A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Just Don't Panic

Thank God I have WiFi so I can update this blog post about sci-fi!

Was that too forced? Yeah, I thought so, too. But it is true, if it is corny. Speaking of sci-fi and humor, it’s time to review a book! This week: Douglas Adams’ A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!

I realize that it has been around for a long time, what with being published in 1979 and all, but I only got around to reading it a month or so ago. And now that I have read it, I don’t know what took me so long to start reading it! It made me laugh out loud, and the plot and characters were interesting and compelling enough to keep me hooked. To get the humor, I would have to say you have to like slightly sarcastic, very silly, and at times dry British wit. As I mention later, if you like Doctor Who or Monty Python (or if you have good taste, you like them both), you would like this 5 book series.

I found I was pleasantly surprised by how the book moved along and didn't know much about it beforehand, so I would recommend just closing out of this web page, getting your hands on the nearest copy of this book and digging in. It’s not that long of a read, anyway! I really don’t want to ruin anything for you. Or you could just let me spoil the unadulterated joy of reading something unique and completely new fiction. It’s your choice.

Have you read it yet? Or do you need your interest piqued a bit more?

Ugh. FINE. I’LL LET YOU INTO SOME OF MY INSIGHTS. But don’t say I didn't warn you. Er, recommend to you. You know what  I mean.

Arthur Dent, a middle-aged British man is dragged on an interstellar adventure by his eccentric friend, Ford Prefect. They meet up with Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trisha Macmillian(the only other Earthling) and travel through a series of hilarious hi-jinks that lead to the ultimate question: What is the meaning of life?

If the names above don’t put you off (and you haven’t even read the names of other planets, races and alien characters), then strap in for a hilarious and ever twisting ride, because there isn't really any other way to describe it. It’s like Monty Python and Doctor Who in book form with a character resembling any other character played by Martin Freeman, who usually plays a slightly annoyed guy who gets dragged into adventures over and over in different genres, and for that reason is cast as Arthur Dent in the movie.

To be fair, he plays that role REALLY well. 

I could try to separate the plot and the humor, but they just go hand in hand so well together! For starters, the whole thing starts off with Arthur’s house being torn down to make way for a new highway. Then the Earth is destroyed to make way for an inter-galactic highway system; oh, the irony. That’s exactly the kind of thing Douglas Adams does in his book: he mercilessly pokes fun at anything and everything. It’s honestly some of the most brilliant stuff out there! A depressed robot? People being tortured by having to listen to some awful poetry? The answer to the meaning of life being 42? Totally brilliant! I mean, who thinks of this stuff? He is truly inspired.

I think my favorite part was when they have the Answer to the meaning of life, but now they have to find the Question to the Answer, and as it turns out, the Earth was the final computer to calculate the Question, and it was just moments away from discovering the Question before it was destroyed to make a hyperspace bypass. Amazing.

Don’t even get me started on the infinite improbability drive! Just bloody brilliant.

I have been reduced to fragments and incomplete clauses, that’s just how great this book is. I can’t even- I just can’t describe it to you. You’ll just have to take my word for it and read this hilarious and intriguing book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in bookstores since 1979.

Edit: I've just seen the movie, and maybe it was just me, but I wasn't very impressed. I think it’s just one of those things that your imagination can get perfectly, but there isn't yet a way to get that onto the screen just right. 

Game, Set, Matched

Okay, I lied. I'm too eager to just post one book review a week. Do you know how many books I've read recently that I can review? At least 6! That means this thing would last about a month and a half, and that's not even including the books that I will read! (I'm really hoping this isn't a phase and that I will continue to review books at least once a week, but given my track record, I can't promise ANYTHING. 

Oh my God! It's the main character of the book! It all makes sense now!
Note to readers: if you can't picture the main character, just look at the cover. Also, I do have to give props to the designer of the cover, but it's a bit of a stretch to say it's the representational of the theme of the book. 

            Boy, dystopian futures are all the rage right now, huh? You can almost certainly pin it on the Hunger Games trilogy in 2008, and ever since then, it’s been a jump-on-the-bandwagon-sci-fi-YA-fiction freak fest. Okay, the freak fest part I don’t mean, because I do happen to enjoy a healthy dose of sci-fi, but I really wanted to end that very hyphenated phrase with alliteration.

             Matched, by Ally Condie is no different than several other YA dystopian futuristic novels; it has a teenage girl who is a little more special than everyone else somehow in a society with a strict, orderly and oppressive government in the future, but so far in the future we've found life on other planets, just renamed countries and odd names and stuff. Oh, and there’s a boy she likes. And another that she did, but doesn't.

The point is, this book wasn't special enough to separate it from all the others in its field. I mean, she has a crisp writing style and paints a picture of the world Cassia is living in well enough, but not so much that you want to beat your head against the wall as you exclaim, “WE GET IT. YOU CAN DESCRIBE STUFF.” However, we never really get to know the main character. Even after 369 pages (heh heh), I’m still not entirely sure what her personality is. I know she loves her family, is really good at sorting, and really likes this guy named Ty.  Other than that, what else do you know about her? Not a whole lot, which doesn't bode well for this book. Aren't dystopian futures about the people in that universe and the events that occur? She doesn't do a great job of letting us get to know Cassia. That is, unless Cassia is a vapid airhead, in which case, she does a great job of fleshing out the main character. I mean, Condie puts in a few places that Cassia’s personality test predicted some rebellion and fierceness, but we never really get that! OK, so she secretly broke a few rules, but not in a way I would truly classify as rebellious.

           And then there’s the other characters: Xander, whom we get a good idea of him as a 2-D character: handsome, smart, rule-follower, affectionate, a real golden boy. Ty, the other love interest, is quiet, very smart but hides it by acting perfectly mediocre, tormented by his past, and mysterious. He’s probably the only truly likable character; that is, he’s the only one you really feel anything for at all.

            The plot moves along well, but all this “Oh my goodness, I love this one guy but am matched to another” junk was starting to fray my nerves. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty substantial part to the story.

The best thing about this book is the possible future she creates; the perfect society run by the government (literally called The Society) which regulates everyone’s lives to a tee to ensure a perfect and equal life for everyone. I thought she could have really expanded on this idea, the balance between a world without diseases and obesity, a world without unemployment, really old age or depression/strife, but also a world without the freedom of choice, creativity, or rebellion. Now there’s a topic I was really interested in: is it worth it to trade cancer for a government assigned job and mandatory relocation when necessary? Is it worth it to trade diabetes and obesity for tasteless food perfectly designed to your body’s needs? (Obviously, no one wants to be obese, but would you choose to be perfectly fit if that meant you had to eat bland porridge for three meals a day?) Well, you get the point. But that whole trade offs of personal freedoms for a perfect society intrigues me.

           All in all, if you’re a sixteen-year-old girl, which I am not, you might enjoy this more than me. Unless you like Twilight and obsessive teen girls, then this is less your style, but more than the Hunger Games. (My point is that she at least didn't go over the top with the lovey-dovey “let’s just be together forever even though we’re 17” sort of stuff.) However, I would recommend the Hunger Games if you have been living under a rock or in a hole, or God forbid, under a rock in a hole.  *Shudder* Or Divergent/Insurgent, which I thought were pretty decent, even other people didn't like those two. At least there was no love triangle, though! 

Space Cowboys

When someone tells me I need to watch or listen to something, I usually resist until I discover that thing on my own. For some odd reason, I don't immediately listen to people's suggestions, yet I get frustrated when I suggest things to people and they don't immediately take me up on it. I'm weird.

But this isn't about me (ha ha procrastination), it's about space cowboys. Hence the title.

"But there aren't any cows in space!" you might say, or even "Have you seen Cowboys and Aliens? Not a good movie." To the first sentence, I say... um... there isn't enough conclusive evidence. To the second, I would have to admit that I haven't, but I really wanted to, and even if you say it's not a great movie, I'm probably going to watch it sometime anyway without high expectations.

Look at all those attractive people representing 3 different ethnicities. 

I am referring to the magnificent show, Firefly. And before I get a backlash of people saying that show has been all over the internet and has been out since 2002 and what am I doing with my life, I would like to counter with- WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT????

[peeks out] Are they gone? Who's left? Only you? Excuse me while I heave a deep sigh and look exasperated. Alright, you'll have to do. As I was saying, I know the show has been out for a while, but to be fair, I wasn't properly introduced to the internet until 2010 or 2011! I know! Yeah, I had been one of those kids who watch Homestar Runner (if you haven't already seen any of this, I recommend you do if you like the internet in general, but then again, maybe you won't. I don't know you! It may also still be funny to me because I watched it when I was younger and have that nostalgic tie to it. You never know.) and watched Youtube occasionally, but my senior year of high school I was introduced to DeviantArt and then my freshman year of college, I was introduced to... the REST of the internet. Well, the go-able places. I have yet to visit the underbelly of the internet, like 4Chan, but that's something I plan to put off as LONG as possible. [shudder]


So excuse me while I rant and rave about Firefly because I watched the entire show (not difficult since there was only one season of 14 episodes, CURSE YOU JOSS WHEDON! It's ok, I still love you for the Avengers) and the follow up movie, Serenity.


Space. Cowboys. What a brilliant idea. I know the movie Cowboys vs. Aliens wasn't so good, but the concept is great! I'm all for mixing things to that respect; my mom can't stand anachronisms, so watching Moulin Rouge with her (modern songs sung in the 1900's really pushed her buttons), but I love that they can have the best (and worst) of the past and future. My father also loves Western movies, like the Magnificent 7, Tombstone, Silverado, any movie with John Wayne. Personally, I draw the line at John Wayne (I don't think he's THAT good of an actor), but I, too, like Westerns. I also like space and sci-fi, so this is the perfect marriage of space and the West.

ESPECIALLY the Wild Wild West. Go on Will Smith, get jiggy with it!

Now let's talk more specifically about the characters. Silly Wash, flippant/handsome/headstrong smuggler Malcolm Reynolds, the kickass take-no-crap-from-anyone Zoe, the sweet and loveable Kaylee, the crazy and unintelligent Jayne, the beautiful Inara, the wise Shephard Book, the handsome/unflappable/proper Simon and his crazy and slightly morbid sister, River. All these different characters means everyone can pick their favorite! I don't know who my favorite is; I love them all and the interactions between them, but I think a better representation of good writing is that I don't hate any of them; I enjoy them all for different reasons, and depending on the episode, I love some more than others. River kind of annoyed me at first because she couldn't keep it together, but she's grown on me.

I also love the writing; the jobs they pull, the subtle relationships between characters and thankfully, the lack of love triangles. If I see one more show with a love triangle as the main plot point, I will go to Hollywood just to strangle some writers. I think it's great that they sometimes mumble in Chinese; a lot of people may not know about the very large Asian community that settled in the West. And the one-liners, how those lines fill me with joy. There's even an entire video dedicated to the best Firefly quotes!

I should also put in that I am not a big "drama fan", and not in the sense of those annoying girls who complain that they just HATE drama, but then they start talking behind their friend's back the next possible opportunity. I mean I hate drama in the sense that I actually hate drama. I hate it when my friends are mad at each other, I don't like when people blow things out of proportion, I really don't like conflict and I despise shows that thrive on drama, such as soap operas, the last few seasons of Alias, Gossip Girl, CBS dramas etc. That being said, it's a good guess that I'm a bigger fan of adventure and comedy, for instance, light hearted shows about people who have adventures and get into shenanigans while they crack jokes and each episode usually ends happily. Hence the reason I love Doctor Who and another guilty pleasure was the TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Not the movie. I've never seen the movie, nor do I plan to.

So that's me, being the Slowpoke meme. I'll let this picture say 1,000 late words for me.