FINAL CHANDA'S SECRETS FILM POST -- THEN ON TO ARGENTINA!

A few last memories before heading home, then off again to blog about Argentina and Cuba!

The shot above is of some of the extras getting ready for the last scene outside Chanda's front door. Extras are always a problem for continuity and editing. Generally speaking they're amateurs and have little sense that a short scene can take a day toi film. Or that it MATTERS that they be in exactly the same position for each take. See the woman in the blue hat? At various times, she decided it was too hot to keep her hat on! Fortunately, the ace continuity editor had an eagle eye and digital shots of every take. Before "Cameras Rolling And Action" she'd sweep in to ensure that the hat was back in place.

More memories. Of the outdoor market, a farm, and a flowers that grew out of an unturned tree:







And here's me getting an interview from a TV crew in from Berlin. I was on set during press week and there were TV, radio and print reporters flying in each day from Germany and up from Johannesburg. Some actually wanted to talk to the author of the book. I also got to do a really fun interview for the DVD Extras section. So even if I'm not up on the screen, you can hear me blabbing on on the rental. :)



I'm including this shot just because :)



Finally, here's a shot from down the road, and also of a couple of kids' toys I saw hanging from a clothesline.





But wait! I still haven't told the true story of the missionaries and the hyenas! So next post, back to the bush for a quickie before we head home! AND OFF RIGHT AWAY AGAIN TO CUBA AND ARGENTINA!!!

Till then,

Allan

UPDATE: The film adaptation of CHANDA'S SECRETS is called LIFE, ABOVE ALL and will premiere as an Official Selection at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival.

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

Santa rules at the Shoprite in Elandsdoorn, South Africa. Outside? Not so much. Today it's over 30 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit). Out back, a few 'kids' decide to open their Christmas presents early.



As you can see, today I’m taking a break from the longer “Chanda film” and safari posts. After Boxing Day, I'll be posting on the safer sex campaign being done on billboards around the town. Then back to the film for stuff about the producer, Oliver Stolz and some final candid shots on set.

Happy holidays,

Allan

SAFARI (2): HIPPOMANIA

Normally you don’t even see this much of a hippo. You just see the tips of the ears and snout. Also, normally, you’ll see hippos in family pods of five or more. Clearly, this loner is socially dyslexic. Within minutes, he went from watching us to warning us. Check out the jaw and spray.



Hippos can crush a crocodile in their jaws. Curiously, this explains their co-existence. The hippos don’t mind the crocs, and the crocs... well they’re fairly lazy and disgusting. If they haven’t nabbed something at the water’s edge, they’ll happily lie underwater by the hippos rump and eat, well... Gives a whole new meaning to “Day Old”.

Anyway, we were fairly far back, so we didn’t feel too threatened. This pissed off our friend who decided to impress us with the following:



For more on hippos, the meaning of ‘hippo highways’ and other bush curiosities, check out the last half of Chanda’s Wars, in which Chanda and Nelson, a young tracker, go into the bush to rescue Chanda’s young brother and sister, who’ve been kidnapped by a warlord to become child soldiers.

In the meantime, let’s see a few more of the animals I promised in the last post. Here’s a warthog.



Lions generally avoid people. But when I was in Botswana seven years ago, a lion leapt into our encampment and took down a grazing warthog. It dragged it to the edge of the compound and dispatched it. (BTW, lions tend not to kill by ripping and tearing with their teeth. Instead, they choke their victims with a heavy paw pressed down on the victim’s neck. Check out the jungle in your little kitty cat when it rests its paw over your arm.)

How about something colourful? The yellow horn bill. When it gives birth, the female moults its feathers to make a nest in a tree hole. The male seals the female and chicks inside with a mud covering, leaving only a small hole through which he slips food to feed the brood. When the babies are able to fly, Mom grows back her feathers, pecks away the mud seal, and re-emerges into the world.



As the sun went down, the animals moved toward the river to drink. Here’s a water buck, a cousin of the impala antelope. Not nearly so cute, but much more less plentiful. Luckily for the water buck, it’s not a popular game animal. It has adrenalin glands running all over the place; if it’s panicked by a hunter, the secretions make its meat taste foul.



Dusk brought us to a herd of water buffalo.



But let's leave this safari in daylight, with one of my favourite animals: The giraffe.



Hey, take another bough.



In Chanda’s Wars, Mrs. Tafa makes the case for hunting -- an understandable position from her point of view, though not my own. But what I truly find appalling is that so-called ‘hunters’ can go to private game farms and shoot these magnificent animals while they are tethered to a post. They even ‘hunt’ endangered species like rhino. (I gather a rhino kill can be bought for $20,000 in South Africa, with the horn fetching massive amounts in non-African countries practicing traditional medicine.) Let’s close with another look at what future generations may lose.



BTW, I’ll be doing a short Christmas-in-Elandsdoorn post later this week, then a post on the pandemic here, one on producer Oliver Stolz, then back to the Chanda’s Secrets set, and all all the people and things you never see on the movie screen, but without which movies would never be made. That’ll bring us into the New Year and a whole new batch of stuff.

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the hyena-scat-and-19th-century-missionary factoid I promised. But I'm a bit tired.Later, I promise.

Till Thursday,

Allan

SAFARI (1): YOU CHECKIN' MY BUTT?

There’s a national park twenty minutes from my country cottage here in Elandsdoorn, South Africa, where I've been on location for the film shoot of my novel Chanda's Secrets. The owner and his son-in-law were kind enough to take me. They reminded me of the bush guides who taught me about tracking when I was in SubSahara researching Chanda’s Wars: Instead of looking at the bush, they see through it.

I’d seen all the Big Five except rhino when I was in Bostwana, Malawi and Zambia researching both Chanda books. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw a rhino in the bush to the right of me, and it decided to stoll out into plain view. And my further excitement when it turned sideways and blocked the road.



The rhino stayed like that for a few minutes. As it turns out, he wasn’t posing for me. Or threatening me. Check out his tail. Yup. A bathroom break. Within minutes, his ten-pound contribution to global warming was swarming with dung beetles: nature’s cleanup crew. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.



After they’ve worked the dung into balls, the beetles move it to nests just under the ground where they lay their eggs. The dung provides insulation and food for their little ones. Ah The Circle of Life. I can almost hear Elton John.

BTW, there are cattle around the farm where I’m staying. I’m told that some days the dung beetles are so busy, it looks like the entire field is moving.

Anyway, having looked to the ground to be careful where to step, let’s look up. It’s an incredible feeling to be moving slowly through the bush and to suddenly spot a little guy like this looking down from a tree.



How about a closeup?



Monkeys are cute, but if you leave anything lying around, they’ll snach it. Even salt shakers! No fear of people at all. Equally cute, but hot-wired for fear are antelope. There are so many species bounding about that it’s hard not to get jaded. (Oh, another antelope, ho hum.) Still, who wouldn’t go Ahhh at the sight of these impala? They’re Bambi times ten.



During the heat of the day, impala, like other animals, like to stay in the shade. Who wouldn’t? I’m afraid Dad, here, isn’t so keen on the attention.



Impala like to graze under trees housing baboons. The baboons sit up high and break off leaves the impala couldn’t reach. From their height, the baboons can spot and smell predators from great distances. When they do, they howl like crazy, giving the impala a head start in its race for life.

Note the “M” marking on the impala’s behind. (Black tail and lines on haunches.) Everything eats impala. Because of the ‘M’ it’s known as The McDonald’s of the Bush.



We stopped for lunch. Butterflies everywhere.



None of us have any idea what this is -- even my host who’s lived with the bush for forty-four years. Whatever, it sure looks cool.



It takes eight minutes to upload a photo over here, so I’m going to break my safari into two sections. Next time -- giraffe, a yellow horntail, water buffalo, water buck, warthog, and a grumpy hippo. Hippos kill more people than any other animal in the bush -- even lions. You’ll see it leap out of the water, and understand why Chanda and Nelson feared it in Chanda’s Wars. Till then,

Yours,

Allan

A BLOG VIRGIN NO MORE!

I swore I’d never do this. That I’d stay pure. That I’d save my writing for my books.
“Everyone’s doing it,” my editor coaxed.
“But once I’ve done it, I’ll have to keep on doing it,” I said. “My friends who blog do it two or three times a week. They’ve addicts.”
“But it’s fun,” my web mistress winked. “You’ll like it,” (Her name is Christine, but I call her Madame and she calls me Sir, and she helps me with everything to do with technology, because I’m basically terrified of anything with strange initials like URL or pdf or RSS. I’m also a very old friend of her sister, Louise, who goes by the name of Blinky.)
Anyway, Madame me set up with this blog pad, and she’s decorated it all nice for visitors and all, so what can I say? I’ve been seduced! I’m a blog virgin no more!
AND I WANT ALL THE WORLD TO KNOW!
So tell your friends! Tell your relatives. Tell complete strangers, like the people at the checkout counter, or half the people on your Facebook page. (That is if your Facebook page is anything like mine.)

“Great,” I hear you say. “Just what the world needs. Another writer with a blog. So tell us, oh Great One, who thinks he’s so important people should actually spend time reading his Blah Blah Blah -- what’ll we get if we come to your blog?”
Well, okay, yeah, I’m a writer, so some days I’ll probably blog about stuff that comes up in my work. For instance, my novel Chanda’s Secrets is being made into a movie in South Africa and I’ll be flying over on Friday to be on set. It’s a German/South African co-production set to open in Berlin in the fall. The shoot is in Elandsdoorn, a town of about thirty-thousand people, a two-hour drive north-east of Johannesburg. It’s the first time I’ve had a book turned into a film, and the chance to be back in Africa is wonderful, especially with all the local actors and the rich cultural mix. So, yeah, I’ll probably blog about that.

And in January, I’ll be on a private writer’s retreat in Cayo Largo, Cuba, for a couple of weeks, working on the first draft of the first book in a new series for HarperCollins: The Grave Robber’s Apprentice. I write for a couple of hours before breakfast, then hit the beach, swim out half a mile to the reef and relax with the corals and barracuda, then write a few hours before and after supper. It’s kinda perfect, and there’s always lots of interesting and/or weird tourist encounters, so hey, that should be good for a few entries.

Then in February my coming-of-age/ mystery/ thriller Borderline comes out in Canada (March in the U.S.) from Harper, so I’m sure there’ll be some self-indulgent commentary on that front. And stuff about researching with a guy from the ACLU, and a hostage from the Iran hostage taking in the 1970s, yadda yadda.

And in March, I’m taking a break with Daniel to either Vietnam and Cambodia or northern India for two weeks. (We haven’t decided. If you’ve been to either, please let us know what you think we should pick.)

April is my The Grave Robber’s Apprentice deadline, which should be fun if you like reading about nervous breakdowns. (Blogging is also the perfect writer’s tool at deadline time, actually, because it gives writers another reason not to be doing what they should be doing -- like, uh, writing the damn book -- which only adds to the incredible pressure that is so essential to getting things done.)

Then in May, Daniel and I are off to Italy -- Venice and Florence, mostly -- to do research (ha ha) for The G.R.A. sequel, The Necromancer’s Revenge. And face it, if I can’t write something interesting about hopping onto gondolas and seeing reliquaries with the severed limbs and organs of medieval saints, then I really ought to give up writing and sell tacks.

In between the above, I’ll write about things that pop into my head -- or if I’m blocked, maybe toss in a short series on recent trips, like my time this fall in Argentina, doing hairpin turns in the Andes, skinny dipping at Iguazu Falls, and checking out the crypts in Buenos Aires.

Oh, and I’ll always try to include a picture -- except for stuff like skinny dipping and such: The world has enough horror.
More important, I’ll be answering any questions you may have about writing or whatever. So come on, feel free -- what have you always wanted to ask a writer? Or this writer? Don’t be shy. Just ask. I’m an open book -- even if some of my pages are torn.

UPDATE: The film adaptation of CHANDA'S SECRETS is called LIFE, ABOVE ALL and will premiere as an Official Selection at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival.