Last night I saw Hitchhiker's Guide, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. The way it was filmed reminded me of British television, and I wasn't the only one thinking that. D. compared some of the graphics to Red Dwarf. I think the actors were very well cast too. The guy who played Arthur was just as aggressively ordinary as Arthur should be. I imagine it was a temptation to cast someone who was "Hollywood-average" looking, which would have been all wrong -- Arthur isn't good looking. (He isn't bad looking either; he's just...ordinary.) Also, Zaphod Beeblebrox was wonderful. The actor really nailed a combination of politician and rock star. Hell, I would have voted for him! And of course there was Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast. I just love him. He was the one bright spot in Love Actually and so perfect as the stepdad in Shaun of the Dead. Mos Def was excellent as Ford Prefect too. He really knew how to use that towel!

Somehow I suspect another upcoming sci-fi movie could take lessons from this one about letting your characters carry the movie and not surrounding everything in superfluous CGI. Ahem. Revenge of the Sith, I'm looking in your direction.

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Just started trying the new Yahoo! Music engine and Yahoo! Music Unlimited, which is still in beta. I've been a big fan of Yahoo's online radio (formerly Launchcast) for quite a while, because it lets you rate artists, songs, and albums in order to make a customized radio station. Since I have fairly wide-ranging tastes, this has been the ideal solution for me. Yahoo also includes music that you haven't rated so that you're constantly getting a stream of new stuff and don't get locked in to just the stuff you've already heard. Music Unlimited marries that ability to rate artists and hear new music based on what you like to a subscription-based service similar to Napster to Go and Rhapsody. What I think is going to make Music Unlimited the killer app is subscription price. While Napster and Rhapsody charge around $15/month, Yahoo! is only $7, or $5 if you choose to subscribe for a full year. I chose the full year option, because at only $60, it's well worth the money to me. I can listen to any album or song in Yahoo's collection, which previous experience with their radio service has already taught me is extensive. So now I can check out music I haven't heard before and listen to it as many times as I want. This is an awesome way to decide if I want to buy an album. Music Unlimited also has the ability to load these songs onto your MP3 player so you can take the music with you as long as you're a subscriber. Of course, the trick for this to work is that you need to own a player that supports the type of DRM Yahoo uses. Right now the list is fairly small, so check their website before you commit if this is an important feature to you. For me it's something I'd love to have, but since I spend so much of my day at a computer I can mostly get my fill of new music at my desk, so it wasn't a deal breaker.

You can also purchase songs for $.79, $.20 cheaper than iTunes or Napster. A full album usually works out to about $8, which is very reasonable. There are some restrictions on how many copies you can make, but in general it's pretty reasonable. These downloads can be transferred to almost all players, not just the ones that work with the subscription-based part of the service. The one exception is the iPod. Because iPods won't play WMA files this service is fairly useless to Pod-heads. The only reason I'd recommend this to someone with an iPod is if they are willing to pay to only be able to listen to music at their desktop.

I've already listened to the new REM album, some Uncle Tupelo, and the new Beck album. These are all ones I might decide to buy after a few more listens. On the other hand, I've already decided I'm not so enamored with Of Montreal or Fallout Boy. But the great thing is I still have a year left on my subscription to revise and revisit those decisions. So much better than having to make a purchasing decision based on one track I've heard on the radio. Viva la revolución de la música!