Wow... great job Kordell. You are definitely a talented pianst. I play guitar myself, though I have a keyboard I'm not particularly great at it (I can play clocks by coldplay ). I love to compose music and write lyrics, but unfortunately I have a fear for public speaking so I've never been in a band.

PS - it's amazing how large this thread has got.

"Why so much so good" and add "so successfully" is EXACTLY the question, Nard!

Sure, every writer by whom Bradbury was influenced, and a good many he influenced, have had their moments of equal quality to some of his work. Some have surpassed him some of the time, IF you compare their best works to his mediocre works. But NO ONE has surpassed his best works!

As far as volume, heck, with the internet now everyone can churn out 1,000 words a day, and in many cases very likely do, but NO ONE approaches Ray's quality!

Those who have attempted such feats beat their brains out mercilessly, and some bright talents perished in the attempt. Charles Dickens literally worked himself to death. Rod Serling told an acquaintance, "Don't work this hard. It's not worth it," and died even younger than Dickens. Yet somehow Ray is able to keep it up decade after decade and remain relaxed and HAPPY! Few, if any, can claim such a feat!

Ya i noticed that Ray seems to emphasoze te importance of being happy, which is somwhat ironic given that majority of his work refers to the human condition and overall is melancholic in nature.

Earlier in the week I was thinking that the message board had become rather quiet. I go away for two days and miss a flurry of exciting posts!

A couple of people in this thread have said that Ray never had writer's block. Weller's book does say that he stopped writing briefly after Maggie's death, however (quite understandably).

Atroposmar, somebody suggested you check out the book Conversations with Ray Bradbury. I agree with that suggestion. The book was originally a PhD thesis, and was for a time freely available on the web as a PDF file. If you want a copy I can email it to you. (You can email me here: phil at bradburymedia dot co dot uk ) (Replace 'at' with '@', and replace 'dot' with '.')

Ya that would be great! Thanks... if you want you can just email me it which would save the trouble of me emailing you and then you eamiling me back...anyways, if so my email address is guitar_guy182_@hotmail.com . Thanks

My advice to serious students is buy the books. As people have pointed out, they can be had reasonably. If in doubt, interlibrary loan them. Your library should charge you no more for this than postage. If they do, they're bums!

My school is cheap and has no selection at all. Half the books I want to read are not to be found in our library. I asked a teacher if they had one of the biographies and she couldn't believe it since we study Bradbury at my school. Anyways, I guess I'll just purchase one of Amazon, and perhpas donate it to the library when I'm done with it.

Not a lot talking goes on here..

Guess I'll run this beat-up rabbit one more time around the track.

For inexpensive books (CHEAPIES)...go to:
http://www.abebooks.com

You'll find evvveerrything there!

quote:

Originally posted by atroposmar:
A Clockwork Orange is my favourite novel

That's only because you haven't read The Martian Chronicles!

Yet.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Doug Spaulding,

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
Ray has never had writer's block and has gone so far as to say it doesn't exist. (Points go to whoever can come up with his exact quotes on the matter.)

Here's what he said about writer's block just a couple months ago when I saw him: "There is no such thing as writer's block. If you think you're suffering from writer's block it means you're trying to write the wrong thing!"

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
...but any young writer thinking they will "become" Ray by simply turning out x amount of words per day is in for a sad, SORE disappointment!

You're right - with apologies to all writers on the board, but nobody will ever write as well as RB! (And I have thousands of years of history to back up that statement.)

quote:

Originally posted by Nard Kordell:
For a recent sample of stuff I do on the piano, check out my youtube rendition I did right before this Thanksgiving, 06.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA0G3N8tJh4

That piece of music needs no lyrics, Mr Kordell - it's beautiful as is. As for the title, I think your muse could best tell you that!

quote:

Originally posted by Nard Kordell:
Ultimately, I discovered the person of Jesus Christ and He was better than Ray!

Yes - Ray is definitely second best to the Christ!

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
A couple of people in this thread have said that Ray never had writer's block. Weller's book does say that he stopped writing briefly after Maggie's death, however (quite understandably).

Yes, he did say that his muse fell silent for a short time after that event, but eventually spoke again. I believe Maggie was his muse, and he just had to find another.

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
The book was originally a PhD thesis, and was for a time freely available on the web as a PDF file. If you want a copy I can email it to you.

Oh, oh! I want one! I want one!

I believe you have my email address.

Thanks!