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

Hey that's an Italian name!!!!
I'm writing frmo sunny ... not! Italy from my work's computer if I get caught I'll be in trouble so I don't know how long I can stay on.
Anyway I just wanted to know if you have anything to do with Italy or if you'd like to find out about this corner of Earth known as "fairly harmless"!
Ciao!

Buongiorno, Valex! Regrettably I am not of Italian parentage, Lorenzo is just another alias, a nickname given to me by art tutors who thought I looked like an "Italian boot-boy" (no, I have no idea what that is).

But it's always good to hear from new places, new people, etc. especially from a city famed for its shrouds. Turin is in Piedmont, isn't it? Is it true that Piedmontese are natural-born sceptics?

Ciao Mustapha, yes, Torino is in Piedmont, known to Italians as Piemonte which means at the feet of the mountains and it is a remarkably true name because the entire region is surrounded by mountains and because you always get a slightly off smell!
I think that “booty boy” is referred to young Italian immigrants shoe shining in American big cities in the first part of the century. Hey, soon we’ll say “in the first part of the last century!!!”
Anyway, there is no way to get an Italian to shine your shoes nowadays, they rather try to sell you a new pair. In fact there is no way to find a young Italian emigrant as they like it too much at home with mummy cooking and ironing for them!
I never thought of Piedmontese as sceptics (how did you find that out?) but now that I come to think of it nobody in the office believes me when I say that I’ve been on Betelgeuse!
Actually, not happy with living on the feet, many Piedmontese are mountain people and probably the isolated lifestyle has brought a closed, untrusting and sceptic (and rather annoying) attitude to their personalities.
In Turin city though there is a lot of magic and stuff like that going on. Actually some people say that Turin is part of a “black magic triangle” and that a black magic pope resides in the city. I don’t know if it is true and I’m a Piedmontese anyway so I won’t believe it!!!
Lately a lot of people have been into healing, universal energy and stuff. I hope they can find a way to run cars without petrol!
What about your place? I’ve just been checking on the world map. I’m totally ignorant on New Zealand. Anyway I’ve got to go work beacons …..

I believe I read about Piedmontese incredulity in a book by Umberto Eco. One of the characters (from Piedmont) has a rather annoying habit/talent: whenever someone tells him something with great fervour and conviction, he responds by saying "Do you REALLY believe that?" or "Do you REALLY think he/she meant all that?" in such a way as to make a person think they're part of some colossal joke. I think that would be a great skill to have, and there are a number of pompous gits I would love to try this on!

"Boot Boy" (I think "Booty", at least in current American slang, doesn't quite fit me!) it could also refer to the early 60s rock'n'roll style in Britain and NZ.

As for where I am, you can check out the guide entry I submitted on New Plymouth, my hometown. I think you might appreciate it since we both live in regions dominated by mountains (though not quite as dominated as Piedmont). And there are a number of guide entries of varying opinions on New Zealand in H2G2.

I can see what you mean by Piedmontese males not straying too far from the nest. Just the other week, on BBC World, I saw a cooking program about an Italian guy going Italy cooking stuff. He was in Piedmont, where he said he grew up. He wasn't too stingy with the butter, either!

It seems that all hitch hikers have read Umberto Eco. Is it so vital for survival in the Galaxy with a few Altairian dollars a day?
I've tried to read "Il nome della Rosa" a few (15!) years ago when I was in my teens one morning having breakfast. I fell asleep. Those were the days when I discovered The Guide and everything else seemed a useless waiste of time. Mind you maybe the book got better after the first 10 pages, or maybe now that I'm a more experienced Hiker I'll appreciate it more!
I don't know. I suppose I'll have to read it to keep up with the rest of the world (Earth that is!)
I'll be off now, I'm going to check out your entry about New Plymouth, later on. I'll have to get some work done as our wages as Researchers wont cover my bills. (They wont cover anything at all as a matter of fact!)
Stay healthy!
Ciao!!!

I discovered Eco a couple of years after I began reading Adams. But I began with "Foucault's Pendulum" rather than "Il nome della Rosa", mainly because the latter was the more popularly known title, and I have this aversion to getting into new things solely because of their popularity. Adams pushed back one set of mental barriers, Eco pushed back another.

Try "Reflections on the Name of the Rose". I read IT before I read "Rose". It's a lot shorter and easier to get through. It's also a great little primer on postmodernism!