Be it Known that Broadside Four of The Flea, a journal compiled by Paul Stephens, formerly of Leeds and Harrogate, late of The Strand and presently engaged in sundry Enterprises in the Colonies, has been brought forthe. Therein, yours truly presenteth “Sticking Point.” But stop not until you Reade entries by Rose Kelleher, Timothy Murphy and other Actors exemplary of our Irish Problem.

I, an odd boy and no fan of sport,
become obsessed. My team is hated, sort
of, but they’re loved at home. A code of dress
and facial hair. The bought and very best.

Confetti dreams, a shower of office paper
in the old part of Manhattan, is a staple
celebration—only once a vomiting
from hell. So whether it’s Matsui who’s committing
to the low outside or Derek Jeter firing
it to first, I find the game inspiring
and the bullying investment incidental.
Call me green. Hey, call me sentimental.

But if the Yankees take this in the sixth,
just think of all the things that can be fixed.
___
Photo–Aftermath of Yankees tickertape parade, 1999, from Fithy Mess.

America’s Funniest Videos is one of my favorite shows. Seriously, go check my Facebook profile. Not every clip is golden though, I know that. Maybe Bergeron just needs a nicely laid out list.
LESS:
• People screaming while riding roller coasters. It was never funny, it never will be.
• Mascots doing something dumb (unless it’s getting in a fight with other mascots.)
• Fake ass videos that people made just to get on AFV.
• Boats accidentally driving up onto the beach. It reminds me too much of the San Francisco scenes from The Lost World.
• People dropping guns after firing them. They’re lucky they didn’t take a bullet to the genitals.

MORE:
• Exercise balls to the face.
• Brutal falls down the stairs.
• Animals eating/licking something that they instantly regret.
• People sneaking up on other people and scaring them with loud noises. That never gets old. Bonus points if the sneaker is someone really famous that doesn’t seem like a practical joker. Edward Norton, Al Gore and Reese Witherspoon are all good places to start.
• People walking into sliding doors. So funny, every time.

There you go, run along ABC.

Part 1 of this diary is available here.

Tuesday 13th

10.00 am: My first history talk of the festival — Frank McLynn on Marcus Aurelius. I don’t know much about Roman history, so I don’t think I got the most out of it that I could have; but McLynn was interesting and engaging nonetheless.

12.00: Today’s Guest Director is Alice Roberts, and spotting her for my game of ‘Guest Director bingo’ will be easy, as I’m attending two of her events. The first of these is called ‘Journey into Colour’, with a panel consisting of Roberts, the writer Victoria Finlay (who wrote a book on colour which I actually bought several years ago, but have never got around to reading) and Mark Midownik, a materials scientist. Finlay was enthusiastic, and her talk fascinating; but I felt that Midownik was not a good speaker, and his contribution on the science of colour was rather dry. I really should read that book of Finlay’s, though.

4.00 pm: My second of Alice Roberts’s events — geneticist Stephen Oppenheimer on the story of human migration. An interesting subject but, unfortunately, the talk was a little too technical for me.

6.00 pm: Ronni Ancona and Alistair McGowan on football — specifically, on Ancona’s attempts to wean McGowan off it. The readings from their book were excellent, and the whole hour was hilarious.

8.45 pm: My last event of the day, and this time it’s a ‘proper’ author — Sarah Waters. I’ve never read her work, but do have a copy of The Little  Stranger, which I’ve been meaning to read. Interesting stuff, though I stll haven’t got around to reading the book.

Wednesday 14th

10.00 am: Matthew Rice on ‘The Language of Architecture’. I took a chance on this event, and am so glad I did. Rice was hilarious, and gave a brilliant introduction to a subject I’m not well-versed in.

2.00 pm: Sara Wheeler on the Arctic. This was a combined history and travelogue; interesting enough, but perhaps too ‘bitty’.

4.00 pm: Another hsitory talk — Jenny Uglow on Charles II. Uglow illuminated a part of history I never really studied in detail, so I was pleased to go to this.

5.15 pm: Today’s Guest Director is Monica Ali, whom I was due to see now, alongside another novelist, Geoff Dyer. Unfortunately, however, Ali is unable to attend owing to illness, so this event is Dyer on his own. I’d never heard of him prior to this, but he was a highly entertaining interviewee, and reader and he joins my list of ‘writers I must investigate’.

8.45 pm: I was due to see Keith Floyd at this point, but of course he sadly passed away last month. I raise a glass in his honour.

Thursday 15th

10.00 am: Today starts with my best history talk of the Festival — David Horspool on English rebellions throughout history. He’s a great speaker and storyteller, and shows the value of taking a broad historical view of one topic.

4.00 pm: From history to historical fiction, with Tracy Chevalier and Hilary Mantel. I’ve already seen the latter in my first event, of course, and she’s engaging once again. I’m very intrigued by the sound of Chevalier’s latest novel, about the early 19th century paleontologist Mary Anning. The TBR pile grows ever larger…

7.0o pm: Travel writer Christopher Somerville on his new book of walks around Britain. Fascinating stuff, as Somerville covers areas that don’t necessarily come to mind as fruitful areas for walks, such as Canvey Island and the circular walking routes around London. He also relates tales of a walk across Crete in the winter for his 50th birthday, and walking to the very northernmost point of the British Isles for his 60th. Somerville becomes another writer I should read.

8.45 pm: A performance of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World by the Paper Cinema and Kieron Maguire. How to describe this? They film cut-out paper puppets and project the results on to a screen, while Maguire provides a live soundtrack. It was good, but I think I’d have enjoyed it more if I knew the story better.

9.30 pm: I still haven’t spotted today’s Guest Director, Rageh Omaar. I know he is in the middle of a talk now, and I could hang around the signing tent for half an hour until he comes in — but I’m not really that bothered, am I? I decide that I’m not, and head off back to the hotel instead.

Part 3 of the diary coming soon…

Or, you can watch it Vimeo (rumor is it looks better): http://www.vimeo.com/6985293

Jurassic Park III (2001)
★★★ / ★★★★

Sam Neill returns as Dr. Alan Grant, a paleontologist who accepted a couple’s offer (William H. Macy and Téa Leoni) to give them a tour of Isla Sorna (the second island where scientists conduct experiments of cloning and breeding of dinosaurs) because his research needed funding. Later on, we got to find out that the real reason the couple wanted to visit the island was to find their son (Trevor Morgan) who got stranded there due to a boating accident. Although I did not enjoy this installment as the original “Jurassic Park,” it was definitely a step up from “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.” I still enjoyed watching the dinosaurs, the adventures that characters went though, and the campiness that came with the hunt but I felt as though the dinosaurs were secondary to the characters. “Jurassic Park III” did not have the same wonder as the first did. Instead of consistently finding more about the dinosaurs and how they’ve evolved as the picture went on, it was simply stated in the first fifteen minutes of the movie that the raptors knew how to communicate and were probably more intelligent than primates. So, in a way, it took away some of the potentially great suspense that the filmmakers could have utilized by means of surprise when the characters were actually on the island. The return of Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Sattler was more than welcome because she had that constant worry look in her eyes but was more than capable of delivering when circumstances were at their worst. I just wished that her character was used a lot more instead of just keeping her at the periphery (i.e. off the island). Some highlights include the Pteranodon attack, the Spinosaurus attack while the gang tried to contact Ellie, and all the scenes with the Velociraptors. I also very much enjoyed the fact that this film made references to the first two and the characters that were not present on this one. Directed by Joe Johnston, “Jurassic Park III” was still able to entertain but it could have been longer in order to add more heart-pounding scenes and a much stronger ending. I’ve heard rumors that this is going to be the final installment of the franchise, which I really hope is not the case because I can always use more dinosaurs in the cinema. I say they just need a strong script and they should be good to go.

Last week I was lucky enough to attend an advance preview of the new Pixar film Up. Even better was the fact that it was playing at the British Film Institute. Better still, it was free. The cherry on top of all this magnificence was that it was in 3D. I’ve got to thank my sister for winning the tickets in a Total Film competition. Well done to Total Film for being a quality film publication. *cheesy thumbs up*

So. I arrive at the BFI (British Film Institute) at noon to collect my tickets. The woman behind the counter is very confused. I explain, slowly, how I won the tickets in a competition. She is more confused. She asks if I have a reference number. I apologise that I don’t have one, and produce the email I was sent from Total Film. This was a mistake. Upon seeing the email her entire sense of the world disintegrates. Desperate to get rid of me she sends me to another desk. They have no idea what I am talking about and direct me to the box office (where I just came from). After this poor girl asks three of her colleagues for help, they collectively decide the best thing for me to do is come back later. I return at seventeen-hundred hours and a Pixar employee hands me a shiny pair of tickets. They can do anything.

On the way to the cinema screen we (my friend Tori and I) see two BFI staff trying to cram about a thousand balloons into a lift that is only made for a very petite person. Tried to get a picture but it came out very blurred. They must have been wearing portable shame-cloaking devices. I’d love one of those.

The 3D glasses were delivered in mighty chests that I thought would contain the director and producer. I was disappointed to see them containing the sensible and necessary glasses. But there was more to the glasses than met the eye. They were part of the Decepticon army. Front and centre on the Disney glasses was the Decepticon logo. Why was it there? My theory is that its an infra-red splodge to track audience eye movements.

The other strange feature of the glasses was a small circular disc on one of the legs. Clearly there to read your thoughts. Put that in tandem with tracking your eye movements and you have some powerful market research on your hands. A lot of people complained that their glasses didn’t work. I don’t know how they could not work but some people managed it. One child protested the whole way film that it had yet to go 3D. Despite these issues, Tor and I agreed these were the most comfortable glasses yet. Tor wears glasses herself and said she almost for the other pair was there. Isn’t that nice?

480 words in, time to talk about the movie. Before that, let’s talk about the story. The most important part of any film is that it has a good story (take note Michael Bay). Up had one of the most compelling stories I’ve seen. On paper you could see a lot of stock elements. Grumpy old man paired with irritatingly happy youngster. Comedy. Throw in some animal sidekicks for comic relief and action elements. Let it simmer gently for 90 minutes. You get so much more than that, and a lot of that is down to Ellie.

Ellie is Carl’s wife. They meet as children and discover they are both fuelled by the spirit of adventure. I really don’t want to spoil it but Pixar uses a montage even better than the one in Wall-E to show their relationship develop. For the whole sequence they barely speak, another tool learnt from Wall-E. And yet we are left with a character who the whole audience had limitless affection for. You see emo-kids covered in Nightmare Before Christmas badges now, in five years they will be wearing Ellie badges.

Onto the bad guy. And what a bad guy. I thought Colonel Hans Landa (Christopher Waltz) would easily walk away with bad guy of the year but Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) really throws down the gauntlet. It’s a good olde fashioned Chris-Off. Waltz plays the scheming and ruthless Jew Hunter. Plummer shoots a nine year old boy with an elephant gun. Several times. In a kid’s film. And Russell (the little child) is cute. He loves exploring, chocolate and Kevin. You can’t shoot a child that innocent. The point is that Charles Muntz is a scary character that really adds jeopardy to the story.

Dug does not. Dug is a talking dog. Comic relief is rarely done as well as it is here. He is voiced by writer Bob Peterson, he also voices the bad dog: Alpha. Watch the clip below.

Up takes a lot of influence from the Arthur Conan Doyle novel: The Lost World. Or so IMDB tells me. I haven’t read The Lost World. What I have done is seen the Looney Tunes. As much as the Lost World may have impacted the story of ancient life still existing in South America, just as apparent are the sight gags from Looney Tunes. When you first meet Kevin the bird she does an amazing impression of Road Runner. Some dogs chasing Kevin even fall of a cliff in a typical Wile E. Coyote way. If Charles Muntz wasn’t so evil he would look like Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny with a rifle. These didn’t feel like a cheap rip-off, but more of a homage to days of yore.

Afterwards there was a Q&A with the director, Pete Docter, and producer, Jonas Rivera. Except Pete Docter had completely lost his voice. He drew pictures instead. Being a world class animator this wasn’t really a problem. Sadly dear readers I wasn’t able to ask them a question. But I did learn that: Docter sees a lot of himself in Carl and the desire to float away, that Docter’s daughter voices young Ellie on the instruction of Edward Asner, and that Up was almost about the fountain of youth.

As I mentioned earlier I went to see this film with Tor. She just graduated from the University of East London. As she is as unemployed as I am currently we are going to get together and do some joint film reviews. She will give you the girly side, whilst I’ll give you that tough guy perspective you all depend on me for. Here is the nutty part, they will be video reviews. Now I’m not great at editing, yet, but these should be a lot of fun. Watch out!

AntBuoy

my younger self

This photo actually mis-represents this post but its the -only- pic from my childhood I like so tough.

As you can see, I was like every other kid who went to a Christian Summer Camp at Butlins… Okay, maybe I was slightly different.

My journey into The Biz began earlier than this, when I first saw a snippet of Jurassic Park on VHS. Spielberg became my hero overnight, the only kid in Nursery School who knew what a director was (kinda). Instantly I’m determined to work with Dinosaurs and make videos too (when seeing The Lost World: Jurassic Park in the Isle of Wight’s only cinema my ambitions grew to big-screen distribution).

Flash Forward, Year 6 (final year of Primary School) and I’ve just taken the beginning of a story from our teacher, killed off her well-put-together-character and replaced it with aliens & an Arnie impersonator. Her response, “You’re gonna grow up to be a movie producer.”

There it was, I had a title to aim for. I was no longer Spielberg, I was Frank Marshall. Overnight, I had a new goal.

Next few years were dull – dedicated to growing up, getting that photo taken and watching The Matrix way too many times. In fact, things stayed relatively normal until Year 11 (last year of compulsory education – GCSEs). Parent-Teacher night, once again a time to shrink in my chair as my French Teacher called me a Dark Horse.

This time though, I was more worried about my English Teacher’s possible comments. Parent-Teacher night was some time in February, late enough for me to f*ck up but early enough for my Rents to get involved. October, the year before, our class is told to write a short story and hand it in before the end of the year. Come P-T night and my short story was 112 pages long and imo not finished. My English Teacher’s comments; “He’s got real talent here, if he keeps it up.”

Now I want to become Spielberg+Marshall+Koepp…

Out of compulsory education, I had a plan – A levels. Media Studies (marketing/audience awareness), Film Studies (who’s made what), English Lang.&Lit. (my spelling is still awful) and a short spell of Psychology (Character, Character, Character).

Easy right?…Right?

P-E-P-S-I-K-I-D

According to Variety, Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks are planning to bring Michael Crichton’s first posthumous novel – “Pirate Latitudes”, to life.

Tasked with adapting the novel is David Koepp, a familiar Crichton and Spielberg collaborator. Koepp adapted and Spielberg directed “Jurassic Park” and “The Lost World”, both based on the Crichton novels of the same name. No word yet on whether Spielberg will also direct this film, but he is set to produce.

The New York Times, reporting in early April, said that “Latitudes” was found on Crichton’s computer by his assistant and required very little editing. HarperCollins plans to publish the novel on Nov. 24, while they are working on finishing another book Mr. Crichton was working on when he passed away from cancer in November.

Set in 1665 around the Caribbean, “Latitudes” is an adventure story that focuses on a pirate, Captain Edward Hunter, and his scheme to infiltrate a nearby Spanish island named Matanceros and steal the Spanish galleon, El Trinidad, rumored to be ported there. With the help of the Jamaican governor, Hunter gathers a group of bandits and plans to attack the Spanish infantry and the cutthroat commander Cazalla, tasked with guarding the fortune of gold in El Trinidad. However, hijacking the galleon is only the beginning of Hunter’s adventure.

ComingSoon reports that they will wait for the Koepp script to be finished before setting sail on the project.

Scientists have since hypothesised that dinosaurs were in fact canine.

Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues – not to be confused with The Lost World: Jurassic Park – is eerily prophetic with regards to the second movie’s plot.  In fact, the plot of Jurassic Park 2 actually makes more sense.

First of all, the main character is Dr. Alan Grant NOT Ian Malcolm.  We all know (or at least strongly suspect) that Ian Malcolm’s role in The Lost World was a plot contrivance based on Sam Neill’s reluctance to reprise the role of Dr. Grant (making his decision to appear in III all the more baffling).  Sure, Malcolm was the only one who was right about everything, but to us kids, he was the spoilsport trampling all over our hopes and dreams.  (We don’t want your science, Mr. Voodoo Man, we want magic!) Dr. Grant was the hero; the Everykid staring up in awe at a living, breathing Brachiosaurus for the very first time.  He didn’t cling stubbornly to the vestiges of his adulthood; he didn’t even care that his very livelihood as a paleontologist had become obsolete; he simply released himself to the magic of a dinosaur he could see and touch.

(It would be remiss of me at this point not to mention that while Alan Grant remains the central figure of this game’s story, he is not in fact a playable character.  The player controls Tactical Sergeant Michael Wolfskin, a mercenary dispatched by John Hammond to accompany Dr. Grant on this dangerous mission.  Regardless, in the context of an island overrun with wild, prehistoric lizards, an armed mercenary makes far more sense as a protagonist than a chaos theorist and mathematician.  He also looks a bit like Paul Reiser of Mad About You (and Aliens) fame, which doesn’t hurt.)

Dinosaurs were the cultural zeitgeist back then – we knew all of their names from Parasaurolophus to Pachycephalosaurus, we argued about them in the schoolyard (the ’smart kid’ at school tried to tell me that Tyrannosaurus Rex was not the quintessential King of the Dinosaurs.  If only I could journey back in time to inform him that its name literally translates as ‘tyrant lizard king’ in Latin.  PWND!), and we went to the museum, for fun.  I’ll repeat that for effect: we WENT TO THE MUSEUM, for FUN.  Such was the power of the terrible lizard.

JP2 also accurately predicted the rise of the DS to gaming prominence.

Second of all, Jurassic Park 2 takes place on the same island as the first film, Isla Nublar.  As the title suggests, it has been released into chaos since the events of the first film.  The Lost World contrives a second, neighbouring island known as Isla Sorna.  The idea behind this second island was that it was the ‘control group’, so that they could observe dinosaur behaviour outside of captivity.  How on earth they planned to do this is beyond me – did they get out there with a helicopter and a clipboard?  So essentially, InGen, Hammond and company decided to make the same stupid mistake a second time; albeit a stupid mistake that had a far greater potential for abject failure and complete disaster.  The plot of JP2, on the other hand, sees the original, abandoned park discovered by a rival company (the appropriately named BioSyn) which attempts a very literal corporate takeover of Jurassic Park and its reptilian denizens.  How did a group of game developers manage to come up with a better, more plausible plotline than Hollywood?!  I fear that I am destined to take this mystery with me unto death.

Jurassic Park 2, though repetitive, and tougher than granny’s gingernut biscuits, is positively dripping with atmosphere.  Tensions are always high, be they in the jungle or inside an abandoned complex.  Raptors stalk and surprise as well as they do in the films – perhaps a little *too* well…

Biohazard's the right word for it!

“Clever girl!”

In many ways JP2 is reminiscent of Alien 3 for the Sega Megadrive (another game superior to its film counterpart – by no means an astounding feat).  Activity time!  Substitute the word ‘raptors’ into the following sentence every time you read the word ‘xenomorphs’:

The xenomorphs are so fast you have to shoot off-screen constantly while running to avoid death.  This places unreasonable demands on one’s ammunition supply.

(May I suggest a raptor-killing tactic?  Set phasers to stun, charge your weapon while running, jump as soon as you see the raptor, turn and release.  Rinse and repeat.  The strongest breed of raptor (grey) takes no more than three fully charged energy bolts to put down.)

This game is so atmospheric it uses graphical filters in the foreground – clouds of dense fog in the swamps, a spotlighting effect in a dark facility – I know because I fiddled with the emulator–I mean, my legitimately purchased Super Nintendo Entertainment System – settings to switch them off and on again.  I don’t know how many other 16-bit games did this, but I’m impressed by the graphical spit and polish on this thing.  The moody synths and tribal beats only amplify the game’s tangible sense of dread, on level with the raptors-in-the-kitchen scene of the first film.

Fog filters and fluid animation: a match made in heaven.

If you’ve read Jared’s review of Jurassic Park, you’ll be coloured the same shade of surprised I was to find that not only was Jurassic Park 2 developed by the same company that developed the original (Ocean Software) – it’s also not crap.  In fact, it’s really quite good.  There is only one satisfying explanation for this singularity: a lack of info from Hollywood and a stricter deadline leading up to the first game’s movie tie-in release; versus the creative freedom afforded by not having to stick to a highly classified film script for the second game.

It doesn’t take a chaos mathematician to work it out:

Tie-in = Tied Down.

Seein’ Stars

By Feg Murray

CLAUDE RAINS became a movie star before he was ever seen on the screen.  (In “The Invisible Man” in which his face did not show until the very end of the picture.)

JOE E. BROWN made a flight in a box-kite glider in Montreal, in 1907, and broke two fingers as a result.  (He cut the rope, then crashed.)

RUBY KEELER, “The 10-Letter Girl.”  There are 10 letters in her name, she was born in Nova Scotia, (10 letters), she is married to Asa Yoelson (Al Jolson’s real name, which has 10 letters), and her first movie was “42nd Street” (10 letters), for Warner Bros. (also 10 letters.)

SHIRLEY TEMPLE fell asleep the first time her mother took her to see herself in the movies!

W. C. FIELDS once made a 29-day journey to play a one night stand.  (From Australia to Rochester, N.Y. – in 1914)

One morning in 1928 DON AMECHE was standing in line at a Madison, Wis. theatre to buy tickets for “Excess Baggage.”  Four hours later he was playing the lead in that same show, having been spotted by the manager who needed a substitute for his leading man, hurt in an accident that morning.

When in New York five years ago, MAY ROBSON hailed a taxi.  The driver didn’t respond, and, on going up to him, Miss Robson found that he was frozen to death!

Workmen, digging on the Warner Brothers lot, unearthed a huge bone, 7 feet long, and got quite excited over the find, until it was discovered that it was a prop dinosaur bone, made in 1925 for “The Lost World.”

January 15, 1939 – The Milwaukee Sentinel

"Hollywood Hams" women's T-Shirt, from the "Roaring 20's" section at Our Krazy Kulture

The “Hollywood Hams” design is available on men’s and women’s T-Shirts, in a variety of styles.  Additional items on which this design is available, include buttons, magnets, mugs greeting cards and more.  Click here to see the entire selection.

Jika kita berbicara mengenai genre misteri, terutama cerita-cerita detektif, besar kemungkinan kita akan sampai pada salah satu tokoh detektif paling terkenal -Sherlock Holmes- dan tak lupa pengarang di belakang sang detektif super jenius ini, Arthur Conan Doyle.

Arthur Conan Doyle dilahirkan di Edinburgh, Skotlandia, pada 22 Mei 1859. Awalnya, kehidupan Doyle mengarah ke karier di bidang kedokteran. Ia belajar di Universitas Edinburgh dari tahun 1876-1881. Setelah lulus ia sempat menjadi dokter di sebuah kapal yang berlayar ke Afrika Barat, sampai akhirnya menetap dan membuka praktek dokter di Plymouth pada tahun 1882.

Ternyata, prakteknya tidak ramai dikunjungi, dan waktu senggang ini ia manfaatkan untuk mengembangkan hobinya : menulis cerita. Setelah sekian lama, ia memindahkan prakteknya ke Portsmouth. Di sana ia semakin aktif menulis, dan menghasilkan karya besar pertamanya : A Study in Scarlet, yang diterbitkan pada tahun 1887, yang sekaligus juga memperkenalkan tokoh Sherlock Holmes kepada dunia.

Pada tahun 1890 ia pergi ke Vienna untuk mempelajari mata, dan pada tahun 1891 kembali ke Inggris (lebih tepatnya ke London) dan membuka praktek baru sebagai dokter spesialis mata. Tapi sekali lagi, hampir tidak ada pasien yang datang, yang berarti makin banyak waktu yang bisa ia luangkan untuk menulis. Pada periode ini juga Doyle merasa bahwa sudah waktunya Sherlock Holmes “mati”. Hal ini terutama disebabkan oleh keinginan Doyle untuk berkonsentrasi pada karya-karyanya yang lebih “serius”.

Maka, pada tahun 1893, Holmes dan musuh besarnya, Profesor Moriarty, “tampak” jatuh bersama ke dalam air terjun di penghujung The Final Problem. Tapi protes keras dari masyarakat menyebabkan kisah Sherlock Holmes dilanjutkan kembali, dengan penjelasan bahwa di The Final Problem, hanya Moriarty yang jatuh, sementara Holmes hanya berpura-pura mati. Alhasil, sampai saat ini Sherlock Holmes telah tampil dalam 4 novel dan cerita pendek karangan Doyle, serta entah berapa banyak cerita oleh pengarang lain.

Tapi salah satu karya terpenting Doyle tidak ada hubungannya dengan sang Detektif legendaris, bahkan tidak berbentuk novel atau cerpen. Semasa Perang Boer di Afrika Selatan, tindakan pihak Inggris dikecam dunia. Menanggapi hal ini, Doyle menulis sebuah pamflet pendek berjudul The War in South Africa : Its Cause and Conduct (Perang di Afrika Selatan : Penyebab dan Perilakunya), yang membela posisi Inggris. Pamflet ini kemudian diikuti oleh sebuah buku yang berjudul The Great Boer War pada tahun 1900. Karya propaganda inilah yang menyebabkan penganugerahan gelar “knight” kepadanya. Sejak itu ia dikenal sebagai Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Sama seperti tokoh yang diciptakannya, Conan Doyle merupakan tokoh “pembela kebenaran”. Ia bahkan secara pribadi menyelesaikan dua kasus yang buntu. Yang pertama adalah kasus George Edalji (yang dikisahkan kembali dalam novel Arthur & George, karangan Julian Barnes), seorang pengacara yang dituduh menulis surat ancaman dan memutilasi hewan. Penyelidikan Doyle membuktikan Edalji tidak bersalah, sekaligus menjadi penggerak dibentuknya The Court of Criminal Appeal pada tahun 1907. Kasus kedua yang ia selesaikan adalah membuktikan bahwa Oscar Slater tidak bersalah, setelah pada tahun 1908 dituntut membunuh seorang wanita.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle meninggal pada tanggal 7 Juli 1930, dan dimakamkan di Minstead, New Forest, Hampshire. Di Crowborough Cross, di kota Crowborough didirikan patungnya. Sedangkan di Picardy Place, Edinburgh, didirikan patung Sherlock Holmes, tak jauh dari rumah di mana sang pujangga dilahirkan.

The Master Detective

Karya terbesar, atau setidaknya yang paling terkenal dari Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, tak bisa dipungkiri lagi adalah Sherlock Holmes. Tokoh Sherlock Holmes didasari sebagian oleh Joseph Bell, salah satu dosen Doyle semasa kuliah, sekaligus salah satu pencetus ilmu forensik. Walaupun diakui, Sherlock Holmes sebenarnya lebih banyak didasari oleh C. Auguste Dupin, seorang detektif fiktif karangan Edgar Allan Poe (kemiripan kedua tokoh ini bahkan menjadi salah satu topik perbincangan Holmes dalam novel The Murders in the Rue Morgue).

Popularitas Sherlock Holmes didasari terutama pada kecerdasannya, dan penggunaan pemikiran deduktif dalam memecahkan kasus-kasus rumit (meskipun pada kenyataannya kebanyakan “deduksi” oleh tokoh Holmes sebenarnya dikategorikan sebagai hasil pemikiran induktif atau abduktif oleh kalangan ilmiah; setidaknya, tokoh Sherlock Holmes mempopulerkan konsep dan istilah “deductive reasoning”). Selain itu, wawasan Homes bisa dibilang sangat luas, terutama di bidang botani (terutama mengenai opium dan racun), geologi, kimia (yang boleh dibilang merupakan bidang di mana Holmes paling cemerlang), anatomi, sastra (terutama kisah-kisah sensasional seperti pembunuhan), dan tentu saja hukum Inggris.

Rasanya tak mungkin membahas Sherlock Holmes tanpa membahas sidekick kepercayaannya : Dr. John H. Watson. Hampir semua kisah Sherlock Holmes diceritakan dari sudut pandang Watson. Seperti pengarangnya, Watson adalah seorang dokter yang cukup berpengalaman, bahkan sempat bertugas sebagai bagian dari tim medis AD Inggris di Afghanistan, sampai ia dipulangkan karena terluka. Walaupun cerdas, ia tidak memiliki intuisi seperti layaknya Holmes. Meskipun demikian, ia menjadi sumber dukungan (baik secara moral maupun langsung) bagi Holmes. Bahkan, keduanya lama-kelamaan sudah sedekat saudara kandung. Dalam The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, Sherlock Holmes yang biasanya dingin, tenang, dan penuh perhitungan, sudah berada di ambang kepanikan ketika melihat Watson tertembak.

Salah satu inkarnasi terbaru dari dynamic-duo Homes-Watson (yang sudah berkali-kali diangkat menjadi film, serial televisi, maupun kartun) adalah serial TV yang berjudul House. House seringkali dianggap sebagai a medical Sherlock Holmes, di mana Dr. Gregory House merupakan referensi langsung terhadap Sherlock Holmes dengan kebiasaan, metode penyelidikan, alamat, bahkan kecanduan yang serupa. Sedangkan peran Watson dipegang oleh karakter Dr. James Wilson.

221B Baker Street

Holmes dan juga Watson dikisahkan tinggal di 221B Baker Street, London. Tapi seperti halnya kedua tokoh tersebut, alamat ini juga fiktif. Di era Sherlock Holmes, nomor rumah di Baker Street hanya mencapai 100. Tapi kini, di Baker Street kita bisa melihat The Sherlock Holmes Museum. Bangunan tersebut dibeli atas nama The Sherlock Holmes International Society, dan kini dikelola oleh John Aidiniantz.

Before JurrasicPark

Selain Sherlock Holmes, satu lagi karya Sir Arthur Conan Dyle yang cukup terkenal, yaitu The Lost World. Novel terbitan 1912 ini mengisahkan ekspedisi sekelompok petualang ke dataran tinggi di Venezuela yang masih dihuni makhluk-makhluk pra-sejarah. Meskipun demikian, kadal-kadal purba raksasa ini hanya menempati sebagian kecil kisah The Lost World. Porsi terbesar cerita digunakan untuk mengisahkan konflik antara suku makhluk sejenis kera dan suku manusia yang tinggal di sana, serta keterlibatan para petualang tadi, hingga kepulangan mereka ke Inggris.

The Lost World juga memperkenalkan tokoh Profesor Challenger sebagai pemimpin ekspedisi ke “dunia yang hilang” tersebut. Challenger kemudian muncul di sederetan novel Doyle setelah The Lost World, meliputi The Poison Belt, The Land of Mists, The Disintegration Machine, dan When the World Screamed.

The Lost World sendiri telah beberapa kali diadaptasi menjadi film, pertama kali pada tahun 1925, kemudian 1960, 1992, dan 1998. Novel ini juga mendasari serial tv dengan judul yang sama pada tahun 2001 (yang pernah ditayangkan di salah satu stasiun tv swasta Indonesia).

*Diambil dari berbagai sumber

I recognized the shuck in this kid’s act–
I’d seen my share of carnival routines.
The way he blocked the catwalk through the tract
of towering powerlines and evergreens:
“Ya see up there?” He pointed to a wire
and to a blue gray dove perched all alone,
a glint of feathers in a line of fire.
He reached into his pocket for a stone.
And what a shot. A wrist-snap to a bird
that dropped between the cattails to the boards.
He fetched his prey, he held it, and I heard
a snap beneath his twisting hand. The cords
of heaven snapped as well. They cracked somehow.
I didn’t like this kid or hate him. Then or now.

I haven’t been to that many places in my life, but if I had to choose a place that I felt like I was in the Garden of Eden, Costa Rica would definitely be the place.  Months ago, Caitlin asked me to surprise her with our honeymoon plans, so I decided on Costa Rica upon the recommendation of several friends. From ziplines 1100 feet in the air to volcanoes to a beach straight out of Jurassic Park: The Lost World, we loved it.

If any reader happens to stumble upon this blog because they too are planning a trip to CR, leave me a message and I can send you some more details on why I think this might be one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Desktop 800×600 1024×768 1280×768

Print Hi-Resolution (3.9MB)

1890 Monkeyshines 1891 Dickson Greeting 1891 Edison – Newark Athlete, Part I 1893 Men in Blacksmith Shop 1894 Annie Oakley shooting at targets 1894 Edison – Chinese Laundry – November 26, 1894 1894 Edison – Kinetoscope Films from 1894-1896 1895 Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (The Lumière Brothers) 1895 Edison – The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots – August 28, 1895 1895 L’Arroseur arrosé 1895 The Dickson Experimental Sound Film 1896 Bataille de Boules de Neige (Louis Lumière, 1896) 1896 Edison – The Kiss 1896 Fred Ott’s Sneeze 1896 Louis Lumiere – New York,Broadway At Union Square 1896 Rip Van Winkle 1897 Edison – Admiral Cigarette advertisement 1898 Turkish Dance, Ella Lola 1899 Cripple Creek Bar-room Scene (Edison) 1899 Edison – Bicyclist tricks 1900 Edison – Grandma’s Bad Boys 1901 Edison – Boxing Woman 1901 Edison – Circular panorama of electric tower – Pan-American Exposition, 14 August 1901 1901 Edison – The Martyred Presidents 1901 What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York City 1902 Le voyage dans la lune 1903 Life of an American Fireman – Edwin S. Porter 1903 Move On 1903 NYC Ghetto Fish Market 1903 The Great Train Robbery Part 1 – Thomas A. Edison 1904 Westinghouse Works Part 1 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire 1909 Princess Nicotine 1910 Jack Johnson -vs- James Jeffries 1914 Cabiria Giovanni Pastrone 1914 Charlie Chaplin – The Kid Auto Race 1914 Der Golem or, The Monster of Fate 1914 Gertie the Dinosaur 1914 The Exploits of Elaine 1915 The Birth of a Nation 1915 The Italian 1916 Intolerance 1917 The Immigrant 1919 Broken Blossoms 1920 The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 1920 The Mark of Zorro 1921 Charlie Chaplin – The Kid 1921 Manhatta 1921 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 1922 Buster Keaton – Cops (1 of 2) 1922 Nanook of the North 1922 Nosferatu 1923 Le retour a la raison – Man Ray 1923 Safety Last! 1923 Salome 1924 Body and Soul 1924 Buster Keaton – Sherlock Jr 1924 Buster Keaton – The Navigator 1924 Peter Pan 1924 The Thief of Bagdad 1925 Battleship Potemkin – Odessa Stairs Massacre – Pram 1925 Battleship Potemkin – Son Shot 1925 Charlie Chaplin – The Gold Rush 1925 The Freshman 1925 The Lost World 1925 The Phantom of the Opera 1925 Theodore Case Sound Test – Gus Visser and his Singing Duck 1926 Flesh and the Devil 1926 Son of the Sheik 1927 Buster Keaton – The General 2 1927 It – Clara Bow 1927 Metropolis – Montage 1927 Oktober – 1 1927 Sunrise 1927 The Jazz Singer 1927 Wings 1928 Charlie Chaplin – The Circus 1928 Steamboat Willie 1928 The Cameraman – Breaking the Bank 1928 The Wedding March 1929 Luis Bunuel – Un chien andalou Part 1 1929 Man with a Movie Camera 1929 St. Louis Blues 1929 The Broadway Melody 1930 All Quiet Along the Western Front – Trailer 1930 Morocco 1931 Charlie Chaplin – City Lights 1931 Dracula 1931 Frankenstein 1931 Fritz Lang’s M, ending, 1st part 1931 Le million 1931 Little Caesar 1931 The Champ 1931 The Public Enemy 1932 Freaks 1932 Grand Hotel 1932 Love Me Tonight 1932 Shanghai Express 1932 The Music Box 1932 Trouble In Paradise 1933 42nd Street 1933 Duck Soup 1933 King Kong – ending 1933 She Done Him Wrong – Mae West 1933 Snow White 1933 The Emperor Jones 1934 It Happened One Night 1934 It’s A Gift 1934 Little Miss Marker 1934 Tarzan and His Mate 1934 The Goddess 1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much 1934 The Thin Man 1935 A Night at the Opera 1935 Bride of Frankenstein 1935 Mutiny On The Bounty 1935 Naughty Marietta 1935 The 39 Steps 1935 Top Hat 1935 Triumph of the Will 1936 Camille 1936 Modern Times 1936 My Man Godfrey 1936 Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor – Part 1 1936 Rose Hobart 1936 Show Boat 1936 Swing Time – Trailer 1936 The Great Ziegfeld 1937 A Star Is Born 1937 Hindenburg disaster 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – hi ho 1937 Stage Door 1937 The Awful Truth 1937 The Life of Emile Zola 1937 Way Out West – ‘Blue Ridge Mountains’ 1938 Bringing Up Baby 1938 Love Finds Andy Hardy – Trailer 1938 Olympia 1938 Porky in Wackyland 1938 You Can’t Take It with You 1939 Destry Rides Again 1939 Gone with the Wind 1 – kiss 1939 Gunga Din 1939 La Règle du jeu 1939 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939 Ninotchka clip 1939 Stagecoach 1939 The Wizard of Oz 1939 Wuthering Heights 1939 Young Mr Lincoln 1940 Charlie Chaplin – The Great Dictator 1940 Fantasia 1940 His Girl Friday 1940 Pinocchio 1940 Rebecca 1940 The Bank Dick 1940 The Grapes Of Wrath 1940 The Philadelphia Story 1940 The Shop Around the Corner 1941 Citizen Kane – Final Words 1941 Meet John Doe 1941 Sullivan’s Travels 1941 The Lady Eve 1941 The Maltese Falcon 1942 Casablanca 1 – play it again 1942 Cat People 1942 Holiday Inn – White Christmas 1942 Jam Session 1942 Random Harvest – She’s Ma Daisy 1942 Road to Morocco 1942 The Battle of Midway 1942 The Magnificent Ambersons 1942 To Be Or Not To Be 1942 Tulips Shall Grow 1942 Woman of the Year 1942 Yankee Doodle Dandy 1943 Meshes of the Afternoon – Part 1 1943 Shadow of a Doubt 1943 Stormy Weather 1943 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 1944 Arsenic and Old Lace 1944 Double Indemnity 1944 Going My Way 1944 Henry V – Trailer 1944 Laura – Trailer 1944 The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek 1945 Blithe Spirit 1945 Brief Encounter – end 1945 Detour 1945 Les Enfants du Paradis 1945 Mildred Pierce – Trailer 1945 Roma Citta Libera 1945 Spellbound 1945 The Body Snatcher 1945 The Lost Weekend 1946 It’s A Wonderful Life – ending 1946 La Belle et la bête 1946 My Darling Clementine 1946 Notorious 1946 The Best Years of Our Lives 1946 The Big Sleep 1947 Black Narcissus 1947 Brighton Rock 1947 Crossfire 1947 Miracle on 34th Street 1947 Out of the Past 1948 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein 1948 Bicycle Thieves 1948 Hamlet 1948 Letter From An Unknown Woman 1948 Mr.Blandings Builds His Dream House 1948 Red River 1948 The Red Shoes 1948 The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre 1949 All the King’s Men 1949 Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949 The Heiress 1949 The Third Man – ending 1949 Twelve O’Clock High 1949 White Heat – Top of the World 1950 All About Eve 1950 Gerald McBoing-Boing 1950 Harvey 1950 In A Lonely Place 1950 Rashomon 1950 Sunset Boulevard 1951 A Place in the Sun 1951 A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 An American in Paris 1951 Duck and Cover 1951 Flying Padre – Stanley Kubrick 1951 Strangers on a Train 1951 The African Queen 1951 The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951 The Thing from Another World 1952 High Noon 1952 Hurlements en faveur de Sade – Guy Debord 1952 Ikiru 1952 Magical Maestro 1952 Singin’ in the Rain 1952 The Bad and the Beautiful 1952 The Greatest Show on Earth 1952 The Quiet Man 1952 Umberto D 1953 From Here to Eternity 1953 Le Salaire de la peur 1953 Let’s All Go to the Lobby 1953 Mr Hulot’s Holiday 1 – start 1953 Roman Holiday 1953 Shane 1953 Stalag 17 1953 The Band Wagon – That’s Entertainment 1953 The Hitch-Hiker 1953 The Tell-Tale Heart 1953 The War Of The Worlds 1953 Tokyo Story 1953 Ugetsu 1954 A Star Is Born 1954 Carmen Jones 1954 Creature from the Black Lagoon 1954 Dial M For Murder 1954 House in the Middle Pt 1 1954 La Strada 1954 On The Waterfront 1954 Rear Window 1954 Sabrina 1954 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1954 Seven Samurai – Akira Kurosawa 1954 The Caine Mutiny 1954 The Dam Busters 1954 White Christmas 1955 Blackboard Jungle 1955 Kiss Me Deadly clip 1955 Les Diaboliques 1955 Marty 1955 One Froggy Evening 1955 Pather Panchali 1955 Rebel Without A Cause – knife 1955 Richard III 1955 Rififi 1955 The Night of the Hunter 1956 Around the World in 80 Days – Trailer 1956 Don’t Knock The Rock – ‘Tutti Frutti’ 1956 Giant 1956 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers 1956 The Court Jester 1956 The Killing 1956 The Searchers – Trailer 1956 The Ten Commandments – Trailer 1957 12 Angry Men 1 1957 Bridge On The River Kwai 1 1957 Jailhouse Rock 1957 Le notti di Cabiria – Fellini 1957 Paths of Glory 1957 Pyaasa 1957 Rock You Sinners – Brighton Rock 1957 Smultronstället 1957 Sweet Smell of Success 1957 The Seventh Seal 1957 What’s Opera, Doc 1957 Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter 1957 Witness for the Prosecution 1958 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958 Mon Oncle 1958 The Defiant Ones – Trailer 1958 The Vikings 1958 Touch of Evil 1958 Vertigo – The Stairs, first time 1959 Anatomy of a Murder – Trailer 1959 Ben Hur – Trailer 1959 Les quatre cents coups 1959 North By Northwest – The Airplane 1959 Shadows 1959 Some Like It Hot 1960 A bout de souffle 1960 House of Usher 1960 La Dolce Vita 1960 Psycho 1960 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – Trailer 1960 Spartacus 1960 The Alamo 1960 The Apartment 1961 Breakfast at Tiffany’s 1961 Dog Star Man – Prelude 1961 Judgment At Nuremberg 1961 Jules et Jim 1961 West Side Story 1961 Yojimbo 1961The Hustler 1962 Dr No 1962 How the West Was Won 1962 Lawrence of Arabia 1962 Lolita 1962 O Pagador de Promessas 1962 Ride the High Country 1962 The Manchurian Candidate 1962 The Music Man 1962 To Kill a Mockingbird 1963 8 1-2 – dream 1963 Charade 1963 Dog Star Man – Part II 1963 Shock Corridor 1963 The Birds 1963 The Great Escape 1963 The Nutty Professor 1963 The Servant 1964 A Hard Day’s Night 1964 Bande à part 1964 Deus e o diabo na terra do Sol 1964 Dog Star Man – Part III 1964 Dr. Strangelove 1 1964 Empire – Andy Warhol 1964 Goldfinger 1964 Mary Poppins – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 1964 My Fair Lady – Wouldn’t It Be Loverly 1964 Zulu 1965 Darling 1965 Dr. Zhivago 1965 For A Few Dollars More 1965 Repulsion – Catherine Deneuve 1965 The Sound of Music 1966 A Man For All Seasons – Trailer 1966 Alfie 1966 Blow-up 1966 Fahrenheit 451 1966 Georgy Girl 1966 La Battaglia di Algeri 1966 Persona 1966 The Endless Summer 1966 The Good The Bad and the Ugly 1966 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf 1967 Belle de Jour – Luis Bunuel 1967 Bonnie and Clyde 1967 Cool Hand Luke – boiled eggs 1967 Far From The Madding Crowd 1967 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner 1967 In the Heat of the Night – Trailer 1967 Mouchette 1967 Playtime 1967 Stop, Look and Listen 1967 The Graduate 1967 The Jungle Book – I Wanna Be Like You 1968 2001 Space Odyssey 1 – start 1968 Bullitt 1968 Carry on Up the Khyber 1968 If… 1968 Night Of the Living Dead 1968 Oliver! 1968 Once Upon a Time in the West 1968 Planet of the Apes 1968 Rosemary’s Baby 1968 The Producers – Springtime for Hitler 1968 Why Man Creates 1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 Easy Rider – ending 1969 Goodbye, Mr. Chips 1969 Kes – cane 1969 Midnight Cowboy – I’m walking here 1969 The Italian Job – doors 1969 The Sorrow and the Pity – bourgeois 1969 The Wild Bunch 1969 Women in Love 1970 Five Easy Pieces 1970 Love Story 1970 MASH 1970 Multiple Sidosis 1970 Patton 1971 A Clockwork Orange – droog fight 1971 A Touch Of Zen 1971 Fiddler On The Roof – To Life 1971 Get Carter 1971 Harold And Maude 1971 Shaft 1971 Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song 1971 The French Connection 1971 The Hospital 1971 The Last Picture Show 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – Pure Imagination 1972 Aguirre the Wrath of God 1972 Cabaret 1972 Deliverance – ‘Dueling banjos’ 1972 DT 1972 Frenzy 1972 Last Tango in Paris 1 1972 OffOn 1972 Sleuth 1972 Solaris 1972 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie 1972 The Godfather – offer 1972 The Poseidon Adventure 1973 American Graffiti 1973 Badlands 1973 Coffy 1973 Don’t Look Now 1973 Enter the Dragon 1973 Frank Film 1973 La Nuit americaine 1973 Mean Streets 1973 Sleeper 1973 The Day of the Jackal 1973 The Exorcist – Pt.1 1973 The Sting 1973 The Wicker Man 1974 A Woman Under the Influence 1974 Blazing Saddles 1974 Chinatown 1974 Foxy Brown 1974 The Conversation 1974 The Godfather, Part II 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – ending 1974 The Towering Inferno – Trailer 1974 Young Frankenstein – Puttin’ on the Ritz 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – ending 1975 Barry Lyndon 1975 Dog Day Afternoon 1975 Flåklypa Grand Prix – 1 1975 Jaws 1975 Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975 Nashville 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 1975 Picnic At Hanging Rock – Trailer 1975 The Return Of The Pink Panther – Karate Kick 1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show – Damn it Janet 1976 All the President’s Men – Trailer 1976 Car Wash 1976 Marathon Man 1976 Network 1976 Nuts in May 1976 Rocky – Adrian 1976 Taxi Driver – Talking To Me 1976 The Omen 1976 The Outlaw Josey Wales 1976 The Pink Panther Strikes Again 1977 Abigail’s Party 1977 Annie Hall 1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 Eraserhead 1977 Killer of Sheep 1977 Looking for Mr. Goodbar 1977 Powers of Ten 1977 Saturday Night Fever 1977 Soldaat van Oranje 1977 Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope – Deathstar1 1978 Dawn Of The Dead – mall 1978 DDD 1978 Every Which Way But Loose 1978 Grease – Summer Nights 1978 Halloween 1978 Midnight Express 1978 National Lampoon’s Animal House 1978 Pennies From Heaven 1978 Superman The Movie 1978 The Deer Hunter 1978 The Last Waltz – The Weight 1979 Alien 1979 All That Jazz – Bye Bye Life 1979 Apocalypse Now – Napalm in the morning 1979 Mad Max and Feral Boy 1979 Manhattan – start 1979 Monty Python’s Life of Brian 1979 Stalker – Tarkovsky 1979 Star Trek The Motion Picture 1979 The Black Stallion 1979 Woyzeck – Herzog 1980 Airplane! 1980 Atlantic City 1980 Flash Gordon 1980 Gregory’s Girl 1980 Heaven’s Gate 1980 Mon oncle d’Amerique 1980 Raging Bull 1980 Superman II 1980 The Elephant Man 1980 The Empire Strikes Back 1980 The Long Good Friday – ending 1980 The Shining – Here’s Johnny 1981 Chariots of Fire 1981 Das Boot 1981 Gallipoli 1981 Mommie Dearest 1981 Raiders Of The Lost Ark 1981 The Cannonball Run – 1 1981 The Evil Dead 1981 The Postman Always Rings Twice 1982 Blade Runner 1982 Boys from the Blackstuff 1982 Conan The Barbarian 1982 ET 1982 Fast Times At Ridgemont High 1982 First Blood 1982 Fitzcarraldo 1982 Gandhi 1982 Koyaanisqatsi 1982 Made in Britain 1982 Poltergeist 1982 Porky’s 1982 Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman 1982 Sophie’s Choice 1982 Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan 1982 The Draughtsman’s Contract 1982 The Thing 1982 The Thing 1983 A Christmas Story – Oh, Fuuudge 1983 Return of The Jedi 1983 Scarface 1983 Terms of Endearment 1983 The King of Comedy 1983 Trading Places 1983 WarGames 1984 1984 1984 A Passage To India 1984 Amadeus 1984 Dune 1984 Ghostbusters 1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984 Once Upon A Time In America 1984 Paris, Texas 1984 Police Academy 1984 Repo Man 1984 Stop Making Sense 1984 Stranger Than Paradise 1984 Supergirl 1984 The Karate Kid 1984 The Killing Fields 1984 The Never Ending Story – Trailer 1984 The Terminator 1984 This is Spinal Tap 1985 After Hours 1985 Back to the Future 1985 Brazil 1985 Clue 1985 My Beautiful Laundrette 1985 Out of Africa 1985 Ran 1985 Teen Wolf 1985 The Black Cauldron 1985 The Breakfast Club – dancing 1985 The Color Purple 1985 The Goonies 1985 The Official Story 1985 Weird Science 1985 Witness 1985 Young Sherlock Holmes 1986 9 1-2 Weeks 1986 A Better Tomorrow 1986 A Room with a View 1986 Betty Blue 1986 Big Trouble In Little China 1986 Blue Velvet – start 1986 Caravaggio – Derek Jarman 1986 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 1986 Flight of the Navigator 1986 Hannah and Her Sisters 1986 Hoosiers 1986 Jean de Florette 1986 Labyrinth 1986 Little Shop of Horrors 1986 Manon des Sources 1986 Mona Lisa 1986 Platoon 1986 Rita, Sue and Bob Too – Bananarama 1986 Short Circuit – Trailer 1986 Stand By Me – 1 1986 The Fly 1986 The Money Pit 1986 The Name of The Rose 1986 The Singing Detective 1986 Top Gun 1986 When the Wind Blows 1987 Der Himmel über Berlin Wings of Desire 1987 Dirty Dancing 1987 Fatal Attraction 1987 Full Metal Jacket – drill sergeant 1987 Harry and the Hendersons 1987 Naayagan 1987 Planes, Trains and Automobiles – waking up 1987 Robocop 1987 The Last Emperor 1987 The Princess Bride 1987 The Untouchables 1987 The Witches of Eastwick 1987 Throw Momma from the Train 1987 Withnail and I – Camberwell carrot 1988 A Fish Called Wanda 1988 Akira 1988 Big 1988 Child’s Play 1988 Coming to America – bride 1988 Dangerous Liaisons 1988 Die Hard 1988 Distant Voices, Still Lives – Trailer 1988 Mississippi Burning 1988 Rain Man 1988 The Accused – lawyer 1988 The Last Temptation Of Christ 1988 The Naked Gun 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit 1989 Back to the Future II 1989 Batman 1989 Born on the Fourth of July 1989 Cinema Paradiso clip 1989 Dead Poets Society – ending 1989 Do The Right Thing – 1 1989 Glory 1989 Henry V 1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1989 My Left Foot 1989 Sex, Lies and Videotape 1989 Uncle Buck 1989 Weekend at Bernie’s 1990 Back To The Future III 1990 Dances With Wolves 1990 Edward Scissorhands 1990 Ghost 1990 Goodfellas 1990 Home Alone 1990 Miller’s Crossing 1990 Nuns on the Run 1990 Pretty Woman 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990 The Hunt for Red October 1991 Beauty and the Beast 1991 Boyz n the Hood 1991 Cape Fear 1991 Daughters of The Dust 1991 Delicatessen clip 1991 Fried Green Tomatoes 1991 Robin Hood Prince of Thieves 1991 Terminator 2 1991 The Commitments 1991 The Silence of the Lambs – fava beans 1991 Thelma and Louise 1992 A Few Good Men 1992 El Mariachi 1992 Home Alone 2 1992 Howards End 1992 Leolo 1992 Malcolm X 1992 Peter’s Friends – song 1992 Reservoir Dogs 1992 The Bodyguard 1992 The Crying Game 1992 The Last of the Mohicans 1992 The Player – Trailer 1992 Unforgiven 1993 Carlito’s Way 1993 Falling Down 1993 Farewell My Concubinet 1993 Groundhog Day 1993 In the Name of the Father 1993 Jurassic Park 1993 Naked 1993 Philadelphia 1993 Schindler’s List 1993 The Fugitive 1993 The Piano 1993 The Remains of the Day 1993 The Wrong Trousers 1993 Three Colours Blue 1993 What’s Eating Gilbert Grape 1994 Chungking Express 1994 Clerks – corpse 1994 Drunken Master II – Final Fight Scene (Part 1 of 2) 1994 Ed Wood 1994 Forrest Gump 1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994 Il postino 1994 Leon The Professional 1994 Muriel’s Wedding 1994 Pulp Fiction – dancing 1994 The Madness Of King George 1994 The Shawshank Redemption 1995 Braveheart 1995 Heat 1995 La Haine 1995 Nine Months 1995 Richard III 1995 Se7en 1995 Sense and Sensibility 1995 The Usual Suspects 1995 The White Balloon 1995 Toy Story 1995 Twelve Monkeys 1996 Brassed Off 1996 Fargo 1996 Jerry Maguire 1996 Romeo and Juliet 1996 Secrets and Lies 1996 Shine 1996 The English Patient 1996 Trainspotting 1997 As Good as It Gets 1997 Boogie Nights 1997 Good Will Hunting 1997 L.A. Confidential 1997 La Vita è blla 1997 Nil By Mouth 1997 The Full Monty – ending 1997 Titanic 1997 Waiting for Guffman 1998 American History X 1998 Elizabeth 1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 1998 Festen 1998 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 1998 Lola Rennt 1998 Rushmore 1998 Saving Private Ryan – D-day Scene (1-4) 1998 Taxi 1998 The Big Lebowski 1998 The Truman Show 1999 American Beauty 1999 Being John Malkovich 1999 Fight Club 1999 Magnolia 1999 Office Space – 1 1999 The Green Mile 1999 The Matrix 1999 The Sixth Sense 2000 Amores Perros 2000 Billy Elliot 2000 Chocolat 2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000 Dancer in the Dark 2000 Erin Brockovich 2000 Gladiator 2000 Meet the Parents 2000 Memento 2000 Quills 2001 Amelie 2001 Donnie Darko 2001 Kandahar 2001 Legally Blonde 2001 Lord Of The Rings 2001 No Man’s Land 2001 The Royal Tenenbaums 2001 Wit 2002 Bowling for Columbine 2002 Chicago 2002 City of God 2002 Dirty Pretty Things 2002 Spider-Man 2002 Spirited Away 2002 Talk to Her 2002 The Magdalene Sisters 2002 The Pianist 2003 Finding Nemo 2003 Lost in Translation 2003 Monster 2003 Oldboy 2004 Crash 2004 Der Untergang 2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004 Fahrenheit 9/11 2004 Gegen die Wand 2004 Hotel Rwanda 2004 Million Dollar Baby 2004 Napoleon Dynamite 2004 Shaun Of The Dead 2004 Sideways – Trailer 2004 Tropical Malady 2005 Brokeback Mountain 2005 Good Night, And Good Luck 2005 March of the Penguinsm – Trailer 2005 The Tulse Luper Suitcases 2005 V for Vendetta 2006 Borat – Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan 2006 Lage Raho Munna Bhai 2006 Little Miss Sunshine 2006 The Lives Of Others

The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I love Conan Doyle’s style of writing. It is so crisp, and precise. Sort of reminds me of another favorite of mine – Isaac Asimov.

The premise of the novel is as follows:

Professor Challenger returns from the Amazon jungle with wild stories of having discovered prehistoric life still existing, only to be mocked at by other scientists and the general public. To prove his find, he leads another expedition to the Amazon. A reporter Malone (the narrator of the story) in an attempt to impress the lady he loves, decides to join up. They then face various adventures before returning successfully with ample proof of prehistoric life.

This novel is fast-moving, and very easy to read. The story is set in the 1920s but surprisingly does not seem dated at all. Even more astonishing, the fact that I have read far more recent and far more famous novels on the same theme (Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Crichton), did not in any way take away my enjoyment of this novel.

In fact, I appreciate it all the more because it has obviously been a source of inspiration to Crichton. Some of his descriptions of the jungles and the dinosaurs itself have definitely been sourced (not copied, mind you!) from Conan Doyle’s novel.

All in all, a great read, and highly recommend it to all!

Cheers,