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So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

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Re: So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

#71

Post by billforsternz »

hermitcrab wrote: post #58
salgernon wrote: post #52

In 1988 I was working on a Mac software package and I remember the thrill of his returned “Customer Registration” card arriving. We had a small display cabinet and it went in there (along with Stanley Kubrik’s and as few others) The Radio Series was the best, followed by the scripts to the radio series (more random access!) The TV series was actually pretty good too (like a Tom Baker Doctor Who (Adams was also a Who…

I've also had a few famous people buy my software. It is quite a thrill. Apart from the one that I detested.

Go on, you can tell us who that one was and why you detested them.

Re: So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

#72

Post by voganmother42 »

demaga wrote: post #38

I've found that in times of great stress, re-reading HHGTTG helps the most. Without fail, it makes me laugh and think about world more lightly, regardless of the circumstances. Wonderful books.

Im with you! The Golgafrinchan government bits of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and the opening of Life the Universe and Everything are my retreats when things are rough, but the entire series is amazing!

Re: So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

#73

Post by voganmother42 »

JadeNB wrote: post #65
sidmitra wrote: post #51

Hitchhikers guide was a personality defining read for me when i was younger. I also recommend this video: Parrots, the Universe and Everything https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZG8HBuDjgc Just this week i was looking for more humour writing like Douglas Adams, PG Wodehouse. I came across this award which seems interesting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollinger_Everyman_Wodehouse_P... I plan to read some of them this…

> Just this week i was looking for more humour writing like Douglas Adams, PG Wodehouse. They are both masters of producing an absolutely perfect phrase that could have come from no-one but them—so's Pterry, by the way—but otherwise it'd never occur to me to lump them together. They seem radically different tonally to me.

I highly recommend “High Vaultage” from that list (and the podcast that preceded it is also absolutely outstanding and hilarious).

I am a huge fan of Sir Terry Pratchett and definitely second that recommendation as well, both offer a wonderfully unique perspective.

Re: So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

#74

Post by voganmother42 »

voganmother42 wrote: post #72
demaga wrote: post #38

I've found that in times of great stress, re-reading HHGTTG helps the most. Without fail, it makes me laugh and think about world more lightly, regardless of the circumstances. Wonderful books.

Im with you! The Golgafrinchan government bits of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and the opening of Life the Universe and Everything are my retreats when things are rough, but the entire series is amazing!

Oh and I should say, I enjoy all the different Adams adaptations(even the movie!), but my personal favorite that I think is less well known: the HHGG audiobooks read by the author. The timing and phrasing of Douglas Adams was truly marvelous!

Re: So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

#75

Post by [deleted] »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #70

He was actually a keynote speaker at one of Apple's first WWDCs. He was a registered Apple Developer (so was Harry Anderson, who I also think was a keynote speaker). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UNG3cQoOEc (not from the WWDC. I don’t know if there are recordings of the earliest ones).

[deleted]

Re: So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

#76

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #70

He was actually a keynote speaker at one of Apple's first WWDCs. He was a registered Apple Developer (so was Harry Anderson, who I also think was a keynote speaker). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UNG3cQoOEc (not from the WWDC. I don’t know if there are recordings of the earliest ones).

UPDATE: I think I may be wrong. I think it was another conference. I know he attended WWDC, but maybe didn’t keynote. They had some whacky keynotes and speakers. I know that Ken Kesey was a rather interesting one.

Re: So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

#77

Post by jemmyw »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #17
RGX9 wrote: post #9

There's "The Salmon of Doubt", an excellent collection of misc essays and writings of Douglas Adams published after his death, and it contains his last unfinished Dirk Gently novel. It's about one third finished, and it's really just wild: There's one narrative strand about Dirk Gently, a private detective, receiving mysterious anonymous payments and deciding to follow random strangers, one about a paragliding genius…

There were four episodes of a Dirk Gently TV series done by the BBC which I really found both clever and charming in just the right way for Dirk Gently. Some of it grated, but in a way that I feel it was correctly intended to. It's a shame it was cancelled before it could do a bit more exploration. They seemed to be onto a good thing. The US TV Series I also enjoyed, but it's much more of a radical departure from the…

The BBC series was really excellent. Stephen Mangan was perfectly cast. I enjoyed it way more than Sherlock or anything else at the time that took itself too seriously.

Re: So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

#78

Post by tombert »

I don't know what you categorize it as (I usually call it an "educational standup"), but his last talk before his death "Parrots, The Universe, and Everything" is one of the greatest things I've ever seen. It's very funny, with a lot of interesting anecdotes about his life, with a lot of interesting facts about animals, and he manages to tie the entire thing together with a pretty clever theme about the environment. I genuinely think it's one of the greatest public speeches ever done, at least in the English language.

If you haven't seen it, it's an hour and a half long, and it's totally worth it:

https://youtu.be/_ZG8HBuDjgc

Re: So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

#79

Post by salgernon »

billforsternz wrote: post #71
hermitcrab wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also had a few famous people buy my software. It is quite a thrill. Apart from the one that I detested.

Go on, you can tell us who that one was and why you detested them.

With all likelihood anyone still producing commercial (or free!) software today, or in the last 40 years, has users that they would love to see eaten by crows.

Re: So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams

#80

Post by ninalanyon »

klep wrote: post #57

When I was in high school in the mid-90s, I emailed Douglas Adams, who freely gave out his email address at the time. I told him how reading "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" got me more interested in my Physics class, and generally helped introduce me to a world beyond computer games. He wrote back: "Thanks for your note. Glad you enjoyed the books. I'm glad if I got you interested. But I'm always surprised tha…

I agree with DNA there, the world is such an endlessly interesting place that I can't understand how people don't find it mind blowingly fascinating.
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