I have never read any of the Douglas Adams books, even though I grew up surrounded by avid fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and other titles.
I know all the basic concepts behind the series, and I know it used to be a British radio program, and I know that Adams was friends with Graham Chapman from the Monty Python troupe, whom I adore, and I know that the books are insanely funny...
...but for some reason, they passed me by.
Usually, I duck pop-cultural phenomenons because I want to be different, but Adams' books passed me by, I think, because nobody ever grabbed me by the collar and urged me to read them. I think people also assumed that I had read them when I hadn't.
Anyway, because of the upcoming movie, I have picked up a paperback copy of the third book in the four-book "trilogy", which is entitled Life, The Universe And Everything. I started reading it last night.
It's fucking brilliant.
For a practitioner of 'pataphysics such as myself, I can't believe I never got into this shit. It's funny beyond belief, a mixture of Kurt Vonnegut and Alfred Jarry's Doctor Faustroll, with some Python-esque absurdity thrown in for good measure. It plays like Futurama as if it were performed by Peter Sellers and Dudley Moore.
This is one of those times when I'm actually glad I missed out on it the first time around, because I think I appreciate this kind of bizarre sci-fi surrealist humor more at this point in my life.
Plus, now I am not obligated to watch the movie until I read the other books. Not that I don't think it will be good or bad-- I have no feeling towards the movie. I'm sure the movie will ruin the books, but then again it might improve on other aspects.
We'll see. All I know is, until I finish reading this book, I'm not going to post another online novel chapter. And why? Because this is where I want the novel to go. I want it to progress into pure insanity, slowly but surely. So far, I've been setting up the premises, but unsure of where to take it.
Thank you, Douglas Adams, for pointing me in the right direction... and from beyond the grave, no less!
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We have Direct TV in the News Office now. I get to watch TV shows and movies, but mostly we have it tuned to CNN en espanol and other lives news sources.
Watching CNN in English a few minutes ago, I couldn't help but notice that, during the Anderson Cooper show, all of the outgoing music beds were really cool tunes from new-wave bands of yore.
I recognized "Marquee Moon" by Television as they broke to one commercial break. In case you never heard of Television, they're the band that critics like to compare to The Strokes, even though there isn't any comparison to make. For one thing, Television were a great band who knew how to play their instruments very well, while The Strokes are a lo-fi rock version of a boy band.
Anyway, the next commercial break turned my head because the music was Siouxsie & The Banshees' cover of "The Passenger" by Iggy Pop.
Whoever is doing the music cues on Cooper's show over at CNN: Keep it up! You rock!
Last night, I saw a TV commercial using "The Mountain Song" by Jane's Addiction. I was upset at first, but then I revelled in the subversity of a band like Jane's Addiction (hell, a band with a name like Jane's Addiction) licensing their songs for TV ads. Next thing you know, there's gonna be ads for Methadone on TV, in between spots for the latest pharmaceutical drugs...
Gen X is coming into its own, no doubt.
Now I'm watching Sixteen Candles on the Family Channel. Edited for basic cable, yes, but still a potent, hilarious depiction of '80's-era teen snot. Oh shit! There's Joan Cusack, sitting in a bus seat across from Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall. Cusack is wearing some major dental hardware.
My ear detects that John Hughes couldn't get the rights to Madness' "Our House" for the first school dance scene. He was able to get Art Of Noise's "Peter Gunn Theme" featuring Duane Eddy, and Spandau Ballet's "True"... but who can't get the rights to those songs? Even P.M. Dawn was able to sample the latter.
No, Hughes had to settle for a sound-alike track, the kind of music that sounds just like a recognizable hit but with crucial details left out. The songs are tweaked just enough to render them "original"... and just enough to squeak by the recording artist's lawyers without incident!
Ah, now I hear a little Oingo Boingo... we all know what became of Danny Elfman, don't we?
And The Specials? Man, this movie is better than I remember it!
Memory Lane, looks like I'm taking a walk all over you...
Okay, I'd better go now-- need to finish these projects I have open before my shift is done...
If I don't post again tonight...
HAVE A NICE WEEKEND, FOLKS!!
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