Game of Thrones Season 3 Recap, Episode 8 "Second Sons"

HBO seems to have decided that it was long overdue to give the women something to look at as well, and so, open the curtains for a naked Joe Dempsie (I guess Maisie Williams shat her pants) and the new Daario, nothing like the old Daario and therefore loveable for us eurocentric bastards. But let’s go with this as usual, piece by piece. We will have to break up the locations a littlebit more since the episode was concentrated almost exclusively on three locations, a format that definitely benefits the pacing but can’t always be done.

Let's drink on this.

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 30

Thursday is theory day.

This is the thirtieth article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 30. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously.

A Flight of Links

- A first look at "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
- Preview for X-COM The Bureau 
- Game of Thrones is to have seven seasons.
- They are doing a Sleepy Hollow TV series which, in Bob's words, looks awesomely terrible.   
- Violent videogames are fun!
- Why exactly do we care about Star Wars? 
- Big picture about J. J. Abram's marketing tactics.  
- And a better trailer for "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.".
- Great thought about Theon's scene from episode 7. 
- More BSG recaps, concluding season 1. 
- Review for Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Loved that shit. 
- Strange Disney makeovers for more sexy princesses.
- Speculations about the end of ASOIAF I could totally buy. 
- Potential uses for Aegon. Man, do I disagree with some of this stuff. 
- Meta about Ramsay's "they don't love you back" line from episode 7. Man, "love" for Theon doesn't mean love, it means fucking. 
- Yes, yes, yes and yes to this Theon meta.

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 29

Thursday is theory day.

This is the twenty-ninth article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 29. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously.

Boiled Leather Audio Hour #20: Feast/Dance!

Feastdance: The Combined Reading Order for A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons

Hang on to your hardcovers, fire up those ebooks, and arrange the dulcet tones of Roy Dotrice into an appropriate iTunes playlist: Today Sean and I are discussing the combined reading order I came up with for reading A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons simultaneously. As you’re no doubt aware, the concerns that kept these two novels apart — they cover the same period of time, only with different characters at the forefront — were primarily IRL logistical ones. Weaving their chapters back together creates a very different reading experience, revealing aesthetic and thematic unities that make it well worth the effort. For both Sean and myself, this has become the method of choice for reading this second-act section of A Song of Ice and Fire. In this podcast, we’ll explain why.
Here are a few links you might want to take a look at as you listen:

Sean's original combined reading order
Sean's new-reader-friendly combined reading order (this preserves the Dorne reveal; I actually prefer this one now) Sean's entire series of “Feastdance” posts on reading the two books together and what he got out of it
My essay on the two books’ parallel themes for Tower of the Hand

Happy reading and happy listening!

Mirror here.

Previous episodes here.

Podcast RSS feed here.
iTunes page here.
Home blog here.

Game of Thrones Season 3 Recap, Episode 7 "The Bair and the Maiden Fair"

After the proverbial climb last week, the current episode provides us with a bit more of character moments, going over lengths with some relationships and strengthening others that didn’t get the attention they deserved until now. It’s a good move to slow it down a bit, since episode 9 and 10 will get the stakes real high again soon enough. It’s fascinating to see just how close the show still is to the books without being literal about it. That’s one of the things I really like about it. They know what to change and what not to.

A Flight of Links

- Surprising to no one, EA got the exclusive rights to Star Wars games from Disney. 
- The first splatter was on stage. 
- Jedi Younglings
- Meta about the Others. 
- Reel physics about Total Recall. 
-  The new rhymedown spectacular isn't half as good as the last one. 
- Meta about Tywin, Cersei and Jaime. 
- LEGO brings out a steampunk series!
- Meta about Ros' death in GOT, but I don't agree. More forthcoming.
- New episode of Extra Credits.
- More BSG recaps. 
- Just Cause 2, reviewed by Wertzone. 
- How realistic is "The Climb"? 
- Sean T. Collins interviewed Aiden Gillen
MovieDefenseForce tackles Star Wars Episode 1.
- No more BSG, sadly. SyFy seems to totally have pulled the plug.  
- Pictures from the Turtles-set. 
- Noooooo, World of Ice and Fire delayed for a year!
- There's fighting about the D&D intellectual property. Popcorn, everyone!  
- Superheros versus myths and philosophers

In defense or Ros, final revision

Disclaimer: I didn't expect to revisit this essay again, especially not so soon, but Ros' death in episode 6 of season 3 made it somewhat necessary. 

HBO made many additions and changes for its adaption of Martin’s great novels. The most disputed, the most despised and loathed, however, is the introduction of the red-headed whore, Ros, as a recurring character. Her sexposition scenes have attracted many criticisms, and the screen time she gets seems rather as a waste of time by many, time that would be well spent on other characters. I find these allegations unfair on the one hand, since Esme Bianco is playing her role really well, but also very shortsighted from a narrator’s perspective. The scenes with Ros provide some valuable insights we wouldn’t otherwise get, and I don’t mean the size of her breasts. Let’s have a look at her scenes in season 1 to understand that.

Plus, cleavage.

Game of Thrones Season 3 Recap, Episode 6 "The Climb"

I see what you did there, Game of Thrones. Calling an episode “The climb” in which Jon climbs the Wall, but in truth referring to something else. Heh. Clever. Ok, that sounded very sarcastic, and I don’t really know why I said it because I damn loved the episode. It was as well a climb as it was laying real groundwork, much of it aimed at future seasons. Consequence, consequence, consequence. I love these writers. 

Consequence: getting stabbed in the eye reduces peripheral vision.

Review: A Game of Thrones in paint

The Podcast of Ice and Fire isn't exactly known for sitting on their hands, and besides having produced 108 episodes of their podcast up to date, they also participated in book projects like "A Flight of Sorrows", to which yours truly also contributed, and they made art books about A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings with help of the community that provide painted summaries of the single chapters. I had the possibility to read the first book, "A Game of Thrones in Paint", and I have to say, it was an interesting experience.

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 28

Thursday is theory day.

This is the twenty-eighth article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 28. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously.  

A Flight of Links

- Is Tyrion really clever? 
- How big is the Death Star and how long would Palpatine fall?
- The second half of Bob's remake-list. 
- If you ever had any doubt whether the Game of Thrones series would convey the books well, read this meta by a guy who never read the books. 
- Breaking Bad ending to be "glorious".  
- More BSG newbie recaps.  
- Sean T. Collins interviewed Maisie Williams.  
- Race to the Iron Throne gives us Eddard 10.
- I don't find this new Man of Steel rumor especially upsetting.  
- 29 postcards from video games.
- 5 Marvel characters who dropped the ball.
- Bob's table-tales.
- 8 characters from GOT that are better in the show than in the books. I tend to agree. 
- What if earth had no moon?
- Great Meta about childbirth.
-Wertzone reviews the first five episodes. 
- FarCry3 Blood Dragon review.

Game of Thrones Season 3 Recap, Episode 5 "Kissed by fire"

More dubious references in fanservice! Did anyone prick one’s ears when Shireen mentioned that A-E-G almost sounds like egg? Man, I want HBO to do a hedge-knight-spinoff! Erm, back to topic. This episode, while containing some major high-points, felt like a setup episode for me again. There were many things happening that weren’t really thing happening but seemed to point out to future big events, and it’s becoming increasingly clear which these will be: wedding, wedding and wedding. Noticing a pattern there? 

I don't get the reference, have to check Nerdstream.

Pic: Klingon, motherfucker!

Video: Teenage Average Normal Turtles

Video after the break. 

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 27

Thursday is theory day.

This is the twenty-seventh article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 27. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously.  

Why Rockstar can go wipe their asses with Max Payne 3

I was always a huge fan of the Max Payne franchise. The first two games were beautifully made, and I played them several times in ye olden days. Now, Max Payne 3 came out some time ago, and I never found the time to pick it up until now when it was on a Steam sale for whooping 7,50€, so no real harm to be done. I hoped for a littlebit more of Max' poetry along the way of bullet-time fights, but the actual game is such a stinking pile of shit that I get angry just to write about it. So, forgive me if this turns into a rant, but Max Payne 3 really sucks ass. 

It also sucks his skinhead, I guess.

A Flight of Links

- EA's SimCity strategy is shady, but it works. RPS explains why. 
- Agent Smith enters ads. 
- The first trailer for Thor 2 is out, and it looks as cheesy as it looks like fun. 
-  The Portal 2 lead writer wrote a novel about a world where creatonism won. 
- Futurama has been cancelled.
- Steven Attewell reviews Tyrion V. 
- The Zombieland TV series sucks. Surprised? Me neither. 
- Why including free saving into video games is hard. 
- We don't need new consoles, Yahtzee says. 
- Sean T. Collins interviewed Alfie Allen.
- MovieBob lists stuff that needs a reboot. 
- The guy who invents the languages for GOT talks about pronounciation.  
- Bryan Cogman answered many questions about writing GOT.
- New episodes in the BSG newbie recap. 
-  A great fan-made opening for "Man of Steel".
- Michael Arndt is having trouble writing Star Wars VII. Hilarious! 
- The writers of Mad Men propose a show about NASA in the 60s. 
- There's a trailer - live-action! - for the upcoming 3rd-person X-COM.
- Two examples of gorgeous Bioshock cosplay. 
- Batman villains, twenties style. 
- MovieBob about Pain&Gain.
- 10 characters that got more interesting with their gender swapped. 
- The trailer to RED2 has Anthony Hopkins in it as a mad nuclear scientist. 
- Robb Stark meta
- The story of the development of Diablo.

Game of Thrones Season 3 Recap, Episode 4 "And now his watch has ended"

Go Dany! Danaerys’ storyline in season 2 left much to be desired, but in season 3, she excelled, and this episode was – despite the heavy bias towards the Night’s Watch in the title – her episode. She didn’t get that much time in the previous episodes, but she got the ending of this one, and it ended with a bang and a deep swallow from the CGI budget. It’s this bang that secured the episode a firm place in the viewer’s memory, even though the middle was a bit of a slug. This is again, of course, showing great skill by the creators, because this slug was necessary. You need to advance plotlines in order to get to the payoffs sometimes, and they essentially hid the advancing in between the great stuff, primarily Jaime getting his ass whooped by Brienne in the opening and Dany whooping slaver’s ass in the ending. But let’s continue our tradition of geographical progression.  

Go Dany!

Video: Where my boats at?

Danaerys' theme song, after the break: