Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Category Archives: Media


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Other People’s Pulps: Segrelles

When I was a kid, I did not read fantasy.
OK, I did read the Arabian Nights, Alice in Wonderland, and a few books of folk stories and fables, but when it came to novels, I was a science fiction reader since the tender age of ten, with a side interest in mysteries (and I still am, actually, mostly a SF reader).
Fantasy was basically old sword & sandal movies, and little else, to me and my friends.

The very first time I realized there was this genre of fiction featuring warriors and monsters and beautiful, scantly-clad women in strange exotic locales, was when I discovered the works of Spanish painter and comic artist Vicente Segrelles, and his character, The Mercenary.

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I was fourteen or thereabouts. The age of discovery.
For me, Segrelles came before Frazetta, and Buscema, and Adams, and Alcala, and Robert E. Howard.
I saw his paintings, and I was hooked for life1. Continue reading →


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Not just another shark movie

forty_seven_meters_down_ver3Nothing better than a good thriller on a hot summer night.
Thanks to my friend Lucy I discovered In the Deep, which is most certainly not just another shark movie.

It’s been long debated how much damage the success of Jaws has done to the marine ecosystem, reinforcing the myht of the evil shark and basically providing justification for people that wanted to kill the evil shark to make soup of its fins.
For certain, Spielberg’s movie established a standard “monster” of modern cinema.
There’s dozens of shark movies out there, some very good, some ok, a lot of then simply horrible.
In the Deep – also known as 47 meters down – is one of the very good ones. Continue reading →


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The Hooded Man

The website Den of Geek published a long, well-detailed articles about the legendary (and actually quite good) British TV show, Robin of Sherwood.

I loved the series, and I was thinking about doing a post myself – it’s been thirty years since the last episode aired – but the Linos Cathryn Thomas piece I linked above is just perfect.

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I loved the youthful cast, the mix of history and folklore-based fantasy, and the production values – ironic, considering the series was apparently done on a very tight budget. It also featured some first class writing and an overall magnificent cast.

So, check out the post, track down the old episodes, and – like the Doobie Brothers said – listen to the music…


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The Joan Crawford Blogathon: Strange Cargo (1940)

It’s the Joan Crawford blogathon – and we are terribly late!
But here we are.
Set up by the In the Good Old Days of Hollywood blog, this online marathon celebrates one of the most iconic actresses of Classic Hollywood.
Strikingly beautiful, extraordinarily talented and extremely versatile, Crawford later became the subject of interests unrelated to her acting career… but we are trying to stick to her performances. This is not a gossip column.
So, please check out the link above for a full list of the participating blogs and a lot of excellent posts on some great movies.

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And once you’re done, follow us in the jungle as we set our sights on Strange Cargo. Continue reading →