Tag: GRRM

Language, words, power, and Game of Thrones

I’ve been thinking a lot ever since I first cracked the books in the series A Song of Ice and Fire and watched the HBO show Game of Thrones about the language in the world GRRM has created.  Aside from the fact that most all of the actors speak British English (bravo, Peter Dinklage), there are a lot of interesting accents (bravo, Pedro Pascal), dialects, languages, and such to contend with on screen.

Off screen, in the written word, there’s a lot going on as well.  There’s a great essay here taking apart what’s happening, what GRRM has done and hasn’t done, and things like the necessity of having professional linguists create Dothraki and Valyrian, etc.  Click through, it is absolutely worth a read.

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GRRM, Neil Gaiman, Paul & Storm… so much geek awesomeness concentrated in one spot…

I think there may have actually been danger of having some sort of geek singularity of awesomeness form on stage.

But before I tell you what I am talking about, some context.

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Sigh… I miss Game of Thrones

It really hasn’t been that long since Season 4 ended, but it feels like it has been an eternity.  I guess I had not fully appreciated how much I looked forward to watching Game of Thrones every Sunday, but there were times when it was practically the highlight of my week.  I miss having that weekly thing to look forward to watching with Kelly.

So in the meantime I have been finding all sorts of ASOIAF/GoT things to keep myself entertained.

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The best GRRM interview I have ever read

Admittedly, I have not read every single interview he has ever given, nor have I watched all of the ones he has given on video, but this interview I read recently on io9 is my hands-down favorite.  No, it isn’t new, but I had not read it until this week.

But it’s fantastic, especially for someone who is interested in writing and wants to see how a famous writer’s mind works.  And I find it just fascinating.

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A good Dornish meal to honor the Red Viper

 

I have been wanting to make a Dornish meal for some time, and now that I have had a long weekend home to help Kelly as she recovers from her surgery I have had some time to make it.   So here is my traditional Dornish meal of dates, cheese, olives, chickpea paste, and flatbread.  And wine, of course.

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A quick note on wine in ASOIAF/GoT

I have been thinking a lot about what I am going to make for my planned Dornish meal to honor the late Prince Oberyn Martell.  I haven’t tried doing any Dornish stuff yet, and I wanted to try since it all sounds so tasty.  Originally I wanted to do something before the big showdown with the Mountain.  The perfect time has passed,  I know, but I just didn’t have time to do it last weekend with all the server surgery.

The Red Viper also got me thinking about wine.  Especially those magnificent Dornish wines that get mentioned so frequently in the books.

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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

 

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

A quick note on history and food in ASOIAF

As I mentioned before, I have been doing a lot of experimenting with medieval recipes in recent years.  And this includes trying many of the delicious-sounding foods from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.  Thanks to the diligent work of Chelsea and Sariann, we ASOIAF fans have a fantastic resource to explore our foodie sides.  Everything I have made from their website and their book has been delicious, so seriously, try making some of their recipes.

Recently, I noticed something about George’s books that I had not noticed before: an utter lack of potatoes, Irish or sweet.  Now, at first glance this would seem to make sense, because they are both “New World” foods that would have been unknown to medieval Europe, which is the historical basis of much of Martin’s writing.  Potatoes would not be introduced to Europe until the 16th century, when the Spanish brought them over.  So no potatoes in Westeros, right?  Makes sense, right?

Yes, it would… except that there are plenty of examples of other New World foods that are present in Westeros.   So why include them but not potatoes?

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