Sure, I have read the books. And sure, as a result I generally know what is coming in terms of the show. But every once in a while David Benioff and Dan Weiss really throw a curveball in there and it just totally takes me by surprise. So not only did they surprise me tonight, they hit me with a triple whammy.
Continue reading “Three things that almost made me cry tonight on GoT”
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.
Continue reading “A good Dornish meal to honor the Red Viper”
Season four episode 6 of Game of Thrones, called “The Laws of Gods and Men”, really threw me a curve ball (or ten). Where do I begin?
Continue reading “So… about that other Game of Thrones episode”
Well, I did it. I made my own version of the famous (or possibly infamous) Manderly pie from A Dance With Dragons. The recipe from Inn at the Crossroads sounded absolutely delicious, and I couldn’t wait to try making it.
I succeeded, but at what a price.
Continue reading ““The best [pork] pie you have ever tasted””
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.
Continue reading “So… here’s what happened to the Greatjon Umber”
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.
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.
Continue reading “So maybe there are potatoes in Westeros after all”
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
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.
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.
The Books are Taking Over... 