|
The_Doctor posted:You weren't there. Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes.
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2009 17:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 13:45 |
|
|
DontMockMySmock posted:Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes. I'm just now reading Interesting Times, and it appears to me that Rowan Atkinson could play Rincewind very well, especially since he's basically the same character as Blackadder, except with slightly more insight and even less aspirations. The cowardice and the acceptance that fate is loving him over anyway is already there.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2009 17:44
|
|
|
John Dough posted:I'm just now reading Interesting Times, and it appears to me that Rowan Atkinson could play Rincewind very well, especially since he's basically the same character as Blackadder, except with slightly more insight and even less aspirations. The cowardice and the acceptance that fate is loving him over anyway is already there. You know what? I think thats a really good fit. Rowan Atkinson has the kind of super-expressive face, and talent for physical comedy (in addition to his other comedic talents), that'd really suit the character of Rincewind.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2009 17:53
|
|
|
ONE YEAR LATER posted:Off the top of my head, I think Unseen Academicals has the most references to other books in it out of all of them. You've got Vimes, Rincewind, William de Worde, a cameo by the Low King, Mr. Shine references, a Moist reference, a Reverend Oats reference, a Small Gods reference, a Moving Pictures reference, and I'm sure a bunch of others I can't think of at 6:30 in the morning. Also references the color of magic movie: dead men's pointy shoes. At least I dont remember that being mentioned by that name in any of the books, but I havn't read the older ones in a while.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2009 22:38
|
|
|
Ika posted:Also references the color of magic movie: dead men's pointy shoes. At least I dont remember that being mentioned by that name in any of the books, but I havn't read the older ones in a while. It's definitely mentioned in The Light Fantastic.
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2009 11:17
|
|
|
DontMockMySmock posted:Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes. Vetinary's assassination of Winder is probably the most badass scene in any discworld book. It also has probably the best cover:  Based on Rembrandt's Nightwatch   Does the US version have the same cover?
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2009 14:39
|
|
|
Holy poo poo that's amazing  I never knew it was based on a real painting!
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2009 14:57
|
|
|
Biplane posted:Holy poo poo that's amazing Tsk tsk, everyone should go to the Rijksmuseum at least once in their lives.
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2009 15:08
|
|
|
bitterandtwisted posted:Does the US version have the same cover? It probably has some cartoons. :-/
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2009 15:29
|
|
|
ha, found it. / 
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2009 15:43
|
|
|
Also instead of  There's  I love Paul Kidby's art and it sucks that some people are missing out on it. Just about every character he's illustrated is exactly as I imagine them, especially Vimes.
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2009 15:48
|
|
|
bitterandtwisted posted:There's While I do like that cover (but not nearly as much as the British one), it sure seems like the art was just based on somebody saying "Yeah, it's called Thud. I guess it's some sort of funny parody of fantasy stuff. You know, knights and all that, stuff British people like. Yeah, kinda like Monty Python I guess. What? No, I haven't read it but I'm told it's quite good." edit: I suppose if the guy on the cover was a dwarf it would fit, but it sure doesn't seem like he is. Plus there's a blue sky background. Though I do like that particular cover, I have to say I almost prefer the ones that are just lame technicolor with a "wacky" font. At least those you can write off to being lazy. This one and the cover for Unseen Academicals ("You know, I heard in Britain that they call Basketball "Football." I read it somewhere") show that somebody put in enough effort to actually make up some art for the cover, but not enough effort to actually find out what the book's about. Alvie fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Oct 16, 2009 |
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2009 16:21
|
|
|
Alvie posted:edit: I suppose if the guy on the cover was a dwarf it would fit, but it sure doesn't seem like he is. Plus there's a blue sky background. The book is about a policeman who wears an armour helmet investigating the murder of someone who was hit over the head with a troll's club. Like Vimes is being symbolically hit over the head with the whole affair. I don't particularly like that cover but I can see that some effort went into it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2009 16:43
|
|
|
bitterandtwisted posted:It also has probably the best cover: You're drat right it does - it's strange how the best cover and my favorite of the discworld books come together as one. Hell, I like it so much that I've got a wallet with the center of it on (thanks to the wallets thread in SAMart ), and it looks great. Also, a quick question for anyone else who's read UA. At the start, when it talks about the night guard, is the 'the way the kittens stared at him gave him nightmares' a reference to anything in particular?
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2009 17:16
|
|
|
Okay, speaking of Hogfather, I just now got that Teatime's plot actually worked. Reading that scene where Ridcully or whoever goes "Oh, no-one believes in the Hogfather anymore," and I stopped and thought, this is the Disc. These are wizards. Why don't they at least acknowledge that there is one, like with every other god? Thinking back, it becomes apparent that if you work magic on every tooth from a child ever collected, it would probably either work back in time or on everyone alive at the present moment.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2009 04:03
|
|
|
Masonity posted:You forgot the traditional DEATH cameo too. Personally I just loved the Lady Sybill free hospital, and people referring to the cops as the Old Sam. Simple, but nice little nods. I am disappointed somewhat by the special editions of TP's books though I have to say. I bought the special edition of Making Money for about €30, and it smelled faintly (and still does) of feces. It had a nice little bookmark ribbon but wasn't even signed like some of the regular editions. The special edition of Unseen Academicals was €50, which nearly put me off buying it for a start. I did like the orange painting along the sides of each page, and there was a much nicer smell of it thankfully, but they didn't even put in a bookmark ribbon and again - no signature. I'm pretty sure I won't be buying any more special editions due to that. tsob fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Oct 18, 2009 |
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2009 08:49
|
|
|
Alvie posted:[...] somebody put in enough effort to actually make up some art for the cover, but not enough effort to actually find out what the book's about. The old busy, lumpy fantasy art covers were pretty bad for this, too. (Some googling tells me that I am talking about the Josh Kirby covers.) I have a copy somewhere of one of the Rincewind books where Twoflower is drawn with four eyes. As in, literally two eyeballs in each socket, instead of glasses, which I assume is what the "four-eyes" joke was intended to mean. So apparently the artist did read the book, but not too attentively. Same reason that Angua wears pink thigh-high boots on those covers. I liked Unseen Academicals quite a bit, and loved the introduction of a new set of characters to offset the wizard stuff. The amount of Vetinari was great, too, especially with Lady Margolotta in the mix.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2009 02:24
|
|
|
Helena Handbasket posted:The old busy, lumpy fantasy art covers were pretty bad for this, too. (Some googling tells me that I am talking about the Josh Kirby covers.) I have a copy somewhere of one of the Rincewind books where Twoflower is drawn with four eyes. As in, literally two eyeballs in each socket, instead of glasses, which I assume is what the "four-eyes" joke was intended to mean. So apparently the artist did read the book, but not too attentively. Same reason that Angua wears pink thigh-high boots on those covers. I had only seen the Kirby covers in passing, being used to the lovely American covers, but I always thought that they looked really tacky. Now that you point out the huge inaccuracies in them, I went and looked at them more carefully. Holy crap, are they terrible. Not only do the characters look nothing like they are described in the books (or at least, not anything like what I imagine them to look like), but the art on most of them is way too busy, lacks any kind of focus, and contains wild inaccuracies on simple things (such as Twoflower's glasses being literally interpreted as four eyes or (what I can only assume is) Susan (because there are no other female characters in Hogfather) having yellow-blonde hair, and worst of all out of the few covers I've looked at,  ).And possibly worst of all, he seems completely unable to draw characters that aren't contortionists. Examples: Granny Weatherwax's right leg coming out of her shoulder in Witches Abroad; Susan(?) the giraffe and Albert the human sack of pudding from Hogfather. I mean, I know they are supposed to be cartoony, but there is a line somewhere where it stops being funny and starts being weird and creepy-looking, and Kirby passed it a long long time ago.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2009 03:56
|
|
|
I hadn't seen a Death book with a Kirby cover in a while and had forgotten that he did big bulgy blue eyeballs for Death, instead of black sockets with barely visible blue pinpricks. And yeah, those covers are a huge guessing game of which character is supposed to be who... there seems to be a tendency for every character to be illustrated as if they were an elderly wizard or a bellydancer. Edit: I think it stands out more because the characters aren't usually described in lavish detail, they just get one or two physical features mentioned at most (like Susan's hair or Teatime's eyes) which never seem to appear on any of the covers. Helena Handbasket fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Oct 19, 2009 |
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2009 04:50
|
|
|
DontMockMySmock posted:...(what I can only assume is) Susan (because there are no other female characters in Hogfather) having yellow-blonde hair... Just to nitpick, could have been Violet or the Cheerful Fairy as well. But yeah, those covers were awful. I've been thinking of re-buying the only Kirby-cover book I have just to get it out of my collection. Unfortunately it's Moving Pictures, so it doesn't seem that worth it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2009 06:31
|
|
|
Benagain posted:Okay, speaking of Hogfather, I just now got that Teatime's plot actually worked. Reading that scene where Ridcully or whoever goes "Oh, no-one believes in the Hogfather anymore," and I stopped and thought, this is the Disc. These are wizards. Why don't they at least acknowledge that there is one, like with every other god? If it is Ridcully I wouldn't be so sure. Ridcully is an Atheist despite having talked with several gods, simply to annoy his brother, who is the High Priest of Offler (I think it's Offler). He is also very dismissive of anything supernatural.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2009 06:54
|
|
|
Decius posted:If it is Ridcully I wouldn't be so sure. Ridcully is an Atheist despite having talked with several gods, simply to annoy his brother, who is the High Priest of Offler (I think it's Offler). He is also very dismissive of anything supernatural. This seems likely, as in "Sure there's a couple of old winter/blood deities knocking about, but no one actually believes in them!"
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2009 12:11
|
|
|
Shanty posted:This seems likely, as in "Sure there's a couple of old winter/blood deities knocking about, but no one actually believes in them!" To use a line from one of the witch books, it would be like believing in the postman.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2009 13:07
|
|
|
Maybe I shouldn't read Guards! Guards! on the train anymore. I couldn't stop laughing at FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2009 20:50
|
|
|
SaintFu posted:To use a line from one of the witch books, it would be like believing in the postman. "But you know [the gods] exist!" "That's no cause to go around believin' in 'em, it only encourages 'em." (Paraphrased from memory, but something like that...)
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2009 22:08
|
|
|
John Dough posted:FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC That's one of my favorite parts of the whole Watch series.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2009 01:17
|
|
|
I noticed something on a second reading of Unseen Academicals that I skimmed past the first time through: Unseen University's policy under Ridcully on gays in the wizardry: don't ask, don't care. "People make such a fuss. Anyway, in my opinion there's not enough love in the world."
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2009 17:37
|
|
|
Don't you think that might be a reference to a certain other wizard that also happened to be the head of a major magical school?
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2009 20:41
|
|
|
Konstantin posted:Don't you think that might be a reference to a certain other wizard that also happened to be the head of a major magical school?  I didn't even think of that. Clever!
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2009 22:53
|
|
|
shadok posted:I noticed something on a second reading of Unseen Academicals that I skimmed past the first time through: Unseen University's policy under Ridcully on gays in the wizardry: don't ask, don't care. "People make such a fuss. Anyway, in my opinion there's not enough love in the world." This seems to directly contradict some of the earlier material (some of the Rincewind books, Equal Rites) that says that the reason there are only male wizards is because hanky-panky leads to loss of magical performance (basically the same reason women were excluded from the armed forces for such a long time, except replace "magical performance" with "military discipline"). The logical flip-side of this is that gay wizards shouldn't be allowed either (and also logically that means now that women are allowed in the armed forces, gay guys should be too), because gay wizards also lead to hanky-panky. But then again, Ridcully is an easy-going guy, so he probably doesn't care one way or another (and would probably welcome female wizards if any applied).
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2009 03:57
|
|
|
DontMockMySmock posted:This seems to directly contradict some of the earlier material (some of the Rincewind books, Equal Rites) that says that the reason there are only male wizards is because hanky-panky leads to loss of magical performance (basically the same reason women were excluded from the armed forces for such a long time, except replace "magical performance" with "military discipline"). The logical flip-side of this is that gay wizards shouldn't be allowed either (and also logically that means now that women are allowed in the armed forces, gay guys should be too), because gay wizards also lead to hanky-panky. If you haven't already, read Sourcery. The whole plot revolves around the consequences of wizards having children, and there is a very good reason why that restriction is in place. Gay relationships don't result in children so it doesn't matter.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2009 09:17
|
|
|
Konstantin posted:Don't you think that might be a reference to a certain other wizard that also happened to be the head of a major magical school? I don't think he was referring to the Dean, either directly or indirectly. DontMockMySmock posted:This seems to directly contradict some of the earlier material (some of the Rincewind books, Equal Rites) that says that the reason there are only male wizards is because hanky-panky leads to loss of magical performance As Konstantin points out, this is debunked in Sourcery.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2009 10:45
|
|
|
shadok posted:I don't think he was referring to the Dean, either directly or indirectly.  And because I can't tell if people are joking or not over the internet (no seriously, I can't) I think he meant Dumbledore.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2009 16:56
|
|
|
Staggy posted:And because I can't tell if people are joking or not over the internet (no seriously, I can't) I think he meant Dumbledore. Of course he was. Silly me.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2009 18:24
|
|
|
This is a weird little question, but maybe this thread has ideas about it. What's the story with Constable "Kipper" Haddock? He's the officer (moonlighting as a security guard) on the scene when Moist breaks into the vault in Making Money, he's around here and there in Thud!, and he's the one who intercepts Trev Likely in Unseen Academicals. It's odd to have a named recurring character with such minimal characterization. Is he just go-to extra guy for when the regular Watch cast needs more people? Is it because the Watch regulars can't just fill the role of street-level law enforcement in other stories without dragging their own stories behind them? It seems like there's plenty of other officers who could step into the role. I was wondering if any other readers had caught something about the character that I hadn't.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2009 17:55
|
|
|
I kept waiting for some kind of "Win one for the Kipper" moment, but apparently that was just a byproduct of my own insanity.
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2009 07:32
|
|
|
Helena Handbasket posted:Is he just go-to extra guy for when the regular Watch cast needs more people? Is it because the Watch regulars can't just fill the role of street-level law enforcement in other stories without dragging their own stories behind them? It seems like there's plenty of other officers who could step into the role. I was wondering if any other readers had caught something about the character that I hadn't. I hadn't even noticed that it was the same character. But Pratchett also seems to like using Angua: she makes appearances as a working copper in "The Truth", "Monstrous Regiment", "Making Money" and "Unseen Academicals".
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2009 09:09
|
|
|
shadok posted:I hadn't even noticed that it was the same character. But Pratchett also seems to like using Angua: she makes appearances as a working copper in "The Truth", "Monstrous Regiment", "Making Money" and "Unseen Academicals". Angua is one of the main characters though.
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2009 09:22
|
|
|
Just had to say, Terry Pratchett is one of my all time favourite authors. Unlike so many other authors, he has managed to make me cry with laughter, (all of them) tear up with sorrow, (Wee Free Men, Nation), feel pain and rage and hopelessness, (Night Watch, Thud!) think deeply about our society and amaze me with some of his profound insights to the human condition, on all levels of society. I believe that every book I've read by him has made me stop and think "you know, that is so true" about one thing or another. The scene near the end of Thud! when Vimes needs to get back to his kid to read the book, and the scene immediately after, when the entity meets Vimes' internal watchman... unforgettable. The Witches books are good too, mostly because Granny Weatherwax is hardcore as gently caress. And the Nac Mac Feegles are the ultimate characters, basically just made out of pure awesome and hilarity.
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2009 14:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 13:45 |
|
|
Biplane posted:Angua is one of the main characters though. That's my point. If the question is "Is it because the Watch regulars can't just fill the role of street-level law enforcement in other stories" then the answer is no: Angua shows up all the time in other books as a copper just doing her daily job.
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2009 14:45
|
|