Tag: ASOIAF

New Tolkien recording to be released

A recording of J. R. R. Tolkien made at a “Hobbit Dinner” in the Netherlands in 1958 is going to be remastered and released later this year.

Wow.  Just… wow.

I love the idea of Tolkien himself attending a feast inspired by his own writings.  Makes me think of how Sariann and Chelsea did something similar with GRRM when he came to Boston for his book tour.  I also love that Tolkien was apparently delighted by the whole thing and really enjoyed himself (as did GRRM).  As a huge fan of Tolkien and GRRM and of creating food inspired by fantasy books, I can hardly wait to hear the whole recording.

It also makes me a little sad that I never had the opportunity to meet Tolkien, this warm, brilliant, remarkable man, before he passed away.  I was only a toddler when he died.  But I am hopeful for the opportunity that perhaps one day I will have the chance to meet George R.R. Martin.  Maybe on his book tour for The Winds of Winter.

-Geoff

 

Brimfield 2014 – the bizarre & the geeky

We’re back from Brimfield.  While we haven’t had a chance to photograph all of our cool finds yet, we did get a chance to take some photos while we were there of some odd stuff.  This post, a lot like the last one, is dedicated to the weird, the strange and the downright bizarre.  Fair warning: if you don’t have a sense of humor this post may not be for you.

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So… here’s what happened to the Greatjon Umber

As I had mentioned before, one of my favorite minor characters from A Song of Ice and Fire is Lord Jon “the Greatjon” Umber, who was played oh so awesomely by Clive Mantle in Season One of HBO’s Game of Thrones.  I have often wondered why the character had suddenly disappeared after appearing so memorably in Season One.   Well, after doing some research I found out.

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Yes, some filler has been added to GoT

Last night’s episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones (First of His Name) definitively proved three things:

1) Hodor is awesome.

2) Brienne and Pod may well be the next Tyrion and Bronn in terms of comedy on the show.

3) One important ASOIAF character from the books may not ever make an appearance on the GoT television show.

Continue reading “Yes, some filler has been added to GoT”

So maybe there are potatoes in Westeros after all

Remember that post I did a while back when I talked all about Old World/New World foods?  I mentioned that I added potatoes to some of my favorite Westerosi dishes, like Roast Aurochs with Leeks, because in GRRM’s writings there are already a lot of other New World foods in Westeros.  After all, beans, squash, pumpkins, pecans, and corn are all post-Columbus (and thus unknown in Medieval Europe) but make an appearance in Westeros.

Well, it turns out that at least on HBO’s Game of Thrones, potatoes do in fact exist in Westeros.

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It’s not just me. I feel better now.

After my sort-of-rant about spoilers yesterday I discovered that other people have been noticing the same phenomenon.  Notably, Stephen King made some comments on his Twitter feed about GoT spoilers.  And other people noticed.  And other sites on the intertubes also apparently made similar comments, like this article at Jezebel, this one at the Independent, and this one at C|Net.  And I am hardly the only one who suggests staying offline if you want to avoid spoilers.

So I am not crazy to think “it’s OK for me to have in-depth discussions about ASOIAF and GoT on my own blog and people screaming about spoilers should just go somewhere else”.

I feel a bit better now.

-Geoff

GoT: Books vs. TV

Before I begin, I just want to say that if anyone reads the title of this post, and thinks that I am NOT going to talk about things that may be spoilers for those who have not read the books, you are just… dumb.  It is not my intent to be a big meanie who spoils everything for all those people who have not read the books but are devoted fans of the HBO series.  But come on, these books have been out for years, and the TV show is now in its fourth year.  You should probably just go read the books, or else stay off the internet.  Otherwise, perhaps you should consider staying in a monastery or becoming Amish or doing something to keep away from the internet and popular culture.  ASOIAF/GoT are so hugely popular and widespread at this point, it’s everywhere.  It’s in magazines at my doctor’s office and on t-shirts of people walking down the street.  It’s almost like saying you didn’t watch the 2007 World Series and you don’t want to know how it ends before you can watch it, even though you live in Boston.  Or not knowing the ship sinks in Titanic  but getting mad at someone who mentions it.  We are rapidly reaching a level of patent absurdity when it comes to these spoiler issues.  I just refuse to say “spoiler alert” everything time I talk about ASOIAF or GoT.     So this is the last time.

So if you want to have a freakout about that sort of thing, GO READ SOMETHING ELSE.  If you can’t think of anything, I can probably offer some suggestions.    But ultimately, those who wish to avoid spoilers should assume some responsibility for themselves and stop insisting the whole world police itself for their benefit.

Anyway, on with the discussion.

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Hey, Boston!

Today is a beautiful day.  In fact, today is supposed to be the best day this weekend.  Do all of us who are stuck inside working a favor:

GO OUTSIDE

Take your dog for a walk.  Find a bench and read Game of Thrones in the sunshine.  Go to your local park with some friends and practice your light saber dueling.  I know we’re in the grip of Marathon frenzy right now so maybe don’t take a backpack anywhere, but go out and do something.  Get some of that Vitamin D that we New Englanders lack.

And for the love of all that is good and holy, don’t hole yourself up in a library, museum, mall, or other indoor windowless place.  Those of us who are stuck working inside one of these places thank you in advance.

~Kelly

A couple of clarifications

1) Yes, the bomb squad has had a busy day today in Boston.  Yes, they did just blow up two things in controlled detonations (as in, within the last two minutes) at the Marathon Finish Line.  Geoff and I are both fine and were nowhere near any of the controlled detonations today.  Yes, there were more than just those two detonations, no, we were never in any danger.

2) To all the crazies/”patriots”/martyrs/whatever who think that today is a day for demonstrations of their ideologies by throwing backpacks full of stuff into random places: Go back under whatever rock you came from.  We don’t want you, you will get caught and possibly killed, and your “message” just gets lost in the kerfuffle.  Stop already, enough.  April 15th is for paying taxes.

3) To the people heading up the security theater that now invades so much of our lives: I want my rights back.  Catching the guy who tossed those backpacks into the middle of a heavily guarded street was no biggie.  Stopping the guy who shot up KS yesterday?  Not a whole lot of warning on that one despite his obvious history of hatred.  Oh, and that was terrorism too, in case you missed the memo.  Just because a white guy did it doesn’t mean it isn’t terrorism.

And finally, to leave the serious topics for a minute:

4) Geoffrey and Joffrey aren’t the same person, thank all the Gods.  If you’re looking for information about the character on Game of Thrones who died, his name is Joffrey and that post is here.  Geoffrey is my husband and he is a) not a psychopathic murdering boy king and b) very much alive.

~Kelly

ETA by Geoff:  And c) I am very much loyal to the Starks and hate the Lannisters very very much.  I am a true man of the North.  Nyah.

The King is Dead, Long Live the King

If you missed Game of Thrones last night then you’re probably going to be confused by the title of this post.  That or you’ve already been spoiled by the internet from some other source.  Either way sorry/not sorry.

Geoff and I have read the books, in some cases more than once, so we know the general story line despite what Benioff and Weiss might do to it to streamline for TV.  That being said, the title of this post isn’t in and of itself a spoiler, it’s  tradition.  Either way, if you don’t want to know more, don’t go past the jump.

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