Making Connections

In my book, it is very easy to make connections to other works of literature, namely, other books in the Hitchhiker's Series. Arthur Dent makes several references to the earth blowing up, something that happened in the first book in the series. He also references characters from the other books. I do hope those characters make an appearance. I can also connect to real world places. A main character is named after a real train station in england. There is also a part in the book where he is trying to talk to this girl but he keeps being interrupted by a lady that wants him to buy a lottery ticket. I have been in situations before where I am trying to talk to someone but we are interrupted by an outside event.

Surprising Section

I was surprised by the main characters chase after this girl Fenny, named after Fenchurch train station. He had never met her before and he seems to be obsessed with her now. It seems like he forgot his girl from the other books, Trillian. The authors style contributed to the surprising behavior of the main character because he wrote it like it was extremely ridiculous and odd that it was happening. He almost seemed awestruck of his characters behavior. It was also surprising when Arthur Dent lost Fenchurch's number and now has no way to call her. I suspect he will find a way to contact her soon but I have not read that far yet.

I do look forward to what will happen as his continues his chase of this girl.

My Name is....Amir

Amir seeks to make up for beinga coward and not sticking by his friend. He wishes he would have treated him better. He was a poor friend.

In order to make up for it, which I am not sure he can do, would be to make Hassan royalty. Give him a lot of money, and then become his servant. He would have to serve faithfully and his child would have to serve faithfully Hassan's child.

I don't know if, even then, Hassan would truly forgive him.

On Atonement, "Atonement is making up for past sins. It is possible to atone for past sins and mistakes. The person must need to make it up to the person he or she wronged. They should fix the problem they caused or make life better for a person they wronged in some way.

In My Name Is Earl, Earl has a list of all the bad things he has ever done to people. He goes through this list one by one and makes up for what he did to people. I do think there is a limit to how much you can tone for. Some things are so bad that they cannot be made up for. Murder is one example of this. "

I Imediately Regret This Decision!

To quote the great Ron Burgundy after he jumped into the bear pit. "I immediately regret this decision."

A mistake I made once, and never again, was forgetting to include Anchorman on my top 5 list of favorite movies. Someone asked me for my top 5. I thought for a second and then spewed out the 5 movies that I considered great without really thinking about it.

I left Anchorman off that lest.

Later that day, I realized what atrocious crime I had committed and decided that it would be best to contact this person immediately and let them know my true feelings. It might have made them think that I have no sense of humor, that I hate Will Ferrell, that I speak without thinking. I did not wish for any of these things.

In order to make up for it I decided it would be best to recite the movie from heart. I reeled off every scene and included as much dialog as possible, including a full rendition of "Afternoon Delight".

This person forgave me and I told them I would never make this mistake again.

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

I have only read a few chapters so far, but it the story about a girl who solved everything in the universe only to die unexpectedly when the earth was destroyed.

The first chapter starts off with an unnamed man getting off a spaceship. The space ship takes off, but then the man yells and it comes back and throws a bag at him. I expect this man is Arthur Dent.

I expect that he will find this girl and help her in some way, though I do not know who she is.

I am looking forward to finding out more as I continue reading.

Give a bear...

Fishing. There's nothing like it. I was ready for a relaxing day up at the old creek. I invited my father but he was busy working. Work. Psh. I don't work. I do okay. I've got a private chef. Mom's the best cook. I've got a maid. Mom's the best cleaner. I've got a personal driver. Mom's the best driver. Who would have thought at the age of 37 one man could be so successful?

I put on my army camo that I wore for Halloween last year and I walked up to a creek a few hundred yards into the woods behind our house. I use to play here when I was little. I guess I still do. I found a nice rock to sit on. It was flat, wasn't wet, no noticeable amounts of dirt. I took my seat, dropped my rod an tackle box besides me. I cracked open a cool Mr. Pibb. I put that down besides me and opened up my tackle box. I found a sandwich inside with a note that says, "Good Luck! Mom." It was peanut butter and jelly, which I stopped liking in the 8th grade but haven't had the heart to tell her.

I took a piece of bread out, ripped off a small morsel, and attached it to my rusty old hook. I threw my line into the water. It's game time.

I sat, waited, and enjoyed nature for the next few hours. The fish were not biting today. I saw a few crayfish scurrying around, but I was going for bigger game: tuna.

Then, it happened. I felt a small tug on my line. I waited. It tugged. I waited. It tugged that magical third time. I yanked the line to rip the rusty hook through the smooth mouth of the unsuspecting fish. I could feel the line fill with tension. The reel became harder to turn. It was time. I pulled. He pulled. I yanked. He yanked. I pulled him in slowly. He swam away quickly. The battle was a stalemate for at least 10 minutes. I could tell this was a good fish.

Slowly over the next hour I reeled him in, inch by inch. I brought him to the surface of the water. The fish darted around, but resistance was futile. With one last yank i ripped the fish out of the water and threw him on land. What a beauty. 8 inches long. Golden Green scales. Slippery. He was still flopping around on the earth. I didn't want to watch him suffer. He was a heckuva solider. He didn't deserve to go this way. I looked around for a rock, grabbed a suitable one, and brought it down on the fishes head. He stopped flopping.

RAAAAAARGHHGHGHAAAARWAAWWWWW

I spin around. There is a black bear charging right at me. He is over 6 feet tall. His illustrious black fur glistening in the sunlight. He had been on a fishing trip too apparently. They say you should play dead when a bear comes at you. I'm a poor actor, and that seems ridiculous propaganda propagated by the bears.

I left my rod and tackle box, and with the fish still in hand, I ran. I ran faster than I ever have before. I was swift as a gazelle, jumping over fallen logs, ducking under hanging vines, leaping giant chasms in the earth. The bear could not keep up. He turned around after a minute or two. I finally reached the end of the woods and ran inside. I told my mom the story of me fishing, and the bear, and then my amazing run through the forest. She told me I have an overactive imagination.

Later that night, I went back to get my rod and tackle box. I went slowly and carefully, on the lookout for bears. I made it safely to the creek but then I saw something so strangely odd that I had to leave immediately. The bear was fishing using my rod and eating my mothers peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Give a bear a sandwich, feed him for a day, give a bear a fishing rod, feed him for life.

I Will Destroy Your Planet

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. Edmund Burke.

I think Mr. Burke is trying to say that if good people do nothing, the evil will always win because no one will stop it. I strongly disagree. Sometimes evil is just plain better. Star Wars. The Dark Side is much more powerful than the light side. They were triumphing all throughout the movie because they were simply better. They built the death star. They destroyed planets. They killed thousands. Even though the deathstar was destroyed in the end, and their emperor was killed, that does not mean they lost. They effectively ran the galaxy for a good period. They caused all sorts of mayhem. I am sure they were satisfied with the results.

Gandhi also won with non-action.

What to eat? What to eat?

The factors that go into my decision making process are quite extensive, or quite spare, it is usually one or the other. Sometimes I just decide without considering any possible ramifications. For more important decisions; however, I go through a lengthy process. I consider my potential happiness level after the decision. I consider the financial strain that it could impose or the gain it could bring me. I consider what I will do after the decision is made. I consider what other people think of the same decision.

Let's say that I was hungry. I will go into my kitchen and take a look at the food. I consider what I want. I consider whether or not to make what I want. I consider whether or not I will want to clean up what I want. I consider what I would do while eating what I want. I consider what I will do after cleaning up what I want. I consider if it is even worth it to eat now if dinner is coming up. After all these decisions I will usually choose not to eat anything at all and decide If I want a drink. After that decision process I will usually leave the kitchen empty handed and with an empty stomach.


As I continue into college, I plan to keep some the same decision making processes. It seems to have worked so far...

Recipe for Afghanistan

1200 Years of Islam
3 Anglo-Afghan Wars
30 years of Political and Social Unrest
1 Pinch of Taliban
5 Mountains filled with Caves

First, beat 1200 years of Islam until creamy. Then add in 3 Anglo Afghan wars and mix together.
Then mix in 30 years of Political and Social unrest and a pinch of Taliban.

Then pour into caves and let sit in the heat for 3000 years.

Spring Break

I had a very exciting spring break. I wasn't able to just sit around and do nothing like I had hoped. I started the break off with a visit to New York City. It was a beautiful day, and apart from getting lost....it was fun. After that, things took a turn for the worse as I became sick. On top of being sick, I had to travel to Pittsburgh (a 4.5 hour car ride) to visit my grandparents. I came home Thursday and caught up on all the TV I had missed. On Friday, I saw Adventureland with some friends. It was a really good movie. It was filmed at Kennywood, an amusement park in Pittsburgh where I have been many times. On saturday and sunday I finished up my homework and just relaxed.

Learning to Fly (4)

This will be my last post regarding Life, The Universe, and Everything. This project has come to a close with this post.

"There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."(75). As Arthur Dent was sliding down the mountain as the earth was literally sliding beneath his feet, he tripped and fell. Right before he hit the ground he noticed a bag which he had previously lost. He thought about his bag until he realized that he never actually hit the ground. Upon looking down, he was hovering in the air. Arthur Dent was flying!

This was surprising. I had heard the book mention the ability before, but never did I think that Arthur Dent, the main character, could ever pull it off. He never believes anything is possible. Arthur Dent flew high into the sky and managed to slow down his chattering, thinking, brain long enough to save his life, for if you think too hard about flying, you will simply fall.

Then, Arthur realized and thought about this ability to fly and he came down to earth. Arthur then did the most surprising thing. He tripped, on the way down, he thought about a specific retsina in his bag. He never hit the ground. Arthur Dent had now managed to fly twice! It was unbelievable. Incredible. Magical. I was more surprised that Arthur had flown twice than I was that he had flown the first time. I thought for sure that it was a one time thing that would torture Arthur forever. Instead, he gained the ability to fly majestically among the birds, where he "discovered that their conversation was fantastically boring. It was all to do with wind speed, wing spans, power-to-weight ratios, and a fair bit about berries," (232). What a wonderfully surprising book.

My Love for Bistromathics (1)

Since I have finished the book, I am going to write about the most interesting chapter in the book and tell what I liked or disliked about it.

Chapter 5

"Bistromathics itself is simply a revolutionary new way of understanding the behavior of numbers...so it is now realized that numbers are not absolute, but depend on the observer's movement in restaurants," (47). With that statement Douglas Adams created a new technology and gave the otherwise unusual ship a sense of science. This chapter, despite being barely 3 pages, was one of my favorite chapters in the whole book. Adams creates several ridiculous mathematical terms and gives them all proper definitions and makes them scientific. He does this, of course, while still inserting sly humor into the book. "Numbers written on restaurant checks within the confines of restaurants do now follow the same mathematical laws as numbers written on any other pieces of paper in any other parts of the Universe. This single statement took the scientific world by storm. it completely revolutionized it. So many mathematical conferences got held in such good restaurants that many of the finest minds of a generation died of obesity and heart failure and the science of math was set back by years," (48,9). He manages to create a lot of prgress than take it all right away.

Bistromathics set up the Bistromathic Drive, the drive which propelled Slartibartfast's ship and allowed him to cross giant distances in the universe without danger. This explanation keeps the universe bound by science without using magic to propel things. The numbers created from Bistromathics also help explain other strange phenomenons in the Universe like the Somebody Else's Problem field, a field which makes somebody else's problem invisible to those who do not see it.

I did not like that there were so few chapters like this one. I expect it may have become overkill if there were more and perhaps the fact that it is only one makes it more special.

Character Motivation (3)

The impending destruction of the Universe brought the killer robots to feel a new emotion. They felt....unfulfilled. They were depressed. They were no longer happy about their deed. "The robots aren't enjoying it, sir." 193. In skirmishes they, "raise their weapons to fire and suddenly think, why bother?" 194. They just do quadratic equations and sulk. This robot reminds me of my favorite manically depressed robot, Marvin. As it turns out, Marvin is the one controlling these robots. He has since stopped them from harming the protagonists and Zaphod. All the robots took on his personality when he was hooked into the computer controlling them.

The Krikkits wanted to exterminate the universe because the space around the planet is filled with a dust cloud which provides the blackest possible night and the utmost feeling of aloneness. Once they discovered other people, they wanted to be truly alone so they set about killing everyone. They seemed to have changed their minds somewhat due to their wanting to play sports with other galaxys, but they ultimately decided that sports and politics should not mix and decided to just kill everyone.

Trillian, motivated by her desire to keep the universe intact, talked her way up the chain of command to Hactar, the Krikkits' leader. Ford has stopped being cowardly because the time has called for it. Arthur is being brave to impress Trillian. Together Arthur and Trillian manage to SPOILER ALERT: get Hactar to cancel his plan for world domination. He seems to not care whether he fails or succeeds. This was a ploy for later though when he tries to destroy the universe again.

The characters in this book are mostly static, which provides a good sense that you actually know the person because you can predict what he or she will do. All the main characters were motivated by their desire to save the universe or their desire to destroy the universe.

Douglas Adams Has Style (11)

Douglas Adams is one of the most successful writers of the 20th century. His style and use of language are exceptional and make his books extremely enjoyable. He has a satirical tone, mixed with a witty use of language, making for a hilariously enjoyable read.

He often takes breaks from the story to explain some foreign part of the book, such as the concept of "bistromathics" a branch of mathematics based around the fact that numbers act differently in a restaurant. The chapter explaining this concept was written in an informative manner but it was based on an imaginary concept. This dedication to creating his universe provides a certain inexplicable reality to the otherwise strange book. He also often states things matter of factly, especially when pertaining to the Guide. It is the authority on everything in the Universe. if one were to look up Earth in the Guide, they would find out it says, "Mostly, Harmless."

Adams' style is extremely effective. It makes the story enjoyable to read and leaves the reader wanting more. It adds to my enjoyment of this book. I would probably not enjoy this book nearly as much as I do if it were written by someone else with a different style. It is perfect the way it is.

Enjoy a video of Douglas Adams reading a portion of his book.

The Character's Choices (13)

Each character must decide if they are going to go down to the planet of Krikkit to fight or run away and let the Universe slowly be annihilated. Slartibartfast, seeing as it is his idea, has chosen to go down to fight. This is the appropriate decision for him because he has dragged Arthur and Ford all this way; if he did not fight now he would have wasted their time. Ford does not want to go down. He did not want to come at all. He will be going down though. He cannot abandon Slartibartfast and Arthur now. Arthur is going down. I suspect a small reason he is doing this is to impress a girl, Trillian. I also think he does not want to see the Universe exterminated. Trillian, Arthur's love interest, has also surprisingly decided to go down. I did not expect her to go. I do think it was a good choice, though. She is the only character with any common sense. She will keep the boys alive. Zaphod, not suprisingly, decided he was not going. Zaphod is a bit of coward and is much more interested in women and other rich things than saving the universe.

I would advise them that they made the correct decision in fighting to save the universe, regardless of the odds that they will win (which are most likely astronomical, I mean 4 people against a robot army?). They need positive thoughts. I would also advise them that there is probably a way to control the army and to shut them all off. An off switch perhaps. Maybe a computer that can be destroyed. Someone has to be controlling this army. This is like Star Wars and the clone army. I forget how they were destroyed but that information would probably be useful to our heroes at this stage in the book.

Reflecting on the Past (7)

My predictions were mostly correct from part 6. The award for the "Most Gratuitous Use of the Word Beligum," was the silver pail, part of the key. I was also right about "the Krikkits (evil race that wants to exterminate the Galaxy) will make a surprise appearance at the party and take this part of the key," as the Krikkits' warship showed up literally inside the party. They were there only a second before disappearing. The award for "Most Gratuitous Use of the Word Belgium" aka The Silver Pail also disappeared. This left Slartibartfast disappointed, Arthur confused, and Ford....relieved that he could stop worrying about it. I was mistaken with some facts though. This was the final piece that the Krikkits needed to complete the key. The other 4 were the leg of Marvin, the manically depressed robot, the ashes of an ancient stump, the heart of the improbability drive, and a Scepter. Arthur, Ford, and Slartibartfast are now determined to go down to fight the Krikkits themselves.

My predictions were correct and this book is getting even more interesting. I am looking forward to the war most likely coming.

Che Thesis

Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s asinine view on life led him to try to become a savior of the people, but he ended up as just another glorified rebel who preached equality while murdering his opponents.

Connecting to Other Worlds (10)

This book is very easy to make connections to other works of literature because it is constantly self-referencing what happens in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, previous books in the series. These are usually used in making a joke, but sometimes they are flashbacks. In some cases they are trips back in time to events that occurred in previous books, such as a the last cricket game before the world was destroyed. This book reminds me of some of my real life relationships. Ford and Author are best friends and stick together through and through. I stand behind my best friends. This book also connects to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. They two follow the same basic story but get there in different ways. I found the movie enjoyable but it was perceived as a failure at the box office.

Trailer for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Movie


This book also connects to other works of science fiction. The Krikkit's plan to destroy the universe reminds me of the Foundation novel where the Galactic Empire was trying to rule the universe. The Foundation, one small planet, managed to outsmart the Galactic Empire and save the universe. In Life, The Universe, and Everything, a small group of 3 guys, Author, Ford, and Slartibartfast, are out to save the universe. This book also reminds me of Ender's Game where there is a galactic war going on. It was up to Ender and his friends to save the world. They managed to save Earth under their brilliant leader, Ender. Sadly Arthur does not seem to be a military genius so I can only see this book ending hilariously.

Do Now: Leper Colony

How do you think Che's interactions at the leper colony represent his philosophy on life as a whole?

The Future of the Universe (6)

Currently, I have finished chapter 21 of Life, The Universe, and Everything. Arthur Dent, Slartibartfast, Ford Prefect, are at a party looking for a silver pail which is a part of a key that can help save the universe. The key is composed of 5 different parts, each of which, when joined together, will open a lock that will release bloodthirsty robots into the universe with the sole purpose of exterminating everyone and everything.

At the end of the chapter, Arthur had just heard a lady mention that a man was upset because nobody was asking him about an award he had just won, "Most Gratuitous Use of the Word Belgium." This award is a "small silver thing set on a black base," 160. I believe that this will turn out to be the key. I think that they will not successfully acquire this key as that would most likely signify the end of the book, but there are many pages to go. Maybe this man will refuse to give his award up or perhaps the Krikkits (evil race that wants to exterminate the Galaxy) will make a surprise appearance at the party and take this part of the key. After all, this is only the 2nd part of the key and there are 3 more to go. I expect the main characters to go after 3 more key parts.