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

hey, i just noticed that your 'inherit the stars' article made the eg, congratulations!

Much appreciated! It was a pleasant surprise to me, too.

hey fords,

i know i'm ageing and all, and no longer possess the memory power that i once had - but weren't you working on a 'wilderness survival' project sometime back? (i'm *sure* of it.... i think) whatever became of it? i thought it was an excellent topic for an eg/series of eg's, but then it mysteriously vanished...

Ah my ageing friend, if you think you're memory is failing, imagine what it must be like when you are as old as dirt itself. Keeping this program thingy running for pan-dimensional beings is no picnic, I promise you.

Survival? Yes, indeed I had written a piece entitled 'Wilderness Survival on Earth'. It was my one attempt at an EG entry that still hoped to provide a thoroughly humour-based, yet helpful, guide. I have found that looking at the planet, time-space, and life through humour not only makes it more enjoyable but memorable as well.

Unfortunately, I so liked the piece the way it was (and, it was so heckled for 'trying-too-hard-to-be-funny'), that I felt it might have a more forgiving and appreciative audience elsewhere.

As a result, my subsequent entries have become 'trying-not-hard-at-all' to be funny if they are meant for the EG (Burning Mouth Syndrome), and thoroughly ludicrous when meant for the UnderGuide (A Guide to Woodworking Tools and Terms).

As for the aforementioned piece, I've been playing with the idea of submitting a re-write of it for publishing (either as a long-ish magazine article, or Dave Berry-ish book). Someday, it may hope to become a radio-play or TV series. Do you think it has potential?

Mostly, I'm dreaming; and I realise that. But, we both know of kernels of successful books that were conceived while lying drunk in a cow pasture. Can being at your keyboard be such an unlikely place for a creative epiphany?

Thanks for remembering it though. You may consider yourself one of 'the few, the proud, the morons' (Sorry about that, but it came to me a couple of years ago and I've been waiting since to use it. Still friends?).

actually, my multicode states that i am 'A++++ - older than dust'.

i see your wilderness thing as more of a monty python-ish series of sketches, really (a compliment, just in case you're wondering). you'd have to be a great deal more ridiculous if you want it to be dave barry-ish (along the lines of 'wilderness' being latin for 'wil' - 'trying' and 'derness' - 'not to get your ears chewed off by pygmy badgers while camping out in deserts') i'm sure you don't, seeing as you've got your own style of humour - and one which works quite well. the article on woodworking tools had me in stitches. if you do publish the wilderness article in book form, i fully expect you to autograph my copy.


far.

Hi Farlander, Protector of Microbes!

Ah! This must be multicode. I never could get the hang of multicode.
Gee, is there such thing as 'A+' to the nth?


That is indeed a marvelously generous compliment. The sketches idea is marvelous too; perhaps I should be thinking in terms of a play? Or, maybe a pantomime?

You certainly know your Dave Barry as well. I believe that you may have hit on the precise definition he would have penned, especially the 'pygmy' badgers!! (though I'm a bit unclear as to what they would be doing in the desert??) If I may use that definition, or a derivative thereof, I would probably have to credit it simply to Farlander's Dictionary of Arcane Etymologies.

I am very glad that you enjoyed the entry on tools and terms, and found it more than the 'merely amusing' that I expect is most people's impression of it. I do appreciate people with a 'bent' sense of humour; but then, I suppose that is likely the norm on this site.

Perhaps each book should come complete with a small towel?

Thanks, again, for the compliments, ideas, and the amazing boost to my ego!

yup. grew up reading dave barry - homes and other black holes, and the like. did you know 'dave barry' was latin for 'da' - 'man' and 'vebarry' - 'who spends alltogether too much time making jokes involving the word "booger"'?

re: sketches - you're the expert on stage plays! (i've never seen a pantomime before) if it can work as a stage play, well... although i was thinking more along the lines of a film. i could taste sand on my tongue. sort of a deliberately cheesy B-grade set with a deadpan narrator would probably do it. heck, h2g2 worked.

looking forward to the book - and the towel.


far.

ps: i now have broadband connection!

Broadband! Great!

Your cookin' with digital gas now, baby!

Dave Berry used to write for the newspaper where I was employed. He made me realize that there might be an escape, and I was right.

I guess it was the term 'sketches' that threw me. Plenty of TV shows and movies use 'em, but I immediately thought of stuff my son used to do on stage. His is the experience that taught me what I related in 'Some Tips on Making Stage Props'.

The film idea would provide a whole lot more opportunity for visual humour. Perhaps I could work up samples on video, to interest a local station; or even go cable! I know that DNA was not happy with the BBC version, but I thought it was wonderfully cheesy.

The Pantomime concept is new to me. I thought 'mimes' were pantomime, but apparently there is a theatrical form in England, referred to as Pantomime, that includes spoken lines, men in drag, and other stuff a recent entry covered (I think it's still in Peer Review).

I guess I may have to put my Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber spoof on a back burner while I give the Survival thing some thought?

Enjoy the new digs!

fords, have you given away information about yourself? hmm... were you living in miami, and were you with the miami herald? i keep recalling the name gene weingarten in dave barry's book - the editor who frenquently ended up on the wrong end of barry's joke gun.

i believe that british science fiction comedy is immensely more successful than american science fiction comedy for the reason that the brits paid a great deal of attention to conversation content and not so much on sets (think of brit comedies - red dwarf, h2g2... all cheesy b-grade props and sets... but *excellent* dialogue). i think it's this emphasis that made all those series so good. your wilderness thing would work pretty well along this line, methinks. oh, and it would be even better with *stereotyped* characters...

Right organization, wrong paper.

The Miami Herald is part of the Knight-Ridder chain (or, at least it was at the time).

He did spend some of his earlier days further north.

Your absolutely right about the major reason British sci-fi comedies appeal to me is dialogue. Our early silent film experiences probably made US filmmakers too 'sight' conscious, as most of the earliest film humour had to be visual.

I prefer witty dialogue to pratfalls; but, although I'm not alone, I'm apparently not in the majority.

Hey, I can do b-grade props and sets. It's the *excellent dialogue* that may come out derivative. But, with stereotyped characters, that may work too! Lots of pithe helmets, you think?

pith helmets and safari suits (you mustn't forget that!), walking sticks, pickaxes (a must!), the usual pot-hanging-over-an-open-fire... nothing you won't be able to find in your basement it *is* supposed to be slightly satirical, isn't it?

i prefer british comedy over american, but i *did* like harold lloyd...

Gotcha, the kitschier the better.

I have favorites among both, like different flavours of ice cream. Sometimes it's even a treat to have different flavours in the same dish. Did you see "A Fish Called Wanda" or "Fierce Creatures"?

BTW, I've been meaning to ask; did you switch to using a PDA or a Blackberry for your postings? It appears you've stopped using your shift key. Something I wouldn't normally expect from a 'scientific' type. Just wondering.

aha, so you've caught on, have you? well, i'll let you in on a little secret. i use the shift key when i'm typing with both hands; i use all lower caps when my left hand is doing something else, namely conveying food to my mouth. now, what do you suppose i'm doing right now?



(what did you expect - i'm a multi-tasker!)

i've saw 'a fish called wanda' when i was 13 or 14; consequently i have no memory of it. should i watch it again?

Well, it beats the other thing that I might have assumed you were doing with the free hand; you had me worried!

I've lost a lot of 'Fish', too. Before I'll suggest a revisit, I'll watch it again. Meanwhile, 'Fierce Creatures' is a total hoot. I'm sure that if you like Python, then you'll enjoy FC.

John Cleese .... Rollo Lee
Jamie Lee Curtis .... Willa Weston
Kevin Kline .... Vince McCain/Rod McCain
Robert Lindsay .... Sydney Lotterby
Michael Palin .... Adrian 'Bugsy' Malone

How can you miss?

My my Fords, you *do* have a hyperactive imagination! Of course, one could argue that i could've had the index of my free hand up my nose, that I had rashes the whole time and needed one hand to scratch frantically, that I am ambidextrous and was writing a report/letter/journal entry with the free hand... etc etc...

I'll see if I can find 'Fierce Creatures' (I have rather a soft spot for Cleese and Klein); I highly doubt that I will be successful. Finding Monty Python's 'The Meaning of Life' was nothing short of a miracle, and it'll take another one for me to find FC.

Rashes, That's the one. Yeah, rashee.