Douglas Adams Continuum (DAC)

Surely this can't be? Sounds ghastly.

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Her mouth opened, her eyes patients, the variety of age and constitution as a pullets egg, with some gobbits of fat, and the heavy sand.

(... don't piss us off)

Oh dear god. Please no.

Realy, if it comes to this, I'll have to pull out my fanfic book 6 and give it a once, twice and thriceover. Artemis Fowl indeed.

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Conservatives on the Arts: the arts are for gays destroy museums and put up those wild jungle housing projects

What is the porpoise of existence?

No.

No. Really, no.

Honest. No.

Got that?

It is still No. Capital En oh

Thank you for listening.

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I'm going to start a new company. It's going to be called 'Easy McApple.' The revenue stream will be based on betting who will sue me first...

Who owns the rights to H2G2? Surely, the Adams family is not permitting such a travesty, right?

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Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.

-H.L. Mencken


[url]http://www.madmanoz.blogspot.com[/url]

Hmm...
Must have something official behind it - that is Simon Jones's voice.

Not sure I like it but then again, Loz is not the only one with a fan fiction book 6 lurking

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D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
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If it didn't have Simon Jones doing the VO for the trail I would have thought it just a rumour.

My son Liam is a huge fan of Colfer and his Artemis Fowl books so he'll be happy. I'm in two minds....

(Hmm. Does this "Colbie" person happen to work in PR for Pan or Penguin Books I wonder? I think we should be told.)

BBBaaahhhhh!

When I go to the link, all I see is this title, but no audio or video, or description or nuthin'! What are you all seeing that I'm not??? Is the universe purposely withholding this information from me because it knows it will probably bring on a heart attack????

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I'm just here

I had the same problem on Opera, but it worked on IE.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

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The truth ain't like puppies. A bunch of 'em running around, you pick your favorite.

There's nothing funny about a plastic vagina.

The Epic Project. It happened. Way too late.

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Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.

-H.L. Mencken


[url]http://www.madmanoz.blogspot.com[/url]

uhhhhhh....this has the potential to be wonderfully amazing but why do I feel suddenly feel squeamish thinking about it?

I think I need a drink, or two.

With all due respect to Colfer, whom I confess to never having read,
the entire idea is completely appalling. I don't think I'd even touch the
blasted thing to read the dust jacket.




I know, I know, I'm being a hypocrite when you consider the widely
known fact that I'm in the middle of writing a sequel to The Old Man
and the Sea in which Santiago rescues Steve Irwin from the Stingray
but that's really beside the point.

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Steal Compass. Drive North. Disappear.

twitter: @kensocrates

My thoughts stated here.



Quite similar to my attempt at a sequel to Orwell's 1984, in which Winston Smith decides he doesn't really love Big Brother, he just wants to be friends.

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This has been another random act of nonsense.

So, Colfer says: "I've been asked to write...."

What I want to know is, WHO asked him?

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I'm just here

my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't believe it's tru! i won't sleep tonight!

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http://www.douglasadams.eu

http://www.voyageurgalactique.com

Sounds dreadful....yes, who the feck asked him?....And without asking us first???:evil:



The only positive is that it keeps the original on the radar to be rediscovered by a new generation....

....but at what price?

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The drug purportedly affected an area of the brain called "Shatner's Bassoon"

I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii297/h2g230/

One word:


ICK


Nuf said.

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www.nocandyasses.com

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule."--H.L. Mencken

www.campaignforliberty.com

James?

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I'm going to start a new company. It's going to be called 'Easy McApple.' The revenue stream will be based on betting who will sue me first...

Didn't this man learn anything from Karey Kirkpatrick? Without Douglas Adams' voice, it just ain't h2g2!

You can't have the Beatles without John Lennon, you can't have Hitchhiker's Guide without Douglas Adams.

Edit: Here's my response on Colfer's page.

Chris Casino
Sep 17th, 2008 at 12:29 am

Allow me to quote the twenty-fifth letter of the alphabet: Why?

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"If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now!"

-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

-- Wrestling is a spectacle all right. But believe it or not, some of the most devoted fans are highly intelligent people

On the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7619828.stm

Oh, Zarquon's knees!

Pardon my French but...

FUCK!

Ms. Belson may approve (and maybe James does too, I know not), but since Douglas was admittedly very, very protective of his creation, I don't think he would want somebody else to do it.

But perhaps he would say, "It's okay that this bloke is going to continue my series as I had always felt I needed to fix the end of Mostly Harmless (which I think he did say once) and now someone will since I can't."

I just don't want the bloom to be off the Hitchhiker's rose because of some strag. It happened with the Muppets when Jim Henson died after all.

EDIT: I probably will read it out of pure curiosity but if it sucks, it goes up on ebay!

_________________
"If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now!"

-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

-- Wrestling is a spectacle all right. But believe it or not, some of the most devoted fans are highly intelligent people

Am I the only person in the universe that liked "Mostly Harmless" and thought it was a fitting end?

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I'm just here

Okay. Now that this entire travesty has panned out, I'm really, really, really upset. First and foremost I'm pissed as hell that someone thought this was in any way appropriate. Douglas hasn't been gone a decade, and publishers are already plunging their grubby fingers into his creation. It took nearly a century for someone to desecrate Peter Pan, and I'm still pissed about the discredit it represented to J.M. Barrie.

Secondly, you don't ask someone to write a sequel. You don't write a book because you are asked. You write a book because you are compelled to create something. If a fine author came (humbly) to a publisher and said, "Here. I've penned a sequel to Mostly Harmless. I didn't do it for a commission check or because my kids thought it would be a neat idea. I did it from the bottom of my heart and soul and because I really, truly had something new to say,"...then perhaps the sequel would be worth an informed perusal.

Seriously. Great fiction isn't commissioned. Great fiction stews in the brainstem for years before it even makes its way to the page. Case in point: The Wide Sargasso Sea. Yes, it is in all truth a professionally published fanfic of Jane Eyre. But it reinvents the story utterly, to the point where it is considered a valid slice of literature all by its lonesome.

This entire enterprise reeks of shame, profiteerism and disrespect. As a writer and as a fan I object completely.

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Conservatives on the Arts: the arts are for gays destroy museums and put up those wild jungle housing projects

What is the porpoise of existence?

I liked it too, don't feel alone there.

My initial thoughts were, "Huh?!" and "Why?!?" Now I've come to terms with it (those terms deleted for the sake of children's ears). The Hitchhiker trilogy will always be 5 parts for me, with an extra ending created for radio. This new book, I'll give it shot....maybe, and even if it ends up being great, it just won't be part of the series for me.

A serious question, where does this lead? And Another Thing... followed by Oh Wait, There's More, etc??

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So long...etc.

Hmmmm. On second thoughts let's have this in the news section.

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Before long now, I'll reach the age where farting will be an essential part of propulsion.
(...don't piss us off)

Having let my tin foil hat churn away all night I can only think of this...

This is being pulled along by Disney, they still have the rights for the films, they realise that the fans will not accept a rehash of any of the other 4 volumes as they did with the first episode, and as the film didn't exactly inspire a new generation of fans, someone has figured, lets take the characters and write a totally new story, that way we can't upset the fans, and then we can turn it into a film on our terms, nobody can accuse us of leaving things out.

How about it? Machiavelian enough, or do I need some more cheese before going to bed?

...Because nothing else makes any sense, Douglas said he didn't like the ending isn't reason enough, John Lennon said he though a lot of Beatles songs were throwaway crap (And your Bird can Sing for example..), the only possible motive can be financial.

I don't think Disney have any rights on the franchise beyond films. The books still rest with Ed Victor and Jane
I agree the only motive here is money - milk the name for a bit more cash.
I quite like the two Eoin Colfer books I've read in the same way I like Harry Potter- a well written story, but he has none of the subtle humour and clever observations on life that Douglas had.

Talking of conspiracy theories: Do our foriegn readers know that Eoin is the Irish Gaelic form of Iain (or Ian, John, etc)?
So, maybe this book is actually being written by..... YOU!

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D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
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Eoin Colfer is one of Ed Victors clients.

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Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.

-H.L. Mencken


[url]http://www.madmanoz.blogspot.com[/url]

The news spreads...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/17/douglasadams

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gFXXXnxZdCxjmAmq6Mm6f9PhdIWw

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/irish-author-colfer-to-write-new-hitchhikers-guide-book-1476798.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7619000/7619708.stm
This last BBC item also has the audio of Simon Jones as Arthur "complaining" about the news...

I heard Jane Belson giving it her seal of approval on Radio 4 this morning so it feels a bit awkward to criticise. However, this is the DAC and we don't tend to take these things lying down.
I can only echo what you've all said, I've always hated the idea of tribute bands but this is plain ridiculous. How could anyone highjack an entire concept? Maybe Penguin are trying to win over a new audience like the film tried and failed to do.
This is fucking outrageous, it's like Damien Hirst touching up The Mona Lisa to bring that old masterpiece up to date. This whole affair makes me feel like my underpants are made out of wood.

PS. As it happens Iain, And your Bird Can Sing is one of my favourite songs of all time, I wonder what Mr Lennon was thinking???

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Her mouth opened, her eyes patients, the variety of age and constitution as a pullets egg, with some gobbits of fat, and the heavy sand.

(... don't piss us off)

Those wags from Not the Nine O'Clock News had a "affectionate dig" at Douglas milking the idea when SLATFATF came out. Think it more appropriate now

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D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
--------------------------------------

Jealousy is a terrible thing...

This is all very awful and ridiculous, bad and wrong. Awficulous badong even.

I will remain unhappy about this until I die where I'll probably have someone steal my identity perhaps and be know forever more as Marty Sequel.

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http://thepenguinblog.typepad.com/the_p ... =131000214

Check the "Speculation" link, it goes back to this thread...

What I would like to know about this whole thing is WHY? What good could possibly come of it, apart from money trickling in to the estate? I appreciate the fact that the movie didn't do very well and didn't shower the estate in mittel, but how can anyone in their right mind imagine this thing doing any better?

Mind you though, it could do well even if it's a stinker. I'm not sure I wouldn't buy it, cos I would want to see with my own eyes what the hell they've done to the story. And I don't think I would be alone.

I suppose I am appalledly interested.

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Before long now, I'll reach the age where farting will be an essential part of propulsion.
(...don't piss us off)

I liked it. Perhaps not in the same way I liked the others but still.

I have to say the idea of an "fitting end" never really occurred to me,
though. I never got the sense that Douglas was too concerned with
wrapping things up too neatly. In fact, it may be his writing that taught
me that perfectly tied up endings can be a bit contrived and helped me
get over that instinctive desire for a clearly defined, black and white
conclusion to a tale. It can be far more interesting when you're given
the exact opposite, an open ending that allows you to speculate on your
own or just suggests that the story is simply ongoing on it's own.

If there were any notions in Douglas' mind of what may have happened
to these characters after the events of Mostly Harmless, well, then, they
are now at rest with him.

As they should be.

_________________
Steal Compass. Drive North. Disappear.

twitter: @kensocrates

I bet you are one of these people who slow down to look when there is a car crash?


(it's all right, we all do, it's human nature)

(except Ken, of course, but then gain, I did say human)

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D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
--------------------------------------

Ken wrote:



I agree that "wrapping things up too neatly" is essentially a cop out. That's what Romance writers are for.

I know that Douglas has said that MH reflected his unhappiness at the time and that it was really too black even for him, but that was what I loved about it. You enter into this incredible odyssey with the prior books, and then ultimately everything you have been cheering for is destroyed in one glorious explosive cathartic moment, to the tune of Ford's laughter. I've never been able to bring myself to listen to the way the end was changed in the Maggs radio show, because I want to hold the end in MH as it was written.

But I'm kind of getting off topic. I don't believe in heaven, and I don't believe in life after MH.

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I'm just here

I agree with Duke.

The one person in the past few years I'll give credit for doing an absolute bang-up job with a Douglas-free version of Hitchhiker is Dirk Maggs, as he was a guy who really understood that the thing was Douglas Adams' baby and had obviously done his homework in regards as to how to make it stay that way even while he wasn't around.

I'll give you an example: In Maggs' radio series, even when they made reference to something that wasn't around during the original radio show, it was something Douglas easily could have come up with himself if he lived to see it, like cell phones, PDAs and palm tops, or Zaphod's score on Grand Theft Cosmo.

I don't know if come October 2009 I'll be able to give that same credit to this Eoin Colfer, whom I've never even heard of. And if he screws this up, I'll damn sure never hear of him again!

_________________
"If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now!"

-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

-- Wrestling is a spectacle all right. But believe it or not, some of the most devoted fans are highly intelligent people

i'm on the fence with this, i look forward to another book but feel it'll be nothing like the series as it isn't Douglas writing it.
i will read it but if it's shite i'll either ebay it or burn it on the barbie.

Paul

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Caution: sudden tea breaks

On the naked barbie.

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Before long now, I'll reach the age where farting will be an essential part of propulsion.
(...don't piss us off)

if she'll let me...otherwise it'll have to be burnt on that rusting contraption i have in the garden that i use for burning burgers, sausages and the neighbours cat if the fecking thing craps in my garden again!

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Caution: sudden tea breaks

One thing I can say positively about the project, though, is that it certainly got us talking!

_________________
"If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now!"

-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

-- Wrestling is a spectacle all right. But believe it or not, some of the most devoted fans are highly intelligent people