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

You're right - talking about 'The Planet of the Apes' to a real cinema critic has got to be worth a night out.

I have always thought 'The Ninth Configuration' was a good film. But I liked the original book - 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane' - much better. The movie lacked the Consuelo Endicott School for Girls and the automated guy in the coffin.

I wish Blatty had lived up to his early promise with that novel, and left the horror genre alone.

(I hope 'real' is a spectacular misspelling of 'professional'...)

Well, I only really knew of Blatty from The Exorcist (stories circulate that the two films share characters in common) and I was surprised to learn he started off as a comedy writer - though I could see it in the movie. I did enjoy it, difficult movie though it is.

(If you g**gle for 'ninth configuration mark kermode geek chic' my review of it elsewhere online is currently the fifth result on the list, should you be interested.)

I will enjoy reading your review when I come up for air later today.

By 'real', I meant 'professional and actually good at it', as opposed to much of the nonsense I run across. The stuff that's written in postmodernspeak and describes a zombie movie is my idea of nonsense.

Your work is real, even if you don't get paid for it. Being paid for things, while nice, is not a guarantee of quality. (I think the short story I wrote yesterday for a future issue of the Post is much better than what I'm working on now, but the client wants what the client wants...)

Tell me about it. I've sort of knocked writing-to-order on the head even though the money was nice, partly because it just seemed like a bit of a drudge, and also tended not to be as well-reviewed as my own stuff (I've not had anyone offering a commission in months, which is also a factor, obviously!).

I know what you mean. Freelance education writing offers limtied scope for wild speculation... Oh, and you have to use vocabulary control. (Especially as it's for Americans...)