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Music Media

Douglas Adams Back On Radio 57

Posted by Hemos from the something-worth-listening-to dept.
starvo writes "Looks like Douglas Adams, and the BBC are teaming up again.. This time for the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Future" On BBC radio, premiering October 4th. The Hitchhiker's Guide site has more information. " It looks like you can listen to snippets of it in RealAudio. The interview stuff with Brian Eno [?] looks to very interesting as well.
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Douglas Adams Back On Radio More

Douglas Adams Back On Radio

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  • When I first read the series I thought it was funny. When last I read it it seemed extremely bitter and cynical, because I read between the lines. Bits with Ford are usually still a lot of fun to read, tho.


    --
    Chief Frog Inspector
  • No, it means you keep the '42' comments to yourself, because everyone's heard them already. Especially the base 13 one.
    --
    No more e-mail address game - see my user info. Time for revenge.
  • Not to mention all those colored pieces of paper that keep changing hands. Or bypasses, to get people from point A to point B by way of point C.
  • Heck, have you ever noticed all those people with no tea? _that_ is how much it's influenced us.
  • That was Douglas Adams saying that. The context was pointing out that although the music industry opposes MP3s and Napster, a lot of artists don't like the current system either...

    "... just ask the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, or Prince for short."

    --
  • Coincidentally "None at all" is exactly the amount that ape decendant arthur dent thought that his friend was actually from a small planet in the vacinity of betelguice, and not from gildford as he originally thought.

    Sorry, I couldn't resist.
    ----
  • Okay, so can we put all the '42' comments here under your post, then?

    It was pointed out to me by a guy who most closely resembled the comic book dealer from the Simpsons that 6 times 9 Is forty-two... in base 13.

    Anyway, I get mixed reviews from Yanks about the BBS series... some like it, some don't get it.

    Bluesee
  • And here we though tit'd be irrational like pi or e.

    ----
  • > Posted by Hemos on Wednesday October 04, @08:24PM
    > ...
    > On BBC radio, premiering October 4th.

    That was today. At 11 am. Not very useful.

  • On an entirely serious note... (Score:4)

    by billybob2001 ( 234675 ) on Wednesday October 04, 2000 @12:21PM (#731281)
    Humor is American.

    The British have something known as humour which includes something called irony so called because it can get quite heavy.

    Without of course forgetting the /. teutonic link recently, the German word is .

    Oh, apparently they don't actually have a word for it.

    Unless you count buying Rover, and remaking the Mini so it looks Wagnerian.

    Ps, the humour has to shine in Britain, because the sun never does.

  • Hmmmm... HP calculator designers talking about bistromathics. Could this be an upcoming feature in HP calculators? Put a second processor encased in a microscopic-scale Italian restaurant in the calculator, and you could do all kinds of cool stuff with it.
  • Well, obviously the books haven't changed. (Other than a bit of minor editing, perhaps.) Is it that you've grown wiser and you see deeper into the author's intentions or that you've become a bit jaded yourself and your own cynicism colors your perceptions? (Obviously a rhetorical question, or one that only you can answer for yourself.)
  • (Why aren't these links here already? Has Slashdot died? Anyway ...)

    Hear the programme here [bbc.co.uk] . Visit the website for the programme here [bbc.co.uk].

    And yes, there is some humour, and, no, you won't hear much you didn't know already.

    Regards, Ralph.

  • Comedy in general is cynical and bitter. A good beer is just bitter.

    Coincidence?!?!?

    (As for HHGttG, that's just British humour for you. Lighten up, and revel in the misery of others).
  • True, but at least we got a cheap, Dr Who-ish version that we can watch :)
    My question is: How much of the 'trilogy' will be contained in the movie, if it's really made?
  • Does this mean that I am not a geek? I am surprised Katz hasn't written on the subject. :)

    I was an intern at Hewlett-Packard, working with Jim Donnelly [peak.org], a former HP calculator engineer (extremely cool guy, BTW). Once, we're walking with another engineer, and the other engineer says something about Bistromathics. Jim takes it in stride, but I'm lost.

    I ask, "What's Bistromathics?"

    Jim and the other engineer just sort of look at each other, and Jim wonders aloud how he's going to explain this. "Haven't you ever read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy before?"

    It dawns on me: "Oh, that Bistromathics."

    This had a point. I promise: Douglas Adams is pretty much required reading for any self-respecting geek.

  • Re:Yay! (Score:1)

    by bugg ( 65930 )
    Use your receiver that's capable of tuning 198 kHz and hope (pray) that the ionsphere and your antenna are just right? :)

    Who knows, you may get into some record book for that. AFAIK LW isn't terribly good at propogation.

    Just another reason why broadcasters should switch to SSB... :)

  • I was stunned that VR guru made the SAME LAME MISTAKE picking RealAudio.
    RealAudio is privacy insulting, upgrade nagging, sluggish, proprietary, and forever corporate flavored: Blah!

    Please PLEASE advise the use of superior formats like MP3 or VOXwhateverItsspelled.
    I want my MP3!
  • Real fans of the series already knew this. This is old news and everyone has known about it for a long time. But that isn't really the problem, the real problem is all the lame jokes people will make about Life, The Universe and Everything in the comments section. I'd like some insight or something, not a bunch of lame "42" jokes. Slashdot's quality has gone from decent to piss poor in the past several months. I find kuro5hin [kuro5hin.org] to be much more interesting, and people actually try to make sense there. The site promotes discussion, not lame jokes and stupid trolls. Slashdot, you have failed us yet again.

  • Re:Yay! (Score:2)

    by Stele ( 9443 )
    Use the internet - that's what his series is about anyway!

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/douglas_adams

  • Interesting choice of interviewee... Nesmith has been linked several times with funding a movie version of HHGTTG.

    rOD.
    --
  • Okay, "the meaning of life" is a significant question, and I acknowledge Douglas Adams has done mankind a service for answering it. But, there is another question which is far deeper and which has been nagging mankind for years on end, which Douglas Adams has so far completely failed to address. That question is: "Who da man?"

  • Re:I have never read the books... (Score:4)

    by Rude Turnip ( 49495 ) <valuation.gmail@com> on Wednesday October 04, 2000 @11:43AM (#731294)
    Go to a place where a lot of people aggregate, such as a beach. Notice all those people with towels there? *That's* how much the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has influenced our society.

  • I was really impressed by "Media People" siding with Napster and others on the program...I was even more impressed by a quote during the show. I don't recall which person said it, but the quote hit my funny bone pretty hard...
    here it is

    "The artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince."

    I had to think about it for a second before I completely understood it, and then I sat at my computer laughing for a little while. I dunno..either it was funny, or those little voices are talking to me again.


  • Actually, the HHGG Earth Edition is here [h2g2.com], although I can't get on the site (or even ping it) at the moment. The site you linked up [h2h2.com] (likely a typo) appears to be in Japaneese.
  • Somehow, I think that even if they try to keep it serious, there's no avoiding some of that Brittish humor slipping in. I know that's where it shines most. Not when they're trying to be ridiculous with it, but when he's talking about some serious issues, but takes a lighthearted slant on them. Just my take.
  • Douglas Adams should be concentrating on the movie! :)

    Anyone know anything about the HGTG movie, btw?
    It's page dissappeared from imdb a while back...
  • He linked to Everything2 to explain Brian Eno who is a *very* good person come on reading is fundamental people.
  • My bad careful reading is a good thing. I don't know much about his views on music on the internet but I do *really* like his music.

  • Fi-tech and other such things.. (Score:3)

    by d.valued ( 150022 ) on Wednesday October 04, 2000 @12:05PM (#731301) Journal
    It's cool that some of the great writers return to their works and make their modern-day comparisons.

    Huxley, who wrote the dystopian novel "Brave New World," returned to it in the essay "Brave New World Revisited."

    Clarke, who set the bar with "2001", has pushed it up further than any of us can argue with in the last installment, "3001."

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • My favorite part in the whole series is the sequence where Ford breaks into the guide after it has been taken over by the Vogons. I approve of the idea of jumping out of a window just to keep the element of suprise on your side.

    I've found that taking a fordlike appproach to life (er just kind of going with it, and hating Geese) works incredibly well. You do have to be incredibly lucky for it to work well, but luckily I am lucky!


  • Yeah. The movie was supposed to have been this year's summer blockbuster... Although I suspect if it had been, X-Men may have beaten it at the box office.
    I find it very hard to get excited at the film. Mainly because I've heard it all before. They've been going to make a film since the early '80s - each attempt got to about the stage it's at now, dragged on, and on, and on, and was quietly dropped.
    When I see it I'll believe it.


    Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
  • What about all those toothbrushes in people's homes? The roots of Hitchhiker culture run deep in most modern societies...
  • fwiw the original hitch-hiker's radio series is available on CD [douglasadams.com] and tape [douglasadams.com].

  • Re:Yay! (Score:1)

    by cra ( 172225 )
    At least THGTTG can be found on MP3 somewhere. I know I had the files a few years ago, but I decided to read the book instead.


    ---
  • The British have something known as humour which includes something called irony so called because it can get quite heavy.

    Actually, Irony is so called because its like Silverey and Goldy except its made from Iron!

  • What about shoes that don't fit, and digital watches?
  • Hey, couldn't this have been posted a bit earlier, like the previous day? I mean, I happen to be staying in England this time of year, but didn't find out until the next morning. Doh!
  • For info on that, check out upcomingmovies.com. http://upcomingmovies.com/hitchhikersguide.html [upcomingmovies.com] Usually, when something is taken off IMDB, though, it's because it's either a hoax, or the plans for that aren't really solid at all. In this case, according to upcomingmovies.com, it's just not very solid. No real cast announced yet, 2002 is a *tentative* filming date, and the most solid thing is that "author Douglas Adams expects a 2002 release, which suggests a production start sometime in the next 18 months"
  • Oh yeah, they left it a bit late asking us to encode it, it should be available live streamed and then on-demand on the same .ram once I set this up.
  • Whoops. http://upcomingmovies.com/hitchhikersguide.html [upcomingmovies.com]
    There. Apparently they don't like the TARGET="_top" tag here...
  • A program discussing how great MP3 is not being available in MP3 ....

    Yee-har.

  • I wouldn't call it competition or even ironic, if anything they are complementary - H2G2 [h2g2.com] could never hope to approach the accumulated geek knowledge contained within the nodes of Everything2 [everything2.com] and, although Everything2 has its share of amusing entries it could never surpass the depth of humour that H2G2 manages.
    H2G2 tries and succeeds at inducing guffaws while maintaining a smattering of fact, it is in the very nature of DNA fans (who make up the majority of H2G2 researchers) to find the humour in the mundane. Everything2 is a resource at heart whose noders are geeks and techies and while many of them are also DNA fans the nodes emphasize fact with an amusing edge. Kudos to the many busy noders and researchers out there who keep the two site growing.
  • Eno and Gabriel are there, so you better polish up your Pretentiousness glands too...

  • Sounds interesting (Score:4)

    by TBHiX ( 26224 ) on Wednesday October 04, 2000 @11:29AM (#731317) Homepage

    But, is DNA doing these commentaries in a serious vein (which would be interesting), or a humourous slant (which would also be interesting and more in keeping with his style)? Either way, I suddenly wish they let me listen to streaming media at work. ;)

    -TBHiX-

  • The program that can be listened to right now sounds pretty interesting, but I was disheartened when I realized that I was listening to RealPlayer G2.. I was really hoping for streaming Mp3 that I could use Winamp to listen to. Is there alternative versions? I couldn't find any.

    Offtopic note: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy OmniBus edition was by far the best book I have ever read and used. The book is nice, thick and has a super thick padded cover, perfect for use in boring classes as a pillow. I was wondering if there were any O'Reilly books that had a nice, padded cover...


  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I wonder if Douglas Adams will wind up just making his show revolve around November 5th, 1955.

    I think I'd like to see what Ford would do with Doc.

    ----

  • Re:HGTG is cool, slashdot is not (Score:5)

    by drivers ( 45076 ) on Wednesday October 04, 2000 @11:51AM (#731321)
    HGTG is cool, slashdot is not ... I'd like some insight or something, not a bunch of lame "42" jokes.

    You are post #21, which is half of 42.

    So you are half right.

  • I have never read the books... (Score:4)

    by Pengo ( 28814 ) on Wednesday October 04, 2000 @11:37AM (#731322) Journal

    Does this mean that I am not a geek? I am surprised Katz hasn't written on the subject. :)




    --------------------
  • Thanks for the advance notice... (whomever is to blame, if no-one, then you in the back of the room, it's your fault!)

    Assuming I can get home before the broadcast (whenever that is) and can hook up my shortwave to the VCR (yeah, they make excellent audio recorders with timers, if you can record from A/V in) and string enough wire around the apartment to get a decent reception. Maybe I'll luck out and it'll be on the BBC [bbc.co.uk] webpage...


    --
    Chief Frog Inspector
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Yay! (Score:2)

    by omarius ( 52253 )
    I hope it gets broadcast here in the states somehow...

    I remember as a kid that we had tape recorded all the radio versions of Star Wars, HitchHiker's Guide, and the Hobbit. I sure wish I knew where those tapes were now. . .

    -Omar

  • Am I the only one to notice that Michael Nesmith, Liquid Paper Magnate and former Monkee, is one of the contributors to the program in the music field? I would be interested in seeing what he has to say since he doesn't actually need to make money from the music industry anymore. My only question is when was the last time he worked in the field pre-information revolution?

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Finally something interesting on Radio 4. (Atleast more interesting than the shipping forecast [meto.gov.uk], which was about as good as it got after they mashed 'Week Ending', and is about the only thing on when I'm up and hacking)...

    Catch this really great line from the last show:
    Bailey: Cyclonic become northwesterly 7 to severe gale 9 decreasing 5. Showers. Moderate or good.

    But 11AM, that's like, in the morning when I'm due to be asleep at my desk at the office. No repeats. I could try and tape it, as I can get Radio 4 off Astra 2A on the digital service, but they don't build a timer into that thing on the grounds that "You can watch what you want, when you want to watch it". Either I haven't found the tardis controls, or nobody has told the broadcasters that!.

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