Death Has the Last Laugh: Fools in Game of Thrones

Posted: June 20, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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We’re getting very close to the next season of Game of Thrones! This post will be touching upon plot points of previous seasons (with a few bits pulled out of the book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, for discussion.) If you’re not caught up with the show – how dare you – then I guarantee this post will spoil some plot elements.

Spoiler Alert: Ser Dontos the Fool ends up on the Iron Throne in Season Eight. (I jest, I jest!)

Game of Thrones features lords and ladies, kings and queens, heroes and villains, squires, rangers, wizards, and spies.

And fools.

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The Long Afternoon of Game of Thrones

Posted: June 16, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Blogging, Game of Thrones
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Night gathers, and now my watch begins…

But not quite. Night is gathering, possibly the Long Night (for Westeros) but we still have a month to go until Season Seven finally starts up. We’re kind of still in the Long Afternoon.

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Defending Ramsay Bolton

Posted: June 13, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be about Game of Thrones and its reprehensible monster of a villain, Ramsay.

Reprehensible? Me??? – Well, I suppose that’s fair. Carry on.

Game of Thrones is a rare story in that so many of its villains have sympathetic traits, and its well-intentioned heroes more often-than-not struggle with the consequences of questionable choices.

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King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Posted: June 11, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Movie Review, Opinion
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Recently, I took my daughter to see a movie about superhero royalty. No, I didn’t take her to see Wonder Woman (we’ll see it soon, I assume) – instead I took her to see Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

If you’ve not seen King Arthur: LotS, this post will be spoilery, so I’ll just strongly recommend the movie to you and send you on your way. It’s not a typical King Arthur movie though. It’s a very specific genre-mashing of Arthurian legend and Ritchie’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels style.

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Game of Thrones: You Win Or You Die. Unless You Die And Still You Win.

Posted: June 6, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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This post will be talking about Game of Thrones. If you’ve not heard about it, it’s this pretty cool show based on an amazing (and sadly, unfinished) book series.

When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.
But if we dead things kill you, then you’re on our team and when we win, you win.
So, when you play the Game of Thrones, it’s Win-Win! #TeamUndead

In the very first episode of Game of Thrones, a party of rangers from the Night’s Watch fall prey to the Others, the legendary White Walkers who figuratively dwell in myth and literally dwell in some frozen land far north of the Wall.

This set the stage for a conflict that has been slowly developing over the seasons, promising a large battle between humanity and an army of the dead.

I’m not here to talk about that.

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May 2017 #MicroStory Collection

Posted: June 1, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Flash Fiction, Writing
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It’s June, so I went through my social media feeds and grabbed all of the MicroStories I’d tweeted during the month of May.

This little rabbit is micro, and he has a story of avoiding a lawn mower.

As a reminder, these represent story-essences composed using no more than 129 characters (so I could tweet them with the hashtag #MicroStory.)

Usually, I only tweet Science Fiction and Fantasy #MicroStories. May was pretty much no exception.

For really great #MicroStory action, please follow @MicroSFF, the Twitter account that inspired me to participate in this minimalist writing exercise. That feed puts out great science fiction and fantasy MicroStories all the time.

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Game of Thrones: the Four Feuding Families

Posted: May 30, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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As the name of the post implies, I’ll be talking about Game of Thrones. If you’re not up on the show (or the books, the excellent books) then consider this your spoiler warning.

The events that take place in Westeros largely concern themselves with the interaction of four prominent families: the Targaryens, the Baratheons, the Starks, and the Lannisters. I’ll make my apologies to the Greyjoys, Tullys, Arryns, Tyrells, and Martells right up front for implying that they’re not important.

But the show’s opening title card has no krakens, trout, falcons, roses, or suns-with-spears displayed prominently. Just a dragon, lion, direwolf, and stag.

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