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Haha.
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Sep 13, 2015 19:26
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I reiterate: Jerome Flynn would play a fine Vimes 
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Sep 13, 2015 21:04
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I'm doing a clearout. If anyone wants some Discworld novels in Polish, they're yours for the postage. I have: The Colour of Magic The Light Fantastic Equal Rites Mort Guards! Guards! (hb) Jingo Hogfather The Truth I'll be offering them round on the work Intranet as well and they have dibs because I don't have to hassle with the postage, but odds are good they won't be taken.
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Sep 17, 2015 08:30
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How well does Pratchett even translate? His yarns are so pithy and colloquial that it seems like you'd lose a ton of stuff if you left English. Hell, there's a ton of stuff I miss not being native to the UK.
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Sep 18, 2015 00:10
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BizarroAzrael posted:Joanna Scanlan could be Sybil too. I'm not sure Vimes should be played by a comedian. And Jack Dee should be Professor Whiteface. I've always imagined Whiteface as Angry Old John Cleese. 
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Sep 18, 2015 01:05
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Liquid Communism posted:I've always imagined Whiteface as Angry Old John Cleese. Without the mustache though.
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Sep 18, 2015 07:04
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Skippy McPants posted:How well does Pratchett even translate? His yarns are so pithy and colloquial that it seems like you'd lose a ton of stuff if you left English. Hell, there's a ton of stuff I miss not being native to the UK. Learn to speak Polish and find out!
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Sep 18, 2015 08:13
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Stroth posted:Without the mustache though. I would accept painting over it Caesar Romero style.
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Sep 18, 2015 14:48
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Dunno if these are any good but Amazon has a flash sale up on Discworld Ale. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0093HEMEQ?ref_=gbps_img_s-3_9907_dea325b2_GB-SUPPL&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
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Sep 18, 2015 19:12
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thespaceinvader posted:The first Doctor in the Doctor Who revival. The northern one. More northern than the current one? Still, I think of Vimes as more stoic than Chris, who has a bit of a plastic face. Can't believe I never checked back after finishing Reaper Man. Loved it. Well, half of it. The whole shopping mall thing felt stuck on, as much as I loved the wizard thing and that little tie in. Much better than Mort in terms of writing, but Mort was more coherent. If that makes sense.
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Sep 19, 2015 07:24
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Skippy McPants posted:How well does Pratchett even translate? His yarns are so pithy and colloquial that it seems like you'd lose a ton of stuff if you left English. Hell, there's a ton of stuff I miss not being native to the UK. The Czech translationist used to leave his own footnotes.
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Sep 19, 2015 08:49
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Bilirubin posted:More northern than the current one? Still, I think of Vimes as more stoic than Chris, who has a bit of a plastic face. Northern as opposed to Scottish, yes. Although the one after was also Scottish though he hid it well. I picked up a whole pile of my Pratchett hardbacks from home yesterday. I will finally do my reread of some choice ones, followed by all the Tiffany Aching ones up to and including TSC. I also finally got round to GNUing my website.
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Sep 19, 2015 09:52
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Avalerion posted:The Czech translationist used to leave his own footnotes. Still better than the first German translator, who would insert advertisements for products. I may hang onto my Polish Mort; I just remembered it's the last book Terry signed for me with a pen.
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Sep 19, 2015 09:58
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The ads were really more the publisher's idea and they did it to a lot of fantasy/sci fi/broadly-horror books (I remember finding one in Peter Straub's Koko), but please don't take this as any sort of concession that the first German translator did something right. e: he left a footnote once when there was a genuinely untranslatable pun, and I remember thinking it must have been the only one where he realized. Actually to be fair to the guy, there were at least two quite good bits in his translations. First one was the bit in Soul Music where it's revealed that Imp's name translates to Buddy Holly; since holly is called something entirely else in German, he stuck a bit onto that sentence so it went like "it means stechpalme or holly in another language" which, I'll grant, sounds inelegant but is probably the only way you can preserve the joke. And hey, I wasn't super good at English back then, and I could work it out. And the second one is genuinely great: in The Last Continent when the wizard are stuck on the island, they come across the cigarette bush and wonder what kind of bird would aid the seed transfer by stopping for a smoke. In English the Bursar suggests, obviously, a puffin. In German it's a barn swallow, because it just so happens that the German name for those birds is Rauchschwalbe, which translates easily to smoking swallow. Technically the direct translation is just smoke swallow but the connection is really easy to make. Anyone else got some favourite bits from translations? My Lovely Horse fucked around with this message at 11:47 on Sep 19, 2015 |
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Sep 19, 2015 11:34
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I just started reading the bromeliad as my kids bed time story really cheered me up after finishing the shepherds crown
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Sep 19, 2015 20:01
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BizarroAzrael posted:I would accept painting over it Caesar Romero style. I would demand painting over it Caesar Romero style.
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Sep 20, 2015 17:41
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There's a particular passage in Carpe Jugulum that I've always loved, but also always been slightly confused by. It's the bit where Granny Weatherwax and Mightily Oats are trekking through the wilderness, and they start talking about the nature of sin:quote:An old woman (who happens to be a witch) and a priest are sitting by the road having a conversation. I've always loved this section, and I get what Granny means about "white that's gotten grubby" (how most people are just trying to do the best they can, but are often led astray by ignorance), but I've always struggled slightly with the statement: "sin is when you treat people as things, including yourself". I know it's an indictment of the human tendency to turn people we don't know into homogenised Others, and treat them according to our personal assumptions and stereotypes, and how those stereotypes can easily enable otherwise-good people to commit horrendous crimes. It's one of my favourite moral instructions for that very reason, and has helped me a lot in understanding the motivations behind many of the worst atrocities in history. But what I don't understand is the "including yourself" clause. How exactly are you supposed to Other yourself? How exactly are you supposed to treat yourself like a "thing"? The most I can think of is the kind of selfless dedication many sincere idealists exhibit, putting their own needs way below the needs of whatever ideal they believe in. But I'm not sure how that would be a bad thing. Maybe if the ideal they were pursuing was a terrible one? Like the toxic, self-destructive ideals of masculinity that plague our society? I don't know. Does anyone else have a good reading of this?
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Sep 23, 2015 10:44
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I've always interpreted that as reducing your concept of self to a group. If you're a soldier, don't forget that you're also a person, otherwise you can end up doing sinful things without noticing.
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Sep 23, 2015 12:17
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I'd go further and include stuff like considering yourself an instrument of God's will, an eventuality from circumstances, an animal acting on instinct, or anything of a similar ilk. Basically refusing to take charge of your free will and saying that you have no choice but to be swept away in the current, and in turn, sweep others away as you fall.
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Sep 23, 2015 12:54
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It's a folksy way of expressing Kant's moral philosophy. Always struck me as kind an odd choice for Granny because throughout the rest of the books she's fairly obviously a utilitarian who successfully navigates moral problems that would defeat a Kantian; such as allowing an unborn baby to die to save the life of the mother. I guess the real issue is in analyzing the philosophical consistency of comedy fantasy characters. Rustybear fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Sep 23, 2015 |
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Sep 23, 2015 15:02
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I just started reading The Long Earth and I felt like I should encourage others in this thread to read it f you haven't - it's not Discworld but it's got Terry's voice in it so strongly.
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Sep 23, 2015 20:39
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I've always read it like jamus. People will do horrible poo poo for a cause or a belief, even when it makes no sense. Equally, they'll allow horrible poo poo, even if they disagree, to be done to others. Why that is is twofold; it's either fanaticism or it's a lack of self esteem. Oats has both and so he blindly follows the teachings of the church of Om (which are insane, harsh and conflicting) and allows horror to happen because if it.
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Sep 25, 2015 07:59
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My Lovely Horse posted:Anyone else got some favourite bits from translations? [Excuse my english] Patrick Couton, the french translator is really good and really loved by the readers. He tends to use equivalent reference when something is not known by french peoples, and he sometime add jokes or reference in compensation of those he didn't manage to translate. In an interview he explained that in Soul Music he decided to "translate" Hyde Park by le Parc des princes (a famous stadium in Paris where a lot a concert take place) since it seemed a fitting iconic equivalent. But he was annoyed because he was forced to lose Pratchett's reference to the fact that Hyde was a measurement unit. After additional searchs he found that prinse (Prince and Prinse sound the same in french ) was a old forgotten french measurement unit so the translation is perfect. A few other impressive translation feats: UNDEAD YES, UNPERSON NO ! => INHUMES, OUI ! INHUMAINS, NON ! (Inhumé = buried ) Dwarfs With Altitude => Suprême naine ta mère ( Suprême NTM ( Supreme gently caress Your Mother ) being a french rap group ) Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on = > L'éducation, c'était un peu comme une maladie sexuellement transmissible. Ça rendait inapte à des tas de besognes, puis ça démangeait d'en faire profiter les autres. ( This one is really good since "besognes" means "jobs" but the verb "besogner" is also an informal way to talk about making love, and he choosed to translate" you had the urge" by "ça démangeait" who also mean "it itches" ) It's nice to be able to reread the book in french and english and always find new jokes. The only thing I find disturbing is the remplacement of a dialect by an other. For french readers wee free men speak ch'ti ( the main dialect talked in the north in France ), but I really don't think the ch'ti are seen by the french as the scotts are by the brits. Ho and in Pyramids ephebians talk with an accent from Marseille. I never really understood why. [/Excuse my english]
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Sep 25, 2015 14:11
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Rustybear posted:It's a folksy way of expressing Kant's moral philosophy. Always struck me as kind an odd choice for Granny because throughout the rest of the books she's fairly obviously a utilitarian who successfully navigates moral problems that would defeat a Kantian; such as allowing an unborn baby to die to save the life of the mother. I think it's hard to classify Granny as a utilitarian. She wouldn't classify her actions in midwifery, for example, as good, which utilitarianism presupposes is true for minimal-harm actions. Given her extremely rigid and critical view of herself, I think it's perfectly sensible for her to be someone who has a strong Kantian sense of ethics who nevertheless ends up doing many unethical things. But you could probably get something out of examining the Second Formulation with respect to the Witches books (or to Discworld more generally). Not just the main antagonists, but many of the secondary conflicts revolve around treating people as a means to an end, and in some interestingly ambiguous ways.
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Sep 25, 2015 14:46
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angerbeet posted:I just started reading The Long Earth and I felt like I should encourage others in this thread to read it f you haven't - it's not Discworld but it's got Terry's voice in it so strongly. It's a fine world, it just lacks any real interesting story. It's just a book where some people move through the world without anything very much happening. WHich is OK, but... it's nothing special. I bought the first one, got the second on kobo, and couldn't be bothered with the third 
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Sep 25, 2015 18:35
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thespaceinvader posted:It's a fine world, it just lacks any real interesting story. It's just a book where some people move through the world without anything very much happening. WHich is OK, but... it's nothing special. I bought the first one, got the second on kobo, and couldn't be bothered with the third We'll see with the last one, which Baxter is finishing solo. I'll read it to see how it ends, but I expect it to have even less sparkle than the previous four.
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Sep 25, 2015 19:12
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The sad thing is that there was a short in A Blink of the Screen set in the proto-Long-Earth which was really good and actually had some interesting ideas about using the mechanics of the world to further the story, rather than the other way round. What could have been Also, do you suppose there is an autobiography squirrelled away somewhere in Pterry's estate? I've always wanted one, now more than ever. He has a fairly interesting history.
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Sep 25, 2015 22:07
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Effectronica posted:I think it's hard to classify Granny as a utilitarian. She wouldn't classify her actions in midwifery, for example, as good, which utilitarianism presupposes is true for minimal-harm actions. Given her extremely rigid and critical view of herself, I think it's perfectly sensible for her to be someone who has a strong Kantian sense of ethics who nevertheless ends up doing many unethical things. But you could probably get something out of examining the Second Formulation with respect to the Witches books (or to Discworld more generally). Not just the main antagonists, but many of the secondary conflicts revolve around treating people as a means to an end, and in some interestingly ambiguous ways. Witches Abroad can be interpreted as Granny throwing down against utilitarianism. My take on Granny is that if she ever did nail down a philosophy you could wrap up in a few pithy paragraphs, it'd be the same as she said to Oats would happen if she found religion. Or to put it in almost her own words: "Don’t chase morality, ’cos you’ll never catch it. But, perhaps, you can live morally."
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Sep 26, 2015 04:58
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thespaceinvader posted:It's a fine world, it just lacks any real interesting story. It's just a book where some people move through the world without anything very much happening. WHich is OK, but... it's nothing special. I bought the first one, got the second on kobo, and couldn't be bothered with the third I think I like it because it's what I would do - I'd go West. One of my favourite books growing up was My Side of the Mountain - if Step Day happened here and now I'd be gone in an instant. You make your own story, in this particular set of worlds.
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Sep 26, 2015 06:39
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Tehan posted:Witches Abroad can be interpreted as Granny throwing down against utilitarianism. Possibly, although I have a hard time interpreting Witches Abroad as being about anything but firming up Granny's character, because Lilith's ethos is so inchoate it's almost not there. "I'll force people's lives to match stories (or if that's too hard I'll just punish them for not matching stories), and this makes me good because ???????."
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Sep 27, 2015 02:18
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Why do you need to define Granny Weatherwax outside of Granny Weatherwax? Sort of kinda the point, I thought.
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Sep 27, 2015 02:25
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Rand Brittain posted:Possibly, although I have a hard time interpreting Witches Abroad as being about anything but firming up Granny's character, because Lilith's ethos is so inchoate it's almost not there. Because she's moulding her own life to match the story of the Good Witch, in the process becoming the Wicked Witch. Compare and contrast with Granny, who is the reality of the Good Witch but the story of the Wicked Witch.
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Sep 27, 2015 13:11
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I am re-reading the Watch books, in order. I'm like 80% through Jingo. I realized that I just don't like this book much. It may well be the weakest of the Watch novels. Everything in it goes on just a bit too long. Vetinari with Nobby and Colon? Hilarious, until the fifth time Vetinari puts Fred down without Fred realizing. There's far too much of that kind of thing.
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Sep 28, 2015 05:22
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I'm reading Going Postal again and realizing I really want to see Wes Anderson make it into a movie
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Sep 28, 2015 06:18
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ConfusedUs posted:I am re-reading the Watch books, in order. I'm like 80% through Jingo. Jingo would be a stronger book if you removed half of the Nobby/Fred/Vetinari stuff, imo.
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Sep 28, 2015 06:22
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Here's what I get out of it. First, we get to see see Nobby and Colon out of their element as the ultimate foreigners (and, in Nobby's case, men) abroad, blundering through a foreign country with typical English sensitivity and growing as people by the end of it ("let's go to the Bunch of Grapes instead...") But the Gulli, Gulli and Beti sequence is about far more than Nobby not doing a belly dance and Fred pretending to be a stupid fat idiot. That section also adds considerably to our understanding of Vetinari. It's easy to understand how, once in power, he stayed there. What this section gives us is some very useful glances at how he might have got himself there in the first place. It's a very useful and important piece of character depth to actually get to see Vetinari having to do things for himself, living by his wits and personally getting the donkey down from the minaret; IIRC the only other time we get to see him (as it were) on active service is when we meet him as a young man in Night Watch.
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Sep 28, 2015 10:49
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There's also the end of Raising Steam.
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Sep 28, 2015 11:42
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Only just found out there was a '90s cartoon adaptation of Soul Music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pMjkM2xmBI Jump to 7:45 for some Colon and (a very normal looking) Nobby. It's a bit weird at a glance. EDIT: But Christopher Lee as Death?! Heck yes.
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Sep 30, 2015 20:31
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VagueRant posted:Only just found out there was a '90s cartoon adaptation of Soul Music. They did one of Wyrd Sisters too.
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Sep 30, 2015 22:17
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Going to get a new book and I figure it's time to get started on either Death or the Witches books. Thoughts?
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Sep 30, 2015 22:46
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