Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

Game of Thrones Screener Leaks: Paying the Iron Price (or the Ironic Price)

Posted: April 21, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be talking about Game of Thrones, and will be lightly referencing plot points from the first four seasons. That’s as spoilery as it will get, nothing that hasn’t been aired on the actual show.

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Look at this cable bill! You expect me to pay for this? The GOLD PRICE?

As season five of Game of Thrones approached, it was clear that it would be a controversial collection of episodes. Rumors of deviations, characters omitted from the season, non-canonical deaths, and the airing of scenes from the unpublished books fired up the fanbase.

Then the first four episodes of the new season were leaked and made available on torrent sites, days before the premiere on HBO. The Internet went crazy.

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Show of Hands; Hands Up, Hands Down

Posted: April 7, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be dealing with plot points in Game of Thrones, you know, that awesome TV show on HBO. (Which is starting up again this weekend. FINALLY!)

Anyway, if you’re not caught up with the show, then

  • You smell.
  • This is your only spoiler warning.

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Four years ago (in “our” time, not TV time), Lord Eddard “while Cat’s away, Ned will play” Stark got some bad news. Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, had died.

It wasn’t revealed at the time, but the Hand of the King had been killed by a family member, who then quickly fled the capital.

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Watching the Watchers that are Watching the Watchers on the Wall

Posted: March 31, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be talking about plot points that have been revealed on HBO’s Game of Thrones, the excellent televised adaptation of George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series. So, this will be spoilery to some degree, so unless you’re up to date on the show or just love being spoiled, consider this your warning.

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One horn blast for Rangers returning. Two for Wildlings. Three for the Others. Four blasts for Spoilers!

Talking about spoilers is particularly relevant at this time, since recently the Game of Thrones showrunners Benioff and Weiss have announced that the next 3 seasons of the show (with the seventh season anticipated to be the last one) will be revealing things that have not yet been published. And there will be differences.

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Dungeons and Dragons: Game of Thrones from the Gamer Perspective

Posted: March 24, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Gaming, Opinion, TV
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This post is going to use HBO’s excellent show Game of Thrones as a thinly-veiled framework for me to provide anecdotes about my misspent youth, playing fantasy role-playing games with my friends. (To clarify, these would be pen-and-paper narrative-heavy role playing games, and not Fifty Shades of Grey style role playing games. More D & D than S & M. Capiche?)

The show’s been on for four years, and if you’re reading an article about Dungeons and Dragons and Game of Thrones, I assume you’re up to date on the show, so this is your unnecessary spoiler-warning. (I won’t be spoiling anything from the books.)

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If you are not averse to the Dungeons & Dragons aesthetic, the series might be worth the effort. If you are nearly anyone else, you will hunger for HBO to get back to the business of languages for which we already have a dictionary. – Ginia Bellafante, New York Times 04/15/2011

The above quote was taken from Ginia Bellafante’s rather ill-conceived review of Game of Thrones, published a week or two into the show’s initial run. Her review, although not super-negative, was pretty dismissive saying that HBO’s adaptation of George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire was “boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half.”

The “boy fiction” crack has clearly turned out to be crazy talk, as the show’s demographics are very broad and inclusive.

Ginia, really.

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In Defense of Braavos

Posted: March 17, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post (like so many on my blog) will be discussing elements of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Let’s just assume this will be spoilery if you haven’t watched Season Four of Game of Thrones, or read A Storm of Swords. Imagine the Titan of Braavos captioned below is guarding you from seeing any spoilers, provided you don’t read further.

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Look at Nothing Beneath my Legs! Spoilers! Below! (I’m talking about the text. Keep your mind out of Flea Bottom. That’s the gutter, I mean. My iron bottom has no fleas.)

In Defense of Braavos? What’s the meaning behind this post? Am I going to bore people with the tactical strategems (do those words even go together?) of defending a Venice-like city?

Probably not. I mean, I might bore you, but my focus won’t be on the military defense of Braavos, although I might touch on that in a very shallow manner.

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Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Stark

Posted: March 3, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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There’s this show on HBO called Game of Thrones. Maybe you’ve heard of it. It’s great (as is the book series it’s based on, A Song of Ice and Fire.) This post will be talking plot points from the show (but no spoilers from book materials that the show hasn’t covered yet.) If you’re not up on the show, it’s up to you if you want to read the following article. Consider this your warning.

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Rock. Paper. Scissors. Lizard. Stark.

In Season One of Game of Thrones, Lord Eddard Stark brings to the court the recently deceased King Robert Baratheon’s last written directive granting Ned the regency until Robert’s heir comes of age. This document is presented to Queen Cersei.

Cersei: Is this meant to be your shield, Lord Stark? *rips paper*
Ned: Hmmm, maybe I should have played rock instead…

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Anyone not familiar with the rules of Rochambeau? (Sometimes spelled Ro-sham-bo.) Rock-Paper-Scissors?

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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!

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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.)

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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.

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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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