gdp's Comments

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Wintersmith': Chapter 8

Fri, 1 Feb 2019 16:16:46 +0000

A note for Mark, since it keeps coming up: Chaffinch is pronounced Chaffinch. (Like the bird, as this is a reference to Bullfinch's - also a type of bird - mythology.) It was Roland's surname, Chumsfanleigh (pronounced Chuffley) that had the unintuitive pronunciation. This is a reference to real surnames pronounced completely unlike the are spelled, such as Cholmondeley, pronounced Chummly.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Thud!': Part 17

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 11:31:03 +0000

For more information about Hareraiser see this talk by Stuart Ashen: [youtube ouvi-fwrfIY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouvi-fwrfIY youtube] (Which I'm guessing WillR113 has seen, as they've covered all the major points of the nonsense that went on, but it is well worth watching as Ashens is a very funny man.)

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Thud!': Part 16

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:20:49 +0000

But what use would 10 million years of sound be to anyone? And how would you tell? The disc isn't old enough to fill it, and even if it were, establishing it was actually 10 million years and not 100 years playing on a loop (since there doesn't seem to be any sort of readable interface described) just by listening seems pretty impossible. (It seems quite tricky for 10 years as well, but given we know dwarves can live to be more than 200, at least a little bit possible someone who was dedicated to studying one could establish the limit.)

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Thud!': Part 16

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 14:30:19 +0000

Pooh-Sticks is also played by many real people - or at least I grew up playing it, and still do if I'm walking with someone and we come across a stream with a bridge. Our winner was always the one that emerged from under the bridge first.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Thud': Part 11

Thu, 13 Dec 2018 00:26:50 +0000

Also Vimes does this specifically because AE wants to ask relatively petty questions just after Vimes has found out that one of his men is dead and just before a riot is about to take place. If AE has immediately apologised after he found out what was going on and said of course his questions could wait until afterwards, I don't think Vimes would have done anything. Vimes wants AE to understand the seriousness of the situation (and the general sort of situation that coppers face) before making judgements. It's still cruel, but it's cruelty to a purpose.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Thud': Part 8

Sat, 8 Dec 2018 18:03:39 +0000

Jryy... Ur'f ntnvafg gur xvyyvat bs gur fznyy puvyqera bs crbcyr ur ernyyl, ernyyl qbrfa'g jnag cvffrq bss ng uvz. Vs Ivzrf jrer va n jrnxre cbfvgvba cbyvgvpnyyl, be yrff noyr gb znxr frevbhf gebhoyr sbe uvf bcrengvbaf, znlor Puelfbcenfr jbhyqa'g unir zvaqrq gur guerng fb zhpu, be unir orra jvyyvat gb pneel vg bhg vs ur gubhtug vg arprffnel gb fraq n zrffntr. Jub xabjf? Naq V nyjnlf ernq gur arjyl qrnq gebyy nf n grrantre. Gur 'nggrzcgvat gb or uneq ohg snvyvat' nggvghqr frrzf irel snzvyvne. Naq bs pbhefr bar bs gur ernfbaf Qrgevghf unf nyjnlf jbexrq fb uneq ba uvf nagv-Fyno pnzcnvtaf vf lbhatre gebyyf jrer n ynetr cneg bs gur gnetrg qrzbtencuvp.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Thud!': Part 1

Wed, 28 Nov 2018 13:38:02 +0000

They were part of the Fresh Start Club, with Windle Poons, Reg Shoe and various other differently alive folks. Arthur became a vampire through inheritance from a distant relative. Since he was thoroughly working class, his wife's insistence on adopting the 'Vampire' lifestyle, which is distinctly aristocratic, was a class-based joke/commentary at the time. What kind of commentary it has now become, with black-ribboners standing in for both minorities and recovering addicts/alcoholics, while still being generally upper-class, well-connected and wealthy, is an exercise best left to the individual reader.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Going Postal': Chapter 14 / Epilogue

Tue, 27 Nov 2018 13:48:46 +0000

I think it's the mountains of letters.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Going Postal': Chapter 10, Part II

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:12:07 +0000

Nyfb jr xabj gurl unq fbzr fnobgntr gb frg hc, juvpu zvtug unir gnxra gurz njnl sebz gur ohvyqvat rira jvgubhg xabjvat nobhg gur sver.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Going Postal': Chapter 4, Part I

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 13:17:23 +0000

Inigo Skimmer from 5th Elephant was another such scholarship boy.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Science of Discworld II': Chapter 1

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 12:13:59 +0000

Lots of organs already come in pairs - Lungs, Kidneys, Eyes... Hex is saying they can only get back one of each. Which wouldn't necessarily be fatal, depending on how they were removed, but wouldn't be pleasant.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Galavant': S01E01 - Pilot

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 21:56:32 +0000

I have never watched this show, although it's on my (very long) list of things I'm intending to get around to, but I do have 2 connections to it. 1. A few years ago our yearly LARP campaign was GMed by a guy who was a big fan of Galavant. When it came down to the weekend long campaign finale event, before it started all the players had a dream in which the events of the campaign thus far were summarised in song, set to the Galavant theme music. Everyone was very amused. 2. I know someone who was an extra in this. I don't know which episode, but I know what he did, so I'll be reading Mark's reviews to see if it gets a mention.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Monstrous Regiment': Part 11

Sat, 16 Jun 2018 13:00:47 +0000

Especially as she's meant to be called Oliver, which can be shortened to Olly, which sounds similar to Polly.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Monstrous Regiment': Part 8

Thu, 7 Jun 2018 17:09:42 +0000

Hmm I read Jackrum very differently. I think he's been a soldier so long he doesn't know how to be anything else (and it's not like the country is in a good state for any other profession in any case.) He knows that they're losing, but doesn't care because that doesn't get in the way of day-to-day soldiering. And soldiers have weapons, a company of loyal mates, are able to move about the country freely scrounging food... Jackrum knows he has more chance of surviving what's about to happen as an experienced soldier than a floundering civilian.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Monstrous Regiment': Part 1

Sat, 19 May 2018 07:47:27 +0000

I bought this book when I was a teenager out for the day with friends, and read it on the train journey home. I was so absorbed I missed my stop and had to get off at the next one and come back the other way.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Wee Free Men': Chapter 11

Wed, 9 May 2018 15:26:30 +0000

Well, a half can be half a pint, and given the context of 'keeping you going', I'm guessing hevvie is either slang or the brand name for some form of alcohol, likely beer.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Wee Free Men': Chapter 6

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 12:59:27 +0000

I now come here to argue in defence of William McGonagall. Yes his poem about the Tay Bridge disaster is dreadful. But it is dreadful because he picked completely the wrong subject matter. If you listen to a recitation of it, as I did when I first encountered it (I believe it was the one in this collection: https://librivox.org/short-poetry-collection-099/ - Note there are 2 poems about the Tay Bridge by McGonagall in this collection) you will find yourself tapping along. It has rhythm, it's catchy, you want to join in. Which is of course entirely the wrong mood and tone for a serious poem about a terrible tragedy. But if he had chosen to devote himself to children's rhymes or humorous verse, I think it is very possible that we would remember him in the same way as we remember Edward Lear.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Night Watch': Part 19

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 07:26:27 +0000

This book only, possibly not even a spoiler any more: Rkprcg guvf gvzr gurl qvqa'g nggnpx gur tngrf ng nyy, orpnhfr bs Pnepre'f vagresrerapr. Gung jnf jung gur Znwbef jrer cynaavat gb qb, ohg gura ur gbbx punetr naq beqrerq gur nffnhyg hfvat Ovt Znel, juvpu unccrarq vafgrnq bs gur Tngr naq Oevqtr farnx nggnpxf.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Night Watch': Part 16

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 13:55:48 +0000

I once read a humorous short story where someone swore by saying 'Who the Pickwick are you?!' and the narrator paused to note that they did not say Pickwick, they said Dickens, "but, as that is a naughty word, we will substitute "Pickwick," which is equally expressive, and not so wrong."

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Night Watch': Part 13

Fri, 9 Mar 2018 15:09:51 +0000

Gur gnegna lr xra!