So Ray Bradbury is pissed off that Michael Moore named his latest film “Fahrenheit 9/11″ .

“It’s not a nice thing he has done,” Bradbury said in an interview with
AFP. “My book is known all over the world and that title is my title. He just
took it without my permission and changed the number.”
“I’d like him to give my title back, just hand it back to me and apologise.
The film should be called Michael Moore 9/11 — it’s his film not mine,” he said.

As if you’d never heard of him, Ray Bradbury is a guy who wrote some memorable fiction in
his day, including “Fahrenheit 451″, “The Martian Chronicles”, “The Illustrated Man”, and “Something Wicked This Way Comes”.
That last title is a direct quote from Shakespeare, by the way:

“By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.”
–From Macbeth (IV, i, 44-45)

Bradbury is now 83 years old and a little shaky since suffering a stroke in 1999, but he’s still quite capable of chewing up the scenery and thrashing all comers as a guest speaker/lecturer.

I saw him at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference in 1999 and again in 2001. He has been the keynote speaker for the conference since it was founded 30 odd years ago. The 2004 SBWC is actually going on now, as I post this; it’s always held during the last week in June.

Many SBWC students are repeat attendees; some have been going to the SBWC every year for 15, 20 years or more, and a lot of people in the audience for Bradbury’s keynote address the years I was there had heard this same speech so often, they knew large chunks of it by heart. At times Bradbury would lose his place in his notes, and ask the audience what came next.
People shouted out:

“The living-your-dreams stuff!” or “Now comes the part about never taking crap from editors!”

Bursts of affectionate laughter filled the room. Bradbury truly relishes his current role as Living Legend and Elder Crankpot, and he plays it to the hilt 24/7. And good for him, I say.

The joys of being curmudgeonly aside, why is he so angry about Michael Moore naming his film “Fahrenheit 9/11″? Apparently it’s not about Moore’s
political stance. Rather, it’s that Bradbury believes he owns the arrangement of the name “Fahrenheit” followed by three numbers, and because he owns it, everyone else needs to ask his permission to use it. Opinions, please?
Some say Bradbury’s got a weak argument.

Others say pretty much the same thing.
Still others, this time from amongst the fen ranks [of whom you'd expect hardcore sycophancy] are saying that Ray is just being an old fart about this.

In fact, I’m not finding any sources anywhere that are taking Bradbury’s side, except for those who feel outraged by a perceived slight to their object of worship, the Divine Ray. These are the commenters that usually start out:
Why, that lousy stinking 400 lb. pile of steaming poop! He isn’t worthy to kiss even the hangnail on Bradbury’s littlest toe!. Blah blah rant rage apoplectic fit.

Now, really. Should author Bill Flanagan have begged permission from James Fenimore Cooper before he titled his most excellent book about the Three Stooges Last Of The Moe Haircuts?

No! Of course not. Not even if Cooper hasn’t been dead for the past 150 years.

Finally, isn’t it convenient that a new edition of “Fahrenheit 451″ comes out in a few short weeks?

Bradbury’s book was made into a 1966 movie directed by Francois Truffaut. A new edition of the book is scheduled for release in eight weeks, Bradbury said, and plans are in the works for a new film version, to be directed by Frank Darabont.

The most palpable outcome of this little snit fit is bound to be renewed interest in Bradbury’s classic novel, and that’s bound to make the old fart happy.

Rave on, Ray. Long may you rant. Now tell us the living-your-dreams part again!

Posted: June 30th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

Looking for ways to work against Dumbya in your daily life? Get some great ideas from this book, co-written by Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen.

I especially liked the comment left on Amazon by “a reader from Milledgeville GA, USA”:

Whatever your political stripe, it is easy for the ordinary voter to feel that there is nothing they can do to affect political change. It outlines ways that almost anyone can get involved in national campaigns and make a difference. This book happens to be for those who favor re-defeating Bush, but it could be used by anyone by just substituting names. Each idea comes with suggestions for 3 different groups; busy people, people with a little time on their hands, and partisans with lots of time, motivation, and energy.

With campaign finance out of control (despite McCain-Feingold) and Florida 2000, many feel that individuals don’t have a voice. This book may change their opinion.

I’m already putting one of their ideas for busy people to use. We are inviting people to a party in honor of Bush’s military service. If you send a donation to John Kerry, you don’t have to actually attend the party, but we’ll provide a scrap of napkin to support your claim that you did.

Posted: June 26th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

Hi ho, kids. I just figured out that I can customize the Haloscan comments, so now it doesn’t have to be so bland and [especially when there's no comments to report] so damn depressing. Woot!

Plus, I put a new song lyric quote on the masthead. From little Bobby Zimmerman, of course… He may be a pruney little humunculus in those Victoria’s Secret commercials these days, but damn! that kid can write a song like nobody else.

And finally, I started adding a favorite icon or two at the end of each post. Nothing original; just look at WTF Is It Now? That blog is my current fave of faves. Needless to say, I worship Maru as a living god.
I’m not worthy, O Mighty Crankpotentate!

Posted: June 25th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

Best. List. Ever. Or, at least the best I’ve seen this week. So far. Via Daily Kos diaries and diarist Maryscott O’Connor, altho she says she gacked it from the John Kerry blog.

21 Reasons Average Republicans Seem Confused

It is very tough to be a Republican in 2004, because somehow, you have to believe concurrently that:

1. Jesus loves you, but shares your deep hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

2. The United States should get out of the United Nations, but our highest national priority is enforcing U. N. resolutions against Iraq.

3. “Standing Tall for America” means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.

4. A woman can’t be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all humankind without regulation.

5. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you are a conservative radio host. Then it’s an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans benefits and combat pay.

7. Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins, unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.

8. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won’t have sex.

9. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, but then demand their cooperation and money.

10. HMOs and insurance companies make profits and have the interest of the public at heart.

11. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

12. Global warming and tobacco’s link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

13. It is okay that the Bush family’s “Carlysle Group” has done $$millions$$ of business with the Bin Laden family.

14. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him and Rumsfeld reassured him he was our buddy, a bad guy when Bush’s daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, but then a bad guy again when Bush junior needed a prop for his reelection campaign as the “war president.”

15. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying about WMD existence, to enlist support for an unprovoked, undeclared war and occupation, in which thousands of soldiers and civilians die, is, somehow, solid “defense” policy in a “War Against Terrorism”.

16. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which should include “banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet”.

17. The public has a right to know about Hillary’s cattle trades, but George Bush’s Harken Oil stock trade should be sealed in his daddy’s library, and is none of our business.

18. What Bill Clinton or John Kerry did in the 1960’s was of vital national interest but what Bush did in the ’80s is irrelevant.

19. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a “spirit of international harmony”.

20. Affirmative Action is wrong, but it is OK for your Daddy and His friends (here and in Saudi Arabia) to get you to graduate from Yale without studying much, to dodge the draft in the Texas Air National Guard, to bail out your company Harken Oil and the Texas Rangers, to get the Governorship of Texas and then to have the Supreme Court appoint you President of the USA.

21. You are a conservative, but it is OK to spend like there is no tomorrow and run up deficits that your grandchildren will have to pay, while at the same time refunding as much tax money as possible to rich people who do not need it.

This illogical behavior can take a toll on a healthy mind, So if someone you know has been acting a bit dazed and confused lately, be nice: he or she may be a Republican.

Posted: June 24th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

Attention all wives! Better keep your husband happy or you won’t go to heaven.

In the Casamance region of southern Senegal this concept is part of the people’s religious life. Do you need more proof that religion is not given to humans by a deity of any kind, but rather cobbled up by humans themselves? In many cases, by male humans — more specifically, by male humans who need to control female humans. Why else would the subordination of females be so often a part of immutable “sacred doctrine”?

To which the holy men respond:
Oh, we don’t make the religious laws. No, no, those laws have been given to us. Those laws have been handed down to us by God Himself!

Uh huh.

Posted: June 20th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

This just in, via email from my friend Jackie:

A couple goes on vacation to a fishing resort in northern Minnesota. The husband likes to fish at the crack of dawn. The wife likes to read. One morning, the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and continues to read her book. Along comes a game warden in his boat.
He pulls up alongside the woman and says,
“Good morning Ma’am. What are you doing?”
“Reading a book,” she replies, (thinking, “Isn’t that obvious?”)
“You’re in a restricted fishing area,” he informs her.
“I’m sorry officer, but I’m not fishing, I’m reading.”
“Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I’ll have to take you in and write you up.”
“If you do that, I’ll have to charge you with sexual assault,” says the woman.
“But I haven’t even touched you,” says the game warden.
“That’s true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment.”
“Have a nice day ma’am,” he says,and leaves.

MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It’s likely she can also think.

Posted: June 16th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

Hi ho, kids. It’s blog maintenance time. So much more fun than housework, altho I can’t use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day products here. I have never been one to wax rhapsodic about household cleaners, but damn! That Mrs. Meyer’s stuff just smells so good. My favorite is the lavender, which is actually more a lavender/orange. Whatever–imho it’s heaven. And all your cleaning stuff for the whole house has the same wonderful scent; you’re not getting a blast of chlorine and ammonia from the bath cleaners, combined with a whiff of fruit or flowers from the kitchen stuff, plus citrus and/or almond or vanilla scents from the furniture polish and finally that so-hideous, smells-like-Chernobyl, “Mountain Breeze”-type fragrance from fabric softeners and everything else. So there you have it. Thus endeth the lesson. We now return to blog maintenance, already in progress.

I took off the MoveOn banner, which had a commendable message, but looked ugly as shit. A month or two up there; that’s enough. Let everybody else stick it on their blogs for awhile.

Removed the now-defunct Amish Tech Support from the blogroll.

As previously mentioned, I deactivated Blogger comments, which were horrible imho–they made you jump through hoops like registering and getting a username and pwd,.. way too much rigmarole. We just want to comment, not fill out a goddamn census form! The Haloscan comments are now in, along with the trackback. Both work very nicely, thank you.

Going to Duluth today… This time around I’ll be the support team waiting in town while the men bike in from Jay Cook. Then dinner at someplace down by the lake, complete with all natural “Lake Breeze” scent.

Posted: June 13th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

Well, apropos of nothing, I note that my permanent, no-cure case of Ciaránitis has just kicked in, bigtime. The cause of this flare-up must have been the sight of this cover photo. It’s from the recent A&E/ITV production of one of Thomas Hardy’s more famous literary bummers, The Mayor of Casterbridge, in which our man plays the title character.

Oy, now that is a good-looking man.

Doctor! Call the Bertha Rochester Ward at Hindsquarters General and tell ‘em to get my room ready!

Posted: June 12th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

image by pontechango

“This will get shot down when they realize that granite isn’t a dense enough material to accurately portray the former president.” - bigpenguin

Thanks to WTF Is It Now?. Maru rules!

Posted: June 10th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

I spent a few hours on Memorial Day at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis . Most of the time was spent trimming the grass around the grave markers for my parents and paternal grandparents [the Swedes]. The in-ground vase installed near my parents’ site was almost impossible to get out of the ground; earth shifts/frost upheavals had encased it in mud since last fall. After finally wrestling the vase out, cleaning it and arranging the flowers at that site and Grandpa and Gramma’s, I was encased in mud up to my elbows, had a headache, and then it started raining. Had a lovely time, tho. Wandered through Lakewood awhile and ended up taking photos of the new gravestone that was recently installed at the site where Paul and Sheila Wellstone are buried. The Strib had run a piece about it a few days before.

It’s in a beautiful spot; you can look out at Lake Harriet very nearby.

There are also small markers in the ground in front of the stone, inscribed simply with the names “Paul” and “Sheila”. As you can see, many people had stopped by that day and left flowers, small stones, and notes.

The inscription on the stone is quite elegant and I thought quite moving. Note that “US Senator” is listed last; all the Wellstones’ other titles come before it: Mother, Father, Grandparents, Public Servants.

Requiescat in pace.

They are missed.

Posted: June 7th, 2004 under General.
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