[Tiste Simeon]

I like Lena Heady but whether she will be cold enough to play Cersei we shall see. Though she certainly has no problems in whapping her boobs out...

[Ceda Cicero]

Some new nick-nacks on GRRM's blog. Two interview videos and a trailer with some footage that I don't remember seeing before.

[End of Disc One]

Briar King, on 11 April 2011 - 05:55 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 11 April 2011 - 05:31 PM, said:

I like Lena Heady but whether she will be cold enough to play Cersei we shall see. Though she certainly has no problems in whapping her boobs out...

Nope she sure dosent my friend!

Unfortunately I heard they used a body double for her in the first episode, since Lena was supposedly pregnant at the time.

[Werthead]

Neocount Cicero, on 08 April 2011 - 10:56 PM, said:

The actor playing Drogo looks and sounds like he was working on a ski slope or craft brew store in Colorado before he got tapped for this role. Whenever he's being interviewed I expect to hear him drop a "dude-brah."

He's a Hawaiian sufer-dude, IIRC. He's also the new Conan the Barbarian and just came off four years on STARGATE ATLANTIS.

[Ceda Cicero]

For anyone who isn't checking the sites themselves regularly but still following this thread, winter-is-coming has up a few early reviews from bloggers, most of which are positive to glowing. No major press outlets yet, but still nice to read some advance opinions.

My only concern comes in the first review. At this point I'm no longer overly concerned about the faithfulness/effectiveness of the adaptation, and am only real worried about whether or not complete neophytes to the genre will be hooked in during the first few episodes. If not, I doubt it will be because there's a lack of depth, just a failure to make all the connections and grasp on to all their is to comprehend. I think something as simple as the first (or first few) episodes being preceded by a bit of script summarizing Robert's rebellion/the fall of the Targaryen dynasty/the exile of Dany and Viserys could go a long way, but from all accounts there doesn't seem to be anything like that (though that doesn't mean it won't show up with the debut but just wasn't in these advance viewings.)

Still, HBO has built a large portion of its audience around their ability/desire to invest in intense character development and seriously intricate and multi-layered plots (Six Feet Under, Sopranos, the Wire... and most recently with Boardwalk Empire and Treme) so that will be to the show's advantage.

This post has been edited by Neocount Cicero: 13 April 2011 - 01:43 AM

[Avatar]

Almost there... (here in Holland it's 17/4 already.) Who is going to watch on HBO tonight?

[Tapper]

no HBO

[Cyphon]

I'm going to have to find a stream or d/l by tomorrow night if I'm to have any hope of keeping up.

[Isa]

Did anyone have the pleasure of reading NYTs review of Game of Thrones? The guy is not a friend of fantasy and I presume that henceforth female fans of fantasy will not want to be friends of his.

The review

[tiam]

Isolde, on 17 April 2011 - 01:13 PM, said:

Did anyone have the pleasure of reading NYTs review of Game of Thrones? The guy is not a friend of fantasy and I presume that henceforth female fans of fantasy will not want to be friends of his.

The review

What a patronising dick

[MTS]

The ironic thing is that the writer is actually a woman. I agree though, that review was patronising and insulting on so many levels. Completely unwarranted. She could've just trashed the TV show if she didn't like it, but no, she had to insult fantasy, its fans, especially its women fans, and topped it all off with a Sex and the City idiot fan stereotype. Impressive blast radius, all told.

[Ceda Cicero]

MTS, on 17 April 2011 - 02:40 PM, said:

The ironic thing is that the writer is actually a woman. I agree though, that review was patronising and insulting on so many levels. Completely unwarranted. She could've just trashed the TV show if she didn't like it, but no, she had to insult fantasy, its fans, especially its women fans, and topped it all off with a Sex and the City idiot fan stereotype. Impressive blast radius, all told.

That review has stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Female fans of Martin flooded the comments section so much and so fast on that article that NYT had to shut it down. A guy named Troy Patterson from Slate wrote a rebuttal, along with Daniel Abraham. Then last night, GRRM posted something about it on his Livejournal. All told, it really seems like this woman stepped in it.

What's curious to me is that she could have taken a lot of the same potshots at, say, the Sopranos. It was a genre show, one that is stereotypically regarded as drawing significantly more male fans than female fans. She could've whined about the fact that nearly every episode features extensive scenes in the Bing, or with Tony and one of his mistresses, etc... But she actually cites the Sopranos as an example of what HBO can do right. Her argument basically just seems to be "HBO can take genre and make it into something great, but not with fantasy - that's just too far." If she actually bothered to cite content from the show to back this up, I might be more inclined to concede, but as it is she just comes off as lazy.

This post has been edited by Neocount Cicero: 17 April 2011 - 02:49 PM

[Isa]

MTS, on 17 April 2011 - 02:40 PM, said:

The ironic thing is that the writer is actually a woman. I agree though, that review was patronising and insulting on so many levels. Completely unwarranted. She could've just trashed the TV show if she didn't like it, but no, she had to insult fantasy, its fans, especially its women fans, and topped it all off with a Sex and the City idiot fan stereotype. Impressive blast radius, all told.

Even worse! What an idiot. Besides it seems very unprofessional for a critic to bash a series because he/she doesn't like the genre, that should be irrelevant.

[Tavvar]

I got the impression that she has never read the books. Her description of the Series does not really match my memory of it, though it has been a long time. I won't be able to watch to find out how the show actually is, so I will rely on the people here to see how off (hopefully) she is. The Slate review was also terrible, the guy started by saying he hated fantasy, and yet continued to review it, so I have yet to see a review that is not from someone who hates the entire genre.

This post has been edited by Tavvar: 18 April 2011 - 12:49 AM

[End of Disc One]

Tavvar, on 17 April 2011 - 08:16 PM, said:

I got the impression that she has never read to books.

Well since she hates fantasy...I think you might be on to something.

[Beezulbubba]

Tonight's the night! and the feeling is right!

[Ceda Cicero]

That was good.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I just downloaded it (I know, but no HBO at school. My parents are DVRing it for me at home though) and am starting NOW.

[Gatekeeper]

It's almost on! Whisky and a little bud!!

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

The title sequence is sick. That's all I'm up to so far