Showing posts with label Douglas Adams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Douglas Adams. Show all posts

Friday, 5 April 2013

A to Z: Extra-Terrestrials

David Tennant - My favourite doctor. Image from google.
Today I'd like to talk about aliens because it seemed like fun at the time of thinking of this topic.

Now I'm not so sure, but I'll go with it anyway. Basically, we know nothing about aliens. We don't know if they exist, or whether they would be sentient beings or microorganisms . We don't know if they would be able to communicate us, or think that we're completely worthless and not bother with even trying to communicate.

Some people think that they would invade us, some think that they already have, others think that we're probably not worth bothering with. And anyway, they might not be able to breathe our air and have to wear spacesuits all the time.

Some of the most fun ideas of aliens come from films. The biggest one of all has to be 'E.T :The Extra-Terrestrial'. He's a cute, all round fun guy who doesn't want to hurt us in any way, and neither do his people. All he wants to do is go home, but all we want to do is experiment on him. Shame on us. That's a nice way to view aliens. Avatar is another one which has fairly nice aliens yet mean humans in it.

Doctor Who is my favourite alien. He's a one man (er, kind of) butt-kicking two-hearted heap of awesomeness who can pretty much win anyone's heart (though some of the first few doctors were iffy on the winning hearts thing). He's also usually odd, which I like. He's one of the aliens that loves the earth and wants to save it.

The not so nice way to view aliens can be seen in things like.. say... 'Alien' where they want to kill us or force us to make alien-human hybrids. Gross. 'District 9' also likes disgusting us with fingernails and alien-human hybrids. Signs, Skyline, War of the Worlds and Cloverfield (which I really hated, controversial, I know).

There are some particularly funny films including aliens, such as 'Galaxy Quest', which I absolutely love, and has Alan Rickman in it (what's not to like?). Also 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' is particularly amusing. I recommend them both heartily. Men in Black should also get a mention here, especially the newest one, 'Men in Black 3', because it involved time travel, and I'm a sucker for true sci-fi elements.

Of course the two classic series cannot be missed out. Star wars and Star Trek are both great, though Star Wars, for me, is slightly better because it has six very good films, and funnier lines. However, Star Trek (the re-imagined 2009 one, directed and produced by the awesome J.J Abrams) has Zachary Quinto, and he's a great Spock. Enough said.

Treasure planet wins the prize for the cutest alien. He is a pink blob with a face named Morph. Though he  is a shape-shifter, morph usually stays in his cute form. Some people wrongly believe that this prize should go to 'Lilo and Stitch's' Stitch. No.
Morph, from Treasure Planet.

The prize for one of the worst films with aliens in it goes to 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'. Aliens ruined that film.

What's your favourite alien film? And which was the worst alien film you've ever seen?

Tuesday, 7 August 2012

The 10 Day You Challenge : 4 Books

Choosing 4 books is difficult, so Instead I've given myself 4 books, or book series's. Books are a major part of my life, so this is going to be hard. So what I've done is chosen a few favourites and two that I think are very thought-provoking.


Image from Wikipedia
1. Inkworld Trilogy by Cornelia Funke. Because these books are about a love of books. And they're about adventure. Two of my favourite things.

2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Because when I read them I'm always thinking 'God, that's so right, and weirdly true', even though it's supposed to be a nonsensical book, it just makes complete and utter sense to me. Carroll writes in a very rare way. (possibly to do with the drugs he was on at the time, but the writing speaks for itself). And who wouldn't want to go to wonderland?

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusack. Also a book about loving books, told from Death's perspective. It makes you think, laugh and cry.

4. The 5 people You meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom. This is a thinking book, and I love it more with every read. It's about exactly what it says on the tin, but the thoughts that go into it are wonderful. Read the Review Here.

The Book Thief image from Google
There are so many that are wonderful, I couldn't leave these out:

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore

Also a special Mention to Neil Gaiman's books, Gregory Maguire's Books and Terry Pratchett's books.


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