond in For Your Eyes Only. Even she resists Bond's sexual charms until the end of the movie.

Even notorious screamer Stacey Sutton in A View to a Kill is an expert geologist who helps Bond unravel the villain's dasterdly plot.

Etc., etc. To dismiss them as vacuous and compliant is just too, too easy and erroneous. As a young man, I dreamed of being as courageous, independent and skilled as these women were and sharing a great adventure with a sexy spy!

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Take a break and explore the world of hedonism and pleasure-seeking!

Chuckles!

I'm still waiting impatiently for the release of The Vintner's Luck, as it stars not only Gaspard but my beloved Jérémie Renier as well. So far, the only pics I've found of the film come from a New Zealand Film promotion material from last year's Cannes Film Festival--unfortunately, no pics of Gaspard (since he's playing an angel, I suspect they're keeping his appearance under wraps for as long as possible); but you can see Jérémie on the cover, and on pages 6 and 7, pics of co-stars Keisha Castle-Hughes and Vera Farmiga and director Niki Caro. Link is a PDF file to download:

http://www.nzfilm.co.nz/getattachment/acc047e5-80fc-4af5-8370-c9311557ff08/NZ_Film_Issue_84_Cannes_2008_(1).aspx?disposition=attachment

I think straigh/gay pairings are quite common. I think it's more uncommon the gay/gay ones, probably because there are a lot less gay actors and a good percentage of them are not publicly out. I remember the Justin/Ethan couple on queer as folk, both actors are out.

It's quite common too, the couples which one of the actors is straight and the other is secretive about his private life or rumored to be gay but not confirmed

Matthew Broderick is straight? Seriously?

I'm like a superhero, with no powers or motivation...

afhickman

If I were James Bond, and I were tempted to try out a Bond boy, I might take my cue from the AE Hot 100. Passing over the sentimental favorites, I'd be much more likely to go with Luke, or Jake, or Cheyenne, or Jensen, or Chris, and I'd probably even be willing to risk a stint in high school prison and "nuzzle" up to Zac Efron. But, given the present Bond's penchant for Gallic beauties (think Vesper), I might abandon the AE list altogether and look to France for inspiration: a Gaspard Ulliel or Gregoire LePrince-Ringuet, par exemple, or even Jeremie Renier, who is actually Belgian), all of whom were criminally overlooked by AE voters. Il y a toujours l'année prochaine!  Or words to that effect.

"The mountain has wings."

I'm not saying AfterElton should out people, but whenever I read the "unfortunately, he's straight" thing when no one actually asked about the celeb's sexual orientation, it seems like you're asking for the guy's apologies for citing him on a gay site.

And Channing Tatum and Ryan Reynolds would make PERFECT Bond boys. *drooling*