Re: Roy Chapman Andrews..blah..blah..blah

Posted by Rockhammer from 129.237.141.49 on June 16, 1999 at 08:50:28:

In Reply to: Re: Roy Chapman Andrews..blah..blah..blah posted by Nick Kismet on June 15, 1999 at 17:03:06:

I was not simply talking about the author's notes. I admired and had read a big deal of Chapman Andrew's work long before IJ & the dino eggs was written. Did you know that Roy Chapman Andrews was afraid of snakes? I doubt that very much to be a coincidence. There's plenty more (like the way he wore his gun), but I won't get into it because it is besides the point.
I agree that the years comprehended within the dates you mention are probably the best to set an adventure in. However, there have been adventurers as long as there has been man. Those years are more attractive to us because of several reasons, among them:
1- Means of transportation are modern (we have planes and cars) and we can go to remote places much faster and with more ease than we could in the 1700's for example. Plus, we have beeter technology in general. Telecommunication technology is getting much better. Etc. Plus, we have better guns to protect ourselves (without getting to overkill like the present day)
2- Huge portions of the Earth remained unexplored. This is no longer true. In this day an age, maybe there's a few patches of jungle in the Amazon we haven't gotten to, but for the most part, even the Amazon's been explored.
3- Old fashion romance was still possible. These days, you try to give a girl a compliment and you get sued for sexual harrassment. You can't even be a knight in shining armor rescueing a girl anymore. They like to be independant and get out if it on their own.
And so on and so forth. So you see, it is true that this is the best age for setting an adventure story, but not because all good adventures took place in this period. It is because the adventures that took place in this period are more appealing to us.
One more thing: I didn't like your ridiculization of my discussion. "Blah, blah, blah"?
I thought we were trying to discuss and share ideas here, even if shooting off in a tangent of the original topic. I could very easily have responded to this with a "yadda, yadda, yadda" tag line, but that is childish and derogatory. I am above that.

: Yes, yes, I've read the author's notes to Dino's Eggs, too. My point is that there are quite a few rogue adventurers from the early part of the century who laid the pattern for Indiana Jones. Mike Mitchell Hedges, for example who discovered the Crystal Skull in a Mayan city (or did he??) and Henning Haslund from earlier mentioned book.
: The era between about 1870 and 1960 was truly an age of adventure where people like the afforementioned were not only real-life Indiana Jones', but were actually considered heroes of their day. This tells me, as a modern adventure writer that this is the ideal era for all kinds of adventurers.

: : : I have discovered a publishing house that deals in adventure travel books, including reprints of many books from the 1930's and onward. Some of these are incredibly similar to the adventures of Indy. I have been reading a contemporary book called Lost Cities of North and Central America, but there is one from the early 1930's called Men and Gods in Mongolia that sounds very similar to IJ & the Dinosaur Eggs. The link to their wesite is below.

: : Well, Indiana Jones and the Dinosaur Eggs was inspired by the real life travels/adventures of the great Roy Chapman Andrews, one of my personal heroes. It is no secret. He explored and mapped a large portion of the Gobi desert, and found a huge number of Dinosaur fossils, for which he is famous. Everybody who is anybody in the world of Paleontology, geology and zoology knows who Roy Chapman Andrews is (or was, may he RIP) and what he did. He served as director for the American Museum of Natural History in NY for a number of years as well.
: : It is the opinion of many (myself included) that he was one of the main inspirations in the creation of Indiana Jones.
: : Hence,it is not surprising that you may see a lot of similarities between IJ & the dino eggs and Roy Chapman Andrew's books, or other books written about his adventures. Or even books like the one you have, written about the same area during a similar time as what we're talking about.

: : I checked the website, BTW. It's kind of cool to know that there are people with explorer's hearts out there in this day and age, but I was very dissapointed to see that these people take things like "alternative science" and "cryptozoology" seriously. Moreover, stuff like the alien bases in the moon they talked about made me laugh out loud. They'd all make a good science fiction plot, though :)

Rockhammer's Dig

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Re: Nick Kismet yadda yadda Nick Kismet 02:11:29 6/17/99 (0)

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: I was not simply talking about the author's notes. I admired and had read a big deal of Chapman Andrew's work long before IJ & the dino eggs was written. Did you know that Roy Chapman Andrews was afraid of snakes? I doubt that very much to be a coincidence. There's plenty more (like the way he wore his gun), but I won't get into it because it is besides the point.
: I agree that the years comprehended within the dates you mention are probably the best to set an adventure in. However, there have been adventurers as long as there has been man. Those years are more attractive to us because of several reasons, among them:
: 1- Means of transportation are modern (we have planes and cars) and we can go to remote places much faster and with more ease than we could in the 1700's for example. Plus, we have beeter technology in general. Telecommunication technology is getting much better. Etc. Plus, we have better guns to protect ourselves (without getting to overkill like the present day)
: 2- Huge portions of the Earth remained unexplored. This is no longer true. In this day an age, maybe there's a few patches of jungle in the Amazon we haven't gotten to, but for the most part, even the Amazon's been explored.
: 3- Old fashion romance was still possible. These days, you try to give a girl a compliment and you get sued for sexual harrassment. You can't even be a knight in shining armor rescueing a girl anymore. They like to be independant and get out if it on their own.
: And so on and so forth. So you see, it is true that this is the best age for setting an adventure story, but not because all good adventures took place in this period. It is because the adventures that took place in this period are more appealing to us.
: One more thing: I didn't like your ridiculization of my discussion. "Blah, blah, blah"?
: I thought we were trying to discuss and share ideas here, even if shooting off in a tangent of the original topic. I could very easily have responded to this with a "yadda, yadda, yadda" tag line, but that is childish and derogatory. I am above that.

: : Yes, yes, I've read the author's notes to Dino's Eggs, too.  My point is that there are quite a few rogue adventurers from the early part of the century who laid the pattern for Indiana Jones.  Mike Mitchell Hedges, for example who discovered the Crystal Skull in a Mayan city (or did he??) and Henning Haslund from earlier mentioned book.  
: : The era between about 1870 and 1960 was truly an age of adventure where people like the afforementioned were not only real-life Indiana Jones', but were actually considered heroes of their day.  This tells me, as a modern adventure writer that this is the ideal era for all kinds of adventurers.

: : : : I have discovered a publishing house that deals in adventure travel books, including reprints of many books from the 1930's and onward.  Some of these are incredibly similar to the adventures of Indy.  I have been reading a contemporary book called Lost Cities of North and Central America, but there is one from the early 1930's called Men and Gods in Mongolia that sounds very similar to IJ & the Dinosaur Eggs.  The link to their wesite is below.

: : : Well, Indiana Jones and the Dinosaur Eggs was inspired by the real life travels/adventures of the great Roy Chapman Andrews, one of my personal heroes. It is no secret. He explored and mapped a large portion of the Gobi desert, and found a huge number of Dinosaur fossils, for which he is famous. Everybody who is anybody in the world of Paleontology, geology and zoology knows who Roy Chapman Andrews is (or was, may he RIP) and what he did. He served as director for the American Museum of Natural History in NY for a number of years as well.
: : : It is the opinion of many (myself included) that he was one of the main inspirations in the creation of Indiana Jones.
: : : Hence,it is not surprising that you may see a lot of similarities between IJ & the dino eggs and Roy Chapman Andrew's books, or other books written about his adventures. Or even books like the one you have, written about the same area during a similar time as what we're talking about.

: : : I checked the website, BTW. It's kind of cool to know that there are people with explorer's hearts out there in this day and age, but I was very dissapointed to see that these people take things like "alternative science" and "cryptozoology" seriously. Moreover, stuff like the alien bases in the moon they talked about made me laugh out loud. They'd all make a good science fiction plot, though :)

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