At least it seems he died suddenly, and not after a long, lingering illness. At least he died when there are still millions who remember and revere his name.
There are others like him on this planet, other funny and witty artists, including many who grace this very board. Douglas Adams the man is dead. Douglas Adams, though, lives on in our minds, in every line written which we still laugh at of a morn, with posters like Zaphod who will remind us of Adams and HHGTTG every time they post.
I’ll be hunting for my books in the next few days. And when I find them, I’ll read 'em all. And chuckle that there are five books in the trilogy.
And when the universe recycles itself, may those who come after us truly appreciate the wonderful gift of nature that was … Douglas Adams.
There’s a wake going on at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. By special request, the Gnab Gib has been put off until further notice. Rack up those drinks, bartender. The night’s gonna be long and liquid.
I heard it on the BBC late night news. I’m terribly shocked and saddened.
He was younger than my Dad. Younger than some of my friends.
We are lucky to have his work in our lives. I’ll give a third vote to the call for the Teeming Millions to become Guide Researchers over at http://www.h2g2.com - I shall be doing so myself. I feel the need to give something back.
This bites, severly. I’ve been a fan of his for almost half my life. I own all his books, the videos of the TV series and I’m saving to buy the CDs of the radio series.
I also used to collect the collector cards of the series. My proudest part of that collection is a rather plain card, but the most valuable of all inserts. It’s a 1 in every 1000 packs “autograph” card, signed by the great man himself. I am going to insure it on monday.
Now I’m going to spend all night drinking and reading.
Here I am trying to make some witty comment or reference to this great man’s legacy, and my large intestine keeps threatening to leap up through my neck, in order to strangle my brain before it writes something too tacky.
One of my faaaaaaavorite lines from the series was, “Computer if you don’t open this door I’m going to find a very large axe to reprogram you with.” It was so satisfying to use a variation of that whenever I was having trouble with one. Think I’m going to grab a towel, curl up with his books and smash my brains out with a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick.
On last night’s news they announced the sad report that we had lost one of the great men of our time… Perry Como.
Huh? Perry Como, but no mention of Douglas Adams?
A hundred years from now, no one will have ever heard of Perry Como- but people will recognize HHGTTG references as readily as they recognize Lewis Carroll.
I figured I had to reply and express my grief. I very rarely post anymore, but I think this is important enough.
When I finally got around to reading Hitchhiker, I was feeling left out of the loop. I had a lot of friends who talked about it. I happened to find The Ultimate Hitchhiker Guide at Borders, and read it cover to cover, going on three times now. I change my life in a small way. The first time I ever laughed out loud while reading a book. We are truley short one comedic genius today.
There’s another English bloke, a writer named John Diamond
who died about two months ago after a long problem with cancer (I won’t say “battle” with cancer because he despised the military metaphor, largely because he felt it meant those who “lose” didn’t fight hard enough.)
Diamond was a terrific writer and for the past four years he has mostly been writing (brilliantly, hilariously) about his illness. His book is titled Because Cowards Get Cancer Too and British medical schools are using it as a text to teach future doctors what it feels like to be a patient. For samples of his writing see: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/johndiamond/
But the reason I bring it up is that a few years ago Diamond told his wife he wanted an electric guitar for his birthday. She asked a friend of his for advice on which one to buy. The friend was Douglas Adams who recommended the same model he had, so Diamond wound up with a very expensive, top of the line guitar. He recommended that everyone have their loved ones ask DA for gift advice.
Too late now. Both of them in one Spring. Hell…
“How could anything so sublimely complicated not be the simple answer?” -John Diamond
