|
I just reread Feet of Clay. It's a fun book, though the pacing is a bit off in the middle. It's very well tied together in the end, though, so it really shows Pratchett's genius as a writer.
|
#
?
Jun 17, 2010 13:33
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 12:40 |
|
|
I'm Halfway through Good Omens now. You can definitely spot some of the Pratchett bits. And for some reason a lot of it seems very Douglas Adamsy. Like the bit about how any tape left in a car longer than a fortnight transmogrifies into a Best Of Queen album.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2010 02:22
|
|
|
Entropic posted:I'm Halfway through Good Omens now. You can definitely spot some of the Pratchett bits. And for some reason a lot of it seems very Douglas Adamsy. Like the bit about how any tape left in a car longer than a fortnight transmogrifies into a Best Of Queen album. Reminds me of this bit from The Last Continent: quote:[...] The Lecturer in Recent Runes had gone to sleep with his book carefully shading his eyes. It had originally been entitled Principles of Thaumic Propagation but, because of the action of the sunlight and some specialized high-frequency vibrations from the sand granules on the beach, the words on the cover now read The Omega Conspiracy*
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2010 03:02
|
|
|
appropriatemetaphor posted:So is the consensus that I can show Going Postal to non-Discworld fans and *not* feel embarrassed? It's average. It's not TERRIBLE, but it shows that the director, once again, did not quite GET Pratchett's humor and subtle characterizations. In fact there were almost no jokes at all, come to think of it. It was a straightforward fantasy movie. The point of the book was that both Gilt and Moist are con men, masters of fooling people. Moist just happens to have a conscience (and has a thing for an honest woman). This wasn't made clear in the film, and they reduced Gilt to little better than a comic book scene snarler. Adora just comes across as needlessly mean at times, although the actor playing Moist tries his best to make his attraction seem real. There's also unnecessarily added scenes, like Adora VERY OBVIOUSLY starting smoking from the loss of the clacks. Which in itself is a neat idea, but done so heavy-handed it's embarrassing from a writing standpoint. It's probably one of the best Discworld adaptations, but it still shows really poor directing choices at times.
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2010 10:32
|
|
|
Yeah, I've yet to really be satisfied with any of the TV adaptations. It's like the HHGTTG movie: made by people who don't really "get" the sense of humour of the original. It's all overly dramatic, a little dumbed down, and the general aesthetic of it is close, but not quite there. I wished they'd used some of the money that went to epic CG scenes of 10-mile-long corridors filled with mail and used it to put a few dwarves and trolls in and generally make the city look a bit more, well, Discworldy.
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2010 20:02
|
|
|
Entropic posted:Yeah, I've yet to really be satisfied with any of the TV adaptations. It's like the HHGTTG movie: made by people who don't really "get" the sense of humour of the original. It's all overly dramatic, a little dumbed down, and the general aesthetic of it is close, but not quite there. I wished they'd used some of the money that went to epic CG scenes of 10-mile-long corridors filled with mail and used it to put a few dwarves and trolls in and generally make the city look a bit more, well, Discworldy. What I don't get about these adapations is how unfunny they are. British Humor is legendary. They KNOW how to do subtle jokes and snappy dialogue with perfect timing. Yet there's none of it in the Pratchett adaptations. Why do the directors not "get" this? They have tons and tons and tons of sources and great comedic actors and writers. Are they just hiring cheap rectors? Bad scriptwriters? I wish someone on the inside would tell us.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2010 10:55
|
|
|
All cisterns go! Just started reading Hogfather and it delivers already
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2010 12:10
|
|
|
I think it's simply that Pratchett's (and Adams') work really relies on the written medium. Word puns and such are a lot harder to time correctly when done in film.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2010 12:12
|
|
|
Mokinokaro posted:I think it's simply that Pratchett's (and Adams') work really relies on the written medium. Word puns and such are a lot harder to time correctly when done in film. It's the same with Wodehouse. You can have some perfectly nice, pleasant adaptations, but it's nothing compared to the joy of actually reading his sentences. You just can't get the writing across in any other medium.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2010 12:14
|
|
|
plus some of the funniest bits in pratchett are the footnotes, which are really awkward to do outside of a book. I saw a theatre performance of Guards! Guards! and they'd ring a little bell, freeze everything and a narrator would be lit up with a spotlight to read the footnote. It worked, but it really broke the flow of the dialogue and a lot of the humour was lost.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2010 23:54
|
|
|
So how much of Good Omens did Gaiman actually write? It really reads like a Pratchett book. Granted, I haven't really read anything of Gaiman's... All the best bits are definitely with Crowley and Aziraphale, or the four Bikers of the Apocalypse.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2010 03:18
|
|
|
Entropic posted:So how much of Good Omens did Gaiman actually write? It really reads like a Pratchett book. Granted, I haven't really read anything of Gaiman's... It felt like Gaiman like, sketched the plot, and then Pratchett just wrote everything.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2010 03:39
|
|
|
appropriatemetaphor posted:It felt like Gaiman like, sketched the plot, and then Pratchett just wrote everything. Interesting that they totally went for Pratchett's version of Death over Gaiman's version of Death.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2010 04:43
|
|
|
Mister Roboto posted:What I don't get about these adapations is how unfunny they are. Honestly, I think Hogfather worked just fine. Death is supposed to be a little out of place and it worked. Teatime was supposed to be creepy as poo poo and he was, the only bad part was Nobbs but I can live with that.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2010 07:10
|
|
|
quote:Between the 8th of October 1965 and the 17th of July 1970, acclaimed fantasy author Terry Pratchett wrote stories for the Bucks Free Press newspaper which were published weekly, sometimes in episodic format. They were printed in the Children's Circle section, written under the pseudonym of Uncle Jim. His style of writing and humour are easily recognisable in places. In total, Terry wrote about 250 episodes for the Children's Circle section of the Bucks Free Press. Children's Corner with Uncle Jim Uncle Jim being Terry at age about 17 till 22 give or take. There are a few stories up on the site already, most interesting is the first four parts of a very early carpet people. I've never had the chance to read the original version of that. It is fantastic that they have put this up as a donation / charity site, they could have published these and done very well out of it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2010 11:31
|
|
|
Grumio posted:plus some of the funniest bits in pratchett are the footnotes, which are really awkward to do outside of a book. I saw a theatre performance of Guards! Guards! and they'd ring a little bell, freeze everything and a narrator would be lit up with a spotlight to read the footnote. It worked, but it really broke the flow of the dialogue and a lot of the humour was lost. This sounds really annoying actually. Was the play a literally line by line adaptation of the book?
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2010 21:20
|
|
|
Grumio posted:plus some of the funniest bits in pratchett are the footnotes, which are really awkward to do outside of a book. I saw a theatre performance of Guards! Guards! and they'd ring a little bell, freeze everything and a narrator would be lit up with a spotlight to read the footnote. It worked, but it really broke the flow of the dialogue and a lot of the humour was lost.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2010 21:46
|
|
|
Also similar to the H2G2 movie. Those bits were some of the best done parts of the film.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2010 22:47
|
|
|
I'm going to begin reading all of the Discworld books in published order. Good idea or bad idea?
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 00:47
|
|
|
Well, you can definitely discover the improvement as the books go on and then watch them falter slightly on the last few. The first few don't read anything like the last ones mind you.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 00:57
|
|
|
cheese posted:I'm going to begin reading all of the Discworld books in published order. Good idea or bad idea? Go through them in any order you like as long as you don't skip any book in a particular series. E.g. if you want to just read all the guards or Rincewind books in order go ahead.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 03:27
|
|
|
Entropic posted:Go through them in any order you like as long as you don't skip any book in a particular series. E.g. if you want to just read all the guards or Rincewind books in order go ahead. I see. I've had several people who have read all of them advise me to go with published order, regardless of 'story arc' because they said you miss out on tons of inside jokes, cameos, etc since you know things as the author wrote them.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 04:14
|
|
|
Yeah read stuff in the order it was written.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 04:32
|
|
|
cheese posted:I see. I've had several people who have read all of them advise me to go with published order, regardless of 'story arc' because they said you miss out on tons of inside jokes, cameos, etc since you know things as the author wrote them. If you have access to the entire chronology, yes. You can see the plot threads for the future stories showing up slowly. If you're missing books, though, ask the fans, which I guess means us, for any spoiler-related advice.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 07:12
|
|
|
appropriatemetaphor posted:It felt like Gaiman like, sketched the plot, and then Pratchett just wrote everything. Pratchett wrote most of Good Omens but Gaiman still wrote some of it himself. Here's what Pratchett himself said on the subject: quote:"Neil and I had known each other since early 1985. Doing it was our idea, not a publisher's deal."
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 09:23
|
|
|
Allright what was the maggot-reversal then? I can't remember that at all.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 10:15
|
|
|
Nilbop posted:Allright what was the maggot-reversal then? I can't remember that at all. The call center selling double glazing that Hastur wiped out when he escaped the ansaphone. On Saturday(after the apocalypse) Newt receives a call from the named character there.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 11:58
|
|
|
cheese posted:I'm going to begin reading all of the Discworld books in published order. Good idea or bad idea?
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 18:09
|
|
|
It's worth it, though. When you look into your bookshelf and see 30+ novels of Discworld you feel like a king or a duke or something. After that you basically become a literary drug dealer. I keep re-buying Pratchetts because I'll lend one out and never see it again, or I read it so much the first 20 pages fell out
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 18:43
|
|
|
BELL END posted:I'm currently doing this, I'm nearing the end of Wyrd Sisters. It's costing me a small fortune to buy up all the ones I was missing though. I'm trying to find some online seller that will offer decent shipping. The books can be had for less than 2 bucks easily enough (and mere cents for 'good' quality used ones) but they all seem to be 3 or 4 dollars shipping a pop.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2010 20:24
|
|
|
If you can find a jumble sale near you they're really cheap. Every saturday there's a jumble sale in my town hall and I can get second-hand Pratchett books for like 50p. (note, I live in rural England so less civilized countries may not be able to get these awesome deals)
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2010 12:57
|
|
|
AXE COP posted:(note, I live in rural England so less civilized countries...) You mean like say, North Sentinel Island?
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2010 13:01
|
|
|
LooseChanj posted:You mean like say, North Sentinel Island? Haha. Terry lives in the next county to me though 
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2010 13:12
|
|
|
AXE COP posted:(note, I live in rural England so less civilized countries may not be able to get these awesome deals) The fact that you used the term "jumble sale" kind of gave this away. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2010 14:25
|
|
|
Yodzilla posted:The fact that you used the term "jumble sale" kind of gave this away. In Ireland we call them "debilitated manuscript disposal enclaves."
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2010 19:19
|
|
|
Yodzilla posted:The fact that you used the term "jumble sale" kind of gave this away. Well what do the yanks call it? ...They do have jumble sales, right? I mean, I know it's a barren wasteland over there but jumble sales are a basic human right 
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2010 20:11
|
|
|
AXE COP posted:...They do have jumble sales, right? They're called rummage sales over here.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2010 20:13
|
|
|
Or flea market. Or if it's at someone's residence garage or yard sale.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2010 20:19
|
|
|
Garage sale or yard sale if it is one household, rummage sale if it is several, or flea market if it is lots of people selling stolen poo poo in one place.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2010 20:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 12:40 |
|
|
I'm 4/5ths through Unseen Academicals and I'm sad to say it's one of his lesser books, some nice bits though. Nutt is a good character who should be used in other books. Vetinari fraternizing with football fans and drinking beer was not needed, prolly the alzheimers. Can't wait for the next book with Moist Von Lipwig though.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2010 01:32
|
|
