Mos Def Saved My Life

Well, I've been sick for the past two days and have therefore accomplished primarily just sleeping, coughing, sweating profusely, and the like. However, I have also been re-reading the Hitchhiker's Guide books in preparation for the upcoming movie, which I'm very excited about. There are, in my mind, two really good reasons why I want to see this movie, regardless of any areas in which the creators might have erred (Zaphod with only one head and two arms? Hello!).

Firstly, they have cast Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent. You may know him as Tim from the BBC version of The Office. If you enjoyed The Office at all, you'll know why this is a good casting decision.

Secondly--though at first I was surprised to see this--they have cast Mos Def as Ford Prefect. Now, I really like Mos Def and respect his music, so I'll be very interested to see him act. But most of all, I will always hold him in a special place in my heart because, indirectly, his music saved my life.

It was, um, around the year 2000 or so, maybe before. Rob and I had driven down to Southern California to stay with my parents, and then from there we drove with some friends of his deep into the desert to attend the Coachella Music Festival. After spending a long, hot day in the sun, listening to lots of music, good and bad, and becoming very intoxicated--a situation which I will not elaborate on but suffice it to say that Lucy was indeed in the sky with diamonds--we decided we really needed to eat something, and not to be listening to the painfully loud techno music which had recently begun on the main stage.

Unfortunately, there had been some poor planning on the part of the concert venue, which had apparently run out of food and was in the process of getting more delivered. Meanwhile, people were waiting in excruciatingly long food lines at all of the vendors. As we were highly intoxicated and in dire need of food, and the loud, thumping dance music was causing us physical and aural pain, and we were unhappy about waiting in line in close proximity to a bunch of disturbing people who appeared to be even more intoxicated than we were, when Mos Def came onto the side stage nearby it was like a nice, calming raft to cling to in the midst of an ocean of disturbing sensory input. His music was good--excellent, in fact--and made it possible to bear the long wait in line for our salad and garlic fries.

So Mos Def saved the day. Because of this, I am more than willing to give him a chance in portraying Ford Prefect.