Your Daily Writing Prompt (?)

Young Woman on a Shopping Spree Stock Image - Image of colourful, buying:  4272513

I don’t know, I suppose they mean well. WordPress now offers a “daily writing prompt,” in case you can’t think of anything to say on your blog.

Today’s prompt, for instance, is “Where would you go on a shopping spree?” My instinctive answer was, “The poor-house.” My mother, my father, my grandparents, my aunts–I never saw anybody in my family go on a shopping spree, any more than I ever saw them indulge in drinking or killing sprees.

The only people I EVER saw go on a shopping spree were characters in sitcoms and characters in comic strips.

But to answer the question:

I would go to Barsoom–which was Mars, as described by Edgar Rice Burroughs. You can get a lot of cool stuff on Barsoom which you can’t buy here on earth. Nifty sets of weapons, personal flying machines–you can even get invisibility paint, if you know where to look! (Uh… that didn’t come out quite right.)

And this is surely the only time in my life I have ever written about a shopping spree.

A Message from The Unknown!

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This morning, for the first time ever–and I’ve been doing this every day for years–my worldwide readership map informed me that I have a view from… “an Unknown Region.”

Holy cow! Now where could that have come from? Do they have Internet in The Shire? I’m sure they have it on Barsoom, but the reception is horrible. I’d kinda like it if it turned out to be someplace where they still have dinosaurs.

But where could it be? That’s the thing about unknown regions–you don’t know where they are. And I thought views from Mauritius were exotic!

Somewhere, I guess, there’s a castle in the wilderness, or a secret lab deep underground, or a bunch of elves gathered around a laptop, reading this blog and waiting for the next chapter of Oy, Rodney.

Ask the readers from Known Regions: where do you think this view could have come from?

‘”John Carter” Movie: Boo! Hiss! Away Wi’ Ye!’ (2012)

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Those old Bob Abbett covers were the best.

I started reading Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “John Carter” books in junior high and have enjoyed them ever since. These are glorious works of art, the best books Burroughs ever wrote. And of course I used to wonder how they might translate to a movie.

Aaaaaagh! They don’t!

‘John Carter’ Movie: Boo! Hiss! Away Wi’ Ye!

Just more proof that Disney Corp has taken the noon balloon and has nothing to offer anymore.

You may wonder what I’m doing, talking about movies on a Sunday.

Well, when the movies are this bad, someone ought to say something. It points to moral and spiritual problems elsewhere.

‘A Potboiler with a Vision’ (2013)

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Bob Abbett’s covers were my favorites.

I love the “Barsoom” novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Not just because they’re fantastic escape reading, and no end of fun–but sometimes he also came out with something wise and prescient.

A Potboiler With a Vision

Synthetic Men of Mars is one of those books that gets smarter as you grow older. If you haven’t read it since you were a teenager, read it again now. It’ll blow you away.

The image of the uncontrollably expanding shapeless mass in Vat Room #4 will stay with you for a long time to come.