So what is HHHH you ask? It is the Headley Hauser Hall of Honor
(honor is pronounced HAWNor to make it sound cool.) At the risk of
stepping on the toes of my sensei, Robin
Chalkley and his master blog - , I decided that – even
from my perspective – there are great things in America (and those
other countries out there.) There are certain people I admire –
who have helped change me from a quiet disgusting low-life to a loud
obnoxious disgusting low-life. These few – these happy few have
set a pattern of excellence in their creative endeavors that I daily
try to emulate, and hence soil their reputations.
And so, for the first inductee in the HHHH – I give you (though
he’s not really mine to give anyone – especially considering his current circumstances,)
Douglas Adams
Douglas
Adams could rightly be listed among our greatest living writers if
not for two glaring omissions – one he’s not living, and two he wasn't really that hot when you think about it.
But
he was damned funny (and I don’t mean that in an eternal judgement
type of way.)
When
Adams was in High School he had ambitions to be John Cleese. After
all, he was tall enough and thought he was clever. Indeed, many of
his schoolmates commented on how tall he was. During his early radio
career he managed to meet John Cleese who informed him that the
position was taken. Adams was crestfallen, but these radio shows led
to his five volume Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy for which he is best
known – so it wasn’t a total loss.
He
also wrote other piddling stuff like the two Dirk Gently novels and
(together with John Lloyd – whoever that is,) the two Meaning of
Liff books which are hardly worth your time to consider.
If he
were alive today, Adams might claim that these non-Hitchhiker works
are under-rated.
Just
as well he’s not around.
Adams
died in 2001 at an age seven years younger than I am today, which
puts him in the ever-increasing class of people that make me feel
inferior. Such feeling aside, I have repeatedly felt free to steal
the forms of shtick and humor he pioneered, which will become
increasing evident if Go Figure Reads gets around to producing the
Genre manuscripts I've given them.
And
so, for being a comic genius incapable (due to the death thing,) of
complaining when I rip him off, Douglas Adams is the inaugural member
of the dead guys wing of the Headley Hauser Hall of Honor.
Selected
Quotations
“In
the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of
people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.”
“He
hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized
there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped there wasn't
an afterlife.”
“He
attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and
naïve incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was
which.”
“Humans
are not proud of their ancestors and rarely invite them round to
dinner.”
Here's a vid someone posted this week Douglas would have liked (at least he hasn't said he didn't.)
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