Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Vector]

I don't even like much of the later work, which went into literary parody and Great Novel-bashing.  Some really good ones, though.

[quinnr]

Was at a science museum today, and watched an IMAX movie about polar bears. The entire plot of the movie was "Stop global warming, or polar bears will eat polar bear cubs." Seriously, apparently since the ice is melting there are less seals, so the mother polar bears have to protect their babies from the hoards of male polar bears who want to eat their babies. Every time you drive your car, you are promoting polar bear cannibalism! (I am not sure if I am sad because of the message or because the movie was so...straightforward in its "GLOBAL WARMING AAAHHHHH!")

[Solifuge]

If you mean books like FaustEric, HamletWyrd Sisters, etc., those are still early books I group with his Parody-Heavy/Trope-Bashing stuff. His post 90's stuff got steadily darker, and more able to stand as stories in their own right, instead of relying on classical literature and other fantasy novels to lambast.

Seriously, Small Gods is about the earliest I'd start someone, if I wanted them to appreciate Pratchett.

[Skyrunner]

My new Galaxy s4 has way too much junkware preinstalled. Examples include SVoice SHealth SPlanner SWatch SEVERYTHING I need to find out a way to remove these things. I think they're burning my battery like crazy.

Edit: wow chrome was using 500 MB RAM out of 1000ish available Reset it, it now uses 50.

[quinnr]

My new Galaxy s4 has way too much junkware preinstalled. Examples include SVoice SHealth SPlanner SWatch SEVERYTHING I need to find out a way to remove these things. I think they're burning my battery like crazy.

My tablet came with a few things like that. I think rooting it (Android for "jailbreak") is the only way to get rid of that preinstalled stuff. Depending on the company that sold it that could be rather easy or rather difficult/risky, so good luck D:

[Pnx]

So as some of you might know, as a follow up to a book binge, a friend and I had a bet that we must read each others favorite series. As such, I'm currently half way through the first of the Twilight books.

HAVE YOU FUCKING READ THIS SHIT? Holy crap I'm loosing faith in humanity knowing it is so popular. Seriously, I knew it would be bad, but I never knew it was so blatantly insulting to all involved. Do any girls actually think this is romantic? Really? Really? Really? Am I to understand that women like jerks who drag them by the collar and force them into their car more than guys who attempt to be friendly? Good god we really are raising a generation of domestic abuse victims.

No, I don't buy that shit. I don't know what is going on, but I'm not in on the joke... I remember high school, kind of. The female half of my year was better than this, I'm sure of it.

In related news, she has apparently finished The Colour of Magic and really enjoyed it. So there is some good coming from all this. Maybe I can instill some good taste.

I think it's supposed to have some sort of appeal in the sense of prince charming coming off and whisking the ordinary every day girl. I don't know, it all seemed very mindless to me.


Pratchett meanwhile... well I'll be honest, part of the reason I like his work so much is that it has such a huge nostalgia appeal to me. He was basically the guy that got me into books. There is such a huge appeal in his works for me. The discworld is a parody world, that is basically built out of parodies, but it is also the most incredibly vivacious parody, which is something I absolutely adore, I don't think anyone has ever done a parody of anything that felt so... plausible? I'm not sure.

That said I think I'm inclined to agree with Soli. I think in the earlier books it really sort of felt like he was finding his feet. The later books had a kind of substance that the earlier books lacked, they feel a little half-arsed and a lot of what was put in them was later more or less swept under the table.

Although I wouldn't start from Small Gods and read onwards, that would mean missing out on Pyramids which was one of my favorites.

[Max White]

I agree he has gotten better with time. I, controversially, think his Industrial Revolution is the best so far, but I wouldn't say I disliked any of the books. From the moment Twoflower stepped off the boat I was enjoying myself, and have been since. In retrospect the earlier works were composed of jokes, rather than forming a greater coherent plot, but they were damn good jokes.

I don't know, I feel he parodies not things, but our perception of things. I like that.

[SalmonGod]

HAVE YOU FUCKING READ THIS SHIT? Holy crap I'm loosing faith in humanity knowing it is so popular. Seriously, I knew it would be bad, but I never knew it was so blatantly insulting to all involved. Do any girls actually think this is romantic? Really? Really? Really? Am I to understand that women like jerks who drag them by the collar and force them into their car more than guys who attempt to be friendly? Good god we really are raising a generation of domestic abuse victims.

No, I don't buy that shit. I don't know what is going on, but I'm not in on the joke... I remember high school, kind of. The female half of my year was better than this, I'm sure of it.

I kid you not, my sister actually said, and I quote, "All men should read this as a manual for how they should behave in a relationship."

Coincidentally, she became a single mother at 16 years old to a guy who cheated on her profusely and then got himself deported before the kid was even born.

[Solifuge]

I personally ignore the Rincewind Novels, except for The Last Hero (which is beautifully illustrated, and makes for a great summary/retrospective on early Pratchett.) I also don't care for the Witch Novels (most of which are just literary parodies) except for the NacMacFeegle/Tiffany Aching ones, which I hear are pretty good Young Adult books.

I really enjoy the The City Watch stories, which tend to have a sort of Who-Dunnit vibe, with Sam Vimes as a very relateable and grounded main character, and a very colorful supporting cast. I love how Vimes evolves over time, too. The Death novels tend to be sillier, and heavier on the metaphysical shenanigans, but I enjoyed Hogfather and Theif of Time. I'd group the Ancient Civilizations novels with these ones too, since Death and Metaphysical stuff plays a pretty significant role in them as well; Small Gods is probably one of my favorite stories of his. I've not read much of the Industrial Revolution books, but I really enjoyed The Truth and Going Postal.

[quinnr]

Depends on if the laptop has an unlockable bootloader...

This. Why is this even a question?
If I bought a laptop and couldn't easily remove obnoxious operating systems from it, I would...be so grumpy it isn't even funny.

[Max White]

I've not read much of the Industrial Revolution books, but I really enjoyed The Truth and Going Postal.

Making money is worth the read, but Going Postal was better.

Anybody read Nation?

[Skyrunner]

I read Making Money, before Going Postal, as my first ever Pratchett book. Loved it.

[anzki4]

I bought some of Pratchett's books quite young, because they were cheap paperbacks and had a pretty cover. I found them boring, but I tried re-reading them often, but never finished them. Then I borrowed one of his other books from a library and tried reading it. (It was Lords and Ladies.) I slogged trough the beginning not really getting into it this time either; I still found it boring. Then I decided for some reason to start it again from the beginning and this time I focused on the reading more. I read the book in a day and loved it. Since then I've read plenty of his novels and liked - at leas to some degree - all of them.

Pratchett was pretty much the writer who got me paying attention to more subtle details and nuances. (You pretty much have in order to enjoy Discworld-novels. Especially the earlier ones.)

[Steelmagic]

I ate too much. Goddammit i need to stop doing that.

[Parsely]

I ate too much. Goddammit i need to stop doing that.

I ate two entire boxes of macaroni. Still hungry.