Friday, March 16, 2012

Titanic mapped, Tarzan unchained, and other news

More news this week. Is this the start of a regular feature? Mmmmaybe...

Tour the Titanic site



  • There are actually a couple of ways to visit the wreckage of the Titanic. The best one is to have $12,500 sitting around and schedule your deep-ocean sub excursion through Groupon. You also need a time machine to go back and beat the group who's already booked it. It's normally a $60,000 value though, so assuming you have a time machine, it's totally worth it.
  • Otherwise, you're stuck with looking at these awesome sonar maps like the rest of us. The image above is from the ship's intact bow, but check out the link for other sections as well as a map of the whole debris field. It's amazing.

Private island for sale
  • You know, if you're rich, don't have the time machine, and are looking for other things to spend your money on, you could just buy this $12 million island and its "rustic" house in the Florida Keys.

Penguins harness ocean energy

  • I'm pretty sure that "rustic" includes electricity in those island digs, but if it didn't, maybe you could power the place with this wave-energy converter (called the Penguin) that a Finnish company has created and is ready to deploy.

Jungle Book: The Musical



  • People have been putting on musical productions of Disney's Jungle Book since at least 2010 when that cast photo above was taken, but since Robert Sherman passed away last week it seems kind of appropriate to mention that there's a new one. And this new production is bigger than the Jungle Book Kids shows that have been around for a while. It's adapted by a Tony-winning writer/director and will open in Goodman's Albert Theatre in Chicago at the end of June.

Jungle Hooters


Tarzan wants his animals back; needs to feed them correctly




Tarzan: an adoptee's perspective

  • Adopto-snark has a fascinating perspective on the Tarzan story (particularly how Disney portrayed it) and what it says about adoption. It's fascinating because it's based on real pain and rejects the popular view that adoption is all warmth and hugs. "Tarzan narrates the adoption experience from the adoptee’s point of view more honestly than any Disney film to date," she writes. "Despite itself, it addresses the unhealthy practice of denying rather than acknowledging or even celebrating differences…but it really fucks things up when it shows that this denial is the right thing to do, and that APs [Adoptive Parents] will be rewarded for it."

Tarzan for the YA crowd
  • I bristled when I read this interview with author Andy Briggs about his re-writing Tarzan for modern, YA readers. I love that he gave an encouraging talk to kids about the writing process; it's just that Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels have always been discovered and enjoyed by young readers. I resent the suggestion that the current generation of kids "probably wouldn’t read a book that was 100 years old." I argue that they will if it's well-written and marketed towards them.

    When I sighed about it on Google+ though, a YA lit educator questioned me about it and made me rethink my position. I still hate the suggestion that Briggs' book is designed to replace Burroughs' (though I probably inferred that, rather than Briggs' actually implying it), but I agree with my Google+ friend that "we should be pushing for more 'pairing', e.g., ERB's original writing with other interpretations of the character and then asking the reader to compare and contrast ideas, themes, etc." I would totally love to spend an afternoon listening to kids talking about the similarities and differences between Burroughs' original and Briggs' take on it.

Speaking of new books...



I may have to spin this off into a separate feature if I can keep up with it, but here are a few ocean/jungle adventure books coming out soon.

1 comment:

Ken O said...

Jaguars 3 looks close but I won't be happy until someone re-creates the night club from Mighty Joe Young.

Sipek ends up in the news here every year or so. After watching Fatal Attractions it blows my mind to see the enclosures some people use to house this kind of animal.

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