HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: esi104@cch.coventry.ac.uk (Jo)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Time travel (was Re: Discworld, Orbits and (probably) old threads)
Date: 4 Nov 92 13:07:19 GMT
Organization: EEE

In article <RSHOLMES.92Nov3135503@rodan.syr.EDU> rsholmes@rodan.syr.EDU (Rich Holmes) writes:
>This being neither alt.fan.terminator nor alt.fan.mcfly, I thought I'd
>give this discussion a kick in the direction of relevancy by pointing
>out that as far as I know, time travel has not yet been used in the
>Discworld series and by wondering aloud what kind of havoc would ensue
>if it were.
>
>Maybe Terry shouldn't read this thread...
>
>--
>- Rich Holmes
>"In general, the dance music of P.D.Q. Bach -- although we have no
> documentary evidence of this -- suggests that one of his legs was
> shorter than the other." -- Prof. Peter Schickele

Well, surely it has... In "Eric", doesn't Rincewind and Eric travel back to
the beginning of creation, and then all the way to the end of the world? 
Maybe it's not quite what you meant, but you can't deny that they tavelled in
time... 


Jo

-----   O  ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
       /\    ___             MAIL -         |  "A fate worse than a fate worse
      |  |  /   \                           |   than death - thats pretty
      \  | |     |     esi104@uk.ac.cov.cck |   bad....." - E. Blackadder
____ \__ /  \___/ ____________________________________________________________
From: mbeattie@black.ox.ac.uk (Malcolm Beattie)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: lots o' questions&annotations for Mort
Date: 12 Nov 92 09:59:56 GMT
Organization: Oxford University Computing Service, 13 Banbury Rd, Oxford, U
Originator: mbeattie@black

In article <1drrbhINNql0@cat.cis.Brown.EDU> ST102315@brownvm.brown.edu writes:
>In the last Annotated Pratchett file, there was a request for more Mort
>annotations.  So I read Mort again, and came up with the following
>annotations (hopefully not all obvious) and questions.  Actually, most
>are questions, which is why I posted this to the list and didn't send
>it directly to the AP compiler.
>
>Oh, first I should mention that all page numbers are from the American
>softcover version of the book, published by ROC.
>
>OK, here goes...
[some deleted]
>p.62..."Igneous Cutwell, DM(Unseen)..."  DM may be a reference to
>  Dungeons and Dragons, where the DM (or Dungeon Master) knows
>  everything that is going on and controls what happens in the game.
>  He is clearly not above trying to inflate his credentials, as he
>  soon admits to Mort.

IMHO, this is far more likely to mean "Doctor of Magic" from the UU,
cf. other degrees such as DPhil(Oxon), DSc and so on.

>
>p.86..."They could pee through a dozen mattresses..."  Albert here mangles
>  a fairy tale.  Unfortunately, I can't remember how it goes.  Anyone?

A princess demonstrates that she is the Real Thing (tm) by being
unable to sleep when a pea is secretly inserted underneath her bed,
which is a dozen mattresses high. This brings up the question:
How the heck did they manage to tuck the sheets round 12 mattresses
when I have enough difficulty with 1?
Also, do you think they would use a mushy pea these days?

>p.140...Is it Cleopatra who bathed in milk and killed herself by
>  sitting on a poisonous snake?  (On the DW, Queen Ezeriel did.)
>

Yes it was Cleopatra, but I don't think she exactly *sat* on it...

[deleted]
>
>p.195..."I don't even _remember_ walking under a mirror."  I haven't been
>  able to figure out what this means.  Has anyone else?
>

A combination of the two superstitions of (1) walking under a
ladder and (2) breaking a mirror. Seven years of bad luck for the latter;
a paint pot on your head for the former.

[deleted]
>
>Well, that's all of them.
>
>A newbie,
>jwgh


-- 
Malcolm Beattie <mbeattie@black.ox.ac.uk> | I'm not a kernel hacker
Oxford University Computing Services      | I'm a kernel hacker's mate
13 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6NN (U.K.)   | And I'm only hacking kernels
Tel: +44 865 273232 Fax: +44 865 273275   | 'Cos the kernel hacker's late
From: dace@shrike.und.ac.za (Roy Dace)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: News update
Date: 7 Nov 1992 20:24:59 GMT
Organization: University of Natal (Durban), South Africa
NNTP-Posting-Host: shrike.und.ac.za
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk (Terry Pratchett) writes:
: 
:  2) There's probably going to be a short South African visit towards the end
: of January.  This has been sprung on me by the publishers.
: 
Who are the publishers - so I can be *very* *very* nice to them!  Hallelujah!
Praise be to Great A'Tuin! (get the point)

But seriously, PLEASE post more details, and PLEASE try & make it to Durban
I know Johannesburg's bigger & Cape Town's sometimes more fashionable, but
you can't beat Durban & Natal as a nice place.  On top of which I live there
with a stack of Discworld novels 8-)

	-Hal the merciless groveller
From: andyh@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Andrew Holyer)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: DEATH to BIFF!
Date: 5 Nov 92 14:14:49 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: University of Sussex

In article <1992Nov5.062853.1252@news.columbia.edu> jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox) writes:
>In article <GNAT.92Nov5183048@kauri.kauri.vuw.ac.nz> Nathan.Torkington@vuw.ac.nz writes:
>>(BIFF, to the uninitiated, is a mythological creature who makes
>>ridiculous, archetypically prepubescant posts from his Vic-20 asking
>                                                    ^^^
>No, no, no.  From his OLDER BROTHER'S Vic-20.  Please.
>

BE51DE5, 1T'5 *B1FF*, N0T BIFF, YU0 D00DS!!!!!!! 

(grin)



-- 
&ndy Holyer, School of Cognitive and     |"Boy, they were big on
Computing Studies, University of Sussex, |  crematoriums, weren't they?"
JANET: andyh@cogs.sussex.ac.uk           | - George Bush while touring
                                         |   Auschwitz, Sept. 1987
From: R.T.Wieckowski@newcastle.ac.uk (River Johnson)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Good Omens (error?)
Date: 11 Nov 92 12:57:08 GMT
Distribution: uk
Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU.


In article <1992Nov10.003455.10129@rdg.dec.com>, ggoodman@theraj.enet.dec.com (Graham Goodman) writes

>......  See, he should've stuck to the Queen songs.
> Nobody can ever remember how many Bismilahs there
> were...
>

I know a man who can though ...

... eh Rich ?!



RIV.
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: hennebry@plains.NoDak.edu (Michael J. Hennebry)
Subject: Re:  Zachary Taylor *is* Nanny Ogg
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 15:11:19 GMT
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computing Network

In article <alien.00ne@acheron.amigans.gen.nz> alien@acheron.amigans.gen.nz (Ross Smith) writes:
>be Shelley Duvall. Nanny Ogg seems to be the hard one to pick -- I can't
>think of anyone! Any ideas?

It should be someone who's been dead and decomposing for at least twenty years.
The paperback version in the USA has a truly ugly picture of her.

-- 
Mike   hennebry@plains.NoDak.edu
"I still thing it's garbage, but beautifully cooked."   --  TP on TP
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart)
Subject: Re: The Annotated Pratchett File, v4.0, part 1 of 2
Reply-To: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl
Organization: Delft University of Technology
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 10:13:13 GMT

johnf@apollo.hp.com (John Francis) writes:

> >- [p.171] 'Zweiblumen' is the literal German translation of 'Twoflower'.
> >  'Rjinswand', however, is merely something that was intended to *sound*
> >  Scandinavian -- it is not a word in any language known to the readers of
> >  alt.fan.pratchett.
> 
> Could we have "intended to sound Scandinavian (or Dutch - opinions differ)"?
> 
> The last time I brought this up there seemed to be more people who felt
> that 'Rjinswand' was meant to sound Dutch than felt it was meant to sound
> Scandinavian. Oddly enough the most emphatically-held views were held by
> Dutch and Scandinavian posters, some of who were convinced that nobody
> could possibly think that 'Rjinswand' sounded in the least bit Dutch*

I base the annotation on the fact that it says *in the book itself*
that Rjinswand is Swedish. Why would Terry come up with a Swedish
character and then give him a name that was intended not to sound
Scandinavian, but Dutch? Note that I don't doubt that to some
'Rjinswand' actually does sound Dutch, but I see no reason to change
the annotation unless some more hard evidence becomes available.

-- 
Leo Breebaart  (leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: leveret@warren.demon.co.uk (Nick Leverton)
ReplyTo: leveret@warren.demon.co.uk
Subject: Re: The Film(s) of the Book(s)
Distribution: world
X-Mailer: cppnews $Revision: 1.19 $
Organization: Indexed; Access: Random.
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 05:17:21 +0000

In article <BxI1EH.9u9@newcastle.ac.uk> J.M.A.Gilman@newcastle.ac.uk (J.M.A. Gilman) writes:

>    For CMOT Dibbler or Nobby, what about James Beck, who played
>Walker the Spiv in Dad's Army fifteen years ago ? 

I think he would have a slight problem in playing any part nowadays ...
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: macaj2@cspyr1.cs.adfa.oz.au (MACKINNELL AMANDA)
Subject: 3 points
Keywords: wyrd sisters, 668, and handwriting.....
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 23:59:31 GMT

	While we are on the "lets find actors for.." thread..
	how about using the Golden Girls as Granny, Nanny and Magrat????

	Also in Reaperman, check the address of where the Dead Rights society
	meets...

	And just as a curiousity thing... Did Terry write the handwritten
	bits for the bottoms of the city eggs??????????


	Amanda MacKinnell
	OCARP 92:
	"In my opinion, people would only follow her to find out how much 
	trouble she can get into next."
From: jwh@doc.ic.ac.uk (James William Handley)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Blues Brothers
Date: 9 Nov 1992 14:27:40 -0000
Organization: Department of Computing, Imperial College, University of London, UK.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: oak48.doc.ic.ac.uk


Right - I watched the film last night, and now, here is the fully accurate EXACT
quote that Elwood and Jake do..

The setting is about 10 minutes from the end of the film, Jake and Elwood have
just left the Palace Hotel Ballroom, and have to get to a DAs office in Chicago.
They run into the car, both get in, and this happens:

Elwood:
  It's a hundred and six miles to chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack
  of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses...
Jake:
  Hit it.

And no one can complain it's not true, 'cos I transcripted it!! ;-)
(unless they've got a differant version of the film).

				
			James
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: arc@leland.Stanford.EDU (Andrew Richard Conway)
Subject: Re: Douglas vs Terry (etc. etc....)
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 22:22:13 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.135640.5611@syma.sussex.ac.uk> andyh@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Andrew Holyer) writes:
>
>Folks, I know they're really nothing like the  discworld, (not better,
>not  worse, dist...  different),  but what do   people think about the
>"Myth" books? Aspirin's got a totally different  style,  but I do have
>the feeling that they're somehow worthy of note. Gleep, in particular,
>still usually makes me giggle. And the UK editions actually have worse
>covers than the discworld books.....

I like the Asprin books. TP books I will delay a plane flight to buy.
Asprin books I will borrow from a library as soon as they come in.
They are enjoyable reading, but not up to TP.


					Andrew.
From: Richard.Dalton@newcastle.ac.uk (Richard Dalton)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Good Omens (error?)
Date: 9 Nov 92 15:11:20 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, NE1 7RU

I've just been re-reading Good Omens again and i noticed that one of the
scenes where Crowley is communing with Hell via his car radio has a 'Kylie
Minogue' song playing in it ... 'I should be so lucky'.
Now i am NOT a Kylie fan (not that there's anything wrong with them - he says
covering himself from all sides), but the line goes something like this.

'I should be so lucky, lucky lucky lucky lucky'

Isn't there one too many 'lucky' in there? Is this deliberate? Is this a 
mistake? Is there anyone likely to care? Am i going to get flamed for this?

Who knows?

	Rich 'Z'


===============================================================================
         Computing Laboratory          | Email: Richard.Dalton@Newcastle.ac.uk
   University of Newcastle Upon Tyne   | Email: usr10131@tso.uc.edu
===============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: xtifr@netcom.com (Chris Waters)
Subject: Anna Russell/British Humourous Fantasy/whatever :-)
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 20:21:27 GMT

In <1992Nov10.173746.28189@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> wald@theory.lcs.mit.edu (David Wald) writes:

>In article <RSHOLMES.92Nov5125948@rodan.syr.EDU>
>rsholmes@rodan.syr.EDU (Rich Holmes) writes:
>>
>>Pikers. Anna Russell did the entire Ring Cycle solo.

>And in about 22 minutes, to boot.

Yup, great album.  Speaking of which, this seems like a good opportunity
to plug my second favorite British Humourous Fantasy writer, Tom Holt,
who tends to like operatic themes for his books.  _Expecting Someone
Smaller_ is a great postscript to the Ring Cycle.  If you like Pratchett
(and especially if you liked _Good Omens_), I highly recommend that you
try Tom Holt.
-- 
Chris Waters    | the insane don't | "Don't you boys know NICE songs?"
xtifr@netcom.COM| need disclaimers |                 -- Joe's mama
From: ano@csug.cs.reading.ac.uk (Adrian Ogden)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Actors for DW Film (was Re: new topic)
Date: 6 Nov 92 09:44:43 GMT
Organization: University of Reading

nickles@sage.cc.purdue.edu (john a nickles) writes:

>And now for my two cents:

>  Rincewind: Rowan Atkinson

Nah, Rowan Atkinson should play Lupine Wonse                                                       
> The Patrician: Patrick Stewart

Hmmm, Jean-Luc Vetinari... has anyone seen him in anything other
than ST:TNG?

> Tom Baker has to be in this movie somewhere but I can't figure out what
>he should play.

Tom would be my choice for Death.

And sticking with actors from Doctor Who, how about Anthony Ainley
as the Grand Vizier Abrim?


<<  Adrian Ogden -- "Sic Biscuitus Disintegrat" -- ano@csres.cs.rdg.ac.uk  >>
From: D.M.Jones@newcastle.ac.uk (D.M. Jones)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Death in general
Date: 13 Nov 92 12:06:57 GMT
Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU.


In article <1992Nov10.194842.19684@tdb.uu.se>, t88swa@tdb.uu.se (Sven Wallman) writes:
>James William Handley (jwh@doc.ic.ac.uk) wrote:
>: 
>: Don't know if any have you have seen Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, in which Bill &
>: Ted die, and play Death to get back to life...
>: 
>: In Reaper Man (??) Death talks about playing Monopoly, and in B&T they play a
>: whole variety of board games, and I was just wondering which came first, or if it
>: was just parallel evolution???
>: 
>: ('tis a good film too, especially when they Melvin Death) ROTFL
>: 
>I think that playing games with Death is an old concept. It`s been used
>in films before. I think Max von Sydow played chess against Death in
>Ingemar Bergman`s The_Seventh_Seal (??) (deep stuff).
>--

	The idea of playing games with death isn't really the point. What everyone wants to do is cheat DEATH, and of course the sensible way of doing this is by playing games be it chess, battleships, twister or Cluedo (Yes, I have watched THAT film). Of course the penalty for actually cheating DEATH may be quite extreme, but considering that you are getting the oppurtunity to play DEATH himself, probably meand that things are getting pretty extreme anyway.

	Donald Jones
	D.M.Jones@uk.ac.newcastle
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: tamossel@cs.vu.nl (Mossel TAK)
Subject: Re: Wolfman reference
Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, VU, Amsterdam
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 12:52:00 GMT

ep@donald.ktek.sintef.no (Elizabeth Passano) writes:

>From "The Annotated Pratchett File, v4.0, part 1 of 2"
>posted Nov 5, 1992 by Leo Breebaart (leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl)

>> + [p. 97] "Every full moon I turn into a wolfman. The rest of the time
>>   I'm just a ... wolf."
>>   There is a fantasy short story by a famous author [somehow Larry Niven
>>   comes to mind. Anybody?] that has exactly the same idea for a punchline.

>Ursula K. LeGuin has a short story on this theme, told from the point of
>view of the (wolf)wife; "The Wife's Story" in the collection "The Compass Rose"
>first published July 1988, Bantam paperback '83.

But, also, indeed, so does Larry Niven. I don't remember its name offhand, 
but it's in his "Playgrounds of the Mind" collection.
Oh! Wait! Now it all comes back... There are two of those stories!
One is about a wereman who is tricked by a magician, the other is about
some kind of tavern run by a familie of werepeople. One of the regulars
is a werewhale!!!

>Elizabeth Passano

Groetjes,
			Krijn.
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: rsholmes@rodan.syr.EDU (Rich Holmes)
Subject: Re: Anna Russell/British Humourous Fantasy/whatever :-)
In-reply-to: xtifr@netcom.com's message of Tue, 10 Nov 1992 20:21:27 GMT
Organization: Syracuse University
	<RSHOLMES.92Nov5125948@rodan.syr.EDU>
	<1992Nov10.173746.28189@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
	<1992Nov10.202127.7792@netcom.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 12:26:03 EST

In article <1992Nov10.202127.7792@netcom.com> xtifr@netcom.com (Chris Waters) writes:

>Yup, great album.  Speaking of which, this seems like a good opportunity
>to plug my second favorite British Humourous Fantasy writer, Tom Holt,
>who tends to like operatic themes for his books.  _Expecting Someone
>Smaller_ is a great postscript to the Ring Cycle.  If you like Pratchett
>(and especially if you liked _Good Omens_), I highly recommend that you
>try Tom Holt.

I did. I found "Who's Afraid of Beowulf" tedious, unfunny, and somehow
irritating. No thanks; Pratchett and Adams for me. And, yes, I loved
_Good Omens_.

--
- Rich Holmes
"In general, the dance music of P.D.Q. Bach -- although we have no
 documentary evidence of this -- suggests that one of his legs was
 shorter than the other." -- Prof. Peter Schickele
From: jonathan@jspc.wimsey.bc.ca (Jonathan Story)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: DW Film
Date: 11 Nov 92 10:16:10 GMT

I'm disappointed that no one has referred to one of my favourite
characters, that posh bint, Lady Ramkin.  No idea who could play her
though, but my guess is that the archetype is so engrained in the British
consciousness that any decent actress could fill the role.
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: "steve degroof" <steve.degroof@canrem.com>
Subject: animation studios
Reply-To: "steve degroof" <steve.degroof@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: alt
Date: 12 Nov 92 19:46:38 EST

>> How about an animated film? The problem with this is finding an
>> appropriate animation house. Disney is out; too cutesy. Spielberg
>> might do; maybe a bit too Hollywood. Nelvana has possibilities.
>> Any suggestions?
> How about Cotsgrove (sp?) who did the Truckers animation - that
> was super!
I didn't know there was a Truckers film. Any idea where I can get
a copy? (preferably NTSC-VHS)
SD
--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: ccamfiel@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Christopher Camfield)
Subject: Terry vs Asprin (was Re: Douglas vs Terry)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 19:09:49 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.135640.5611@syma.sussex.ac.uk> andyh@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Andrew Holyer) writes:
>In article <1992Nov5.104424.1@vax1.tcd.ie> eaobrien@vax1.tcd.ie writes:
>>
>>  Craig Shaw Gardner ! The man makes me long for the cool clear lucid prose
>>  of L.Ron Hubbard ;->
>>  As and for 'Bored of the Rings', well .. just takes your breakfast away.
>>  Now, if we could find a Robert Rankin fan..
>>
>(... lots deleted....)
>
>Folks, I know they're really nothing like the  discworld, (not better,
>not  worse, dist...  different),  but what do   people think about the
>"Myth" books? Aspirin's got a totally different  style,  but I do have
>the feeling that they're somehow worthy of note. Gleep, in particular,
>still usually makes me giggle. And the UK editions actually have worse
>covers than the discworld books.....

Worse covers than the Discword books?  Are you one of the minority (I
presume) that don't like Josh Kirby?

I read Asprin in high school, before I discovered Pratchett.  Some of
his books are okay, particularly the earlier ones.  But generally I'd
say they're not as "significant" as Pratchett... I should say rather that
they're aimed at an adolescent audience, IMO.  Pratchett is much more
interesting...  I would say the same thing also for Gardner (in fact,
I'd say Gardner's books are even more aimed at an adolescent audience).
Good for a read and a chuckle, but not as many re-reads as Pratchett.
From: xtifr@netcom.com (Chris Waters)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: DW Film... (was Re: Guards! Guards! play
Date: 4 Nov 92 23:55:48 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

In <memo.725659@cix.compulink.co.uk> tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk (Terry Pratchett) writes:

>I'm not sure if this ended up in the FAQ or not....anyhow...

>The Mort Film:

>A production company was put together and there was US and Scandinavian and
>European involvement, and I wrote a couple of script drafts which wet down
>well and everything was looking fine and then the US people said 'Hey, we've
>been doing market research in Power Cable, Nebraska, and other centes of
>culture, and the Death/skeleton bit doesn't work for us, it's a bit of a
>downer, we have a prarm with it, so lose the skeleton".
                   ^^^^^
Cute.  Took a few seconds to penetrate my typo-overloaded brain.  :-)

Anyway, this is why the people in Northern California have much the same
attitude towards Southern CA in general, and Hollywood in particular,
that the Scots do towards the great mass of "Southerners".

I'd advise waiting till they put Tim Burton in charge of production. 
I'm a little dubious about his more serious works (Batman?!?), but I
think that he could capture the humor in the Disc novels better than
much of anyone else in Hellywood.  (See _Edward Scissorhands_ and
_Beetlejuice_.)

In the meantime, what can the rest of us do?  Buy lots of Terry's books.
Lots and lots.  Buy copies for *all* your friends.  Make him the most
popular author in the world--something he richly deserves anyway--then
they'll have to listen to his input!  :-)

OKAY!!  Got my brown-nosing done, now, on to bigger and better things!  :-)
-- 
Chris Waters    | the insane don't | "Don't you boys know NICE songs?"
xtifr@netcom.COM| need disclaimers |                 -- Joe's mama