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May 07, 2005
There goes the neighborhood
Here's an old (or so I've been assured) picture of a proposed highway bypass ramp that would, according to my calculations, be visible from my bedroom window. (For orientation: you can see the Charles River and the BU Bridge crossing it in the lower left-hand corner.) Like any good citizen with a the revolution will not be motorized handlebar sticker on my bike, my first reaction is pure righteous indignation. That said, I've been reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy this week (to decide if I want to spoil it with the new movie). The first scenes made me feel a bit like Arthur Dent, the bumbling and somewhat charming earthling hero of the book, as his house is prepared for demolition to create a highway bypass. Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there, and what's so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there. They often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be.We learn soon after Arthur that the Earth is about to be destroyed by an interstellar spaceship for “the building of a hyperspatial express route through our star system”. Leave it to a good sci-fi writer to put things in cosmic perspective.
[pause]
That said, I'd still get my ass in gear to stop a concrete invasion in my 'hood.
Posted by nick at May 7, 2005 06:00 PM
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Comments
I can't believe that i just read your blog. How embarassing. it's cool that you are reading the hitchhiker's guide. Have you read it before? I can't even start to imagine how you might make a movie of it. But i guess if they can ruin the hobbit shire, they can ruin the galaxy. I'll be curious to hear the report about the movie if you see it.
Posted by: The Scarlet Runner Bean at May 8, 2005 03:28 PM
I also started re-reading it in prep for seeing the movie. Proposal for next book club meeting — HGttG in print vs. film? Discuss…
Posted by: jz at May 8, 2005 08:07 PM
bean-welcome aboard. I was tickled to see a comment from you. e.
jz-that might be one i could get into. let's do a few of the volumes. the first one is a quick read. (for the record, i started “…pi” and couldn't get into it.)
Posted by: nick at May 8, 2005 08:23 PM
I just reread HGttG and Restaurant at the End of the Universe in preparation for the film. There's bits I'm looking forward to (planet making) and bits I'm dreading (eg. vogon poetry, attempts at acting like the coolest frood).
Posted by: brad at May 8, 2005 09:59 PM