BruceH

Some of the jazz being played TODAY already "bewilders" me and "doesn't sound like jazz." (I won't say "outrages" though.) In fact, some of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor's music music from the 60's doesn't do a thing for me. No need to look 50 years into the unknowable future for that.

Speaking of Blish, I've long prefered his short stuff to his novels. (I know I've said this a lot, but it seems to be true of a lot of writers, particularly in the SF field.)

Widely? I don't know about that. Detour is like a bloody car wreck; you can't help slowing down to look, but the word 'best' hardly applies. To me, Detour is like a dream that reveals more about the dreamer in the retelling than the dreamer would conciously chose to reveal. However, as film noir it's no where near the level of, say, Out of the Past. Very true. At some point along the way Detour, thanks in no small part to its very primitivism, got a reputation as a sort of "ur-Noir." But that sure don't necessarily mean "best."

Wow. I've read the Foundation Trilogy many times. I guess you're not much on the "hard SF" stuff, eh? Speaking of which, has anyone here read Hal Clement's A Mission of Gravity? It was a real struggle for me to read, and I have hopes that I'll never get the urge again, but in spite of that, I think it's one of the true classics of the field. Actually, back when I was a loyal young sf fan (the 1970's) hard sf was probably my favorite. And I didn't really consider the Foundation Trilogy to be all that "hard." ("Psychohistory" sounded pretty squishy to me.) I also read Clement's Mission of Gravity and loved it, but as I only read it once, and that was in 8th grade, it's hard to say how I'd like it now. Definitely a classic of its kind, though.

The obituary mentions that he also cranked out some science fiction early on. Wonder if it was any good. Maybe I'll rewatch The Hot Rock in his memory.

I've long thought Detour one of the trashiest (and silliest) noirs ever. It certainly confers a type of immortality on Ann Savage though.

Gee, 61 seems a tad young.

I just bought this LP today at the Streetlight Records here in Noe Valley, SF that is closing next month. Don't remind me.

How is it? This one's sitting on my shelf waiting (along with a stack of other Blish) for me to get the urge. I always kind of liked Titan's Daughter. The Cities In Flight tetralogy is one of those sf series that you read once, and ONLY once. I vaguely recall reading Cities In Flight in the '70s as a dutiful young SF fan. And I recall almost nothing else about the four books except that, A: There were cities in them and, B: They were flying (On planets through space. Under domes?). Not sure it was worth the time. I recall that much of the stories involved the the island of Manhattan, which had been uprooted through the use of some sort of paragravity space-drive, and was making it's way through the galaxy. I also recall that much of it was a bit of a chore to get through, accomplished mainly because I was also a dutiful young SF fan. (That's also the only way I got through Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, which was still, THANK GOD, a trilogy back then.)

How is it? This one's sitting on my shelf waiting (along with a stack of other Blish) for me to get the urge. I always kind of liked Titan's Daughter. The Cities In Flight tetralogy is one of those sf series that you read once, and ONLY once.

Not nearly as overrated as On the Road.

Sad news. I too was hoping he would recover. RIP

Ready For Freddie, Here To Stay, and Open Sesame have long been favorites. And "Blues For Brenda" from the Goin' Up album is a big favorite track. He was also, as some have pointed out here, a superb sideman. Red Clay, however, never did much for me.

Just re-read Charles Drazin's In Search of the Third Man. A good book to read if you've just re-watched The Third Man for the millionth time. The chapter on the differences between the original British cut and the American cut of the film is particularly fascinating, especially if, like Drazin, you've long felt that the American cut is clearly inferior.

Always kind of shrug-inducing, for me.

They're great. My grandfather had one and let me push it sometimes when I was a kid. They're not all that hard to push, really, and they don't pummel your ears or pollute the air like a gas-powered mower.

"Drivin' like a fool out to Hackensack Drinkin' his dinner from a paper sack---" --SD

Furthermore, why isn't there an album called "Lou's Clues"?

DS9 ran hot and cold for me, but I really started to check out of the whole Trek thing just a little into Voyager's run. That show just never did much for me, but Enterprise looked even worse. I never even gave it a chance. But Majel Barrett was there, in a sense, from before the beginning. Before Bones, before Kirk, before the unemotional Spock, there was Number One. RIP

You're right on target there. I'd rather forget that character. The whole raison d'etre behind Lwaxana was that she was SUPPOSED to be just SO annoying...har, har. Yeah, I get it, but she wasn't annoying/funny but annoying/tiresome. And the weird part is that they kept bringing her back OVER and OVER... she even had 3 guest appearances on DS9. Did the character really have that much of a following? I recently rewatched an episode with both her and Alexander Rozhenko. It was a weak episode, but not quite the trainwreck one might expect given that combination. Guy Oy vey---the DS9 appearances were quite uncalled for, and something I'd also rather forget. Alexander, however....there was a character who wasn't all bad. He could be either surprisingly good or a tad tiresome, depending on the episode, but on balance, I'd have to say one Hell of a lot better than Wesley.

Damn straight! Never forget!! What is this 'BetaMAX' you speak of?

In case I didn't mention it before: Love---Forever Changes Finally got into this only about three years ago, and still play it quite a bit.

:lol MG The first music I ever owned was a Chipmunks single.

Or, "Them what done left us, dang it." (To be said in the voice of Walter Brennan.)

You're right on target there. I'd rather forget that character. The whole raison d'etre behind Lwaxana was that she was SUPPOSED to be just SO annoying...har, har. Yeah, I get it, but she wasn't annoying/funny but annoying/tiresome. I'd rather remember the original Number One.