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Smiley page
Posted Sep 12, 2002
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/Smiley#smiley
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Sep 12, 2002
D.N.A.
Posted Sep 10, 2002
D.N.A.
March 11, 1952 - May 11, 2001
I've just finished reading The Salmon of Doubt. I got the book on the day it came out, I just haven't been able to bring myself to read it till now. The thought that there will be no more books, articles or anything else from DNA has just been a little more than I could bear.
As I read through Salmon, I found myself, as usual, laughing-out-loud, while at the same time feeling the deep need to cry. I don't tend to get overly emotional about death. Not even for people with whom I am close. I mourn for a few days and move on with my life. Though I'll often think of those that I've lost, I don't find my self getting choked up. (I don't know why this is, just the way I'm wired, I guess.) But for some reason, losing Douglas Adams has had a rather profound affect on me and I don't know why. I never met the man. I never corresponded with him and much to my regret, never even wrote a letter of thanks for the many, many hours of enjoyment that his work has added to my life. Perhaps it is because after several years of not reading and having no desire to read I picked up the compendium edition of Hitchhikers Guide and have been reading about a book a week ever since. So in that respect, I owe my love of reading and my love of books to Douglas. Maybe it's because everything that I've read, heard or watched that DNA had anything to do with has always brought such joy to my life no matter what my mental state happened to be at the time. Or, maybe it's because, Douglas Adams was one of the few special people in the world who had the ability, through his talent and intellect to connect to people, connect to total strangers in a way that I find... personal.
It could also be that my daughter was born on his birthday. A fact that just now (after 18 years of her) has dawned on me!
After more than a year, I just still hate the fact that there is no more Douglas Adams. And I really can't seem to reconcile the fact that because of that, there's no more Dirk or Ford or Arthur or Trillian or Zaphod, etc.
One of my favorite DNA quotes is, "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by". Because of that attitude, I, and every other DNA fan, has, over the years, been forced to wait an inordinate amount of time between books. And because of that attitude, the wait was always worth it! Now, the wait is over. There is no more waiting. There are no more books... That is something I simply can't fathom. Why is this? Why do I feel such emptiness from this loss? I simply can not explain it nor can I imagine how his family and friends must feel.
I have been web surfing while writing this, browsing and scouring various DNA sites. I am touched by the sites that are up either, because of or as a response to Douglas Adams. I am very impressed by the The Digital Village site. I am so glad that they have decided to maintain a site as a memorial. Kudos and thank you for doing this.
In my career as a radio announcer, I drew a great deal of inspiration from Hitchhiker and from Dirk Gently. The wit and smarts that went into the writing never failed to inspire me to add a little more "zip" to my own work. I have read all of Hitchhiker(s) 6 times (or more probably more, and will do so again before the year ends) and Dirk Gently's, at least, three times each. Not to mention the times I would just open one of the books and start to reed from a random point till I ran out of time. Or, the times I would look up passages just because I wanted to read them instead of trusting my memory to give me words and shapes that I could not possible hope to form myself. I have, in my life, quoted and misquoted Douglas countless times. And, I'm proud to say, giving him all the credit, always. Plagiarizing DNA would be to me sacrilege, not to mention, I'd be found out instantly by somebody in the crowd. (If not, I'd run away screaming. That kind of crowd I don't need in my life.)
Douglas Adams has been a mainstay in my live since my freshman year of high school when Hitchhiker first came out. I read it, laughing all the way through and except for those few years when I (for some inexplicable reason, wasn't reading) haven't put it down since. Maybe that's the reason for this deep feeling of loss. My 14th or 15th year seems to me to be the year that I became "ME". Before that, I was whomever I was, a child, a kid with no sense of anything in the world except where the next bit of fun was coming from. When the next game of kick-ball, dodge-ball, baseball, soccer (or whatever, ball involved game it may be) was going to start. At 14 or 15, my world changed. We moved. My father wasn't really in the picture any more and I was starting high school in a new neighborhood where I knew no one. Hitchhiker and Douglas were there then and at that time, the laughs were becoming fewer and fewer. (Wow, that was some deep s**t. I hate it when I psychoanalyze myself like that.)
Whatever the reason for this, I really miss Douglas. Without Douglas Noel Adams, the world is that much less a place. It was too soon. Right now, we need all the Douglas Adams' we can get too. We need a logical view of the universe and the world around us. We need that analytical view of (if you'll pardon the expression) Life, The Universe and Everything. But, most of all, we need the sense of humor that's inexorably linked to all of the above.
For my part, I truly hope, in all the computer hard drives that were owned by DNA, that his dear wife and his publishers and editors, assistant and friends, would find more gems to publish. Life without the hope of yet another overdue book by Douglas Adams is a life less...
As a postscript, may I add, that movie better get made. I own some Disney stock (OK only a few shares but...) and I'll not be happy if it ends up shelved again. What's the matter with those, people? Are they brain dead? Just stupid? Trying really, really hard to get it perfect? (Let's hope it's the later.)
Thanks for everything Douglas. You're greatly missed.
Myers
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Sep 10, 2002
D.N.A.
Posted Sep 10, 2002
D.N.A.
March 11, 1952 - May 11, 2001
I've just finished reading The Salmon of Doubt. I got the book on the day it came out, I just haven't been able to bring myself to read it till now. The thought that there will be no more books, articles or anything else from DNA has just been a little more than I could bear.
As I read through Salmon, I found myself, as usual, laughing-out-loud, while at the same time feeling the deep need to cry. I don't tend to get overly emotional about death. Not even for people with whom I am close. I mourn for a few days and move on with my life. Though I'll often think of those that I've lost, I don't find my self getting choked up. (I don't know why this is, just the way I'm wired, I guess.) But for some reason, losing Douglas Adams has had a rather profound affect on me and I don't know why. I never met the man. I never corresponded with him and much to my regret, never even wrote a letter of thanks for the many, many hours of enjoyment that his work has added to my life. Perhaps it is because after several years of not reading and having no desire to read I picked up the compendium edition of Hitchhikers Guide and have been reading about a book a week ever since. So in that respect, I owe my love of reading and my love of books to Douglas. Maybe it's because everything that I've read, heard or watched that DNA had anything to do with has always brought such joy to my life no matter what my mental state happened to be at the time. Or, maybe it's because, Douglas Adams was one of the few special people in the world who had the ability, through his talent and intellect to connect to people, connect to total strangers in a way that I find... personal.
It could also be that my daughter was born on his birthday. (A fact that just now (after 18 years of her) has dawned on me!)
After more than a year, I just still hate the fact that there is no more Douglas Adams. And I really can't seem to reconcile the fact that because of that, there’s no more Dirk or Ford or Arthur or Trillian or Zaphod, etc.
One of my favorite DNA quotes is, "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by". Because of that attitude, I, and every other DNA fan, has, over the years, been forced to wait an inordinate amount of time between books. And because of that attitude, the wait was always worth it! Now, the wait is over. There is no more waiting. There are no more books... That is something I simply can't fathom. Why is this? Why do I feel such emptiness from this loss? I simply can not explain it nor can I imagine how his family and friends must feel.
I have been web surfing while writing this, browsing and scouring various DNA sites. I am touched by the sites that are up either, because of or as a response to Douglas Adams. I am very impressed by the The Digital Village site. I am so glad that they have decided to maintain a site as a memorial. Kudos and thank you for doing this.
In my career as a radio announcer, I drew a great deal of inspiration from Hitchhiker and from Dirk Gently. The wit and smarts that went into the writing never failed to inspire me to add a little more "zip" to my own work. I have read all of Hitchhiker(s) 6 times (or more probably more, and will do so again before the year ends) and Dirk Gently's, at least, three times each. Not to mention the times I would just open one of the books and start to reed from a random point till I ran out of time. Or, the times I would look up passages just because I wanted to read them instead of trusting my memory to give me words and shapes that I could not possible hope to form myself. I have, in my life, quoted and misquoted Douglas countless times. And, I’m proud to say, giving him all the credit, always. Plagiarizing DNA would be to me sacrilege, not to mention, I'd be found out instantly by somebody in the crowd. (If not, I'd run away screaming. That kind of crowd I don't need in my life.)
Douglas Adams has been a mainstay in my live since my freshman year of high school when Hitchhiker first came out. I read it, laughing all the way through and except for those few years when I (for some inexplicable reason, wasn't reading) haven't put it down since. Maybe that's the reason for this deep feeling of loss. My 14th or 15th year seems to me to be the year that I became "ME". Before that, I was whomever I was, a child, a kid with no sense of anything in the world except where the next bit of fun was coming from. When the next game of kick-ball, dodge-ball, baseball, soccer (or whatever, ball involved game it may be) was going to start. At 14 or 15, my world changed. We moved. My father wasn't really in the picture any more and I was starting high school in a new neighborhood where I knew no one. Hitchhiker and Douglas were there then and at that time, the laughs were becoming fewer and fewer. (Wow, that was some deep s**t. I hate it when I psychoanalyze myself like that.)
Whatever the reason for this, I really miss Douglas. Without Douglas Noel Adams, the world is that much less a place. It was too soon. Right now, we need all the Douglas Adams' we can get too. We need a logical view of the universe and the world around us. We need that analytical view of (if you'll pardon the expression) Life, The Universe and Everything. But, most of all, we need the sense of humor that's inexorably linked to all of the above.
For my part, I truly hope, in all the computer hard drives that were owned by DNA, that his dear wife and his publishers and editors, assistant and friends, would find more gems to publish. Life without the hope of yet another overdue book by Douglas Adams is a life less...
As a postscript, may I add, that movie better get made. I own some Disney stock (OK only a few shares but...) and I'll not be happy if it ends up shelved again. What's the matter with those, people? Are they brain dead? Just stupid? Trying really, really hard to get it perfect? (Let's hope it’s the later.)
Thanks for everything Douglas. You're greatly missed.
Myers
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Sep 10, 2002
NoIdea
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