Pharyngula

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, Quel Dommage | August 22, 2010 8:14 PM

Happy birthday, Ray.

Posted by: Lynna, OM | August 22, 2010 8:19 PM

Awww, that's sweeter than a basket full of kittens. Happy birthday, Ray -- you da man!

Posted by: Zeno | August 22, 2010 8:23 PM

Bradbury made a stop at my college during a speaking tour a few decades ago. I remember he said that "following your passion" is the most important thing in life, but even a fantasist like him probably wasn't anticipating eff-me videos sung in tribute to him.

He also said he liked dinosaurs a lot.

Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkqQXrl7yEsdEmCGIJY6e4vK85szmL2lf8 | August 22, 2010 8:28 PM

Send Dennis Rayburn a dollar to buy a sense of humor.

Posted by: MadScientist | August 22, 2010 8:34 PM

I didn't realize he was still around - now there's a SciFi writer who I admire.

Posted by: Scote | August 22, 2010 8:41 PM

"Makes me jealous of Ray Bradbury."

Yeah, I think I may have to dress up as Ray Bradbury for Halloween...

Posted by: Gorobei | August 22, 2010 8:48 PM

Good for him. And yes, I am aware of his work.

Posted by: Tim Harris | August 22, 2010 8:56 PM

Happy birthday, RB, and the video's very funny. Horribly off-topic, I know, but it involves another writer who is near the end of his life: Christopher Hitchens. For a truly despicable 'take' on his situation read Bill Vallicella's recent post at Maverick Philosopher, where it is asserted that the real problem is the Luciferian pride of an intellectual like CH, a pride that prevents him from collapsing into the arms of a comforting illusion - something that BV thinks is an admirable thing to do, since 'truth' is so bloody unpleasant.

Posted by: rippingrich | August 22, 2010 9:39 PM

@7 That would be a waste of a dollar.

I think this is my favorite video of all time.

I bet Ray watched this a many times and laughed every time.

Anyone that disses this is completely fucked.

Posted by: Simulation of Sapience | August 22, 2010 9:43 PM

Ray Kurzweil could be capitalizing on his wild imagination by writing speculative fiction (officially),not only gaining him respect rather than derision but he could be the one to have videos like this made about him rather than leave it all to the senior Ray who can't possibly handle all of his fans by himself anymore (if he ever could after the rave reviews first started rolling in).
He'd better hurry. After all,there will be no sex after the Singularity occurs and everyone migrates to electronics,not even cyber-sex.

Posted by: lynnai | August 22, 2010 9:54 PM

Aaawww that's sweet.. in a sorta sticky kinda way.

I love the expression on his face, I honestly don't know if he's about to keel over laughing or swallow his dentures.

I do have to wonder if that video was made with the assumption that Mr Bradbury wouldn't actually see it. Don't get me wrong, it's awesome, but I would think that picturing him in the audience would make it more difficult.... potential to give the guy a heart attack for starters.

Posted by: arrenfrank | August 22, 2010 10:07 PM

So, you all like this? I'm so appalled as to involuntarily de-lurk!

Name-dropping Bradbury and the indefatigable "fuck" suffice to please, despite the absence of any other redeeming qualities.

This is to rock as ID is to science.

Enjoy, I guess.

Posted by: abb3w | August 22, 2010 10:17 PM

arrenfrank This is to rock as ID is to science.

On the other hand, this is pretty good by F/SF Filk standards.

Cope; and happy birthday to the old goat.

Posted by: CanadianChick | August 22, 2010 10:20 PM

That was absolutely adorable - I hope he really liked it!

Posted by: dannystevens.myopenid.com | August 22, 2010 10:50 PM

Big LOLz at the Kurt Vonnegut fan getting a slap.

Posted by: Karl Engels | August 22, 2010 10:59 PM

I'm wondering why there haven't been more "Fuck Me, Rachel Bloom" response videos!?

Posted by: Ben Goren | August 22, 2010 11:21 PM

Matrim, I normally encourage people to pursue their (consensual, non-harmful) fantasies with gusto, but I’m afraid I simply have to draw the line at necrophilia. Can’t you pick a living SF grand master to invite to engage in carnal relations with you?

Cheers,

b&

Posted by: Ibis3, féministe avec un titre française de fantaisie | August 23, 2010 12:35 AM

@Ben Goren:

In a decade or two, perhaps she’ll have the literary, artistic, or scientific experience (depending on what direction she steers her life) to offer a serious supplement, critique, or contradiction of his work.

That's rather um...dismissive of you. What makes you think that she hasn't got enough brain cells so that she could offer serious blah blah blah now? You think she has to be either {fun & sexy} or {intelligent & thoughtful}, but for the gods' sake not both at the same time?

Posted by: bombria | August 23, 2010 1:07 AM

I'll be in my bunk.

Posted by: CanadianChick | August 23, 2010 1:10 AM

Thank you Ibis3 - god forbid Rachel Bloom should be seen as a multi dimensional person...

Posted by: DrGonzo666 | August 23, 2010 1:40 AM

The 89-year-old science fiction author watches Fox News Channel by day, Turner Classic Movies by night.

Bradbury has been a relentless supporter of space exploration. Ascending to the heavens won't destroy God; it'll reinforce belief, he says.
"We're moving more toward God," he says. "We're moving toward more proofs of his creation in other worlds he's created in other parts of the universe. Space travel will increase our belief in God."

source of quotes above

The guy sounds like a first class douche.

Posted by: badgersdaughter | August 23, 2010 1:44 AM

...god forbid Rachel Bloom should be seen as a multi dimensional person...[...?]

Well, chica certainly is three-dimensional, heh. (I'm not even gay and I think she, and her video, are just precious.)

I have also... um, "taken a few writers pretty seriously" from time to time. I'm sure you're not interested in which ones I had crushes on... but I double dog dare the rest of you to spill the beans on who got you hot and bothered based on their (presumably non-specifically-erotic) prose.

Posted by: Jadehawk, cascadeuse féministe | August 23, 2010 2:23 AM

Can’t you pick a living SF grand master to invite to engage in carnal relations with you?

um... Fuck me C.J. Cherryh...?

Posted by: GuyGene | August 23, 2010 3:33 AM

hahaha, PZ got powned by the New York Times. More "class-war claptrap" anyone????

Posted by: MinnieTheFinn, kaamea ateistifeministinarttu | August 23, 2010 4:14 AM

Something Wicked This Way Comes was, IICR, the first book I ever voluntarily read in English. It was slow going, and I'm sure I missed a lot of the true beauty of the language. I've reread it (and most of his other works) many times since.

Happy birthday, Mr. Bradbury, and thank you so much.

Posted by: james.haight | August 23, 2010 4:49 AM

@Jadehawk, 48: I think GuyGene's talking about a The Medium column on the big ScienceBlog kerfuffle a while ago by Virginia Heffernan. She was extremely offended sciblings did more than sit around in lab coats, talk about data, and look dignified all day. They '..chip off one-liners, promote their books and jeer at smokers, fat people and churchgoers..'

That's classism, don't you know?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/magazine/01FOB-medium-t.html

Posted by: arrenfrank | August 23, 2010 5:06 AM

Hey Alice, you and Taz should get together.

Maybe you can get take-out Chinese, and raid the fortune-cookies for better pre-fab rejoinders to regurgitate — chances are damned good!

Posted by: Karl Engels | August 23, 2010 5:19 AM

indefatigable (adjective): synonym for FUCKING AWESOME!! FUCK YEAH!!

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Posted by: David Marjanović | August 23, 2010 5:42 AM

As raunchy as that video is, I also found it very enduringly sweet. I mean, here’s this buxom young lass throwing herself not at the latest teen heartthrob, but at a nonagenarian — and not for his money, but for his mind.

Really, what higher compliment could she possibly have paid him?

QFT.

That's rather um...dismissive of you. What makes you think that she hasn't got enough brain cells so that she could offer serious blah blah blah now

Also QFT.

This is to rock as ID is to science.

What do I care about rock? :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Way to miss the point!

source of quotes above

Link doesn't work.

I double dog dare the rest of you to spill the beans on who got you hot and bothered based on their (presumably non-specifically-erotic) prose.

Then I'll have to show my true, nitpicking, spoilsports self. I've never got such feelings from reading a book. (The whole concept is alien to me. I'd more easily fall in love with a character than with the author!) But that may just be because I haven't read that much fiction in the first place, and because so little of it is written by women.

It's swell that you have such an original* stock response at the ready

Oh, you want more attention?

Earn it. :-)

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | August 23, 2010 6:06 AM

It seems that Ms. Bloom self-identifies as a comedian rather than a musician. So maybe some slack could be cut there.

Posted by: Ternon | August 23, 2010 6:21 AM

Looking at that picture of Ray Bradbury one is reminded once again that one can never get used to seeing how aging so thoroughly destroys a man.

Aging is a disease that needs to be beaten.

Posted by: SteveV, Death's Pissant Haberdasher | August 23, 2010 6:32 AM

I guess Dennis Rayburn isn't a Far Side fan either.

One of Larson's more famous cartoons shows two chimpanzees grooming. One finds a blonde human hair on the other and inquires, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?" The Jane Goodall Institute thought this was in bad taste, and had their lawyers draft a letter to Larson and his distribution syndicate, in which they described the cartoon as an "atrocity". They were stymied by Goodall herself, who revealed that she found the cartoon amusing. Since then, all profits from sales of a shirt featuring this cartoon go to the Goodall Institute.

Goodall wrote a preface to The Far Side Gallery 5, detailing her version of the "Jane Goodall Tramp" controversy. She praised Larson's creative ideas, which often compare and contrast the behavior of humans and animals. In 1988, Larson visited Gombe Streams National Park and was attacked by Frodo, a chimp described by Goodall as a "bully." Larson escaped with cuts and bruises.

Posted by: Karl Engels | August 23, 2010 6:51 AM

arrenfrank gets all butthurt because a POP video isn't good ROCK & ROLL and then gets more butthurt after everyone goes WTF!! RACHEL BLOOM IS TEH AWESOME!! STFU DUDE!!

P.S. Rachel, if you're reading this, will you marry me? ;-)

Posted by: KG | August 23, 2010 6:58 AM

I personally find his writing tired and kitschy, and far less interesting than Kurt Vonnegut's - alischinsky

Seconded - and far less interesting than many other SF writers too. Fahrenheit 451 was Ok-ish (but the title was the best bit - I guess that's why he was so peeved at Michael Moore), I couldn't make it through anything else of his I've tried. Still, and despite him being a right-wing goddist, I'm glad he enjoyed the video.

Posted by: orion | August 23, 2010 7:32 AM

Rutee, smart people for sure can be sexy, but I still get JediBear's point that one of the jokes of the video is the surprise element of a cute young woman singing about how she fancies a guy purely for his writing, rather than some jock in her college. And furthermore you have the incongruity of Bardbury's ideas-based writing against the crudity of the woman saying she wants him to f*** her,

I'm not saying I agree with JediBear's criticism of the video, but I get his/her point that this is one of the things that make it memorable.

Posted by: Alice Bluegown | August 23, 2010 7:38 AM

@ JediBear - or how about...

1) song is ludicrously catchy in a bubblegum girly-power-pop manner reminiscent of the All-Girl Summer Fun Band or the Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack.

2) song features the phrase "fuck me" in the chorus, thus guaranteeing it will never be played on any radio station in my country, and thereby achieving instant awesomeness.

3) song & video both successfully spoof the "hot teen who wants to do you" genre exemplifed by Britney Spears et al, by invoking as lust object a geriatric author most of the cool kids will never have heard of.

All we need now is for someone to describe this video as "Hate Porn".

- Alice B (for a truly indefatigable fuck)

Posted by: Forbidden Snowflake | August 23, 2010 7:38 AM

Oy vey, humor reductionism...

1) Sex sells. (a) Cute girl (b) talking about sex. That's why it interests you. Don't even try to deny it.

You caught us, Sherlock! We like sex! Cuff us and take us to the jailhouse. [note: I don't usually speak for others, but I'm taking the liberty on this specific point]

2) Old men can't be sexy, that's a huge chunk of the reason why its funny. Her enthusiasm seems misaimed. 3) Smart men can't be sexy, that's a huge chunk of the reason why it's funny. Her enthusiasm seems misaimed.

"Misaimed" is the wrong word, and not just because my spell-Czech thinks so. The video presents an alternative reality, one in which hormone-crazed teenage gushing is sparked by intellect and talent rather than blond hair and nice pectorals. So it's a geek's fantasy-world scenario, not necessarily "it's funny because it's ridiculous". And the approval of Ray Bradbury himself lends it additional legitimacy.

4) Funny because "it's true." Common lore holds that if a girl likes reading, it must be a sex thing.

lolwut? Never heard this one before, are you sure it's all that "common"?

Posted by: Rutee, Shrieking Harpy of Dooooom | August 23, 2010 7:54 AM

You caught us, Sherlock! We like sex! Cuff us and take us to the jailhouse. [note: I don't usually speak for others, but I'm taking the liberty on this specific point]

I think Janine is the one in charge of cuffs on Pharyngula, not that guy.

Posted by: secularguy | August 23, 2010 8:38 AM

I have a gig as a lounge pianist this Friday. This will be on the playlist.

Posted by: Jan Witkowski | August 23, 2010 9:03 AM

This is a delight!

Posted by: Moggie | August 23, 2010 9:17 AM

Over-analysing humour FTW!

Humour often derives from juxtaposing concepts in an unexpected, incongruous way, challenging existing conventions. But the audience don't need to accept those conventions in order to find this amusing, they just need to recognise that they exist.

Posted by: nigelTheBold, Minister of Spankings | August 23, 2010 9:24 AM

"This is ludicrous."

I held my hand up, palm out, in what I hoped was a placating gesture. "Now, now, Mr. Frank . . . you are a Mister, right?"

He had stormed through my door unannounced. Timothy, my secretary, had been on lunch break for four years. Everyone storms in unannounced. I assumed he was a male, with his receding widow's peak and slight mustache, but I couldn't be sure. The bumps on his chest were larger than I'd expect on a such a scrawny man.

"Yes," he said. I relaxed. "You are Mr. TheBold, indefatigable investigator?"

I shook my head. "What's it say on the door?"

He minced his words like a line-order cook at the dinner rush. "It reads," he said, "nigeTheBold, Private Dick."

"Good," I said. "You're literate." I like "Private Dick" better than "Private Investigator." It makes me sound like a gigolo. Much classier.

"Of course I'm literate, you preposterous oaf! That's precisely why I require your help."

I don't get much call for literariness these days. Like the ability to drive a stick, or bake artisan bread, reading just doesn't mean as much as it did.

I expected he'd ask me to read him some Shakespeare or something. That happens occasionally; some pretentious bag of dog dung wanders in off the street and wants me to read them a bedtime story, or sing 'em some Liza Minnelli.

He surprised me, though. "SWSFOTI," he said.

"Huh?" Not my wittiest rejoinder, certainly, but it is one of my most versatile. "WTF?"

"Someone. Watched. Something. Funny. On. The. Internet." He sprayed this through teeth clenched tighter than a fish's anus.

I hate repeating myself, but I will for particularly dense clients. I assumed this uptight Ignatius Reilly of a man was here for paying business.

"Huh?" I said again.

His mouth was a rictus of fetid displeasure. I realized what I took for a light mustache was really a mad network of lines etched above his upper lip. It seemed haughty judgment was his natural state.

"Only it wasn't funny," he continued. "It was particularly unfunny. It was the kind of classless filth spewed forth daily by cretins like Eddie Izzard, or Jon Stewart (that terribly dis-humorous purveyer of leftist propaganda), or any number of self-promoting self-styled comedians with a distinct lack of humor."

"I see." I didn't, really. Sure, neither Eddie Izzard nor Jon Stewart were funny, but for me, humor died with Bob Hope, so who am I to judge?

I said, "What do you expect me to do about it? I can't go around stopping people from watching videos you don't find humorous."

He nodded, as if he were actually considering this. "No," he said. "Certianly not," he said. "But you can hold a gun to my head and force me to respond." He was lost deep in something analogous to thought. "Yes," he said. "That would be the best way. Force me to de-lurk. Then I can dispatch them all forthwith."

I shrugged. What the hell. I've had worse assignments.

I warned him, "Don't tempt me to pull the trigger," but he didn't hear me. He was already composing his message, his sensuous and spiderwebbed lips moving as he typed the words.

Posted by: Canuck | August 23, 2010 10:14 AM

I don't see anyone challenging the concept that old men aren't sexy.
They are - to us old women.
And Bradbury?
We don't mob him only because it is so hard to get up any speed in a walker

Posted by: otrame | August 23, 2010 10:54 AM

People who have only read Fahrenheit 451 or The Martian Chronicles (his two most famous books) have missed out. It's mostly his short stories I remember the best. And then there is Something Wicked This Way Comes,a little masterpiece, though it was much more fantasy/horror than SF. People have been stealing various aspects of that one for literally generations--including Stephen King. And the fact that he is a right-wing theist is irrelevant to that. I disagree with his politics but that doesn't have anything to do with his abilities as a writer.

It tickles me that he enjoyed the video.

Oh, and to the person above who disparaged fan fiction: If, as Sturgeon noted "90% of everything is crap", with fan fiction it is a little more complicated. I'd say about 50% of fan fiction is total crap, 45-47% is only good if you are a fan/girl-or-boy, and that last 3-5% is really great. There are a number of fan fic writers just in the two or three fandoms I read who should be published, but since the publishing industry has been focused almost entirely on prolific series writers in the past 15 years (the ones who can pump out a book every 9 months or so--I don't know what they are going to do since Robert B. Parker died--that maniac published 2 to 3 books a year) because they know people will keep buying the series long after the author has run dry. So there are a lot of excellent writers out there who will never get published and some of them write fan fiction as a hobby to "vent" that part of their creativity. I can understand a non-fan/girl-or-boy not being interested in culling through the dross to get to the gems, but that doesn't mean the gems aren't there.

So there.

Posted by: Krystalline Apostate | August 23, 2010 11:14 AM

2) Old men can't be sexy, that's a huge chunk of the reason why its funny.

Oh my. How terribly ageist.

Posted by: mmelliott01 | August 23, 2010 11:25 AM

Oh for fu Bradbury's sake! I haven't seen so much handwringing over nothing since early August.

The video tells us nothing about how smart Rachel is. The lyrics are vaguely clever but then we don't really know whether she wrote them or if she had help. She might have been capable of "smarter" lyrics but chose what she did because it fit her intent.

And "fuck me" is not the core of the song. The core is "Ray Bradbury" and all of the rhymes with it. "Ray Bradbury" gives it a flow that balances the punch of the "fuck" in "fuck me".

Now please excuse me. I'm going to write a letter to Bud Selig, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. I need to complain about all of the leagues and teams, from teeball all the way up to the Boston Red Sox, on the grounds that they do not match the lofty standards of the New York Yankees and therefore should be banned from existence. Because as we know, we live in a world where only the best possible exemplar of any given phenomenon can be allowed to exist.

Oh, and "Indefatigable" to you too, though in this case I refer to the various warships of the same name rather than to the prosaic usage in the comments above.

Oops, sorry. I accidentally started writing like the priggish asses I was attempting to mock. When you stare into the abyss, blah blah blah...

Posted by: Rik G | August 23, 2010 11:58 AM

"I am amused by the fact that someone felt compelled to delurk because other people were enjoying a bit of comic fluff that he didn't care for."

That was very amusing, but it was worth it to see his response to the "pearl clutching"/"fainting couch" clichés. Touché!

Anyway, thanks for posting the video. Who cares if it wasn't brilliant; it was funny and it made me start my day with a smile and a laugh.

Posted by: Buster | August 23, 2010 12:22 PM

My favorite Ray Bradberry is Martian Chronicles. IIRC she didn't sing about that book in her song.

It's a bit difficult to make a modish innuendo from it though.

I wonder if he is happy with this song. I shouldn't think so he is a conservative and didn't like that Michael Moore ripping off his book. Then again he is red-blooded male so maybe he just watched it with the sound turned off and the rather risque language tuned out.

IMHO Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov are the best SF writers. Truly great! I like the Fountains of Paradise best.

Posted by: Moira Manion | August 23, 2010 12:41 PM

It's not a bad video, or song. Bradbury's my favorite SF writer, too, but, kid......he's 90.

This is why author's bio photos should be updated...or maybe it's why they shouldn't be.

Posted by: Moira Manion | August 23, 2010 12:52 PM

@ Don (#14)

His career as a writer was somewhat compromised by his stubborn unwillingness to fly and by his refusal to get a driver's license, believe it or not. He's on the shy and timid side in some ways, but what a storyteller.

Huh? Farenheit 451 is fmeekin' brilliant -- reality gets closer to it every decade-- and so are his short stories and many of his essays. His work is read around the world. How on earth has no flying or driving "somewhat compromised" his career as a writer? There's lots of wonderful writers, and actors by the way, who are shy and timid.

I mean, young things are writing sex songs to him. When he's 90. Seems like not driving or flying hasn't effected him much.

And as someone who's never had a driver's license, I can testify that you can have a great quality of life without one.

Posted by: Eriol Tolkien | August 23, 2010 1:30 PM

Is it just my imagination, or is old Ray havin' a fap?

Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawntbkLlJwiX1gbzB1e7Fo4BfJhgc2TJuek | August 23, 2010 1:33 PM

A good laugh a day adds a day to your life. Going to
live an extra month after this.

Posted by: Karl Engels | August 23, 2010 2:02 PM

Silly me, I thought the guy was British, but he does a slight Chicago accent,along with others as required, perfectly.

The British accent was fake.

Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkyh3UkHtoWi978AdjZr7Nlsm63DtQhPzU | August 23, 2010 2:15 PM

Something wicked this way will come... and a girl with a Kurt Vonnegut T-shirt appears... Ursula LeGuin is my fave.

Posted by: Xenithrys | August 23, 2010 3:03 PM

@96&102: Yes, Nigel for Molly.

Posted by: Leon | August 23, 2010 3:16 PM

I hope I look so good at 90! Judging by my family history I'm not likely to quite make it there.

Posted by: dae | August 23, 2010 7:00 PM

Please, please, please make one titled "Fuck me Jesus Christ, greatest biblical prophet in history"

Posted by: dae | August 23, 2010 7:52 PM

Well lets have a trilogy with Mohamed thrown in for good measure.

Posted by: Herk | August 23, 2010 8:17 PM

I can only imagine about a million blog viewers rushing to iTunes to download this and make this sweet lady very rich. I know I did! Woo Hoo!

Posted by: murtagh | August 23, 2010 9:12 PM

Nothing can take away from the man's work, but I lost a deal of respect for Ray Bradbury himself when he said he was considering legal action against Michael Moore for the title "Fahrenheit 9/11".

No doubt his lawyers told him he didn't have a legal leg to stand on, but given that "The Golden Apples Of The Sun" is from a Yeats poem, "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is a Shakespeare quote, and "I Sing The Body Electric" is word-for-word the title of a Walt Whitman poem, he should have had more class than to even think of attempting such a thing.

Posted by: rewarp | August 23, 2010 11:35 PM

It seems there are comments questioning Rachel Bloom's intellectual prowess. She does have other productions which are quite enjoyable.

Standup

Comedy

I hope that will shore-up the sex-centred defences with empirical evidence of a brilliant mind as well.

Unless you happen to find Mr Deity unfunny.

Posted by: Jack Flynn | August 24, 2010 8:28 PM

I don't want to nick pick at the video, but the Earth is spinning backwards. The sheer awesomeness of this video is still overwhelming though... :P

Posted by: deetee | August 27, 2010 7:26 PM

I see that Steven Hawking is just a wee bit jealous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47h3EsRvM0Q