Spam! Spam! In a Can! I will not Eat green legs and Spam! (and so on.)

[odditycollector]

 
There is a line in Night Watch that has bugged me since I first got it, and it is this:

The right of Terry Pratchett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

What does that even mean?




From thecakemaster

1. Do you intend to write (or have you ever written) professionally?

At this exact moment in my life, the answer is 'not really, no.' A few years ago it was all my plan.

About three years ago, I was serious about wanting to publish something, but the stuff I wrote three years ago was, on several really important levels, way the hell better than what I usually write now. I think it was because three years ago I thought I had something to say, but now I just do it 'cause I don't want to lose the habit.

2. Does the idea of spontaneous combustion make you giggle? If so does that make you feel guilty?
Oh, yes, honestly. For a while, I was the one warning people about the dangers of eating too much, um, phosphorus, I think it was. "It's the fourth most common element in your body," said I. "And if your levels get a little too high... Poof! You go just like that. Poof."

And I hardly ever feel guilty about anything.

3. You are about to be crushed by two tonnes of randomly falling something, any preference on what that something is?
My first thought was 'feathers,' because I could probably outrun two tons of randomly falling feathers. But then I thought, well, if I have to die, I really don't want to have to suffocate on pink feathers (In my brain, all unattached feathers are pink).

So I think I'll go with steamrollers. Because, you watch cartoons sometimes, and people get crushed by streamrollers, but this would be a new and slightly ironic way of getting crushed by steamrollers. People would talk about it. If I can't achieve immortality by living forever, I might as well achieve it by having people talk about my death. (Except that doesn't work, really. You know what I'm saying.)

4. Fill in the blanks "I can't feel my (blank) and that makes me (blank)".

I can't feel my brain, and that makes me hungry.

(No, don't ask. I'm not thinking I'm funny here or anything - it's just the only blank that comes to mind.)

5. Do you think the word 'foetus' sounds like a dirty word? I have trouble saying it in public.
No, not really, unless there's another dirty word I'm not familiar with. 'Duck' might sound like a dirty word, if the person trying to say it is gone enough.
And when do you ever have to say it in public, anyway?



If you want 5 questions, leave a note. (That is how it works, right?)

Comments

[davek.livejournal.com]

on a completely random note.. remember that time when I asked if there were comic newsgroups out there, since I didn't trust kazaa to get zip files of comic books from?

There are!

alt.binaries.pictures.comics
alt.binaries.pictures.comics.repost

Re:

[odditycollector.livejournal.com]

Oh cool. Thanks!

Awesome icon, BTW. Makes me giggle.

Re:

[davek.livejournal.com]

You're quite welcome. There's also #comicshop on irc.newnet.net .. if you're into the irc thing (I've been digging around lately)

And thanks, I got it from someone's lj through some icon post thingy. They said they were free for the taking, so I went a taking.

Unfortunately, it was on one of my random searches :(.. I gotta try and find out who did it.

[thecakemaster.livejournal.com]

"And if your levels get a little too high... Poof! You go just like that. Poof.". This made me giggle stupidly, but I'm glad I'm not the only one now. Spontaneous combustion and exploding both make me laugh and I just can't help it, and whilst I'm on the subject look up 'exploding whale' on Google sometime, the video is sick but funny.

Ping.

Re:

[odditycollector.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I think I remember those articles.

And thousands of people gathered, "... to experience the size of the penis..."

[yay4pikas.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is weird. Is a copy of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act available somewhere?

(Question me, if you're handing out questions?)

Re:

[odditycollector.livejournal.com]

Is a copy of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act available somewhere?
Yes, but as I can't imagine why he would try to get away with pretending he didn't write it, I feel I am misunderstanding the point.

And completely and random ?s...

1)

Re:

[yay4pikas.livejournal.com]

Maybe he didn't write it and it's to let him get away with pretending he did? I'm confused, too.

Could you clarify question #2? I'm not sure I get it.

Re:

[odditycollector.livejournal.com]

Legalese makes my brain run in circles, but what I get is that 77 says that the author has the right to take credit, and 78 says that the author has to use their right to take credit.

If this is in any way the correct interpretation, it boggles the mind. Can you imagine Terry Pratchett handing his publisher a Discworld novel and going: But let's not tell them I wrote it. We could put your name on it and see what happens...

(Although, it is funny, b/c one of my reactions to Night Watch was 'This is a much more serious, if you will, style than Pratchett normally uses.') But I was marathon-ing on old-school Pratchett at the time, so.


And question two was about a conversation (http://www.livejournal.com/users/notassuch/13919.html?thread=50527#t50527) I had with, um, afrai, now that I think of it. Because it's never creepy to learn random people on the internet are that interested in your love life.

*shifty eyes*