Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Is there another word in the English language that has a double-h like that? It bugs me.

I can remember very vividly standing in the Diamond Pharmacy in Mt. Pleasant, scowling at the paperback cover of HHGttG.



I was probably ten or eleven years old, and I saw that curvy, pseudo-50s font and the planet with its tongue sticking out, and I dismissed the book right then and there among the generic greeting cards and enema bags as whimsical hippy dippy clap-trap. Really. I was rather a sanctimonious little cow for a while, I confess, and I’m sure no one was more hurt by that than me: I’ve never read HHGttG.

I did see the movie, though, on Friday night. Teddy was interested, and I figured it would be worth checking out.

Here’s the thing: I think the story really IS whimsical hippy dippy clap-trap—but in a good way! It’s charming and funny and hopeful, and I’m so glad I got to know it.

Although I haven’t yet found anyone else who thinks as I do that Sam Rockwell’s portrayal of Beeblebrox was based on GWB. It seems so obvious to me: the swagger, the accent, the squinty eyes, the general dimness and sense of entitlement . . . and yet I haven’t read/heard anyone else say they noticed it.

Anyway, I give two thumbs up to this sweet, happy movie.

You really shouldn’t judge books by their covers, you know.