Proceedings of the Castle Aching Parish Council, 1905

[Hroth]

2 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

You have to accept that it's not Pratchett and not the Disc as you know it, but an alternative version elsewhere in the multiverse.  If you can do that, you can judge the piece on its merits. If you view it as an adaptation of the books, or set in the same world, you'll never be able to accept it. 

 

Its the (mis)use of specific named characters that grates on the nerves.  If it had been positioned as a generic fantasy world, with characters that performed the functions of "Vimes", "Carrot", Angua", "Vetinari" and so on without naming them thus and without the "inspired by Pratchett" marketing, then the suspension of disbelief would be easier to achieve and a viewer might accept it for what it is, with the occasional "thats a bit Discworld" thought.

 

 

[Edwardian]

14 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Its the (mis)use of specific named characters that grates on the nerves.  If it had been positioned as a generic fantasy world, with characters that performed the functions of "Vimes", "Carrot", Angua", "Vetinari" and so on without naming them thus and without the "inspired by Pratchett" marketing, then the suspension of disbelief would be easier to achieve and a viewer might accept it for what it is, with the occasional "thats a bit Discworld" thought.

 

 

 

Yes, keeping the specific Pratchett characters' names probably hindered, more than it helped, the piece. 

[Annie]

2 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I think that if you grow up somewhere else in the world, you will relate ME to the landscapes you know and love. For me, though, as a native of England and a Son of Mercia,  much of ME evokes England, and, when living in the Americas for a number of years, reading Tolkien was how I dealt with my longing for England, home and beauty.   

As a lonely and somewhat introverted teenager I read Lord of the Rings ten times completely immersing myself in the book and it was very easy for me to relate the places in the book to the NZ countryside I knew so well.  So as you can imagine when Peter Jackson produced his films I had no difficulty at all with plunging into them too.  Friends actually became slightly wary of me wanting to drag them off to a picture theatre yet again to watch the movies.  BUT then I've always prefered fantasy to real life anyway.

I can very much understand your experience of Tolkien's books though James as seeing them as being set in your own familiar landscapes, - which of course they mostly are.

[monkeysarefun]

 

8 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I think that if you grow up somewhere else in the world, you will relate ME to the landscapes you know and love. 

Lennard Nimoys interpretation is more like where I grew up.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[Edwardian]

52 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Lennard Nimoys interpretation is more like where I grew up.

 

 

 

The professor only has himself to blame .....

 

Once upon a time (my crest has long since fallen) I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend [...]. I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched. The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama. Absurd. [emphasis added]

 

Not sure this was exactly what he had in mind.

 

 

 

[drmditch]

13 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Its the (mis)use of specific named characters that grates on the nerves.  If it had been positioned as a generic fantasy world, with characters that performed the functions of "Vimes", "Carrot", Angua", "Vetinari" and so on without naming them thus and without the "inspired by Pratchett" marketing, then the suspension of disbelief would be easier to achieve and a viewer might accept it for what it is, with the occasional "thats a bit Discworld" thought.

 

 

I did try to watch this, having found it on Iplayer.

Currently my part of County Durham has no broadcast signal following the Bilsdale transmitter fire.

I will not watch any more, for the reasons stated above.

 

However, it is quite difficult to find anything on television to watch. Anyone have any sensible suggestions?

I don't have satellite or any pay-to-view services.

Also I dislike explicit violence and people speaking in constant expletives.

 

[Annie]

6 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Lennard Nimoys interpretation is more like where I grew up.

 

 

What on earth was that! 

[rocor]

13 hours ago, Annie said:

What on earth was that! 

 Let Leonard Nimroy explain it. 

 

 

[Edwardian]

In the news .... the latest Western withdrawal from Afghanistan .....

 

 

Though it's more like the last chopper from Saigon, or the last flight out of the Stalingrad kettle.

 

I've an awful feeling that the US has just lost the Great Game, without ever having realised she was playing it. 

 

[wagonman]

On 14/08/2021 at 22:46, drmditch said:

However, it is quite difficult to find anything on television to watch. Anyone have any sensible suggestions?

I don't have satellite or any pay-to-view services.

Also I dislike explicit violence and people speaking in constant expletives.

 

 

The Walter Presents segment on C4 has some good stuff if you don't mind foreign language/subtitles. The 3rd series of the original Belgian 'Professor T' is generally amiable tosh but quite entertaining. Otherwise you'll have to mine the archives.

[wagonman]

Afghanistan. Where imperial overreach goes to die.

[webbcompound]

19 minutes ago, wagonman said:

Afghanistan. Where imperial overreach goes to die.

Apart from the Greeks. About 493BCE Darius the Great exiled the entire population of the Greek city of Barca to Bactria (aka today Afghanistan) They rapidly became the dominant group locally, and became rulers. When Alexander invaded the area in 326BCE the presence of Greek culture made things much easier. After Alexander the region was ruled by the Seleucids, then as that empire collapsed became the Graeco-Bactrians, and eventually the Indo-Greeks whose kingdom finally fell to the Scythians in AD10. So Greek control in Afghanistan lasted from c493BCE until 10AD, a period of just over 500 years.  Everyone since that time however...

[Nearholmer]

Make a bonfire, and watch that.

 

We’re camping, and made a fire last night, and my youngest, who is as electronics-oriented as any child of her age (= far too much) said: “This is better than the internet”.

[Hroth]

54 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

In the news .... the latest Western withdrawal from Afghanistan .....

 

 

Though it's more like the last chopper from Saigon, or the last flight out of the Stalingrad kettle.

 

I've an awful feeling that the US has just lost the Great Game, without ever having realised she was playing it. 

 

 

Its about time our alleged leaders paid attention to past history.  Even if not studying the actual, a fictional story like Flashman might have rung a few warning bells...

[Edwardian]

This is very, very clever ....

 

 

 

[alastairq]

Seems..they've all been to Specsavers too....

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

This is very, very clever ....

So cool, daddio!  

[CKPR]

6 hours ago, Edwardian said:

the US has just lost the Great Game, without ever having realised she was playing it. 

 

The US regardless of  governing party have singularly failed to realise that the bilateral world of the Cold War has inexorably evolved into a trilateral 'great game' in which the autocracies of Russia and China recognise their mutual interests. 

Edited August 16, 2021 by CKPR

[Regularity]

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

I've an awful feeling that the US has just lost the Great Game, without ever having realised she was playing it. 

You touch upon the problem I have with MAGA:

”Again”?

[Annie]

A COVID-19 Delta infection has been identified here in Auckland.  We're on the brink of going into deep lockdown.  

[drmditch]

55 minutes ago, Annie said:

A COVID-19 Delta infection has been identified here in Auckland.  We're on the brink of going into deep lockdown.  

Sorry to hear this.

[Edwardian]

59 minutes ago, Annie said:

A COVID-19 Delta infection has been identified here in Auckland.  We're on the brink of going into deep lockdown.  

 

It seems odd, from the UK perspective, that a single case is the cause of such concern or, even, necessarily newsworthy, but I think it is rightly a cause for concern; the Enemy is within your gates and the Delta variant spreads like wildfire.  I hope that strict measures, that your sensible government will no doubt implement, will  nip this in the bud. 

[Annie]

33 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

It seems odd, from the UK perspective, that a single case is the cause of such concern or, even, necessarily newsworthy, but I think it is rightly a cause for concern; the Enemy is within your gates and the Delta variant spreads like wildfire.  I hope that strict measures, that your sensible government will no doubt implement, will  nip this in the bud. 

After 167 days of no community infections this has come as a real blow to everyone here.  As you say James, the Enemy is within our gates and fortunately our health department is practiced and ready to deal with such a situation.  Our government is very much sticking with an elimination strategy and isn't going to give up on it. 

We will be at level 4 lockdown for 3 days while genome sequencing and contact tracing is done and then our government will make a further decision as to what comes next once all the data is in.  Auckland and Coromandel where the infected person has been known to have travelled will be under lockdown for seven days.  Routine waste water testing for viral artifacts will be stepped up to daily testing in both places.

A few minutes ago my smartphone woke up with a recorded Civil Defence announcement about the lockdown and what precautions to take.  The last time I heard it do that was last year and it was upsetting to hear it do it again.  Coromandel is just over the other side of the mountain from us so it's all a little too close to home (sigh).   

 

 

[Edwardian]

17 minutes ago, Annie said:

 

A few minutes ago my smartphone woke up with a recorded Civil Defence announcement about the lockdown and what precautions to take. 

 

So, that's what competent government sounds like. I had wondered.

 

17 minutes ago, Annie said:

 

The last time I heard it do that was last year and it was upsetting to hear it do it again.  Coromandel is just over the other side of the mountain from us so it's all a little too close to home (sigh).   

 

 

 

 

Sit tight, Annie, mark your door, metaphorically speaking, with lamb's blood, and the shadow will surely pass.  

[Hroth]

39 minutes ago, Annie said:

A few minutes ago my smartphone woke up with a recorded Civil Defence announcement about the lockdown and what precautions to take.  The last time I heard it do that was last year and it was upsetting to hear it do it again.  Coromandel is just over the other side of the mountain from us so it's all a little too close to home (sigh).   

 

At least you've had your double-jab, so you'll have some measure of protection.  As Mr Ed says, sit tight and minimise your external contacts.  Good luck!  But how the hell did Delta get into NZ?

 

21 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

So, that's what competent government sounds like. I had wondered.

 

If the BorisMob implemented such messaging, we'd have warnings every half hour, all contradictory.  Rather like the NHS App pinging everyone.....