Meltdown Mondays

So baking this past weekend wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be. Check the results here, I did have help since I was unable to properly peel apples since I fail at life (haha). Anyway I hope to bake/cook more from geeky cookbooks on the weekends until I start getting busy this spring.

So I have PAX East next weekend, which I'm super excited for. I going to some after-parties so that should be fun. I'm just excited to meet some new people and see cool things about the game industry. I'm only going on Saturday and Sunday but I should get a wide enough experience so I won't feel like I'm missing out on too much.

In the next two and a half months, I have 3 weddings to go to and 3 conventions, plus work and school to get through so it's gonna be a crazy time. But I'm still going to make sure that I have some blog posts prepared in advance so I don't fall behind in my goal of posting at least once per day.

I'm going to bring bring my Favorite Things series but I think I will make it weekly instead of daily so I can fill out my weekly blog content. I think the next thing I will be talking about are my favorite books/series. Speaking of books, I plan on bringing back my book reviews as soon as I finish class in the beginning of May since its hard enough for me to focus on my schoolwork and read for fun (reading would take precedence).

I have a couple of other things planned down the pipeline to keep the summer interesting including convention recaps, re-watches of classic tv shows and some other cool things.

Again, this is my final week of my Month of Thrones feature, so check it out before the show comes on to get caught up on the characters and my thoughts on the previous seasons for a fresh reminder. I will be doing recaps of the episodes weekly that will mainly involve my thoughts and anything I'm fangirling about while watching.

Something ridiculous/hilarious I tweeted to Betty Crocker (the baking company) wishing that they would bring back their Rainbow Chip icing and they responded! Only thing is I had my fat kid problems hashtag, so I guess it is a lesson learned.

News Round-up/Speculation (Game of Thrones)

In my final week of my Month of Thrones series, I'm going to use talk about some news and speculation that have emerged in the coming weeks in preparation for Season Four starting this Sunday.


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Many websites have reported episode titles up to episode seven, which you can check out here unless you don't want to be spoiled for anything. They really don't say much except possibly to book readers like me, but even I can't really tell exactly what is going to happen in every episode. There have also been 4 trailers released which you can check out here, here, here and here.

Based on all of the features in magazines and sneaks that have been released, here are my spoiler-free speculation for some of the core characters on Game of Thrones.

Tyrion: Obviously he's in some kind of trouble since all of the trailers show in either shackles or in a jail. We don't get any context for the situation but with what Tyrion is alluding to, it probably has something to do with Cersei since they've always had problems/hatred.

Cersei: She seems like she's up to her old tricks. In one of the trailers she is heard repeating Tyrion's words that he said to her in Season 2, so the context for that situation should be interesting. Also at the very end of the trailer we see a sliver of her interaction with Jaime, so we will possibly see how their relationship has changed since Season One (or not).

Arya: Seems like she is still on her adventure with the Hound. We will see her true reactions to the Red Wedding so I expect serious bloodshed from her this season.

Ramsay/Roose: They seem seriously concerned with the threat of the Stark children still being alive, since the "North Remembers". It can then be assumed that Theon will be used as a tool of some sort once he reveals information via torture. They also have to deal with being in control of the North and all those associated problems.

Jon: He has some serious issues to content with in the North, since he betrayed the Wildings/Ygritte, who will surely be looking for revenge. We last left him injured and delirious, so we will have to see a quick turn-around, as he becomes a de-facto leader of the Night's Watch.

Bran- It seems like he's in some kind of trouble by himself and with the Reeds so perhaps they are being chased/attacked by Others beyond the Wall, but I'm not sure.

Joffrey- He's still his arrogant self but it seems he's concerned about the Stannis situation. His wedding is coming up so it will be interesting to see how he will be as a husband

Dany: She is still continuing her anti-slavery crusade and is seen engaged in a battle with another slave-city. She is very nononsense and confident, which probably can be due to her unstoppable army that she has at her command

Overall, this season has a really ominous feel to it that you can't really put your finger on.  Honestly just enjoy the crazy ride this season will for sure take us on and always remember "Winter is Coming".

Cultural Phenomenon: Zombies

In honor of the season finale of "The Walking Dead", I decided to write this week's essay on...

Zombies!

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Zombies have become such a large part of our culture, from video games and movies, to television, comic book and t-shirts. It is said that during economic down times zombie themes get popular (probably due to the idea of everyone walking around aimlessly trying to get by). I personally don't really like the zombie genre but I do like the idea that it brings out incredible human moments and it is nice to get a reprieve from all of the vampire nonsense lately.

Movies like Night of the Living Dead, World War Z, Resident Evil and 28 Days later grew the genre into what it is today. It is interesting that now there are even "romantic" zombie movies with things like Warm Bodies (which was a book, then got adapted into a movie). People even use 'zombie' as a colloquial term to describe how they feel early in the morning, at night or when they are generally struggling, which also shows how big this culture has gotten. The CDC even has a zombie apocalypse preparedness guide that you can check out here.

One of the biggest influences on the genre in recent history has been the Walking Dead series by Robert Kirkman. It started as a popular comic book series (still-ongoing), that grew into a critically-loved show on AMC that is now a huge popular video game series (see picture above). I have been told countless times that the appeal of the show/comic book/game is first for the human element, as we can see what happens psychologically when everything falls about and also for the action of killing the zombies or seeing other people get killed. Some people out there do fear a real apocalypse happening due to the immense population which would help the ease of the spread of a certain disease, so that underlying fear and future could be plausible. For others, I feel it is just a quality television show, in the veins of Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones (many of those share the same fans coincidentally) that has great stories and characters that keep them coming back. I feel like the idea of facing morality is a huge part of dealing with the zombie apocalypse and it creates interesting and difficult situations out of it that keep the fans enthralled.

Another huge influence on the culture has been the growing success of zombies in video games. Games like Telltale's The Walking Dead, Naughty Dog's The Last of Us have added the powerful human element to the genre to make them more than just killing as many zombies as possible. Of course, if you want to do that there's a zombie mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.Other games like Resident Evil and Dead Rising have been around since the 90s and still have huge audiences flocking to play their stories.

The only reason why I haven't watched the show The Walking Dead is that I already spoiled myself on big events, so I will probably just wait until the hype dies down and then binge-watch everything on Netflix (like I'm doing with Battlestar Galactica). Or I may start with the comics since I prefer reading over watching most days. It's safe to say that (for now, at least) zombies are here to stay.

Thoughts on...Season Three

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I was super excited for all of the changes and surprises for this season, since Book 3; A Storm of Swords is my favorite in the series. There was a lot of character development that made me love some of the characters even more and some crazy moments that I could barely look at. I'm sure I even lied to my co-workers to make sure they were surprised for the Red Wedding (but more on that later) because I feel that it is one of the pinnacle moments that defines the series and also ends the first act (which is A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords).

I would say that the theme for this season would be betrayal/deception since it happened to most of the characters. First there was Tyrion, deceived into thinking he would be a hero of the Battle, instead he got pushed aside. Ros betrayed Littlefinger which lead to Sansa having to marry Tyrion instead of Loras. Tyrion discovering his own sister ordering his death on the battlefield was another betrayal despite bad feelings between the two siblings. Arya thought she was being accepted into the Brotherhood without Banners only to learn she was going to be used as a negotiation tool. Jon had to break his vows as a Night's watchmen and then later he broke his allegiance to the Wildings when he found a chance to escape. A small group of Night's Watch members had a coup, which lead to the deaths of Craster and Jeor "The Old Bear" Mormont (The Lord Commander). Ramsay's deception to Theon was a long running arc in this season that ended in further torture and maiming of Theon. One of the best done deceptions was done by Dany, who feigned ignorance of the Valyrian language to the slaveowner until the deal was made and then she had Drogon kill him and burned/sacked Astapor before freeing all slaves. The biggest betrayal would be that after Robb broke his promise to marry a Frey girl to seal up an alliance, Walder works with Tywin and Roose to kill the majority of the Stark men and take control over the Riverlands. Although not explicitly stated in the show, guest right is a sacred tradition that is punished by the Gods (the old and the new), and once you give a guest bread and salt, they are under your protection until you give them a parting gift at the end of the stay. The fallout from all of these things will make Season Four a very interesting one to watch.

Some of my favorite episodes were Valar Dohaeris, Now His Watch Has Ended,  Kissed by Fire, Second Sons and the Rains of Castamere of course.  I felt all of these were done really well and really moved the story forward in different ways. Mance Rayder, Brynden Tully and The Queen of Thorns were some of my favorite new additions to the cast as they brought even more cunning, humor and adventure to this already stacked show. So many crucial things happened that I could not wait to talk to people about it the next day. This is my favorite season of the show so far due to the story and the performances throughout. That being said. the fourth season finishes A Storm of Swords so even more crazy things are sure to happen to close out this game-changing point in the series.

*This is a continuation of my Month of Throne essay series so click here to catch up so you can be prepared for the upcoming season*

FanGirl Fridays!

Welcome back for another edition of FanGirl Friday where I talk about something in popular culture that I obsess about currently.

Some announcements:
-My character/region bios for my Month if Thrones series have finished so tomorrow I'm doing a look at Season Three and all of next week will consist of some news roundup and some essays covering interesting topics in the series
-I will be starting a Geek Cooking page, where I attempt to cook things out of recipes made for Game of Thrones and Star Wars type cookbooks, so that should be an interesting adventure.

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This show is something that I got into recently this past summer. I had heard so much about it and it was on Amazon Prime so I figured I would start watching it. I started with the new Who (episodes starting in 2005) since I felt a little overwhelmed by the numerous older series. I was intrigued by the concept and was taken in my the seriousness of some of the topics. What separates is this show are its aspects of realism despite having a science-fiction setting. Instead of most shows, people could and would die as a result of the consequences during the episode, which showed that the Doctor couldn't always save everybody, which affected him. This is what took the show from something cookie-cutter, where everyone lives despite the dangerous situations and breaches topics like humanity and sacrifice, which I love.

There were so many episodes that I loved and also some that made me emotional (mainly due to the Doctor and his companions). There are also so many cameos from other British actors (many from Game of Thrones) so it always kept me entertained. Although I obviously have to suspend belief with all of the Timey-Wimey stuff, but that still doesn't affects my interest in the show. One of the best ones in the first season have a ton of continuity which I appreciate. Some of my favorite episodes were The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways, but I pretty much enjoyed most episodes from the new Who series.

I made it through all seven seasons in a fairly quick amount of time, so it was safe to say that I was hooked. I watched the 50th anniversary special and the Christmas special in real time. it was fun to be officially a part of the fandom and hype. I can't wait to see how the new Doctor acts and where his story will take him.I would love to go to the Doctor Who convention Gallifrey One, but it's held in California so it would be really expensive for me to travel from the East Coast so I'll stick to looking at videos on YouTube for now. I currently have a T.A.R.D.I.S onesie and a matching robe, so DW is for sure becoming one of my favorite fandoms. I do recommend that if Docotor Who comes off as too family-friendly, its spin-off Torchwood is a fantastic adult sci-fi series.

I do realize that i need to watch Old Who to compare and see if the Doctor not having any romantic entanglements enhances the story (which I heard it does). This also is on Amazon Prime so I will eventually get around to watching those. Amongst the criticism, I love the acting and the unique stories that the show always come up with. The next season will be the first one that I watch live, so I can't wait to experience a normal pace of the show and all of the theories and speculations that come with it.

Arya Stark

Welcome to my final character biography in my  Month of Thrones series. To keep everything fair, I decided to only discuss events up to Season 3 for non-book readers

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"Ser Gregor Clegane, Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Illyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei. Valar Morghulis"

 

A very spirited girl, Arya is very independent and not interested in anything involving being a lady. Compared to her aunt Lyanna, Arya pursues swordfighting unlike her sister Sansa, who takes more after their mother. The youngest daughter of Ned Stark and Catelyn Tully, Arya feels like an outcast for her interests and rejection of normal expecation and with that feels a kindred spirit with her half-brother Jon Snow. Throughout Arya's journey she shows her resillence and her strength despite all of the odds against her, which truly shows her mettle.

 

Her idyllic life ends when her father accepts the position of Hand of the King and she heads down to King's Landing along with her sister. Her playfighting with the butcher's boy, Mycah leads to his death after a confrontation with Joffrey and Sansa. Arya is also forced to leave her beloved direwolf Nymeria behind in the Riverlands as to save her life. This further ruptures the relationship between the two sisters as Arya turns away from the Baratheon/Lannisters and Sansa embraces it, not knowing their true intentions. During her life in King's Landing she receives training from Syrio Forel as her father realization her desires. She uses these skills to save herself and escape from the city after her father gets captured. She is present at her father's execution, which leads her to start creating her revenge kill-list that persists through the seasons.

 

She is then smuggled out of the city and disguised as a boy so she can make it back to the North to her mother and brothers, but they get intercepted, captured and taken to Harrenhal. She spends most of her time making friends with Gendry (a secret bastard of Roberts) and Hot Pie who stay with her for her journey through season 2 and 3 before separating at different points. She also comes into contact with and saves Jaqen H'ghar, who turns out to be a Faceless Man who gives her 3 deaths in return. She tests this by killing off undesirables at Harenhal before tricking Jaqen into killing more people to let her escape from the castle, which he does. Once her identity becomes known amongst he BWB, she becomes an asset as a negotiation tool for her brother and mother, but then gets taken by the Hound so he can get all of the money for himself instead of the Brotherhood without Banners. She ends up feet away from reuniting with her family at the Twins but unfortunately this occured during the Red Wedding. So again, she witnesses the death of more family members.

 

The show leaves off with her feeling truly alone in the world as she is far from Jon and assumes the rest of her family is dead. The next step would probably show her trying to enact some of her revenge killings and figure out a safe place to be since she is still wanted by the Iron Throne to serve as a negotiation tool/hostage. She is one of my favorite characters because of her spirit and drive and her will to keep living, which can be difficult with the destruction of her family. I hope that through all of experiences, she will eventually come to a place where she can forgive her sister and come to a place of understanding with her. She is still a young character, so her growth will be something to watch as she is now forced to take a different path than the life she was trained for.

 



Eddard "Ned" Stark

*this is a continuation of my Month of Thrones series. Note that there are no spoilers past season three for my non-book readers*



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"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives"

 

Eddard (or Ned as he is more commonly known) is probably one of the most popular and tragic characters to fans of both the books and television series. In his life, he was always very trusting and honorable despite all of the circumstances around him. Although he can come off as cold as normal with the population of the North, he is very kind and caring to his family and instills many values in his children, while also raising his bastard child. Known as "the quiet wolf" he is more reserved than more typical Stark traits that Arya and Rickon exhibit.

 

As a child he was fostered at The Eyrie with Robert Baratheon under Jon Arryn due to his father's southern ambitions. This also including betrothing his brother (the heir) Brandon to Catelyn Tully. With the "kidnapping" of Lyanna Stark at the hands of the Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, Brandon took a some men and went to King's Landing to challenge Rhaegar. The Mad King Aerys had them arrested and call their father's in to answer for their crimes but then he just had them all executed (he had Rickard Stark roasted alive in his own armour and had Brandon strangle himself by leaving a sword just out of reach with a cord around his neck), which affected Ned greatly as the second-born (and now oldest son), he became the Lord of Winterfell. Ned also dealt with the loss of his sister, who died in his arms with a promise on her lips.

 

To shore up alliances, he married Catelyn Stark and then headed off to war. After it was over, Ned returned a year later with a young bastard child name Jon Snow. Due to Ned's nature Catelyn never felt comfortable askingNed about the mother and he never brought it up except once (that was promptly squashed by Ned). With his only surviving brother Benjen in the Night's Watch and his other siblings dead, Ned had 5 trueborn children to help the Stark line, Robb (after Robert), Sansa, Arya, Bran (after his brother), and Rickon. Over the years he only left the North once to fight in the Greyjoy Rebellion and spent most of his time dealing out justice (like the death sentence on Jorah Mormont for selling slaves).

 

At the beginning of the season he has to kill a deserter from the Night's Watch despite their claims of seeing the dreaded Others, which troubles him. He then finds a dead mother direwolf with antler from a stag in its throat (foreshadowing) and allows his children to keep the pups, as there is one for each. With the visit from the King, need is offered to be second in command and also to have their children marry (Joffrey and Sansa). Ned becomes involved with the investigation of the death of Jon Arryn (the previous Hand of the King). During his time in the capital he learns of Robert's numerous bastards and the traits they all share (black hair) while also learning of his wife's capture of Tyrion Lannister. After resigning and then beng forced back into the position, he learns of Cersei's incest and that her children are not with the King. Because of his honorable nature, he tells Cersei of his knowledge, which gives her time to make a plan herself. He also trusts Baelish and his connections when he should have taken up with Renly Baratheon when it was offered. As soon as Robert dies, Ned is accused of treason and i suprisingly beheaded by the new King, Joffrey despite a previous agreement.

 

Ned's death was a shock to both the characters in the story and the viewers/readers. The impulsiveness of Joffrey would lead to a devastating war that affects the entire continent and leads to Tywin taking over as he finds Cersei incapable of controlling her son. As of now, all hope seems lost for the remaining Starks but there is still much of the story left to tell.



Video Game Madness

Welcom back to another week of Video Game Madness, where I discuss breaking/interesting news from the industry and also discuss my personal experiences with video games.

Oculus Rift- Huge news dropped a few days ago when it was announced that Facebook would be buying the Oculus Rift technology for 2 billion dollars. This is great news for the creators, but I;m not sure its as great of news for those who have used it as Facebook doesn't seem like the right company for it. The fallout has been pretty bad against Oculus and it was even announced that the Minecraft creator, Markus Persson, was pulling making Minecraft for the system, due to not liking the Facebook deal. Time will tell if more developers/creators will also pull out of potential business deals to avoid becoming apart of or associating with Facebook. I honestly don't see why Facebook feels like they have to buy a video game company since they are social media. I understand they want to change the way communication is done, but it still doesn't make me comfortable with the deal. I fully believe that Oculus/Facebooks loss would be Project Morpheus' gain, since Playstation is starting to break into the virtual reality world.

The Last of Us/Sony- According to Sercan Sulun, the Playstation Eurasian Software Market Manger, the 2013 Game of the Year, will be released on PS4 with added graphics a la Tomb Raider: Definitive edition. IGN.com translated the speech, but Sony still hasn't confirmed or denied the highly plausible rumor but if it is true, it will be another huge seller for Sony. I'm also hearing reports that sales of the PS4 have gone up tremendously in the UK since the release of the PS4 exclusive and highly anticpated sequel, Infamous: Second Son. This is good news for the system as we are still in the first few months of the release of the PS4 and hopefully the sales will be enough to keep things afloat as we are soon going into a lull of no new releases for either system (XBoxOne). I would assume that with E3 (gaming conference) coming this early summer, we should be hearing more concrete release dates for games.



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Candy Crush-  Despite having an IPO worth over $7 Billion dollars, Candy Crush shares dropped over 15% in the first day alone, which doesn't bode well for the company. It seems like investors are worried that King Digital is a one-trick pony with the crazy success of the game as it is being compared to Zynga (creator of Farmville), which suffered a 5% drop and was considered to to be a semi-failure as the company has trouble coming up with the next popular game so their stock hasn't been doing great. Personally I'm still obsessed with Candy Crush and probably won't stop until I've beaten most of the levels, which is probably crazy, but I can't stop.

Since Sony has been in the news lately, I've been thinking back on my childhood where I spent most of my days either playing or watching my sister play our original Playstation/Playstation 2 that we had. My favorites were Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. I played hours of both games and would get into the game to the point where i would have to stop if I died too much in a level (which I did a ton with Crash. The most fun I remember having is with Crash Team Racing on the Playstation 2., which was basically Mario Cart with Dr. Cortex so I was hooked. I played hours of the game and mastered the driving skills with my sister to the point that we were always 1, 2 in the rounds. Pretty much I love everything that Naughty Dog puts out except I haven't played (yet) the Uncharted Series or The Last of Us (which I hope to rectify soon) but I would still consider them my favorite studio (the second being Square Enix). I also loved Spyro because the graphics in the second game were more advanced (at the time) and I would just spend most of my time in the autumn level in the second game because it was perfect graphically (to me in my younger age). Despite my love of Nintendo, I feel like I will always have a soft spot for Playstation because of all of the incredible games like Jak and Daxter and Kingdom Hearts.

Thoughts on...Movie Sequels

Another thing that has been on my mind lately that is perfect for this series of essays would be Movie Sequels. *I originally was going to also write about movie remakes but then I realized how much I wrote and decided to save it for another time*

I currently have a love-hate relationship with sequels, as when they are done well (and after a respectable amount of time after the original with remakes) they can be even more memorable than the previous one (ex. Empire Strikes Back), but when they are just used as an obviously money grab *cough Hobbit cough* then it really bothers me.

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Since I brought up the Hobbit, I figured I'll start my discussion on the things I like and dislike about movie sequels. So I understand that certain books have a lot of content so it may be difficult to consolidate a solid film into one movie. Also if a movie studio received the rights to a series, it can be assumed that sequels will be made. Things I like about sequels would be that I get to go back into the worlds that I loved so much and get to re-experience the characters in different situations (ex. Lord of the Rings, some of Harry Potter). I'm a huge movie buff so I can pretty much find enjoyment/the good side to every movie. 

My issue is unnecessary sequels because I feel like they only serve as money grabs that take advantage of the audiences love of the series (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay pt. 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 2, Twilight:Breaking Dawn pt. 2 Cars 2/3 (ugh more on this later) etc.). I can understand not wanting to cut things out to keep fans happy and everything but I feel like the only reason in the last few years that their have been splits is because of Harry Potter. Once the final movie was split, all other similar movies did the same and now it's almost expected. I didn't mind the split in that movie because the movie was so long plus my love of Harry Potter but I just hated the way everything was handled. I do hope that with the split with Mockingjay, the end will slow down a bit and give us more time with the characters unlike what the book gave, so that is a positive. There are more good things about sequels like the actors getting more comfortable in their roles and really bringing out amazing performances. When I saw Catching Fire, I absolutely loved it and even thought it was better than the original as it served up a solid book adaptation with a great atmosphere and actors.

I'm sure some of my feelings result from just being so excited to see the movie, but I think that there is stuff (like constant camping in the woods) that can be cut out without anyone caring. I'm not a Twilight fan but I didn't get why that book had to split into two movies since there wasn't much going on after the birth. Back to the Hobbit, it is my favorite book and I absolutely loved Peter Jackson's LOTR, so of course I was excited to see those movies. The first one didn't even bother me as much with all of the changes they made. But the second one I hated because they went too fast through some parts, and too slow through others. Honestly I don't see why they they finished the movie the way they did because it will now have two climaxes, when they could have closed up one part of the story in the second movie to focus on the battle in the final one. That's another thing, the fact that instead of 2 movies, there would be three. The Hobbit is a short book and even with the appendices and adding new things/characters, it still feels stretched. But despite all of my gripes, I'm still going to see the final movie opening day so I guess the studios win. Finally Cars, I never liked that series as it felt like one of the weaker ones of the normally fantastic Pixar and I feel that they are just doing another Cars to sell merchandise despite the second movie getting horrible reviews. I feel like the Incredibles movie has stories left to tell plus an excited fandom, which make for a wanted sequel.

I obviously have a lot to say about certain sequels (ha) but what do you guys think? What are some of your favorite and least favorite movie sequels?

House Stark and the North

*this is a continuation of my Month of Thrones series. Note that there are no spoilers past season three for my non-book readers. This is coming to a close next week, so I just want to thank you for all of the support*

House Stark

 

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Current Leader: Roose Bolton as temporary leader, the position currently in control of the Iron Throne and will presumably go to Tyrion Lannister and his future child with Sansa (the last Stark thought to be alive),

Their Title: Warden of the North and Lord of the Dreadfort, Lord Paramount of the North (vacant)

House Seat: Winterfell

Current Family Members: Sansa Stark, Arya Stark (presumed missing), Bran Stark (presumed dead), Rickon Stark (presumed dead), Jon Snow (Night's Watch)
Family Traits: dark features, fierce personality

House Words: Winter is Coming
Region: The North
Bastard Surname: Snow
Geography: Northern-most part of Westeros and is the largest region.  Has wilderness, forest, hills and snowy mountains. The Wall, a massive 300-mile long structure serves as the northern border and the swamps and marshes to the south in the Neck create the second border, making the North fairly impenetrable.
History/Notable Events:
-the population consists of those with First Men blood, the original first settlers in Westeros.
-the only region that follows the religion of the Old Gods
-the Starks were said to be descendend from Bran the Builder, the maker of the Wall
-the Starks also were Kings of the North until the War of Conquest with Aegon Targaryen, where they then received the lord paramountcy
-there have been many rebellions in the North from the Skagosi, the wildings and the ironmen, which have caused many problems over the years.
-with the Sacking of Winterfell, the Boltons took control of Winterfell helped by the feeble attempt by Theon Greyjoy.
Notable People from Region:
Bran the Builder- the founder of House Stark. Was purported that he built the Wall and Storm's End
Torrhen Stark- known as "the King who Knelt", the last King in the North. When he saw the carnage at the Field of Fire, he decided to surrender to Aegon rather than suffer all of his men.
Roose Bolton- the betrayer, known for killing Robb Stark at the Red Wedding, reigniting the 1000 year old rivalry between the Boltons and the Starks.

My Thoughts: This family has gone through some tough times over the years and through the setting of the show. Things like the murder of Ned's father and brother at the hands of the crazed King and the heart wrenching death of Lyanna 1-2 years later set up the melancholy aspects of this family. More modern tragedies such as Ned's death, Benjen's disappearance, the Red Wedding, the fake deaths of Rickon and Bran, the captivity of Sansa and the deaths of the direwolves (Lady and Greywind) have showed that the family is going through very tough times. Not to mention, all of the family is separated, while also assuming that everyone else is dead means that they feel alone. This is my favorite house of the series as they value loyalty and also have a streak of fierceness/coldness as a result of their lifestyle in the harsh North. Out of the family of 8 only 5 survive with 1 in the Night's Watch and 3 considered missing/dead. So most people consider this House/Family extinguished, which is sad because they were rulers of the North for thousands of years and kept the peace.

What's Next: Sansa is still stuck in King's Landing, having missed her opportunity to escape from her forced marriage and the fears of Joffrey and Arya was last seen killing as revenge for the Red Wedding with the Hound. I would like for both of these sisters to be able to escape their potentially dangerous situations and receive a fresh start. Bran and Rickon separated with Rickon going to seek friendly allies in the North for refuge and Bran seemingly finding his destiny with the three-eyed crow past the Wall. We probably won't get much of a perspective on Rickon, due to his young age, but I feel that Bran still has a lot of story to tell.Finally, there is Jon, who has to recover from his wounds and prepare for the upcoming confrontations from the wildings. The fall-out from the Red Wedding will surely be felt across the realm and especially in the North as Tyrion ominously stated in last years season finale "The North will Never Forget", so we will hopefully get to see that North regroup and exact their revenge on the Lannisters, Boltons, and Freys.

Pop of Culture

Welcome back! Every Tuesday I pick a few viral/interesting pop culture  news stories to cover each week for my feature. This week I have stories covering sports, more Game of Thrones hype, animal stories and exciting concert news so there is something for everyone

First up, the Billion Dollar Bracket challenge ended on Friday with the loses of Duke and Ohio (who were heavily favorited to move a bit further) since no other perfect bracket remained. I guess they call it March Madness for that reason, since a no-name or less-known school can become popular in a span of minutes, just by beating a more popular team.I'm not doing to horribly as my best bracket is 36/48 and my worst is 32/48 so I'd say I'm fairly average. Anyway the Women's game started up, so of course I will rooting for my Lady Terps in the tournament, but I am concerned about Louisville and Connecticut since they are fairly dominant, but who knows, it's the Madness after all.


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Early screenings of the first episode have started all over the country and HBO has been releasing a ton of featurettes and trailers to hype up the show. I hope they don't give too much away since I look forward to Unsullied reactions. Less than 2 weeks so I'm sure the show will have even more viewers than last time, since the Walking Dead is ending next week and they share similar audiences. What are you most excited about for the new season?

In possibly the best news ever, it's being reported that the Backstreet Boys and the Spice Girls (minus Posh, because reasons) may be going on tour!!! I loved listening to the Spice Girls when I was younger (and watching Spice World endlessly) and BSB are one of the best boy bands. All I really want is an N*SYNC reunion but this is equally exciting and I really hope it comes to fruition

In sweet, but sad news, a dying man in the Netherlands had his dying wish fulfilled to say goodbye to the animals he loved working with one last time. He spent 25 years working at the zoo cleaning enclosures and a foundation transported him to the zoo to interact with everyone one last time. It was really bittersweet to hear about because the animals clearly recognized him and comforted him as they could tell it was his time to go. A very heartwarming  story.

Lysa Arryn

*this is a continuation of my Month of Thrones series. Note that there are no spoilers past season three for my non-book readers*



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Lysa was a key character in the first season as she held the fate of Tyrion for a time while he was the prisoner of hers and she was also the catalyst to many decisions of her sister during season one. She hasn't been seen since season one but her family has been prominently featured on the show. Now would be a good time to bring her back as the Tully line is further extinguished with the death of the father Hoster, and Catelyn/Robb along with the presumed deaths of Arya, Bran and Rickon. All that is left are Lysa, her son, her brother who is a presumed captive of the Freys and her uncle who has gone missing. She is not discussed but it is presumed that she intentionally did not go to the funeral of her father for some reason, probably involving her paranoia of leaving the safety of her home. She will be featured in season 4 in some capacity as we know for sure that Petyr Baelish is headed to the Eyrie to marry Lysa.

For a little background, Lysa was born the second child/daughter of Hoster Tully (previous Lord Paramount of the Riverlands and Minisa Whent. She was raised with Petyr Baelish (Littlefinger) as he was fostered there, despite his lower status. Like something from Shakesphere, Lysa fell in love with Petyr and he fell in love with Catelyn, who did not return his advances. This probably caused jealously in Lysa as Catelyn got the better match marriage wise and was able to have healthy children.

To shore up alliances during Robert's Rebellion, Hoster had the lords marry his daughters to assure his loyalty. So Catelyn was set to marry Brandon Stark and Lysa, the much older Jon Arryn (who had married twice but hadn't fathered children). It's unknown about how the marriage faired but it can be assumed that Lysa mental state suffered through a large amount of miscarriages and then finally giving birth to a sickly child, Robert. Once her husband died prior to the series beginning, she fled with her son to The Eyrie, out of fear of the Lannisters fostering her son (probably to use him a hostage for her allegiance).

Lysa is the one who sends the letter accusing the Lannisters of the death of her husband which then convinces Ned to accept the position of Hand to investigate the murder and also later leads to Catelyn imprisoning Tyrion and sending him to Lysa for judgment. After Tyrion wins his trial for combat, she reluctantly lets him go free but refuses her sister to aid in the fight against the Lannisters. She leaves her relationship with her sister on a bad note and it can be assumed that she never kept touch with the rest of her family. I'm sure once we get another look at her in the new season, she may be even more paranoid-protective of her son and maintaining neutrality, so it will be interesting to see what Littlefinger will be able to acheive.


Meltdown Mondays: The Muggle-Struggle Edition

I will always say that if I had magic, my life would be much easier, hence the muggle struggle title for this week. I will admit that I did not come up with it (one of my good friends from college did), but I'm probably the only one still using it to describe my daily failings.haha I actually tend to either make up words or shorten already short words to make life "easier", when in fact everyone ends up being confused. I guess you need to get on my level to understand my "ness".

Surprisingly (or not), there is snow in the forecast Again for my area. Normally I am a snow lover and the past 3 years have been bereft of snow since the Snowmaggedon in 2010 (yes, the east coast of the US does tend to dramatize things like this), but constant storms every 2 or 3 weeks is getting exhausting. I am for sure ready for spring to start because it is way to cold.

I also started exercising again, which is difficult to maintain the motivation but I did all of this before (two years ago), so I know that I can do it again for myself. Every time I start running I think "oh, its not too bad" and then 1 minute later I'm dying. I figure that with time it'll get easier and my stamina will go up. The best thing about working out is that I get to catch up on my podcasts for the week, but that also means that sometimes I will bust out laughing at the gym (oh well).

 *update: I totally spent my entire workout listening to "Drunk in Love" and I loved every minute of it. Plus i was super motivated*

Anyway, I will be doing two new things for my blog. First, I will start attempting to cook recipes from fandom based books(like Star Wars, Game of Thrones, etc) and write up how the experience was and how everything tasted. I don't cook, so this will probably be as traumatic as I am thinking it will be. I feel like cookbooks are just another way to show that certain things have reached high peaks of popularity in the culture and that popularity works into things that you normally wouldn't expect (cookbooks, theme parks, etc) to become all-encompassing, so I will start that this weekend and hopefully not burn the house down. I figured it will be something fun and fresh to compliment the other pop culture things on the site. I already have the the game of thrones cookbook (A Feast of Ice and Fire) but I will also get Stars Wars and possibly others.

Also I reactivated my Loot Crate subscription, so I will also be doing un-boxings once a month as I receive them. In case you didn't know loot crate is a monthly subscription service where you receive themed geeky items. This past month's theme was Titan, so it had items revolving around the game Titanfall and also the show Attack on Titan.

So there will be those upcoming things to look forward to plus the usual daily content covering tv, movies, books, video games and news. Thanks for all of your support!

House Arryn and the Vale

*this is a continuation of my Month of Thrones series. Note that there are no spoilers past season three for my non-book readers*

House Arryn

 

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Current Leader: Robin "Robert" Arryn, Lysa Arryn (regent)

Their Title: Lord Paramount of the Vale

House Seat: The Eyrie

Current Family Members: hardly any Arryns remain but there is a distant relative in Harrold Hardyng, who is the heir.
Family Traits: none

House Words: As High as Honor
Region: The Vale
Bastard Surname: Stone
Geography: in the eastern part of Westeros with a large mountain range that covers most of the region
History/Notable Events:
-formerly were the Kings of Mountain and Vale when Artys Arryn slew the Griffin King and took over the region
-the location where the Andals (race like the the Rhoynar) initially landed in Westeros before they began their wars with the First Men
-the last King submitted to Queen Visenya when she flew up to the Eyrie and he made a deal to ride her dragon (he was a young boy)
-Jon Arryn's death prior to the beginning of the story precedes the beginning of the problems Ned & company face leading into the War of Five Kings.

Notable People from Region:
Ronnel Arryn-the last king of the Vale who knelt to the Targaryens so he could ride a dragon
Robert Arryn-current lord paramount of the Vale. A very sickly and spoiled child who doesn't seem likely to live very long.

My Thoughts: We don't really get a good perspective from this house, as the Lord Paramont Jon, dies prior to the beginning of the story and we are left with his slightly unhinged wife (who is a Tully by birth) who desperately clings to her sickly son Robert as a result of her countless miscarriages. The Vale's neutrality during the war, location and geography mean that it's isolated from everybody else and we don't get much of their perspective until much later. The only idea that we have of the Vale happened during Season One for Tyrion's imprisonment. Another thing is the mystery of Jon Arryn's death, as we were originally told that he was killed by the Lannisters (which they denied), so that resolution (if we ever get it) should come soon to keep to storyline interesting and relevant.

What's Next: As it is Petyr Baelish's job to bring the Vale under Tywin's control, he will soon marry Lysa Arryn. How this will happen and how they will keep viewers interest in such an isolated area will be interesting to see. Seeing how Lysa reacts to losing the rest of her family after the Red Wedding will also be interesting. With Lysa's paranoia and Roberts young age and sickness, I'm sure Petyr will take advantage of the weak leadership situation in the Vale and move up in the ranks. But it seems like he wanted to take Sansa with him and the left anyway so I guess he's over his obsession for her.

Cultural Phenomenon: Game of Thrones/ASOIAF

This will be my new segment where I discuss the hows and whys certain things have become ingrained in popular culture, and also why some persist and others fade into fads, so it should be an interest look on popularity in general culture.

How I define a cultural phenomenon is something that transcends its own medium (like television or books) to become even bigger. It becomes referenced in other shows, songs, movies, news and many other ways. It also becomes t-shirts, and posters and events at fan conventions with also the rise in celebrity of the actor/s playing certain beloved/hated roles.

Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire

Since I am in my Month of Thrones, I figured I would first discuss the atmospheric growth of the show and the books into something that everyone is either talking about or knows about. The book series called A Song of Ice and Fire, first came out in 1999 with A Game of Thrones (the first in the series). The next 2 books quickly gained a following within the fantasy community and were nominated for many awards including the Hugo (the best of sci-fi/fantasy that year). The third book, A Storm of Storms (currently seasons 3 and 4 of the show) was nominated for Best Novel but lost to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which is an interesting thought, as it is considered one of the best books in the series.

Years later (and one book later), it was announced that the books had been optioned for a television show with HBO, which started to bring up the hype. The creators of the show Daniel Weiss and David Benioff would head the project with author George RR Martin offering guidance and even writing one episode a season. Once the marketing came out the general public got excited because HBO had been known for quality programming that was free from any restrictions and Sean Bean (A fan favorite from his roles in Lord of the Rings and Goldeneye) was added as the lead role of Ned Stark. During the run of the first season in 2011, the show had groundbreaking ratings and was the talk of the town. It started to get featured on news outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, which brought more audiences into the fold. The media was hyping a catastrophic event at the end of the season that no one saw coming, except for book readers.

The death of Ned Stark broke the traditional rules of television, as it had tricked the viewers into a false sense of security with Ned as he was toted as the main character and was on all of the promotional material. And just like Alfred Hitchcock and his shocker "Psycho", it was all that people could talk about as they fell in love with the Stark family and hated the Lannisters/Joffrey. Seeing the bad guys win was devastating and showed people that this show didn't mess around and anyone could die. This got even more viewers as they were able to watch a show that wasn't cookie-cutter and that always had you worried for your favorite characters. The addition of the dragons at the end of Season One also got people excited for what was to come.

With the growth of the show, people wanted to know more and more about the series. This lead to increased book sales and the rise of GRRM as a renowned author (despite being one already in the known community). He went from being relatively unknown on the streets, to needing security walking the booths at Comic-Con San Diego and constantly being bothered about when his next book (the Wins of Winter) will be finished. The rise of Game of Thrones lead to countless podcasts (Podcast of Ice and Fire, Game of Owns), shirts, and crowded panels at fan convention (lines up to 6 hours for a seat!). Not to mention the addition it made to the cosplay (costume-play) community with numerous Daenerys', and Jon Snows to name a few. Forums have also grown with people wanted places to discuss the show/books and all of its intricacies (Westeros.org and Reddit having large audiences). I have also seen people create memes and say some of the memorable quotes like "winter is coming", "in the Game of Thrones, you win or you die", and "you know nothing" become about of the popular culture.

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Although the show dipped a bit in popularity with the growing Season 2, it became even more of a phenomenon with Season 3's shocker of the Red Wedding, which saw the loss of even more characters and the bad guys' getting away with it. With the promise of even more shockers, Season 4 will be another memorable Season and hopefully gain some well-deserved awards. I cannot wait to see what the showrunners have come up with this season and to also see what other impacts the show will have on the culture, as the fandom continues to grow. All I know is that it will be a great ride for all.

Thought's on...Season Two

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I would first like to say that Season Two of the show had the best trailer to get me excited for things to come. You can watch it here. It actually gave me chills with the amazing music from Florence + the Machine (Seven Devils) plus the fantastic dialogue that they chose to put in. This season is based on Clash of Kings, which is aptly titled due to the large amount of conflicts and battles that happen in the story.

We get introduced to many more characters and situations that arise in the story. I would say some of the key moments would be Theon's betrayal, the death of Renly Baratheon, the riot in King's Landing, the introduction of Stannis' rule, Jaime's capture/release, the Battle of the Blackwater and Jon's situation in the North. I didn't add Dany's story because I personally felt it was weak and made her look weak (her loss of dragons never happened in the books). I feel that for both book readers and the Unsullied, this was a weaker season than the first, as it was hard to top the shocker of Ned's death and the surprising birth of the dragons. I will say that Blackwater was the best episode of the season and was finely acted and directed. I also like Valar Morghulis as it serves as nice falling action after the battle and sets up for the craziness of Season 3.

The thing I did like about Season 2, was the growth of all of the characters that we had met in Season 1. Robb turns from a boy to a king, Stannis takes control and much more.It was interesting that there was such a strong focus on Robb in the show, as his point-of-view was never in the book (only through Catelyn's eyes) so we never got to see his motivations. So it was nice to get more time with one of the characters from the primary family. Even though this wasn't as strong as the first season, it still was amazing to look at and see what the world of Westeros looks like. Plus the Others coming back at the very end was a really awesome moment.

This was the first season that I watched in real time so it was exciting to be able to see everything live and talk about it the day or two afterward. Plus watching the dragons grow up was great as well. Overall, I feel like this served as the lead up to Season 3, which is is probably my favorite season.

Rhaegar Targaryen

* this is a continuation of my Month of Thrones series. Note that there are no spoilers past season three for my non-book readers*

 

"There was a melancholy to Rhaegar, a sense... of doom"

"Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died."

I'm doing things a little differently today by discussing a character who is not only dead long before season three, but also one that never makes a direct appearance in the books/show. Despite this, I believe that he is one of the most important characters in the entire series as his actions snowballed into the current events coming into season 4. The first we hear of Rhaegar Targaryen, Robert is vehemently bashing his character out of hatred while Ned doesn't exactly agree despite the circumstances. We also hear bits of his character from Daenerys, who as his sister, would want to know the most about her famed brother.

He was born out of grief, during the Tragedy of Summerhall where his great-grandfather (the renowned Aegon V) and his great uncle (the heir, Duncan) died, in which then his grandfather, the sickly Jaehaerys II was raised to the throne. He always carried around the melancholy attitude through his life and it was said he was more thoughtful and sad. He was said to be a beautiful man with lilac eyes, long silver hair and sad eyes. He was also a skilled musician and bard. A bookish boy initially, he read something that inspired him to become a warrior. He then excelled and became well known for his skills at jousting and sword-fighting, besting many of the greats (Ser Arthur Dayne, Barristan Selmy) of the time during tournaments in the realm. The tournament that he is most infamous for is the Tourney at Harrenhal, where he beat the competition and as the winner was able to crown a Queen of Love and Beauty. Instead of choosing his wife, Elia Martell, he choose to crown the beautiful Lyanna Stark, which caused a scandal.

In the year following the tourney, it is said Rhaegar "stole" Lyanna (who was betrothed to Robert Baratheon), which led to the beginning of Robert's Rebellion. This event was the steppingstone of the the entire story, as Robert wouldn't have rebelled against the Targaryens, they wouldn't have been wiped out and Ned's father and older brother would still be alive, changing many things for all involved. He still has a strong presence in the story as Daenerys tries to emulate his good traits while also naming one of her dragons after him. He also inspires hatred in Robert, who accepts the brutal murder/rape of the remaining Targaryens (Rhaegar's wife, his daughter and his infant son), which causes his falling out with Ned. The most interesting thing about Rhaegar was that on the way to what would be his final battle, he told Jaime Lannister that things were going to change, which would hint towards a coup against his crazy/paranoid father, Aerys. This may have also been one of the deciding factors for Jaime to kill Aerys rather than have him destroy the city in madness.

Rhaegar was a key factor in the story affecting lives, marriages, kingdoms and alliances and his presence will always be felt as his remaining sister seeks revenge for his death and for the rest of her family (also for the nomadic life she was forced to live).

FanGirl Fridays

Welcome back to another FanGirl Friday!

Some announcements:
-Month of Thrones is still ongoing and even more interesting characters are coming up so stay tuned. -This also means that Game of thrones is mere weeks away and I am really excited to watch and re-experience the show
-I made a Facebook page here so be sure to like and share. Also add anything interesting that you would like me to talk about. Anything that goes viral or anything like that is fair game for discussion.
     -I will be posting interesting news and my blogs there
-I will be starting up something I will call "Cultural Phenomena", where I discuss how and possibly why certain things exploded into fandoms (like Lost, Breaking Bad, The X-Files) and become ingrained in popular culture.

Now on to my obsession for the week.. Lost

       "If we can't live together, then we're going to die alone." -- Jack Shephard

I'm bringing up this show since the cast have recently been doing press and conventions honoring the 10 year anniversary of when the show first aired. This show was an amazing ride over the six years that it was on and the final minutes of the finale still can get me choked up. But going back 10 years ago, I was in high school and was really big into watching Smallville at the time (I think it was on its second or third season). Once I saw the pilot of Lost, I stopped watching that and never looked back (they came on at the same time and I didn't have DVR). There was just something magical about the show that kept me hooked and looking for theories and explanations for that incredible world. Another funny thing about this show was that I really only got in it initially because I saw that Merry-Dominic Monaghan was in it and I was still

I can't name all of my favorite episodes (there's too many) but some are the Pilot, Walkabout, Man of Science/Man of Faith, and Through the Looking Glass to name a few. During and after the show, I couldn't wait to discuss what was going on in the show to try to better understand. It was one of the few shows that my entire family would watch and enjoy. My sister got me hooked on the Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack, which began my obsession with podcasts and moved more securely into the Lost fandom.

The best thing about lost was that it had everything from funny moments with Hurley (also wit from Sawyer), serious moments from Jack and literally everything in between. The music was an aid to the show and had just the right amount of power to really convey emotions and feelings about the character or a situation or to heighten the suspense. Fantastic characters and a generally great plot had me completely hooked. I never got bored because the characters were so complex and they were always growing and changing as the show moved on.

Some of my favorite characters were Hurley, Sawyer Kate, Charlie, John, Desmond and Jack. The fact that this list of characters is long is because there were so many great moments from each of these characters like Charlie writing "Not Penny's Boat" and discovering Desmond's horrible life in the quarantine area and Hurley's stoke of bad luck are just a few things about these characters that always kept me coming back.

I would honestly say that Lost was one of the best shows on Network television and probably up in the top 10 of greatest shows ever. For better or worse, it always got people talking and became a huge part of popular culture as a result. All this talk of Lost is making me want to do a re-watch (which I may do this year).

What are your favorite episodes and characters of the show?

Daenerys Targaryen

*this is a continuation of my Month of Thrones series. Note that there are no spoilers past season three for my non-book readers*



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Dany is one of the characters in the story that has experience amazing growth through her story. The book started when she was 13, so hopefully that will help people understand certain decisions she has made during her rule. When she first began she was very timid and shy, possibly as a result of her overbearing and unsettling brother, Viserys (the only family she has). Her brother and Illyrio Mopatis sell her to Khal Drogo to hopefully insure the Dothraki (his troops) will fight for Viserys' crown. Despite initially being a commodity, she gains a sense of independence from her brother and begins to appreciate and love her warrior husband and embrace her role as queen/khaleesi.

During a storm that raged and destroyed most of the Targaryen Fleet, Dany was born (giving her the nickname of Stormborn). Her and Viserys were whisked away by loyalist to escape from Stannis and his fleet coming up the coast. She spent a lot of her childhood moving a nomads as it was dangerous for Dany and her brother to be alive, as they represent the old regime of the kingdom and threatened Robert. An important memory for Dany is the though of the "red door", one of the places in Braavos where she spent a significant amount of time and it also represents her lost childhood.

At her wedding ceremony to Drogo, she gains Jorah Mormont as an advisor/translator and also receives three petrified dragon eggs (a rare gift). Her first weeks of being in the khalasar are difficult as she has to spend most of her time on horseback alone since she couldn't speak the language. During this time she is able to gather her strength and stand up to her bully of a brother, impression the Khal and gaining more of his love. Dany soon discovers she is pregnant with the Stallion who Mounts the World, a person prophesied to unite all khalasars under his rule. After Viserys threatens Dany and her child, Drogo grants him his wish of a golden crown (with a twist) that results in his death.

After an attempt on her life. Drogo begins to rally to start an assault on Westeros in her honor by pillaging lands to get ships for crossing the Narrow Sea. After he gets injured, Dany seeks the help of a maegi name Mirri Maz Dur for her help in healing him. He doesn't take the advice and his would grows ever worse and causing him to not be able to ride his horse (a huge shame in he community). Dany then pleads to save Drogo at any cost and then goes into labor and has a stillborn. When she wakes, she discovers Drogo is only but a shell of a person so she euthanizes him and gets abandoned by most of the khalasar. Instead of joining the crones at Vaes Dothrak, she decides to make her own destiny. She then has Mirri burned at the stake in Drogo's funeral pyre along with the dragon egg and walks into the flames. From this the dragons(Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion) are born and it changes everything around her.

The second season/book has her ambling around the desert unsure of where to go next but aware that her people that remained are becoming dehydrated and starving. After sending out scouts, she heads out to Qarth to seek refuge with her people. She later discovers that many of the inhabitants only want her dragons and steal them from her (this did not happen in the books). Nevertheless, she ends up going to the House of Undying where she hears many prophecies. The Undying warlocks try to keep Dany in the house but with Drogo they destroy the location and leave Qarth.

Season Three has Dany gaining another advisor/protector in Barristan Sely (former Kingsguard) and also she purchases (then free) the Unsullied, a group of elite eunuch soldiers that can't feel pain. After she has the 8,000 she then has them conquer the city of Astapor and kill the slave-owners. This begins her crusade to end slavery in a part of the world that is renowned for it, which will be great to watch.

Throughout her journey, she has grown very strong and sure of herself. Her next steps are to use her soldiers to conquer all cities in Slaver's Bay area that refuse to follow her crusade against slavery. We will hopefully see her fully embracing her many roles as Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains and as a ruler in general. Of course the elephant in the room is if and when she will ever make it to Westeros and what kind of impact that will have on the people there (as there may still be loyalists). Plus her dragons keep growing and that means that they will need riders once they get big enough...so who knows?



Video Game Madness

News for the week:



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Project Morpheus: at GDC (Game Developer's Conference) this year, Sony announced their own version of the Oculus Rift virtual reality device code-named Project Morpheus. I am really excited for this because I feel like this is the next step in gaming. I hope this technology will bring other companies into the fold to give us the best VR games/experiences. I would love to really feel like I'm apart of a game. Imagine if they did that with games like Call of Duty or Amnesia (the scariest video game), it would create more immersive experiences that will bring us into the future.

Two Assassin's Creed games announced: there were a couple of leaks yesterday that hint towards a new game set during the French Revolution for next gen (XBox One & PS4) and another for the previous gen that's codenames Comet. I have seen some hours of game play of Assassin's Creed 4 and I was blown away by the graphics and the game play (I saw it on PS4). I have a slight obsession with European history so I would love to be able to play a game during these crucial times in the period.



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This week the highly anticipated third addition to the Infamous series gets released on Friday. From the podcasts I've listened (Podcast Beyond, Game Scoop) to, this game will be really cool and will have a close feel to actually being in the streets of Seattle. SuckerPunch even got permission to use the Space Needle for the game, which is pretty cool since most games have to use different names for replica cities. I've been watching gameplay for the first game and it does remind me at times of Sly Cooper (same company), which is amazing that they can have pieces/concepts from that game and turn it into something amazing and realistic in this series.

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Gone Home is a game that I have played in the last few months that have really resonated with me. You play a girl coming home from a year aboard to find your family (moved into a new home) and gone from the house (really, a mansion) and you have to search clues that trigger memories to find out what happened to them and in the year that you were gone. It has a really creepy feel to it that left me on edge, but the story was fascinating and I couldn't wait to discover more. It has great 90s nostalgia and the individual stories feel so real and honest that they keep you thinking about the game a long time after it's done. I fully recommend this, but keep in mind it's more of a point and click adventure type than a regular game, but that doesn't diminish from the amazing story.

Thoughts on...TV (Basic/Network vs Premium Channels)

This week on my Thought's on Series, I'm discussing something that's been hotly debated recently, the quality of television shows and if one type is better than the other. This question also comes up as people in my generation give up traditional cable for Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix and the handy HBOGo password from a close friend or family member.

Basic/Network Television Shows
Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Friends, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Law & Order (Series), Firefly, Seinfeld, House, Mad Men, The X-Files



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Basic cable has gone through many ups and downs over the years. Lately it has been that once there is a successful show, the networks try to make a spin-off or similar-type show popular and it doesn't normally work. For example, ABC has the dreaded 8:00pm Thursday "death slot" where shows got to die and they get terrible ratings and eventually get cancelled. In the years that have followed Lost, they have tried to find a similar show to gain a large audience. The first show that comes to mind is Flashforward, but there have been A Lot over the years. All of the failures/cancellations over the years (Pushing Daisies, TerraNova, Firefly, etc) have really left a sour taste in people's mouth that push them away from the "Big Five" networks- ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, The CW. There used to be a time when I would watch huge amounts of network television, but the quality for me has gone down, so I haven't been trending towards watching premium cable. I feel like one of the main causes of the decline would be due to reality television since they are easier to film/produce and bring back huge dividends. Networks like TLC, the History Channel, and MTV have become solely all about reality television, and that can get old

Despite these difficulties, channels like AMC have really taken popular culture by storm with shows like Mad Men, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad. From the work place to social media the hype from these shows in recent years and months has been inescapable. These shows push the grain of what can be allowed on network tv and really shows that that kind of work can pay off. Also for all the duds and failures that the networks have, they have had some great shows recently like Once Upon a Time, The Blacklist, Scandal and Sleepy Hollow that give me hope not to give up on watching.

Premium Television Shows
The Wire, Sex & the City, The Sopranos, Dexter, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, True Detective, Oz, Six Feet Under.

 

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The shows listed above have become iconic towards the American identity or it is at least what people think of when they go to Baltimore, New York and New Jersey. These are shows that also brought the typical rules of television while also managing to get people hooked and invested (despite having to pay extra for the service). These shows success' demonstrate what a show can truly do and become without all of the restrictions that the FCC places on them. New to the game is Netflix, who has been proving themselves with shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black that have already been nominated for the Emmy's and Golden Globes (with a win for the fabulous Robin Wright). The quality of these shows has lead to the increase in viewers, which I believes helps with the creation of even more high-quality shows. They all seem to have interesting protagonists, a great plot and other positive attributes that I believe rubbed off on channels like AMC. Many of these shows have had killer finales that have blown everyone away (GOT Season 2, Dexter Season 4, etc). I think that premium is becoming the primary way to go (attention/interest-wise) but I hope that providers make it easier for people to watch like not needing a cable subscription for HBOGo. The head honchos say they are fine with people pirating cause that increases popularity, but I feel there are way more people that would watch (legally) but don't want to get tied down to an expensive and unnecessary cable packages.

No matter the medium, providers need to look at what viewers truly want (not just a passing fad) and make the television shows that will leave us discussing them for years down the road while also finding new viewership to add to the fandom.

House Targaryen and the Crownlands

*this is a continuation of my Month of Thrones series. Note that there are no spoilers past season three for my non-book readers*

House Targaryen

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Current Leader: Daenerys Targaryen (lone member of her House)
Their Title: Claimant to the Iron Throne, Mother of Dragons

House Seat: In exile, currently in Slaver's Bay

Current Family Members: the Baratheon's are second and third cousins, and Maester Aemon (Night's Watch)
Family Traits: Silver hair and purple eyes

House Words: Fire and Blood
Region: The Crownlands (formerly)
Bastard Surname: Waters
Geography: In the middle of Westeros, mainly flat and has temperate weather. Also has a peninsula and and island, Dragonstone.
History/Notable Events:
-Dragonstone was settled by the Targaryens 100 years before the war with Westeros
-where Aegon first landed as he began his War of Conquest
-Dragonstone was also the preferred location for the dragons to grow and prosper
-Key location in the Dance of the Dragons (civil war with the Targaryens) also with the Blackfyre Rebellion (a war over succession between the king's legitmate and illegitmate children)
-Defiance of Duskendale: a rebellion against Targaryen rule and most likely contributed to the madness of Aerys II (as he was kidnapped/imprisoned)
-The Sack of King's Landing-the end of the Targaryen line (although Daenerys and Viserys escaped via allies in Dragonstone) during Robert's Rebellion

Notable People from Region:
Aenar "the Exile" Targaryen- took his family and left Valyria 12 years before the Doom (volcanic explosion that destroyed Valyria), becoming the only dragonriders/owners in the world.
Aegon "the Conqueror" Targaryen- united Westeros/the Seven Kingdoms (Dorne came later) under his rule using the force of his dragons and sister-wives (also commanders)
Aegon "the Unworthy" Targaryen IV- had many illegitmate children and then legitimized them on his death bed, leading to the Blackfyre Rebellion
Aerys "the Mad" Targaryen II- his paranoia escaladed to the point of him executing Ned Stark's father and brother, leading to the war. Also was slain by Jaime to prevent him from burning the city with wildfyre.

My Thoughts: This would be one of my favorite house if the family wasn't so self-destructive. I feel that their practice of incest (brother-sister) contributed to madness and many poor decisions throughout their 300-year reign of Westeros. There were some great rulers mixed in but things like the death of the dragons, contributed heavily to their loss in power and prestige and allowed for things like the Blackfyre and Robert's Rebellion to occur. Also the marriage traditions made for a small family to begin with, so combine that with a civil war and you can understand how Daenaerys ends up being the last in the direct line. If Dany can properly utilize her dragons, she can bring back the prestige that hasn't been seen in over 150 years.

What's Next: We will get to see Dany continue her anti-slavery campaign along the aptly named Slaver's Bay. It should be interesting to see how these cultures feel about Dany coming in and also how they feel about her dragons/army, as they are a huge show of force. I'm hopeful, but I'm not sure when or if Dany will ever make it to Westeros, since she is firmly entrenched in Essos politics. I do figure that her name will spread over the continent and perhaps will get to the ears of the leaders of Westeros.