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Douglas Adams - Genius?

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Posted

Just saw a couple more quotes from Douglas Adams and went thinking about how much his writing impacted my life. I (all too) regularly use a Douglas Adams quote in my day to day life and can immediately smile at the thought of his writings.

But, i actually believe he was a genius and one of the great thinkers of recent times, so this is basically a place for worship of the great man and perhaps a favourite (how can you possibly pic a fave?) quote or two?

Both of the men had been trained for this moment, their lives had been a preparation for it, they had been selected at birth as those who would witness the answer, but even so they found themselves gasping and squirming like excited children.

"And you're ready to give it to us?" urged Loonsuawl.

"I am."

"Now?"

"Now," said Deep Thought.

They both licked their dry lips.

"Though I don't think," added Deep Thought. "that you're going to like it."

"Doesn't matter!" said Phouchg. "We must know it! Now!"

"Now?" inquired Deep Thought.

"Yes! Now..."

"All right," said the computer, and settled into silence again. The two men fidgeted. The tension was unbearable.

"You're really not going to like it," observed Deep Thought.

"Tell us!"

"All right," said Deep Thought. "The Answer to the Great Question..."

"Yes..!"

"Of Life, the Universe and Everything..." said Deep Thought.

"Yes...!"

"Is..." said Deep Thought, and paused.

"Yes...!"

"Is..."

"Yes...!!!...?"

"Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.”

Posted

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

Posted

Just saw a couple more quotes from Douglas Adams and went thinking about how much his writing impacted my life. I (all too) regularly use a Douglas Adams quote in my day to day life and can immediately smile at the thought of his writings.

But, i actually believe he was a genius and one of the great thinkers of recent times, so this is basically a place for worship of the great man and perhaps a favourite (how can you possibly pic a fave?) quote or two?

Both of the men had been trained for this moment, their lives had been a preparation for it, they had been selected at birth as those who would witness the answer, but even so they found themselves gasping and squirming like excited children.

"And you're ready to give it to us?" urged Loonsuawl.

"I am."

"Now?"

"Now," said Deep Thought.

They both licked their dry lips.

"Though I don't think," added Deep Thought. "that you're going to like it."

"Doesn't matter!" said Phouchg. "We must know it! Now!"

"Now?" inquired Deep Thought.

"Yes! Now..."

"All right," said the computer, and settled into silence again. The two men fidgeted. The tension was unbearable.

"You're really not going to like it," observed Deep Thought.

"Tell us!"

"All right," said Deep Thought. "The Answer to the Great Question..."

"Yes..!"

"Of Life, the Universe and Everything..." said Deep Thought.

"Yes...!"

"Is..." said Deep Thought, and paused.

"Yes...!"

"Is..."

"Yes...!!!...?"

"Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.”

Like the quote in your sig', think I'll be using that on here a few times.

Posted

"Life, don't talk to me about life"

There were some great Dirk Gently moments too.

Posted

I saw an interview with a friend of douglas adams, and he said they were agonising over the number, and just decided that 42 was the funniest sounding number. the meaning of lif is great too. and the actual dirk gently books, with the electronic monks and stuff, which were missed off the tv series

Posted
"(..) Sir Isaac Newton, renowned inventor of the milled-edge coin and the catflap!"

"The what?" said Richard.

"That catflap! A device of the utmost cunning, perspicuity and invention. It is a door within a door, you see, a ..."

"Yes," said Richard, "there was also the small matter of gravity."

"Gravity," said Dirk with a slightly dismissed shrug, "yes, there was that as well, I suppose. Though that, of course, was merely a discovery. It was there to be discovered." ...

"You see?" he said, "They even keep it on at weekends. Someone was bound to notice sooner or later. But the catflap ... ah, there is a very different matter. Invention, pure creative invention."

The door was the way to... to... The Door was The Way. Good. Capital letters were always the best way of dealing with things you didn't have a good answer to.
Posted

Dirk Gently detective series dropped by BBC

_60553442_010964943-1.jpg Mangan played Gently in four episodes of the BBC Four comedy programmeContinue reading the main story

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The BBC is to produce no further episodes of its Douglas Adams-inspired Dirk Gently series, its star Stephen Mangan has announced on Twitter.

"It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to report that the BBC have decided not to make any more," he told his followers.

More than a million viewers watched the pilot when it was aired in December.

But a subsequent three-part series did not fare as well, with just under 600,000 viewers tuning into BBC Four for its final episode in March.

The show, based on Adams's "holistic" detective, also featured Darren Boyd as Gently's sidekick Richard MacDuff.

Mangan can currently be seen in the second series of Episodes on BBC Two, alongside Matt LeBlanc and Tamsin Greig.

"We've loved having Dirk on the channel but the licence fee freeze means less British drama on BBC4," said a BBC spokeswoman.

"In future we will focus on the best dramas from around the globe, like The Killing and Borgen, whilst BBC One and BBC Two become the main homes of original British drama."

BBC One and BBC Two have been focusing more on home-grown drama of late, while US imports such as Damages have moved to commercial and satellite channels.

Boyd won the prize for best male performance in a comedy programme at the Bafta TV awards on Sunday for his role in Sky One sitcom Spy.

Posted

That's a travesty. I enjoyed the Dirk series despite it's obvious differences to the books but to choose the Killing over it is preposterous. I've been boring myself to death to get through "the Killing" it is so slow. It's far from the worst that TV has to offer - it's not to dumbed down but it is snail like in it's progression. Terribly terribly frustrating.

Haven't seen Borgen can anyone recommend it?

Posted

As I've grown older I've come to realise how incredibly middle-class Adams' humour was. I still enjoy it, but I don't always relate to it (being an inverse snob).

Posted

As I've grown older I've come to realise how incredibly middle-class Adams' humour was. I still enjoy it, but I don't always relate to it (being an inverse snob).

A Bons? Or is that just a backwards snob.

I like Adams, and I think he is very much like Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde who take really pleasure and joy and their writing and write brilliant imaginative, inventive, funny books, and this is by no means a criticism of them, I have read many of their books, but they are not geniuses.

You want a literary genius try Ray Bradbury, read Fahrenheit 451 and then marvel at how accurately it has predicted the way we are going despite being written 60 years ago.

Posted

I take it he's not the bloke who wrote Watership Down? :blush:

Posted

I take it he's not the bloke who wrote Watership Down? :blush:

Correct. He's not.

Neither is he the 1933 centre forward for Leicester City.

He's best known for Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series.

Also Dirk Gently series

some Doctor Who work

A technology and computer geek.

Environmentalist, Atheist/agnostic

Prog Rock fan

Sadly he died before he reached 50.

A loss to the Sci-Fi world in particular and the wider world in general.

Posted

Correct. He's not.

Neither is he the 1933 centre forward for Leicester City.

He's best known for Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series.

Ah that explains why he's never even appeared on my radar. :whistle: (In fairness, I tried reading it once, got bored, and gave up) :thumbup:

Posted

Ah that explains why he's never even appeared on my radar. :whistle: (In fairness, I tried reading it once, got bored, and gave up) :thumbup:

That's nothing to be ashamed of, quite the reverse.

Posted

Ah that explains why he's never even appeared on my radar. :whistle: (In fairness, I tried reading it once, got bored, and gave up) :thumbup:

I can understand that.

I actually listend to the radio series before I read the books.

Radio was great and then the TV series was very good too.

The film (more recent) was terrible.

Certainly requires a specific taste but he is a clever writer.

Posted

That's nothing to be ashamed of, quite the reverse.

Well certainly no reason to be ashamed but certainly not the reverse either. Writing is a form of art and likes depend upon personal taste. I never cared much for James Joyce or the Bronte sisters but it doesn't mean that they're not good at what they do.

Posted

Jasper Florde?

Nightguard it's Fforde with a double F.

Tom Holt is another well known humourous sci fantasy writer worth checking out.

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