Many Spy Vibers wrote in to say they enjoyed yesterday's post about Fantastic Soviet Buildings. If any of you move into a new lair, I hope you'll throw a virtual housewarming party! Here are two bonus images from the Futurohouse website. Looking like a cross between Mike Trim (UFO, Thunderbirds, Space 1999) and John Lautner, the Futuro will look brilliant next to your futuristic sportscar (ala UFO's Straker). Make sure your secret organization has a helicopter for easy drag-and-drop to new lair locations.
Related Spy Vibe Posts: Cold War Lairs, Modern Architecture LP, Mid-Century Modern at Schulz, Dieter Rams Braun Design, Tati's Playtime, Bosko interview, Phillip Johnson Glass House, Set For Adventure. Other links of interest: Mies van der Rohe Society,Phillip Johnson Glass House, Eliot Noyes, Eero Saarinen, and the school my family started, the New York School of Interior Design.
Recent Spy Vibe posts: Steranko S.H.I.E.L.D. Artist Editions, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, Atomic Art, Modern Architecture LP, Julius Shulman, The Prisoner & Captain Scarlet, HMV returns to Oxford st w Beatles promo, Diego Fortunato & Verner Panton, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Assassination Bureau on DVD, new Young Bond series, Peter Asher, Gerry Marsden tour, Elio Petri on Blu-ray, Sophia Loren, new Beatles BBC album, new Hercule Poirot novel, Beatles fall 2013 releases, A Hard Days Night cinematographer dies, Magic Christian on Blu-ray, Early Beatles image archive, Julie Newmar, Erno Goldfinger, Hitchcock tribute.
Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.
Our Man J in Berkeley posted an interesting link today that features 25 Fantastic Soviet Buildings. Constructed during the Cold War, many of the structures are based on bold geometric designs in concrete and stand out against the environment (heavy, but not brutalist). Fans of classic spy lairs and the 007 designs of Ken Adam may find some desirable real estate! My faves in the collection lean toward the Sci-Spy and are reminiscent of the models by Mike Trim for Gerry Anderson (Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Space 1999). One of the Fantastic Buildings may even be a Futuro House by the Finnish architect Matti Suuronen. The Belexpo coplex in Minsk (see page 5) looks suspiciously like Saarinen's TWA terminal. My top-two picks below.
Here is the Historic and Ethnographic Museum on Sulaiman-Too Mountain in Osh, Kyrgyzstan (Kygyz Republic) built in 1978. Note the Bondian glass/concrete entrance to the cave, which could double visually as a radar station. If you were hoping to move your evil organization in before winter, however, I'm afraid you're five years too late. The surrounding sacred area and additional caves became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009.
The second building that caught my eye is the Tareika Hotel in Dombai, Russia. Located halfway up a mountain, the Tareika is only accessible by funicular railroad during the day. It sports three rooms and a lobby and is apparently able to disassemble into sixteen sections or be carried by helicopter- ideal lair for the diabolical mastermind on the go! The Tareika also appears to be either an authentic Futuro design by Suuronen, or was constructed based on his plans. Additional info here.
Spy Vibe Design Posts: Modern Architecture LP, Mid-Century Modern at Schulz, Dieter Rams Braun Design, Tati's Playtime, Bosko interview, Phillip Johnson Glass House, Set For Adventure. Other links of interest: Mies van der Rohe Society,Phillip Johnson Glass House, Eliot Noyes, Eero Saarinen, and the school my family started, the New York School of Interior Design.
Recent Spy Vibe posts: Steranko S.H.I.E.L.D. Artist Editions, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, Atomic Art, Modern Architecture LP, Julius Shulman, The Prisoner & Captain Scarlet, HMV returns to Oxford st w Beatles promo, Diego Fortunato & Verner Panton, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Assassination Bureau on DVD, new Young Bond series, Peter Asher, Gerry Marsden tour, Elio Petri on Blu-ray, Sophia Loren, new Beatles BBC album, new Hercule Poirot novel, Beatles fall 2013 releases, A Hard Days Night cinematographer dies, Magic Christian on Blu-ray, Early Beatles image archive, Julie Newmar, Erno Goldfinger, Hitchcock tribute.
Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.
Photographer Julius Shulman (1910-2009) brought his unique vision to architectural photography and helped to place Mid-Century Modern in the public consciousness. His images created a kind of aesthetic mythology around designers like Richard Neutra, John Lautner, Raphael Soriano, Pierre Koenig, Phillip Johnson, and Charles Eames. Shulman was a master of light and composition. "There were architects working in the fifties and sixties, as
evidenced by the offshoots of the direction taken during the case study house
program of Arts and Architecture Magazine, men such as Smith and Williams--who,
at that time, were actually among my favorites, because they were moving away,
evolving into a more relaxed expanse of architectural spirit to their houses" (Archives of American Art interview). His most famous image of the Stahl House below (Case Study House #22/1960) illustrated an ability to show the new aesthetic as livable space. To my eyes, the smart minimalist scenes he crafted echoed a change in post-war values toward the intellectual, personal utopia celebrated in the culture of individualism, Hi-Fi, lounge, technology, and the bachelor-pad ideal celebrated in early Playboy.
Shulman's career was the subject of an excellent 2008 documentary called Visual Acoustics narrated by Dustin Hoffman. Trailer below. Stahl House info and tours here. Shulman on NPR here. Spy Vibe Posts: Modern Architecture LP, Mid-Century Modern at Schulz, Dieter Rams Braun Design, Tati's Playtime, Bosko interview, Phillip Johnson Glass House, Set For Adventure. Other links of interest: Mies van der Rohe Society,Phillip Johnson Glass House, Eliot Noyes, Eero Saarinen, and the school my family started, the New York School of Interior Design.
Recent Spy Vibe posts: Steranko S.H.I.E.L.D. Artist Editions, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, Atomic Art, Modern Architecture LP,
The Prisoner & Captain Scarlet, HMV returns to Oxford st w Beatles promo, Diego Fortunato & Verner Panton, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Assassination Bureau on DVD, new Young Bond series, Peter Asher, Gerry Marsden tour, Elio Petri on Blu-ray, Sophia Loren, new Beatles BBC album, new Hercule Poirot novel, Beatles fall 2013 releases, A Hard Days Night cinematographer dies, Magic Christian on Blu-ray, Early Beatles image archive, Julie Newmar, Erno Goldfinger, Hitchcock tribute.
Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) is one of the most powerful cold war films ever produced. Although many movies and spy-style shows of the period reflected a then-current fear and fascination with brainwashing, none could hold a candle to this classic. The character development and meaty performances by Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey brought a palatable weight that continues to hold up for modern viewers. Although real brainwashing is said to be quite different, this tragic movie plays on the familiar device of the evil manipulation of an individual to become a weapon against their own circle under the power of hypnotic suggestion. I recommend the film highly, though Spy Vibers should be prepared for its dark message. It would sit rather well with the John le Carre films if anyone is interested in having a chilly cold war marathon. The film will be released on Blu-ray through a Best Buy exclusive deal on May 3rd. Blu-ray news link here.
It's Space Camp week on Spy Vibe! As I busy myself with end-of-term grading and holiday plans, I thought it would be fun to look at quick and campy snapshots of some of the classic space-age moments in 1960s entertainment. Today we feature the original network sales presentation for Irwin Allen's Lost in Space (1965-1968). The series had a lot to offer, including sets filled with computer banks, a soundtrack by John Williams, robots and ray guns, and even a ship that strongly resembled the Chemosphere house (1960) by architect, John Lautner (photo below by Julius Shulman). The series started on a more serious tone than fans might remember. Even Dr. Smith began as a vicious saboteur who spent the first season trying to bump off the Robinson family and head back to Earth. This was a program that embraced the space age to the point of seeing the stars as the next logical step in human expansion. Keeping with the times, the show's silver space suits were fashioned in the style of the early Mercury and Gemini designs from NASA. There was the expected camp of space travel in Lost in Space, but the real fun was when monsters began popping up to cause trouble for our heroes. I seem to recall it began with a giant cyclops, and the early season closed with an actual zoo of space monsters on the loose in an episode starring Michael Rennie (Day the Earth Stood Still). As Lost in Space went color and more outrageous to compete with Batman, the show took camp to new heights- culminating in the Great Vegetable Rebellion. Check it out if you dare! Evolution of the space suit here.
