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

Like many Irish people, I have a problem with celebrities. We Irish think we're as good as the next man, so we can't understand that a normal person can be someone special. If a guy we know becomes famous we don't celebrate the fact that someone like us can be acknowledged as a wonderful person. Instead, we feel "what's all the fuss about? He's just a guy like me."

Douglas Adams was a guy who became famous for writing a Radio Series, and then turning it into a book, a series of books, an LP and even a towel. He set up a website and I contributed to it.

Then one day, some time in late 2000 or early 2001, they announced that Douglas Adams would be online at lunchtime, chatting to the people on the website and answering questions.

I had the difficult choice, should I stay and talk to Douglas, or should I go and have my lunch. What went through my head:

- He's just zis guy, all he did was write a book
- He's amazing but he wouldn't want to talk to me; what would I have to say?
- Douglas is one of the most rational atheists, with a view of the world that matches my own exactly. I couldn't learn anything by talking to him because I'm already perfectly attuned to his way of thinking.
- I'm hungry

I went for lunch.

Now 14 years after DOuglas died, I wish I had at least said hello.

I regret I didn't save the email from TDV that invited me here. I'd hate to see the size of the boot I would kick myself with if I missed a chance to chat with DNA.

There's a long list of great people I didn't chat with. Most were long-dead, so it's understandable Actual celebrities? A few. I felt privileged just to be in the same room as them. Fortunately, the surroundings were not too shabby.

Long-dead people I'd like to have chatted with: Mozart [with a translator, of course], Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Franklin, George Bernard Shaw. Mind you, I would probably be doing more listening than talking.

I suppose the biggest celebrity I've had chance to chat with was James Cameron. It was at The Outpost Tavern. This was widely known as a hangout for NASA folks. It was featured briefly in a few films including _Space Cowboys_ and (the regretable Disney film) _Rocket Man_. The cast and crew of _The Right Stuff_ hung out there after filming.

Cameron stopped by NASA and the OPT researching a NASA based TV series that never aired.

I wisely bit my tongue when meeting him.


If I hadn't I would have mentioned that I felt that _Aliens_, while a fine action adventure film, diverged to far from the original horror/suspense of _Alien_. I also would have opined on some points of contention with _Titanic_.

I never saw Alien or Aliens, but I've seen the other movies you mention.

The Disney folks seem to never give up on the idea of rocket packs ["Rocketeer"]. They used the idea again in "Tomorrowland," which I saw last night.