The Hit List

[John Knight]

Ok ok I admit it one of my all time favourites is........


The increasingly inacurately named Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy...


I just love it.

Laughed I nearly Shat

[Mike]

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy film is out in may sometime. That will be interesting to watch.

[Fez]

Hitchhiker is on general release I think from April 28th - it premiers tonight in London. The adverts for it look amazing, which leaves just one question - when are you taking me to see it?

[Woody]

I understand it is against the law to refuse to watch this highly anticipated movie - So as I am highly respected 100% law abiding citizen I suggest perhaps sometime during the following week in which it comes out??

[Mike]

Sounds good to me, just let me know when and where.

[Fez]

Soon there will be calls to get this thread back on track with book write ups instead of Hitchhiker news, but I thought this sounded important when I caught it on the BBC2's Culture Show on Thursday night.

Mark Kermode is a cult film reviewer who has always been on the button for a lot of stuff in the past and he has said the new film is devoid of much Adam's wit and language play, and though it looks fantastic, the script is lacking any of the sparkle the radio-play had or the surrealer comedy of the books. Good introduction for the uninitiated, but hitchhiker fans might feel it lacks spirit...

[Fez]

A PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY - Oscar Wilde

When his handsome features and innocence are captured perfectly on canvas by an artist friend of his, Dorian Gray wishes that he could be unspoiled forever and that the picture should grow old and ugly instead of him. Under the influence of Lord Harry, a social philosopher and scandalous intellect, Dorian begins to try and put his good looks to some use and begins to be corrupted by his new found senses of shallowness, selfishness and vanity. Soon the once innocent lad that so captivated the heart of the artist who painted his portrait is lost in a new life of reckless self-satisfaction, all the while staying beautiful to behold while the portrait bears the brunt of Dorian's crimes, becoming twisted and grotesque. Such a life cannot continue as the increasingly unpleasant lad pushes the boundaries too far...

Oscar Wilde's only novel caused a scandal in the aristocrosy for its depiction of the wealthy people's life of abandon and greed when it was first published, written as it is with an acidic wit for observation that is deeply humorous and condeming at the same time. Packed with lines that could fill up a book of words of wisdom on its own, this story is a wonderful attack on all things selfish and shallow.

[Fez]

Incompetence - Rob Grant

In a europe of the not too distant future, employment laws state 'everyone must be given a fair chance to do their job regardless of colour, class or incompetence'. Soon europe is awash with 70 year male lapdancers, pilots with no sense or direction and policemen with serious anger management issues, none of whom can be made redundant because the law means they can't be got rid of just because they're stupid.

Lost in this world of idiots is a secret agent desperately trying to find out what has happened to the third agent in his undercover cell after finding the second man murdered. Through the dangers of a europe gone to pot, losing his shoes at almost every turn, he must find his unknown colleague before the murderer destroys their covers if not their lives completely.

Rob Grant, co-creator of the legendary Red Dwarf, and writer of another classic sci-fi tale Colony, has outdone himself with this inventive black-comedy delving deep into people's lack of intelligence and the lunacy of a europe governed as one cancerous whole. The wit and comedy here shines from some hilarious sitcom-esq set pieces (the mugging in the alleyway is a favourite of mine, plus the old man's widow who wont believe her husband is still alive and living in the barn). Get it now!

[Mike]

The Time Travellers Wife - Audry Neffenegger

This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry who met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddently into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare's struggle to lead normal lives is both intesnly moving and entirely unforgettable.

Would deffo recommend this book. It is captivating.

[Fez]

The Time Travellers Wife
Would deffo recommend this book. It is captivating.

it does sound interesting - who's it by?

[Fez]

THE PLAYER OF GAMES - Iain M Banks

Jernau Morat Gureh is a master of every game he has turned his attention to, whether it be on board, computer or strategy, no mental challenge is too much for his problem solving mind and no oppontent goes without being beaten - which is why he has become bored with it all.

Contacted by the Culture's secret service to go and play the hardest game known to man or machine on a distant planet, Gureh resists until mocked, blackmailed and almost murdered he agrees to partake in a game that could make him an emperor - or kill him. All he has to do for the Culture in return is spy on a society consumed by suspicion of foreigners...

Iain M Banks is simply the best living writer of science-fiction of today, and the Player Of Games - his second sci-fi novel - is one of the best examples of his work. Not content creating the decadent society of people and machines known as the Culture, here he creates a whole other world of political intrigue and death as well. Perfect for any computer-gamehead with ideas of taking over the world from the comfort of their own bedroom.

[Fez]

A SONG OF STONE - Iain Banks

Lawless gangs roam the land praying on the refugee trains and isolated pockets of people trying to defend themselves as the greater war around them begins to stagger toward its bloody close. Believeing it would be safer to leave their Castle home and join the faceless homeless trying to escape to somewhere unknown, one family is dragged back to their old abode by a gang eager to control what's left of the neighbourhood from the relative comfort of the Castle's walls.

Soon the family and gang become fatally connected, and as the head of the household continues to try and free himself and his wife from the control of the gang's leader, she inturn has other ideas about what the family could do for her gang. In a world falling apart, the Castle is about to become the centre for a game of loyalty and betrayal, survival and death.

[Mike]

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J K Rowling

I dont really think I need to summarise this one but I was very excited when I purchased my copy today at 11am. . . You might think I am sad but I dont care!

[mr_e]

No, sad would have been queuing up at midnight in a wizard's outfit to buy it. As it is, I'll let you off. Do give us your verdict when you've finished it, though.

[Fez]

keep you opinion of this unremitting shite-fest to yourself