What are you reading at the moment

[The Televator]

Actually, I just got my hands on Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams and its an interesting story. So far, its a pretty good read and I am kinda saddened that Adams died before finishing The Salmon of Doubt, it would have been a really interesting way with how he was going with and what, rumored of course, of what he was planning on doing.

[RoninFox]

Actually, I just got my hands on Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams and its an interesting story. So far, its a pretty good read and I am kinda saddened that Adams died before finishing The Salmon of Doubt, it would have been a really interesting way with how he was going with and what, rumored of course, of what he was planning on doing.

I have to search my collection for that one.  For some reason I never did finish it.  Loved the Hitchhikers Guide series, read them all over and over again, but for some reason couldn't get into this one when I picked it up.  I need to give it another chance.

[Tripe]

Actually, I just got my hands on Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams and its an interesting story. So far, its a pretty good read and I am kinda saddened that Adams died before finishing The Salmon of Doubt, it would have been a really interesting way with how he was going with and what, rumored of course, of what he was planning on doing.

I have to search my collection for that one.  For some reason I never did finish it.  Loved the Hitchhikers Guide series, read them all over and over again, but for some reason couldn't get into this one when I picked it up.  I need to give it another chance.

I liked The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul better. You might want to pick up that series there and the go back and read the first one.

[The Televator]

Actually, I just got my hands on Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams and its an interesting story. So far, its a pretty good read and I am kinda saddened that Adams died before finishing The Salmon of Doubt, it would have been a really interesting way with how he was going with and what, rumored of course, of what he was planning on doing.

I have to search my collection for that one.  For some reason I never did finish it.  Loved the Hitchhikers Guide series, read them all over and over again, but for some reason couldn't get into this one when I picked it up.  I need to give it another chance.

I liked The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul better. You might want to pick up that series there and the go back and read the first one.

@Ronin: You see, I like collecting first editions of books so I never really wanted to pick up a reprint of the first Dirk Gently book, so I kinda read them out of order. But I thought that the book was pretty good so far, but we'll see what happens in the later parts of the book.

@Tripe: I really liked that book. nuff said. I already read it and finished reading Salmon, but never read the first one. So when I finally found a first edition last week, I started reading it. Personally, The Meaning of Liff will always hold a special place in my Adams'  fandom heart.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Personally, I liked the Dirk Gently stories better than the hitchhiker stuff. Less ridden with plot wholes and dues ex machinas, and Mostly Harmless was just such a grim, dark, downer of an ending for a comedy series.

[The Televator]

Personally, I liked the Dirk Gently stories better than the hitchhiker stuff. Less ridden with plot wholes and dues ex machinas, and Mostly Harmless was just such a grim, dark, downer of an ending for a comedy series.

The tone of mostly harmless was done by accident. Adams had a bad time in his life when he wrote that and that's how it happened. He was planning on writing a sixth book to fix the fifth book, but it never came to light because of his death. Actually on a side note, the movie was dramatically changed and re-casted after his death as well. I believe Hugh Laurie (from what I remember) was going to be in the movie as Arthur. Kinda sad how things change once a person dies.

[FordPrefect]

Personally, I liked the Dirk Gently stories better than the hitchhiker stuff. Less ridden with plot wholes and dues ex machinas, and Mostly Harmless was just such a grim, dark, downer of an ending for a comedy series.

The tone of mostly harmless was done by accident. Adams had a bad time in his life when he wrote that and that's how it happened. He was planning on writing a sixth book to fix the fifth book, but it never came to light because of his death. Actually on a side note, the movie was dramatically changed and re-casted after his death as well. I believe Hugh Laurie (from what I remember) was going to be in the movie as Arthur. Kinda sad how things change once a person dies.

For what it's worth, I don't think there was anything wrong with the casting of Arthur--Martin Freeman (aka "Tim" from The Office) has the perfect everyman cluelessness that Arthur had in spades.  I love Hugh Laurie, but he was too old by the time of the movie to be Arthur, who really should be in his early 30s.

As far as Mostly Harmless...go pick up the Quintessential Phase  Audio Dramas of Hitchhiker's--it changes the ending to a much happier one that brings a smile to my face when I think about it.  Very nice wrap-up.  Apparently Dirk Maggs (who did the radio scripts after DNA died) was aware of DNA's dislike of the ending of Mostly Harmless, so did it in accordance with his wishes (if not his specifications).

Actually the movie is supposed to be very close to the last draft he wrote before he died. For example: the new characters, the development of the Arthur/Trillian relationship, and the focus on Vogon bureaucracy were based on his ideas. You have to remember that the movie was in development hell for over 20 years, so a lot of different script and casting ideas came and went.

As far as Imrahil's feelings about the radio series, I couldn't agree more. The Hitchhiker radio series (both the original episodes and the continuation under Dirk Maggs) are really great to listen to. I actually prefer them over the novels. Note: He didn't technically change the ending that Adams wrote for Mostly Harmless, he added to it (which was very clever IMHO.) I'm very happy Adams picked him because he clearly knows what he's doing. Maggs is now working on a Dirk Gently radio series, based on the two complete Gently adventures AND Salmon of Doubt. 

[Tripe]

I still need to get around to listening to the newer radio series, I'd agree with Imrahil and ford on their being the superior incarnation of the story (at least with the Primary and Secondary phase).

I actually like the Secondary Phase best of the radio series that I've heard. I wish Lintila had appeared in the books.

[The Televator]

Personally, I liked the Dirk Gently stories better than the hitchhiker stuff. Less ridden with plot wholes and dues ex machinas, and Mostly Harmless was just such a grim, dark, downer of an ending for a comedy series.

The tone of mostly harmless was done by accident. Adams had a bad time in his life when he wrote that and that's how it happened. He was planning on writing a sixth book to fix the fifth book, but it never came to light because of his death. Actually on a side note, the movie was dramatically changed and re-casted after his death as well. I believe Hugh Laurie (from what I remember) was going to be in the movie as Arthur. Kinda sad how things change once a person dies.

For what it's worth, I don't think there was anything wrong with the casting of Arthur--Martin Freeman (aka "Tim" from The Office) has the perfect everyman cluelessness that Arthur had in spades.  I love Hugh Laurie, but he was too old by the time of the movie to be Arthur, who really should be in his early 30s.

As far as Mostly Harmless...go pick up the Quintessential Phase  Audio Dramas of Hitchhiker's--it changes the ending to a much happier one that brings a smile to my face when I think about it.  Very nice wrap-up.  Apparently Dirk Maggs (who did the radio scripts after DNA died) was aware of DNA's dislike of the ending of Mostly Harmless, so did it in accordance with his wishes (if not his specifications).

I love the audio dramas, but I was trying to say that it would have been interesting to see what DNA would have done with the sixth book.

[Hebs]

I'm reading this at the moment, mi amigos :



Andy has a Mil Mascaras mask up on one of the walls of our apartment.  It's super cool, except the foam head inside it has these weird eyes.... STOP LOOKING AT ME, MIL!!

[BEERxTaco]

hmmmmm......

[bettertomorrowamy]

hmmmmm......

I read that...nothing but self-indulgent tripe!

Only two brands of vodka??  Both shitty brands.  How does the author expect us to believe his narrative without Stolichnya?

[hare.29]

More Dickens!

[RobtheBarbarian]

Caesar bragging about how many Gauls, Germans and Britons he's turned into buzzard food. Memorable quotes include:

"Kiss my hairy barbarian ass." - King Ariovistus to Caesar on the subject of his occupation of eastern Gaul.

Apparently there were Germanic and Belgic tribes that refused to let traders into their cities lest they spread emasculating Roman influences in items like soap, wine and underwear. The Germanics took pride in the amount of land they could keep uninhabited around their particular tribe's homeland simply by force of terror, and at least one Germanic tribe thought that saddles were for pussies and would arbitrarily chase down and slaughter any poor bastard unfortunate enough to use one in front of them. Take that, Leonidas.

[Ortega]

heh!  In Latin class, we were given the latin text to that.   We had to translate it back into English.