Don’t fail to see Nyarlathotep if he comes to Providence. He is horrible—horrible beyond anything you can imagine—but wonderful. He haunts one for hours afterward. I am still shuddering at what he showed.
Regarding the "live forever" command that the magician gave to the young Bradbury, Bradbury had a chance to sign up for cryonics, which is objectively the only way to get a chance to live forever, but he said that he could not face waking up in the future where he knew nobody, and that he cannot stand to leave his friends and neighborhood and neighbors of his current life.. so maybe he had a chance to live forever by signing up for cryonics, but he decided against it
"Immortality" is quite obviously not being used literally, rather in the sense that Bradbury has left such a mark that he will remain a part of society, via his work, long, long after he has died.
"Out looking for the camera crews
Sell my soul for a second on the evening news... Immortality is what I'm buying, but I'd rather be immortal by not dying." Steve Taylor
You might notice that this whole Mr. Electro schtick is the core of the Stephen King novel Revival, with an ending that was quite unlike his usual; King has always had a huge yen for all things Bradbury.
(A former tenured professor at Columbia College, Weller was dismissed in summer 2022 for violating the school’s sexual harassment policies.)
Why was it important to include this in an article about Ray Bradbury? It added nothing to the article, and actually took the focus away from the subject. Terrible journalism.
A common magical technique is to perform the same effect in unrelated ways. There's no reason the sparks from the chair and the shocks from the sword have to be at all related.
Reminds of a joke in the movie "Clue." The suspicious-looking widow is asked why her husband disappeared, and she says dismissively, "Well, that was his job. He was a magician."
Fumbling, they say, "but he never reappeared!" And she says...
Fond memories of the club where I was well enough known and respected as to be allowed to bring a violet wand into the premises and turn it on: human chains, human beer sign, other sideshowesque scenes.
I got a chance to see Dr. Megavolt perform at Burning Man 20 some years ago. There was an earth mover machine with flamethrower, a band in electric cage, and gogo dancers in various skimpy outfits, all engaging in a battle with the good doctor. It was incredibly epic. What I recall was the most immediately noticeable was the strong smell of ozone, all that lightning mad it feel like a thunderstorm. They did have to run the generators all day long to charge up the batteries for 15 show....
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 65.4 ms ] threadWhy was it important to include this in an article about Ray Bradbury? It added nothing to the article, and actually took the focus away from the subject. Terrible journalism.
Doesn't this put a lie to the suggestion by Bradbury that members of the audience, including him, were touched with a sword held by the performer?
Don’t try this at home
https://youtu.be/sIbropvPzTM
Fumbling, they say, "but he never reappeared!" And she says...
"Well, he wasn't a very good magician."
Perhaps not as exotic as the Burning Man performances, it was pretty exciting stuff even for me in my mid-30's. Well worth a visit.
[0]: https://www.mos.org/live-presentations/lightning