ENA5 The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy

The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy is a book written by Douglas Adams. It’s based on a famous radio series and it is the first one of it. The protagonist Arthur is about to lose his house and everything with it because there will be built a big highway at the precise spot. Trying to prevent this for happening his strange friend Ford comes to invite him to a bub to tell him that he is from another planet far far away and the Eath is about to be blown up in 2 minutes. After successful hitch-hike to a nearby spaceship which blew the Earth to ashes, Arthur’s adventure in space starts.

The book is an awesome description of how it could be if there would be life and higher technology out there all around in space and we just don’t have any idea of all that. But somebody did, but in a nasty way. They didn’t bother to tell everybody else that we had been warned that we’ll be exploded after 50-years. Of course nobody would’ve believed him and everybody would’ve though he was mad. The whole idea about the Earth not existing was bothering me all the time so that was a part I really didn’t like at all.

Douglas doesn’t really describe the places and characters with many adjectives, but with the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, a book with information of everything in the galaxy, gave more than a lot of information of the surroundings, places and species they bumped into (or were just mentioned randomly).  For example when Douglas decides to tell about the Heart of Gold (spaceship) or the Vogon Jeltz (the one who destroyed the Earth) what it is or why it is so important or about their backgrounds. But even after all that the book is super short and so it’s best light reading you can find and a funny one too (don’t know about the others though).

Although the book is short it can be boring sometimes. Because of it is made to be read aloud so some long descriptions from the Hitchhiker’s guide or long dialogues between character and they can even be sometimes a little confusing. Fortunately the characters are awesome so the whole story still turns to be interesting to follow. For instance the all-time-lost protagonist Arthur, his oddly behaving friend Ford, lately with them an annoying self-centered Zaphod from the Heart of Gold and sympathetic  depressed robot Marvin with a personality and high intelligence.

In conclusion “the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy” is one of the best books for start with if you haven’t read much of literature in English since its simple language and appearance. Of course there will be those hard civilized word but the context is so easy to read so anyone can manage it. But even if you have to take the dictionary out, there won’t be so many words to check.

I liked the book and I bet you will too.

The film is good too!!! :DDD And I just realized before starting reading the book that Arthur is played by MARTIN FREEMAN. I have seen this only two times and that was like three or more years ago, so I didn't really remember anything of the film. :)) Now I have to watch it again ^^ 'cause Martin :33

ENA5 Escaping from reality

You sit on the sofa in your living room. You have put the DVD that is the one of your favorite films in the DVD-player. For me it’s one of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy’s movies, which take me to a fantasy world away from stress and pressures.

Films tell fictive stories of our worlds or some magical place in some other world full of new species. They give us an opportunity to relax and leave everyday thoughts aside with the help of an extraordinary storyline. For me fantasy films give the pleasure for escaping from reality by giving me the chance to use my imagination or feeding my desire to know more about new cultures, elves and so on.

New cultures and species aren’t the only things that arouse our interest. It’s the interpersonal relationships in the stories. They can me friendship or romantic relationships. Like in The Lord of the Rings there is this beautiful romance (which isn’t so important in the books) between Aragorn and Arwen. The forbidden love between an elf and a man, in the time where Aragorn’s duty is to be the hero on the battlefields and Arwen’s necessity to leave the Middle-Earth, adds despair to their bond. The drama affects us in unspeakable ways maybe because we don’t normally have those tragedies with happy endings or true love with strong passion. Friendship on the other hand is the thing that we all can relate to. Friendship between Gimli the dwarf and Legolas the elf is ideal example of how total opposites and hate can turn in to beautiful friendship and caring. In the beginning these two hate each other mostly because of the long disagreement between their species’ and ancient ancestors (or in Legolas’ case with his father) but after fighting beside other they find themselves in a strong friendship with unbreakable bond.

I also just love the backgrounds and all the breath taking landscapes in the films. Looking at such beautiful places and nature is just eye-catching especially if those are places you have never seen or felt before (haven’t experienced the nature of Middle-Europe nor New-Zealand). It would be enough to just stare at the screen and watch the sunset behind the Misty Mountains’ white peaks or the lord Elrond’s house in its little valley and its miraculous architecture.

Imagination is a beautiful thing we have but if someone is capable of make them came alive, it’s even more incredible. We love the feeling of ease and freedom and those we can have watching films.