.
Sci-fi and fantasy author
Andre Norton dies
CNN
News ~ March 17, 2005
NASHVILLE,
Tennessee (AP) -- Science fiction and fantasy author Andre Norton, who
wrote the popular "Witch World" series, has died. She was 93. Norton requested
before her death that she not have a funeral service, but instead asked
to be cremated along with a copy of her first and last novels.
|
ERB Sites in the News
Tarzan.com
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
http://dailyinbox.com/n_dib/
Archive: www.gh-siteoftheday.com
Tarzan.com – Edgar Rice Burroughs Official
Website
www.tarzan.com
Danton Burroughs, the son of Edgar Rice Burroughs's
youngest son, John Coleman Burroughs, along with ERB, Inc. has developed
this website 'designed to guide readers through the ever-expanding Burroughs
Family online archive.' Danton, reared 'in Tarzana, California, in
a world created by his illustrious grandfather and talented parents - a
magical world of jungles, distant planets, exotic lands, and inner earths
in which heroes and villains larger than life leapt from books, comics,
film, radio and movies,' is obviously the person to continue this legacy
created by his family. The visitor is able to explore the Tarzana
Treasure Vaults, have access to all of the Burroughs Family Websites as
well as witness the Burroughs creativity in the 'Craft, Words and Media'
and the 'Art' sections. There are hundreds of webpages covering almost
a century of Burroughs contributions to entertainment. As Danton
explains, "My grandfather's boundless imagination created wildly popular
fictional characters and fantasy worlds that have thrilled millions since
1911." Come meet them all 'up close and personal!'
More
Tarzana Flier News
Airship flight tests
from Site 9 hangar
L.A.
Daily News ~ By Jim Skeen
 Friday,
March 11, 2005 - PALMDALE -- A Tarzana company is using part of the former
B-1B bomber assembly plant as a base for flight testing an airship that
can be used for surveillance missions. Aeros is flight testing its 40B
"Sky Dragon," a 143-foot-long lighter-than-air craft from Site 9, adjacent
to Air Force Plant 42. Aeros is leasing one of the two massive hangars
at Site 9 where the B-1B fleet was produced in the 1980s and has more recently
been used as a soundstage for the filming of the movie "The Terminal" with
Tom Hanks. "We're using Site 9 to carry out flight testing and pilot training
for the airship," said company vice president Fred Edworthy. "We can't
say a lot."
Company officials are planning
an event on March 22 in which they will be able to disclose who their customer
is for the project. The work, which involves a cadre of about 12 workers,
is expected to wrap up in early April. The company will conduct about another
20 hours of flying with the airship. In general, the flights will be conducted
in the morning before the afternoon winds pick up, Edworthy said. The craft
is able to fly up to 7,500 feet in altitude at up to 51 mph and stay aloft
for 24 hours. The company is operating out of Site 9 on a 90-day lease
with Los Angeles World Airports, but there is a possibility of additional
work in Palmdale.
The company is among those
seeking contracts from the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency to
develop technologies for an airship that would be capable of transporting
personnel and equipment to battle areas. DAPRA envisions an airship able
to transport 500 tons across intercontinental distances and would be capable
of operating from unimproved landing sites. Site 9 would be an ideal place
to conduct work on the program, Edworthy said. DAPRA is expected to award
as many as three contracts in June under the first phase of the program,
which is dubbed Walrus.
NATURE "Deep Jungle"
On PBS Sundays, April 17, 24
and May 1, 8 to 9 pm ET on PBS
Exploring a world that Tarzan
never could have imagined, this three-hour miniseries penetrates the mysteries
of the world's rainforests. Capturedon film are the most exciting and innovative
jungle explorationscurrently underway, featuring the experiences of more
than a dozenleading scientists working in 14 nations around the world.
Age-oldsecrets are revealed in expeditions utilizing technology that is
changingthe nature of jungle exploration and providing intrepid scientists
withinformation that will vastly enlarge our understanding of rainforests
andthe role they play in planetary ecology. These projects are yieldingdata,
insights -- and often startling revelations -- about the past, present
and future of life on Earth.
A shove from Tarzan
taught him how to swim
Daily
Bulletin dot com ~ S. Cal. ~ March 6, 2005
Pfc. Hoeck of the 6th Marine
Division trained at several bases before shipping out to Hawaii. The last
was in San Diego, where he finally learned to swim -- from Tarzan. "I got
swimming lessons from Johnny Weissmuller," said Hoeck laughing, about the
Olympic gold medal swimmer and actor who played in the "Tarzan" movies.
"Being a farm kid, we didn't have swimming pools, just a stock tank, but
that wasn't long enough to learn how to swim." So when it came time for
Hoeck to be tested on his water ability, he climbed the 30-foot tower onto
a platform where Weissmuller was standing over a large pool. Weissmuller's
job during World War II was to train recruits to swim above and below the
water. "I had a full backpack on," Hoeck said. "I told him, "I don't know
how to swim.' He said, "Don't worry about it,' and then he pushed
me off the platform. I made it to the other end; I dog-paddled. I passed
and was shipped out to Hawaii."
GATEWAY:
Paul Edmund Norman's Monthly Story Magazine
This month's issue is jam
packed with SF & Adventure stories and art -- as is every giant issue.
We are especially proud
of Paul's lead-off feature ~
We hope our readers will
check out this and all the other features:
ERBzine: An Appreciation
http://www.gatewaymonthly.com/53erbzine.html
"In this month's issue:
Dave Hoover's thrilling, fantastic images, discovered on a trip to the
greatest and most comprehensive Edgar Rice Burroughs website anywhere in
the world, ERBZine. Bill and Sue-On Hillman run this and a number of other
ERB sites, and the amount of effort that goes into ERBZine Weekly makes
Gateway look like a walk in the park! Anything, anything at all you ever
wanted to know about ERB - just head across to ERBZine.com by clicking
on the logo below. You won't want to come away, I promise you! You can
read all about ERBZine in this month's Gateway, just click on the Features
button at the top."
See more at:
www.gatewaymonthly.com/53erbzine.html
4,000 pages of archived
material relating to the "Grandfather of American Science Fiction". That's
the proud boast of the biggest and finest ERB-related site in the world,
run by Bill and Sue-On Hillman; ErbZine is rapidly approaching its tenth
birthday but already it's the "one-stop shop" for everything you could
possibly want to know about the great man and the people he inspired and
continues to inspire to this day, thirty years after he died. There's absolutely
nothing I can tell you about ERB which you can't find out from ERBzine,
and there is little point in my trying to write about him' far more learned
and knowledgeable people have already done that. Think of ERBzine as the
wheel. Bill and Sue-On invented the wheel nearly ten years ago. ERB is
their speciality. ERBzine is their brainchild and contains, like I said,
everything you need. My job is slightly different. I publish a story magazine
which occasionally has feature articles, and always has image galleries.
I'm not really an expert in anything. I think I know a little about Stephen
King, in particular IT, THE STAND, and the DARK TOWER series, but as the
days go by and I re-read the DRAWING OF THE THREE, I realise I know so
little. Though I know where to find that knowledge I don't have about King.
Similarly, I know where to go if I want to find out about ERB, his stories,
his artists, his movies, his life, and his family. ERBzine - of course,
as though you needed me to say it again. ERBzine is organized so well,
it can only be described as "user-friendly". There are these departments:
Life ~ Family
Research ~ Academic
Craft ~ Media
Art ~ Artists
Fandom ~ Meets
Archives ~ ERBZines
ERBZine ~ Every Friday
News & Swag
Links & References
DUM DUM & ECOF
Legal & Copyright
and each page is just groaning
with information. Where else could I find everything I needed to know aboyt
one of the greatest ERB artists ever - Russ Manning? True, I did find loads
of images elsewhere on the web, but I found out about the man himself,
and that was more interesting than finding the Russ Manning pics I needed
for my forthcoming gallery. I cannot rate ERBzine highly enough. Click
on the icon above and check it out. If you didn't believe me when I said
that ERB started it all, then ERBzine will surely convince you!
www.Tarzan.com
to be featured as the
Good
Housekeeping Site of the Day for March 9, 2005:
"Here is an archive of the
sites which we have listed as Good Housekeeping's Site of the Day in 2005.
We hope you find this listing useful."
Week of March 7, 2005:
7th: SnowDays
8th: Hungry Girl
9th: Tarzan.com – Edgar
Rice Burroughs Official Website
10th: Organic Gardening
From Down Under
11th: Performing Medieval
Narrative Today: A Video Showcase
This follows the previous
award for the ERBzine.com site: on
January 12, 2005: Bill
and Sue-on Hillman's ERBzine
(It was a great birthday
present for the Editor/Webmaster)
We
also happy with the attention that the Web Blogs
around the world
are starting to give to the ERB Sites.
ERBzine:
Crime In Your Coffee Blog Site
Edgar Rice Burroughs
ist und bleibt einer der größten Abenteuer-Autoren, auch wenn
seine Figur "Tarzan" im Laufe der Jahre durch eine mediale Total-Ausbeutung
völlig verunstaltet wurde (schon die Johnny Weißmüller
Filme waren eine Zumutung, auch wenn ich sie als Kind immer geliebt habe).
Aber der Mann hat nicht nur Tarzan geschrieben, sondern eine Menge anderes
Material, von dem auch etliches in Filmen und Comics verarbeitet wurde.
The
ERB Entry at the Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia
includes all our sites
as references:
 Fossil
find could be first bipedal human ancestor
Bones show it walked
upright 4 million years ago
BBC
News ~ March 6, 2005
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP)
-- A team of U.S. and Ethiopian scientists has discovered the fossilized
remains of what they believe is humankind's first walking ancestor, a hominid
that lived in the wooded grasslands of the Horn of Africa nearly 4 million
years ago. . . .
 "Hobbit"
"Ant Man" was not a diseased human
BBC
News ~ March 3, 2005
The famous skeleton from
Indonesia nicknamed the "Hobbit" does not belong to a modern human pygmy
with a brain disease, as some scientists argue. That is one of the main
outcomes of a detailed examination of the creature's braincase, published
in Science. The authors say their study of the Hobbit's brain supports
the idea it is a new, dwarf species of human.
The 18,000-year-old
bones were unearthed at a site called Liang Bua, one of numerous limestone
caves on Flores, and were designated LB1 and assigned to a human species
new to science: Homo floresiensis
Tarzan
II on DVD:
On sale 06-14-2005: To preorder
this title call 1-800-723-4763.
Experience the beginning
of the legend with Disney's TARZAN II, a hilarious, all-new, animated motion
picture. Terk, Tantor, and all your favorite characters are back, and they've
brought along some new friends, in an action-packed adventure that's sure
to delight the entire family. Before he was King of the Jungle, Tarzan
was an awkward young kid just trying to fit in. When one of his missteps
puts his family in jeopardy, Tarzan decides they would be better off without
him. His thrilling new journey brings him face to face with the mysterious
Zugor, the most powerful force in the land. Together, Tarzan and Zugor
discover that being different is not a weakness and that friends and family
are the greatest strength of all. Loaded with laughs, irresistible new
songs by Phil Collins, and the inspired voice talents of Glenn Close, George
Carlin, and Emmy Award winner Brad Garrett, you'll go ape over Disney's
wild, new TARZAN II.
Tarzana boy makes good: Foxx no drama
fluke
LA
Daily News
If you're still wondering
how that wacky comedian Jamie Foxx landed the demanding role of the late
Ray Charles in the musical biopic "Ray," you haven't been paying attention.
. . .
The extremely approachable
Foxx is one of the great party guys in the business. His Tarzana home has
hosted many A-list celebrity guests ... and some not-so-classy ones, which
has been known to cause him some embarrassment.
"It wasn't me playing naked
basketball!" he says of a particularly notorious backyard incident. "But
I guess a couple of friends that were using my house had some girls over
late at night, and they were scantily clad, or whatever. And my fence was
torn down at the time. I got a call from my neighbor saying, 'Jamie, I
know that you're not here. But we've been watching for hours. Could you
please stop the nude basketball?' So I called (home) and said, 'What are
you all doing at my house?' I had to send gift baskets to all my neighbors."
Weekly sports trivia quiz - in honor
of the Academy Awards
Knight
Ridder/Tribune News Service ~ February 24, 2005
QUESTIONS:
3.) When this football player
wasn't playing linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Rams
in the early 1960s, he was swinging on the movie vines in the role of "Tarzan."
Who is he?
ANSWERS:
3.) Mike Henry. (His first
"Tarzan" movie was released in 1966, with Nancy Kovack - a Marilyn Monroe
type - as his co-star. Henry starred in three "Tarzan" films.)
12-year-old singer lives a fairy tale
Philli.com
~ February 24, 2005
When Tiffany Evans captured
CBS's new Star Search junior singer title and the $100,000 grand prize
two years ago, her management team predicted that Hollywood would see a
star rise. . . . makes her film debut in Tyler Perry's comedy-drama, Diary
of a Mad Black Woman. . . ."It was wonderful, an amazing experience," Tiffany
says via telephone from Los Angeles, where she is working on the soundtrack
for Disney's new Tarzan DVD.
Banned from thought: Public libraries
protect citizens intellectual freedom
For
Bragg Advocate: February 24, 2005
While the First Amendment
of the Constitution affirms every citizens right to hold beliefs and to
express them, freedom of speech and freedom of the press provide the right
to unrestricted access to the expressions and beliefs of others. The public
library systems mandate, guided by the First Amendment, falls under the
broad principles of promoting and preserving intellectual freedom by leveling
the playing field with public resouces. . . Examples of successful challenges
resulting in censorship by public libraries appear throughout the country
throughout the times. In 1939 Tarzan, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, was removed
from the Los Angeles Public Library because Tarzan was allegedly living
in sin with Jane. In 1981 Philip J. Farmers Image of the Beast was challenged
at the Chapmanville, W. Va. Public Library, because the book puts mental
pictures in the mind [that] have no place in the library.
Take a ride on the Zoom Quilt
http://www.eviltree.de/zoomquilt/zoom.htm
More
on the Frozen Seas of Mars:
http://www.esa.int?SPECIAL/Mars_Express/SEMLFGD3M5E_O.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk?2?hi?science?native/4285119.stm
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7039
 New
organism raises Mars questions
CNN.com
~ February 24, 2005
WASHINGTON (Reuters) --
A U.S. scientist claims to have thawed out a new life form, which he said
raises questions about possible contemporary life on Mars.The organism
froze on Earth some 30,000 years ago, and was apparently alive all that
time and started swimming as soon as it thawed
NASA Researchers Claim
Evidence of Present Life on Mars
Space.com
~ February 16, 2005
WASHINGTON -- A pair of
NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here
Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on
Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water. . .
. .
Ancient life thrives
in the deep
BBC
News ~ February 23, 2005
Our planet's murky deep
sea sediments are a buzzing hotbed of life, according to a report in Nature
magazine. Scientists suggest between 60 to 70% of all bacteria live
deep beneath the surface of the Earth, far from the Sun's life-giving rays.
Some of the new bacteria identified are about 16 million years old, surviving
400 metres below the sea bed. This hostile habitat might be where life
first evolved more than 3.8 billion years ago, researchers believe. . .
.
"These bacteria are
growing very slowly in the subsurface," said Dr Parkes. "They could effectively
be immortal."
"Tarzan II gets Grate-ful
for Terk"
Animated-News.com
~ February 15, 2005
The Internet Movie Database
www.imdb.com
has ended speculation as
to whether or not Rosie O'Donnell will be reprising her role as 'Terk'
in Tarzan II. Apparently, Brenda Grate (The Road to El Dorado, Disney Channel's
'Twas the Night) will be replacing the comedian as the voice of 'Terk'
for the sequel. Tarzan II swings to video stores on June 14, 2005.
Science Fiction Museum
to Induct Its First Hall of Fame Class
Home
Business Wire - Seattle--Feb. 23, 2005--
On May 6, four new inductees
will earn a place in history alongside giants such as Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Mary Shelley, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Jules Verne
and H.G. Wells.
The Science Fiction Museum
and Hall of Fame (SFM) is the world's first science fiction museum, presenting
visitors with thought-provoking, entertaining experiences that promote
awareness and appreciation of science fiction while paying homage to notable
SF creators and their creations.
For information, please
visit the Hall of Fame section of the SFM Web site,
www.sfhomeworld.org
Exploring Mars: A World
of Wonders
A
CNN Essay By L.D. Meagher ~ November 26, 1999
"In our time, we have
sifted the sands of Mars, we have established a presence there, we have
fulfilled a century of dreams!" -- Carl Sagan
. . . Isn't it more interesting
for Valentine Michael Smith to be raised by a communal Martian society
in Robert A. Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" (1962) than to be
abandoned as a baby on a dead and desolate world? His life on Mars is an
homage to, and reverse retelling of, the Edgar Rice Burroughs tales about
John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom. . . .
Love Stories:
Tarzan & Jane
by Louis B. Parks ~ Houston
Chronicle ~ Feb. 14, 2005
A spirited Baltimore girl
marooned on the African coast. An English lord, violently orphaned as a
baby and raised by a gorilla mom. Can this romance work? Fueled by exotic
dangers, mutual respect and a hint of primal passion, it thrives through
countless rescues, lost empires and seductive barbarian queens — not to
mention 24 novels and countless movies and TV episodes.
In the novels, Tarzan is
smitten with Jane Porter on sight, but she takes some winning. Rescuing
her from a lustful gorilla in Tarzan of the Apes makes a good start. Then
Tarzan builds Jane a shelter, gives her his knife and sets out to protect
her. Their passion is not consummated until they wed in The Return of Tarzan.
"I know of no other place
in which I should rather be married to my forest god than beneath the shade
of his primeval forest," Jane declares. Author Edgar Rice Burroughs dealt
in pulp stereotypes, so brave Jane is often left back on their vast estate
(not a treehouse) while Tarzan adventures. But in later books she gets
to be the hero, too. And she always tames the apeman's savage heart. Many
an exotic priestess craves Tarzan's steely sinews, but he remains ever-faithful
to his mate.
Cupid’s arrow hits at
heart of the matter
In the crazy jungle of
love, our she-said columnist calls in the help of one of the first couples
to make it on what Valentine’s is really all about
By Anne-Henley Beck ~ February
11, 2005
Collegiate
Times
With the big “day of love”
fast approaching us. . . I turned to one of my favorite couples, Tarzan
and Jane. They admit themselves that the jungle can become a crazy, mixed
up place, but following their happy, upbeat hearts may help you climb the
tree that ends in the arrival of the most beautiful view. First things
come first. When asked what each one expected for the big “day of love,”
they at first became a little apprehensive, both fidgeting in their seats
and dodging the question with undistinguishable sounds until finally, Jane
just looked at me and reminded me that the day hadn’t arrived yet. There
was no way they could give away their secret plan for the other.
I decided to talk to Jane
first, then, and Tarzan busted out of the joint, jubilant to leave the
ghastly situation and join his friends in a game of pick-up. After leaving,
Jane announced her “big day” gift. “I got him the cutest boxers with hearts
all over them and then a big teddy bear that is holding cologne I adore,
and it even says, ‘I love you’ when you squeeze its paw. Ewww, he is going
to love it!” Her enthusiasm oozed strongly, but its over abundance caused
me concern. Cologne for Tarzan didn’t quite add up to me. Wouldn’t the
smell of the cologne ruin his hunting game for his next prey? Maybe a pocketknife
would fit his daily activities better, but, then again, I’m not the one
dating Tarzan.
I decided not to mention
this and moved on to the next question of what she expected from him. Her
response was quite immediate. “Well, if I haven’t received flowers by noon,
the day is ruined already. I couldn’t possibly call it Valentine’s Day
knowing he didn’t give me flowers and, oh yes, chocolate too! I never actually
EAT the chocolate, but that’s not the point.” So what is the point of it
all? She looked at me bewildered, as if to say, “You should know this stuff,
you even write a column about this stuff.” Being the friend she is, though,
she simply replied, “Well you know, flowers, chocolates, they’re all to
show you love the person.” Ah yes, love, that is the word I was looking
to hear. But before she became too caught up in it all, she continued with
what her jour d’amour would entail. An evening under the stars, a full
picnic basket of nuts and berries and a moon lit dance, all ending with
one more present: a large rock to place on her finger. Sounded like she
had everything planned ahead, but did Tarzan know of these plans as well?
“I would sure hope so; I’ve
only dropped a bajillion and one hints in the most conspicuous of ways.
He really is a goon if he doesn’t pick up on any of them!” But a goon you
love all the same, right? Please say right. “Oh of course, of course, I’ll
like anything he gets me. We’re not into all that superficial junk.”
Some confidence in the ideal
that love really does conquer all was restored, so I plunged forward to
ask my final question: what happens if he doesn’t do what is expected and
surprises you with something completely different? And this is where she
smiled coyly at me and said, “He’s my Tarzan. I’m his Jane. He’s supposed
to do something unexpected that will go above and beyond any expectations
I had. Just like when you find your Tarzan, he will do the same, and it
won’t matter really because it is from him.” Phew, now all the confidence
was restored. Until that Tarzan comes along though, a friendly valentine
will do just fine.
A Mission to the Earth’s Core
Analog
Science Fiction & Fact Magazine: December 2003
by John G. Cramer
* * * Following Verne’s
lead and doing considerably more violence to geology, paleontology, and
physics, Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote seven novels beginning with At the
Earth’s Core (1922) that were set in Pellucidar, a “land” occupying the
inner surface of a vast spherical hole in the Earth’s hollow interior.
Pellucidar had a sizable ocean and more land area than Earth’s outer surface,
had its own internal sun and moon, and was populated by mastodons, dinosaurs,
and an intelligent but rather nasty reptilian species called the Mahars.
Burroughs’ various protagonists (including Tarzan) traveled to Pellucidar
in a variety of ways, including a mechanical mole machine, arctic pirate
expeditions, and a vacuum-filled magnesium dirigible.
Unfortunately, Burroughs
got the physics of hollow planets completely wrong. The Mahars, dinosaurs,
and explorers would not be pulled to the inner surface of Pellucidar by
inside-out gravity. As Isaac Newton first proved, because of the inverse-square
law the pull of gravity anywhere in the cavity in a thick massive hollow
sphere is zero, because the gravity pulls from below and above any point
exactly cancel. Potential inhabitants of Pellucidar would find themselves
floating around in free fall. * * *
NOMINATIONS FOR THE 31ST ANNUAL SATURN
AWARDS
BEST DVD COLLECTION:
The Tarzan Collection ~
(Warner)
The Best of Abbott and Costello
(Vol. 1 – 3) ~ (Universal)
The Ultimate Matrix Collection
~ (Warner)
The Marx Brothers Silver
Collection ~ (Universal)
The Monster Legacy Collections
~ (Universal)
The Star Wars Trilogy ~
(Fox/Lucasfilm Ltd.)
SCIENCE FICTION FILM:
Sky Captain & The World
of Tomorrow ~ (Paramount)
The Butterfly Effect ~ (New
Line Cinema)
The Day After Tomorrow ~
20th Century Fox)
Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind ~ (Focus Features)
The Forgotten ~ (Sony Pictures)
I, Robot ~ (20th Century
Fox)
Disney
to expand presence in broadband, net services in India
Shaadi.com
India
Hyderabad, Feb 10
Perhaps kids cannot take their eyes off from watching Mickey Mouse and
his friends, or wait anxiously for the next scene from the Legend of Tarzan.
But now, these comic characters will not be restricted to kids alone. They
would soon appear on mobile handsets and their voices would be heard in
the form of ringtones. Besides being a prominent player in the kids entertainment
segment, the $30-billion Walt Disney Television International-India (WDTVI-I),
known for its Disney brand of cartoon characters and other icons, is upbeat
on new services. The company is working with internet service providers
(ISPs) for offering customised broadband services in the country. . . .
Tarzan returns to Broadway
Disney Plans More Platinum,
DTV DVD Releases
Feb. 07, 2005
http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=1449
UltimateDisney reports that
Disney has twenty CGI-feature projects in various stages of development
and is vowing to make more films based on Pixar-created characters. It
also plans to produce Broadway stage productions based on the animated
films Tarzan and The Little Mermaid.
==================================================
Artists create storybook
chairs for school fund-raiser
By WENDI WINTERS, For The
Capital ~ February 8, 2005
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2005/02_08-21/TOP
Once upon a time there were
15 regular-sized chairs and four doll-sized chairs.
Now that the chairs have
been magically transformed into storybook-inspired art for a Key School
fund-raiser, any attempts to sit on them will be met with an icy glare.
The fantasy chairs are being raffled to raise money for the Hillsmere Drive
school's endowment fund and to underwrite its Annapolis Book Festival on
April 16.
*
* * *
*
One big, fat overstuffed
chair has been painted with a ferocious great white whale - Moby Dick,
actually. Another is festooned with a leafy palm tree and a loincloth.
It belongs to Tarzan, from "Tarzan And The Ant Men." The four itty-bitty
doll chairs were decorated by students in the Lower School and represent
four of their favorite fairy tales. A teeny-tiny mermaid lounges atop one
chair, reading a book upside down.
*
* * *
. . . As if the keepers of
the Atmosphere Factory
didn't already have
enough work to do. . .
Global warming the key
to life on Mars
Tim Radford, science editor
~ February 7, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1407173,00.html
US scientists have thought
up a new way to create a second home - by warming up the atmosphere of
Mars. Mars - which used to be warm and wet - has an atmosphere rich in
carbon dioxide. But because the red planet's atmosphere is so thin, the
planet is now freezing cold. But Margarita Marinova, of Nasa Ames research
centre in California, and colleagues report in the Journal of Geophysical
Research-Planets that artificially created greenhouse gases could set the
Martian climate simmering. "Bringing life to Mars and studying its growth
would contribute to our understanding of evolution, and the ability of
life to adapts and proliferate on other worlds," Dr Marinova said. "Since
warming Mars effectively reverts it to its past, more habitable state,
this would give any possibly dormant life on Mars the chance to be revived."
She and her colleagues created a computer model of the Martian atmosphere,
and tested it with a series of fluorine-based gases. They found that a
gas called octafluoropropane could begin a process of global warming on
Mars. This would take hundreds or even thousands of years. But since the
raw materials already exist there, some future space mission could start
to turn up the heat in a world frozen for at least 2bn years.
February
1, 2005
NASA:
The Sands of Mars
Elephant
Tramples Circus Worker to Death
Associated
Press ~ Feb. 01, 2005
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Elephants
being loaded onto a truck trampled a circus animal trainer to death after
the man fell down inside the trailer, authorities said. "Once he's on the
floor, animal trainers will tell you, he's no longer the trainer. He's
another object as if he were a basketball or whatever thrown in among the
elephants' feet," coroner Brandenberger said. The coroner said the elephants
likely began stepping on him out of curiosity, not out of aggressiveness.
He said it is natural for elephants to kick and stomp on anything they
cannot see. Larry Solheim, general manager of the Tarzan Zerbini Circus,
said Tuesday that the trainer, from Plantersville, Texas, had been working
with the elephants for 18 years. Captive elephants from 1990 to 2003 killed
65 people and injured 130, according to Circuses.com.
NAME GAME- Bollywood's
titles, Repetitions and more
India
FM News Bureau, February 1st, 2005
Bollywood is a world of
inspirations. . . . To our surprise there are film titles, which have been
repeated as much as 5 times since the birth of Indian Cinema.…
. . . Different versions
of Tarzan can be found in movies like Junglee Tarzan (2001), Lady Tarzan
(1990), Tarzan Mera Saathi (1974), Tarzan and Cobra (1978), Tarzan and
Jalpari (1964), Tarzan and Kingkong (1965), Toofani Tarzan (1962), Tarzan
ki Mehbooba (1966) & Tarzan aur Gorilla (1963). Tarzan's visit to Delhi
and Fairyland have been on the screen in Tarzan comes to Delhi (1965) and
Tarzan in Fairyland (1968). This year, we will see Tarzan's daughter in
Tarzan Ki Beti (under production). And not to forget a very different Taarzan
last year; Taarzan - The Wonder Car
`Tarzan' quip judge headed back to bench
BostonHerald.com
~ Tuesday, February 1, 2005
WASHINGTON - Boston Immigration
Judge Thomas M. Ragno, who had been on administrative leave since mid-2003
after complaints he joked ``Me Tarzan'' to a Ugandan woman named Jane seeking
asylum at a hearing, will return to the bench this month.
The Jane Goodall exhibition
will be at The Manitoba Museum June 29-Sep 23, 2005
www.manitobamuseum.ca/
www.sciencenorth.ca/enterprises/chimps/
www.janegoodall.ca
 
Top DVD Sales in Canada this week:
1. Alien vs. Predator
2. Sky Captain and the World of
Tomorrow
Top DVD Rentals in Canada this week:
1. Alien vs. Predator
2. The Forgotten
3. Sky Captain and the World of
Tomorrow
|
RAMAT
GAN - A new version of the successful Hannuka children’s musical, “Tarzan
and Jane ,” is being shown throughout Pesach, as well at other holidays,
in what may be the best place to show Tarzan’s adventures, the Safari Park
of Ramat Gan, where real animals roam free in imitation of Africa’s wild
areas.
Bar-Zohar
first appeared as Jane in a 1999 children’s TV program, a parody of the
Tarzan story in which Jane was presented as the shrewish wife of a particularly
stupid Tarzan who had to fightfighting for his attention against a beautiful
woman explorer. That half-hour movie was filmed in the “Monkey Park ” of
Ben Shemen Forest. The musical was written by well known humorist and playwright
Ephraim Sidon, and directed by Hanoch Rosenne, both of whom had already
collaborated on a hugely successful and prize-winning adaptation of Rudyard
Kipling’s “The Jungle Book.”
As
children’s musicals for a holiday go, this is a good one. It describes
the first meeting of Tarzan and Jane in the jungle and their fight with
two evil men who want to kidnap Tarzan for the circus. Part of the plot,
which original “Tarzan of the Apes” author Edgar Rice Burroughs probably
would not have recognized was having Jane defeat the two criminals by herself
and save Tarzan. However, playwright Sidon says that a Burroughs family
representative who looked closely at the story and the musical in development
enjoyed it. It remains to be seen if the new group of actors will be inspired
to do even a better job of adapting Tarzan’s adventures in its “natural”
setting - the safari.
Frontseat,
this Sunday 17th April, 10.30pm TV One NZ
He's
been an actor, a world record holder, a circus performer, recipient of
a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars and now a featured artist. Not
a bad life for a 72-year-old retired Palm Springs resident. Even better
considering his beginnings as an orphaned baby taken out of Liberia in
the 1930s. And he's not human.
