The Truth About James Randi

[SGOS]

We don't usually think about peoples voices that much, until you hear James Earl Jones.  You then realize just how good a voice can be.

[Unbeliever]

Oh, good - I've been to Hollywood, so being excommunicated from there ain't bad!

[Cavebear]

Steve Martin's remake of the Pink Panther was embarrassing.  I actually felt sorry for him.

I bet he cried all the way to the bank...

[Cavebear]

We don't usually think about peoples voices that much, until you hear James Earl Jones.  You then realize just how good a voice can be.

There are some voices you just can't forget.  Mae West.  Stan Laurel.  Paul Simon.  Bob Dylan.  the many voices of Mel Blanc, James Earl Jones...

[trdsf]

There are some voices you just can't forget.  Mae West.  Stan Laurel.  Paul Simon.  Bob Dylan.  the many voices of Mel Blanc, James Earl Jones...

Orson Welles, Groucho Marx, Stephen Fry, Hitch...

[Unbeliever]

Carl Sagan, W.C. Fields, G.W. Bush...

[Cavebear]

Orson Welles, Groucho Marx, Stephen Fry, Hitch...

Good additions!

[trdsf]

Good additions!

I'd also put in the audiobook readers William Dufris and Scott Brick, for my money the best in the business, if the author doesn't read their own work.  I prefer books read by the author since they know the tone and emphasis they want, but not all authors are good readers.  Harlan Ellison was probably the best, and Douglas Adams was great.  Asimov was good, but his miles-thick Brooklyn accent kind of took some of the "Gosh! Wow! (sense of wonder)" out of it.  Clarke just kind of... read it, without much in the way of characterization, emphasis or inflection.

[Cavebear]

I'd also put in the audiobook readers William Dufris and Scott Brick, for my money the best in the business, if the author doesn't read their own work.  I prefer books read by the author since they know the tone and emphasis they want, but not all authors are good readers.  Harlan Ellison was probably the best, and Douglas Adams was great.  Asimov was good, but his miles-thick Brooklyn accent kind of took some of the "Gosh! Wow! (sense of wonder)" out of it.  Clarke just kind of... read it, without much in the way of characterization, emphasis or inflection.

I wish I could say better things about Isaac Asimov.  He gave a speech at Univ Of MD once and he was beet red, "seemed" drunk as a skunk. and made no sense at all.  The audience left before he did.

[SGOS]

I wish I could say better things about Isaac Asimov.  He gave a speech at Univ Of MD once and he was beet red, "seemed" drunk as a skunk. and made no sense at all.  The audience left before he did.

Drunken performances don't show much respect for you audience, and are not particularly helpful to your career.  The incident may not have hurt his career, but I doubt that it did much to help it.

[trdsf]

I wish I could say better things about Isaac Asimov.  He gave a speech at Univ Of MD once and he was beet red, "seemed" drunk as a skunk. and made no sense at all.  The audience left before he did.

By all accounts, Asimov was virtually a teetotaler, so that wasn't it.  He may have just not been feeling well and went through with an event that he probably should have rescheduled.  And there's that thick and bouncy Brooklyn accent that can be kind of hard to follow sometimes.  I have trouble following Richard Feynman not just because the physics is hard but also his Noo Yawk accent gets in the way.

[Baruch]

By all accounts, Asimov was virtually a teetotaler, so that wasn't it.  He may have just not been feeling well and went through with an event that he probably should have rescheduled.  And there's that thick and bouncy Brooklyn accent that can be kind of hard to follow sometimes.  I have trouble following Richard Feynman not just because the physics is hard but also his Noo Yawk accent gets in the way.

Back in the day, people could take codeine based medicine over the counter.

[Jason78]

We don't usually think about peoples voices that much, until you hear James Earl Jones.  You then realize just how good a voice can be.

I'll see your James Earl Jones and raise you a BRIAN BLESSED.

[SGOS]

By all accounts, Asimov was virtually a teetotaler, so that wasn't it.

Roger Miller had some brief popularity as a singer back in the 60s.  His popularity was hard to figure, although he always had catchy but meaningless tunes, like "You can't roller skate in a Buffalo herd."  He came to my college on the circuit as they used to do, and showed up drunk as a skunk.  Couldn't make it through half his songs, and just went on to the next song from the middle of the last song.  He left halfway through the performance.  At the end of the year the college Annual, which always included coverage of the big performances that came there during the year covered Miller's performance with a few pages titled something like Roger Miller Lays an Egg.  A graphic description of his hideous performance was pretty much spot on.  I guess they could have just skipped the event, but Alumni will always remember the night Roger Miller showed up.  And the utter failure of the event was an event in itself.

[Baruch]

Some artists implode from the stress of public performance ;-(