Tag Archives: westeros

Thrones…

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I had great expectations for last night’s premier of Game of Thrones. Aside from the minor distraction of trying to figure out why one of the supporting characters didn’t look at all like himself from last season, I can legitimately say I was beyond pleased with how the whole thing turned out… setting aside for purposes of this discussion that each week’s episode could easily be a 2 hour feature film in its own right. Everyone and their brother has already written a review so I’ll spare you those details here.

What I really want to comment on is the unique fandom of Westeros; where the people who read the book are constantly spoiling it for those who haven’t, the people who have only watched the TV show are inordinately annoyed by the book-reader’s enjoinders that something “wasn’t right,” the general consensus is that George R.R. Martin is possibly the most bloodthirsty author of all time, and the sheer volume of characters makes you wish you’d have printed out the Game of Thrones Illustrated Study Guide before settling in for a new episode. And then there are the people who don’t watch, don’t get the fuss, and are mostly overjoyed when the season ends and people around them find something else to talk about. Despite all that, my inner geek takes a serious amount of joy at seeing so many non-geeks drawn into Martin’s world of high fantasy. It’s good to know that real story telling might not be dead after all.

I can tell the season of the year as much from the program I watch on Sunday night as I can by what the calendar says. And just now I’m extraordinarily pleased that the winter of the Walking Dead has given way to the spring of Game of Thrones. I think I’m ready for it to be next Sunday now, please.

What Annoys Jeff this Week?

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1. Myspace. I got an email from Myspace this morning. Talk about getting a blast from the past right in the ol’ inbox. I think it’s pretty obvious that I’m a fan of social media in all its many flavors, but I can’t think of any good reason to pick up where 2006 left off. It’s cute that they’re trying desperately to rebrand themselves as a music and lifestyle site, but I won’t be signing up any time soon. Been there, done that. It’s time to let the next generation become friends with Tom. Sorry, old friend, from here on out gmail will be catching you in the spam filter.

2. WWDC 2013. Apple held its annual World Wide Developer’s Conference this week. There was the usual introduction of new OS and iOS variants, a few new gee whiz gadgets, even some legitimate “wow” elements… but this year felt like it was lacking a certain punch. For the first time in a long time, I’m walking away from the coverage of WWDC and not chomping at the bit for something I need to have right now. I don’t know if that’s a product of me getting more jaded about tech, learning to be interested in other things, or if Apple just isn’t bringing the wow like they use to. Either way, it’s less extensive for me in the end, but it’s kind of annoying too.

3. Game of Thrones. Season 3 hasn’t been over for a week yet and I’m already showing some early signs of withdrawal. They pack some of the best television content in history into ten hour-long episodes, but when it’s over there’s such a ridiculous wait for the next season. By contrast other programs I enjoy tend to show up with 16 or even 22 episodes a season. Excepting that kind of production run from GoT is unreasonable, I know. Still, I’m not down with the year-long wait for season 4 to roll out on HBO. Mercifully True Blood shows up this Sunday… and after that it’s Boardwalk Empire… and then Walking Dead should be right around the corner. The 9PM Sunday time slot will be well covered, but I’ll miss Westeros… and dragons. I’ll definitely miss dragons.