Tag Archives: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams Fan Anthology You & 42 Update: Prepare for the Whooshing

by in From the Editors, Life, the Universe, and Everything, Literature and Books, The Whole Sort of General Mish Mash, This just in and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Howdy Hoopy Froods!
If you are shaking your head as to the meaning of my subtitle, “Prepare for the Whooshing,” then shake no more. It is not a tribal rite of Arcturus Grefa, nor the sound of flying mattresses out of the swamps of Sqornshellous Zeta, however it is the distinct noise a deadline makes as it goes by.  Deadline? Deadline? DEADLINE?!
What Deadline?!

I am afraid yes indeed we are imposing a deadline for anyone wishing to still contribute to You and 42: A Douglas Adams Fan Anthology. Wait? What?! There’s a forthcoming anthology dedicated to Douglas Adams? How come I didn’t hear about it you ask….Well…the answer to that is….I do not know, why haven’t you heard of it?

Well the first answer is personal to a degree and it was placed on hiatus a bit.

Firstly, my wife Jessica and I are the You and 42 editors, which will be published by Watching Books and see secondly….
Secondly, for most of this year we have dealt with a family matter, which had all of our time and attention. Our family is still our priority, and we will not get into the matter here, but this unfortunate time in our lives placed all of our projects, career and various matters on hold. Therefore, this project, You and 42 was subsequently on hiatus for sometime.

But Gallifrey Falls No More…Ummmm I mean You and 42 Whooshes Once Again!

What is You and 42?

Well….
“If you hadn’t guessed it, YOU AND 42 is going to be a volume of essays about the life and work of Douglas Adams. The format, as per usual (meaning of you are familiar with the other “You and Who book series by Watching Books), will be a series of essays each focussing on a particular area or production, through which the authors can talk about their personal experiences of Adams and his work. We are not looking for reviews, rather the kind of essays we prefer are those that take a more autobiographical or anecdotal slant; this book is about the “YOU” as much as it is the “42”. Having said that, we appreciate that Adams is a popular and complex author, and this time we’ll be happy to mix it up a bit, by including essays of all kinds as long as they encompass the theme of Douglas Adams touching our lives in some way.”

If I may now direct your attention to the full set of project details over on the You and Who website, which also has a list of topics with authors having been listed alongside some. If you do not see topics that apply to how you may have read the work of Douglas Adams, or how you subjectively feel about his work, then please by all means email me a pitch to youandfortytwo@gmail.com. Please read all of the particulars on the project website and if you do not see your question answered, then by all means email me.  Lastly, if you did not know all proceeds from sales of this books will be donated to charity. If you visit the Watching Books website,  please peruse their collection of  very splendid and worthwhile titles for sale, all benefiting charity.

Now the Rub…
This project began in March of 2016–and of course for every kind of book it takes sometime to come together. It can be 6 months, a year or more before a volume is fully actualized and transmitted across the galaxy. We have a significant amount of contributions but I would really like to bulk it up a bit more. If you have contributed to You and 42, THANK YOU!  If you would like to contribute anymore, then I would be wholeheartedly grateful.
If you have promised to send in an essay I completely understand if life, the universe and everything has gotten in the way…however, I shall be emailing everyone who has inquired, regardless of a contribution or not, within 48 hours. If you receive said email then please read further details of this overall message within and reply accordingly.

Now the great whooshing….
We have never had a deadline for this project, but there comes time when we must push it forward so the reading public can enjoy your contributions, therefore  anyone who wishes to contribute the imposed deadline is Weds, September 20th 2017. This is just one day under the 2 month mark from now and I hope more than enough time for you to complete any contributiuon you wish to send in. Whether you wish your own personal memory, Douglas Adams fan organization, event, or significant occasion represented there will be no extensions beyond this deadline. If we can stick to the aforementioned deadline then You and 42 can be sent into Watching Books before the end of the year and published around the new year. So prepare for the great whooshing for if you wish for your thoughts to be heard within this volume then time will not wait for you.

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

Peace and Towels,

Anthony S Burdge

Editor, You and 42

The Original Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 1978 Radio Show

by in Douglas Adams Virtual Museum, Entertainment, Fiction, Humor and Satire, Life, the Universe, and Everything, Literature and Books, The Funnies and tagged , , , | 1 Comment

As we approach Towel Day, we are coming up with some sweet treats for our followers. One of these treats is the original Radio Show. It is full stereo and very hoopy. Most of you probably encountered with it previously, but for those of you, who didn’t: You are in for a treat. Noted for its amazing use of special sound effects, this little Show made H2G2 as popular as it is now.

Now, I can ramble on, but we both know that you just want to get on with it, so here it goes:

Zaphod Speaks! Galactic Hitchhikers Interview Mark Wing-Davey

by in From the Editors, Life, the Universe, and Everything, Sub-Etha 42, Sub-Etha Interviews and tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Zaphod Speaks! Galactic Hitchhikers Interview Mark Wing-Davey
by Anthony S Burdge

Greetings Hoopy Froods!

It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you all our faithful froods the 1st in a new Galactic Hitchhiker’s feature: Hoopy Frood Interviews!
The idea for this feature began in March 2016 as I was formulating content ideas for You and 42: A Douglas Adams Fan Anthology. I felt it would be great to get something in the book direct from folks involved in HG2G productions. I wrote to Mark Wing-Davey aka Zaphod Beeblebrox and received a very nice reply from him and his assistant. For those who may or may not know Mark Wing-Davey is the Chairperson, and Arts Professor, of Graduate Acting at NYU Tisch School of the Arts (Read up on his career here) In 2015 I wrote to him to see if we could meet up for Towel Day and to buy him a pint, but our schedules didn’t allow it. Since then Mark and his assistant have been kind enough to write with concern to new productions such as “The Double Man.”  I wrote of The Double Man on a past incarnation of the Galactic Hitchhikers website, but unfortunately the article was lost due to the server switch.
In correspondence with Mark we arranged an interview with him, which I would then transcribe into a cohesive narrative for You and 42. We met with Mark via Skype where the interview was recorded. It is just about an hour long and has lots of great material about Mark’s career, time working on the Hg2g radio and television series, thoughts on Douglas Adams and much more!

CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON BELOW to hear the interview in its entirety. Unfortunately Jared had a few microphone issues on his end so he had to ask Mark his questions via Skype text chat. This means you will hear a bit of dead air and then Mark answering the question, or Zaxley and I asking the question for Jared.

Mark Wing-Davey CHAIRPERSON; ARTS PROFESSOR NYU TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS


Interview Conducted July 2016 with GH Founder Zaxley Nash, Audio Engineer Jared McLaughlin, and GH Writer/Field Researcher Anthony S Burdge

We had such as great time chatting with Mark and are humbled, honored, and grateful to have had the opportunity to do so. The discussion was alot of fun, full of laughs and very informative.
Thank you Mark for your time and the chance to speak with you!

In discussion with Galactic Hitchhiker’s Founder Zaxley Nash, our Sub-Etha Channel 42 Engineer Jared McLaughlin and myself, we felt this was something we wanted to continue and be a GH feature. Our next interview to be posted soon was with Kevin Jon Davies who has had a long fan and professional career associated with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Davies worked on graphics for the television series, interviewed Douglas Adams on numerous occasions, is a highly regarded documentarian, for example “The Making of ‘The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ which used archive footage and new specially shot material. The forthcoming interview with Kevin, we speak with him about his career, which shall also be transcribed for You and 42.
We are honored to have Kevin as a part of our Galactic Hitchhikers Facebook Community, which can be found here
Click here to read more of Kevin’s career from his bio on the website for Lazlar Lyricon 3  Plus I reviewed his book The Illustrated Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Additionally we interviewed author Keith DeCandido, which shall be added to our featured interview section soon!

We now have 3 interviews in the can and are currently working toward additional shows.  We hope you enjoy these interviews and look forward to your thoughts.

On the Art of Sandwich Making

by in Culture and Counter-Culture, Dining, Douglas Adams Virtual Museum, Encyclopedia Galactica, The Whole Sort of General Mish Mash and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

As some of you may know, my real life job involves making sandwiches. I know, how very Arthur Dent of me. I work at a local Sandwich Shop. Started out downstairs as a barista but slowly moved up to the kitchen.

Now, if you have ever been to the UK, you will soon realize how important sandwiches are. It was a bit of a culture shock for me when I turned up here 5 years ago. You could buy boxed up sandwiches at any store at any given time of the day. You wanted sandwiches for lunch? Great, they had it! Dinner? Yeah, we got that too. Fancy a bit of a luxury and maybe some take away? There is a Subway for it. Needless to say, it has never been an issue to find sandwiches here. You never have to walk longer than 5 minutes to encounter with a shop that sells these heavenly creations.

Interestingly, it took me over a year to realize that my profession resonate with my very favourite book series. It has been years since I last read Mostly Harmless, so naturally, I forgot about Arthur Dent’s chosen life style as a sandwich maker. As someone who does this for a living, I find it important to help you all recapture the essence and the art of sandwich-making.

So, here it goes:

 

 

One must hope that my fellow hitchhikers find this video  educational. However, one must realize that relying on just one source of education would be foolish so I took the liberty to seek out other reliable videos on the subject. I present to you another expert on the subject, the man himself, Mr. Bean:

 

 

I am hoping these videos will encourage you to experiment with the art of sandwich making. If so, please feel free to add pictures of your magnificent creations so we can marvel at your expertise of the subject. Please, don’t be shy!

Just be Arthur Dent and remember: Don’t Panic!

 

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Be Excellent (and Charitable) To Each Other

by in Entertainment, Froodism/Taowelism: The Tao of the Towel, I got a buck for that, Life, the Universe, and Everything, The Whole Sort of General Mish Mash and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Howdy Hoopy Froods!
It should not matter the day, time, season, or holiday, we should all be excellent to each other, and help those in need. The climate of our current world situation looks grim each and every day, whether war, politics, human rights violations, hunger, or children in need, being excellent to each other should be of great importance. The fall holidays are upon us and we all seek that one great gift for a friend and/or loved one.  In the following I shall cite some great books that may appeal to you or said loved one, which will help out a charity at the same time. In addition I draw a few quotes below from our Galactic Hitchhiker’s Constitution to illustrate a point or two.

As a Fellowship of the Frood we are always excellent to each other, and continue to “…see the Guide as a filter to see the universe through, it reminds us that life is far too ridiculous to be taken too seriously…”  I am of the opinion we should also strive to help those in need as we are best able, whether through kindness, an uplifting word or comment, actions (i.e. helping the disabled and elderly) or donating to a charitable organization.

With this said I would like to appeal to our community as “…science and science-fiction fanatics, social activists, and hopeful futurists. We are space-hippies and dreamers, gamers and geeks, self-professed professional slackers, forward thinkers and generally good folk….”  If you would like to help out a charity and get some excellent books written by science fiction fans, then keep reading.

watchingbooksAs some of our GH Readers may know my wife and I are writers,editors and publishers.  In recent years we have had the opportunity to write for Watching Books and their line of books where all proceeds are donated to charity. Watching Books is located in the UK and you can click here to read “A Note on Our Charitable Donations,” which describes how their “rolling charity payments” system works.  The current charity they are providing donations toward is the Terrence Higgins Trust.
My wife and I first got involved with Watching Books by contacting J.R. Southall when they announced their YOU and WHO project.  Southall is a Starburst Magazine columnist, host of the Blue Box Podcast, and creator of the You and Who series of books.  With You and Who, Southall started a series of books adapting the title to varied themed books, such as You and Who Else, You and Who: Contact Has Been Made, the forthcoming You on Target and our own title we are working on for them: You and 42: A Douglas Adams Fan Anthology. I shall speak of You and 42 a bit more below, but offer below descriptions about a few of their titles you may consider as fans of Doctor Who and science fiction.
However, please visit the Watching Books page for a full listing of all their available titles

youandwhoABOUT YOU AND WHO (respectively borrowed from Watching Books)
After almost 50 years of television serials, original novels, comic strips, audio dramas, short stories, radio plays, cartoons, graphic novels, cinema films and just about anything else you could possibly imagine, after almost 50 years of a series which has change as its most fundamental conceit, there’s only one thing most Doctor Who fans can agree upon: how special it is.

In December 2010, Starburst writer J.R. Southall embarked upon a project that would demonstrate just how much variety there was among fans of the show, and that would conversely show just how much they all had in common, too.

You and Who is the result of that project. It’s an anthology of stories, written by fans, in which those fans attempt to reveal just how and why they became fans of Doctor Who in the first place. There’s humour, there’s horror, and there’s heartbreak. Just as there is in the series itself.

But what You and Who mostly goes to show, is not how much we share in common with the series we all love, but how much we share in common with one another. For the essays contained herein aren’t just the stories of those who’ve written them and Doctor Who, they’re the same story we have all lived.

They’re the story of You and Who.
This title is available at AMAZON.CO.UK and AMAZON.COM

youwhoelseABOUT YOU AND WHO ELSE
Television is the route by which we map our lives. From the day we are old enough to understand words and pictures it is a constant companion, educating and entertaining us, helping us to understand the world around us – and firing our imaginations off into the far reaches of an infinitely varied universe. From Ace of Wands to Worzel Gummidge, from Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) to Red Dwarf, from the moment Professor Quatermass’ rocket ship returned to Earth, to the moment Ian and Barbara entered the Doctor’s Ship, fantasy television has had an extraordinary effect on our emotions and our intellect. Whether it be exploring space or travelling through time, surviving the aftermath of some Earthbound disaster or creating new worlds in uncharted territories, the writers and producers of speculative television have used the format to reflect and inform the world in which we live. And whether it be through horror, science fiction or imaginative fantasy – or a combination of all three – we have all been touched in some way by the creativity and insight provided by such visionaries as Gerry Anderson, Nigel Kneale and Douglas Adams. You and Who Else is a unique history of sixty years of British fantasy television, and a definitive record of its place in our lives – as told by the people who saw it: the viewers.
You and Who Else is available in a variety of formats found on the Watching Books page but we encourage you to get this chunky volume from either AMAZON.COM or AMAZON.CO.UK

contactABOUT YOU AND WHO CONTACT HAS BEEN MADE
Very few television programmes make it to their fiftieth birthday. But then, Doctor Who is just a little bit special. From its humble beginnings being recorded in a tiny studio on 405-line black and white video cameras with a minuscule budget, to its latest incarnation on HD as one of the BBC’s flagship dramas, Doctor Who has always moved with the times, and often reflected them. For the last five decades, the series has inspired and engaged audiences in a way that no other television programme has ever managed. For more than 26 years, the original series delighted children of all ages with its unique blend of sci-fi and horror, excitement and scares, cliffhanger storytelling and, above all, monsters. As the programme grew, so we grew with it, absorbing its pleasures in diverse and changing ways. As it enters its anniversary year, Doctor Who is more popular than ever before. This wholly original blend of science fiction concepts and magical storytelling, updated for the 21st century, is delighting a whole new generation of fans, alongside those of us who waited patiently for the inevitable regeneration. You and Who: Contact Has Been Made is a record of how that relationship began, how it continues, and of how we have experienced those fifty years, as written by the show’s own fans. This combined edition of You and Who: Contact Has Been Made features a reduced print size necessary to include both volumes in one book, and includes two brand new replacement essays not featured in the first edition of Volume One, as well as several brand new essays bringing the book up to date with Doctor Who’s fiftieth anniversary programming. 100% of the royalties from You and Who will be donated to charity.
You can acquire You and Who Contact Has Been Made as a single combined editions, from two volumes, or purchase the two volume sets.
Please Click here to see Watching Books for varied formats and purchasing options

youn42imgEarlier this year it was announced that my wife and I are compiling and editing a Douglas Adams Fan Anthology for Watching Books entitled: You and 42. A topic quite applicable to our community here, which you can read more about in my GH article here. We have been taking contributions all year long, and are still open to submissions. As lifelong fans of The Frood, my wife and I are very honored that Watching Books accepted our proposal  for this book. You and 42 is dedicated to all things Douglas Adams and will illustrate how much he is loved and missed through our adoration of his work.  We already have contributions from a number of members here at Galactic Hitchhikers, like our founder Zaxley Nash, Jared McLaughlin our audio/web engineer, the fabulous writer Demetria Blacksmith, Kevin Jon Davies (who did the Guide animations for the Hg2g TV series, and The Illustrated Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), and Jay Rainha who has provided Guide styled entries that will appear throughout the book. If you would like to write for You and 42, please visit the project page here, to get all the details.

My wife and I have a fair list of publication credits but it is our work for charity projects that mean the most to us. In the end, when these books sell the money is going toward services our fellow human beings need the most. It is our hope that as part of this community, and beyond, you will consider purchasing the aforementioned titles, or others listed on the Watching Books website, and help out a charity.  Have a wonderful, blessed and geek filled holiday season.

Hyper-Hysterical & Glorious: The Illustrated Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

by in Douglas Adams Virtual Museum, Entertainment, Life, the Universe, and Everything, Literature and Books and tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

20161031_162314For a number of years now I have read about, had in my hands, albeit briefly flipped through, yet never owned, the mammoth sized Illustrated Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that was published 22 years ago this month (10/1994) Well, that changed today when a 1st edition copy was delivered after finding it relatively cheap on eBay from a reliable seller.
I arrived home after dropping my wife off at work and saw the oversized package at my doorstep, smiles, smiles,smiles as I knew what it was. The packaging was carefully removed and in my hands, the shiny dust jacket glistening in the sun was The Illustrated Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
The inside dust jacket flap describes The Illustrated Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy thusly:

 

61qjevzmvfl-_sx258_bo1204203200_“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is at last published in panoramic, earth-shattering, hyper-hysterical format, illustrated in glorious Technicolor, bringing alive horridly quivering Vogon monster flesh and vividly throbbing space craft by means of revolutionary digital graphic “paintbox” technology. All this, and other examples of humanoid wizardry, ensure no insane earthling will resist this new incarnation of a cult classic.”

It is that last bit that I love, no insane earthling will resist this new incarnation of a cult classic. No I could not resist a new incarnation, especially one so colorful, bright, brilliantly illustrated edition. As we know each incarnation of Hg2G is slightly different in its respective version, and media it is presented in. I have yet to read this version, as it only just arrived, but I do not believe the actual text has changed, but the way it is illustrated was entirely new at the time, and still is.

20161031_155445

Kevin Davies as the bulldozer driver in the book

So who is responsible for this new incarnation? The Concept Art Director is Kevin Davies who has had a long fan and professional career associated with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Davies worked on graphics for the television series, interviewed Douglas Adams on numerous occasions, is a highly regarded documentarian, for example “The Making of ‘The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ which used archive footage and new specially shot material. In a forthcoming interview with Kevin, I speak with him about his career, which was conducted with Galactic Hitchhiker Founder Zaxley Nash and our Sub-Etha 42 Engineer Jared McLaughlin.  Click here to read more of Kevin’s career from his bio on the website for Lazlar Lyricon 3

20161031_145111I am super excited to re-read Hg2g with the abundant “live-action,” shots of new faces in the roles of our heroes, Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, and Trillian.  In addition I love how the new version of Marvin captures his “spirit,” very effectively in his facial expressions and body language.

ANNNNNDDDDD! It has Douglas Adams appearing as the cop who writes!!

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The guide held by Arthur is entirely new to me and very effective. In reading passages alongside the illustrations I suspend my own minds-eye visual of the story and find the work done by Davies quite engaging, which keeps me absorbed in the material. Perhaps it is my own love for the story and fun new incarnations that engages me, but I do believe it will be just as effective for others.

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Without Dust Jacket

The Illustrated Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy can be found online in a variety of booksellers, I got mine on eBay, and at a reasonably affordable cost.
Lastly, it is this version that Kevin Jon  Davies will be writing about for the forthcoming Douglas Adams Fan Anthology: You and 42, which I cannot wait to read and add to the book, which my wife and I are editing for Watching Books.
If you have not done so already please check out Kevin’s Youtube Channel, where you will find plenty of Douglas Adams and Hg2g gems, such as this earlier review of the same book found below.

Happy Birthday to the Best-Selling Book in the Universe!

by in Encyclopedia Galactica, History, Life, the Universe, and Everything, Literature and Books, Philosophy, This just in and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

hitchhikers-guide

37 years ago a very excellent book got published. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It has been available for a very long time, however If you don’t have it, you should really consider grabbing one! It is, after all, the best guide for anyone who is planning on travelling across the Universe. And the Universe is big. Bigger than anything you have ever seen before. So you want to make sure you have something that will help you find your way across the stars.

It was an instant classic, getting the fans attention way before it was published due to the popularity of the Original BBC Radio Series. Due to this, it was expected to have at least a small fan base, but poor Douglas could not even dream of the fame it brought to him.

At ‘Seacon 79’ He gave a talk on ‘Across the Galaxy with TARDIS and Thumb’ and He was pleasantly surprised by the turn-up. He was also listed for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation but lost out to Superman. As Christopher Reeve accepted the award, he couldn’t help but point out that the whole thing was obviously fixed. His comment received cheers and loud shouts from the crowd. These were the first fans of the book, making themselves heard.

A few weeks later came the famous incident of the very famous signing He was put up to in London. His publisher, Pan Books arranged him a signing at the one-year-old store, Forbidden Planet, located on Denmark Street in Central London. As his cab was making its way to the venue however, they got into a terrible traffic jam. A jam, miles long, congesting the heart of London due to a bunch of freaks, clogging up the streets. Young people, punks and your everyday folks, some of them dressed in odd frocks. For the outsider, it seemed like they were up to some sort of a protest. However, as it turned out, this was just the turn-up for his signing event nearby. Needless to say the signing event had to go on for hours after the expected finishing time and He managed to be late from his dinner with Terry Jones too. That Terry Jones from Monty Python who was really keen to provide a splendid review of the book, that went like:

“Every Word is a gem… it’s only the order they’re put in that worries me.”

The book was sold in 250,000 by the end of the first three months and it continued to be popular up to these times.

Needless to say then the book is worthy for anyone’s attention who have not read it yet. But Who am I talking to? You read the book for surely. Probably heard the radio series and audio books, saw the TV Series and even the movie adaptation. We both know what happens in it so I will not go on to explain to you why this is such a fantastic book. We both know the reason why. And it never cease to amaze us, despite the multiple ways it is being transmitted into Outer Space.

However I shall urge you tonight to go and recommend it to a friend of yours. Try and get all those friends interested who did not read, heard or saw ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ yet. The birthday of this fantastic book should give you the perfect opportunity. Share along the post too so it would get the them hoopy froods thinking.

 

And Again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY You Magnificent Book, You!