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Any halfbaked suggestions for a memorial for the late Douglas Adams, the inspired creator of "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy"?
My humble proposal is a statue of the Total Perspective Vortex to be placed opposite Marks & Spencer's in Guilford, where Arthur Dent bought his towel.
Douglas Adams dies
http://news.bbc.co....1326000/1326657.stm
His obituary on the BBC web site. [Aristotle, May 15 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Eulogy from Richard Dawkins
http://www.edge.org...ts/adams_index.html
Even though he says it isn't one. Dawkins went off to plant a Douglas Fir in Adams's honor. [jutta, May 15 2001]
h2g2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/
(Link from steveb's annotation.) This week's discussion topic: How to Best Prepare for Old Age. [jutta, May 15 2001]
Obituary on the H2HG
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A5932
It lists his favourite charities and a meeting in London on the 16th of May. [Aristotle, May 15 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster Recipe
http://www-personal.../dna/docs/pggb.html
With American ingredients. [Aristotle, May 15 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]
May 25th = Towel Day
http://www.binaryfr...t.php?content_id=46
"All Douglas Adams fans are encouraged to carry a towel with them for the day." [dgeiser13, May 15 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Neil Gaiman on Douglas Adams
http://www.american..._05_01_archive.html
A bit from Neil's blog... [dgeiser13, May 15 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Hitch-Hiker returns to TV
http://news.bbc.co....1442000/1442161.stm
[angel, May 15 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Not a Wicket but a Wikipedia
http://www.Wikipedia.com/
Contribute to the open content equilivent H2G2 wikipedia. Only kriket thing to do. [zardoz, Jan 10 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Douglas Adams not quite dead yet.
http://www.bbc.co.u...y/blog/000164.shtml
A new radio series, based on the last three books, is due to be released in September. Most of the original cast will make a re-appearance together with Adams himself who recorded his part before he died. [DrBob, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371724/
Now filming! [jutta, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Not a Wicket but a Wikipedia
http://www.wikipedia.com/
Contribute to the open content equilivent H2G2 wikipedia. Only kriket thing to do. [zardoz, Oct 21 2004]
Asteroid Douglas Adams
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6867061/
A heavenly memorial. [bristolz, Jan 26 2005]
The Altavista Search Engine
http://www.altavista.com
My fav search engine, just because of the Babel Fish [Ozone, May 18 2008]
[link]
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Flying a towel at half-mast for 42 days. |
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A bronze of a load of dolphins escaping? So long, and thanks for all the fish. |
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Hopefully his real memorial will be in http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/ plus his books, radio and TV archives. To this I'd add: Carry on making the H2G2 film! But, as this is Half-Baked and we need a half baked idea, how about a memorial "Disaster Zone" concert on Ursa Minor to be transmitted to all sentient beings, around the Galaxy, around the clock, on the Sub Ether Waveband? |
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On a realistic note, a memorial wildlife fund in line with "Last Chance To See" would probably be more appropriate than yet another hitch-hiker reference. |
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Hey, was my rant deleted? Or did I forget to hit OK? It's just as well. jutta's more level headed annotation is nicer. Hey, if _I_ cared so much about the guy, why didn't _I_ read anything other than HHGTTG or Dirk Gently? |
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I think we all should get together at the Halfbakers convention and drink Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters in his honor.... |
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I can not tell a lie, I deleted it. A stitch in time saves nine and all that. However I was careful to add a link that mentioned his charities and non-fictional interests afterwards, of course. |
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Black towels flying at half-mast over giant letters that spell out God's last message to creation on a fjord custom-designed by Slartibartfast on a planet made of gold. |
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Or get them to film a feature-length movie version of "Shada". |
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I take centauri's point about DA. I certainly know little or nothing about him as a person, but I do think that the books deserve a monument other than just being read a lot. I think that you've got the right location for it Aristotle, but the wrong subject. The statue should just be of Arthur Dent. I would hazard a guess that it would be the only statue of a man in his dressing gown in Britain (I wouldn't like to hazard a guess about the rest of the world though). If the monument was of the Total Perspective Vortex, people would just think it was a portaloo.
And as a personal tribute you could just go stick your head in a pig. |
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Douglas Adams was someone I knew of from Science Fiction fandom (from which I am now retired) but he was not someone I sought out explicitly. I have read further than his more "classic" books, but not much further. I encourage people to seek out the tapes for the radio version of the HHGTTG as the level of detail drops as you go from the radio series, to the books and finally to the TV series. |
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I suppose the fact that he left us with such vivid and diverse ideas to so many from such a few books is testament enough and the more that we left him alone probably helped him, as he had more fans than he could shake a stick at. |
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How about a huge neon sign saying 'Share and Enjoy', (or is it 'Go stick your head in a pig?), on the Basingstoke roundabout. |
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Without wishing to speak ill of the dead, etc., the reason people concentrate on DNA's Hitchhiker stuff is because it is by far the best stuff he wrote (and I agree with [Aristotle] that the radio series is the best incarnation of HHGTTG).
Much of his other writing and broadcasting (e.g. on the future of computing) was not particularly inspired. He is to be applauded for 'Last Chance To See' though. It was very much using his fame to get people to look at the issue, but also a worthwhile issue. |
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A clock with the hands permanently at 15 minutes until 5. |
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Drop a giant rubber whale from the roof of an Intalian bistro, whilst 42 people wear dressing gowns and towels on their heads. 42 Ford Prefects must be arranged in formation spelling out 'Don't Panic' and all of this must be beside a Norwegian fjord. |
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I agree that the radio series was far more fulfilling that both the book and the tv-series (the tv-series, seriously...! what was that all about??), but the radio series left one wanting more, and the book came through quite nicely on that point, even though it's ending was just as unfulfilling as the radio show's. Then again, I lost both my casette and CD version of the radio show, and bought the leather-bound gilt-edged book instead, so my priorities probably got fucked up along the way... |
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In regards to a memorial, we probably need to raise a solid gold statue of Arthus Dent throwing a cup at the nutromatic machine statue somewhere, probably in England, although we're going to have a hell of a time to convince the cup to hang around idly in the air for artistic purposes... |
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It's great to see that people one has had heated discussions with on HB all turn out to have read the HHGTTG... somehow, we're still all connected in some almost, but not quite, entirely unlikely way. |
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Douglas N. Adams should not be honoured just as an author. He should be honoured as a person who brought us all (or at least all of us) some great hours contemplating the total lack of a punchline in existence. His demise is heartbreakingly sad, but, seriously, did any of us count on him to write us anything ever again that could be nearly as fulfilling as The Guide...? Douglas, Thank You for what you gave us, and thank you for cutting the pointless wait short. All my love. |
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They should blow up the entire earth within the first 15 minutes of the eulogy. Sorry, HGTTG was the only one I've read. |
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Ok....If you put up a statue Id suggest a normal statue base and nothing else. You could then put up a plaque saying something to the effect that we didnt have enough cash to complete the staute in his memory. I think that would nicely sum up his wacky imagination and humor. |
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[Re: Placebo] Surely all we have to do to get the cup hanging around mid-air is hurl it at the ground but miss... |
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On the day he died, we honoured his memory by making everyone play Scrabble - unfortunately his spirit didn't want to communicate anything to us across the board. |
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He will be dearly missed... |
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The BBC will repeat the TV HHGttG series from 30th July and that they're going to show a special DNA tribute on 4th August.
I wish they'd repeat the radio series. |
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at school, many of us carried around towels all day, to show that we realised how useful and essential they were.....it wasn't much, but on short notice, it was what we could come up with... |
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Agent Mulder's apartment number is a memorial that will stand as long as syndication. |
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Here lies Douglas Adams. He really knew where his towel was. |
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Sorry ZiZiDic, DA didn't know where his towel was thats how the phrase was coined.
"Every morning we would start out for the beach, or rather try to start out for the beach and then have to delay for upwards of half an hour while I would try and find my towel. I could never find it, ever."
"I realised that my difficulties with my towel were probably symptomatic of the profound disorganization of my whole life, and that it would be fair to say that anybody who was a really together person would be someone who would really know where their towel was"
-from the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy Radio Scripts |
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It wouldn't be such a bad thing if we just went out to explore the world - find out more about the place we're all living in. I'm sure even your street has a history your not even aware of... |
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i think it should be the hate statue of auther dent |
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Instead of just driving home, follow a strange car and go wherever they go--you might just end up where you're supposed to be. |
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Leave, long involved messages on your friend's/coworker's answering machines/voice mails. |
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End coversations with, "So long, and thanks for all the fish." |
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Reread HHGttG and Dirk Gently. |
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Noticed it browsing through the vast Half-Bakery archive. Gave it its 42nd positive vote. Couldn't resist. |
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Neutralised my vote to bring it back to 43. I suggest we maintain the score at 42 as the official site memorial. Kind of like keeping the grass nicely trimmed. |
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UK HalfBakers: Tribute to Douglas Adams on BBC7 tonight (March 2nd) at 9pm. |
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Instead of the bronze dolphins, a giant acrylic fishbowl. But yes, something inline
with "Last Chance to See" might be nice.
Or even something pro-atheism ;-) |
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So long and thanks for all the croissants. |
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this is ABSOLUTELY true, in the new scientist mag
(this week, last week ?) an article on EXACTLY how
clever dolphins are, with examples, more research
etc etc : once a good idea, always a good idea : lots
of money for biologists working on this one...i'm
sure they've all read douglas adams before coming
up with their post-doc plans... |
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i grew up in a town in Hertfordshire, UK called Rickmansworth - a place afficionados of Douglas Adams will know for it was here, in a small cafe, that the answer 42 was proposed. |
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Unbelievably, there is no memorial to Douglas here. + |
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We should have Marvin do the eulogy. |
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"Here I am, brain the size of a planet, being forced to think of nice things to say about a dead guy..." |
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We must pay our respects to the creator of the HHGTTG. |
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We should write in fiery letters on the top of a large smoking mountain in the middle of a desert, "We are sorry for the inconvenience......" |
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Of course, the party should be had at Zaphod Beeblebrox's--a club and bar in Ottawa, Canada. |
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Every time this pops to the top, I can't help but think the same thought that the whale thought when it appeared in the middle of space:
"Oh, no! Not again!"
By the way, I once worked closely with the guy who made the remote control system for the second head. His wife was responsible for the wardrobe in the series. |
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'The salmon of doubt' does a fair job of it, although it did leave me screaming for an ending. |
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//His wife was responsible for the wardrobe in the series.// I think "guilty of" would be more appropriate. |
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Yes, the budget was a little on the low side. He did the remote system free of charge if I recall correctly. Regards Terry, if you see this. |
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As I read bristolz' latest link, I couldn't help but contemplate the irony if the asteroid named for him turned out to be a "planet killer" destined to wipe out Earth (in preparation for a new hyperspace bypass, of course). |
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I didn't realize that guy was dead.... rip! |
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//the whale thought... "Oh, no! Not again!"//
That was the bowl of petunias, not the whale, which had a deep philosophical discussion with itself... |
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Ah, OK. I got the whale and petunias mixed up. It's because they are so alike. |
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Unlike a blue whale, Douglas Adams has made a mark on the landscape that will not soon go away. He has added to my life. I have even tried my hand at Vogon Poetry. See some of it in the Faux Seatbelt posting that everyone (most anyway) has boned. Still I thought the poetry was quite bad. |
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But if you want to see the impact of Dougles Adams go to altavista.com and look right below the search window at the Babel Fish. Would you see that as a memorial? |
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I don't know about a memorial, but fund for it could be earned by selling a Black towel with the words "Don't Panic" embroidered. |
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Favorite line of HGTTG : "they hung in the air, exactly the way bricks don't." |
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Favorite line of HGTTG : "Gazelle-like creatures ..... they were no use as transport, because their backs would snap instantly; but the Vogons sat on them anyway." |
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Arthur felt happy. He was terribly pleased that the day was for once working out so much according to plan. Only twenty minutes ago he had decided to go mad, and now here he was already chasing a Chesterfield sofa across the fields of prehistoric Earth. |
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