h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sounds like a su-entry waiting to happen to me.

BTW the Irish sea and Cooke Straight must have similar effects on the old stomach linings.

:-b., %&?

!

My lord, this went quiet for a bit.

In reference to that parody Mustapha, please don't tell me they show American soap operas in New Zealand! I understand importing shows like the Simpsons and um I'm at a loss for another good American show. But soaps? Aren't the Aussie ones bad enough? And before you ask, no we don't get Australian soap operas here, but my PBS station does carry Eastenders (British soap). I just don't see the point of bringing shows like Days of Our Lives to other countries. All soaps are the same around the world, just different accents/languages. Gee, I'm bored. Can y'tell?

I should write some more articles for you guys, but I'm never in the mood. And now I've got the H2G2 Vegetarian Society to deal with as well. You know, that cool new club located at http://www.h2g2.com/A299315 . I considered plugging it here, but it seemed inappropriate.

I'll bring the hummus

And yes, NZ daytime tv is littered with American, Aussie and English soaps. Our own NZ soap, Shortland St has been going (as hard as it is to believe) for seven years. But the undisputed king of soaps in NZ is Coronation St, and it has a very strong and vocal support base. A couple of years back TVNZ tried to cut back the amount of Coro St shown, and there was hell to pay.

My theory on the popularity of soaps (with both sexes) is that the characters onscreen live weird and exciting lives so that the viewers don't have to.

I don't watch the soaps, but I have been reading X-Men for quite a while - which is kind of like a soap opera, but with more spandex.

X-Men is pretty cool. I used to be into that. I have no real problem with soaps--as a matter of fact I'm watching one right now for lack of a better thing to do. I just find it funny that people watch ours halfway around the world. Never mind, it was a stupid thought. If you don't mind diverting even further from the topic of history, who's your favorite X-Man (or woman)? I like Wolverine. Gotta love those retractable claws.

Hey, Mustapha, I saw you mentioned sliced bread up there. Have you got a link to how sliced bread was invented? I could do a guide entry on it if you wanted.

Not on bread, sliced or otherwise. We got bagels, pretzels, pizza and sandwich vans, but no bread.

Check out the History of Food & Drink Wing for more ideas:

http://www.h2g2.com/A261613

Favourite X-men? Difficult call. What I like most about the X-books is the team element, no one character is the star, and there's lots of interaction between them. Single character comic books don't usually have that same hold on me and can become stale after a while.

Mind you, the X-editors have been strangling the X-Men for a while now, and keeping the story from evolving, from moving into uncharted territories. Writers Joe Kelly & Steven Seagle had something good going a while back but the editorial staff crushed that and forced them out.

But I digress.

While I can't easily point to a favourite X-Man, favourite X-Villain is easy - Sabretooth, hands (& claws) down. No pifling moral hangups or emotional baggage like Wolverine, he positively revels in his powers and he's not fussy about taking down anyone (man, woman, small fluffy bunny) who gets in his way - he's an equal-opportunity bad-ass.

Runners-up include Mr Sinister for his relentless obsession and manipulation of the Summers family tree, and Magneto for sheer destruction on a global scale.

Ok, let me write the article tonight. If anyone else tries it, tell them "foo you!"

* shocked vicar's voice *

"Foo you" is not the sort of language we expect from subbies or saints of furry metal, young Michael Alpha!

(Kidding )

Yeah but Magneto's been on the good guys side before. I hate it when people can't make up their mind. And Sinister can torment the Summers all he wants, 'cause Cyclops always came across as a dork to me. If he thinks those quartz shades make him look cool, he's got another thing coming. I understand what you mean about the team element. It keeps things interesting. One of my other favorites was always Gambit. Telekenetic playing cards and a smooth cajun accent. And as for the ladies, Storm definitely has the coolest powers, but you can't beat Psylocke when it comes to strong and sexy. The only female I never liked in X-Men is Jubilee. She reminds me of a babysitter I used to have when I was a kid, and I never liked that babysitter. One time she left me alone in a room with walls that were covered in "New Kids on the Block" posters. That's something no boy should ever have to go through.

Sinister dropped a hint that there might be more than Summers brothers, and I've wondered if the 3rd brother could be Gambit. Similar build and powers, and he also has a connection to Sinister, which may or may not be coincidental.

BTW have you caught the X-Men movie trailer yet? I saw it (or one of them) last night, and I think it looks great. Time will tell if the story's up to scratch or not. But they seem to be on the right track.

Will write bread entry today. Promise

http://www.h2g2.com/A310375

A bit concise, but I think it does the job

So do I. Nice one. I'll be adding it and all the other entries sometime later today. I'll also get around to putting up two new external links.

No, I didn't see the trailer, but I knew they were making a movie of it. They were in the planning stages years ago, but they lost their sponsor. Now I think it's fairly certain that it will be made. But I don't know much else about it. Does it start at the begining? Are they going to have all the old guys like Iceman? That should be pretty awesome. Is there a webpage for it yet? I'd like to see who's going to be in it. Another movie I want to see when it comes out is Lord of the Rings. I loved the books, and it's about time they make a live action movie of it. I'm interested in seeing how they portray villians like Sauron and the lord of the Nazgul. With the special effects they have these days that should be pretty cool. And of course there's the HHG movie, but that needs no explaination here in the kingdom of it's master.

But Gambit as Scott's brother? That doesn't sit right with me. I don't think they look that much alike, and there are lots of mutants with kenetic powers. Besides, their personalities are so different. I've been out of the loop for quite a while, so I could be wrong, but that really seems unlikely to me. But then again, now that I think about it, isn't Scott's father the leader of the Corsairs? I can see Remy (Gambit) fitting into that gene pool, so maybe. Interesting. Let me know how it turns out.

The movie website is http://www.x-men-the-movie.com/

Sadly, it's not the original team line-up, but hey, who would be mad enough to do an X-movie without Wolvie?

The X-movie team roster includes: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Storm (by Halle Berry, who I think looks *hot*), Rogue (sans Ms Marvel powers) and Xavier (Patrick Stewart).

Batting for the villains will be: Magneto (Sir Ian McKellan, also in LOTR), Sabretooth, Mystique (played by a very cold Rebecca Romijn), Toad (SW1's Ray Park) and Senator Kelly.

Murmurs by the director Bryan Singer and others, are already talking of a sequel or even a franchise. When asked who the villain would be in a sequel, the answer came back: "Humanity".

Can you say "Sentinels"?

I went to the website and it looked pretty cool. I took the mutant test, and apparently I have a "strong likelyhood" of being a mutant. LOL

My Dante Alighieri has gained offical Guide status. The URL is http://www.h2g2.com/A295355. At the risk of sounding stupid, does anyone know who the chick in the picture is supposed to be? She looks like Bottichelli's Venus to me. Is she supposed to be Beatrice?

As someone who has painted reproductions of various portions of Botticelli's Venus, I can fully attest that it is she who accompanies your Approved Entry. (Which I have already noted for replacement)

Art history trivia: It is quite possible, and indeed, quite ironic, that the model for one of Western Art's most famous female nudes was in fact a teenage boy. Italian society in Botticelli's day would have frowned on him looking at - let alone painting - a naked woman who wasn't his wife. All he had to add or subtract the odd bit of anatomy, and look at some classical Roman nude statues, and Bob's your Venus!