Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy

The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy is a trilogy in five parts, written by the ever-witty and amazing (and now, unfortunately, late) Douglas Adams.

I don't remember where I bought my copy of the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy, complete with a big red round sticker on the dust cover proudly proclaiming "ONLY £12.99". It was mine to be had for only $28 CDN!

There's something appealing about this book. Unlike other science fiction works which attempt to craft an alternate reality, it's a beautifully crafted escape from reality. I love how some inconceivable details end up being inconceivably important, and yet, those you think that are important remain completely useless.

If you ever seen someone on the Toronto Transit Commission laughing maniacally while reading a big hardcover book, it's probably me.

The Lost Guide?

(included from Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy: The Lost Guide)

This is a sad sad tale of a lost, very good book.

I can't find my copy of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by the late Douglas Adams -- truly one of the best science fiction books ever written. I really do love that book. It's witty, it's intelligent, and best of all, fun. I've gone through everything in my house about forty-two times searching for this book (I felt like reading it).

My copy has been through a lot with me, and has amassed its own list of travels and achievements, although not to the degree of Arthur Dent: Zipping up and down the subways, keeping me sane in the workterms of 1B and 2A. Providing a laugh near midterms and finals of 2A. Keeping my papers from flying off my desk in the warm 2B summer breezes. Clubbing the drunks as they stumble by and knock on our windows at 3 AM.

I don't remember where I last put it. There's a chance I could have lent it to someone, but I'm still going with the theory that it was polymorphed into someone's grandmother and consequently fed to the bugblatter beast of Traal (c'mon, it's the middle of the night, improbability rules).

Yes, I miss my book. If you have it, please let me know. Just that if you choose to let me know at 3 AM, please don't knock on the windows.

I found it a few months later in my basement.

The Sequel?

I finished reading Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency?.

It was witty, and more complex than the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy. Where as at first it seemed much more random (read: on crack) than the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy, everything unexpectedly came together in the end. I think it was complex enough to deserve a second read like Dune or Ender's Game, so the book has been requeued onto the Read Queue.

The Game?

I recently began working on a Text Based Game based on the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy. It's still very much in progress.

The Quote

(included from Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy: The Quote)

My yearbook blurb from when I graduated from the University Of Waterloo in 2005 proudly features a Douglas Adams quote from the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy:

"So long, and thanks for all the fish."

When I graduated from high school at the University Of Toronto Schools?, in my blurb I paraphrased the famous babelfish exchange:

"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 so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

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

I'll express my disdain at the "socially acceptable" expectations of the world by quoting the words of Gag Halfront from the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy:

"Zaphod's just zis guy, you know?"

And when I'm absolutely feeling lemonheaded:

"Humma Kavula!"

Although that never really happened in the books.

The Movie

The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy movie came out in May of 2005. Unfortunately, I was on a Long Trip In Asia, and the movie didn't open in Asia until after I left. And when I got home, the movie had already finished playing in Toronto Cinemas?. So I was patient for a few months, and Jenn got me the DVD from Future Shop?, to add to my DVD Collection. Yay!

Near the end of the movie, in a split-second shot of Arthur and Slartibartfast in a vertical free-fall on the elevator thingy, look closely at Arthur's face. Is that Douglas Adams, I see?