The Terry Pratchett Thread: For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Terry Pratchett Thread: For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

Well, I'm standing in line now to have my book signed by pterry. In the q&a he revealed that the crossword puzzle answer is "carthorse"(which is an anagram of orchestra, ie "shaken players")

Other news, the movie adaptation of CoM & LF(being filmed together) Vetinari has been cast and is supposedly "perfect".
Curse these other fans in line. also curse the improbably British family behind me. what are you people doing in torrance!

# ¿ Sep 25, 2007 03:45

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 22:14

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

ONE YEAR LATER posted:

Vetinari wasn't the Patrician in the first two books

Movie!

# ¿ Sep 25, 2007 04:00

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

LooseChanj posted:

Is that this? Says it's for tv, but I suppose you could still call it a movie.

Yeah, made for TV movie like Hogfather.

And Argus Filch is going to be a pre-change librarian!

# ¿ Sep 25, 2007 06:57

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

bobula posted:

Yes.

I went to the Torrance signing earlier; got there late because I became ensnared in the trap that is IKEA and arrived just in time to hear his last line of the talk and then people lined up for the signing. The line took about two hours to go through; I was one of the last ten or so. There was a surprising amount of people (to me at least) there. I didn't know he was so popular around here; very nice showing. The man himself is much smaller and elderly looking than I realized. I'd like to hear more of what he had to say during his talk, so I'd appreciate any more details.

I've now put my copy away and started looking for an ebook version.

I too was in the very back for the talk as I arrived mere minutes before he began. By pure dumb luck I got into the back of the white ticket line instead of the red ticket line, so it only took me 45 minutes or so. Do you recall the weird people with a vaguely British accent in th back of a line? I was right in front of them.

He talked a little about how traveling is very hard on him, various health issues(I think his parents died or were hospitalized recently) and his bad reaction to CA sushi. Not much about a new Discworld book, he did say something about a non-discworld adventure book, something about how he hates weak woman characters, and how his protagonist-a timid mid Victorian era "gel"-became a badass in two chapters of being shipwrecked. His caveat to this was that his mind is incredibly non-linear, and nothing has been finished yet. I do not recall any questions being asked about the new Tiffany Aching book.
The first thing he did was ask everyone if they liked Mr. Fusspots new toy.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2007 16:21

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

This thread was the first time I heard about Unseen Academicals. I hope it is more of Ponder Stibbons and the faculty being awesome. See also the short story with the Wizards:
A Collegiate Casting Out of Devilish Devices

# ¿ Feb 15, 2008 08:50

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

Moist von Lipwig posted:

I haven't heard much about the COM adaptation, and I heard about Pterry here, which is AFP I guess.

I finally saw it last night and it was ok. Not perfect and obviously slightly altered for TV-shortened the Wyrmburg bit among others-but kinda cute. I didn't find Jeremy Irons performance as Vetinari as amazing as the internet had led me to believe. "super secret A list actor who is perfect for the part" but it was still good if too brief to really stand out. The Trymon story was expanded, which I felt was a good move as it helped add a nice overarching plot and also because even when fat, Tim Curry is awesome. Archancellor Weatherwax also rocked until he died and the Librarian was nice to see, even if the ~~monkey~~ orangutang costume was kinda goofy.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2008 04:28

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

The_Doctor posted:

Because that's how Terry talks. He was doing an impression. It doesn't make it any less stupid, I agree.

Yeah, even his normal voice is kind of weird and high.

I think the only part of the palace scene that looked like it does in my head was Wuffles.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2008 00:09

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

The Frozen One posted:

Vimes is, as has often been pointed out, exactly like Old Stoneface and he takes pride in that. Stoneface killed the last king of Ankh-Morpork and he did it outside the law. Nobby has a pretty good understanding of Vimes and the thought of becoming king of Ankh-Morpork frightened the hell out of him because he knew that Vimes would kill any man who would be titled king. Vimes hates kings and everything they stand for with a passion and he knows exactly how Ankh-Morpork will slip back into the way things were, no matter who is king

I can certainly picture a reality where Vimes would kill Carrot: where Carrot, whether reluctantly or not, takes the title of King of Ankh-Morpork. There is a huge amount of darkness in Vimes and the only thing that keeps it back is Vimes belief in the law and justice. Kings are abhorrent to Vimes exactly because they are above the law, people to whom different or no rules apply simply because they have a crown on their heads and a few thousand soldiers behind them. If Carrot became king he would be ignoring everything that Vimes taught him about the law and everything Vimes believed in.

Carrot becoming Patrician is another matter entirely, but king? Vimes would never stand for having another king of Ankh-Morpork, even if it was Carrot. No matter how well intentioned or just Carrot tried to be it would all eventually boil down to 'you have to do this or that because a supreme being (the king) commands you to. You don't really have a choice and anyways the king knows how to do things better than you.'

I disagree. The point made in the books is not that Vimes "hates kings" (he hates most authority figures if you haven't noticed) but that he hates the idea of anybody being considered outside or above the law. The salient point about his ancestor is not that he killed a king, but that he killed a king who was clearly violating the law and yet nobody else would stop him. You actually say this but then double back and say "Vimes hates kings" which is kind of simplistic and wrong.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2008 08:44

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

Mokinokaro posted:

It's about time Stibbons got his own book.

For his sins.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2009 20:58

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

DontMockMySmock posted:

Who said Rincewind was in it?

The luggage is there. Usually Rincewind is near the luggage.

# ¿ May 28, 2009 05:43

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

Aho! The Megapode!

I will never get tired of the Wizards.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2009 05:19

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

Nilbop posted:

The Old Sam was one of my favouritest things in UA.

Also, while the Chair of Indefinite Studies, the Lecturer in Recent Runes and the Senior Wrangler are all essentially the same character a la Solario and Solanio from the Merchant of Venice (with the minor exception of whichever one of them has a soft spot for Mrs Whitlow), the loss of the Dean from the Faculty cast hit me hard. At least this meant Dr Hix got more room to grow. Coulda done with more Rincewind though.

Coulda always done with more Rincewind.

Not enough Bursar.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2009 04:19

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 22:14

Eunabomber: Dec 30, 2002

Mr Hootington posted:

I'm sorry, but aren't the wizards supposed to be a bunch of twits. At least that is the impression I get from all, but Ponder Stibbons.

I quite liked the few moments in UA when the "twit" mask slipped off Ridcully.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2010 04:37

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