Live forever! R.I.P. Ray Bradbury.

One of my most beloved childhood heroes has died-- Ray Bradbury. A knight of free speech. A prolific writer, even after his body crumbled. A warm, funny, encouraging man who ALWAYS spoke his mind while others mumbled and kept silent. A perfect example of the American dream at work-- of how a poor Illinois boy, child of the Depression, can become a Great American Man of Letters. An incredibly imaginative writer who brought poetry and humanity to science fiction and fantasy like no other author. A man whose "Ray Bradbury Theater" gave me hints of how exciting being a writer can be, when I was a boy. If there is somehow a God, then bless Ray Bradbury and his memory eternally.

When Bradbury was a boy, a defrocked minister performing in a carnival under the name of Electrico told Ray to "Live forever!" And Ray will. 

The Soundtrack of L.A.

The perfect music to drive around LA to: Alain Goraguer's score to FANTASTIC PLANET. Like the film itself, L.A. is an alien world so arcane that it makes little or no sense to all but a few of its residents. (And I say that warmly... I like the town.)

Talking with the old guys again

I visited an elderly screenwriter yesterday who had begun his career fresh out of NYU in 1951, writing for the very first tv science fiction anthology series and some of the earliest sf comic books. He said that he disliked Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn so much, he sneaked into Cohn's personal gold-plated bathroom, pissed in the john, and left it as a little golden present for The Boss. I got the writer's autograph and only when I got home did I discover his inscription: "Thank you for making me feel like a young writer again."

Bradbury knew...

Ray Bradbury knew that hipsters were a damn nuisance, even fifty years ago when they went by other names. At Disneyland, he wrote, there are "No Cool people with Cool faces pretending not to care, thus swindling themselves out of life or any chance for life." Thank you for the millionth time, Ray!

If there IS a hell...

If there IS a hell, rest assured that a Phish cover band is playing there.

My eulogy for Robert Fuest

http://www.videowatchdog.com/home/home.html

My eulogy of my dear friend, director Bob Fuest, appears in the May issue of Video Watchdog (#168). After interviewing Bob many times and reading extensively about him and his work, I filled the article with as much fresh, new information about him as I possibly could.

I'm in L'ecran Fantastique

http://www.ecranfantastique.net/home/

Check out the May issue of L'ecran Fantastique (#331) for my interview with William Goldstein, the creator of THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES.