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

Hello, Tod!

Marv, see Hot Fuzz. It is the best action movie of the year, bar none. OMG (and forgive me for the trite Internets acronyms), it is the funniest movie I've seen in a long, long time.

Okay, somehow in the last 10 minutes I've managed to unsubscribe to this conversation. So I'm posting again to prevent such a (personal) disaster.

What ho tout le mond. Sol - did you mention the channel islands in your lineage - which one? - I have very fond memories of Jersey - before I became assimilated into the monastic collective! I found the natives very friendly. Looking forward to a little bit of time away from the sand box shortly - catching up with small people and the high priestess - re-acclimatising to the temperate climate and appreciating the benefits of proper english beer - cant wait!

Which Channel Island? Jersey, I think. At least, that's where my aunt lives.

I've only been there when I was two. Still, if anyone presses me on which flavour of Brit I am, I tend to say Hugenot. The Channel Islands branch of the family (paternal Grandpa) are rampently that. We arrived in the Channel Islands in 1780 something with one shoe on and promptly became actors. Apparently.

So unlike all English people who just hate the French for being the nearest country we haven't won control over (yet), I am allowed to resent the French because they opressed me.

On which note I am a little cross with Eurovision, or rather the Ukraine. You remember Terry burbling about how he didn't know what they thought they were doing? Well that 'Lasha Tumbai' refrain is actually supposed to stand for 'Russia goodbye'. Which I did think, given that they were essentially tricking everyone into singing joyfully along, was a bit mean spirited.

I got dragged to Emo Spidey instead of Hot Fuzz (the person I went to see it with had already seen Hot Fuzz).

Gah. I want that two hours and twenty minutes of my life back.

Hot Fuzz looks like the sort of film that would make me want to get a couple of hours of my life back, I'm afraid. Different strokes for different folks...

Eurovision... The voting did make me laugh and laugh, though I was disappointed that the songs I rather enjoyed (including Germany's swing entry, which I really wanted to win) did very badly.IS it just me, or is the charade of Eurovision distinctly more pointless since the USSR and Yugoslavia broke up? The Scandinavians always voted for each other, and likewise Greece and Cyprus, but it's beyond silly now. Which is, I suppose, what makes it so much fun. Even if I thought the winning song was among the worst, though not as bad as Ireland.

Marv, I settled for my money. And the theatre was none too happy, but I insisted. It helped that I had my 12 tickets for Pirates with me, and threatened to return them...

Hi Tod!

I played the geekiest of all geek games tonight...Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. I came in second. But dang, that was FUN!

Gosh, I'd never dare to ask for my money back because I didn't enjoy a film,unless it was due to projection problems, sticky seats, non-functioning aircon or the like.

I realised that I missed Tod's appearance - hello there!

Welcome, Tod!

Eurovision - I was really amused by Estonia giving top points to Russia, especially after recent events. Then again, most likely it was the minority voting. And it's interesting to see how the old Europe fancies Turkey. I think they could as well skip the singing bit. The result is so obvious. I must admit though that I kinda liked the idea that the winner was not singing in English.
Former USSR? Hah, we were brutally kicked out in semifinal. No soviet brotherhood for Estonia.

The reason why certain countries all vote for one another isn't entirely the national favouritism thing though. It's bacause a) all the Slavic languages are somewhat mutually comprehensible, so they all get each others songs and/ or the language sounds comfortably familiar b) because they've all heard each others songs before the contest on the radio c) on the odd occassion they do something ethnic that's recongnisable and comfortable mutually familiar too and d) they take it more seriously.

It's not totally blind voting too. I mean, there has to be something about the song to get people going. When Russia fields a particularly bad song they come fifteenth, and people who have won in previous years were languishing around the bottom this year too.

I quite liked the Serbian entry, although we actually voted for France and Romania and Georgia in this house. I knew Georgia wouldn't win though because it wasn't an original sort of song. Neither was Germany's, although as a piece of music I liked that too. The only time when something too recognisably genre wins is when it's also ethnic.

Lordi wasn't really that ethnic. Or at least not related to any known ethnos.

I thought Hot Fuzz was great when we went to see it earlier this year.

I didn't watch the eurovision song contest because like Bagpus I was out meeting Much fun was had in Leeds.

[mags]

*Nursing Eurovision hangover*

I nearly missed the start too, we had totally unexpected visitors yesterday afternoon, which threw all our plans into disarray (not that's a too didfficult thing because we are very, very disorganised anyway )

I voted for Bulgaria. Hey ho. No winner for me this year, first time in three (or is four?) years.

Ooh meant to add,

"Hello Tod"

Yes but then you also wouldn't say that Lordi were a classic example of the heavy metal genre either. I think they come under the heading of comedy entries.

Incidently, were the Fins out to prove that they do, in fact, out metal and goth the rest of Europe or did they just feel a need to keep up with the theme their winners set? Not that I'm complaining, mind. I thought their staging was fab.

Yeah, right.

More on our minority issues seen by BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6630197.stm

I heard about the Eurovision on BBC World Service...sounded like more fun than that Ghod awful American Idol thing.

Hi tod! You expressed surprise at Michael Moore being tagged for being in Cuba, but really, even Republicans would've been nailed for it, too.

If an American wants to go to Cuba they have to go to some other country first, then sneak in. Even Cuban exiles who've wanted to go to Cuba to visit their children/parents are only allowed to go for a couple of days every two years. We're still really weird here, when it comes to Cuba...

Not saying that the current administration weren't just totally *thrilled* they got Moore for doing it, because you know they were!

Yes, twas fun in Leeds. I find that meets make me significantly less shy around new people than I normally am, and real ale always tempts me to drink more than I would otherwise, so I hope I wasn't too irritating. My navigation wasn't that great either, given that I utterly failed to find the Angel. Turns out I was pretty close when I found the Ship.

Given what SC says, I wonder if Moore was thinking he'd get away with it through his celebrity, or if he expected to get arrested but wants to make people think about whether this law is really needed.

You know, all devil's advocating aside, that aritcle about Estonia would have been even more top heavy with sanctimonious disapproval had it been written about a similar situaiton in Russia. And for sure they'd have managed to work in a gratutous reference to the sinister, controlling and ex KGB Putin somewhere.

I give it a week before they start drawing _direct_ paprellels between the enlightened British approach and the backward Estonian approach. Better hope for a fast news week.

Happy Mothers Day to all USian moms.