Let's Talk About Game of Thrones Season Two

So last night the first episode of the second season of HBO's Game of Thrones aired and the fans went wild. After the major cliffhanger from the previous season, millions of fans were left hyperventilating and driving off to the nearest bookstore so they could figure out what would happen next. There was no way on God's green earth that these fans were going to wait another year till they could find out what happened next. And if that meant they had to crack a spine of a 800+ page book then by god they were going to do it!

So true.

I really didn't want to read the books, I knew if I read the books it was going to spoil the show for me. This of course broke my usual vow of reading before watching... but the show was just so good and I was so weak. Until three days later when I found myself standing in Chapters looking at the "Buy the first Four Books of A Song of Ice and Fire for Twenty Dollars" sign did I give in. I bought them all without a second thought and dove into the series and never looked back.

Like almost every other fantasy nerd, I counted down the days till the show was back, I read and watched everything that was released about the filming. I knew George R.R. Martin's touring schedule. I changed my cover photo on facebook to a direwolf. I've planned a Game of Thrones feast for the Season Finale on june 3rd. I was an all round fangirl.

And then the episode aired.

From here down there be spoilers:

So I was little sad with how the episode opened. In the book it opens on Dragonstone with the introduction of Melisandre. The sequence is a slow build which ends with the Reader realizing that there is more to this woman then just being a Priestess. She manages to survive a poisoning attempt with no side effects. This sequence is shown in the television series, but it is quickly rushed through. There is no information give about the man (The Maester of Dragonstone) and why he chose to sacrifice himself to try and kill Melisandre. I think this sequence represents my major fear of what could happen with this season. That it is going to try and do everything, and thus have to rush through everything at break neck speed. If you've read the books, you'll be fine... but if you haven't you'll find yourself scratching your head.

This was cleverly done. It's a little hard to see from the picture.
But Melisandre is the only character wearing vivid colour
It makes her stand out. Makes her seem like the odd person out.

Don't get me wrong. The episode was really good. It had its fantastic moments. For example, right before the poisoning incident, Stannis is dictating a letter that he plans to send out to every Lord bringing to light the Incest between Cersei and Jaimie. As Stannis corrects the letter, he makes little comments such as reminding the scribe to call him "Ser Jaimie Lannister the King Slayer," cause he still is a knight after all. Stannis is a really interesting character. I'm not sure how I feel about the casting of him or Davos... but Melisandre was spot on. I mean seriously.... she looks like she's going to end up being scary.

My other major issue with the episode is how they painted the Lannisters. Cersei and Joffery are labelled as villains, and will never ever be able to do anything right because they are so evil. There are many scenes that are dedicated to how horrible these characters are. Yes, I am not their biggest fans. I love the scenes were Joffery gets slapped (that 10 hour video of Joffery being slapped is one of the most fulfilling things I have ever seen in my life). But, this isn't a story focused on a big bad. Everyone here is out for something, either themselves, their family or what they deem to be what is right. Cersei and Joffery aren't good people, but then again there are a lot of bad people in this world. Tyrion on the other hand, will always be a fan favourite of the audience. Even though he's a Lannister... he's not a bad guy. Hell, he's the best guy in the whole wide world. I'll talk about him later on in the season... when more interesting things happen to him.... Hint, Hint.

All in all, as I said before. I really did enjoy the episode. I expect the series is going to be awesome. Its HBO, we have to expect only the best from them. It is rather nice to have a television show that has the same level of production values as most film sets. I am going to keep an open mind, I expect the show just needs to get the ball rolling and prove to me all my fears are for not.

Let the Battle of the Five Kings begin. :D

Updates Updates Updates

So my posts haven't been that frequent lately, this mostly has to do with the stupid amount of school work I'm dealing with right now. Papers and tests are stressing me out and taking up all of my time these days. But I just wanted to post a note to say that I'm still working away at this blog and have many new and exciting things to talk about starting soon.

Right now I'm reading Christopher Paolini's Inheritance, well more like labouring through it. One thing about me, is that I will see a story through to the end even if it really pisses me off. That about sums up my relationship with the Inheritance Cycle. I've been sitting on this book for a while now trying to read it but I keep getting overly frustrated and setting it aside.

On the movie side of things, I want to do a few blog posts looking at Film Noir: Femme Fatales, Classical Noir and Neo-Noir. The interest in this topic not only has to do with the film noir class that I took this semester, but my plans to try and write a film noir for Script Frenzy this year.

Also, of course the Hunger Games comes out tomorrow. I'm going to be heading out to see the midnight premiere tonight... which is really exciting. You'll probably hear more from me on that soon.

So don't worry, I'm still around and you'll be hearing more from me shortly!

Review: Shambling Towards Hiroshima

I love the cover on this book. 

Here's another book for my Science Fiction Course! This book is not really science fiction. It does possess science fiction elements in the form of giant lizard creatures (think Godzilla) and the idea of letting them lose on Japan to bring the Second World War to a firey, lizard-ocalypse. As you can guess, this book is a fun ride.

In Shambling Towards Hiroshima, we are introduced to Syms Thorley a B Movie Creature Feature Actor, who has played every monster under the sun (expect vampires, those are against his principle). Thorley is approached by the Navy to serve his country in the only way he can, by wearing a giant rubber dinosaur suit and destroying a model of a Japanese City. The fate of World War Two is in his short stubby rubber hands, and thousands of lives depend on him giving the performance of his life.

Thorley is a fun smart talking guy with a wicked sense of humour. You can't help but like him. He interacts with a few characters, but they're all pretty much stereotypes (Hollywood directors and actors, scientists, US Navy officials, nothing too deep). But this is a satire, the focus isn't on the characters per say, but on the message the author is trying to get across.

The premise of this book is kind of silly. But I kid you not, it works really well. Shambling is both a WWII satire and a love letter to the B-Movie and Horror Movie Scene. Even if you're not one to appriciate WWII narratives, if you have any love for the cinema, this book is definatly something you should check it out. The subject matter that this novel explores is a dark one, but it manages to do it in a lighthearted fun manner that somehow is though provoking at the same time. There is a rather intensive shift in the tone in the last twenty pages. I can't get much into that without spoiling the book. But it works and fits with the flow of the story.

So I highly suggest you check this one out. It's a pretty quick read and gives you a lot to think about and some awesome one liners you're going to want to quote in your next conversation.

Review: Idoru

Idoru is the second book in Gibson's
Bridge Trilogy.  I haven't read the other
books. But I'm going to have too.

I'm going to be honest here. I didn't think I was actually going to like this one. I know by admitting this I may have the hordes of science fiction fans setting their phazers to kill and targeting me. William Gibson just happens to be one of the BIG NAMES in science fiction and a pioneer in the field of Cyberpunk, so saying anything negative about his books would be blasphemous.

So why did I read it if I thought I wasn't going to like it? Well, for school of course! I'm in a Science Fiction in Japanese Culture course and this book is one of the required course readings. So I found myself bunkering down with a mug of tea ready to take it on. Don't get me wrong, I'm a giant science fiction fan, but I just prefer my scifi in other mediums. I prefer to watch then to read my scifi. 

But back to the book.

Idoru follows two protagonists. Chia Pet McKenzie is a fourteen year old girl and the member of the local Chapter of Rez's Fan Club. Rez is a rockstar and half of the band Lo/Rez. Chia's Chapter hears that Rez is going to be marrying the Idoru Rei Toei and sends Chia to Japan to figure out exactly what is going on. Why are the fangirls obsessed with this marriage to the point where they send one of their own to Japan? Well seeings as Rei is an Idoru, she's not actually real. Rei like Rez is a singer, but she's a digital one, similar to the current Japanese star Hatsune Miku. She's a synthetic person. While in Japan Chia accidentally gets mixed up with some unsavoury people and needs to try and navigate the cyber culture to find a way home.

Our other main character is Colin Laney. When he was younger he underwent an experiment that rewired  his brain causing him to be able to shift through large amounts of data and find Nodal Points. Laney gets hired by Rez's team to figure out what is going on with their eccentric popstar and why he insists on marrying Rei Toei. 

In a world completely flooded with technology, Idoru asks it's reader what actually constitutes as human. Is Rei Toei more than a program? Has she managed to transcend the boundaries of technology and become something real? And while you're at it... what is real? Gibson raises these questions cleverly through his narrative and it doesn't feel like he is trying to attack you with them. 

On another note, the concept of Nodal points fascinated me. It makes perfect sense that you can create an accurate depiction of someone by taking all of their online records (social networking, shopping, instant messaging) and piecing them all together. This concept may have been a foreign one when this book was originally published in 1996 but now it is common knowledge. No one maybe as skilled as Laney (yet) but everyone knows a thing or two about online facebook stalking these days.

All in all, this book was extremely interesting. I recommend it to any scifi fan, or anyone in the mood to try something new. It starts out rather slow, but by the time you get sixty pages in I guarantee you'll be hooked.

The Ducklerfish Mystery!

Today is the day of two posts and both of them had to do with The Fault in Our Stars! 

The mystery of my Hanklerfish has been solved. I noticed that Hank Green had commented on my tumblr, (meaning that both the vlogbrothers had commented on my tumblr in a two day time period which is pretty ridiculously crazy i don't know what to think or do) with an answer to my question:

"It says “Ducklerfish” and it is extremely rare. In fact, this is the only Ducklerfish in existence. It’s simply an Hanklerfish that looked kinda like a duck because I screwed it up.It’s nice to see he found a good home!"

Which is totally and completely awesome. I think this is the most random but awesome thing that has happened and is definitely and awesome start to 2012!

I also have to say that this is completely fitting. You see, when it comes to making purchases I have extremely bad luck. I'm the type of person who goes out and decides to buy an iPod or a computer monitor and when I bring it home find that it just happens to be faulty. So here I am with a faulty Hanklerfish and I absolutely love it. 

Thanks to everyone for all their help and theories :)

DFTBA

Review: The Fault in Our Stars

I've heard mixed things about the cover
I actually really like it.... but then again I am
a sucker for minimalist things.

Like a lot of people I was waiting for The Fault in Our Stars with baited breath. So when I finally got my hands on my copy I dropped my life (school and everything) and read the book in under four hours. And it was beautiful.

There were certain points in the novel that were hard to read, but I pushed forth because I was in love with the characters. Even though everything looked grim and I thought there was no way Hazel Grace was going to get her happy ending, I pushed through because I loved her. I loved her and I loved Augustus Waters and I didn't want to leave them behind. I needed to see the story through.

The novel follows Hazel Grace, a sixteen year old girl who also happens to be a cancer patient. Her parents force her to go to support group where she meets Augustus Waters. The rest of the book follows their story together and how they support each other and just how deeply Augustus affects Hazel's life. Saying anymore would be to spoil the book, which I don't want to do (I mean look at my summary of the book, it leaves so much out), because I want you to read it. This book is not a Twilight book, yes, there is a romantic element, and yes Augustus does change Hazel's life, but the love story in this novel is just right. Hazel is not cured because he loves her, Hazel grows from her experiences and meeting Augustus just happens to be one of them.

John's writing style is hard to describe. Read, when she finished the book described it as "the writing of that kid in school who managed to absorb everything that they ever taught you." This is pretty true. John references philosophy, literature, religion and many others. You would think that this would sound pretentious, but it does not. John Green's voice (and that of Hazel's) has this extremely human quality to it.

John Green manages to write a story about cancer, where cancer is not the central character, central plot point and it does not invoke emotions because it's expected to. This book feels real, like it could have happened or one day might.

Thank you John, thank you for writing this.

Getting The Fault in Our Stars

The following video tells the story of my adventure to get my copy of John Green's new book The Fault in Our Stars. In the end it was totally worth it but at the time there were moments that seemed kind of hopeless.

   

But surprise surprise the story continued after that!

I posted a picture of the actual signature on tumblr, and to my ultimate surprise John Green commented on it! I was lucky enough to get a copy of the book with a Hanklerfish in it, but underneath the Hanklerfish Hank had scrawled a word so I posted the picture so I could ask other Nerdfighters what they thought. I thought it just said "Hanklerfish" but some people on tumblr thought maybe it said "Ducklerfish" or just "Anglerfish". But yes, as I was saying, John Green commented on my picture saying he thought that my copy may have been one of the first three that Hank drew in... which is so friggin' cool! I've been really excited to read this book and I expect that's what my afternoon is going to be!

Here it is in all it's glory!

The Joy of Books Video

I decided to take a break from editing the next episode of Death of the Author (It's the first time I'm in charge of editing and episode in full! I'm so excited!) and decided to snoop around the internet for a while. It didn't take too long for me to come across this video. It's worth a watch and manages to summarize the enchantment that only real books can give their readers.

I can only imagine all the work that went into this video. Enjoy!