(no subject)
Jun. 7th, 2011 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatHot day. Busy day. But not as head-ache inducing as yesterday. Mostly because I was able to get things done without chasing my tail. Okay, I exaggerate about it being hot, by Kansas City and California standards? It's relatively mild. Heck by Hilton Head and Florida standards it's mild.
We reached 85-89 degrees. Big whoop. That's about 26 degrees Celusis - I think. And there was a nice breeze. It was actually pleasant. In which case...forget the hot remark altogether.
I'm certain there's something else I should be doing at the moment...but my mind is a blank. Probably making dinner or working on my novel - now that I've figured out how to fix the bits that need fixing before I write a synopsis and send it out to publishers. The internet, particularly blogging, is a great procrastination tool.
Enjoyed aspects of Game of Thrones this week but once again was struck by what they left out of the series and what they left in. Which I won't go into.
What I liked?
* Ayra's scenes. Particularly how Surian showed that speed and fast reflexes serve you better than brute strength. Yet another metaphor regarding mental acumen over brute strength. Ayra, who is smaller, not as pretty, and not as mature as Sansa, manages to escape - using her wits. Sansa - who is a deluded romantic nitwit that has spent far too much time reading stories about knights and ladies or daydreaming about them for her own good. Although I did feel sorry for her here.
*Jon Snow and Samwell Tary's scenes. Samwell is amongst my favorite characters. And we start to get a little of the magical surrealism that exists in the novels - with the horrific Wights.
Osha also discusses them with Bran...who thinks of them as stories. Osha, the wildling woman from beyond the wall, states that his brother's army is marching in the wrong direction. The real enemy lies to the north, not to the South. And yes, Jon needs to learn how to control his temper.
*Charles Dance...is having fun as Tywin Lannister. And reminding me of how good an actor he truly is. His scene with Tyrion was just delicious. Almost as good as his scene with Jamie last week. Tyrion apparently isn't that pleased with the turn of events, even if they are in his favor (well sort of). I did like these lines:
Tywin: "Robb Stark will turn tail and run back to the North, unseasoned..."
Tyrion: Maybe. He came across as fairly belligerant when I last saw him. You'd like him.
*Actually any scene with Tyrion is fun. Peter Dinklage is clearly in heaven. This may be the best role he's had since The Station Agent. I particularly liked his by-play with Bronn.
Yes, well, if you find someone who wants to murder me, talk to me first, I'm likely to outbid them. Or I'm not really interested in your honor or friendship qualities, just your murderous ones.
Tyrion clearly has no illusions when it comes to Bronn.
*Varys and Ned...Varys informing Ned that he's been an idiot from the start. To give Varys credit - he did try to warn Ned. Granted he was a bit subtle about it, just like Little Finger was. With Ned, you need to be more than subtle. The man is too pig-headed to get a hint. Had a best friend when I was a kid, who whenever she wanted something and I was being annoyingly oblivious - would say repeatedly "hint, hint". Suffice it to say, short of saying "hint, hint" - I doubt Ned would have figured it out. Did feel sort of sorry for him though...Scean Bean looked so adorably belleaugered.
[Not a fan of the Dani scenes. Not only are they blatantly racist but they appear to be taken out of either a B movie fantasy flick, starring Arnold Schwazzernegger, circa 1980 or a Bodice Ripper fantasy romance novel featuring Fabio on the cover. I remember liking this better in the book - granted, the book I'm most likely thinking of is Book 3 - Storm of Swords - the Dofraki bit sort of disappears by then. So if you are hating it, too? No worries...it ends. If you love it? Go rent Conan the Barbarian.]
[As an completely esoteric and non-sequitor aside? This is how you know that you watched a certain tv series one too many times - when you read a writer's interview and think, no, you idiots, the line - "I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it" - wasn't from Fool for Love, nor was it written by Doug Petrie, it was from Lover's Walk by Dan Vebber, who was a hired gun.
Sigh. I'm not sure what that says about either the writers or me for that matter. Not sure I want to know. Hmm. Maybe in ten years, I won't even remember the line?]
We reached 85-89 degrees. Big whoop. That's about 26 degrees Celusis - I think. And there was a nice breeze. It was actually pleasant. In which case...forget the hot remark altogether.
I'm certain there's something else I should be doing at the moment...but my mind is a blank. Probably making dinner or working on my novel - now that I've figured out how to fix the bits that need fixing before I write a synopsis and send it out to publishers. The internet, particularly blogging, is a great procrastination tool.
Enjoyed aspects of Game of Thrones this week but once again was struck by what they left out of the series and what they left in. Which I won't go into.
What I liked?
* Ayra's scenes. Particularly how Surian showed that speed and fast reflexes serve you better than brute strength. Yet another metaphor regarding mental acumen over brute strength. Ayra, who is smaller, not as pretty, and not as mature as Sansa, manages to escape - using her wits. Sansa - who is a deluded romantic nitwit that has spent far too much time reading stories about knights and ladies or daydreaming about them for her own good. Although I did feel sorry for her here.
*Jon Snow and Samwell Tary's scenes. Samwell is amongst my favorite characters. And we start to get a little of the magical surrealism that exists in the novels - with the horrific Wights.
Osha also discusses them with Bran...who thinks of them as stories. Osha, the wildling woman from beyond the wall, states that his brother's army is marching in the wrong direction. The real enemy lies to the north, not to the South. And yes, Jon needs to learn how to control his temper.
*Charles Dance...is having fun as Tywin Lannister. And reminding me of how good an actor he truly is. His scene with Tyrion was just delicious. Almost as good as his scene with Jamie last week. Tyrion apparently isn't that pleased with the turn of events, even if they are in his favor (well sort of). I did like these lines:
Tywin: "Robb Stark will turn tail and run back to the North, unseasoned..."
Tyrion: Maybe. He came across as fairly belligerant when I last saw him. You'd like him.
*Actually any scene with Tyrion is fun. Peter Dinklage is clearly in heaven. This may be the best role he's had since The Station Agent. I particularly liked his by-play with Bronn.
Yes, well, if you find someone who wants to murder me, talk to me first, I'm likely to outbid them. Or I'm not really interested in your honor or friendship qualities, just your murderous ones.
Tyrion clearly has no illusions when it comes to Bronn.
*Varys and Ned...Varys informing Ned that he's been an idiot from the start. To give Varys credit - he did try to warn Ned. Granted he was a bit subtle about it, just like Little Finger was. With Ned, you need to be more than subtle. The man is too pig-headed to get a hint. Had a best friend when I was a kid, who whenever she wanted something and I was being annoyingly oblivious - would say repeatedly "hint, hint". Suffice it to say, short of saying "hint, hint" - I doubt Ned would have figured it out. Did feel sort of sorry for him though...Scean Bean looked so adorably belleaugered.
[Not a fan of the Dani scenes. Not only are they blatantly racist but they appear to be taken out of either a B movie fantasy flick, starring Arnold Schwazzernegger, circa 1980 or a Bodice Ripper fantasy romance novel featuring Fabio on the cover. I remember liking this better in the book - granted, the book I'm most likely thinking of is Book 3 - Storm of Swords - the Dofraki bit sort of disappears by then. So if you are hating it, too? No worries...it ends. If you love it? Go rent Conan the Barbarian.]
[As an completely esoteric and non-sequitor aside? This is how you know that you watched a certain tv series one too many times - when you read a writer's interview and think, no, you idiots, the line - "I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it" - wasn't from Fool for Love, nor was it written by Doug Petrie, it was from Lover's Walk by Dan Vebber, who was a hired gun.
Sigh. I'm not sure what that says about either the writers or me for that matter. Not sure I want to know. Hmm. Maybe in ten years, I won't even remember the line?]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 07:15 pm (UTC)I loved them both separately.
Jamie fascinated me - because he really isn't a bad guy at all. But he is painted that way. (Won't argue it though - been there done that with Spike (who is a similar character in a lot of ways) - it was emotionally exhausting and in the end ultimately pointless. ...
;-)) Mileage clearly varies. (shrugs).
I think Tyrion would have been screwed no matter what family he ended up in, but the Tywin Lannister was the worst possible choice for a father. All Tywin cares about his name.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 10:06 pm (UTC)It's kind of like Spike in that I have a friend who adores Jaime and who used to be a huge Spike fan whose feelings for the character turned on him during Season 7 because he rather lost his edge (which I agree did happen and I thought that was sad, but it didn't actually change my entire view of the character). In discussing it with her I realized that while we had both loved the character of Spike what we had each specifically loved were actually different qualities that he possessed.
Tyrion as a character is somewhat closer to my fiction kinks, I think.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-10 12:27 am (UTC)Hee. I get that. I'm 6 foot and big boned (also, ahem, a little overweight - will not release by how much). Waves!! Although I do have a bust, I don't believe Brienne does - she's completely flat chested.
Yeah, his reaction to Brienne was annoying, but keep in mind the man's idea of beauty is Cersei - he does begin to change his mind.
Have you gotten to the bit where he sends Brienne on her quest?
And he does do quite a few things for Brienne that well, WTF does come to mind. That whole bear bit threw me. As does what he does for her later - which he really didn't have to do. Would have been a lot easier if he hadn't. He goes against Tywin and Cersei in the end, which is really interesting.
Oh - I'm nothing like your friend - I liked Spike when he lost his edge. Jamie also loses his edge. The two characters have remarkably similar arcs.
I'm not necessarily in love with Jamie, but he did surprise me as a character. Much like Spike did. The reason I enjoy both characters is they start out as boiler-plate bad guys - the villain that you love to hate, and then, slowly are revealed to be a)not quite that black and white or straight up villain, b) it makes sense how they became that monster, and c) are, surprise, surprise, capable of doing insanely heroic and honorable things that are still completely in character. I find these types of characters far more interesting than characters like Ned Stark, Robb Stark, Jon Snow or Dany Taragyrn, who don't really change all that much and are pretty much what you thought they were at the start. In short characters that start out one way, and then suddenly turn out to be something else - I find really interesting - particularly if they are written well. Because that is really hard to pull off effectively. It's actually a lot easier to write the Tyrions and Jon Snow's who are more constant.
I admittedly have weird kinks. I like prickley characters with broad arcs. I remember fighting with people on Spike - they found his snark mean, I thought it hilarious. Same thing with Jamie - I find his comments funny...partly because he's so undercut by the text. His ideal female is Cersei...LOL!!! Boy does he change his mind.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-10 01:11 am (UTC)I've just noticed though that Tyrion is the one who mines the most emotion from me.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-10 02:40 am (UTC)Dany, Sansa and Jon Snow have grown on me. I'm on the fence about Bran - those stories are getting repetitive.
I'm not sure Jamie's arc is as perfect as many fans think - there's a few bits that feel a little too neat. But it's not over either and he and Brienne oddly change places, which I found sort of interesting. Also the fact that Martin's maiming of Jamie is so perfectly karmic - it echoes in many ways Bran's injury - in that now Jamie is a cripple, and unable to do the one thing he defined himself by. Bran defined himself with climbing, Jamie with fighting. It's perfect karmic justice and reminds me a little of Spike's chip in how it forces Jamie to rethink his choices and motivations. Also gory beyond belief. These are gory and violent books. The injury changes Jamie's relationships with everyone in his family and is the exact opposite of how Bran is treated. The Lannisters all treat him with disdain. He is isolated by it.
Emasculated in many ways. And it is such an ironic injury.
That's the one thing I like - the karmic twists.
I don't know if I'll make it through the books though - have some of the same issues you do with them.