A toast to Who fandom

Today marks the 46th anniversary of Doctor Who’s premiere on British television, so I thought I’d chronicle for you my introduction into its fandom. 

Though I’ve watched Doctor Who on and off for many years, and I was completely excited when it came back on Sci-Fi Channel, I wasn’t involved in any fandom activities at all.  In fact, I didn’t know there WAS a Doctor Who fandom, really.  The only people I knew who liked it were my siblings and my mom.  My biggest exposure to other people liking the show was during pledge breaks on PBS during Sci-Fi Saturday Nights on WXEL back in the day.

The 4th Doctor was my Doctor.

Buying my ipod last autumn really marked my entry into a huge world that I never knew was there.  While I was discovering podcasts of radio shows I liked, I stumbled across The Whocast.  They were the entry drug.  The discovery that not only were there other people out there who knew about and liked Doctor Who, but there were A Lot of them, was pretty astonding.    After listening to the back catalog of Whocast, I found that I most enjoyed the episodes with Tony, so I then back-tracked to Staggering Stories, and then on their recommendations, over to Tin Dog Podcast and Radio Free Skaro.  I was introduced to Big Finish.  I was now well and truely hooked.  Now The Flashing Blade, The Minute Doctor Who podcast, the Two-Minute Timelord, and Bridging the Rift make the regular rounds on my itunes each week.  There are many, many more people all over the world who contribute their own unique talents and perspectives to the discussion– and how awesome is that!

The really great thing about learning about Doctor Who fandom is finding that it was composed of groups of intelligent, erudite, and entertaining people who use their mutual understanding of the show’s 46 years to frame discussions about literature, art, philosophy, morality, history,  politics, and more [If you ask them, they will deny this, but it is true]. 

Sooner or later, of course, I wanted to be a part of the discussion.  I sent in feedback and began writing my own episode reviews,  and that’s when I learned another important part of this fandom– it’s collaborative.   This isn’t some clique of uber-fans who set themselves high above the plebs– far from it.  They actively encourage more people to come to the party and to play on their playground, and they embrace new fans and old alike.  It’s this inclusive joy that makes being a fan fun. 

  I worked up the bravery last weekend to attend my first real fan-event– a Hurricane Who viewing party of “Waters of Mars” over in Orlando.  I had a fantastic time, and much like the fans I’d met on the podcasts, the people were intelligent, fun, and welcoming.  It was a wonderful experience.

So, today on Doctor Who’s anniversary, I raise a glass to the fans– Thanks for being fan-tastic!

 

 

Holiday Treats– recipes for chocoholics

Hi.  I know I’ve gone without writing an entry for months now.  Work has taken over my life and then some, leaving me with little leisure time for playing about with my blog.  But, with the holidays dancing merrily before us (thank, GOD!), I wanted to share a few of my recipes with you.  I’m a bit famous (infamous?) for concocting my own cookie recipes.  These are some of my best– and are especially for the chocoholics among us. 

Note: I do list specific brand names because those are what I used.  The companies are not compensating me in any way.

Now, onto the real job–Getting your Chocolate Fix!

No-Bake Church Windows– this is a recipe from my Mom.  It’s a huge family favorite, and we make it every year at Chrismas time.  The hardest part is finding tiny colored marshmallows in the store.

1 bag of chocolate chips                    

1 bag of coconut flakes

1 stick margarine/ butter                    

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1 bag of colored mini-marshmallows             

wax paper   

shallow pan

Melt together chocolate & margarine.  Stir in marshmallows and nuts.  Mix well.  Divide into two groups.  Make logs by rolling each bunch in waxed paper.  Roll off of paper and into a shallow pan with coconut in the bottom.  Coat log in coconut.  Then return it to the wax paper & wrap tightly.   Repeat with the other log.   Refrigerate logs for at least 2 ½ hours.  Slice into ½ inch rounds.  Serve.

Chocolate-raspberry treats– this recipe is of my own concoction.  It’s divine and indulgent.

2 ¼ cups flour            

1 tsp baking soda                   

1 tsp salt         

1 cup softened butter

¾ cup granulated sugar          

¾ cup brown sugar                 

1 tsp vanilla    

½ tsp water

2 eggs                         

10 oz raspberry chocolate chips         

1/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa powder

1 ½ squares of unsweetened chocolate

Preheat oven to 375.  Melt chocolate squares.  Cream butter, sugars, vanilla, water, and melted chocolate together.  Add eggs.  Mix flour, baking soda, and salt into wet batter until completely combined.  Stir in chips.  Drop by well-rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes (may need a bit more time) or until crusty on outside and just soft in the middle.

Incredible brownie delight– just ridiculously chocolatey.

1 box Ghiradelli brownie mix  (made according to box directions)

1 box cook & serve chocolate pudding mix

2 cups heavy cream (chilled)

Deep dish pie pan

Set oven according to brownie mix directions (375 degrees).  Mix brownies & pour into pie pan. Mix pudding powder & cream in same bowl used for brownie mix.  Pour pudding mixture over brownie mixture.  Bake for approximately 40 minutes.  Take pan straight from oven to cool in fridge for at least 1 hour.  Cut like pie and serve (with whipped cream or ice cream).  Store refrigerated.

 Chocolate Tiramisu, the easy way– I started out with a recipe from Food Network.com for this one, and then completely modified it for my own purposes.

10 ounces Lindt Swiss Bittersweet Fine Dark Chocolate (2 ½ 3.5 ounce bars) & 2 ounces grated into shavings

2 cups heavy whipping cream

8 ounces Neufchatel cheese (or cream cheese)

6 cups very strong coffee, cooled

2 cups Kahlua (or Kahlua with Milk)

2 angel food cakes, sliced slightly more than “thinly”

Powdered sugar

Chop up chocolate.  Bring cream to a simmer in a pan over medium heat.  Quickly pour hot cream over chocolate in a large heat-resistant bowl.  Stir until chocolate is melted.  Wisk in Neufchatel cheese.  Chill overnight.

Cut cake into slices and stack.  Allow to dry for at least ½ hour.

Remove chocolate mixture from fridge & whip with mixer until fluffy and slightly stiffened, being careful not to overwhip.  Chill.

Combine coffee and Kahlua in a shallow dish or pan.  Pick up slices of cake & soak briefly in coffee (approx 10 seconds).  Place in the bottom of a baking dish.  Repeat and arrange in rows to cover the bottom.  Press cake slices down to that they cover fully.  When you have made a complete layer, spread ½ of the chocolate mixture over it.  Cover lightly with chocolate shavings.  Repeat, making 1 more layer.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 

Serve cold, dishing out spoonfuls with a large serving spoon.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Java Chip Cupcakes with Mocha Frosting– perfect for bringing to those office holiday parties

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Butter Recipe Yellow Cake mix

1 container Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Triple Chocolate Fudge Chips Frosting

1 ½ cups water

1 stick margarine

3 eggs

¼ cup French Vanilla International Foods coffee creamer

¼ cup Swisse Mocha General Foods International Coffee drink mix

1/8 cup Archer Farms (at Target) Triple Chocolate Drinking Chocolate

2 tablespoons whole coffee beans—French Roast

1 square unsweetened Baker’s chocolate

Combine cake ingredients according to box directions, adding coffee mix & drinking chocolate to dry ingredients & creamer to wet ingredients.  Bake according to package directions.  Grind unsweetened chocolate with the coffee beans.  Cool cupcakes.

Ice cupcakes & sprinkle with mocha mixture.  Eat with gusto!

Anyone else out there have some great chocolate recipes? 

bibs and bobs and general doo dads

Thank you, lovely readers, for being so patient with me.  Time Crunch doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Today, I have some treats for you.

So, I was going to name this entry “things I would get in trouble for doing at work,” but as that category now seems to encompass pretty much anything (you know, like sitting at my desk, working on my computer, allowing students to trade & grade papers, having the kids read aloud to the entire class, etc), I had to abandon it.  A shame that– in more ways than one.

Generally, though, I want to let you in on all of the interwebs stuff that gives me a little kick when I’m having a hard day.  Enjoy!

1. Smart Bitches, Trashy Books– these broads know how to say it with panache! And so do their commentators.  My favorite review so far is for Pregnesia.  If you need to laugh until you cry, go and check that one out. 

2. Life Under a Rock–Ok, I admit it, I LOVE me some Mankiller.  If you aren’t a regular reader of hers, you, my friend, are missing out.

3. LOL Cats– Yes, yes… I know.  But really, what would a day be without a cute cat spelling something badly?

4. Gallery of the Absurd– I got turned on to this site by one of my former professors.  The man has fun with words and mocks J.Crew’s ridiculous models.  Who could ask for more?

5. And, for those days when you get home and realize that your hair may have actually looked like that all day and no one said anything and you stood in front of people looking like that all day long…, you can look at People of Walmart and realize that you have nothing to worry about.

What cheers you up?  Share, please.

books I read because of a book blog

Here we go with another post topic from Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW).

Unfortunately, my pile of unfinished grading is mocking me from the corner, so this one will be a quick pic answer.

What books have I read because I discovered them on a book blog?  Who introduced me to them?

 Courtesy of Matthew Stukus at http://todayiwassoawesome.wordpress.com I was introduced to the amazingness that is Terry Prachett.

I was a Pratchett virgin, but now I'm hooked!

 

“Ulysses” by James Joyce– yes, THAT “Ulysses.”  I was drawn into the idea just in time for Bloomsday by Wandering Rox http://wanderingrox.wordpress.com/

Now I’ve covered two sections for the collective, and we’re making slow but steady progress through one of the most infamous novels in English.

We ain’t afraid of no seminal Modernist text!

Well, that’s it for the moment, but I’m sure there will be more in the future (especially now that I’ve discovered some great new book blogs through BBAW.)

 

BBAW meme

Here’s my next post in our continuing celebration of Book Blogger Appreciation Week.  The instructions were to just pick a few or to answer them all in 5 words or less.  Yeah, not so much with the brevity, but I did my best.  Enjoy learning a bit more about how I read, and please leave comments sharing your own reading habits.  You should also check out the main site for 2009 BBAW: http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

I like to eat sweets when I’m reading, especially since most of my reading time these days is on Sunday evenings.  A few Oreos or brownies hit the spot.

 

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

Oh, I’m a scribbler, as those of you who have been following my Ulysses graffiti know.  The more “proper Literature” the novel, the more likely it is to get this treatment.  I do, however, draw the line at writing in library books.  That’s just bad manners (ok, I’ve copy-edited one or two, but I couldn’t help myself… really…)

 

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?  Laying the book flat open?

I’m rough on my books– dogearring pages left, right, and center; laying books open flat for months at a time until I get back to them; underlining bits I really need to remember.  And yet, for all of my admittedly abusive behavior, I’ve only ever lost the spines on one or two. 

 

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?

Generally, I’m a Fiction girl through and through, but this summer I’ve strayed into Non-fiction and quite enjoyed ”Julie and Julia.”  

 
Hard copy or audiobooks?

Hard copy is my bread and butter, but I do love a great audio book.  During my winter-time commutes (when I leave in the dark and come home in the dark), a rivoting audio book makes me actually wish for the traffic to be worse, so that I can listen to the end of the chapter.

 

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?

I tend to read to the end of the chapter– wait, let’s be truthful here… I promise myself I will just read to the end of the chapter, and then I end up reading 3 more chapters before I absolutely MUST put it down and go and do real work. 

 

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?

I’m a bit of a word collector, so I try to look them up and then, if I find it interesting, jot it down in my little book.
What are you currently reading?

I nearly always have multiple books going at once.  Currently, I’m reading “Watch Your Back!” by Donald E. Westlake, “The Code of the Woosters” by P. G. Wodehouse, and “A Beautiful Blue Death” by Charles Finch.  All of them are very good in distinctly unique ways.
What is the last book you bought?

“Lust, Loathing, and a Little Lip Gloss” by Kyra Davis– It’s going to be my new bath book when I finish with Wodehouse.
Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?

As you can tell from my currently-reading list above, I’m a multi-book reader.  I have no trouble juggling plots and characters in my head– especially since I tend to have a bunch of very different books going, and pick them up according to the way I’m feeling at the moment.  I like to have a fluffy & fun “bath book,” a serious mystery, and a clever book going at any one time.

 

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? 

I really like reading a great mystery novel on a late afternoon during a rollicking thunderstorm.
Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?

I tend to really fall in love with characters and stories, so series novels are usually how I roll.     
Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

I love recommending Laurie R. King’s work– every single one of them are delicious– to people who like mysteries and strong writing.  Then, of course, I have my sci-fi favorite of Douglas Adams.
How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

I organize my shelves superficially by author and genre, but most of the books are actually gathered into emotional groups– so that I can easily pick a book by what I Feel like reading at the time.  My dvds and cds are actually organized this way as well.

Interview with a fellow Book Blogger

Hi, all–

I’ve been sadly neglecting my poor blog readers for the past several weeks, but I’m back today with a lovely interview with a fellow book blogger.  We, along with many many others, are participating in Book Blogger Appreciation Week.  (You can check out more about it by clicking the button on my sidebar.)

In celebration, I had a chance to interview a fantastic book blogger, Hagelrat.  She is the founder of and a major contributor to the blogzine Un:Bound!   www.unboundblogzine.com

Let’s get to know Hagelrat a bit more, shall we? 

Lizaanne: What inspired you to create Un:bound! and how did your other contributors get involved? What has been the most satisfying thing about the blogzine for you?

Hagelrat: Ok, I was thinking about book journals, you know when you are a kid and the school has you keeping a list of all the books you read and a few comments? I found myself wondering how many books I have read in my lifetime and which books, I remember certain ones but I doubt I could list every book I’ve ever read and I sort of wish I could. I wondered about starting to keep a log of books from that point on and then figured since I was a casual blogger anyway I’d do it that way.
After a few posts I put a call out for contributors because I knew I couldn’t keep it rolling regularly on my own and I realised I wanted it to be a bit more. Chris in America and I had been talking online, commenting on each others blogs for a couple of years and he stepped forward, as did Choochoo who is in Norway, sadly her final year of studies got in the way but she is murmuring about coming back on board.
The Ravenous Romancers came next out of my ongoing online stalking of Dana/Inara and getting involved with their first blog tour. Dana organises the RR gang for me and hosts them but I consider them all an important part of the team and they really bring a lot of fun.
My newest acquisitions are my youngest brother (in law) and a colleagues daughter who are both students and just had such fun reading tastes I pretty much beat them into submission and threatened dire consequences if they didn’t come and play. Turned out I needn’t have beaten them so hard, they were quite willing to join. Finally, on the youth site I kidnapped a friends children in the UK and Pizza answered the call in much the same way as Chris.
The most satisfying thing? Seeing it grow and develop, it’s not the same blog it was just over a year ago when it started and that delights me. Also, the interaction with other bloggers and my team has been a source of tremendous pleasure for me, Harry at TLR stepping in while I went away, getting to post on World in a Satin Bag when SMD was elsewhere, it’s a community I am very proud to be part of.

Lizaanne: Un:Bound! focuses mostly on fantasy, manga, and science-fiction.  What attracts you most to those genres?

Hagelrat: I’ve been trying to remember when my reading made the switch from teen fiction to horror and then to fantasy and other genres and I think I have to credit two authors with that. Clive Barker for Weaveworld, I was about 15 when I first read it and it totally changed my perspective on reading, really blew me away and I started to seek out more of his fantasy leaning novels rather than the strong horror of Damnation Game or the Books of Blood. Also Terry Pratchett who I was introduced to about the same time. His sense of fun and the way he took from all sorts of real religions and philosophies to build Discworld drew me and made me look at sci fi and fantasy differently looking for something more than just escapism. Manga is MangaCat’s world and having enjoyed anime since I was a student I am looking forward to seeing where she takes us.

Lizaanne: I saw a note about the Un:Bound podcast/ author interviews on your site. Tell me more about that.

 

Hagelrat: We have been doing author interviews for a while by email when one of the authors I was interviewing turned out to live only an hour away. We met and I recorded the interview for reference, which is how it has stayed for now, but after that I switched to email interviews for non local authors but anyone within a reasonable distance who is willing I do a face to face with. It allows for more random tangents and is great fun. I am not a professional however so background noise can be an issue. It’s great fun to actually meet people and naturally I take my books for signing and send them off with a stack of bookmarks. 

Lizaanne: What books or authors do you drive everyone nuts trying to get them to read?

Hagelrat: Lol, I keep pushing books that people aren’t likely to see face out in Waterstones, so I recently bought copies of Hell Bent on Success by AMP Mills for both my sister and my mother, I want Mum to push it on her book clubs and I keep telling people about it. I also regularly recommend Dana Fredsti’s “Murder for Hire – The Peruvian Pigeon” which is a really fun murder mystery with noir elements and a great sense of humour. I loved Dana’s book so much I followed her across genres into Romance which is new territory for me. At the moment of course I would have to slip in plugs for Steve Savile who writes a lot of tie in fiction and has a thriller called Silver coming out soon, I really enjoy his writing and you get the sense he has fun doing it and finally Mark Charan Newton whose second book cover is all over the genre blogs at the moment as it should be. I could go on all day but I shall leave it there.

Lizaanne:  Have you ever read a book that you subsequently threw across the room? What was it and why?

Hagelrat: Hahahahahhaa yes. Twilight. I eventually gave in and read it and to be fair to Meyer if I’d picked it up at random I probably would have finished it and been “yeah ok, fine, nothing special” about it, but after all the hype I was actually paying attention and not just flying through it as a brief diversion. I found myself wanting James who was the big villain of the piece to drain both Bella and Edward for being such utter drips by the end of it, also the message it sent to me was “if some hot guy stalks you in weird and creepy ways it means he loves you and you should definitely go out with him”. I hurled it across the room scaring the cats and then passed it to a friend to determine whether it was suitable for her daughter who had bene asking for a copy.

Lizaanne: (and for fun…) Favourite fantasy/ sci-fi television shows?

Hagelrat: Oh wonderful! Ok I love what my friend and I call Shiny & Shallow American TV shows so Buffy, Supernatural, Firefly (awesomness squared), I liked Charmed for a while but it sort f got a bit silly when they brought in the school and I tailed off, Angel is in there but only just, I loved Cowboy Be Bop when CNX existed over here and am totally sucked in by TruBlood at the moment, although I want Eric to be hotter sexier and more Nordic.

a sweet treat of a novel

hi, ya’ll!  This was the last book I read during the summer, and the tiny bit of the review I wrote has been sitting here in the draft box and taunting me for weeks to finish it– so here it finally is!

Title: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Author: Alan Bradley

Pub date: 2009

Series: (the bio at the end of the book promises a sequel)

Summary: In the summer of 1950, Flavia de Luce, an eleven-year-old chemist (specializing in poisons), is living in her expansive but crumbling ancestral home out in the English countryside.  One afternoon, a dead rook with a stamp on its beak is found on the kitchen doorstep.  By the end of the week, there is a dead man in the cucumber patch, her father has been arrested for murder, and Flavia has taken up the job of solving the mystery in her own inemitable way.

What first attracted me to this novel was its perfect size and cover.  It’s just the right size, as a hardback with nice rounded edges, to fit in a purse or a coat pocket.  The cover art is simple but intriguing, and it contains an essential clue to the story’s plot.  (No, I’m not going to tell you what it is.)  It’s also long enough that I couldn’t finish it in one sitting, but it was still a fairly quick read.  Towards the end, I actually slowed myself down to savor it, as the sequel is not yet available, and I wanted to spend more time with Flavia.

Speaking of the heroine/ detective Flavia…I don’t know how Alan Bradley did it, but he somehow went back in time, read my eleven-year-old mind, and then created just the sort of girl I really, really wanted to be!  She rides her bike everywhere, lives in a sprawling, crumbling mansion, is clever, solves mysteries, and is a chemistry prodigy (ok, that last part I didn’t dream about).  She’s a delight to read about, and precocious in just the right amount of way.  I didn’t get sick of her or find her too adult-like, as is often the case with child-heroes.  Spot on, Mr. Bradley!

The mystery itself is quite good, if a bit wrapped up in esoterica, but Bradley gives the reader all of the information they need in simple and natural pieces.  I like learning things from mystery novels, as I’ve said before, and here I learned a bit about rare stamps and British history.  Unlike some authors whose early books contained lessons which are really unnecessary to the plot (yes, Kathy Reichs, I’m talking to you.  You’ve improved now, though, so good job), all of the little lessons here are crucial to the reader’s understanding of the plot– even when they don’t seem to be.  So, pay attention, ladies and gentlemen.

Bradley clearly won the Dagger Award for a reason with this novel.  It’s a good ‘un. 

 

For more, check out the website below:

http://www.flaviadeluce.com/

a rollercoaster week

Well, it’s been a rollercoaster week being back at work, and not the good kind of rollercoaster (like this one below) either.

I very much enjoy setting my classroom up for the year and transforming my white concrete box of a room into a fun, colorful, and interesting place to be.  I really like meeting my new students and their families.  I can even get behind making up lesson plans and vocabulary lists.

On the other hand, I abhor meetings, particularly ones in which we are told “you are great– you are not doing your job– we are proud of you– you are pathetic– you deserve lots of money– you will not get a cost-of-living increase for the 3rd consecutive year– family is the most important thing– don’t take a day off because that costs us money…” etc.  We get stuck in these meetings pretty frequently.

The bosses are all about numbers and money and charts and graphs (this is not new).  They think that a child’s learning can and should be measured by a test.   Indeed, they imply that anything that cannot be measured by a test should not be done in a classroom.   

I, on the other hand, am all about children and personalities and fun and loving literature and making memories.  I use tests, but only as a small part of a much larger whole.  I feel that reducing children (or anyone, for that matter) to merely a data point is deeply disrespectful of their unique humanity.  I care that all of my children learn that literature can be fun and that they can express themselves through words.  I don’t care about the “lowest 25% making 10% gains if they are economically disadvantaged” [I kid you not.  What does that even MEAN?!].  Needless to say, this puts me at odds with the powers-that-be. 

My other complaint about the data analysis that the bosses ask us to do continually is that I (and many others) are not “numbers people.”  Numbers intimidate me.  No offense meant to the lovely people who are mathletic, but I’m not.    Handing me a chart is all well and good, but I’m frankly never going to use it because it doesn’t compute in my brain.  I would far rather be given words to look at, as they make sense to my mind.   Write me a book for each class, detailing the children’s personalities, needs, wants, family life, abilities, learning styles, special needs, strengths, interests, etc– complete with table of contents, a detailed index, and room for notes.  THAT would be helpful to me.  But NO.  We have to look at numbers.  When did matematicians take over the world?  And how do we get them to stop? 

 Thus, the rollercoaster that was my week.  I’m happy the weekend is here. 

Oh– by the way– it is Saturday.  Check out my new library loot on the sidebar.

back to work

Hi, folks!

Well, our first teacher work day was today.  It was a good day, but I’m quite tired.  Thank you to my lovely English department colleagues, who chose not to kill the messenger (me).  I do appreciate it.   

With the advent of the school year, my little summer blog project should be over, but I’ve met so many very nice people and gotten such lovely encouragement from you all, that I intend to continue blogging this year.  However, given my level of work commitment, my entries may be few and far between.  Know that I’m still here, though, and if you leave me a comment, I’ll still see it. 

The last book I read during summer vacation was “Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.”  That’ll be the next book up for review– maybe this weekend?  It was a good one. 

So, thank you and good night.

a beginner’s guide to Douglas Adams

 Monty Python, Eddie Izzard, Bill Cosby, Mel Brooks, Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who …

You know that favorite thing you have– the one that you are zealously delighted to introduce to everyone around you?  That one that you can’t remember not loving?  That one that you quote from pretty constantly and crack in-jokes about with the two other people you know who are as nutty about it as you are?

For me, that thing is Douglas Adams, and I know I’m not alone. 

In fact, at this very moment, you may be sitting next to an Adams-addict.  One might be your teacher [Hi, kids.  See you all on the 24th]. One might live upstairs.   One might be your boss.  You are surrounded by Adams-addicts everyday.  How can you tell, you ask?  Do you need a magic decoder ring?  Is there a litmus test?  Do we all wear tee-shirts?

  I want this shirt.

 Here’s the test; are you ready?  Turn to any person you happen to meet, and simply ask him or her, “What is the meaning of life?”  If the answer comes back, “Forty-two,” then you, my friend, have found yourself an Adams-addict.

So he’s got a lot of fans.  Big deal– so does professional wrestling , and that’s just dumb [sorry, Jerry ] 

Well, do you remember when you first read Shakespeare and Greek mythology in high school, and then you started to see quotations and references to them everywhere?  Then you figured out that they had been there all along, but you’d never noticed, because you just didn’t know?  Adams is like that.   In fact, in science-fiction writing, there is such a thing as the “obligatory Hitchhiker’s reference.”  It appears in nearly every work of sci-fi written post-1980.  Go ahead– Google the phrase– you’ll see.

Why do we all love Douglas Adams so much?  Because the man looked at the world in an incredibly unique, intelligent, positive, and humorous way.  Then, he wrote it down. 

I could go on at length about his technique, perspective, and utterly original spirit, but I think that would spoil it for you.  Part of what draws Adams-addicts in is discovering for ourselves something new and precious every time we read his books, listen to his radio shows, watch his films, play his video games, use his towels [yes, you read that correctly-- towels].

I’ll tell you how I got into Adams, but we have to go back a bit:  My father was in the Air Force in the mid-seventies, and he was stationed in England.  My mom, after their wedding, went to live with him.  Now, she didn’t have a car, didn’t know anyone, and had a husband who worked 24 hour shifts– so she spent a good deal of time listening to the radio and watching television.  She saw and enjoyed Doctor Who and Hitchhiker’s on tv.  Flash forward to about 1992 or so.  We were all living in South Florida.  My sister and I were hooked on Sci-Fi Saturday Nights on our local PBS station [WXEL].  Hitchhiker’s came on.  My mom said, “Oh, I remember this.  It was funny.  Let’s watch it.” 

I distinctly remember sitting on the cool tile floor and leaning against the couch, as the three of us watched the mini-series.  Yes, it was super cheesy in many places, but gosh, it was brilliant!  Then, my sister and I discovered the books, then his other novels… and in college, I began reading his non-fiction.  “Last Chance to See” is a wonderfully powerful book.  I found copies of his radio play scripts, watched his Doctor Who episodes, read his obituary with a deep sense of loss, and now I love “The Salmon of Doubt,” a collection of all sorts of writing that his friends rescued from his hard drive.  I have a particular fondness for the audiobook, to which many of his closest friends contributed.Ask any Adams-addict, and he or she will have a similarly personal story about discovering the brilliance that is Douglas Adams.

So, I will leave you with just a few examples of why I love Adams:

“The ships hung in the air in much the same way that bricks don’t.” 

“Scarcely pausing for breath, Vroomfondel shouted, ‘We don’t demand solid facts!  What we demand is a total absence of solid facts.  I demand that I may or may not be Vroomfondel!’”

 

“‘And I am Dr. Desiato’s bodyguard,’ it went, ‘and I am responsible for his body, and I am not responsible for yours, so take it away before it gets damaged.’”

“One of the major problems encountered in time travel is not that of acidentally becoming your own father or mother.  There is no problem involved in becoming your own father or mother that a broad-minded and well-adjusted family can’t cope with.  There is no problem about changing the course of history– the course of history does not change because it all fits together like a jigsaw.  All the important changes have happened before the things they were supposed to change and it all sorts itself out in the end.  The major problem is quite simply one of grammar…”

 

“In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn’t cope with, and that terrible listlessness that starts to set in about 2:55, when you know you’ve taken all the baths you can usefully take that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the newspaper you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o’clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul.”

“‘My name,’ said the mattress, ‘is Zem.  We could discuss the weather a little.’  Marvin paused again in his weary circular plod.  ‘The dew,’ he observed, ‘has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning.’”

 

Are you intrigued?  Good.  Go down to your library and pick up your copy today.  Then come back and leave your favorite quotation in the comments!  Till then, my hoopy froods, Don’t Panic!