108 replies to this topic

[Catching Bullets]

Well... after a thirty year wait this Bond fan finally got to meet his Bond...and it was worth the wait....

 

http://markoconnell.co.uk/?p=919

[ggl]

Well... after a thirty year wait this Bond fan finally got to meet his Bond...and it was worth the wait....

 

http://markoconnell.co.uk/?p=919

Congratulations!!. Indeed a dream for lots of people around here...

[Dustin]

Marvellous! Very well deserved, Mark!

[Simon]

Good man.

 

 i concur with both statements. 

 

Never meet your hero.  Unless your hero is Roger Moore.

[SecretAgentFan]

Congrats!  So good to meet the man who cemented the Bond phenomenon in so many people´s memories.  I envy you ;-)

[Catching Bullets]

Christmas isn't Christmas without James Bond...

 

“I jumped from the table with a mouth crammed with turkey, promised I was not a Christmas Day royalist, dashed to the lounge and took my place on the rug in-front of the TV – not before setting the video to record and pause as just pressing record always took forever to start taping on our steam-powered Hitachi video machine and I was not missing Roger’s opening gunbarrel walk as his 1970s flares went into a semaphore world of their own.”

(MOONRAKER, The Christmas Bullet, CATCHING BULLETS – MEMOIRS OF BOND FAN)

 

 

Starring ROGER MOORE, SEAN CONNERY, GEORGE LAZENBY, TIMOTHY DALTON, PIERCE BROSNAN, DANIEL CRAIG & JIMMY O'CONNELL

Prelude by BARBARA BROCCOLI
Foreword by MARK GATISS
Afterword by MAUD ADAMS

★★★★ TOTAL FILM
★★★★★★★★ STARBURST
★★★★ WHATCULTURE!
★★★★★ CULTBOX
Shortlist - POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2013

"Loved it", Al Murray
"Cubby would be proud", Barbara Broccoli
"Well done on the magnum opus", Robert Wade (writer, SKYFALL)
“The Fall’s best Bond bet” – Advocate.com

Available now from www.splendidbooks.co.uk and all good book and e-book stockists.

@Mark0Connell
www.markoconnell.co.uk
www.splendidbooks.co.uk

www.facebook.com/catchingbullets

Edited by Catching Bullets, 10 December 2013 - 11:49 AM.

[Catching Bullets]

Received my copy this morning and (given that today is a day off for yours truly) tucked into it straight away. Given that I'm only six chapters in (there are fifteen in all), I may be jumping the gun in passing comment but you know what? I don't care. The reason that I don't care is that I can already say without hesitation that CATCHING BULLETS is superb. This is easily the best Bond-related book I've picked up since Simon Winder's THE MAN WHO SAVED BRITAIN.

I am of the same generation as Mark O'Connell, and CATCHING BULLETS constantly triggers reminders of my own childhood in the home counties in the 1980s. I too used to record Bank Holiday Bond films onto VHS tapes, pressing the pause button as soon as the adverts started in order to create uninterrupted copies (and I used to feed the accompanying blank labels into my father's typewriter and carefully type the films' titles onto them), and I well remember that in those days much of the video rental industry revolved around off-licences and garages. I can still vividly recall the offie in Chalfont St. Peter, with its small selection of tapes: FIRST BLOOD, HALLOWEEN II, THE PLAGUE DOGS and a couple of others. And, yes, I even remember the schoolboy phenomenon of recording parts of films on audio cassette - one of my chums had a hefty chunk of RETURN OF THE JEDI stored that way.

Reading CATCHING BULLETS makes me overflow with the nostalgic bliss of limited choice, but this book is more than a witty and poignant walk down memory lane (ah, yes, that Scotch tapes skeleton!). It's also a treasure trove of bang-on-the-money observations on the Bond films. Having spent a decade in the trenches of online Bond fandom, I'd assumed that I'd considered everything about every 007 flick from every possible angle, but on a number of occasions CATCHING BULLETS has caused me to think: Hmmm.... interesting point there, O'Connell, can't imagine quite why I never realised that before. If you're looking for an extremely well-written and absorbing work on what makes the Bond series tick, this is it.

 

 

Thanks Loomis. Great response there!

[Catching Bullets]

My site has had a lick of paint and contains plenty of traces of Bond nuts.

 

Pop over and say hi....

 

www.markoconnell.co.uk

[Iceskater101]

Well... after a thirty year wait this Bond fan finally got to meet his Bond...and it was worth the wait....

 

http://markoconnell.co.uk/?p=919

 

Congratulations! That's so exciting! 

[DavidJones]

It was a decent read, this. Always good to hear opinions on all things Bond, particularly on such oft-forgotten films like Octopussy (though I don't share the writer's fixation on Maud Adams - she was okay to look at, but nothing special).

Edited by DavidJones, 10 May 2014 - 04:31 PM.

[Catching Bullets]

"Nothing special"?!!

 

Outside. Now!

[DLibrasnow]

I got to meet Roger several years ago when he was in New York promoting his autobiography...he was very generous with his time and it remains a highlight. He is also my favorite actor in the role and I had never expected to have the opportunity to meet him. 

 

Personally I think Maud Adams was incredible looking, but the most spectacular of the Bond women IMHO was Barbara Bach. Given her looks it is no surprise they tried to lure Bach back for "A View to a Kill" to reprise her Anya role (which was subsequently renamed Pola when Bach turned them down).

 

In creating my website I jumped from the "Girls of Goldfinger" page to the "Girls of The Spy Who Loved Me" page because I was anxious to write about Bach and post all the Barbara Bach pictures (in high resolution) I have collected over the last almost four decades.

 

Like Loomis, I recall those old VHS days in the 1980s taping the movies off ITV and pressing pause for the commercials

[Simon]

In '83, she was very special.

 

I agree that perhaps tastes change in what is considered to be the new high of 'special' looks, but goodness, Maud was just lovely.

[Turn]

Maud Adams was beautiful and was a great choice as she seems to have the best chemistry with Moore in OP. I think their previous experience with TMWTGG makes them seem more natural. Both seemed to genuinely like each other, which I've heard was not always the case with some of Moore's other female leads.

 

And the fact she wasn't 20-something is also a plus. Consider the leading ladies in the films on each side of OP were in their 20s when filming with the 50-something Moore adds something more to it.

[Simon]

I find myself working from home a lot in my self employed status and in the study, just behind me, is a bookshelf full of distractions.

 

Re-reading books these days is uncommon compared to the early 80's when all I could do, was re-read all the Bond books and the very few books that delved into the canon from a review point of view.

 

That said, and having loved Catching Bullets the first time, I was tempted to flick into the first few pages, just to see, yunno...  And thus utterly hooked, all over again, and being transported to my 80's constrained journey through Bond, I could not put it down.

 

Just as delightful a read as the first time, full of perspicacity and laugh out loud moments (before lol spoilt that phrase), I revelled in O'Connell's use of language.

 

Should there be any latecomers to this book, I feel sure it is one of the top five, must-have books for this particular interest.

[Dustin]

Very well said. Catching Bullets is a treat in itself, particularly for 'our' generation.

[Catching Bullets]

I find myself working from home a lot in my self employed status and in the study, just behind me, is a bookshelf full of distractions.

 

Re-reading books these days is uncommon compared to the early 80's when all I could do, was re-read all the Bond books and the very few books that delved into the canon from a review point of view.

 

That said, and having loved Catching Bullets the first time, I was tempted to flick into the first few pages, just to see, yunno...  And thus utterly hooked, all over again, and being transported to my 80's constrained journey through Bond, I could not put it down.

 

Just as delightful a read as the first time, full of perspicacity and laugh out loud moments (before lol spoilt that phrase), I revelled in O'Connell's use of language.

 

Should there be any latecomers to this book, I feel sure it is one of the top five, must-have books for this particular interest.

Cheers Simon! Much appreciated! A sequel/prequel is - as they say in the movies - coming soon.... #watchthisspace

Very well said. Catching Bullets is a treat in itself, particularly for 'our' generation.

 

Thanks Dustin. Much appreciated kind words there. "Our" generation? You must be as young as me then.

[SecretAgentFan]

 

I find myself working from home a lot in my self employed status and in the study, just behind me, is a bookshelf full of distractions.

 

Re-reading books these days is uncommon compared to the early 80's when all I could do, was re-read all the Bond books and the very few books that delved into the canon from a review point of view.

 

That said, and having loved Catching Bullets the first time, I was tempted to flick into the first few pages, just to see, yunno...  And thus utterly hooked, all over again, and being transported to my 80's constrained journey through Bond, I could not put it down.

 

Just as delightful a read as the first time, full of perspicacity and laugh out loud moments (before lol spoilt that phrase), I revelled in O'Connell's use of language.

 

Should there be any latecomers to this book, I feel sure it is one of the top five, must-have books for this particular interest.

Cheers Simon! Much appreciated! A sequel/prequel is - as they say in the movies - coming soon.... #watchthisspace

Very well said. Catching Bullets is a treat in itself, particularly for 'our' generation.

 

Thanks Dustin. Much appreciated kind words there. "Our" generation? You must be as young as me then.

 

 

Wow - a sequel/prequel?  I´m hooked!

[Simon]

As am I - of course.

 

All the best.