Wednesday, June 6, 2012

R.I.P., Ray Bradbury...

...if ya ever wondered who one of Hu's fave writers is, well, now ya know...

Ray Bradbury dead at 91

Bradbury developed his plots in such a fluid manner, and could throw in a 'plot twist' at the most inopportune, but interesting times (well, that's the def of a 'twist', right?)... he often blended the 'mundane' of everyday life into his 'ultimately surreal, yet feasible to an extent' underlying themes of his science fiction novels and short stories....although using the 'science fiction' moniker was more than a bit of a misnomer for his writings, and unfortunately may repel many readers from his writings...which is a shame.

If you've never read one of his, please check one out...I think most of you younger ones have 'Fahrenheit 451' as pretty much 'required reading', which hopefully didn't dampen your experience. If so...try it again...or some of his other great works... 'The Martian Chronicles' is one of my faves...and yes, while it IS one of his more overt 'sci-fi' themes, it still has some great imagery, and an overriding theme all can take something from...

As for me, I'll just say, 'Thanks, Ray'...you showed me the power of the written word, and what can be accomplished with it...




3 comments:

  1. He was such a great writer.
    Back in 8th grade we read Ray Bradbury's short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains". In my freshman year we read 'The Martian Chronicles', and that was interesting. But I think my favorite one was 'Fahrenheit 451' that we read this year.
    It's amazing in his writing how the technology and things happening match many things now.

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  2. ...his 'short stories' were really great... collections of those are compiled in volumes such as 'The Illustrated Man', which I believe 'soft rains' was within...it's honestly been quite awhile since I read any of his stuff...I think I enjoyed 'Martian Chronicles' because they made a mini-series of it, back when I was probably your age or even younger... and probably watching it today, it would look a bit 'less', as most movies from the 80's or before appear to today's effects. I know they've made at least a couple of films for '451', and strangely enough I haven't seen them...sometimes, it's cool to keep the image the author paints in your head...
    I need to break out some of his tomes and reacquaint myself... I have a test to study for on Saturday, but maybe afterwards I'll do that...

    Thanks for the comment, GF (glad to know SOMEBODY'S out there!)...as usual, I'm still trying to figure out what to do with this blog...I'll probably just keep it 'free-form', and not sweat it too much... that was the intent of it, anyway... have a great week!

    Hu
    ---

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  3. ...oh, and a general note I didn't know about RB... Elton John wrote the song 'Rocket Man' after reading some of his short stories in the aptly titled 'R is for Rocket'... that's pretty cool.

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