Ray Bradbury calls Michael Moore a dumb *bleep*!

[Killarney]

The 80-year-old author is peeved that Moore's latest documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11" -- which just picked up the highly coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival -- is trading on the title of Bradbury's famous 1953 novel "Fahrenheit 451."

"Michael Moore is a dumb , that's what I think," Bradbury told the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter during a phone interview from Los Angeles. "He stole my title and changed the numbers without ever asking my permission."Not one to hold back, Bradbury said he tried to contact Moore's production company to express his grave displeasure, but to no avail. It would be nice, he added, if Moore changed the title of his soon-to-be released film.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14314-2004Jun3.html

[genius]

1. I've met Bradbury. He's got a bit of an ego.

He would probably be concerned that "Fahrenheit 911" will do better than "Fahrenheit 451."

[FlemingsGhost]

14. Yeah, me too. And you are soooooo right...

Still, one of the most engaging individuals I've ever met. Boy, could he toss 'em back...

(on edit:typo)

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. Tough shit Ray..THe USSC already allowed THE WIND DONE GONE

all Moore has to claim is parody.

[Charley_Dog]

80. "...all Moore has to claim is parody."

How can "Fahrenheit 9/11" be considered a parody of "Fahrenheit 451"?
Have you read Bradbury's book?

[wildwww2]

91. I have. What does that have to do with a parody on a title?

The bad guys in the book are sure a hell alot like the Bu$h cabal. Don`t you think? By pointing out the simularities of Bu$h co. vs.Fahrenheit 451. Mr. Moore is doing Bradbury a huge favor and honor. And it sounds like the pompous ass fool. May be too old and senile to recognize it.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[AP]

3. There is not possiblity that Moore is diluting the TM or confusing people

over the nature of his product.

[Cronus Protagonist]

48. A book title is not a trademark per se

Could be trademarked, but it's not, and the single word "Farenheit" cannot be trademarked because it's been in common use for hundreds of years worldwide. In fact, I doubt either title could be trademarked because then someone just talking about the combustibility of paper or whatever would be in trouble for using marks.

I think Moore is on firm ground and Bradbury is showing his age - he is still one of my favorite authors of fiction.

Click here for "HERO KERRY ZERO BUSH", "VETERAN KERRY AWOL BUSH" and other fair and balanced yet stunning, insulting, shocking, funny buttons, magnets and stickers

[AP]

53. Unless it's very popular...like Gone With the Wind. Farenheit 451?

Probably not, but I doubt a court would through wout a claim that it was, on its face.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

86. Let Bradbury take it to court...ANY publicity is GOOD publicity.

[wuushew]

4. Ray Bradbury is a fool

did it occur to him that in some way Moore's film might generate interest in his book.

Besides satire is protected as a form of expression his complaint has no merit.

[Vickers]

51. Bingo. He'll make more money off this deal I'm sure.

His ignorance of the fiscal realities of this would appear to reveal a neocon streak.

:P

[thebigidea]

5. as if Moore's documentary has anything to do with his book

Geez, you'd think he'd enjoy the nod of the hat and wry reference. You'd think he'd shut up and realize that if anything, it'll increase sales of his book.

[CJCRANE]

11. Exactly, just shows

that his book has become part of the culture and reached iconic status just like "1984". What Moore's done is a compliment to the power of the title and the book.

[Democat]

6. Bradbury is no longer a fan of free speech - this is well known

Supposedly, he once verbally attacked a woman who was questioning U.S. government policy.

He was a great author, but he is not a free speech supporter in his old age.

[Killarney]

7. I had no idea he was like this!

I was going to buy Farenheit 451 and read it, too, but now fuck him.

[redqueen]

22. Get it free from your local library instead

:hi:

[Killarney]

31. Good idea. Thanks!

:toast:

[Pastiche423]

29. You can say fuck him

but do yourself a favor and read his book. The g'ment drug induced stupor of the characters in his book parallels the mighty g'ment backed pharma companies of today quite nicely. And quite scarily.

[RapidCreek]

42. I just burned my copy

RC

[Cronus Protagonist]

49. How appropo :)

Click here for "HERO KERRY ZERO BUSH", "VETERAN KERRY AWOL BUSH" and other fair and balanced yet stunning, insulting, shocking, funny buttons, magnets and stickers

[girl gone mad]

89. hehe. n/t

[Wright Patman]

9. I had no idea

he was either still alive or an opponent of free speech.

On a related subject, does anyone know if James Michener is still alive? He was also sort of a flag-waving type.

[libhill]

15. Nope -

the man has passed on -

[Democat]

16. Here is part of an interview with Bradbury from 1990

Bradbury: We have a telephone for every person in the country in America. There are no automobiles in Russia. It has yet to be invented

Couteau: If they can afford them though, right?

Bradbury: Huh?

Couteau: You said we have a telephone for everyone in the country. Everyone who can afford a telephone.

Bradbury: Everyone has a telephone. Whether they can afford it or not. It’s one of those things that people have regardless of their income.

Couteau: Well, how about someone who is …You’re answers are piquing my interest in other questions, of course …

Bradbury: Okay … No; there are some things that all poor people have, automatically. They have TV …

Couteau: Well, how about a homeless person in New York …

Bradbury: Well, no; that’s another problem entirely, which has to do with our emptying the lunatic asylums twenty-five years ago. It was a big liberal movement, and a conservative movement, too, because we hated lunatic asylums, we hated the idea of them, and we had medicines which we thought were going to work, right? It was an honorable experiment, but it didn’t work. So those people are out there. Now we have to take them off the streets; we cannot leave them out there.

Couteau: I worked in a program in New York that was involved with trying to find housing and jobs for homeless mentally ill people. It was one of the few programs set up to solve that problem. And I did encounter many people who barely got by, who had a home but couldn’t afford a telephone or couldn’t afford clothing or other things that we all take for granted.
And what I’m getting at, what I’m leading to is … you’re talking a lot about the Soviet Union. I’m wondering about your feelings about totalitarian strains within the United States.

Bradbury: There are none.

Couteau: You don’t feel there are any?

Bradbury: No. Of course not. Never have been. We’re a free society; we’ve got television. We have radio. We have newspapers. We have the videocassette, which is coming into play. These are new freedoms.

Couteau: How about right-wing reactionary forces, like the Klan? Wouldn’t you say that’s a strain?


Bradbury: No, those things exist on both sides. The left wing want to burn certain books, too, but they don’t. We don’t allow them too. The Huckleberry Finn liberal groups have been against … but we have to oppose that.


http://members.tripod.com/more_couteau/bradbury.htm

[robbedvoter]

23. Unbelievable! You think Martians swapped his brains?

He had many stories about identity theft....How sad....
The freedom to have a videocasette - from the author of Fahrenhart 451....
I feel like someone died. :-(

[JayS]

27. I'll agree with him on one point.

I don't remember who the blame should fall to but turning the mentally ill out to the streets was cruel.


Bradbury: Well, no; that’s another problem entirely, which has to do with our emptying the lunatic asylums twenty-five years ago. It was a big liberal movement, and a conservative movement, too, because we hated lunatic asylums, we hated the idea of them, and we had medicines which we thought were going to work, right? It was an honorable experiment, but it didn’t work. So those people are out there. Now we have to take them off the streets; we cannot leave them out there.

[stickdog]

39. Except that Reagan did most of it. (nt)

[robbedvoter]

47. Still, not the FULL explanation of homelessness. His social understanding

is kinda akin with W. very, very sad.

[libhill]

69. What social understanding ?

all repukes understand is money, and how to make more at the expense of the less fortunate. These assholes would put all of us on the streets, if they thought they could make a dollar out of it. In the same way they "support the troops", by paying lip service to their sacrifices, while they steadily decrease veterans benefits.

[Cocoa]

36. how can someone think everyone has a phone?

does he think there's some federal program that pays people's phone bills?

[leesa]

85. I wish he would call some of the people I'm trying to treat for leukemia

as outpatients who don't have phones.

[Bridget Burke]

78. Michener died in 1997 & he was a Democrat

He was adopted by a widow with 2 children; she may have been his real mother. There was no money, but he traveled widely in his youth & won a scholarship to Swarthmore (a Quaker school). At 40 he was stationed in the Pacific as a Naval historian; notes he began at that time became "Tales of the South Pacific", his first book. His writings were immensely successful but he lived simply & was a great philanthropist. In 1962, he ran for Congress as a Democrat but lost.

www.grandtimes.com/michener.html

Most of his works were not great art but pageturners & attempts to educate his readers about other places & other times. I read most of them in my youth.

"Iberia" is his non-fiction travelogue/memoir of Spain & worth re-reading.

[ochazuke]

20. Yeah, who's the real dumb ****?

Moore or the guy who doesn't understand free speech? Maybe Bradbury should ask Bill O'Reilly's advice on suing someone for using his book title.

I always hated Bradbury's book "The Martian Chronicles." So, I'm not surprised to find out he's an IDIOT.

[LizW]

8. Bradbury needs to get over himself

:eyes:

[eyesroll]

10. Bradbury's out of line

One can't legally copyright a book (or song, TV show, movie, etc.) title.



I did an FEC search -- no donor records come up for Bradbury. He's not a large donor to either party or any candidate.

Another write-up of this (warning: World Net Daily, all I could find) said the following:

Bradbury dismissed any chance of the title being changed at this point:

"Who cares? Nobody will see his movie. It is almost dead already. Never mind, nobody cares."

Moore's film won the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival last month and is scheduled to hit theaters on June 25.

Of the Cannes award, Bradbury told the paper: "I have won prizes in different places and they are mostly meaningless. The people there hate us, which is why they gave him the d'Or. It's a meaningless prize."

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38776

Almost dead? It's going to be huge.

[Cocoa]

32. he sounds like an especially dumb Freeper

the part about Clark is just dumb. It didn't affect Clark's chances of being elected president, it hurt Bush's. Moore's comments finally got the press to report on the story, and his movie will hopefully spur them to report on all kinds of other stories they've been ignoring.

[The Zanti Regent]

94. Bradbury IS a freeper!

I made the fatal mistake of goign to the House of Pies for lunch a couple of weeks ago and he was at the counter uttering nothing but Freeper bullshit about how evil Clinton was--the usual lies about CLinton's drug running and Hillary killing Vince Foster. He kept bullshitting about what a brave patriot Bush was, then someone else reminded that fart that Bush went AWOL, now what Did Mr Idiot say???

"BUSH NEVER WENT AWOL"

F him...

[LisaM]

12. You can't trademark a title....

that's why so many things have similar or like titles (case in point: years ago I was working at a college text book store. An English professor ordered a book called "Trios" but did not give the author. An entirely different book arrived - porn, about menages a trois!) )

[ikojo]

100. Do an amazon search for "when the wind blows"

(the title of a book by John Saul) and see how many different authors there are for books with the same title.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-1661817-3776140

[abelenkpe]

13. damn

I used to be a big fan of Bradbury's. I am shocked to hear how shallow he is over this issue.

Does everyone go insane as they grow older. I thought people were supposed to grow wiser.

[redqueen]

25. Heavens no!

Granny D is one shining example of an elderly person retaining their ability to reason! (As well as many, many others...)

[EOTE]

64. You know what they say don't you?

If you're not a liberal by the time you turn 20, you don't have a heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you turn 80, you don't have senility.

[robbedvoter]

17. Disappointing. The movie was keeping with the spirit of the book

if bradbury still had his wits about him, he would have made appearances with Moore. This way, he is advertising his irrelevance. A former fan.

[MercutioATC]

70. Agreed. The point was that 451 degrees was the temperature at which books

burned. Seems they were both talking about keeping the masses in the dark. Bradbury should be bright enough to see this.

[DrWeird]

18. I thought Bradbury's been dead for years.

Hasn't he?

[gristy]

21. Those reports were wildly exaggerated, apparently.

[MARALE]

54. Maybe not

I think his brain is dying, from the things he's said

[Wickerman]

24. one would gather only in the brain

hell, I thought he was dead, too.

[gratuitous]

19. Fire calls Ray Bradbury a dumb bleep

"The least Bradbury could do is change the title of his little knock-off novel," said Fire from its Santa Monica home today. "I mean, I've been around for a lot longer than Ray Bradbury . . . well, a couple of months, anyway. I tried to contact him about using me as a character in his novel without my permission, but to no avail. I suppose that maybe I should visit his house, and relieve the world of any more of his hack scribblings."

[robbedvoter]

30. ha!ha!ha! You nailed it! Thanks! Brilliant!

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

26. And drudge and lucy and all the rw lemmings

will, predictably, put this on their sites over and over again for months

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

28. Isnt sci-fi sort of reactionary, anyway?

I think the only progressive modern sci-fi writer was Ursula Leguin.

Most of them seem to have been pretty much on the RW/Libertarian side of things.

[robbedvoter]

34. No. Bradbury wasn't such an a*hole either when he wrote this

Asimov certainly never was.

[durutti]

97. Asimov was a Marxist in his youth.

He was influenced by socialist ideas throughout his life though, and was a devoted humanist.

[PeeWeeTheMadman]

43. Examples?

I know that Henlein certainly were a libertarian, do you know any more examples of libertarian sci-fi writers?

[pop goes the weasel]

68. you obviously need to read more science fiction

Cherryh (I know I've misspelled that), Brin, McIntyre, Asimov, Morrow...jeesh, who are you reading to think they are reactionary?

[Liberal Classic]

72. I am not sure what to say in respose to this statement

I have deleted four posts already. I think I'll just say:

Can't fiction just be fiction?

[durutti]

98. Yes and no.

It depends on how you approach it. If you're just reading for fun, then yes, certainly -- and there are definitely writers whose writing I enjoy that I probably wouldn't see eye to eye with politically.

But literary analysis is one level at which any work can be appreciated, and politics is definitely something that one would consider in that context.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

79. Read Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light". Sci Fi is neither

liberal or conservative, it's just a medium.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380014033/qid=1086445260/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5524445-7655962?v=glance&s=books

[durutti]

95. Here are a few progressive SF writers...

Ursula is one of my favorites. Some others:

Margaret Atwood
Michael Moorcock
Bruce Sterling
William Gibson
Gene Rodenberry
Isaac Asimov
Edward Bellamy
H.G. Wells
William Morris
Olaf Stapledon
George Orwell
Mack Reynolds
Iain Banks
John Barnes
Terry Bisson
John Brunner
Emma Bull
Steven Brust
Octavia Butler
Philip K. Dick
Nicola Griffith
Paul DiFilippo
Nancy Kress
Dorris Lessing
Simon Louvish
Ken Macleod
Marge Piercy
Kim Stanley Robinson
Fred Pohl
Norman Spinrad
Kurt Vonnegut
Mark Dery
Harlan Ellison
Robert Silverberg
Larry Niven (maybe)
Frank Herbert (maybe)
Marion Zimmer Bradley (maybe)

H.P. Lovecraft was an economic populist and supporter of the New Deal, but he was also racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic.

Robert Heinlein's views changed a great deal throughout his life, and he ended up advocating a sort of radical individualism. Nevertheless, Stranger in a Strange Land is a great book with lots of progressive themes.

William S. Burroughs, whose later work was SF-esque, considered himself a left-libertarian, but tended occasionally toward misogyny.

Sociological SF tends to be dominated by progressives (feminists especially). Military SF tends, of course, to be right-wing. Cyberpunk is by its very nature progressive, as is more surrealist work. Hard SF writers seem generally disinterested in politics.

Anne McCaffrey is a right-winger, by the way.

[durutti]

96. "Starship Stormtroopers"

This essay is a must-read: http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/moorcock.html

[stopthegop]

33. contrary to some posters above this does not show..

Bradbury being against free speech...it doesn't say he took any legal action, or tried to get the title forcilby changed...he expressed displeasure...nothing wrong with that..(it's free speech)

[robbedvoter]

38. Please read # 16. he thinks the right to videocasettes supplanted

the old rights. We got "stuff". Russians don't, so there. I almost feel bad for having loved his staff.

[Democat]

40. Bradbury proudly speaks of making "anti-American" speakers "shut up"

Do some reasearch on Bradbury. There was an event some years ago where he made a speaker at an event he was at stop talking because she was being critical of the government. He brags about it. He is proud of trying to shut up people who "hate America", which to him now seems to mean anyone who doesn't love George W. Bush or everything the U.S. government does.

[stopthegop]

44. again....how did he 'make' someone stop talking?

if he just out-argued, or even out-shouted...that's still free speech...are people who heckle conservative speaker against free spech?

[Democat]

50. Listen to his own words on the subject

He was not "arguing" with anyone, he repeatedly told a speaker he didn't agree with to shut up until they did. He was proud of the fact that he got to say what he wanted and he was able to silence the "anti-American" speaker.

You should be able to find old news on it by doing a search.

As a private citizen, he can't stop free speech, but he is no longer a big fan of it.

Do you think that people who tell other citizens to "shut up during war time" are supporters of free speech? After all, it's their free speech right to tell you that, right?

Using that logic, no one is ever against free speech, because being against free speech is just a form of free speech. :)

[Democat]

35. Here are some Bradbury quotes slamming Clinton/Dems, praising Bush/Repubs

POLITICS:

{George W. Bush is} wonderful. We needed him. Clinton is a s***head and we're glad to be rid of him. And I'm not talking about his sexual exploits. I think we have a chance to do something about education.... It doesn't matter who does it -- Democrats or Republicans -- but it's long overdue. (Salon.com, August 29, 2001)

POLITICS:

The great thing is our counter-revolution that occurred in the polls a few weeks ago. I think it's great. All the Democrats are out and the Republicans are going to have a chance in a couple of years. It doesn't make a difference what party you belong to--it's a chance for a fresh start. It's very exciting. (Speaking about the "Republican Revolution" of 1994)

http://www.spaceagecity.com/bradbury/quotes.htm

[goodhue]

37. Bradbury on Bush, Clinton . . .

From August 29, 2001 Salon.com interview . . .

http://dir.salon.com/people/feature/2001/08/29/bradbury/index.html?pn=3

What do you think of President Bush?

He's wonderful. We needed him. Clinton is a shithead and we're glad to be rid of him. And I'm not talking about his sexual exploits. I think we have a chance to do something about education, very important. We should have done it years ago. It doesn't matter who does it -- Democrats or Republicans -- but it's long overdue. Our education system is a monstrosity. We need to go back and rebuild kindergarten and first grade and teach reading and writing to everybody, all colors, and then the whole structure of our education will change because people will know how to read and write.

[Killarney]

41. What an absolute dildo.

He really thinks that education will fare better under a Republican than a Democrat?

Republicans want to kill public education and drain all funds for it so they can have their vouchers *coughcoughtaxbreakscough* for their private schools.

I sense a little racism in Bradbury's tone, too, about how some "colors" don't know how to read or write.

[homelandpunk]

74. That sounds like something a Cali valley girl would say! kee-riced!

The only thing missing in those last 3 sentences are the "Like"'s interspersed, and then a "p'sha!" at the end.
Good god. How inane.

[hippiegranny]

45. Senile old fart.

What an idiot. This movie will renew interest in his book. I think it already has. Somebody who wasn't teetering on the brink of senility would recognize this, no matter what their politics.

[robbedvoter]

57. I'll call it "The Michael Moore movie" - to avoid any invitation to read

his book.

[lolly]

46. F451 Pretty Right-Wing

If you've read the novel lately, you'll see that it's actually pretty right-wing.

It's anti-censorship, but the blame for censorship is placed squarely on the left-wing. He was "anti-politically correct" long before the terminology was coined. He describes the takeover of American culture by left-wing forces determined to avoid offending any minority group--that's what leads to the whole nightmare.

The kind of shenanigans practiced by the right-wing zealots and the anti-Harry Potter types is invisible to him. He doesn't see it, or doesn't see it as censorship.

[Twillig]

52. Maybe Moore could change it to Slaughter House 9/11

I don't think Vonnegut would be so vehement about the swipe. I imagine the worst he would say is: 'I don't give a shit.'

[robbedvoter]

56. Vonegut would be delighted. This is a guy who posed with a Bartcop

sticker (and wrote some kick ass essays)

[SheepyMcSheepster]

55. i just don't understand...

how can he go from writing a book like fahrenheit 451 to acting like a total fool? strange.

[Blue-Jay]

58. *sigh* - One of my favorite authors. This makes me sad.

I won't bash Mr Bradbury. I'll just say that he's wrong. :(

[Rich Hunt]

59. you can add chauvinist pig to the list

P: Beyond kids, science fiction is the purview of men, for the most part. Why aren't women as interested?

B: There are two races of people - men and women - no matter what women's libbers would have you pretend. The male is motivated by toys and science because men are born with no purpose in the universe except to procreate. There is lots of time to kill beyond that. They've got to find work. Men have no inherent center to themselves beyond procreating. Women, however, are born with a center. They can create the universe, mother it, teach it, nurture it. Men read science fiction to build the future. Women don't need to read it. They are the future.

P: Some women don't like it when you make those distinctions. In fact, in People, you said that CD-ROMs are more for men than for women - and you were denounced as sexist on the letters-to-the-editors page shortly thereafter.

B: Oh well. Unscrew them.

P: What does "unscrew them" mean?

B: That they'll never get any sex again. Listen, men are nuts. Young men are crazy. We all love toys. I'm toy oriented. I write about toys. I've got a lot of toys. Hundreds of things. But computers are toys, and men like to mess around with smart dumb things. They feel creative.

There's nothing bold or rebellious about this sort of sentiment. It's not delightfully curmudgeonly, or whatever it is old chauvinist geezers try to portray themselves as these days.

It is simply illogical and stupid.

It will be wonderful in about another twenty or thirty years when we will no longer have quite so many of these unevolved types hanging around.

[ScreamingMeemie]

60. At this point I don't think it would matter... Too bad Ray!

;)

[scarletwoman]

61. This saddens me, Bradbury's books were one of my youthful passions.

I read everything he ever wrote, I still have my 30+ year old collection of Bradbury paperbacks, which I eagerly shared with my kids as soon as they were old enough to be interested. In short, Bradbury's writings were a big part of my life starting from when I was 11 and first read Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I sometimes found his p.o.v. odd or even offputting, but I loved his wordcraft and his talent for unexpected plot twists. It's been many years since I read anything of his, and maybe his work would look very different to me now -- even without knowing anything of his political leanings.

So I'm sorry to see this, I have always respected him as an author, without ever needing or wanting to know anything about him as a person.

Artists can often be surprising, beautiful music/paintings/writings/performances emerge from all sorts of people -- some of whom were/are quite despicable as human beings. I have no idea why this is so.

While I find Mr. Bradbury's views distasteful, I find it equally distasteful that some posters on this thread are calling him names. He is who he is, and he's entitled to his own opinions. It reflects poorly on a person's OWN character when one resorts to name-calling toward someone with whom you disagree.

Whatever Bradbury may be as a MAN, as an author he brought a rare magic into my early life and inspired my imagination. For that I remain grateful, and I will not allow that gratitude to be tarnished by my disappointment over his political views.

sw

[robbedvoter]

63. It was "artist" Ray who started the name calling - check the title

Are we entitled to respond or is he too venerable? I was disappointed myself - it's part of the reason for my anger. And I don't care how you judge me, he ca;lls names, I'll call it right back. But the best post is the one by Gratuituous - # 19.
Check it out.

[scarletwoman]

67. No, I think you missed my point.

I judge him as an "artist" solely by his published works -- his words in an interview are NOT his "art". By those I judge him as a person, not as an artist.

You are of course entitled to respond any way you choose. We all have opinions, after all. If I state that I think namecalling reflects poorly on the one doing it, that's simply MY opinion. I'm not asking that anyone agree with me, I'm just expressing myself.

sw

[robbedvoter]

75. I name call the A*hole who namecalled Moore. The writer - I am afraid

I'll never be able to read/see any of his works with my stomach turning.
Glad Asimov is still a good guy.

[RebelOne]

62. Oh, no, no!!! Ray Bradbury has always been my favorite

science fiction author. I can't believe he said that.

[Enraged_Ape]

90. He was once mine, too. Too bad he's a senile old dumbshit now.

I don't care how much respect I once had for the man. He sounds like he's half in the bag most of the time.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

65. Imitation, the sincerest form of flattery...

... unless of course you're making MONEY off it without me getting a cut! :spank:

[spanone]

66. Can't copyright a title. That's the rules, Ray. Also, it's a compliment.

Fuck off.

[Bryan]

73. Surely not Ray Bradbury....

After reading all of his novels and short stories about longing for a idyllic small-town past, I never would've dreamed Bradbury was a conservative!

Seriously, though, this is a depressing little item. To help balance out this obituary for Mr. Bradbury's sense of irony, I'm going to do a Google search to see what invective Harlan Ellison has thrown at Bush...

[homelandpunk]

71. Yeah Ray, and you'r afwaid to fwy airplanes....stupid old fucker

80 years old...death is coming ray...airplane or not.

[RebelOne]

76. I don't care what any of you say,

but I love his writing and he's still my favorite sci fi author.

[robbedvoter]

77. Se # 16 and other pearls Bradbury said - he is a DUMB freeper

He was one of my favorites, but the putritude of his character infects his writing for me from now on. Remember, noone set out to badmouth Bradbury, It was him showing his red a8 to us - then older s* came to light. We all started as fans.

[JimT]

81. you are way off base...

Would you all relax please. I still don't see Bradbury as a coservative goose stepper. Amidmittedly, his ego is bruised over not being consulted regarding the title. Some of you are just as bad as the Freepers. Take one sentence or two from an interview let it define a person in overly simplistic terms.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

87. So, what are you doing with a few DU posts?

[sendero]

82. I learned long ago..

... that many writers and musicians whose work I admire greatly are not exactly model human beings. Just adding another to the list.

[leesa]

83. Petty.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

84. Who cares? Bradbury was an EXCELLENT science-fiction writer...

...but anything outside the bounds of that world is beyond Bradbury's ability to fully comprehend.

[Enraged_Ape]

93. Emphasis on WAS

Have you read anything he's written in the last, say, 15 years? Gawd awful. Reads like something a sixth-grader would write. I even wonder if he's had a stroke or something in the years since the classic "R is for Rocket" and "The Martian Chronicles".

[weedthesmoke]

88. How dare Ray exercize his right to free speech

I too think the F911 was a rip off. He should have asked permission or at least if Ray had any issues with it.

[sendero]

92. By that logic...

... one would not be able to utter a sentence without violating someone's "intellectual property" rights.

What MM did is perfectly legal, and its not as if there aren't enough freaking laws protecting these rights.

Bradbury should be paying MM royalties for putting his forgotten work into the limelight.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

99. Damn

Dandelion Wine is my all-time favorite book (it is not sci-fi, by the way). It is beatifully written, absolutely gorgeous. Sometimes I even wake up in the morning with bits of it in my head.

Gawd. I am just going to have to enjoy Dandelion Wine knowing Bradbury has turned into (or always was?) something I don't agree with and barely respect at all.

Big blustery sigh.