Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

So I figure most people have seen this movie by now, but I just saw it again and it's worth writing about.

They successfully wrote it in such a way that you don't have to have read the books to understand it (even though I have). The cast was what really blew me away though. The last time I saw it there was no way I would have recognized all the people. I'm including lists of movies these people have been in just because that's what amazed me so much.

Ford Prefect is played by Mos Def, one of my favorite actors. He of course we all know from The Italian Job, that crazy episode of house, 16 Blocks, Be Kind Rewind, etc.

Zaphod Beeblebrox is, much to my surprise, Sam Rockwell, the guy on the moon in the movie Moon, which I posted about a little while. He's also in Frost/Nixon, Matchstick Men, The Green Mile, Galaxy Quest, etc.

Trillian, aka Trisha, is Zooey Deschanel, who I would have a celebrity crush on if I didn't already have one on on Ellen Page. She's in the upcoming movie (500) Days of Summer, which I desperately want to see. It looks fantastic.

The other notables are:
Warwick Davis as Marvin, who is Professor Flitwick from all the Harry Potters, as well as Willow in the movie of the same name. He's also in Labyrinth, in Star Wars VI as Wicket the Ewok, and in Time Bandits, one of my favorite movies.

Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin, who of course everyone knows as Snape, and who is also in countless other things, notably (and most relevant to our generation) Sweeny Todd as Judge Turpin and Die Hard as Hans Gruber.

Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast, also in countless other things, including Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3 as Davy Jones.

John Malkovich. Nuff' said.

In conclusion, if you haven't seen this movie in a while, you should go see it again. It's definitely worth a second time, and still just as funny.


In other news, I just got back from Canada (The MacKenzie Brothers was an amazing show, btw) last night, and frankly, it's really easy to get stuff through the border. You get there and find a bunch of like state troopers or something with their sunglasses on their heads just kind of ushering people through like we're inconveniencing thing by making them do their jobs. The questions: "Where do you live?" "Albany." "How long were you in Canada?" "For the weekend." "What did you do there?" "Saw Montréal." "Are you bringing anything back, any alcohol?" "No." "Thanks, you're all set." Just like that. We left all our luggage on the bus. I could have had a camelback full of gin back on that bus, and he still wouldn't have known. It bothers me that pretty much anyone with an American passport can just answer the questions correctly and get through with anything.

Philosophy

So I was thinking today.

I'm getting old. I'm 19 already. In two years, I will be able to do anything at all legally. Which of course means that the government has decided that I will be old enough to make my own decisions about everything. We're not kids anymore, folks. At least, not in body. I decided a long time ago that I would play video games for as long as possible to stay in touch with my light side. But I'm slowly finding that I keep getting more serious about things, jobs, appointments, etc. Sure, there are all these sayings like you're only as young as you feel, but if I start feeling old, there goes my childhood. (I actually built one of those.)

Most of the time, I don't care about my age; but I am accumulating experiences and knowledge that make me more of an adult. I was telling someone today about how old top loader washers used to have this label on the inside of the lid warning you not to mix detergent and bleach or you would create a toxic gas and die. It legitimately made me feel old! It was weird thinking about things you used daily that have changed so much. Of course, there's so much ahead of us that there's no reason to dwell on the past. Still, I can't help but thinking that human life is so fleeting that Earth is an exercise in futility. Maybe I'll have to read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" again.

On a somewhat lighter note, none of this weighty thinking is actually getting me down about anything. I don't care to much about what the human race ends up as, just as long as I enjoy the and don't think too hard about it.