Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

End-of-Season-3 Game of Thrones Scorecard: Joffrey Baratheon’s Approval Rating

Posted: June 17, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Season Four Game of Thrones has now finished up. I’ll start writing some new GoT articles soon, but here’s a backup post I wrote as part of my previously published Defending Joffrey article, with some observations on the End-of-Season-Three political landscape in Westeros.

patricksponaugle's avatarEven I'm Shocked How Long This Is

This post will be talking details about the end of the third season of HBO’s excellent series Game of Thrones. Therefore, if you are not caught up, please don’t spoil yourself by reading this. Go watch the series (or better yet, read the books too) before reading anything here.

Joffrey-house-baratheon-30574390-1273-613 I Don’t Have a 100% Approval Rating? I’m Not Killing Enough People Then!

On my main blog, I have an article on the young king of Westeros, Joffrey Baratheon. In that post, I make a claim that at the end of Season Three of HBO’s Game of Thrones, Joffrey has a 40% approval rating. How could I make that claim?

Well, I totally made up that number, that’s how. But, there was a method I followed.

And when I say “approval”, what I kind of mean is “support.” Look, just bear with me.

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Best Godzilla Movie Ever

Posted: June 6, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Movie Review, Opinion
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I promise there will be no spoilers for the Gareth Edwards’ movie Godzilla, out in theaters.

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No Spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, my daughter and I caught a showing of Godzilla, directed by Gareth Edwards.

My girl surprised me by wanting to see the movie, and I’m certainly not going to let the opportunity to see a Sci Fi genre flick pass by. Afterwards, I asked her if I should write a blog post about it.

Me: Hey, should I write a blog post on the movie?

Her: Sure.

Me: What should my angle be?

Her: Just talk about the plot, but no spoilers.

I guess I could do that… but I’m not going to. I think I’m still trying to sort out my opinion on the movie, and I think if I start talking too much about it, it’ll just end up being me bashing on Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla movie (and then defending it like this.)

Instead I’ll talk about the greatest Godzilla movie ever made (as adjudicated by Pat Sponaugle, self-appointed expert on Kaiju movies) 1991’s excellent Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.

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Thoughts on the Final Season of True Blood

Posted: June 3, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Opinion, TV
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In a couple weeks (after the Game of Thrones finale) HBO’s sexy and messy supernatural drama, True Blood, will return for its final season. true-blood-header
(Oh yeah, SPOILERS for past seasons of True Blood.)

My friends over at Geek Girl Soup asked some of their associates (including me!) for thoughts and predictions about the final season of True Blood. I cobbled together twenty one predictions.

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Unconventional Warfare in HBO’s Game of Thrones (Seasons 2 and 3)

Posted: May 15, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Last Sunday’s Episode of Game of Thrones “Laws of Gods and Men” featured a stirring testimonial about my favorite Baratheon brother, Stannis.

I’m still on my Game of Thrones blogging hiatus (while Season Four is ongoing), but here’s a Stannis-related post I wrote last year on my supplementary material backup blog, one of the elements packaged with my In Defense of Stannis Baratheon post.

Hope everyone is enjoying Season Four, I certainly am.

patricksponaugle's avatarEven I'm Shocked How Long This Is

On my main blog patricksponaugle.com, I have a post basically defending Stannis Baratheon on HBO’s Game of Thrones. The following article will contain spoilery details of Season Two and Three Game of Thrones. If you are not up to date, I recommend you read no further. Look away, right now!

renly-baratheon-shadow-assassin Being King Wasn’t as Awesome as Renly Imagined

No discussion of Stannis would be complete without addressing the implications of him assassinating his brother, Renly, via magic.

Stannis’ defeat of Renly was accomplished using an unconventional form of warfare, and I think it warrants a discussion, as well as comparison to other examples of unconventional warfare that are seen in Game of Thrones, but don’t seem to get the same negative associations of shadow assassin demon-babies.

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What I’m (Re)Reading: Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny

Posted: April 26, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Book Review, Opinion, Writing
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George RR Martin’s next installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire saga, The Winds of Winter, won’t be out this year. Maybe it’ll be out next year. Maybe.

In the meantime, I felt the need to read some compelling fantasy that would be similar in many ways.

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There are tons of great fantasy books available and there is no end of lists of suggested reading while waiting for the next GRRM epic. Although I should be reading something new, I had a yen to re-read something something great, that I knew would hit the spot.

It was high time to re-read Roger Zelazny’s Amber Chronicles.

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Breaking Bad Season Five – We Just Finished the Series (Post 3 of 3)

Posted: April 13, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Breaking Bad, Opinion, TV
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This is my final post discussing our viewing of the end of Breaking Bad. Two posts ago, I had a recap of the last eight episodes of the season, and last post I discussed some topics more or less relevant to the final season. Now I’m going to express my final thoughts on the entire series. (I’ll be short. After all, I’ve already put out series of blog posts at the end of each season. How much more can I say?)

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Breaking Bad Season Five – We Just Finished the Series (Post 2 of 3)

Posted: April 13, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Breaking Bad, Opinion, TV
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Last post, I announced that my wife and I had just finished watching the final episodes of Breaking Bad. That previous post was a season recap that probably everyone skipped reading (not an unwise decision: either you’ve seen the show and don’t need the recap or you’ve not seen the show and SHOULDN’T read that recap)

This post will my observations on the final season. (Post 3 will be my observations on the entire series.)

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That Coffee Can’t be as Good as Gale Boetticher’s. That Stuff was the Bomb, Yo.

Season finales have a tough task in general. They have to wrap things up in a satisfying way, there’s a pressure to refer back to things that have happened over the years, besides resolving plot issues, there are emotional closures that need to be crafted, and the final episodes need to be surprising. It’s no fun if it’s too obvious or predictable what’s going to happen. But things can’t be too surprising. Things should make sense.

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The Targaryen Candidate

Posted: April 1, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be discussing plot points from the third season of HBO’s fantastic series Game of Thrones. If you are not caught up on the show and don’t want to be sullied by spoilers then stop reading. Go watch the show. Then come back. DO IT!

Dany-Happy

Vote For Me, Smallfolk! (That is, If I Grant You a Vote!)

 

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Defending Magic in Game of Thrones

Posted: March 25, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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This post will be touching on magical plot points covering the first three seasons of HBO’s excellent series, Game of Thrones. If you are caught up with the show, there won’t be any spoilers here.

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Although HBO’s Game of Thrones was relatively light on magical elements in its first season, the show is undeniably a fantasy as we approach its fourth season.

Dragons, witchcraft, curses, illusions, face changers, resurrections, and creepy bald headed warlocks have all made their way on screen.

The question is, are all these elements good for the show? Game of Thrones operates masterfully as a quasi-historical epic, without magic. If magic can be used to dramatically change the equation of power between the competing factions, then doesn’t this lower the stakes? How can we become invested in the story if magic can be used, a la deus ex machina, to slay or save one of the characters without warning?

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In Defense of the Warlocks in Game of Thrones

Posted: March 11, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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If you’re up to speed on HBO’s Game of Thrones, at least a few episodes into Season Three, then this post won’t be spoilery. 

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Too Magical For Eyebrows!

I want to state up front that I’m not siding with the Warlocks of Qarth against plucky Daenerys Targaryen. I can’t defend their nefarious plot to abduct her in order to draw power from the Silver Queen and her dragons.

Instead, I’m defending them against allegations that they are an over-powered drama-breaking element in the show.

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