Discworld Monthly - Issue 158: June 2010

1. Editorial

Welcome to issue 158. It's only been three weeks since the last issue but I wanted to get this one out in time for the weekend. This issue we include our review of the new adaptation of Going Postal that those with Sky1 will be able to watch on Sunday 30th May at 6pm and Monday 31st May at 6pm.

Don't forget, if you visit a play or a talk and would like to let the world know about it, please feel free to email your review to info@discworldmonthly.co.uk and we will consider it for publication.

--
Jason Anthony (Editor) info@discworldmonthly.co.uk
William Barnett (Deputy Editor)
Richard Massey (Skin Job)

2. News

It appears that the new housing estate in Wincanton that originally had roads named Treacle Mine Road and Peach Pie Street will get some more Discworld street names. Do you fancy living in Hen And Chickens Field, Morpork Street or Kinklebury Street?

discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=WALK158

The Daily Mail recently included an article about Terry called The Secret of my success. You can find out more at:

discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=MAIL158A

The Daily Mail also has an article entitled: 'Yes, I have got Alzheimer's, but in many ways I'm the luckiest man alive': Terry Pratchett on defying dementia.

discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=MAIL158B

A new website that contains the fictional stories that Terry wrote whilst he was working as a journalist for the Bucks Free Press newspaper in the mid to late 1960s has just launched.

The stories have never been made available outside of the original issues of the newspapers that they were published in; there are some true gems, including a Carpet People story that ran in issues published late 1965; pre-dating the publication of the original Carpet People book by at least 5 years!

~~www.terrypratchett.weebly.com~~

Paul Kidby has designed and painted an elephant for the Orangutan Foundation which they will be auctioned in July. The elephant named Eko (Indonesian for first born) will be on display in Green Park, London until the end of June and is part of Elephant Parade London 2010.

The elephants will be auctioned live by Harry Dalmeny of Sotheby's on the 3rd of July 2010 at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The auction will run from 12:30pm - 1:30pm.

The Orangutan Foundation keeps 70% of proceeds from the auction of Eko (lot number 195) and Paul Kidby will keep 15%, so they are trying to make sure that they get the highest sum possible! The auction site is now accepting online bidding from this site:

www.givinglots.co.uk/event/elephantparade181-200

The murder mystery returns to Wadfest:

Strange things have been happening at Dame Victoria Waddington's Posh School for Girls of Either Gender.

This is a school of achievement - They win the most prestigious awards.

The sports teams always come home with the trophy.

Everyone is happy.

But nobody likes to talk about the students that disappear...

If you want to take part in this year's Murder Mystery, please email Rob Lupine at wizardonedge@aol.com and put the words Kill Me in your email heading and send me your name, contact details and Wadfest ticket number (I need your ticket number to verify you are coming - it would be embarrassing if the murderer didn't show up!).

www.wadfest.co.uk

Discworld Dates...

This section will contain events that you need to keep in your diary. Entries will remain until they go out of date. New entries will include the word [New] next to them. If this section gets too large we will start pruning entries.

[AU, Updated] The Drummers Downunder, the Sydney sister of the Broken Drummers, will have their next meeting on Monday7th June from 7pm at Maloneys on the corner of Pitt & Goulburn Streets (across the road from World Square), Sydney, Australia. Visitors to Sydney are also very welcome. For more information please contact Sim Lauren simlauren@hotmail.com

[UK, Updated] The Broken Drummers is a London Discworld Group that meets once a month on a Monday evening. Membership is free - just come along. New members and visitors to London are both welcome and encouraged.

The next meeting will be on Monday 7th June (to avoid clashing with the Wincanton Spring Event) at The Monkey Puzzle, Paddington, London, W2 1JQ.

E-mail brokendrummers@yahoo.co.uk

[UK] Wyrd Sisters at The Place! Wyrd Sisters is being performed at The Place Theatre, Bradgate Road, Bedford from Tuesday May 23 to Saturday May 29.

Each performance kicks off at 7.30 and the tickets cost 7.50 GBP (6 GBP conc.) They can be purchased at www.theplacebedford.org.uk/tickets. For more details - www.countryplayers.org.uk

[Ireland, New] Du players will be performing select scenes from Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters as part of the Dublin Shakespeare Festival 2010. The performances will take place at:

St. Stephens Green at 2 o'clock on Monday 7th of June and The GMB, Trinity College at 2'clock on Tuesday the 8th.

There will be different scenes each day so please come along to both if you can.

[UK] The Really Necessary Travelling Actors are performing Wyrd Sisters at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth from Tuesday 27 July to Saturday 31 July 2010. Curtain 19:30

Box Office 02392 649000

Tickets: All seats 11 GBP (Concessions 9 GBP)

[UK] Wadfest 2010 the premiere Discworld camping event takes place from 20th - 22nd August 2010 at Trentfield Farm, Notts.

www.wadfest.co.uk/

[UK] The 2010 Discworld Convention will take place from 27th - 30th August 2010 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel.

www.dwcon.org/

[AU, Updated] The third Australian Discworld Convention will be held on 8th, 9th and 10th April 2011 at the Penrith Panthers conference centre in Penrith, NSW.

Keep checking in at ~~ausdwcon.org/events~~ The website has been updated with hotel information and lots more Registration is now open at early bird prices, but full prices for registration come into effect on 1st July.

Volunteers needed. Contact enquiries@ausdwcon.org (no mimes - by order of the Patrician). Want to help publicise this Convention in your area? Contact publicity@ausdwcon.org

Now available - Promotional merchandise featuring our stylish logo by graphic animator Rhianna Williams. www.zazzle.com.au/nullus_anxietas

[US, New] NADWCon2011 planning is underway. The dates of the new con will be July 7-12, 2011, and the location will be the Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor's Club, in Madison, Wisconsin.

More details as they emerge, along with website details etc.

[DE] The German Discworld Convention 2011 will take place from 30th September to 3rd October 2011. Assassins will roam the halls of Castle Bilstein but they promise not to harm visitors of the 3rd German Discworld Convention during that time (except when contracted). More details will follow in the upcoming months.

Small Ads...

Please note, DWM has no way of checking the veracity or validity of any of the items in our small ads section. As always, exercise caution when giving out your details over the Internet. We *strongly* recommend parental supervision for younger readers who
follow up any of these contacts.

Ian Jarrett ianjarrett2010@hotmail.co.uk writes: I work for Oxfam and we have a copy of Nation that's been donated, 1st edition hb going for 7.99 GBP plus p&p.

If interested, please email me with Pratchett in the email heading.

Richard Stokes R.ick@tiscali.co.uk writes: I have decided for
purely economic reasons to part with my entire collection of Terry Pratchett books.

I have most of his works in 1st/1st hardback format (except Colour and Fantastic as the UK 1st's were out of my price range) and where they came with a gift, e.g. chequebook etc, I have those too. All are signed and most of the early books have his original long signature.

There are 66 books including the diaries, plus some signed proofs and all the comics and maps (some signed) as well as other magazines etc where Sir Terry has made a contribution.

I am interested in hearing from anyone that would give me a fair price for them as a job lot.

3. Readers' Letters

If you have any letters or comments, please email them to info@discworldmonthly.co.uk

We assume any correspondence is eligible for use in the newsletter unless otherwise stated, including the sender's email address. We may also edit your letters and send them to the Ankh Morpork Post Office.

It is vitally important that you don't pass off other people's work as your own. If you use information from other resources please let us know so we can give proper credit.

The best letter of the month will receive a Kiss the Cook print supplied as by Bonsai Trading. Sadly Bonsai Trading is no longer trading but John Pagan has kindly supplied me with a number of prints to give away.

*
* From: "Damien Smith" doctor_s_@hotmail.com
*
I saw an article recently where NASA and the European Space Agency plan to jointly launch three ships to orbit the Sun and shoot lasers at each other in an effort to either confirm or debunk Einstein's theory of relativity by attempting to detect gravitational waves. It didn't sound too Discworldy until I noticed the quote "They're particularly interested in the "galactic song" emitted from dying stars that resounds through the universe for millions of years, and even "the faint whispers of waves generated shortly after the Big Bang"." I bet throughout the planning and budgeting process no one ever even considered contacting the Listening Monks for their view.

discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=NASA158

WB (long-suffering proof reader) replies: all credit to Damien for getting his quotation marks in the right place! Although I wondered about 'Discworldy' vs 'Discworldly'...

*
* From: "Martin Parsons" Martin.Parsons@bromley.gov.uk
*
I note that the Guardian newspaper recently reported Terry as criticising the science of Dr Who as being "paper thin", and as having "ludicrous" storylines. Surely this is the pot calling the kettle black on a cosmic scale? I have enjoyed nearly all of the Discworld novels very much, but I would rather watch any episode of Who than have to sit through another viewing of the TV adaptation of Hogfather. Terry is a wonderful author, but people can tire of pundits.

DWM replies: I think the difference is that Terry writes fantasy not sci-fi and therefore they are not comparable. You really can't compare the Discworld adaptations to stories written specifically for television - they are too different. Did you notice at the end of Terry's comment where he said that despite everything he said, he still sits down to watch it every Saturday.

WB adds: I don't agree that Discworld books & Dr Who episodes are not comparable - but I also think Terry's earned the right to air his views!

*
* From: "Peter Smith" petesmit@blueyonder.co.uk
*
I read in the local paper that Wyrd Sisters will be performed by Kirkcaldy Amateur Dramatics Society (KADS) sometime in September.

For those who don't know, Kirkcaldy is in Scotland, East coast on the North shore of the Firth of Forth and is in the Kingdom of Fife.

DWM replies: LoTM goes to Peter - now where is this Scotland place, exactly?

4. DiscTrivia

This month I'm asking questions about Going Postal (the novel not the adaptation).

Q1.: Who watches the flotillas of the dead?
Q2.: What name was Moist Von Lipwig hanged under?
Q3.: What was Moist Von Lipwig's first attempt at last words?; a) I wasn't actually expecting to die.; b) I commend my soul to any god that can find it.; c) it's not as bad a thing I do now.; d) I'm so happy, oh so happy?
Q4.: How much does it cost to send a letter to the Shades?
Q5.: What is the name of the horse that takes Moist to Sto Lat?

The answers as usual can be found at the end of this issue.

5. Review: Going Postal

Reviewed by Jason Anthony

This weekend the third Discworld adaptation by The Mob Films and Sky will be broadcast on Sky1 and Sky1HD. Part one starts at 6pm on Sunday 30th May and part 2 will be on Monday 31st.

I was really lucky to get invited to a press screening in Soho, London back at the beginning of April. Until now I have been under an embargo and haven't been able to talk about what I've seen!

Going Postal sees a change of director from the previous two adaptations and the difference becomes apparent pretty quickly. Where as Vadim Jean was almost reverent with his respect for the source material, new director Jon Jones isn't afraid to take some liberties in order to keep the film moving at a snappy pace.

Going Postal was filmed in Hungary and the change of location has meant that more money has been made available to build the sets. The sense of scale is more cinematic and less TV-movie.

The leads, Richard Coyle as the wonderfully charismatic Moist Von Lipwig and Claire Foy as Adora Belle Dearheart, have a real chemistry and Charles Dance is superb as the Patrician (even if his hair isn't black!). David Suchet drops his Poirot role to take on the villainous Reacher Guilt. Other great actors include Andrew Sachs as Groat and Timothy West as Ridcully.

I really enjoyed this much more than either Hogfather or The Colour of Magic (and I was in TCoM!). There are quite a lot of changes to the story compared with the book but for the most part they help to make the adaptation more exciting. It's a shame that some of my favourite scenes in the novel never made it into the adaptation but I'll forgive them. Now here is a list of things that I am really not happy about: having a square Thud board rather than an octagonal one and shortening the Post Office's uplifting NEITHER RAIN NOR SNOW NOR GLOOM OF NIGHT CAN STAY THESE MESSENGERS ABOUT THEIR DUTY to NO GLOOM OF NIGHT CAN STAY THESE MESSENGERS ABOUT THEIR DUTY.

I could if pressed probably write a list of 100 things that are wrong with the film but - and it's an important but - I won't because I really enjoyed the adaptation. I like some of the story changes, I like the relationship between the characters and I liked the fact that the pacing makes the adaptation seem a lot shorter than its three hour running time.

I've heard that The Mob will work on Sourcery next but I hope they revisit Moist for Making Money at some point.

6. The End

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* Disc Trivia Results *

Q1.: Who watches the flotillas of the dead?
A1.: Anghammarad
Q2.: What name was Moist Von Lipwig hanged under?
A2.: Albert Spangler
Q3.: What was Moist Von Lipwig's first attempt at last words?
A3.: a) I wasn't actually expecting to die.
Q4.: How much does it cost to send a letter to the shades?
A4.: 5p because of the guard needed
Q5.: What is the name of the horse that takes Moist to Sto Lat?
A5.: Boris

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