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1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#41

Post by dspillett »

OnACoffeeBreak wrote: post #14

This is off-topic, but I've always wanted to bring this up with fellow geeks... Integer code of the asterisk ('*') ASCII character is 42, which, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. The asterisk character is used as a wildcard character to indicate anything and everything. Adams never revealed the origin of 42. [0] So, just because we really don't know, I'd like to think it originates with ASCII table…

> Adams never revealed the origin of 42

I could swear blind I'd heard/read him saying that it was simply a number that could sound amusing, be pronounced rather incredulously, was big enough for the multiplication at the end not working to work, without being too long to repeat in the actors lines or having an existing "meaning" that he was aware of (so 69 was way out because of reasons, as were things like 88 too for having commonly known (in the UK at the time) bingo calls, etc.).

Then again, my ancestors may have previously sworn blind about the giant mutant star goat thing so you might not want to trust the ponderings of anyone of my lineage...

Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#42

Post by BLKNSLVR »

Also off-topic: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

I read both the books and they were good. There was a short lived British TV series starting Stephen Mangan that was great and seemed at least partially based on some events and descriptions in the books, and two seasons of a US TV series on Netflix that was off-the-fucking-wall crazy in a not-quite-Douglas-Adams way, and unique to the point that I was pleasantly surprised that it got a second series. Thoroughly recommend for anyone that considers themselves bored with television. Unique doesn't feel like a strong enough word.

Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#43

Post by mdiesel »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #42

Also off-topic: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. I read both the books and they were good. There was a short lived British TV series starting Stephen Mangan that was great and seemed at least partially based on some events and descriptions in the books, and two seasons of a US TV series on Netflix that was off-the-fucking-wall crazy in a not-quite-Douglas-Adams way, and unique to the point that I was pleasant…

The TV show was great because it really got me feeling that everything was random, then everything was connected in some ridiculously complex way, exactly how it should for a holistic story.

I'd recommend the TV show for anyone that has gotten a bit too good at predicting endings a few episodes before the end. This one doesn't follow the traditional story arcs.

Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#44

Post by jerf »

crocsarecool wrote: post #22
SavantIdiot wrote: post #13

There's a certain sense of loss I feel at playing a game that cannot be cheated. In the mid-80's playing interactive fiction there was no way to get help unless you could convince your parents to buy you invisiclues. You had to solve these games the hard way: on your own. Sure, there are games like that today but they require hand-eye coordination or grinding, not involved word-puzzle solving and thinking in many dif…

Yes! I love the story with video games - it’s the main draw for me, especially as I get older. It often feels like the plot is held up by having to go do six mundane tasks. I’d be happy having a game where you just walk around and talk to people. Have it almost be like a book, but with the added extras of art and music. Maybe there’s a genre for this, and I just don’t know how to look for it properly.

I think you're looking for the "visual novel" genre.

By accidents of history, visual novel as a genre is strongly correlated with anime aesthetics and tends to focus on certain story genres that may or may not interest you. However, there's no fundamental reason for this, any more than there's a fundamental reason why "cartoons" in the US became strongly associated with "for children".

Quality is definitely also mixed, as the bar for entry of this style of thing is low. But that also means there's the sort of vibrancy and experimentation you get when there's virtually no "commercial market" functioning as a taste-maker by overwhelming all the smaller groups with big piles of money and raising the consumer's expectation of quality beyond what they can compete with.

Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#45

Post by shimfish »

OnACoffeeBreak wrote: post #14

This is off-topic, but I've always wanted to bring this up with fellow geeks... Integer code of the asterisk ('*') ASCII character is 42, which, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. The asterisk character is used as a wildcard character to indicate anything and everything. Adams never revealed the origin of 42. [0] So, just because we really don't know, I'd like to think it originates with ASCII table…

Why 42: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.fan.douglas-adams/c/595nPukE...

Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#46

Post by LinuxBender »

OnACoffeeBreak wrote: post #14

This is off-topic, but I've always wanted to bring this up with fellow geeks... Integer code of the asterisk ('*') ASCII character is 42, which, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. The asterisk character is used as a wildcard character to indicate anything and everything. Adams never revealed the origin of 42. [0] So, just because we really don't know, I'd like to think it originates with ASCII table…

I always assumed it was British random dry humor, much like the show "Look Around You" [1] and more specifically their episodes around "maths" the full episode of which I can not find.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J9MRYJz9-4

Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#47

Post by SavantIdiot »

capableweb wrote: post #33
SavantIdiot wrote: post #13

There's a certain sense of loss I feel at playing a game that cannot be cheated. In the mid-80's playing interactive fiction there was no way to get help unless you could convince your parents to buy you invisiclues. You had to solve these games the hard way: on your own. Sure, there are games like that today but they require hand-eye coordination or grinding, not involved word-puzzle solving and thinking in many dif…

There are plenty of games today (probably more than in the 80s) that are all "thinking" based with puzzles, that doesn't require a lot of coordination nor grinding. Myst, The Witness, Obduction and The Talos Principle comes to mind, but I'm sure there are more.

Of course.

Gadget was fun, and Riven was spectacular. Let's not talk about Myst 3, though. :)

Same with Grim Fandango (getting glottis to puke was epic) and Monkey Island.

But they appeared in the time of the internet & yahoo search. Sure Myst was ~1995, but the rise of having answers a click away existed with these games.

Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#48

Post by dcminter »

OnACoffeeBreak wrote: post #14

This is off-topic, but I've always wanted to bring this up with fellow geeks... Integer code of the asterisk ('*') ASCII character is 42, which, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. The asterisk character is used as a wildcard character to indicate anything and everything. Adams never revealed the origin of 42. [0] So, just because we really don't know, I'd like to think it originates with ASCII table…

He posted (on his own usenet fan group) the following:

"The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do' I typed it out. End of story."

But of course nobody is an entirely reliable narrator, and certainly not the author of The Guide so... Maybe?

(Edit: I see a peer respondent already linked it, but I'll leave this anyway)

Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#49

Post by ghgdynb1 »

OnACoffeeBreak wrote: post #14

This is off-topic, but I've always wanted to bring this up with fellow geeks... Integer code of the asterisk ('*') ASCII character is 42, which, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. The asterisk character is used as a wildcard character to indicate anything and everything. Adams never revealed the origin of 42. [0] So, just because we really don't know, I'd like to think it originates with ASCII table…

I remember exactly where I was, about a year ago today, when I realized Deep Thought was an existentialist. B2 Data Structures lab in a building called Fitz. I knew I couldn’t have been the first to realize this, but I couldn’t bear to look it up and see whether or not I’d been preempted.

And it was totally what he meant. The ASCII wildcard-existentialism theory is too consistent with the themes Adams explores through the series to have been an accident.

I fully agree with Musk when he said he regards the Hitchhiker’s Guide as a great work of philosophy, whether or not he was joking. It totally worked for me as I was trying to progress beyond nihilism.

Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#50

Post by kekebo »

OnACoffeeBreak wrote: post #14

This is off-topic, but I've always wanted to bring this up with fellow geeks... Integer code of the asterisk ('*') ASCII character is 42, which, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. The asterisk character is used as a wildcard character to indicate anything and everything. Adams never revealed the origin of 42. [0] So, just because we really don't know, I'd like to think it originates with ASCII table…

Contrived, but I always liked the idea that a rearrangement of the syllables could be voiced as "tea for two".
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