June 02, 2004

• Never before have I wished I could read Swedish -- an odd sensation that. I love the image of Ray telling Mike to stick it where the sun doesn't shine. Brilliant. Thank you, thank you.
• Not as hard to get the gist as I would have imagined. My guess about what a 'skitst
• Just to clarify: skitst
• At last - an apposite Swedish epithet to hurl at my PC.
• Intertran does (really weird) translations from Swedish to English. Fun for all you cryptic crossword lovers.
• Give me a minute, I'll do a rough translation.
• Fahrenheit 451....Fahrenheit 911.....It's incomprehensible that a professional writer would not recognize a literary illusion.
• Very fast translation, spelling and grammar most certainly fucked. "Moore is an asshole" RB attacks MM. The title of MM's new movie F911 is taken from the title of the novel F451. DN's Mårten Blomkvist called up the author and asked him of he was honored. He is definately not. The latest months not a day has gone by without there being news about MM's movie titled F911. But there's one thing we haven't been told: What does RB think about this? Cause it's the title of RB's book F451 that MM has referenced in naming his controversial anti-Bush movie. 84 year old RB's novel from 1953 takes plase in a future where books are banned. Firemen ha the job of burning hidden books. Fahrenheit 451 is the temp at which paper burns. RB's book, that was filmed by Truffaut in 1966, is an american "minor classic". Moore's parallel is obvious: The 9/11 attacks are today being used in the same way Guy Montag and his collegues uses flamethrowers in RB's novel. So what does B think? - MM is a stupid asshole, that's what I think. He stole my title and changed the numbers wihtout ever asking for my permission. Have you spoken to him? - He is a terrible person. Terrible person.
• RB thinks MM can take his Palm D'Or and shove it. That became clear - even if RB probably never sould put it that way - when DN on monday reached the writer in his home in LA. We got an 8 minute interview. As far as RB is concerned, the story of MM's movie starts and ends with MM being a thief and a liar. RB is not interested in discussing possible artistic liberties to reference famous works. One might think you'd feel some satisfaction in your title being so famous he wanted to use it, to allude to it... - Yes, that he wanted to steal from me. This is just theft, as you see it? - People do this all the time. I catch them. I don't want him to do it. You disagree with him that... - That has nothing to do with it. He copied my title, that's what happened. It has nothing to do with my political opinons. RB said he'd tried to get to discuss the matter with MM, but that the director has been avoiding him: - I called his studio. They promised me he'd call med back that same afternoon, but he didn't.
• When was this? - Some months ago, when his plans with the film first became known. Our conversation then came to politics anyway, when RB brought up MM ruining Gen Wesley Clark's chances of being the democratic presidential nominee. As other american commentators, RB means MM's support of Clark became a kiss of death - after Clark failed to distence himself from MM's allegations of Pres Bush going AWOL. - He badmouthed the president in front of Gen Clark, and Clark let him do it. Clark should've said "Don't say that. That's not true." That day Clark ruined his chances of becoming President. I see. And you supported Gen Clark? - No. I support honesty. RB says other people have asked him about MM's reuse of the title, but "I don't want to make a lot of fuzz about it": - I hate all the paparazzo journalism going on today. If I only I could get him to change the title all in silence, that'd be the best. Do you think that's possible, I mean the movie is now very well known under this title? - Who cares? Nobody's going to see his movie, it's already just about stone dead. Cut it out, noone cares. But it won the Palm D'Or? - So what? I've won awards in many places and they're mostly pointless. The people there hate us, so they gave him the Palm. It's a pointless award. About here RB thinks he's done talking. Theft is theft. There are under no circumstances right to use a title someone else came up with. - Tomorrow I could write a novel and call it "Gone with the wind", no? But I won't, because it would be dishonest. There was nothing more to be said: - Just write that Moore is dishonest and that I don't want to be connected to him in any way. That's enough. Bradbury didn't answer whether he plans to take further actions.
• What a shame, I actually love F451, but it seems Bradbury has gone off the deep end. My favorite part of this though is when he is actually appalled that one of the democratic candidates wouldn't stand up for bush and shoot down MM's claims. Thanks for the translation marx!
• Thanks a lot for the translation, and for revealing that Ray Bradbury is actually a colossal cunt.
• Much as I like Bradbury, you'd think that he'd be familiar with the long-standing tradition of adapting titles: The Wind Done Gone and Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man are only two recent examples. There's a reason titles can't be copyrighted.
• I love the man too, but I don't think it is so "deep end" to complain when your creation is annexed and altered without the slimmest courtesy of attribution. Most 85-year-olds I have the pleasure of knowing are very blunt. They've earned the right to their piss and vinegar. The true irony is that Moore is paying homage to living legend Bradbury, but didn't buy the man a metaphorical chicken dinner before he metaphorically ravished him.
• {sigh...} BBF- Them's fightin' words, my friend. Please explain how Mr. Bradbury is a "cunt"? Anyone who does not automacally genuflect to the Paragon that is Mr. Moore (who I dig a lot, actually) is instantly regarded with this most vulgar epithet?
• A cunt is a beautiful thing. I would have called him a "Dizzy" ;)
• (which would be high praise indeed!)
• Thank You, quid. (I think.)
• Personally, I think that Michael Moore is an insufferable ass (man, I'm really bringing out the anatomy today). However, Ray Bradbury seems unhealthily angry at this guy doing... Uh... Something to him. Maybe stealing the word Farenheit? Did Ray Bradbury copyright that word? As other people have pointed out, there's absolutely nothing illegal about it, and to many people it would appear somewhat flattering. It's really hard to see what Bradbury is so angry about.
• Blaise, an ass is a beutiful thing ... etc ... /non-discrimination on the basis of the way people are facing
• Erp. Asses are "beautiful", too...
• I don't think it is so "deep end" to complain when your creation is annexed and altered without the slimmest courtesy of attribution This is ridiculous. His "creation" is the book. If Moore had made a movie based on the book, without appropriate compensation and attribution, Bradbury would have had a case (and sued his ass). The title is neither here nor there; sometimes titles aren't even chosen by the author. If the interview is accurately reported, about which I have grave doubts (to me it reads as if the reporter either made up the whole thing or shamelessly distorted and hyped up B's responses, figuring how's he going to know what's written in a Swedish paper?), Bradbury's simply being a cranky old man, which is his right. "Cunt" is going too far, in my opinion.
• BBF- I'm just gonna beat this horse past dead-- Your response seems disingenious: you really cannot imagine how a creation (a book, poem, recipe, etc) that is successful and then SUBVERTED or altered or CHANGED WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION wouldn't cause you concern or even piss you off just a weee bit? What if you made up a great joke at a party, got a big laugh, then an hour later saw some other guy telling YOUR joke but twisting it around and passing it off as his own? That wouldn't get your attention? Bradbury certainly didn't copyrite the word "Fahrenheit", you reductionist fool, but he did give the world a piece of art that is still indelibly HIS. Leave the mash-ups to musicians.
• (to me it reads as if the reporter either made up the whole thing or shamelessly distorted and hyped up B's responses, figuring how's he going to know what's written in a Swedish paper?) Dagens Nyheter is a heavyweight Swedish newspaper. The veyr idea that one of their reporters would make anything up is as preposterous as suggesting the New York Times USA Today Time... Well, you know!
• Dizzy: So the gangastas are allowed to fuck with Elvis, but no one may fuck with the Illustrated Man, is that what you're saying?
• Please accept my instant apology for calling you a "reductionist fool". That seems rude, and beneath both of us. Bradbury is truly a personal hero of mine, and I should chill a bit.
• Skrik-- i may be misinterpreting you, but if you mean that musicians can mash-up elvis they may NOT diddle about with Bradbury? YES-- because The Estate Of E. Presley got to say yes or no and realized a nice chunk of change for that recent hit. Bradbury should've had the option of clearing it. If you mean something else, please advise...
• Diz, nobody has done anything with Fahrenheit 451. The book's still intact, no one has "subverted or altered or changed it without [his] permission." Moore used the title of a novel about an oppressive state and applied it to a film about what he perceives to be a real-world oppressive state. I'm not really a fan of Moore's, I am a fan of RB's, but Moore has done nothing illegal or unethical. RB has his novel copyrighted, but he doesn't own the title. The title's an homage, not a theft. There is a long, long standing tradition of doing this with titles. Many great writers and artists have done so. Witness the variations on "The White Album" and Kant's "Critique of..." works. I understand if Bradbury's pissed to see a variation on his title used on a movie that he doesn't like (personally, I don't blame him for that), but, with all due respect to one of my favorite authors, them's the breaks. His intellectual property has not been violated in any way. If anything, the film could boost his paperback sales.
• i've been chatting by e-mail with BBF and others, and upon rereading this entire thread I see now that I over-reacted. I'm wrong. I did have issues with the appellation given to ol' Ray, but we've resolved those amicably, I'm happy to say. It would have been nice for Moore to seek approval, but i understand now that legally and even ethically it was not a breach that he hasn't. Viva Bradbury! Viva Moore!
• I should note, on this topic, that I communicated with the spirit of one Eric Blair last night at a ritualistic seance - I little hobby I've taken up - and he mentioned that he was quite pleased about the "Big Brother" TVs shows, except that he can't vote because the phone reception where he is now is absolutely diabolical.
• ...And there were pop tarts for all. Man I love this place. I think I'm choking up...
• Nice Monkeys! Nice nice! *does celebratory hula in banana skirt and banana-leaf head wreath*
• A little insight into Ray Bradbury, Old Crank, in a Salon Interview published two weeks before 9/11; his predictable praise for Bush's 'Mars Initiative'; and an excellent MetaFilter thread in which a writer who interviewed Ray for a local newspaper contributes. Sorry if I interrupted your monkeylovefest...
• *sulks, eats skirt*
• Aw, PF, please don't sulk; however, eating your banana skirt gives you plenty of potassium and shows off your great legs and your, um.... (no, not going there).
• *perks up* ...my GARGANTUAN SCHLONG?!? Oh, and I enjoyed the links. Though now I don't think I like Ray Bradbury very much at all any more, if I ever did, and I think I did, when I read The Illustrated Man, at thirteen, or at least the first five pages, in geography class.
• "They all hate us over there"? Is Bradbury is going senile in his old age?
• Ray Bradbury, as much as I appreciate his books, might do well to check his facts before he goes off on some poorly informed rant. Being old shouldn't give you the right to be a jerk. I don't buy into that whole "I haven't died yet, so I can abuse everybody else" junk. You earn respect by respecting others, at any age. And what middleclasstool said.
• middleclasstool, The Wind Done Gone did have it's share of controversy, fwiw. I think languagehat called it - pure crank. His answers are short, evasive and bitter. Okay so let's tally up the score here. . . lessee we got "cunt", "ass", and "schlong" . . anyone else? . . cs1, forks? Anyone? Going once . . . going twice . . .
• gazongas!
• Gazongas? Is that the pete_best you can do?
• Oh sure, there's always some controversy that crops up. But (and I'm largely ignorant on this case), that had more to do with the use of Mitchell's characters and story, not so much the title. Personally, I agree that parody/satire should be exempted from copyright laws, but this wasn't just a dispute over title; this was over copyrighted content too, which makes it a bit more debatable. My entry: Jubbly Wingdingers.
• Pillsbury Bathmats!
• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
• Lung warts!
• McJugglets.
• Bailas muy bien, a despecho de tus enormes naranjas.
• I apologize for my role in redirecting this thread to the subject of Breast Euphemisms, but then, I find it ironic that both Michael Moore and Ray Bradbury are acting like a couple of big boobs.
• They wobble, but they don't fall down. --Oompah Loompahs
• PF, I love the link. Great laugh!
• hm heh hemh heh hmh huh huh hmn henh . . we're gonna score . . .
• Well, this is all so sweet, I think I have a tear in my eye. sniffles
• Hey, looky! BlueFilter has caught up to us! (Not with the boobs, but with Bradbury v. Moore)