Thursday, January 24, 2008

WTF is a Quantum of Solace?

Well apparently it's the name of the new James Bond film.
Hmm not nearly as catchy as Casino Royale and Q is such a weird letter- it just sounds weird when you say it especially if you were to say "I'm going to go say Quantum of Solace;" didn't your mouth feel weird?

According to Variety the film , Quantum of Solace

follows on directly from “Casino Royale” with Daniel Craig reprising the role of British super spy and embarking on a revenge mission following his betrayal by Vesper Lynd — Eva Green’s ill-fated character in the previous film — that takes him to Austria, Italy and South America.
As previously announced, Gallic thesp Mathieu Amalric (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”) plays Bond nemesis Dominic Greene, a ruthless businessman and member of a shadowy org. seeking to control large portions of the world’s natural resources.
Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko plays Bond girl Camille, who leads the Martini-shaking spy to Greene, while Brit actress Gemma Arterton (“St Trinian’s”) will play MI6 Agent Fields.


SO it seems to be nothing like the short story by Ian Fleming of the same name, Quantum of Solace
"Quantum of Solace" is not a spy story and Bond appears only in the background. Told in the style of W Somerset Maugham, the tale has Bond attending a boring dinner party at the Government House in Nassau with a group of socialites he can't stand.

Bond makes an offensive remark after dinner when the other guests have left in order to stimulate conversation. This solicits a careful reply from the elderly Governor of The Bahamas who tells 007 a sad tale about a relationship between former civil servant Philip Masters stationed in Bermuda and air hostess Rhoda Llewellyn. After meeting aboard a flight to London the two eventually married but after a time Rhoda became unhappy with her life as a housewife. She then began a long open affair with the eldest son of a rich Bermudan family. As a result Masters' work deteriorated and he suffered a nervous breakdown. After recovering he was given a break from Bermuda by the governor and sent on an assignment to Washington to negotiate fishing rights with the US. At the same time the governor's wife had a talk with Rhoda just as her affair ended. Masters returned a few months later and decided to end his marriage, although he and Rhoda continued to appear as a happy couple in public. Masters returned alone to the UK, leaving a penniless Rhoda stranded in Bermuda, an act which he'd been incapable of carrying out merely months earlier. But Masters never recovered emotionally, his vital spark never relit. The governor goes on to tell Bond how after a time Rhoda married a rich Canadian and seems to be happy, telling Bond that his dull dinner companions whom he found so boring were Rhoda and her new husband.

While the story does not include action elements, as other Fleming tales do, it attempts to posit that Bond's adventures pale in comparison with real life drama. Bond reflects that the lives of the people he passes somewhat superficial judgments upon can in fact hide poignant episodes.


Quantum Quantum Quantum Quantum Quantum Quantum Quantum Quantum. Solace Solace Solace Solace Solace Solace Solace Solace. Quantum Quantum Quantum Quantum Solace Solace Solace Solace
bizarre.
of course i'm still going to see it and Daniel Craig is still soo...I'd definitely let him Quantum my Solace

{UPDATE: And as an answer to my own question, apparently "the Quantum of Solace [is] the smallest unit of human compassion that two people can have. As long as that compassion exists, people can survive, but when it is gone, when your partner no longer cares about your essential humanity, the relationship is over." TMYN}

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