Discworld Monthly - Issue 164: December 2010

1. Editorial

Welcome to issue 164. This is officially the last issue before the end of the year so I would like to wish you all a very happy end of year celebration. This coming weekend I will be heading down to Wincanton for the annual Hogswatch weekend. It's always fun going down to Wincanton and spending a fun couple of days in the company tof many other Discworld fans. I'll be sure to tell you all about it next issue. If you see me in Wincanton this weekend - mine's a cider!

Due to problems with the health of their cat Saffron, the Beathtieth (or in-fact only Mr Beathtie) will be at Wincanton for a limited time only this Saturday. He and Frederick Von Flieder will be at the dealer's room at the Dolphin Inn from 10:30 until 14:30 or until the last of the Beathtieth are sold.

Last month we mentioned rumours that Disney will be making an animated version of Mort in a couple of years time. This month I have heard as yet unconfirmed reports that a live action version of Good Omens may be on the cards. This however would be a new adaptation and wouldn't have anything to do with the production previously associated with Terry Gilliam, Robin Williams and Johnny Depp.

Last month we mentioned that Terry had become an adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin University. Terry's inaugural lecture was recorded and can now been seen on YouTube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2FZ_0d3yEI

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 (Teaching Assistant)

2. News

The organisers of the 2011 North American Discworld Convention have created a new Flash game called Feegle Frenzy which you can play from their website. It is based around a scene in I Shall Wear Midnight.

You can give it a go at: ~~http://www.nadwcon.org/feeglefrenzy.html~~

The Terry Pratchett Fanclub in the Czech Republic and Divadlo v Dlouhe Theater in Prague kindly invites you to the last performance of Maskerade. It will take place in February 2011 (the exact date has not yet been announced). Due to extremely demanding scenes of this performance and insufficient storage space of the reconstructed theatre building, Divadlo v Dlouhe has been forced to end its showing next year. So February 2011 will be the last chance to see Maskerade in this theatre.

The fan club is ready to provide any help or additional information needed!

http://www.discworld.cz

Going Postal has been nominated in the 2010 Royal Television Society Craft and Design Awards. The awards take place on Wednesday 24th November.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11716447

Terry was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the inaugural Galaxy National Book Awards on 10th November. Terry is quoted as saying: "I'm amazed, you find something that you like doing and do well and keep on doing it and suddenly they give you an award, when all I was really doing was having a lot of fun."

http://discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=GALAXY164

Has NASA found the Discworld? The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has imaged a striking galaxy called NGC 4452, which appears to lie exactly edge-on as seen from Earth. The result is an extraordinary picture of billions of stars observed from an unusual angle. The bright nucleus can be seen at the centre, along with the very thin disc that looks like a straight line from our unusual viewing position. To complete the picture, a hazy halo of stars on the periphery of the galaxy makes it seem to glow.

http://discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=DISCWORLD164

A simple procedure at your GP's surgery that could tell if you are susceptible to Alzheimer's Disease at 40 could become available within two years.

The procedure looks for a tiny piece of tell-tale damage in the brain. If diagnosed the patient could look at changing their diet and taking more exercise in an attempt to hold off the disease.

http://discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=ALZHEIMERS164

In an interview in the Daily Telegraph Terry tells how he drinks "enormously" to help fight Alzheimer's. Terry's Alzheimer's doctor added that moderate alcohol is one of the things he would recommend to people with the disease.

http://discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=DRINK164

Waddy has been hard at work and has now updated the Wadfest website with information about the 2011 event which is subtitled "The future and beyond". The updated site apparently has a "50's style retro look" to it - whatever that means.

You can take a look at the new design at http://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.

[NL, New] Mort is being performed at Het Fijnhout Theatre, Amsterdam on the 2nd - 4th and 8th - 11th December at 20.00. It will be performed by the In Players, Amsterdam's oldest English-speaking amateur theatre company.

Tickets are 12 Euro / 10 Euro (students, CJP, Stadspas) and can be reserved by email to reserveren.fijnhouttheater@combiwel.nl or via filling in a reservation form on: http://www.hetfijnhout.nl

http://www.inplayers.org

[AU] The Drummers Downunder, the Sydney sister of the Broken Drummers, will have their next meeting on Monday 6th December from 7pm at Maloneys on the corner of Pitt and 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] 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 6th December at The Monkey Puzzle, Paddington, London, W2 1JQ.

E-mail brokendrummers@yahoo.co.uk

[UK,] Wick Theatre Company will be performing Maskerade from 8th to 11th December 2010 at 7:45pm with a matinee on the 11th December at 2:30pm. Tickets cost 9.50 GBP and 10.50GBP (Matinee costs 7.50GBP).

Tickets can be purchased at http://www.wicktheatre.co.uk or on 01273 597094.

The show will take place at: The Barn Theatre, Southwick Street, Southwick, BN42 4JE.

[AU] This Christmas UKTV in Australia is featuring the brand new adaptation of Going Postal.

The two feature-length episodes will be on UKTV in prime time at 8.30pm Christmas Eve, concluding 8.30 Christmas Day. If you don't have pay TV find a friend who has, because this is not to be missed!

[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. Places ARE limited so register now!

Terry has confirmed he is coming and more special guests are to be announced soon.

Keep checking in at http://ausdwcon.org/ The website has been updated with hotel information, Guilds and lots more.

Volunteers needed. Contact enquiries@ausdwcon.org (no mimes - by order of the Patrician). If you would like to help us publicise the convention contact publicity@ausdwcon.org

[NL] The first Dutch Discworld Convention takes place at Hotel NH Atlanta in Rotterdam on 28th - 29th May 2011.

Contact details: www.dutchdwcon.nl

For further information contact: info@dutchdwcon.nl

[US] 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.

~~http://www.nadwcon.org/"~~

[UK, New] Wadfest X - The Future and Beyond takes place from 19th - 21st August 2011. The event takes place at Trentfield Farm in Church Lanehan, Retford. Wadfest is a family-focused camping event where Discworld fans meet up for a weekend of fun and games from Luggage Wars to Live Pingu. The event includes a talent show and a charity auction where you can get some excellent collectors pieces.

More information at: http://www.wadfest.co.uk

[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).

Registration has now started and there is an early booker gift if you register before the end of this year.

http://www.scheibenwelt-convention.de/

[IE, New] Irish Discworld Convention 20011 (IDWCon11)

The second biennial Irish Discworld Convention will take place, once again, in the Falls Hotel, Ennistymon. Taking place from the 4th-7th of November 2011. For those of you who missed it the first time, and if you don't mind us saying so, it was a bit of a bit! If you would like to be there this time membership is now open and information on all sorts is available at our website! Special Guest Professor Sir Terry Pratchett has confirmed his attendance! Now it's your turn!

http://www.idwcon.org

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.

Angelique Cassam angeliquecassam@gmail.com writes: I have the full collection of Unseen Library books, 1-18, in perfect condition. They will be shipped from Poland and I am trying to find a serious collector who is willing to purchase them altogether. I love my books and hope to find someone who truly loves the Discworld series.

Joey Merrett josephine.merrett@googlemail.com writes: My husband has had amnesia twice in his young life, once beginning his degree and the second 3 years ago at the beginning of his PhD. Each time he has returned with sections of his memories lost forever, but has retained his love of Pratchett. About a year ago his Mum set aside all his precious books whilst sending the rest to a large charity book sale. Unfortunately his Dad picked up this box and donated them all, including all his childhood books and his signed copy of a Discworld novel that his friends had organised for his 21st birthday, one of the key occasions he can remember from this time period. Unfortunately there was no way of getting it back by the time his Mum realised what his Dad had done.

I was wondering if you could make mention of this in your news letter if any fan may have bought it. His name is Michael / Mike.

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 using the Large Hadron Collider. WB had a really good idea about a short story to do with the LHC but someone else has probably already written it...

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.

*
* From: "Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild" rothschild-berlin@t-online.de
*
As a railway historian and enthusiast I would also like to see this aspect of round world technology make an appearance some time but.... well, it's up to the author. Being one myself, I know that either the ideas flow, or they don't,...However, yesterday whilst on a train from Lutherstadt Wittenberg to Dessau I passed through a small station named: Griebo. Only one letter out but clearly a place of feline potential.

PS A few months ago I delivered a lecture to the Evangelische Fachhochschule in Berlin on "Terry Pratchett as a modern Theologian." I don't know if he would approve, but really, there is so much in 'Equal Rites', 'Small Gods', 'Pyramids' and elsewhere (not to mention the 'Truckers' Trilogy) that one cannot help but see here an attempt at systematically treating with the questions of Existence - and that is what theology is all about.

DWM replies: Dr. Rothschild would certainly have recieved LoTM - if only we had any more prizes to give away :-(

*
* From: "Mark" Mark@lytton-consultants.co.uk
*
RE: Last month's mention that Disney may be making an animated version of Mort.

No, please, no. Disney is Disney, and Terry is Terry, and never the twain shall meet.

Can you imagine how Disney will strip down Terry's work. MORT, I mean, it's about Death of all things, and the USA ain't going to accept that. They will prettify it up and totally remove all links of Mort with Susan. I'm sure I read once that Terry turned down USA deals cause they wanted to get Death out of the books.

No, don't let Disney get hold of Mort, please!

WB replies: I feel much the same about the forthcoming Tintin movies...

*
* From: "barbarapaintsportraits" barbarapaintsportraits@juno.com
*
I hope the rumour ISN'T true. Who would want a disneyfied version of Mort? And they'd probably fix it so that there was no Death in it or mention of mortality and all that. I also hate toons and those sappy 'got to wait for a man to fix my problems' heroines or the troll girls who fry birds eggs after killing their mother like in Shrek. Who was that toon made for anyway? It is amazing the amount of animal killing/abuse that goes on in film and TV.

Whatever. I really loved the Hogfather TV mini series because it tried to be as close to the book as it could but it would seem no one else did :-) I'll probably hate the Disney version yet everyone else will think it is genius.

I want a live action Mort, Reaper Man, Carpe Jugulum, and Wyrd Sisters and all the other novels too :-)

DWM adds: This is just two letters out of the many that we received that express the view that Disney doing Discworld is a bad idea. Personally I agree with them (but I've never been a fan of Disney). Strangely we haven't yet received any mail from people that think it it a good idea.

*
* From: "John Cameron-Cornish" jcandsuze@gmail.com
*
Regarding female soldiers masquerading as men, has no-one ever heard of Hannah Snell, who joined the Marines in the eighteenth century?

*
* From: "Jennifer Chambers" jennifer.chambers@bigpond.com
*
Just to let you know that Australians flying Emirates to Dubai can see "Going Postal" on their brilliant entertainment system. I watched it a couple of times and loved it!!!!

4. DiscTrivia

This month I have listed ten Discworld books and ten character names. Your challenge is to match the characters to their appropriate book.

The books:

The Colour of Magic
The Light Fantastic
Equal Rites
Mort
Sourcery
Wyrd Sisters
Pyramids
Guards! Guards!
Eric
Moving Pictures

The names:

Hwel
Ipslore
Rerpf
Astfgl
Lackjaw
Ridcully
Simon
Ptraci
Ysabell
Wonse

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

5. Article: Freya's 'gerroff - it's MINE' Hogswatch cake

Recipe by Freya Anduin, Denmark

Ingredients:

* 250 grams ordinary raisins
* 150 grams currants
* 200 grams candied orange peel (like Dr. Oetker's)
* 200 grams chopped, dried apricot
* 100 grams chopped dark chocolate pref. 70-80%
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 tsp ground ginger
* 1 tsp ground allspice
* 1 tsp ground cloves
* 100 grams chopped, peeled almonds
* 100 grams chopped hazelnut
* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 decilitre whisky plus extra
* 250 grams soft butter (leave out overnight, let fall out of
package and use the paper to grease the pan) * 200 grams dark muscovado sugar (mush it with your fingers to be sure there are no rock hard clumps to take out granny's teeth) * 4 medium sized egg
* 200 grams wheat flour (not self-raising or anything)
* Icing from 400 grams icing sugar and pure lemon juice (no water)

Day one:

Cut up the apricot and put this and the peel, currants and raisins in a container with the whisky, close tightly and put in the fridge overnight.

Day two:

Mix butter and sugar very well. Add one egg at a time and mix well between (yes, it does go sort of grainy). This can be done with a mixer.

Add the dry bits and mix well. Discard the mixer and find a very strong spoon. Mix in the wet bits. (Your mixer will not survive having a go at this).

Put the mix in a pan - maybe a 22x30 cm foil one, well greased. It can go to the rim as it will not rise. (If you use a foil pan take it out with the grille as it will collapse under the weight of the cake if you try to take it out by holding the corners or something.)

Bake at 175 degrees centigrade in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes, using top and bottom heat and no fan.

When out, wait 5 minutes and then splash it generously with some more whisky - it will absorb immediately. Leave to cool.

When hand temperature tip out on something by holding it over the pan and turning it over leaving the cake bottom up. Give it another good helping of whisky. Watch it absorb, it will tell you how much it can take.

Leave to go cold. Put on the icing and be careful to spread evenly without damaging the cake.

When the icing is almost set cut it in squares. Big enough to not crumble but not big ones. (Here you might want to make sure you are alone - you will not want to share the spoils on the board with anybody).

Prepare containers with tight fitting lids by pouring in some 2 mm of whisky in the bottom and put the cake in there and close lids. Put in fridge till you want to eat them. Take out of fridge in time to go room temperature before eating.

This is my version of the Christmas Pudding - but being a Dane all this suet and boiling stuff is not my thing so I made up this baked version.

And by the way - this cake is not for the kiddies (or AA-members) and believe me - when you had your first bite, you are in no mood to share with anyone.

It should keep well in fridge - in theory at least - but I take no responsibility for how long you will be able to leave it there.

Oh - and go easy on the stuff, ok? There are enough calories in this to keep an extended family going for about a week. And it costs just about that much too.

Happy Hogswatch

DWM adds: If you attempt this please let us know how you get on.

6. Competition Result: DVD Box Set

Last month we mentioned our competition to win the new DVD boxset of Hogfather, The Colour of Magic and Going Postal.

The competition is now closed and we had a record 593 correct entries. Ian at The Discworld Emporium had three copies to give away and the randomly selected winners are: Bee Trotter of Swansea, Alan Brazukas of Stockton on Tees and Jeremy Hards of Milton Keynes.

All three correctly told us that the six names on the beer mats are: Winkles Old Peculiar, Bear Huggers Whiskey, Soggy Mountain Dew, Turbots Really Odd Pale Ale, Gimlets Hole Food Delicatessen and Sonky Bros Firm Favourite.

For more information about The Discworld Emporium either visit:

http://www.discworldemporium.com

or if you are on Facebook visit:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Discworld-Emporium/110497847377

You can see the cover of the DVD at:

http://discworldmonthly.co.ukgraphics/tpcollectiondvd.jpg

7. Review: Carpe Jugulum - Live in Cheltenham

Review by Mark Payne

On Thursday the 11th November I took my wife to Cheltenham to see an Everyman Youth Theatre presentation of Carpe Jugulum. The production was excellent. It was in the studio theatre seating 60 people.

The performance told the story very clearly, my wife has a limited knowledge of TP's stories and could follow it easily. They used very few props and told the story with their acting ability.

The Youth Theatre group is very large and used double cast for some of the main characters Agnes, Perdita, Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax, Magrat, Oats and Vlad. This didn't detract in any way from the flow of the story and never presented any problems with identifying the characters which shows just how well they were played.

The first half of the play was 1.5 hours the second was about 1 hour. It is a long play and held everyone's interest right through.

It may seem a bit unfair to single out one performer but the young actress playing Nanny Ogg in the first half, Sarah Lloyd, took the part by storm, playing it with a superb humour and power with a brilliant Bristolian accent. She was very ably supported by all the other actors, I would hasten to add. The vampires were witty, strong and very entertaining too and Perdita being stood directly behind Agnes made perfect sense of the story. Certainly some stars in the making with this company.

In the programme it said that this was their first attempt at a TP story and for some of the cast a first time they had come across TP "but not the last". I hope they do try some more and would highly recommend any TP fan or acquaintance to go and spend a very pleasant evening being well entertained.

8. The End

Discworld Monthly would like to thank Sonnet UK for hosting our mailing list for us free of charge. For more information about Sonnet UK visit their website at http://www.sonnetuk.net

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* Latest Book Information *

I Shall Wear Midnight http://discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0385611072

Unseen Academicals http://discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0385609345

Nation (non Discworld Hardback) http://discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0385613709

Folklore of the Discworld (add-on book) http://discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0385611005

Unseen Academicals (Paper Back) http://discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0552153370

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* DiscTrivia Results *

The Colour of Magic - Rerpf
The Light Fantastic - Lackjaw
Equal Rites - Simon
Mort - Ysabell
Sourcery - Ipslore
Wyrd Sisters - Hwel
Pyramids - Ptraci
Guards! Guards! - Wonse
Eric - Astfgl
Moving Pictures - Ridcully

* Obtaining Terry's Books *

If you are looking for Terry books or videos over the net, simply visit our web page at http://discworldmonthly.co.uk and follow the -Purchasing- link on the left panel of the page.

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Discworld Monthly - Issue 164: December 2010

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