It seems I’ve gone another week without blogging. Happens a bit too often, doesn’t it? As usual, something outrageous has happened that spurred me to write again, so maybe my life needs more turmoil in order that my blogging might be more regular.

Some weeks ago, I sent an official request form to the U.S. Postal Service, changing my mailing address. I’d done this before, some years ago. Doing this allows the Postal Service to forward your mail to the new address for a specified period of time.

Today, I received an envelope in the mail from the U.S. Postal Service. It had a big label in the corner that said “Postage & Fees Paid by USPS”. In a big red bar across the front, it said, “OFFICIAL CHANGE OF ADDRESS CONFIRMATION”, and below that, “VERIFICATION REQUIRED. DO NOT DISCARD.” Sounds important and official, doesn’ t it?

Inside was a four page document. The first page was indeed official — confirmation of old and new addresses, and some advice about notifying correspondents.

Page 2 was a “Mover Directory”, listing the nearest post office, library, tax office, and the like. That’s the first column of three. The second column listed the nearest businesses … movie rental, satellite TV providers, lawn services, and wireless phone companies. The third column listed eight retail businesses … this time with their logos.

Up to this point I was willing to accept the helpful advice, even though it was irregular for the US Postal Service to be doing what amounts to advertising. I was in for more of a shock, though. Pages 3 and 4 were double-sided coupons … $5 0ff at Kroger, 17 weeks of USA Today for $39, a $9.99 offer for a rubber stamp with my new address from Express Stamps, and $14.95 for a starter kit of Gevalia coffee.

The envelope, which was quite thick, also included the following, which I perused while steadily getting angrier:

* An insurance offer from Globe Life
* 2 coupons from CVS Pharmacy
* An ad from Cingular Wireless
* An ad and coupon from Brinks Home Security
* An ad from Orkin Pest Control
* An ad from Linens & Things
* A coupon from Blinds To Go
* An offer for personalized address labels
* An ad from Scotts Lawn Service
* An ad from Netflix
* An ad from Direct Satellite TV
* An ad from Bank of America
* An ad from Circuit City (2 pages)
* An ad from ChecksUnlimited
* A coupon from JCPenney
* An ad from Geico Insurance
* A coupon from Ace Hardware
* An ad from The Home Depot (4 pages)
* An ad from Ford Motor Company (6 pages)
* An AOL9.0 CD

Mind you, this is the same US Postal Service that recently announced an increase in the price of postage stamps. As far as I’m concerned, with all this advertising revenue they’re reaping, they ought to be lowering the price. I have often cursed the US Postal Service for delivering junkmail from all manner of creatures to my door. Now they’re actually GENERATING junkmail, and I’m appalled. The government has even been jabbering about privatizing the US Mail … what a joke, it seems it’s already as commercial as it could possibly get. I’m grateful that e-mail has now made the post superfluous for me in most cases.

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, I can tell you what I’ve done on the first of my two days off. NOTHING! 🙂

Saturday evening I went to see “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. I don’t believe any of what I’m about to write is a true spoiler.

It was, to steal a phrase from the guide, a wholly remarkable movie. From the opening moments, I was completely pleased … the same music had been kept, from the original TV program, though slightly improved in quality. The screenplay followed the book closely enough that I wasn’t at all put off, and the changes between the book and screenplay were refreshingly right. I learned later that they were written by Adams himself, and that explains why they weren’t at all off-putting and fit the story well.

There are lots of cameo appearances … The Original Marvin and Douglas Adams’ own face appear in various places.

The casting was superb. Bill Nighy was the most perfect Slartibartfast imaginable. Mos Def, whom I would never have envisioned as Ford Prefect, was an even better fit. Martin Freeman was completely believable as Arthur, too. Casting Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin was a stroke of genius, his voice IS Marvin.

The effects were impressive as well, very well done. The Vogons were just as I’d always imagined them to be.

I noticed one thing in the movie that I must have missed in the books and the radio and TV productions. I had never realized until now that Zaphod Beeblebrox (and to a lesser extent, Trillian) were meant to be patently, stereotypically American. In fact, theirs were the only two perfectly American accents in the entire movie, which made them stand out even more. Beeblebrox is portrayed as a complete, utter pig — self-centered, loud-mouthed, ill-mannered and ignorant; one wonders if he’d be seen as American even without the accent. 🙂

If you’re a fan of Adams’ work, see this movie without fear, you will not be disappointed.