Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
I thought I was going to have an article at Examiner.com on
the Centennial of Tarzan about a week from this Monday. It’s actually going to
be a little earlier than that. Even though the downtown library in Sacramento
originally scheduled the centennial event for Labor Day weekend they moved it
to this weekend instead. This was apparently due to a recent decision to close
the library for the entire Labor Day weekend due to lack of funds and so having
to furlough the staff for that weekend.
Well, at least it gives the library staff a weekend off which they
definitely deserve (aside from not being paid). Where would this country be
without our public librarians and their supporting staff? Literacy would be a
much more elitist activity, now wouldn’t it? So maybe library work isn’t
laborious work (at least not for the librarians) but it’s still a lot of work
with a lot of complications and they don’t get praised or appreciated enough
for it, at least not openly. So maybe we should call for a holiday just for
them. That’s just a suggestion for you guys and gals out there to think over
and plan if you think it’s a good thing; I’m not leading any petition or such movement.
I’m not that political (I hardly am to begin with, but that’s an entirely
different subject that I’m not going to get into here.)
So the Tarzan Centennial has been going this weekend at
Sacramento Central Library. It’s a two day event, and so started today (August
25) and continues through tomorrow (Sunday). Think of it as a mini pop culture
con only it’s all Tarzan, with supplements of other works by Tarzan creator
Edgar Rice Burroughs--including the Mars novels that were initiated by A Princess of Mars and ended with John Carter of Mars which the Disney
movie adaptation of released in theatres last spring and more recently on
DVD/BluRay. In fact, I just rented it today before heading for the centennial.
I’m going to watch it for the first time tonight since I’m doing an article
about the best sci fi movies set on Mars and so need to see if it’s worthy of
including in the article.
Now I know a lot of you are probably shaking your heads warning
me not to include John Carter on the
list, perhaps not even to waste my time watching it. Well, if I waste my time
watching it at least I won’t be wasting the buck-20 that I paid to rent it from
the Redbox at the Raley’s near my humble wooded abode here in the Woodland of
No Return. But here’s the other reason I’m still going to watch it: it may had
done crappy at the box office and so maybe the blockbuster majority wasn’t
impressed by it, but some of us film viewers are not the blockbuster majority.
And so we go by our own standards of what makes a good movie as opposed to
Hollywood CEOs’ standards. Therefore I’m giving this movie a chance like I do
with all movies that appeal to me in their trailers. If you don’t see Disney’s John Carter listed in “The Best Movies
Set On Mars” (tentative title at the moment) at Examiner.com next week then you’ll
know I thought it sucked. Or at least thought it sucked enough not to be
included on the list.
Oh, the Centennial.
Like I said, it was today and continues tomorrow. There’s been a lot of great talks there on everything
from Tarzan as modern mythology and the Tarzan books (of course) to the films
of Tarzan. Tomorrow it continues with
talks on the comic book adaptations of Tarzan and female characters in the
Tarzan novels, great talks by authors and pop culture historians, including
historians from big name E.R. Burroughs organizations such as the Burroughs
Bibliophiles. There are Tarzan collectible exhibits on display and even a
guided tour for them.
If you’re in the area and whether you’re a Tarzan/E.R.
Burroughs fan or just a pop culture fan in general, I strongly suggest you stop
by and check out the centennial celebration. It starts at noon tomorrow and
goes to about 4:30 p.m. Here’s a link to an article of mine that gives more information on the event. I’ll have an article dedicated to it
at Examiner.com within the next week. If you’re not in the Sacramento area then
do a Google search for “Tarzan Centennial” and type in the name of the closest
major city to you and you may be able to find an event going on in your area.
Until next time . . .
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