Don't Panic!

Which is of course the phrase appearing on the cover of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (the guide, not the novel). And now it's the tag-line for the big movie coming out in May. Apparently it's been around for some time, but we were just at Andrew's house and he showed us around the website.

(By the way Andrew's house was fun. Except for the part about Lleighton Hewitt losing the tennis. What the hell was that all about?)

Anyway it looks very cool, despite Zaphod Beeblebrox having just one head :( and hopefully will do to The Guide what Peter Jackson's epics did for The Lord of the Rings.

I've actually only recently picked up the book (series) but it really is fascinating. A very intellectual yet always unbelievably funny look at science fiction. Douglas Adams had a great mind, and it's sad we had to lose him.

Heres the website, where you can view the trailer and... err thats about it at this stage. But it looks very cool.

Anyway on another note, tomorrow the question will be answered... will the incessant call for us to "get down to the Melbourne Exhibition Building" for the "bargain of your life" be over forever?
Backstory for anyone who hasn't turned on a Melbourne TV in the past... err, over a month.
I have no idea why this happens, but for some reason, every year around christmas truckloads and truckloads of clothing, rugs, and various other items arrive at the Melbourne Exhibition Building. I'm talking "10, 000 rugs"... and then they try to sell them by putting on ads where an extremely excitable voice (I'm talkin, more so than me here) quickly runs over the situation and all the items you can buy, giving us daily updates.
When they don't exactly sell as fast as they expect, the voice-overs get more and more desperate, taking more and more off the price. "Forget below cost. Forget 70%. Forget 90%. Stock will be given away. As much as you can cash and carry." So this stock is simply being gotten rid of at a ridiculous price. But this year, it just seems to have gone on and on for much much longer.

I do recall an ad saying "New Years Day, we have to get out of here. We will be getting rid of the lot in one day! Get down here..." etc. It is now January 30. (Well, now it's January 31). This ad has been evolving over the past months and we've been watching with interest. It seems its finally come to an end. In the past few days, the date of midnight Jan 30 has been set. "It's dump time" sings the still excitable voice. "We're getting kicked out, is moving in tomorrow. We will be giving away 5000 rugs, best offer." Sounds quite ridiculous. But when you've gotta go, you gotta go, right?

Will this be the end? Have the dreaded bras, briefs, boxers and intimate apparel finally disappeared from our screens forever? If they did, I just missed the bargain of a lifetime.

"I tend not to read or watch Science Fiction, particularly not comedy Science Fiction. The point is that if it's less good than what I do, there's no point in reading it, if it's better than what I do it makes me depressed. If it's like something I'm intending to write I have to twist myself into knots trying to avoid it and if it's like something I have written I feel ripped off. Simpler to read something else."
- Douglas Adams