posted on May 12, 2001 06:49:20 PM new
NOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Damn, that really, really, REALLY sucks. His books were a great influence on me during my formative years, and I can still quote vast chunks of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" from memory.
He was truly a hoopy frood who knew where his towel was...
[ edited by godzillatemple on May 14, 2001 11:05 AM ]
I remember that one, wholly stoned year at college, spending many happy hours listening to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio show. Better than the book, way better than the TV show. I even remember a very, very early "interactive fiction" computer game based on Hitchhiker that would present a block of text to you, then you could respond (using a limited vocabulary), saying something like, "Get out of bed" and then the program would give you another block of text, telling you something like, "A wrecking ball crashes though the wall of your bedroom." All to clear the way for the interspace bypass.
And the answer to the ultimate question of the universe, the meaning of existence, and everything? What was it?
posted on May 12, 2001 11:24:43 PM new
triplesnack - 42 - or for him 49
This evolves to major suction when people younger than you are dying. Next I will be turning to the miserable obits to see who is going before the comics.
posted on May 13, 2001 08:11:41 AM new
Well, I guess I can stop checking my local bookstore for a new D. Adams publication. How sad. I've got just about every book he ever wrote (at least in the sf(ish) genre.
Always enjoyed his dry sense of humor.
posted on May 13, 2001 12:36:10 PM new
Well, I remember when I was young [maybe 14 or 15?] holding a tape recorder up to my clock radio to record the original broadcasts off NPR. I wish I still had those original recordings! Years later I bought a professional set from the bookstore and chucked my homemade versions, only to later discover that they weren't exactly the same! Apparently, the episodes were rerecorded several times over the years for different formats [including a LP version], and little things got changed along the way.
One line in particular I vividly remember from the copies I made, which didn't appear in the version I bought. When Slartibartfast is talking about how he originally helped design the Earth, he says something like "the mice were furious." I distinctly remember Arthur then saying something to the effect of "Well, I'm sure the aardvarks and duckbilled platypuses weren't very happy about it, either!" Unfortunately, Arthur's line seems to have vanished into the aether....
Here are some of my all-time favorite lines from the radio series:
"In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and has widely been regarded as a bad idea..."
"In those days, men were REAL men, women were REAL women, and small blue creatures from Alpha Centauri were REAL small blue creatures from Alpha Centauri..."
Hotel Clerk: Are you THE Zaphod Beeblebrox?
Saphod: No, I'm A Zaphod Beeblebrox. I come in sixpacks, didn't you know?"
"The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is so mindbogglingly stupid that it thinks that if you can't see it, it can't see you..."
Arthur: "I hate to say this, but do you know what I really think would come in handy right about now?"
Lintilla: "What"
Arthur: "A gun of some sort!"
Lintilla: "Would this help?"
Arthur: "What is it?"
Lintilla: "It's a gun of some sort...."
Arthur: "You know, it's times like these, when I'm about to be tossed out the airlock of an alian spacecraft to suffocate in the vacuum of space, that I really wish I had listened to what my mother told me when I was young."
Ford: "Why? What did she say?"
Arthur: "I don't know -- I didn't listen!"
"Here I am, a brain the size of a planet..."
"Oh, frettled gruntbuggly! Thy micturations are to me as the lurid gabbleblodgets of a turgid bee..."
"The argument [for the proof of the nonexistence of God] goes something like this: 'I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, 'for proof denies faith and, without faith, I am nothing.' 'But,' says man, 'the babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It proves you exist, and therefore you don't. Q.E.D.' 'Oh dear,' says God. 'I hadn't thought of that' and promptly disappears in a puff of logic. 'Oh, that was easy!' cries man, and goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed at the next zebra [pedestrian] crossing..."
Ford: "You'd better prepare yourself for the jump into hyperspace. It's unpleasantly like being drunk."
Arthur: "What's wrong with being drunk?"
Ford: "You ask a glass of water how it feels."
*sigh*
Anybody else have some favorites they care to share in DNA's memory?
Barry
---
The opinions expressed above are for comparison purposes only. Your mileage may vary....
[ edited by godzillatemple on May 13, 2001 12:38 PM ]
posted on May 13, 2001 01:58:01 PM new
Gee, Barry, all of the books, all of the unique nonsense from that zanny universe that came from the unholy mind of Douglas Adams.
Farewell, Eternal HitchHiker! Towel ensconced, Babel Fish enabled Guidebook ready, Did you double-check the entries For your Final Desitnation?
posted on May 13, 2001 02:48:58 PM new
Ironically, what I took from the books was actual advice-I never travel without a towel.
Believe it or not, the darned things are VERY useful in a variety of ways. I've used them as pillows, blankets for tired kittens, drying off a wet dog(long story), sunscreen, etc. I've even used them as towels, when I've had a long layover in some Godforsaken terminal.
I've 5 of his books, I've got 3 of them on audio, and I have the recordings of the BBC version of Hitchhiker's Guide. They have been a great source of entertainment and a great satire on life. His passing is sad for me.
The audio book of Life The Universe, and Everything is available on the usenet in mp3 format at alt.binaries.sounds.audiobooks if anyone is interested. I don't know if that is the version read by Stephen Moore or not, but if it is it's great fun.
You can find the BBC version of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy in mp3 format on the usenet at alt.binaries.sounds.radio.bbc (If some episodes aren't available keep checking, they repost that regularly on that newsgroup)
posted on May 14, 2001 03:56:28 PM new
godzillatemple,
I, too, religiously taped the NPR broadcasts the first time our local station ran them - only I was somewhat older than you at the time! I need to dig out those old cassettes and see if they're still listenable.
I "met" Mr. Adams at a book signing early on. I was dressed to the nines (since I was going to the ballet later that evening), and I had a sequinned babelfish sticking out of my ear. He seemed appreciative (or perhaps bemused)...
Yeah, I shed a few tears over the weekend. Too young.
