I spoke with Ray yesterday afternoon. He sounds great. I asked him who he voted for as Best Picture (he is a voting member of the Academy) and he said that he really enjoyed Gosford Park. The rest of what is out there for movie fare, he said in so many words, was a bunch of crap.

His book of poetry coming out soon contains some 400 poems. When I related that one contributor to this messgae board remembered hearing him recite a poem on a radio program years ago that was so funny that it brought her to tears, he said that he didn't remember what poem it might have been.

When I inquired about his health he replied that he was surviving.

I always keep my calls to him brief, but it always a thrill to speak with him.

When I mentioned to him that contributors like to comment on the deeper meaning behind some of his works, I said that I thought that he simply wrote what he wanted to because he enjoyed writing and not really because there was to be a hidden meanings.

He replied that, yes, he did enjoy just writing a story without any deeper meaning. Of course, F451 speaks for itself, but many of his stories and novels, such as The Martian Chronicles, do not have hidden meanings.

But in many of his short stories, he does relate what inspired him to write the stories. Driving Blind, for example, has in the back of the book a "Brief Afterword" where he details the event or events that sparked a particular story.




[This message has been edited by flyboy (edited 03-23-2002).]

I thought Academy Members were sworn never to reveal their choices! And did he not care at all for "Moulin Rouge"? I know "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" was not nominated for Best Picture, but I'd think Ray would like that?

[This message has been edited by dandelion (edited 03-25-2002).]