Saturday, December 18, 2010

Michael Crichton Appearance on Larry King Live



This week Larry King retired after hosting his CNN show Larry King Live for 25 years.

Michael Crichton appeared on the program on September 22, 1995. Here’s one of the many highlights from the transcript (sorry, no link, obtained from Lexis Nexis):

LARRY KING: Do you have a personal favorite?

MICHAEL CRICHTON: Of?

LARRY KING: All your works, everything you've done.

MICHAEL CRICHTON: No.

LARRY KING: Let's say a culture came and said 'Show us something of yours.'

MICHAEL CRICHTON: I think I would show them a book called Travels that was sort of autobiographical.

LARRY KING: The least known of your books, maybe?

MICHAEL CRICHTON: Probably. Yeah.


Crichton was asked a similar question by Charlie Rose:

ROSE: Of all the things you have done, what has brought you the most psychic income, satisfaction?

CRICHTON: Whatever is really difficult.

ROSE: The more difficult, the more pleasure?

CRICHTON: Yes, more -- it was very difficult for me to do a book 20 years ago called "Travels" that was -- because it was about myself and I don’t like to talk about myself.

ROSE: I liked it actually.

CRICHTON: Thank you. And I am trying to do another one.


Travels is by far my favorite of Michael Crichton’s works. As I wrote in an earlier post, Crichton himself, during an online discussion, told me he was working on a sequel. Let’s hope we’ll see that published someday.


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Do You Have a Question About Michael Crichton?

I invite you to submit questions about Michael Crichton and his work—with three important caveats:

1. I will not answer or even attempt to answer questions about Crichton’s personal and private life. My blog is not a gossip site.

2. I will not do anyone’s homework for them. So I will not answer questions about Crichton’s novels that could be easily answered by reading the book. Check my blog post Michael Crichton on Yahoo Answers to see what I mean.

3. I will not answer questions that are purely subjective and a matter of interpretation. For example, is Michael Crichton a better writer than (fill in the blank).

Let me make clear that I cannot guarantee when I will be to able answer a question, so people facing deadlines for their homework should not rely on me to get back to them in time. It takes time to search my archives and library databases.

Post your questions below or email me: musingsonmichaelcrichton at gmail dot com

Questions that I think will be interesting to other readers will be answered on this blog. I’ll contact you to see if you want to be publicly credited.

Here’s your chance to let me know what you would like to see on this blog.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

A Michael Crichton Christmas 2010

(Sung to the tune of “The 12 Days of Christmas”)
By Marla Warren

On the first day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
A T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the second day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the third day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Three Rising Suns
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the fourth day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Four Timelines
Three Rising Suns
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the fifth day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Five Pirate Latitudes
Four Timelines
Three Rising Suns
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the sixth day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Six Prey a-fleeing
Five Pirate Latitudes
Four Timelines
Three Rising Suns
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the seventh day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Seven States a-Fearing
Six Prey a-fleeing
Five Pirate Latitudes
Four Timelines
Three Rising Suns
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the eighth day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Eight Airframes crashing
Seven States a-Fearing
Six Prey a-fleeing
Five Pirate Latitudes
Four Timelines
Three Rising Suns
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the ninth day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Nine E.R.s in peril
Eight Airframes crashing
Seven States a-Fearing
Six Prey a-fleeing
Five Pirate Latitudes
Four Timelines
Three Rising Suns
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the tenth day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Ten Great Trains Robbing
Nine E.R.s in peril
Eight Airframes crashing
Seven States a-Fearing
Six Prey a-fleeing
Five Pirate Latitudes
Four Timelines
Three Rising Suns
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the eleventh day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Eleven Congos drumming
Ten Great Trains Robbing
Nine E.R.s in peril
Eight Airframes crashing
Seven States a-Fearing
Six Prey a-fleeing
Five Pirate Latitudes
Four Timelines
Three Rising Suns
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the Next day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Twelve Spheres a-humming
Eleven Congos drumming
Ten Great Trains Robbing
Nine E.R.s in peril
Eight Airframes crashing
Seven States a-Fearing
Six Prey a-fleeing
Five Pirate Latitudes
Four Timelines
Three Rising Suns
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me

I wrote the original version of this on December 22, 2007. I intended it to be a fun treat for the holidays. With Michael Crichton's untimely death, it's poignant to think about what he gave us.

Last year I updated “A Michael Crichton Christmas" to include Pirate Latitudes. My good friend Erik and his friend Angel, with some help from their families, created a video based on it.



It’s amazing and I can’t believe they put all that work into it! Merry Christmas to all!

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