Book Review - John Carter and The Gods of Hollywood

John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood by Michael D. Sellers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I first read the wonderful series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs about John Carter of Mars (which he wrote before he got round to Tarzan of the Apes) when I was a small boy. They occupied my father's bookshelves which I was devouring at the age of 10 or so. My brother still remembers me excitedly telling him how great the books were and he became a fan too - and still is.

John Carter first arrived in print 100 years ago but Burrough's imagination was so stupendous that film-makers have felt unable, until the arrival of the digital age, to bring the books to the screen - although this has not prevented the extensive strip-mining of the books for such cinematic efforts as Flash Gordon, Star Wars and Avatar, all of which were heavily influenced by John Carter.

John Carter fans, who were legion, because these books dominated the paperback market for decades and are regarded as the basis for the whole science fiction market, have waited patiently all this time for a film company to be a) capable and b) willing, to put John Carter into the cinemas.

So imagine our excitement when, a very few years ago, we heard that Disney (?) had decided to do just that. And imagine our disappointment as it became obvious before the film came out that, despite spending $250 Million in production, Disney seemed to have no interest in promoting the film or supporting it in any way. Imagine our amazement when we saw the film in the cinemas (in my case both the 2-D and 3-0 versions - 2-D best in this case) and found it to be excellent, if not perfect, only to find that Disney publicly wrote off the film (after 11 days!) before it had even reached some of its major markets and while it was still in its first run at major cinemas - would you go to see a film which the manufacturing company had publicly labelled a flop? Despite all this the film brought in $300 million worldwide and when it came out on DVD it immediately headed the ratings.

But Disney have no interest in producing what should have been a trilogy because they have in the meantime bought the Star Wars franchise, which would be compromised by having the story which it copies coming out of the same company at the same time.

This very detailed book by Michael D Sellers, who is not only an author but a film producer himself as well as, interestingly, an ex-CIA operative, explains all the unfortunate political decisions and sheer incompetence, especially on the marketing front, which led to this long-awaited film being so publicly branded as no good, despite the fact that it is quite excellent. It also reveals the strong fan-based movement keeping alive the idea that it should be turned into a trilogy, and why the trilogy would indeed make money.

I commend this book to readers

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Pope Resigns - New Pope Waiting In The Wings

I am indebted to a friend for sending me this first picture of the new Pope. I suppose it was inevitable really.

Images of New Zealand

Click on any picture to see a gallery of enlargements.

Doubtful Sound

Afloat on Doubtful Sound

Lake Pukaki

Beach Sculpture - Hokitika

Beach Sculpture - Hokitika

Cardboard Cathedral

We arrived in Christchurch last night at the start of our annual 3-month migration to New Zealand. It is always a long journey but this time it seemed especially arduous with delays to both ferry and air trips. This morning we walked into the city centre, or at least as near to the centre as one can go, which is a bit nearer than last year. The forbidden zone has shrunk a little as more dangerous buildings have been removed. Reconstruction of some of the major buildings is well under way and removal of others continues. The pictures below show work in progress, including construction of the famous "Cardboard Cathedral" and also the chair memorial - each chair representing one of the many fatalities in the earthquake nearly two years ago. Seismic activity has slowed. Last week Christchurch suffered its 11,000th earthquake since it all began about two and a half years ago. Last year when we were here in January the 10,000th shock was clocked up so things are definitely improving. He said, ironically. It is a terrible shame to see this poor stricken city. And the damage is not confined to the city cenre. Thousands of homes are damaged and there is a time-consuming programme of inspection and insurance decision before repair or demolition takes place. One family of our acquaintance has just been able to start repair work. Another has just been told that their house has to come down and be rebuilty. As always, clicking on any one picture will give you a gallery of all the pictures enlarged.

Best Anthology Award

A Splendid Salmagundi
Best Anthology "A Splendid Salmagundi" - the anthology of stories, poems and other writing pieces from authors who are members of the Goodreads UK Amazon Kindle Forum, has won the "Best Anthology" Award from Indie Book Bargains website. I wrote two of the items in the Salmagundi so I am able to claim two fragments of the award. The list of awards can be seen HERE

Enjoyable Read

I have been asked to do more talks about my walk and my books. I am happy to do this because it usually means selling some signed copies (and thereby raising funds) and it gives me a chance to raise awareness about the horrors of pancreatic cancer and the need to find a cure. 

One lady who has asked me to go over to Provence to speak at a literary lunch used to have a bookshop. She sent me an email the other evening which included these kind words:

I sat down this evening and have had a very enjoyable hour or so reading, your exploits and loved that way you slipped in the history of the places you went through. I shall be continuing my reading tomorrow.

I am particularly interested to read the travels of a fellow Lancastrian, I was born in Wigan and lived my adolecent years in Southport before starting my travel at 20, since when I have never lived again in the UK.

Mist, Mississippi, Mauritius, Morecambe and Moving

A couple of scenes locally this misty morning. You can get bigger versions of the pictures by clicking on one of them.

I have removed the Goodreads Giveaway competition from this page because it has now finished and the signed copies of "Living In The Real Cyprus" have been posted off to the two winners in Mississippi and Mauritius. Clearly, in order to win, you have to live somewhere beginning with "M". One of the winners of the Giveaway for "Vic's Big Walk from SW France to NW England lived in Morecambe.

We are off to New Zealand in 10 days time for a 3-month sojourn. We stunned our neighbours the other day by telling them that when we return we shall be putting our house on the market with a view to moving 100 kms to an apartment in Narbonne. It seemed sudden to them but we have been thinking about it for some time. And they shouldn't hold their breaths - the housing market here is pretty brain-dead.