Top 6 Friday: Douglas Adam Quotes

Atheism reared its head this week with religious groups in the States calling a boycott of ‘The Golden Compass’, with one of the plots of subsequent books featuring a plot centred on the destruction of God. Douglas Adams, a fervent follower of atheism and the idea there was no God created a wonderfully unique story for his novels ’The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe’ and ’The Restaurant at the End of the Universe’. In ’Restaurant’ I loved the idea of human ’evolution’ in fact beginning with the lesser people of an alien society crash landing here, their ship having run out of fuel. So too the sequence in Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe where Arthur Dent is introduced to the idea of a planet workshop, is magically created in the movie. I’m conflicted as to whether I should post the clip below, it does contain that scene, however it absolutely demands as big a screen as possible to appreciate and the accompanying music is by Coldplay. Top 6 Friday is 6 quotes from Adams, the simplest and most effective of the somewhat convoluted remarks he has made or written. The post is closed off with the trailer for ‘The Golden Compass', shamelessly plugging itself as a contender to the Lord of the Rings crown of a Christmas fantasy. New Line has not had true a success since the Rings films so its been a case of make one and see rather than simultaneous filming of a set of films.

6. A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

5. Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

4. Arthur hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realised there was a contradiction there and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.

3. He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.

2. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, but it was equally uncomfortable on each.

1. The story so far: 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.