OVERLOOKED DOCUMENTARY: AFRICA SPEAKS! (1930)

Not that long ago, Africa was really the Dark Continent -- a land of mystery with strange tribe, exotic animals, and unusual customs.  Shot over a period of 14 months (with some staged portions films afterward), Africa Speaks! covers an expedition led by Paul F. Hoefler into what was then the Belgian Congo.  Narrated by Lowell Thomas in a casual -- and to modern ears, condescending and sometimes offensive -- style with some witty remarks that fall flat.  A lot of information and good deal of misinformation here.  These's also a lot of stunning nature photography here.  Africa Speaks! brought a relatively unknown part of the world to movie audiences of the day and fed a demand that also brought a vast number of jungle movies to theaters.  Footage from this movie was used in many of the Bomba the Jungle Boy films.

 The copy linked to below has been edited to 50 minutes from the original 75 minutes.  Still, it's worth a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD3vHETLlEM&index=21&list=PL4lXXl0ee_S-z-fXNSdnuRHPyFrsbSvvk

...And this 25 minute version of the expedition includes footage of the Ubangi tribe that was not included in the above:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cSowdq4Hos

MUSIC FROM THE PAST: SMOKE ON THE wATER

This one always gets my head a-bobbing.  Deep Purple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUwEIt9ez7M

INCOMING

• Kate Daniel, Baby-sitter's Nightmare.  YA thriller.  "Alice Fleming is trapped in a nightmare.  someone's been breaking into houses all over town, stealing and wrecking furniture.  The victims all had one thing in common:  Alice baby-sat their kids.  The p[olice re ready to lock Alice up, and even her friends are wondering if Alice has a dark side they never knew...The one night Alice cancels a baby-sitting job, and the substitute sitter is murdered. Alice is desperate to find the real killer.  Bur as she follows the killer's trail, is she walking into a dealy trap set just for her?"  Sounds kind of blah, but it only cost me ten cents.
• "J. V. Lewton" (Stephen Gresham), Just Pretend.  YA horror.  "Sixteen-year-old Clay Brannon has the ability to see things.  Some call it a gift, but Clay calls it a curse.  Especially when he hear's a little girl's voice on a call-ion radio show:  "I pretended a bad man...and he's going to kill me."  Although the phone call is dismissed as a prank, Clay knows what he heard is true.  In his mind he can visualize a little girl at the mercy of a madman who has killed before and will kill again -- unless Clay can find him and stop him in time.  It won't be easy...because Clay has just seen an image of someone else's death.  his own."  The pseudonym is a nod to classic film director Val Lewton.
• Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch.  YA fantasy.  Sunny looks like a West African, but she's an albino and doesn't seem to fit in anywhere.  "Her classmate Orlu and his friend Chichi reveal that they have magical abilities -- and so does she.  Sunny is a 'free agent,' overflowing with latent power.  And she has a lot of catching up to do.  Soon, Sunny's taking a crash course in magical history, spells, juju, shapechanging, and dimensional travel.  Her new world is a secret to hwer family, but it's well worth all the exhaustion and sneaking around.  But...there is a dark side.  Just as she's finding her footing, Sunny, with Orlu, Chichi, and their American friend Sasha, is asked by the magical authorities to help track down a criminal.  Not just a run-of-the-mill bad guy.  A real-life, hard-core serial killer -- with abilities stronger than theirs."
• Hannu Rajaniemi, The Quantum Thief.  SF novel, the first in a series featuring Jean le Flambeur, who has had many lives and who has been a thief, confidence man, posthuman mind-burglar, and more.  From ISFDb:  "A breathtaking ride through the solar system several centuries hence, a world of marching cities, ubiquitous public-key encryption, people who communicate vis shared memory, and a race of hyper-advanced humans who originated as an MMORPG guild."  This book placed third in both the 2011 Locus Best First Novel catagory and the 2011 Campbell Memorial Best Science Fiction Novel catagory, as well as being nominated below the cutoff for the 2011 and 2012 Hugo Best Novel Awards.  (The reason for two Hugo nominations lies in the fact that it was first published in England and the following year in the U.S.)

EVER THE TWAIN SHOULD MEET: STEM AND THE ARTS

The line between STEM and the arts is artificial.  This is something that everyone should recognize.

Makulla Abdullah is now the president of the University of Virginia and has approached this job with a message:  Embracing Opportunities for Excellance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmboiJh6qJU

HYMN TIME

Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXt-I2bIdZE

APRIL 1st MUSIC FROM THE PAST: I'M A FOOL

Dino, Desi & Billie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_wh9Mc8GUQ

A COMIC BOOK DISCOVERY!

We start the month of April off with the most exciting comic book news in decades -- the discovery of a previously-unheard-of comic book dating back to 1901!  A brown and fragile copy of Honus Wagner, Boy Detective #1 was found by workmen behind the fireplace bricks of an old house being torn down in Pittsburgh .  Research has shown that the house once belonged to Edmund S. Sterling, who once worked for the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball franchise.  Honus Wagner (1874-1955), of course was the famed shortstop for the Pirates professional baseball team from 1900 to 1917.  He later served as a coach for the team from 1933 to 1951.  Wagner holds the distinction of being the player on the most valuable baseball card ever -- the T206 Honus Wagner card from the American Tobacco company.  With this recent discovery, Wagner undoubedly brings a similar value to the comic book.

The discovery was evidently made some eight months ago, in August 2016, but had been kept secret until experts could verify its age and provenance.  According to the owner of the comic book, Miss Patricia Mae Skelnik, it appears that this was the first of possibly three or more issues of the comic book published.  I should be noted that no other copies of this comic book or of any other issues have year been discovered.  While going through the stored records of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, researchers are "relatively assured" that the Honus Wagner series was planned as a promotional giveaway, capitalizing on the popularity of "The Flying Dutchman," who was a mainstay of the team.

In format, the book resembles many of the dime novels of the era, at least in size.  Rather than a text story, each page contains one illustration with a two- or three-line description below it, forming a continuous narrative.  The storyline follows young Honus hauling slag from a coal mine (in real-life Honus Wagner dropped out of school at age twelve to work with his father and brothers in a coal mine) when he overhears a plot to rob the mine offices.  It turns out that this is just the beginning of an orchestrated plot by rival mine owners to destroy Hiram J. Hornstrung, the owner of the mine where young Honus worked.  Thrill after thrill follows, as Honus manages to retrieve the stolen payroll, save the mine from being blown up, rescue the young daughter of the mine's manager, and finally putting a kibosh on the whole nefarious plot.  Honus uses his wits, his speed, and his daring to save the day, along with a heavy helping of his speed and accuracy in throwing.  Honus is also portrayed as being pure of heart.

The author and artist of this comic book are unknown, although reports are that the artwork is similar to that of Winsor McKay.  Actual copies of the comic book have not been available for examination.  Fans will have to wait until later this year for that thrill.

Skelnik said that Honus Wagner, Boy Detective #1 will be reprinted this November in a deluxe boxed edition from Knopf.

Meanwhile, the search has been intensified to find further issues about the adventures of young Honus.  Perhaps in your attic...