Today’s Progressive Pioneer is none other than the ultra-prolific planetary romance and adventure novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs (EBR). Burroughs’ work—particularly on his John Carter of Barsoom (i.e. Mars) series—are the unsung inspiration for stories such as Flash Gordon, Star Wars, and even Avatar. All eleven Barsoom novels describe a world so rich in detail, culture, wildly eccentric science and technology (for his time), outlandish and terrifying creatures, and extraordinary complex characters story tellers have been tapping into for over a century. However, Burroughs’ work goes beyond just his Barsoom/Mars books. He is even more known for his Tarzan adventure novel series of 26 books. These stories were so famous during Burroughs’ time that he immediately saw the tech trend value in exploiting them in all forms of media (against so-called experts’ advice at the time). Tarzan became an instant hit on radio, in comic books, and in film. In fact, even Burroughs’ daughter Joan married Tarzan film actor, James Pierce, starring with her husband, as the voice of Jane, during 1932-34 for the Tarzan radio series! However, the most interesting fact about Burroughs’ Tarzan is that not one but two towns were named after the character! Tarzana in California, which started out as EBR’s eponymous ranch in the Los Angeles area, and eventually became incorporated as the American town of Tarzana in 1927. Tarzan in Texas was also formally named in 1927. There’s even an impact crater on Mars named after EBR! Burroughs was born in Chicago Illinois on September 1st, 1875 and died on March 19th, 1950 at the age of 74. He was married twice, first to Emma Hulbert (1900–1934) where they had three children together (Joan, Hulbert, and John); and then to actress Florence Gilbert Dearholt (1935–1942). He passed away in Encino California but he is laid...
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November 15, 2019You know, people spend a lot of time at work talking about what they watched the night before on their favorite video streaming service. But what they don’t do is talk much about is how the digital video streaming services out there are really changing the media and entertainment landscape of our digital world. And then there are events that really put a fine point on that last observation. Like what you ask? Well, this past Tuesday (11/12/2019) Disney+, the newest and probably most hyped video/movie/TV streaming service from the “House of The Mouse” just launched what it hopes to be a serious market‐disruptor! My little digital batkid was very happy when we signed up for Disney+, and so was Disney! Here’s why: Disney bought Fox for $60B, that’s BILLION with a B! All of their content will now go onto Disney+. Disney spent $2.5B on an ESPN service to stream major sports to customers like the MLB. Disney spent $4B on Star Wars (i.e. Lucasfilm) and wants to recoup every bit of that both with new Star Wars theatrical films and exclusive Star Wars original streaming programs like The Mandalorian. Disney+ will feature over 500 films from the Disney library, and over 7000 episodes of Disney TV shows. Disney+ will cost on $7 a month compared to $13 for Netflix’s base program. Disney has invested over $2B in developing its video streaming platform, Disney+, while Apple is playing catchup investing nearly $15B for AppleTV+. Disney plans on having over 20 million subscribers in its first 3 – 5 years. Netflix currently has over 140 million subscribers! Disney wants some of that lucrative market share. HBO GO/NOW will be rebranded into HBO MAX with a planned subscriber fee almost twice that of Disney+! Yet, it boasts such powerful and popular...