This is topic Memories of Douglas Adams(Don't Panic) in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
 
This thread is a place to discuss the antics of Arthur Dent, who I might add could never quite get the hang of Thursdays.

[ December 23, 2004, 05:10 PM: Message edited by: SteveRogers ]
 

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Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
 
OK, I haven't read those books since high school.

Should I bother reading them again? Will I pick up more this time around, or are they pretty much surface/shallow (but enjoyable) books?
 

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Posted by Happy Camper (Member # 5076) on :
 
Well, I don't know, have you actually read all 5 books in the trilogy? If you haven't it might be worth it to pick them up again.
 

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Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
 
DON'T PANIC!

I hope I never have to listen to a Vogon reading poetry.
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
"Ode to a small lump of green putty I found in my ear one midsummer morning"
 

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Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
 
I read "The Salmon of Doubt" recently and was surprisingly surprised to find he was a devout atheist.

Don't know why. I mean, if you read his books, you could see it coming from a mile away.
 

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Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
 
The Vogon poetry part made me laugh myself purple.
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 

quote:

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Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.

The argument 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 could not have evolved by chance. It proves that you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."

"Oh dear," says God, "Ihadn't thought of that," and promptly disappears in a puff of logic.

"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is whte and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.

Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that did not stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his best selling book 'Well That About Wraps It Up For God'.

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Yeah, this bit always tipped me off about Douglas Adams' religious ideas
 

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Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
 

quote:

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read all 5 books in the trilogy?

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5 Books in a Triogy?
 

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Posted by John Van Pelt (Member # 5767) on :
 
A trilogy can have any number of volumes.

Pass me another Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blaster.
 

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Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
 
doesn't tri=three?
 

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Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 
Tri not to think about it too much...
 

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Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
 
Why do puns always pop up in the threads I read?
 

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Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 
Because the threads you read are on Hatrack?
 

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Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
 
Point taken.
 

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Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
 
Only one definition for trilogy on Merriam-Webster:

quote:

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Main Entry: tril·o·gy
Pronunciation: 'tri-l&-jE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -gies
Etymology: Greek trilogia, from tri- + -logia -logy
: a series of three dramas or literary works or sometimes three musical compositions that are closely related and develop a single theme

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quote:

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I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make when they fly by.

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Feyd Baron, DoC
 

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Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
 
Though Mostly Harmless was quite missable, I thought.

My favorite was So Long and Thanks for all the Fish.

Check out his Dirk Gently books. They are even better, some of us think.

DNA is great! He's so very clever and funny. He's just brilliant!
 

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Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 
MH was DNA's way of saying, "There's no way you can make me write another one of these books."

I've read two Dirk Gentleys. Liked them both very much.

Dagonee
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
I wish my initials were DNA.
 

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Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
 
Improbability Drive... GO!

*jumps to the other side of the galaxy as hair turns into a tomato*
 

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Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
 
Damn, but I gotta read his books again soon. These posts have me postively giggling!
 

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Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
 
I've got a book that contains all 5 books in the trilogy. I just started rereading it and can't put it down.

I wonder what it would be like to have a Babel fish in your ear?

Does anyone know where I can get an Infinite Improbability drive?
 

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Posted by AvidReader (Member # 6007) on :
 
Dirk Gently books? Plural?

I have Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. But now I need to get Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. At least I know what to ask for for Christmas.
 

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Posted by Happy Camper (Member # 5076) on :
 
Yep, and the Salmon of Doubt was shaping up as the third Dirk Gently book, though I think it says in there someplace that DNA was considering a lot of the story elements for a sixth HHG book.

And I agree, Last Chance to See was fantastic.
 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
"Does anyone know where I can get an Infinite Improbability drive?"

Oddly, I can help you with this problem.

First, you must obtain an atomic vector plotter. Many of these are available on Vogon ships, although bypassing the security systems may first require you to subject yourself to poetry.

Secondly, you will require a source of finite improbability. A Finite Improbability Generator works well, although a six-sided die is fine in a pinch.

Thirdly, you must provide some Brownian motion, ideally in a convenient container. Any hot liquid will do, but tea is preferred for aesthetic reasons and inexplicably returns better (i.e. more infinitely improbable) results. Sadly, the dangly bit of the atomic vector plotter is not as mentally flexible as cybernetic doors, Marvin, and you, and will not accept a cup full of no tea.

[ December 21, 2004, 09:31 AM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
EDIT: Okay, I'd have sworn TomDavidson didn't mention Tea.

[ December 21, 2004, 11:12 AM: Message edited by: Teshi ]
 

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Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
 

quote:

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5 Books in a Triogy?

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That's how Douglas Adams's sense of humor works.
 

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Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
 
The rest of it I can do, but I don't know about listening to Vogon poetry. The very idea fills me with dread.
 

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Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
 
It's worse than that. Not only do you have to listen to Vogon poetry, but you have to *enjoy* it as well.

And the Hitchiker books are both as sillily superficial as you think and also much more complex. There's actually a lot going on there, although I got this new perspective after reading The Salmon of Doubt, which was really interesting and not at all what I was expecting.

[ December 21, 2004, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: MrSquicky ]
 

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Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
 
well this turned out about ten times better than i had hoped........you know my favorite scene in the trilogy is in the first book......the whale and pot of petunias thing......and then in one of the sequels(i can't believe i cant remember which one) the petunias get revenge.......and then at the end of MH the petunias die again and end their life with "You!".......oh i absolutely love it......let me go pick it up again.........ooooh lets have a contest to see how many friends we have gotten to read the HHG books......i have about 13 under my belt thus far.....and almost another

i once heard some Vogon poetry.....awful stuff......they made me enjoy it and because of it i went into a coma for 2 wks.......my comatose dream was fun though

[ December 21, 2004, 08:49 PM: Message edited by: SteveRogers ]
 

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Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
 
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only person who got upset when I heard about DNA's death. Strange thing is that I really truly did have a towel with me that day (because at the time I was riding my bicycle between home and the train station and working up a decent sweat). Boss and coworkers just couldn't understand why I insisted on keeping my towel on my desk, and I gave up on trying to explain it after about 5 minutes. Sucks when you're the only person who likes sci-fi at work ... come to think of it, sucks when you're the only person in your circle with any particular interest.
 

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Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
 
ya that made me really sad too.......i wore a towel as a turban on my head for week in mourining.......it was actually the official HHG towel i got off Ebay
 

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Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
 
My circle now consists mostly of hatrackers, for that very reason!

I once wore my Gryffendor jersey (that Saudade and Andrei got me for my birthday) to work on casual Friday and not one soul there knew what it was. Is that sad?
 

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Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
 

quote:

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Sadly, the dangly bit of the atomic vector plotter is not as mentally flexible as cybernetic doors, Marvin, and you, and will not accept a cup full of no tea.

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I think you can solve that problem, provided you are capable of holding tea and no tea simultaneously...

 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
Hm. In my experience, even in situations in which I had both tea and no tea, the vector plotter showed a distinct preference for tea over no tea.
 

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Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
 
i never have any tea so i had to try coffee......my advice to you don't use coffee
 

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Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
I think one of my favorite jokes in the Dirk Gently book was the one about the bestselling author whose books everyone read, even though they were terrible, because he had the right type of name that looked good on a cover. It always made me think of Tom Clancy.

I have a fond memory of Douglas Adams, when my husband and I were newly married, we spent a lot of time driving back and forth from our home to his parents' home to visit them. That tapered off after we had kids, but for a while we made a six hour drive every other month or so.

Our car stereo had no cassette deck (and this was before CD players were common in cars) and we had a stretch with no good radio at all. I started bringing Hitchiker books and read them aloud to Wes while he drove.

We both loved it, and I distinctly remember him almost having to pull over he was laughing so hard about the Improbability Drive when the monkeys wanted to show Arthur their copies of Hamlet.
 

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Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
 
Although I was sad the day I heard DNA's passing, I was pleased, in that the circumstances of his death were fitting.

He had a heart attack while excercising to improve his health.

That is such an Adamsian way to die.
 

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Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
 
We should hold a seance. We can bring a typewriter along and have DNA dictate a new book.
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
"Ford, there's an infinite number of monkeys outside the door who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they've worked out."

(I'm amazed how much of this I know from memory!)
 

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Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
 
He did write the best Dr. Who episodes ever.
 

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Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
 
Well.....its Thursday........and I want to be the first to say it........"Arthur Dent could never quite get the hang of Thursdays!"

Ok I'm done.......or am I?

[ December 23, 2004, 04:14 PM: Message edited by: SteveRogers ]
 

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Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
 
When does anyone think is a good age to expose someone to HHG?
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
I've been "exposed" since I was at the very least nine or ten and my sisters much younger. There's not anything "in" them. I'd think any age; if they get the jokes, they get the jokes.
 

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Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
 
Yeah, which Dr. Who's were his? Definitely the ones where they are finding the six segments to the key to time, right? There's a bit where he asks the guard if he doesn't get tired of his job, all that shouting at people all day long and no intellectual stimulation, remember? That's straight out of the books (or, rather, he used it both places -- Dr. Who would have been first) in the one about Queen Xanxia and the time dams, in which the blustery badguy says "Moons of Madness!" They were eating planets, right? And using the energy to fuel the time dams? I loved how he cried when K-9 killed his robotic assassin bird.

The one about the scringestone was hilarious, with the Australian con man who was selling people planets, and setting up a scam to pretend the planet had this fabulously valuable mineral called jethric. That one surely must have been DNA. That was the first one with the first Romana, too. She rocked. I liked her best. "Well it's better than 51% at the second attempt."

Oh, and the one about the Jaggeroth was definitely DNA. All those names of obscure Italian composers. The bit about how he told Shakespeare it was a mixed metaphor. It was just too clever and witty to have been anyone else.

The great thing about the jokes on Dr. Who is they were really stealth jokes. You would catch many of them only after watching an episode several times. That just made them funnier.

I wonder how many of my favorite Dr. Whoisms were written by DNA? Probably most of them. He is definitely what made the show worth watching.

"The more sophistocated the technology, the more vulnerable it is to primative attack."

"When people see you mean them no harm, they will never harm you..... nine times out of ten."
 

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