[off topic]
If you want a modern take on Snow White et al, here’s the book for you.
The author takes all the Disney princesses and makes them evil. Snow White was so pale because she’s a vampire. Cinderella is a witch who drives the poor Prince insane.
“The Stunt Man”
“A friend of mine once made what I consider the best anti-war movie ever made. After it opened, military recruitment in his home town jumped by fifty percent.”
Look at “Thunderball,” the Bondiest of the Bond movies. Bond assaults a nurse, kills a dozen guys with a spear gun, and that movie was considered fine for general audiences. They even sold Bond toys to little kids, including a fake knife.
It was a simpler, gentler time.
It was rated “R” I think they’d have gone with something that people would bring kids to see.
Interesting thought though.
Either book would need to be a series. Too many details for a short form.
One of my favorite little touches in Perdido is that there’s a tavern called “The Moon’s Two Daughters.” He casually mentions that the Moon has two smaller satellites orbiting it. No mention of when or how this happened. Then there’s The Ribs…
Movies used to be a lot cheaper to make. Taxi Driver cost about $1.5 million back in 1976. Faster Pussycat Kill Kill was made for about $45,000.
Quick lesson. The old model was to open a major movie in a prestige theater [ie Radio City Music Hall] where it would run for as long as it was profitable. After that it would go to smaller houses, and eventually become a double bill. People waited on line for years to see ‘The Exorcist’ because it was only showing at a few places.
Jaws was the first summer blockbuster. The studio planned to open it up in a lot of theaters on the same day. The plan worked. About the same time, the VCR started becoming popular. Thise two things changed the way movies got distributed forever.
van Rijn wears flashy clothes and loves to eat, but he’s almost always the smartest guy in the room.
Have you tried China Mieville yet?
‘UnLunDun’ is set in a mirror universe where the plucky sidekick finds herself the unhappy heroine of the story.
‘The Scar’ is pretty dark, set in a future where magic and technology collide.
Good question.
When Star Wars first came out it ran in the theaters for two years.
Gone With The Wind ran at one theater in Georgia until 1969.
“Trader To the Stars.”
Three stories where van Rijn shows his stuff. Like I said, he’s much smarter than Mudd, and a lot more fun.
Let’s start of list of great authors/projects that have never had a single movie.
I’ll start. Poul Anderson. He created Dominic Flandry, a smooth, cynical playboy diplomat who, as an Agent of the Terran Empire, fights to keep the decadent Emperor in power for a few more years. Another great character is Nicolas van Rijn. Imagine if Harry Mudd was a little fatter and a whole lot smarter. He’s head of a galactic trading company who outwits various aliens and humans in the name of sweet cash money. Anderson also created dozens of alien races and imagined the worlds they lived on.
Stole it from the TV show Angel. Idiot vampire receptionist Harmony.
A good line is worth stealing.
I read the original novel and mehed out early on. I heard the movie will be streaming soon anyway, so I’ll give it a try.
Thanks I’ll do that.
You’re preaching to the horse’s mouth.
This is a general rant.
Pretty much everything that I used to enjoy now feels like work.
At some point, comic books went from $2.00 to $7.00. I went from having one cheap streaming service to having five expensive ones. $20.00 to see a movie and don’t even talk to me about seeing live music.
Quick guide to Heinlein.
the name of the movie is “Predestination” It’s based on a story called “…All You Zombies.” Great time travel story.
“Tunnel In The Sky” In the future, interstellar teleportation allows mankind to colonize distant planets. A group of high school/college age students are sent to one undeveloped world for a three day survival test. When you read it you’ll see that it’s been ripped off a dozen times or more.
“The Man Who Sold The Moon” Written before Sputnik, thsi novel gets all the history and science wrong but it’s still a great read. A businessman decides to colonize the Moon, and uses bribery, ballyhoo, and bullshit to make it happen.
The man wrote both the ultimate hippie novel [Stanger In A Strange Land] and the ultimate Libertarian novel [The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress]
You remind of a story from the WW2 era.
A German intellectual cuts out in 1935 and comes to America. He’s kinda famous, so he gets a newspaper interview. He proudly proclaims that he considers himself a pacifist.
A letter to the editor points out that it’s easy to call yourself a pacifist when you’ve got an ocean between you and the war.
The author’s bio is remarkable…
She was named after an anceint Goddess. Then it gets weird…