SPOILERS Snuff *Warning Spoilers*

[BaldFriede]

Please don't misquote me; I did not say your literary criticism is in your mind only. Of course you are entitled to your opinion, and it appears we look for different things when we talk of "writing skills""

Really? Here is what you wrote:

But this "deteriorating of writing skills" is in your mind only; it is your rationalization of your dislike of the newer books. His writing skills actually have increased, not deteriorated.

Clearly you did. And you followed it with a statement that expressed an opinion as if it were fact. So--if people disagree with you, it's in their head. If people agree with you, it's a fact.

Help! I'm becoming possessed by the Summoning Pooh!

Clearly I did not. Do I have to teach you linguistics?

 

[Anonymous]

Forget linguistics.

you clearly stated that the reasons behind/for the critism are purely imagined, thereby , nonexistant.
Said critism you don't agree with.

In the same vein I could easily go and say that you are a bleedind, stuck up hipster, who likely just reads Discworld because the author is famous. And I could 'prove' that statement by pointing to the occassions where you said you deem those Discworldnovels inferior which combine subtility when it comes to social statements with fine and witty humour and prefer the dark, gritty and edgy novels that are hard to swallow but don't involve humour or any subtility.

 

[BaldFriede]

No, I stated something completely different. In my opinion Pratchett's writing skills have increased, not decreased; he stays much more to the point and leaves out excursions that lead nowhere, which he used to do in footnotes ever so often in his earlier works. So if his writing style has actually improved then it must be in his head that it decreased. Of course his opinion is as valid as mine, and he can retort that it is entirely in my head that his writing style improved.

 

[Anonymous]

You stated that raisin is only imagining that Mr Pratchett's writing skills decreased.

Thereby riduculing his views and reason as to why he does not like the newer books.

Now what I wonder:

While yes, the skills increased, as said before, up to a certain point.
But with the newer books, which were meant, they are decreasing. Rapidly.
And in a way that is NOT explainable with Mr Pratchett's alzheimer's.

Do I really have to go and list ALL the mistakes in UA alone?

 

[stripy_tie]

I was beginning to think flame wars simply didn't occur here.

 

[Quatermass]

right now I wonder what this thread would look like if pooh WOULD be here...

Please don't. I just did. Flames, blood, excrement, and ofuda tags everywhere is what came to mind.

 

[Quatermass]

I was beginning to think flame wars simply didn't occur here.

Stripy_tie, you should understand that the GIFT works everywhere on the Internet.

 

[Anonymous]

right now I wonder what this thread would look like if pooh WOULD be here...

Please don't. I just did. Flames, blood, excrement, and ofuda tags everywhere is what came to mind.

In short

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

A review from Indian Express which I had seen on the CA forum and copied the link.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-m ... k/866803/0

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

Please don't misquote me; I did not say your literary criticism is in your mind only. Of course you are entitled to your opinion, and it appears we look for different things when we talk of "writing skills""

Really? Here is what you wrote:

But this "deteriorating of writing skills" is in your mind only;[/b] it is your rationalization of your dislike of the newer books. His writing skills actually have increased, not deteriorated.

Clearly you did. And you followed it with a statement that expressed an opinion as if it were fact. So--if people disagree with you, it's in their head. If people agree with you, it's a fact.

Help! I'm becoming possessed by the Summoning Pooh!

Clearly I did not. Do I have to teach you linguistics?

Nothing like a good flame huh? I think this one's not got the amount of needle going as you and Pooh got going with Q, so don't be too fashed about it....

In my customary ref role (and as Tony's off doing more interesting things with Sharlene ) can I ask for necks to be wound in please and pay attention to my red highlights in Friede's commentary - she is clearly saying that the deterioration of Terry's writing skills is happening in Jeff's head.

Although there is inference that Jeff's powers of literary criticism are ill-founded as well, Friede doesn't actually say that at all - it clearly relates to the statement and not the criteria itself, which is of course his own opinion and she's acknowledged that. At least twice now...

If you want to flame can you all please try to find something a little less prissy to fight over and pay attention to the paliative Holy Grail of everyone being entitled to their own opinions which you are mostly failing to apply to anyone apart from yourselves.

Debate not dictate please - agree to disagree and move on from who said what and how they said it - it's tedious in the extreme and none of you are making any inroads with the 'Oh no I didn't!' 'Oh yes you did!' thingie? :twisted:

That's an interesting review Dug - I like the Wicker Man analogy

 

[stripy_tie]

so..........you lot read Hogfather yet?

 

[Quatermass]

Well, seeing as we're commenting about flames rather than Snuff, an obligatory reference to what started off my first major flame war on this BBS...

I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE! AND I BRING YOU...FIRE!

*whew*

Okay, now that I've got that out of my system, let's see if we can get this discussion back up to Snuff, if you'll excuse the excruciating pun I just made... :|

I disagree that Pratchett's skills were deteriorating really significantly. I Shall Wear Midnight was impressive. In book review threads I do on another BBS, it was one of six books that got a perfect 10/10 score, out of over 200 books reviewed. But there are some noticeable flaws in the writing, I do agree. I feel that Pratchett's style is still very much enjoyable, but that there are more technical flaws in Snuff than anything else. And neither Stratford nor Gravid Rust make very memorable villains.

But I need to ask, what are these flaws and errors people keep mentioning in Unseen Academicals? I'm confused. Or should that be the subject of another thread?

 

[Anonymous]

Another thread, most certainly.

But a small example:

Right before the game, when they are singing the anthem, Trevor panics 'cause the former Dean made the mistake of keeping his staff inside the Anti-Magic-Field when setting it up, and Andy noticed that too, etc.
Problem is the text never says the former Dean did set up the field already.
We get him saying that, when he blows his whistle he'll unleash the spell, him making sure his words were understood and then him getting everyone to sing the anthem.
During which the above panic happens.
No mention of the actual casting.
And that whistle is the possessed one, (as we see about two pages after Trev's panic) so we would have known if he blew it before the anthem.
And to put a cherry on top:
During the whole game the former Dean not once tries to use magic.

See the problem?

 

[raisindot]

Jan, we all love you and all, but....

No one elected you ref. :twisted:

That responsibility belongs to our fearless leader, Tony, who is clearly neglecting his responsibility to make sure we all place nicely in the sandbox to--horror of horrors--spend quality time with his.....WIFE? Great Anoia's ladle, how DARE he!

Nothing's wrong with a good little flame war every now and then. It's been far too quiet with Pooh gone. Even Q's mellowed out. If we have to have heated arguments, it might as well be about literary criticism. Rather than politics, ethnicity, and the usual topics that too often bring up the hurtful bile in people.

Hell, where else but on this site could I be having an argument with two lesbians where I'm advocating that two female Discworld characters should be granted the status of lesbians (this is meant as a positive, not pejorative, identification), while they take the contrary opinion?

And we're having this exchange on a site that may in all likelihood probably owned by Rupert Murdoch!

 

[stripy_tie]

Stratford and Gravid Rust are completely forgettable, was Gravid even physically present in any of the scenes? if he was then i can't remember him.

Compared to villains like Mr. Teatime (in particular), Vorbis, Wolfgang, The Auditors or even Carcer they both pale in comparison.

 

[stripy_tie]

And we're having this exchange on a site that may in all likelihood probably owned by Rupert Murdoch!

..................wut.

 

[Dotsie]

Jan, we all love you and all, but....

No one elected you ref. :twisted:

I vote for Jan! The woman makes sense. Although, I don't really have a problem with your & Friede's discussion, but LilMaibe is turning it into something personal. I'm sure JIB can make his own arguments.

And BTW, "no offence" = always offensive.

 

[Anonymous]

Jan, we all love you and all, but....

No one elected you ref. :twisted:

I vote for Jan! The woman makes sense. Although, I don't really have a problem with your & Friede's discussion, but LilMaibe is turning it into something personal. I'm sure JIB can make his own arguments.

And BTW, "no offence" = always offensive.

Sorry, Dotsie.

 

[Dotsie]

You don't need to apologise to me

But honestly, maybe sometimes you could rethink the language you use, particularly whe describing fellow fans, and board members.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm a hothead. Usually I edit stuff quickly, but sometimes I'm too late...