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

Oh, do read some of PKD. I recommend 'A Maze of Death', I do. You'll love it. Or 'Ubik', it's great.

'Blade Runner' is a good film, too, though it's not much to do with PKD.

There are books on Dick. Here's a Youtube documentary about him...we use the term 'documentary' loosely...'The Penultimate Truth', of course, refers to a very cool novel of Dick's. He was amazingly prescient, sometimes...always look at the dates...his fake history and 'Yance-men' came long before the facts...

Oh, don't get me started. I'm going to off and write a scary story with hielan' coos in...

Okay, here's a scary story about the hielan's: A87772008

Tell me what you think, and should I save this one for Halloween?

5.15 am. and I'm cracken up. I haven't even had a coffee yet.

Oh no, not cracken up again, what is it this time?

I'm cracken up laughing because I'm immersed in the world of Hamish MacCracken, . My MacSpouse, escaped Highlander and son of crofter, is going to love the Menace of Cragg MacCracken. .

For full effect, read aloud with a couple of voices, to appreciate the quick wit of the dialogue.

Note the references to 'oo, then at the end, the red 'oo.

hah! see, it might be the hour before dawn, but I'm as alert as a wee scuttling timorous beastie.

They'll love that dialogue over on the Test thread. . And there's even a tent. .

Great links, especially the low moaning, that links to the cow.wav diagram. . (I've put that one in favourites file, might print for a poster, oh dear. )

A Post classic.

Fancy starting "It was a dark and stormy night"!

Not sure if we should let him get away with this. . Repent ye! I suggest we send him on an expenses-paid camping trip to the Highlands. (courtesy of hootoo).

Dmitri

and thank you for a good

I really liked the red hair and red 'oo'

a camping trip to the Highlands eh, I hope he packs his braces

Glad you liked it.

Hey all you literature lovers, you might enjoy these experiments with animating one sentence from works of literature (not classic as I didn't identify any of the authors).

http://electricliterature.com/site/single-sentence-animations/#!prettyPhoto[portfolio]/11/


A rather strange idea of Gesamt Kunstwerke.

That's incredible, Elektra! . What a brilliant idea. Animate a sentence. I hadn't heard of any of the authors either. Electric literature. This is my kind of thing. Site in favourites. Thankyou.

I'd love to animate sentences from the poetry of Michael McClure. That would be so great. When I read his poems, I see little movies.

Actually, there are sentences from hundreds of authors I would like to animate, because reading, to me, is like experiencing little movies. hmm



Strange you should send this right now, because I have been thinking about all this in the last few days. Now I'm convinced you're a psychic. . Or, more like you know me well. .



And writing, also, for me, is trying to express in each paragraph the mini movie I feel in my senses.

So now maybe I will change it to a sentence. . This is my first editing challenge..



And what sensory message do I transmit to someone else, through the words, and spaces, in a paragraph? Hah!

If someone else were to animate one of my paragraphs, it would be a completely different movie to the one I see in my head, that's for sure, especially as I obscure the intended message, usually because I don't ... erm... have one. .

I like that. Diversity of vision. I guess it's like dreams.

How do I animate the fragrance of honeysuckle? Or the atmosphere of the sixth sense?

Is animation easier than trying to say it all in words? I don't think so ..

Ah yes yes yes ...

Fascinating ... (paces around room) ... fascinating .....

Hi everyone! Cool story Dmitri ... I am still trying to come up with a concept for a halloween story.

Elektra, once again I wish I could see those videos! It's not my screen, it's my network connection. But the idea sounds very interesting.

Cactuscafé, interesting what you say about animating scents and atmosphere! I think there are ways to suggest such things ...

Are we moving towards the 'feelies' that Huxley wrote about in 'Brave New World'?

That was prescient too.

Hullo Willem! Ah yes, the ways to suggest the scent of jasmine, this could lead to poetic paths ...

And evening all ...

Good word, prescient. I had to look it up, ,but now I know what it means, I shall use it at appropriate moments, and someone somewhere might offer me roses. , why I don't know, I just said that. .

Ah yes, the feelies! Now it's all coming back to me. I studied BNW for A level, along with Island, way back in the old 70s , and haven't managed to return to either book since then, so spooked I was. . Mind you, it was probably exams that were spooking me, rather than these works of literature.

Great writer, Huxley. I love the The Doors of Perception, I carry it around with me. 'Tis a slim volume, fits in the handbag.

Ah yes, the feelies ..

And what about a 'scent of jasmine' app for the phone'? . hmm.

Virtual reality. Trouble with me is that I have to make the journey myself. The 'scent of jasmine' app would be great, but I have to travel into the heart of the scent of jasmine, speak to it, turn it inside out, walk barefoot along seven thousand poetic paths, and offer it my soul.

What? That was quite intense, really. . I do, though.

The story by Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths, well apparently that is prescient also. Something to do with anticipating digital media and hypertext? I don't know what hypertext is, but I think that might be interesting. What is hypertext?

Or perhaps someone might bring me roses, because I just said prescient.

+

Ah! The scent of red roses + = the gift of loveliness









= visitation in the bakery

(whilst breakfasting on cupcakes and , I suddenly understood blue metallic ufo concepts.)


= a trio of esuoms

or would it be ecim?

= huh? any way you spell it

= sleeeeep

OK, I'll go back to sleep

Hi folks! Cactuscaf�, hypertext is actually what the internet is all about! It is simply text that is linked to other bits of text. So if you read an entry here and a word in a paragraph shows up in blue, you can click on it, and it will take you to (probably) a different article with more text, some of which will also be in blue and take you to yet other pieces of text if you click it. That's hypertext: texts that are interlinked with each other. This was a very big and exciting thing when back in the eighties the computers started getting hard disks and CD-Rom's meaning significantly expanded data storage ... and today people take it for granted. Jorge Luis Borges now ... he is a great influence on me! I will read everything of his I can get my hands on. My father also liked his work and introduced it to me. The first I can remember is the 'Book of Sand' story, of a literally infinite book ... and you can never open it in the same place twice, so you can't ever again find an article you'd read before if you lose it. This book IS EVERY BOOK I EVER DREAM ABOUT. Also there's his idea of the (almost) infinitely large library (The Library of Babel) ... I had a little journal entry regarding something like that here, with images rather than words: http://www.h2g2.com/user_journal/U168712/conversation/view/F63395/T8285651/page/last The concept is one that is intriguing to me and has provided me with many imaginary scenarios. I've worked something almost like that library into a story of mine. In terms of scents, for instance, in my stories I'm having to describe them a lot since the time my characters turned into rats (they got better) after which they were still left with enhanced olfactory powers.

Wowzum! Amazing Willem! Dmitri often tells me about Borges, also, how he did reviews of imaginary books and other magic things.

Before I go on ... weird, at the time of writing, like now, your posting appears on my screen in Brunel skin, but not in the other skin, the blue and white skin. So I can't open your link right now, even if I try to open it in Brunel, but I am sure it will get OK.

I am very curious now. Nothing like a link that won't open, it adds to my curiosity.

Book of Sand! How incredible is that?!

And I love the way you describe it, your enthusiasm is infectious!

Funny word, infectious, always makes me think I have some kind of a fever , even though it can be used in this context. Same as how laughter can be infectious.

I should say your enthusiasm is inspiring! Thankyou Willem!

That's what hypertext is??? Links?? Really????

Not as complicated as I thought then. I am learning all the time. Thankyou for the knowledge.

Hah! I get it! The rat characters, (who got better) . Now I am understanding all. No wonder you are interested in describing scents. It is all making scents to me now. .

Thanks again, Willem!

PS I'm in my blue and white skin now. .

If you said that to someone in the 60s, they would say, that's cool man, nice to have a blue and white skin for a while. What mixture are you on? .

Anyway, yes, so if there's a message saying there's a problem with rendering this post, please contact the Editors, how do I contact the Editors? Do I email? I guess I do, and identify the post, somehow. Or maybe it's my computer that's not rendering the post? hmm

links are difficult at the moment CC, it is likely a known fault although you can email if you want

easiest thing probably is either to rummage through Willems journal or ask him for the title of his journal thread for a more targeted approach

Hypertext hyperlinks are the wormholes by which we travel in cyberspace.

It is known, that problem with links. Alas.