donn (02/14/83)
References: rlgvax.1037
LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING is certainly available in hardback; it
cost me about $7 on sale, and completed my hardback set. There is also
apparently a NEL (?) paperback edition from the UK which you can get in a
few places here; suit yourself. My humble and personal opinion is that
LIFE is the best book of the three so far.
Adams seems to be "spending a year dead for tax reasons" and hence is on
the lecture circuit in the States again. He appeared here at UCSD last
week and I got to see him. He read from the three books for an hour then
spent another hour answering questions. The readings were fantastic -- no
one but the author really knows how to make the stuff come out right, I
guess. The most memorable readings were the tutorial on flying from LIFE
and the confrontation between Marvin and the Frogstar battle robot from
RESTAURANT. Adams does a wonderful version of Marvin -- he comes off as a
British-accented HAL, with the same psychopathic air about him. Adams
coyly said that the next book would take its title from the passage dealing
with the departure of the dolphins from HITCHHIKER'S; it was obvious that
the audience was rooting for a particular line (heck, so was I) when he
read through it. He has not (of course) started writing the book yet...
Yes, there is a movie deal. Adams anecdotally discussed the ABC TV series
fiasco and said that he had been able to convince the movie sponsors that
it would be a mistake to try and Americanize HITCHHIKER'S; all the original
British cast members will be auditioned for the parts in the movie. Unlike
the British TV series, all the computer graphics in the movie will probably
be real computer graphics rather than ordinary animations; this in spite of
the fact that the animations were about the only worthwhile aspect of the
TV series (personal opinion here). (When Adams came out on stage he said
that this would be a "menu-driven talk" with lots of user "options"...
obviously he has spent too much time with computer types.)
Joke dept.: I can't tell this one but when Adams does it it is tremendously
funny. Maybe someone out there can do it right. Does everyone remember
"Beyond the Fringe"? The members of this comedy revue were Jonathan
Miller, Alan Bennet, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Peter and Dudley are
still quite notorious comedians, but Jonathan Miller, M. D., is now a big-
shot producer at the BBC, making and hosting series like THE BODY IN QUES-
TION and the Shakespeare plays. One of the episodes of BODY involved blood
donation, and at the end of the show Miller encourages all viewers to go
out and donate; in fact Miller has signed over his cadaver to research.
Adams was talking to Peter Cook recently, who said that he had heard about
this and had decided to be equally noble: when he dies his body will be
donated to necrophilia...
42,
Donn Seeley UCSD Chemistry Dept. RRCF ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdchema!donn
(619) 452-4016 sdamos!donn@nprdc