Archive for the ‘TV’ Category

Season One Breaking Bad – We Just Finished It! (Part 1)

Posted: October 26, 2013 by patricksponaugle in Breaking Bad, TV
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Seriously, I’m embarrassed to have never watched this show when it was being broadcast. What can I say? My wife Lisa and I are sometimes behind the times when it comes to watching great television.

But at least we are now getting caught up on what has been advertised to me as one of the greatest television shows of all time: Breaking Bad.

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I’ve had a plethora of friends giving me grief for not watching it, so… this month we started watching, we’ve finished Season One, and I can now express BrBa observations and feel part of the Breaking Bad community. And feel totally late to the party.

I’m going to spoil Season One during this post and because I haven’t been living under a rock, I’ve heard about some things that happen in the following seasons. People have been pretty responsible and I’ve not been heavily spoiled, but I know some details of future events. I might be mistaken about what I think I know, please don’t correct me.

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Starting Breaking Bad

Posted: October 13, 2013 by patricksponaugle in Breaking Bad, TV
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Pantsless Walter White, Discarded Respirator, and Phosgene Gas from the RV. An amazing and compelling introduction to the show.

Yes, it’s 2013, and Breaking Bad started in 2008, but my wife and I are finally starting to watch this acclaimed television show.

I won’t say much about it right this moment, we’re only 4 episodes in, but I’ll write a recap and express some thoughts once we get past the first season.

It’s a show my wife and I had been wanting to watch, largely because of the insane attention being brought on the show as the second half of the season was about to air. There were a lot of my social media friends really wanting me to get caught up and see the final episodes of the show live, but it wasn’t going to happen (for reasons I’ll touch on during my season one recap… whenever we finish the season.)

I do know some things about the show, which is too bad in some ways, but it’s the way it is. I’m trying to avoid spoilers as much as I can, not that I’ll be offended, but it’ll give me a chance to really be wrong as I make stupid predictions or totally misread someone’s character. We’ll see how that goes.

The episodes we’ve seen have been great, but they’ve been pretty rough. I don’t mean rough as in unpolished, but hard in some ways to get through, personally. I’ll explain more later.

The image of Bryan Cranston is obviously from AMC’s Breaking Bad.

I make no claim to any of the artwork obviously, but I do make some claim to the text of this posting. So there.

© Patrick Sponaugle 2013 Some Rights Reserved

Closing Arguments In Defense of Jon Snow (Finally!)

Posted: October 7, 2013 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Abstract: Often, I hear complaints about Jon Snow, the bastard of Winterfell. I previously wrote responses to various common complaints, and now I wrap it all up in a bow.

This is the sixth part in a series examining alleged negative aspects of Jon Snow, the acknowledged illegitimate son of Lord Eddard “One Does Not Simply Play the Game of Thrones” Stark. This was all explained five posts ago. Should you not want to read the whole thing, I’ll summarize: I’m a fan of Jon Snow, and I’m concluding my defense of his character with a general character defense. Oh, the symmetry!

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To recap, Jon Snow has been accused of being boring (or his storyline is boring), he’s an emo whiny dummy, he’s indecisive, and he’s a bad boyfriend.

Well, yeah. I guess. I mean, I don’t agree. Daenerys has some boring storylines (WHERE ARE MY DRAGONS!), Theon is way more whiny, he’s no more indecisive than anyone else, and as a virgin who has his first sexual experience with a threatening scary barbarian, I think there’s no way he could avoid being a bad boyfriend.

But I’ve already fought those battles. Time for two more tactics, and I’ll even call upon my classical education to bring it home.

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In Defense of Whiny Jon “Emo” Snow

Posted: October 7, 2013 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Abstract: Often, I hear a complaint about Jon Snow that basically says he’s a big emo whiner. I take some issue with that, and the following is an angst-ridden gloomy complaint about such complaints. Heavy Sigh.

This is the fifth part in a series examining alleged negative aspects of Jon Snow, the acknowledged illegitimate son of Lord Eddard “Winter is Coming, We’re All Going to Die” Stark. This was all explained four posts ago. Should you not want to read the whole thing, I’ll summarize: I’m a fan of Jon Snow, and I feel it necessary to respond to criticism of the bastard of Winterfell. Hasn’t Jon suffered enough emotional trauma just from his mommy-issues? Must the Internet be so mean to him?

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Okay. When I’m listening to Game of Thrones recap podcasts, when the topic of discussion turns north, there’s usually one podcaster on each podcast that goes on about that Emo-Motherf***er Jon Snow. Usually followed by an exasperated “I can’t take any more of his whining!”

Okay, I get that. The bastard of Winterfell has been known to complain and whine. I won’t deny that. I’m ready to convict him right now.

Let’s hit some of the angst-ridden events that a certain someone has whined about or had angsty-face about.

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In Defense of Bad Boyfriend Jon Snow

Posted: October 7, 2013 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Abstract: Some have observed that Jon Snow really done Ygritte the Wildling wrong. I’m not saying Jon is innocent, but there are extenuating circumstances that should be acknowledged before Jon is sentenced to being feathered some more. (Feathered as in getting shot full of arrows, yo.)

This is the fourth part in a series examining alleged negative aspects of Jon Snow, the acknowledged illegitimate son of Lord Eddard “Women Can Get You Into Trouble” Stark. This was all explained three posts ago. Should you not want to read the whole thing, I’ll summarize: I’m a fan of Jon Snow, and I feel it necessary to respond to criticism of the bastard of Winterfell. Wasn’t it bad enough that the only girl willing to give Jon the time of day was totally on the enemy side?

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You’ll know one thing, Jon Snow. You’ll know I’m right pissed, you bastard!

Jon Snow: Bad Boyfriend

Ah, Ygritte. The girl with the fire-kissed hair. It’s hard to imagine Jon Snow abandoning her like he did. But he did. And it’s something to account for.

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In Defense of Indecisive Jon Snow

Posted: October 7, 2013 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Abstract: Some people like to complain that Jon Snow is a flip-flopping indecisive simpleton. Really? I take issue with that. Decisively!

This is the third part in a series examining alleged negative aspects of Jon Snow, the acknowledged illegitimate son of Lord Eddard “Neddie” Stark. This was all explained two posts ago. Should you not want to read the whole thing, I’ll summarize: I’m a fan of Jon Snow, and I feel it necessary to respond to criticism of the bastard of Winterfell. Wasn’t it bad enough for Jon to have status lower on the Winterfell Totem Pole than Theon Greyjoy? Theon!

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Flopping the Flips

This is a bit of a complicated topic, since it is less about the character of Jon Snow, and more about two other things: is the show executing Jon’s story effectively, and are the viewers paying attention. Or as much attention as they should be.

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In Defense of Boring Jon Snow

Posted: October 7, 2013 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Abstract: Some claim Jon Snow’s story (or Jon Snow himself) is boring. They’re wrong! (In my humble opinion…)

This is the second part in a series examining alleged negative aspects of Jon Snow, the acknowledged illegitimate son of Eddard “I’m Too Sexy For My Head” Stark. This was all explained last post. Should you not want to read the whole thing, I’ll summarize: I’m a fan of Jon Snow, and I feel it necessary to respond to criticism of the bastard of Winterfell. Didn’t Catelyn Stark do enough emotional damage to Jon at Winterfell? Seriously!

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The Boredom

Some Jon Snow detractors either find the Jon Snow story-line boring, or find Jon Snow simply an uninteresting character. I’ll admit, I don’t think that the showrunners have made Jon’s television journey into the north as compelling as it was in the books. Of course, it’s always dangerous to stop paying attention to a story-line that seems not all that compelling. After Tyrion’s wedding to Sansa, I remember several podcasters complaining about having to endure another wedding, the Stark-brokered union of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey. Yeah, the Red Wedding was pretty dull, eh?

I’m not going to try to defend the Jon Snow story as televised. Well, I might. Some of the problems people have are not in fully understanding what is going on and I’ll be taking issue with that.

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Opening Arguments In Defense of Jon Snow

Posted: October 7, 2013 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Abstract: (I include these abstracts entirely on behalf of my academic friends who get scared by walls of text.) Not everyone likes Jon Snow. I take this opportunity to lend my support for the acknowledged (yet illegitimate) son of Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell. This will be the first in a series. You’re welcome.

Just to be clear, I’m talking about Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, and not Jon Snow the British Journalist and Television Presenter. (That dude must get tired of being told how little he knows.)

Jon Snow Looking Pensive. Yeah. Redundant. I Know.

Snow. Jon Snow.

I want to state upfront that I’m mostly going to be talking about Jon Snow as portrayed in HBO’s television series Game of Thrones, based on George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. I’ll be talking about the existing seasons, with hardly any mention of the books they are based upon. (I would have liked to have said *no* mentions but I know me, I’ll be doing some light references to the books.)

So if you’re a Game of Thrones TV Viewer and not a Book Reader (an Unsullied vs. a Sullied) I promise that I won’t be spoiling things to come. If you’re not up to date on the show and you don’t want to be spoiled, take my advice and stop reading. I make no promises for what might happen in the comments section. (But I can urge people to be spoiler-free, please. Especially in regards to that thing about Jon Snow that many of us suspect but hasn’t yet been confirmed or debunked. THAT thing. Or maybe that other thing.)

This post will be the first of several posts, discussing several negative aspects of Jon Snow or the Jon Snow storyline. I had originally planned on knocking out a quick post, but the original was turning into something big enough to keep a horde of Wildlings out, so I opted to break it into smaller, digestible chunks. Anyone who reads the entire thing will be my friend for life. It is known.

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Thoughts on the LOST Finale. Positive, Warm, Loving Thoughts.

Posted: September 19, 2013 by patricksponaugle in Opinion, TV
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swoosh…

ABSTRACT: (My scientifically-minded friends have asked several times for a Too Long; Didn’t Read version of my posts, so…) People complain about the final season of Lost. I do not share their view. I will address the common complaints of the flash-sideways limbo (which was emotionally satisfying and a very Lost thing to do, thematically) and the perceived lack of answers (which I appreciated with the same faculty with which I appreciate something like poetry, for example.)

I love Lost. (The title might have given that away.)

Recently on the Jay and Jack Facebook group (you don’t know Jay and Jack? You should!) there was a discussion of TV shows that had either gone on too long, or had spawned a spin-off that had tarnished the reputation of its predecessor. Lost was mentioned, not in the spin-off category, but as a show that had gone on too long, and some criticism of the final season was opined.

I love Lost. I’m shameless about it. So what will now follow will be a totally biased and uncritical love letter to season six. I might as well be honest about it.

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Thoughts on the True Blood Finale (More or Less)

Posted: September 10, 2013 by patricksponaugle in TV
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Recently, the insightful hosts over at Geek Girl Soup had a recap of the most recent season of True Blood, HBO’s Vampire Drama. Because they’re great over at GGS they requested input from their listeners, and because they are awesome, they posted my email on their blog entry that accompanies their podcasts. (You should just go to http://www.geekgirlsoup.com and check them out. I really enjoy their TV coverage but particularly their big movie season reviews and spotlights.)
I decided that since I’d already gone to the trouble of sending a huge email to them about the season, I’d just post it here to for an easy blog entry. I’m lazy like that. And here it is:
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