Ian Fleming wanted to portray Bond as a guy who knew nothing about fancy stuff and this was done to illustrate that. First off he drinks wodka martini’s which is a bit of a faux pas and second he thinks having a specific preference whether it should be stirred or not made him look like he knew what he was doing. The man was an orphan who grew up far away from anything elegant and most of all he wanted to fit into the Casino Royal lifestyle without knowing the first thing about it.
Pretty sure that is how spies are trained though. They need to be able to blend in everywhere, and that includes esoteric knowledge with specific preferences in order to not fall out of line with the other pompous people.
If you want to blend in, getting a standout unusual and kinda “wrong” drink order would be counterproductive. In an “eccentric” enough crowd it might just pass, but the wiser choice if you’re a spy would’ve been… do more cocktail research, don’t end up going to a foofy place and ask for ice cubes in your wine etc.
In all fairness it seems like it would work. Being a complete background character doesn’t get you close to anyone, and might even be suspicious. Meanwhile a weird order is a conversation starter, and why would a spy be drawing attention to themselves like that?
Plus it does paint a sort of nouveau riche character, explaining how they might fit in a posh area while not being recognised: they’re new and they just made it to those circles. They’re someone who might not be committed to any specific factions or could potentially be more easily manipulated.
It’s a good persona to approach and be approached while explaining away any oddities. Yeah, it’s also a suspicious position, but that’s where you trust your agency to have the background checks pass.
Novel Bond is described by the author, Ian Fleming, as an “extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument.” He picked the name “James Bond” from the author of the book, “Birds of the West Indies,” which he thought was a very boring, average name.
This Bond is a loveless, depressed alcoholic who only lives for the next mission. He doesn’t really have a personal life and throws himself completely into his work as a distraction from his terrible life. He knows spies tend to live short lives, and he secretly hopes the job will be the end of him one day.
Movie Bond was spiced up to be a charming, handsome womanizer, who drinks and smokes socially (attractive traits at the time) and always has clever one-liners. This Bond is the hero who saves the day and gets the girl every time. He lives an extravagant lifestyle, funded by MI6, and loves his work. He’s a sex icon for women and an ideal role model for men. At least, back in the '60s where he originated.
I will say that Daniel Craig’s version of James Bond is the closest on-screen adaptation we’ve ever had to Novel Bond. I thoroughly enjoyed his run as the character, even if some of his movies weren’t all that good.
But I highly recommend reading the original novels. They’re very different from the films, even though some films borrowed novel titles occasionally. For instance, the Moonraker novel is about a nuke being aimed at London while James Bond tries to stop its launch; whereas the Moonraker film is about a guy planning to kill off everyone on the planet while creating his own human “ark” in space, to repopulate the planet with his own chosen specimens. Wildly different stakes.
It slows the absorption inside the stomach down a tiny amount. So you don’t get drunk as fast. But that is not really important if we are talking about dilution via some additional ice cubes.
One could argue that most people don’t eat the ice, so if it melted they might have another sip or two before ordering another. Could possibly make the difference of a drink or two over the night.
Shaken let’s more ice melt, waters it down more, making it less alcoholic. He wasn’t trying to get trashed. He had people to kill.
Ian Fleming wanted to portray Bond as a guy who knew nothing about fancy stuff and this was done to illustrate that. First off he drinks wodka martini’s which is a bit of a faux pas and second he thinks having a specific preference whether it should be stirred or not made him look like he knew what he was doing. The man was an orphan who grew up far away from anything elegant and most of all he wanted to fit into the Casino Royal lifestyle without knowing the first thing about it.
Pretty sure that is how spies are trained though. They need to be able to blend in everywhere, and that includes esoteric knowledge with specific preferences in order to not fall out of line with the other pompous people.
If you want to blend in, getting a standout unusual and kinda “wrong” drink order would be counterproductive. In an “eccentric” enough crowd it might just pass, but the wiser choice if you’re a spy would’ve been… do more cocktail research, don’t end up going to a foofy place and ask for ice cubes in your wine etc.
In all fairness it seems like it would work. Being a complete background character doesn’t get you close to anyone, and might even be suspicious. Meanwhile a weird order is a conversation starter, and why would a spy be drawing attention to themselves like that?
Plus it does paint a sort of nouveau riche character, explaining how they might fit in a posh area while not being recognised: they’re new and they just made it to those circles. They’re someone who might not be committed to any specific factions or could potentially be more easily manipulated.
It’s a good persona to approach and be approached while explaining away any oddities. Yeah, it’s also a suspicious position, but that’s where you trust your agency to have the background checks pass.
I’m not really interested in the Bond movies, but I really must read the original novels at some point.
Novel Bond is very different from Movie Bond.
Novel Bond is described by the author, Ian Fleming, as an “extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument.” He picked the name “James Bond” from the author of the book, “Birds of the West Indies,” which he thought was a very boring, average name.
This Bond is a loveless, depressed alcoholic who only lives for the next mission. He doesn’t really have a personal life and throws himself completely into his work as a distraction from his terrible life. He knows spies tend to live short lives, and he secretly hopes the job will be the end of him one day.
Movie Bond was spiced up to be a charming, handsome womanizer, who drinks and smokes socially (attractive traits at the time) and always has clever one-liners. This Bond is the hero who saves the day and gets the girl every time. He lives an extravagant lifestyle, funded by MI6, and loves his work. He’s a sex icon for women and an ideal role model for men. At least, back in the '60s where he originated.
I will say that Daniel Craig’s version of James Bond is the closest on-screen adaptation we’ve ever had to Novel Bond. I thoroughly enjoyed his run as the character, even if some of his movies weren’t all that good.
But I highly recommend reading the original novels. They’re very different from the films, even though some films borrowed novel titles occasionally. For instance, the Moonraker novel is about a nuke being aimed at London while James Bond tries to stop its launch; whereas the Moonraker film is about a guy planning to kill off everyone on the planet while creating his own human “ark” in space, to repopulate the planet with his own chosen specimens. Wildly different stakes.
Shaken allows to make a better mixed vodka martini with potato vodka (the one available when Flemming wrote Bond).
Stirred is better with grain vodka or gin.
Does the alcohol type effect how the ice melts
Ni, but potato vodka is a bit oily.
Aha, a knights of Ni reference !
But the total of alcohol in the drink is the same, isn’t it? Just adding more water to it doesn’t get you less drunk.
It slows the absorption inside the stomach down a tiny amount. So you don’t get drunk as fast. But that is not really important if we are talking about dilution via some additional ice cubes.
Shaking makes it colder (in my experience) and done well can produce this nice, very fine, ice crystal/frosty layer on top.
I like a nice ice-cold gin martini - this works well with the juniper in gin.
Not to justify Bonds choice in any way - that’s a different discussion.
Yes it does… That’s called Dilution.
You’re going to drink the entire drink, dilution would only make you less drunk if you were going to drink a fixed volume
This is like calories in, calories out and in the real world context matters.
One could argue that most people don’t eat the ice, so if it melted they might have another sip or two before ordering another. Could possibly make the difference of a drink or two over the night.
No, that’s not how it works.
If you have 1.5oz of vodka mixed with 3oz of water 94 6oz of water, it makes no difference. You’re still drinking 1.5oz of vodka.