The latest release from the master, which is interestingly a non-Discworld book. I will admit that I was concerned that because he has been diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's that the book may not be that good, but Terry Pratchett on a bad day is far superior to most other authors. I needn't have worried. He's on great satirical and comic form in this one - set in the Nation, which is one of the Mothering Sunday Islands in the Great Southern Pelagic Ocean (held by the British to be an extension of the Bank Holiday Monday Islands). The Nation has been devastated by a Tsunami and now its up to Mau and Daphne (aka Ermintrude, well wouldn't you change it?), who, with the ship's parrot, is the only survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, to create a new Nation. As the great man says 'Thinking: This book contains some'. 
I went to see this last night, for the first time, although the friend I saw it with was on her third viewing! Unless you are a regular reader of this blog, you may not be aware that I hate musicals, Rent left me cold, The Sound of Music is just plain annoying and there was a bad incident a few years ago in Buddy: The Musical which I won't expand on here in order to protect the innocent.I've thought about this a lot and essentially my problem is that the genre is basically cheesy and corny but somehow its fans, and the people involved in it, expect the genre ed to be treated with gravitas and reverence that I only give to say Ibsen or Shakespeare - yes I know Shakespeare has its corny moment and yes I have sat through Kiss Me Kate. So its weird that I was quite happy to go and watch this, especially as I am not an ABBA fan either, and I really enjoyed the film. Oh it has its faults don't get me wrong, but it sends itself and the genre up so beautifully - the image of the boys in flippers dancing will stay with me for a while - and the main cast, Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Christine Branaksi, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård and Pierce Brosnan (who has more courage than anyone because he can't sing, but still goes for it) are superb - I don't think I've laughed at a movie so much in years.
3 comments:
Ooh. A non-discworld book? I've read some of his other non-DW books and enjoyed them, even if they were aimed at children... must pick this up!
ABBA the musical film - bleugh!
DD & I went to see Mamma on hol - 4 men, huge contingent of women of all ages. I have always unashamedly loved Abba and I suspended all critical faculties and just wallowed in the pleasure of seeing a woman my age do the splits etc.! All credit to the men for letting themselves be sent up rotten too. Perfect summer stuff. Just been reading about the Pratchett on Amazon - now I am an essay-free zone (whee!) must check it out.
barbara do look pick this one up if you can as its lovely - as for the film, I honestly loathe ABBA and am quite disturbed that I enjoyed the film as much as I did!
brunhilde, welcome back to blogging :o, its a lovely film, although I will avoid the sing a long... Welcome to freedom from essays,
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