Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

In Defense of Tyrion Lannister

Posted: February 17, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be talking some spoilery details about the first four seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Especially the final episode of Season Four, so if you’re not up on all the episodes, don’t read this post. Go watch the show. Season Five is starting in a few months, and you can get caught up!

Tyrion-trial

Not Watching Game of Thrones is a Crime!

Tyrion Lannister is a compelling figure on Game of Thrones. The black sheep of the Lannister clan, Tyrion is not popular in Westeros (being called a demon monkey by the King’s Landing citizenry that he more or less saved) but is wildly popular among book readers and show watchers. (Anyone who doesn’t like him can tell me about it in the comments section; we can have a respectful discourse.)

So, why am I having an In Defense of Tyrion Lannister if he’s so popular? It’s not like he pushed a kid out a window, arranged a massacre in defiance of religious and social conventions, or is a thuggish goon.

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In Defense of Jaime Lannister

Posted: February 3, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be talking plot details from HBO’s Game of Thrones, the excellent adaptation of George RR Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire series. Specifically, I’ll be talking about Jaime Lannister in the first three seasons of the show (and therefore roughly through 2.5 of the books. If that’s how you roll.)

Jaime-Lannister

No Need For All this Fuss! Surely my Charm and Good Looks are all that’s Required for a Defense. Not so?

Thanks to Season Four of Game of Thrones and how they adapted a certain scene between Jaime and his sibling Cersei, I feel it necessary to start my defense of Jaime Lannister with a proactive defense of my defense. This is a topic that had been on my big list of planned Game of Thrones articles before Season Four aired last year, and I didn’t get a chance to talk about Jaime before the controversial sept scene.

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Littlefinger and the Lies of Power

Posted: January 27, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be talking about plot elements for HBO’s Game of Thrones, the excellent adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin. Specifically, I’ll be talking about Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish.

Baelish-Cup

Everyone Likes Me! I’m So Charming!

Spoiler Alert: I don’t like him.

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Sandor Clegane: Surly When Called “Ser”

Posted: January 20, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will contain spoilers for Game of Thrones, HBO’s excellent adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series.

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Can’t it be A Song of Ice? Just Ice? Must there be Fire?

Season Four of Game of Thrones left a broken and bleeding Sandor “the Hound” Clegane in a pretty bad state. Having prevented Arya Stark from falling into the hands of Lannister-stooge Brienne of Tarth (I’m thinking like the Hound, here) the badly wounded Clegane begged Arya to grant him the mercy of a swift, clean death.

Arya coldly refused and left the Hound to die alone.

It’s a shame, since the Hound’s journey had gotten interesting. Well, some people might argue that his literal journey of walking around the Riverlands wasn’t super-compelling, but I’m talking about the Hound as a character, his narrative journey.

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A is for Arya, B is for Brienne

Posted: January 13, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be talking about two outstanding characters on Game of Thrones. Therefore there will be spoilers if you are not up to date on the show (or have not read the books, but mostly this will be related to the show.)

Fair warning.

Arya_Brienne

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The Orcish Perspective on Game of Thrones

Posted: January 6, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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I’m not going to mince words. This post is going to talk about plot details of every season of HBO’s Game of Thrones and the three movies of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. (I’m quite shocked that Peter Jackson made the trilogy with only three movies.) So, if you’re allergic to spoilers, you should probably stay away.

red-eye-orcs

Spoils? We Orcs Love Spoils! “To the Victor Go the Spoils!” Or So We’ve been Told. We wouldn’t Really Know…

I think it’s a popular thing to compare either JRR Tolkien and George RR Martin as writers or their respective works, Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire, as fantasy epics. Usually by someone who has an axe to grind.

Full disclosure: this is going to be one of those posts but I hope it’ll be slightly different. I’m not trying to prove one is better than the other but I plan on doing some comparisons. Trust me, Ned.

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Arya Sure That’s How It’s Pronounced?

Posted: January 1, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be talking about HBO’s Game of Thrones, but I’m pretty sure this won’t be spoilery. Unless you want to try come up with your own way to pronounce the names in the books. There are so many names.

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After He Read that Huge Genealogy Book, Ned’s Head Felt Like it was Going to Fall Off.

So. Many. Names.

I usually talk about the television show Game of Thrones, rather than the A Song of Ice and Fire series that it’s based on. I think I do that because I’d like to engage with the Unsullied show watchers who are experiencing the story as presented by HBO.

I try not to be a smug book reader, but it’s hard. Today, I will not hold back my smugness. But fear not. I’m not going to aim my smug focus on the innocent show watchers. I’ll be hitting on the book readers.

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Star Trek vs. Star Trek

Posted: December 29, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Movie Review, Opinion
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With the recent announcement of Justin Lin as director of the third Star Trek movie in the JJ Abrams reboot series, I’ve noticed a resurgence of dissatisfaction among some Star Trek fans with the reboot series in general.

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I don’t think that their complaints are particularly invalid (maybe some of their complaints) but a recent image that’s been circulating had me metaphorically shaking my head.

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Where are the Others? Are they LOST?

Posted: December 23, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Although the Others were the mysterious antagonists on the great television show LOST, this post will be talking about the White Walkers on HBO’s Game of Thrones. It’s probably best if you’re up to date on that television show if you want to read this post and not be spoiled.

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Meet Up at the Glacier, the Night’s King Said. As if there’s Only One!

The winter solstice was a few days ago, ushering in the calendar’s recognition of the winter season (everyone who dealt with snow in November knows that winter’s already been here.) And we’re at that time (depending on your cultural affiliation) that children are being told that way up in the arctic, an old wizened figure is directing his fey minions in preparation for a magical trip away from the pole and into the warmer southern lands.

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Snows, Love Them or Hate Them

Posted: December 9, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be discussing plot points from the first four seasons of Game of Thrones. This is your usual spoiler warning. But this is just boilerplate, because everyone’s up-to-date on Game of Thrones. Or at least all the cool kids are.

Snows

Hey! FIRE and ICE!

It’s now December, and Winter, you know, is HERE! (It would have been depressing to say Winter is merely Coming when last month I was walking my dogs in the pre-dawn sub-freezing temperatures. But you guys don’t need to hear all this.)

Anyway, I’m expecting we’ll be seeing more snowfall soon, and that made me want to write about my two favorite Snows in HBO’s Game of Thrones: Jon Snow and Ramsay Snow.

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