What is the Point of Writing? A Navel Gazing Blog.

We interrupt the reviews and such for a bit of an introspective blog.  What can I say? The recent blogs between here and the ChicagoNow stuff have definitely been more of the reporting/observing nature. Nothing wrong with that to be sure, I enjoy it quite a bit.  That isn’t all that blogging is about, at least for me.

I may imagine being a cultural critic and fantasize about filling the vacancy left by Studs Turkell, but the truth of it is, I’m not.  Writing will probably never pay a dime nor podcasting or a potential radio show currently in development (I always wanted to say that   Some of that comes down to talent, to be sure.  I’ve faced it, if I was good (and I don’t think I’m bad, mind you) I would have been discovered long ago.  In addition to that, I firmly believe, after reading and watching enough interviews with writers and other artists, one has to hustle, work at it, and keep working at it.  Um, yeah.  That just isn’t me.  I’m not adverse to work or working hard, but when that bleeds into self-promotion I find it excruciating.  I just watch some of my fellow bloggers over at ChicagoNow and am simply amazed.  Some of those are just relentless in getting their names and work out there.  There are many adjectives to describe me, relentless probably isn’t one.  To split that hair a little, it isn’t that I don’t finish or pursue things either, see PhD, marathon and the like.  I love the longue durée, and seeing projects of weeks, months, years come to fruition.  It is that…sales aspect I just don’t have.

Deep down, it is lack of confidence.  After the thousands of words I’ve written, with some great praise and wonderful feedback (thanks everybody!) I don’t believe enough in my own work to promote it.  I’ve haltingly put my stuff out there, drips and drabs of things, mostly academic writing.  It wasn’t so much the rejection; I was expecting that.  It was so much the futility of submitting something either, but rather the lack of satisfaction with the whole process.  Honestly, ever since I’ve put pen to paper and finished something, I feel good.  I hated editing in the past, but the dissertation pretty much cured me of that.  Editing and proofing isn’t so bad.  I don’t do it a lot for the blogs (as I’m sure you’ve noticed) but I don’t feel like my thoughts are complete as is, take it or leave it.  I think it comes down to the aforementioned lack of confidence and the overall lack of interest I have in the process, if that makes sense.  Don’t get me wrong getting some things published would be great but I won’t get much more personally, emotionally if it were to happen.  I’ve pretty much got to a place where I like writing, I like that it is out there for anyone to see and it is a relatively easy to accomplish those things.  Why bang my head against the wall if I’m otherwise feeling pretty good?

To answer my own question, it would be friggin’ cool to get paid to write.  I would love to sit in my office all day and blog, blog, blog.  That is a bit of the rub though isn’t it?  The truly successful blogs are those that are very focused, one key topic or genre of material like sports or motherhood or just about anything.  A dedicated blog to fishing lures is going to find its audience.  Another knock against me I suppose.  I write about a lot of things all interesting to me.  I am not the one stop for anything in particular.  My dilettante nature pretty much assures that I will never make many inroads in the business side of blogs.  Seriously, I’m just some dude writing about shit I like, not exactly a great selling point.  The real truth: anyone can, and many people do, exactly what I’m doing now.

If you’ve made it this far in this extreme navel gazing regarding my lack of desire, drive and focus when it comes to writing.  Oddly, I feel better than when I started and it makes me want to start something…long.

Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 6. Catching our Breath.

After the past few action-packed episodes, the sixth installment of season 3 is a bit of a breather.  If you like the more chess-like aspect of the show, this was a positioning episode to be sure.  In the first third of the season we saw a lot of characters moving around, going from castle to castle and place to place.  In episode 6, we find out where people intend to go or see them start their respective journeys.

 

 

North of the Wall Samwell and Gilly make plans to get to the Wall and then, well, who knows?  Sam is obviously smitten with Gilly, but while he is not the best soldier, he is loyal to the Night’s Watch.  If you’ve read the books, you also know what the obsidian dagger means, but that’s all I’ll say.

Speaking of north of the Wall, the other Night’s Watchman with woman issues, Jon Snow, discovers that Ygritte knows about his duplicity and pretty much issues an ultimatum to him, stay loyal to her or pretty much get his throat slit.  I must admit, and no, not because she threatened Jon, she is becoming a bit of an annoying character.  It took longer than in the books, but she has become a bit of a bore.  While she isn’t saying, “You know nothing Jon Snow” like the novels, the same idea is still there, a repetitive, condescension of Jon’s lack of worldly knowledge.  The wildlings decide to climb the Wall on the orders of Mance Rayder to do some recon and also test Jon’s loyalty.  It was a stunning scene, but I have to wonder how useful it is to send a bunch of people up the Wall, only to lose most of them.  Also, when they do reach the top of the Wall, what does it serve? They aren’t going to build a lift to move people over the wall en masse and they already know where the Night’s Watch is gathered.   It seems like a rather futile gesture.

As a reader of the books, the most intriguing development was the intersection of the Stannis/Melisandre and Brotherhood Without Banners storylines.  My guess is the writers and producers did this in order to simplify a couple of the plot lines from the novels.  Basically, Melisandre enters the camp looking for Gendry.  We aren’t quite sure why (well I know why, but I’m telling) but in rather short order, she gets her way and Gendry is sold out.  Arya is none to happy with this and basically this event is greasing the skids for her exit from the Brotherhood.  If we know anything about the Starks, (and Arya in particular) they are loyal and ethical.  They won’t associate with less noble people if they can help it, so don’t expect Arya to stick around with people who would sell her friend.

Two big developments occur regarding the Robb storyline.  First, we see Robb negotiating with the Freys for safe passage and troops.  He basically has to marry off one of his uncles and apologize for insulting the honor of house Frey.  His uncle almost blows it again, but is convinced that it is the right thing to do.  Much more interesting are the negotiations between Jaime Lannister and Roose Bolton.  That isn’t quite right, I’m enjoying the relationship between Jaime and Brienne.  Honestly, we know that Jamie is going to get ransomed, but watching the interplay, much of it without words between he and Brienne is just delightful.  As nice as these moments are we find out that it could be at an end.  Jaime is going to be released, but Bolton has no plans to free Brienne.

Speaking of great interplay, the negotiation scene between Tywin and the Queen of Thorns was quite good.  As much as the show is making Tywin Lannister the main bad guy, it is hard not to admire him.  We have seen Lady Tyrell get the better of most in King’s Landing, but not Tywin Lannister.  While they are both frank about the current situation, Tywin goes for the throat and of course gets his way: Cersei and Loras will wed, cementing the ties between the two houses and like the marriage of Tyrion and Sansa, making another major house subordinate to the Lannisters.

The final montage presented with a nice little speech by Littlefinger is a perfect prologue to what we should expect: Chaos.  While we only see three major characters during the montage, Littlefinger’s words tell us that there is much to come.  While things seemed calm this episode, the chaos is just getting started.  The next three episodes should be something else to watch.

Remembering Phish 6/20/1995

I can’t say I remember it like it was yesterday.  It actually feels like a long time ago, mostly because it is.  It was the summer of 1995 and Phish wasn’t swinging through Michigan at all.  The most accessible show to me was at one of my favorite venues growing up, Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.  My girlfriend at the time didn’t want to go, so an old friend from high school was up for going, and he even drove from our home town into the wilds of northeastern Ohio.  We had pretty good seats, center stage in the pavilion.  After that all I remember is the Mike’s Song.

 

This wasn’t the first show I had been to since I got it.  My fellow Phishheads know what I mean when I say that.  I’m sure everyone does in a sense, but most of you wonder, “Why do you even want it?” That wasn’t really my choice, I suppose.  I liked Phish before 11/16/94, but after that night in Ann Arbor, they became more than just a great band to see.  To steal a tag line from a local radio station, Phish became the soundtrack of my life after that date.  I attended another show on 11/18, but it barely registers to be honest.  No, 6/20/1995, was the next important show in my Phish fandom.  Like 11/16/94, 6/20/1995 had an EPIC JAM.  In both cases it was a Mike’s Song.  Until the archival release, I really couldn’t tell you much of what else was played that night.  I do know that after I got back to Michigan, I immediately went to the local head shop to see if they had a copy of the show.  Luckily, they did and I was all set.  I pretty much wore out the tapes I had from the Ann Arbor and the Blossom shows the rest of that summer.  To seal my fate, the next show I attended was in my new home, Chicago.  It was the second Halloween show.  The musical costume was great, Quadrophenia, but the third set YEM, the 45-minute YEM, made me a bit of a junkie, really.  If I was at a show that didn’t have a song that extended beyond 20 minutes, I felt disappointed.  That disappointment wouldn’t last, but every time I’m at a show that launches into something lengthy, something spacy, something special, I can’t help but feel a connection to those three shows from 1994 to 1995.

I remember Charlie Dirksen giving the Blossom show a bad review, at least the Weekapaug, and I was furious.  After listening a little more closely a few dozen times, I realized he had a point, though his judgment was always a little suspect to me after that. I must admit, however, when rumors started to circulate that 6/20/1995 was going to be the next archival release, I was shocked.  I don’t remember a lot of buzz around the show afterward and much like my first turning point show, I rarely see it pop up on any best of lists.  I was also a little scared that I wouldn’t like the show that much anymore.  I lost those first tapes a long time ago and I’ve been slow to use the spreadsheet to get some of my old shows back.  I mean why?  I’ve got Phish radio, Turn Table and plenty of free downloads from shows I’ve attended since the breakup.

I had to buy it, though, this major touchstone in my Phish experience.  I was curious if it would hold up in my own mind after not listening to the show in years, especially the Mike’s Song.  All I can say is that it did, and more; the Mike’s is still amazing, no doubt.  I hear it and I’m transported back in time, not to the show, but to the countless walks I made from my apartment to the computer lab to work on my MA thesis (and play Civilization.)  I would put 6/20/1995 or Ann Arbor in my Walkman and be in an amazing place as I made my way across campus.  Now, however, I can’t get over how good the first set was as well.  The soundboard quality of the new release makes it feel almost new to me, yet as I listen to the second set once again, I smile.  Even after all these years 6/20/1995 has still got it and Phish has still got me.  See you July.

Review of Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 5. Halfway Through!

It is hard to believe that we are already through half of the season.  Episode five did have a bit of a turning point kind of feel to it.  There wasn’t a great deal of action, per se, but a great deal of revelation and events that if you’ve been paying attention, then you know it is going to be important.

Of course when I say little action I wasn’t referring to Jon Snow and Ygritte (ba bump bump.)  Yes the one relationship that had even the slightest bit of sexual tension was resolved in all of its fan boy glory.  The young woman comes on strong to the young warrior, who though he has never been with a woman, is able to please her and make her want to stay in their “love cave” forever; so much for fantasy realism.

The most important events of the episode occur in the two major houses, Stark and Lannister.  As we’ve seen all season, things are falling apart for Robb Stark.  This time, one of his most important banner men, Lord Karstark openly defies Robb’s orders and takes his personal revenge on the Lannisters by murdering two young Lannister prisoners as vengeance for the loss of his sons.  Robb is painted into an unenviable position; provide mercy to Lord Karstark and retain his troops or mete out justice as he sees fit, namely execution.  Robb chooses the latter and as predicted, half of his forces leave.  As he ponders, well broods, over his next move, Robb realizes that his best course of action is to go back to Lord Frey in hopes that his abandonment of his promise to marry a Frey daughter will be overlooked.  How has such mistakes worked out in the past?

The Lannisters, on the other hand, are sitting quite pretty.  They are firmly in control of the crown know that they are in control of the war and only have a few loose ends to tie up to settle the entire matter.  The person at the center of all things related to the Iron Throne is the patriarch of the family, Tywin Lannister.  Ever since his appointment as Hand of the King, he has rode roughshod over the small council, especially his children, Cersei and Tyrion.  Perhaps the best scene of the season thus far occurred when Tywin notifies Tyrion that he will be wedding Sansa Stark as opposed to a Tyrell.  Tyrion’s reaction is to be expected, namely refusal, but watching Cersei is what makes it great.  She was already in on that bit of news and loves watching her younger brother twist in the wind.  She loses her smugness however, when she is informed that she will be marrying Loras Tyrell to consolidated Lannister power throughout the Seven Kingdoms, save Dorne.  Even so watching Tywin just slap his kids down for the good of the family is almost like watching something from the Godfather.  There is no doubt who is in charge.

Speaking of the Lannister children, Jaime is still not having a very good time.  He is finally brought to Harrenhal (at least that is where I think the setting is) and he is treated by the resident maester for his injured arm.  More important is the bath scene with him and Brienne.  We get the backstory to how he became the Kingslayer.  It wasn’t just a move to help his father take King’s Landing during the rebellion, but was actually an act of mercy, at least for the residents of the city.  If there is a key moment for this episode this was it.  The great devil that was Jaime Lannister is revealed to be a much more scrupulous man than we thought.

We also get to see a great fight between Sandor Clegane and Ser Beric.  It is a trial by combat for the Hound’s various crimes, most notably being accused by Arya of killing the stable boy way back in season one.  It is a pretty tight battle, but Clegane comes out on top.  However, we see the great power of the Lord of Light as Thoras resurrects Beric immediately after he is slain.  When we return back to the Brotherhood later in the episode we find out that being raised from the dead is a bit of a habit with Beric.  Even so the Hound is set loose and free to go about doing whatever it was he was doing after he deserted the battle of the Blackwater.  Arya, unfortunately, is left feeling hopeless once again as revenge is denied her regarding Clegane.  Adding salt to that wound is the fact that her best friend and companion since King’s Landing, Gendry, decides to stay with the Brotherhood Without Banners, choosing to be their smith.  Arya had hoped that he would come with her as she goes to Riverrun, but that isn’t to be.

Things are also starting to stir with Stannis once again.  His wife is well off the deep end and has great faith in the Lord of Light and his prophet, Melisandre.  She even informs that she is aware that Stannis has had sex with Melisandre.  She doesn’t care, she only wants Stannis to be happy and king.  We also get to see Stanis’s daughter who is afflicted by a skin disease.  We find out she is fond of Davos, who despite her father’s wishes, visits him in the dungeon and of all things, teaches Davos to read.  I can’t remember from the books, quite honestly, why his learning to read becomes important, but I just remember that it will be significant J

 

Review of Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode Four. Boom goes the Dragon!

Episode four and the tension around Westeros is mounting.  Actually, it is mounting all over the known world.  The Brothers of the Night’s Watch show their true colors, namely former residents of dungeons and jails, and fall on Craster and his settlement like a band of hungry wolves.  It is quite hard to feel any sympathy for Craster because he is such a vile character that in many ways, he probably got what he deserved.  It is more complicated than that.  Breaking the oath of the Night’s Watch is a big deal and it brings in to question what will happen to all of those that took part in the carnage.  As we have seen in George RR Martin’s world, those that make mistakes often get punished in very harsh ways.  Sam escaped with Gilly to a great amount of uncertainty, but the rest of the brothers, as they ransack Craster’s Keep are in just as much danger of never getting back to the Wall as well.  Without discipline and order, it is an open question of how long they can survive in the Wild.

Our trio of prisoners was in for a bit of a tough time this episode too.  Not as bad as Craster, but still.  Theon thought he was on his way to his sister and safety, only to be the victim of some of the worst (best from a story POV) psychological torture one will ever see.  It actually reminded me a lot of the Prisoner and how in various episodes Number 6 was seemingly able to escape the Village only to discover it was all a ploy to make him talk.  In this case, it is even worse because there is nothing that Theon has that Bolton needs, he simply likes torturing Theon and my guess anyone else who he can get into his dungeon.

Brienne and Jaime are in the worst road movie ever, at least as far as they are concerned.  Jaime is despondent at the loss of his hand, especially after he gets his hands on a sword, but is no match for men that even a day ago would have been easy pickings.  He is pretty much a beaten man, but Brienne challenges him, bullies him, and essentially gets through to him, giving him at least a little will to live.  We are seeing the relationship between Jaime and Brienne develop at what feels like a faster pace than what we get in the books.  I’m not saying it is a budding, non-incestuous romance, but it is also moving beyond a grudging respect.

The events of King’s Landing are always fun to watch and after the Battle of the Blackwater in season two, it is less about fighting and defending the city and back to the political intrigue of the capital that was quite prevalent in season one.  There are quite a few threads running in this location, but the most interesting are those where Varys is involved, and he seems to be involved everywhere.  He is talking to Tyrion (who is not involved nearly enough thus far) and his dreams of revenge; he is working every angle to figure out Littlefinger’s overall strategy; and he is working on making a match for Sansa Stark with the Tyrells.  I hate to say it, but much like the books, Sansa is a boring character.  She takes very little action of her own and is constantly used as a pawn.  Though she is disillusioned compared to the girl she was when she first arrived in King’s Landing, she is still far too trusting of those around her, especially Littlefinger and the Tyrells.

The big finale to the episode, like the previous episode, was quite the dramatic event.  This time we got the big reveal of Dany’s plans to build an army; basically steal one.

Dragon Go Boom

It was obvious what was going to happen, no way Khaleesi gives up one of her dragons.  I had forgotten from the books that Dany could speak Valaryian, so it was even more satisfying when he was toasted.  In quick order she turns the Unsullied on their former masters and declares them free.  All things considered it isn’t the most graphic or remarkable fight scene you’ll ever see, but like many other battles and big moments in the show, it is done in such a way that it feels right and stayed under budget.  A lot of bigger budget movies and the like could really learn from Game of Thrones in this respect, less can be more.  Instead of tons of fighting and special effects, we get one very cool CGI shot of the new Targaryen army marching out of the city, dragons flying overhead.  We didn’t need more than that and got the message, Dany is on the move and is force in the world.

Game of Thrones, Season 3: Episode 3.

Due to flooding last week, the Game of Thrones review is a bit late this week.  I should also mention here at the outset that there be spoilers ahead, no way around it this time I’m afraid.

If you think like me, the first two episodes of this season were a bit on the slow side, even if you can see the telegraph lines from the book.  This episode gives us a lot more to sink our teeth into.  It starts off with the funeral of Robb’s grandfather, Hoster Tully, and the ineptitude of Edmure Tully, Robb’s uncle, trying to light the pyre boat as it floats downriver.  Brynden “Blackfish” Tully (Robb’s great-uncle) basically pushes his nephew out of the way and lights his brother on fire.  It doesn’t take much to figure out that Blackfish, and with a cool name like Blackfish taboot, this is the Tully we are meant to like and Catelyn’s brother is the one we don’t like.   A dressing down by Robb after he demonstrated his lack of skills beyond shooting a bow, we see, as we basically have seen all season thus far, that Robb’s war isn’t going so well.  Watching the army of the North lose its way, not in battle but in attrition isn’t exactly the most riveting television.  I think this is why we haven’t seen much of the Robb story line very much this season.  A few scenes here and there, each one demonstrating another facet of his cause disintegrating goes a long way.  An inept uncle who ruins strategy here, a second in command informing Robb and us along the way that the troops are leaving here, and a few scenes establishing that his new wife is unpopular and we pretty much get it, no need to spend a lot of time on a rather uninteresting story.

We get a few glances to most of the other storylines, but not much more.  At least they are cutting down on the travel scenes, pretty much because for the near future, not much changes as far as location; Jon is still beyond The Wall, Arya is with the Brotherhood Without Banners and the folks in King’s Landing are fairly ensconced within the city walls.  The best part of the King’s Landing story is the humorous take on Pod and his sexual prowess.  Other than that, Tyrion gets a new job as Master of Coin and discovers that Littlefinger isn’t quite the magician everyone thought he was.

The goings on across the sea are a little more interesting.  Dany is in the market for an army and makes an offer that the slave driver can’t refuse: a dragon for 8,000 Unsullied.  It seems like a steep price to pay, but it seems like Dany has more up her sleeve, even though Barristan and Jorah are upset with her bargain.  Knowing the books, I can’t wait to see the Unsullied in action, but that will have to wait.

The best event of the episode comes from the Jaime and Brienne journey.  After being captured after their fight on the bridge, Jaime informs Brienne of what is about to happen to her.  Sure enough, the company is about to have their way with Brienne, until Jaime convinces them that she is worth more to them unharmed.  Jaime keeps up the ploy of using greed to influence his captors and hopes that the promise of Lannister gold will keep him safe, ultimately freeing him.  If they mentioned in the series the Brave Companions, I must have missed it, but the outcome is still the same: the captors of Jaime and Brienne are not as easily swayed by wealth as other in Westeros, and they border on the sociopathic.  They toy with Jaime, making him think he is getting his way, and instead chop off his sword hand, ending the episode.

While this isn’t Jaime’s death, it does rob him of his identity throughout the first two and a half books, and his backstory as well.  Jaime Lannister was one of the greatest fighters in all of the Seven Kingdoms.  Now he is rendered useless.  For him, it is a fate worse than death, or at least close to it.  Without fighting, Jaime is without ability and without cause.  He isn’t particularly clever and the only way people gave him any respect was mostly through fear.  It is a certain amount of karmic justice as well.  He took Bran’s ability to walk and especially climb now he has lost his strongest ability.  With one swift stroke, Jaime Lannister went from an almost stereotypical character from fantasy novels to a much more complex, conflicted and interesting character.  I have the knowledge of the next two books, but I’m very excited to see how the actor and television producers and writers present the broken Jaime.  It should be a fun journey for the rest of the season and probably the rest of the series as well.

 

 

 

 

Play Your Video Games: Assassin’s Creed III (Can We Go Back Further In Time?)

I thought my plan to go through my video game library and play all the games that I hadn’t finished was a good one.  It also gave me the idea to write a review for each one as I went, always nice to have a new vein to explore on the blog.  I figure, perhaps a little ambitiously, that I’d do a game review about once a month or so; then I played Assassin’s Creed III.

 

 

I was genuinely excited for this game.  I loved ACII and ACII Brotherhood and while ACII Revelations was a bit too much of a good thing, I still enjoyed it.  I was intrigued by the time shift we were getting in ACIII, going from Renaissance Italy to Revolutionary US and the ambitious storyline of weaving our game into the events of the War of Independence.  The reviews I read were positively glowing, the world that had been created was something to see, the game play was fun and challenging and the overall story was good, at least according to the reviews then I played it.

The world created for ACIII is impressive, no doubt about that.  The colonial cities of Boston and New York are well defined and each has a different feel, which I didn’t always think was the case in the ACII games, sometimes Rome and Florence were just too similar.  That can’t be said for ACIII.  The addition of the frontier as a location for the game was interesting as well.  Unfortunately, much of what we did in these locations wasn’t that interesting.  In the cities the interactions with courtesans and healers is replaced with beggar children and stray dogs and cats.  On the frontier, there is a lot of running and if you’d like hunting, but after the first few times of hunting for animals, it gets pretty boring.  I mean, the main character is an Assassin, hunting bunnies isn’t why I bought the game.  And really, for all that was made of it, climbing trees and running through the forest isn’t all that great.  I get that it is a feat of programing and such, but I hate to paraphrase Ronald Reagan here, you’ve seen one tree you’ve seen them all.

The main character, Connor, is also a bore.  He is presented as a brooding, angry, driven young man.  At first that might seem similar to Ezio in the ACII games, but Enzio had personality.  He was a rogue and scoundrel in the best sense of the words.  Connor is a humorless dolt.  Ezio was driven by revenge as well, but the writers of the game make Connor’s pursuit of vengeance so all-encompassing it leaves little to no room for the character to grow.  Quite frankly, I didn’t care what happened to Connor.  He was just a whiny, surly young man who was no fun to play.

The other aspects of the game play reminded me a lot of Assassin’s Creed I.  There was far too much pointless travel and uninteresting side missions.  Every time I saw one of Poor Richard’s Pages blow by, I just had no interest in chasing down a piece of paper, largely due to the fact that one of my least favorite thing to do in any of the Assassin’s games is chase stuff.  In ACIII in particular we do far too much chasing, especially in the “climatic” scene.  We spend a great deal of time chasing our white whale as it were, only to finally kill him in a cut scene, perhaps the worst ending to a video game I have ever played.

It wasn’t just the final cut scene that was awful, pretty much all of the cut scenes were awful.  As I stated, Connor sucks.  Having to watch movie, after movie, after movie, after movie starring him was just sequential torture.  It seemed like every time I was really getting into a groove within the game, there would be another movie.  Yes, I saw the button allowing me to skip the scene, but I had up until this game, actually enjoyed the Assassin’s world.  I admit most sheepishly even until the end, I was hoping for the game to redeem itself, to make all of this time worth it.  It never did.

Even worse, if it could get any worse, for my experience anyway, was the greater inclusion of Desmond and his entire story.  A little Desmond goes a long way, especially after playing the final sequence of ACIII.  Running around the cave from hologram to hologram only to encounter yet another Matrix-like explanation of the forerunner race was easily the worst part of the game, in a game with lots of bad moments.

I’ll admit I’m intrigued by the follow-up game coming this fall, Assassin’s Creed III Black Flag because the one aspect of ACIII that was inventive, fun to play and interesting seems to be a big part of the new game, namely the naval warfare aspect.  Unfortunately, teasing me with a ship to fight with and decks to board isn’t enough to get me to put a deposit down and reserve a copy of the game.  ACIII, at least for the time being, has regulated the entire franchise to the used bin of the video game store.

Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 2: And We’re Marching!

Saw a tweet the other day, I think it was Seth Myers, that said, “Game of Thrones Season Three, where everyone is walking somewhere.” It is hard not to agree with that assessment, except to say that the walking has a purpose and if the first two seasons of GoT is any indication, it will pay off well.  I think at this point it is best to think of these first two episodes as not only a reintroduction to the show, but to the movement of chess pieces around the board, preparing for an overall grand strategy.  As a reader of the books, it makes it hard not to give things away, but I do like when a scene appears from the book almost how I imagined it.  In this case the fight between Brienne and Jaime did not disappoint.  It was an excellent sword fight scene.  I think what makes a great duel is not only the choreography, but the length of the fight.  This wasn’t a climatic scene, like something out of Star Wars, but it is important.  It exposed just enough to us that Brienne is a badass, if you didn’t know that already and that Jaime is pretty good too.  Unlike the Star Wars duels (the prequels, really), one of the things that made this scene work was its simplicity.  Fighting on the bridge was perfect.  The focus was almost entirely on the action, with no distractions.  In addition I thought the actors played it perfectly; Brienne was all rage and intensity, the pent up frustration of hauling Jaime around coming out.  Jaime was condescending and confident, happy to have a sword back, until he realizes, and we see it on his face, that he is being well-matched by a woman.  It ends with their capture at the hands of Bolton’s men, so in effect a draw which, like the book, leaves it to us to decide who would have eventually won.

The rest of the episode was not nearly as exciting, largely concerned with further character development and hints at various machinations from all over Westeros.  We learn that Shea is not all that she seems, but what she is exactly isn’t quite known to us yet.  The revelation of last season, the ambitious Margaery Tyrell, plays both sides of the King’s Landing court.  We see her ingratiate herself to Joffrey in one scene and then demonstrate her disgust with him when she learns from Sansa (still the naïve dupe) his true nature.  As was expected, the Tyrell grandmother, the Queen of Thorns, is a scene-stealer.  If you close your eyes, you can imagine Maggie Smith playing the part.  Like a good villain, an acid-tongued matriarch is perhaps one of the easiest roles to get kudos for, but make no mistake it can still be screwed up, going to hard for the joke or simply too far over the top.  Dame Diana Rigg does a great job and I’m looking forward to seeing more of her.

We are also introduced in a bit of odd timing to the Reed children from the Neck.  I must admit, in the books I don’t particularly like the Bran storyline, though I know some really important stuff is going on within.  I was actually happy that the Reeds hadn’t made it into the television show so at first blanche I was a bit disappointed to seem them.  Even so, Thomas Sangster plays Jojen Reed differently than I visualize him.  While he still is bit of a shaman-like presence to Bran, Sangster brings a bit of dash and humor to the character that GRRM doesn’t quite give him in the novels.

We also catch up with Theon who is in for a long season if the show follows the books.  He is basically the prisoner of the Bolton’s and is going to be a hard story to watch unfold.  Even though I’m well aware of the Hollywood double standard, I still find it hilarious that we can show naked women throughout the series, heaven forbid we show the naughty bits of a male actor, keep the loin cloth handy Theon.

We do get to see a few more characters, with little hints at problems to come as they literally walk across the screen; Robb and his army is unraveling, Arya is independently moving only for about five minutes until she is yet again at the mercy of someone else and Jon Snow is making his way south with the Free Folk.  At some point everyone will stop moving and the stories will really get going, trust me.  I can’t wait.

 

History of the United States Podcast #5

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Hello and Welcome to The History of the United States Podcast, number 5.  This week we talk a little bit about some of the other early explorers from Europe to the Americas.  The major part of the podcast, however, centers on the Protestant Reformation and its reverberations throughout Europe and how that impacts events in the Western Hemisphere.  Enjoy, and let’s hope we get back to a weekly podcast.

Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 1: Good to be Back!

It was good to get back to Westeros tonight.  Like the previous season, it was pretty much a recap and a reintroduction of the major plot lines and characters, forty weeks is a long time to be away after all.  The only characters we didn’t get to see were Bran, Arya and Jamie and I only really care about two of them.

The fallout of the Battle of the Blackwater is the most intriguing story and like any good early episode, questions arise.  First, how is Tyrion going to deal with his loss of station?  We got to see his father treat him like dirt and pretty much refuse all of his ambition regarding the House of Lannister and his sister let him know where he stands in the rest of the court.  Since season one we have seen Tyrion maneuver better than any other character.  It will be a lot of fun to watch how he moves now that so many of his moves have been checked.  Oh, and we got our gratuitous sex scene through the character of Bronn, Tyrion’s rascal of a bodyguard.  Glad the producers are remaining consistent with their use of soft core.

The other character, the other fallen hand of a king that made an appearance was Davos Seaworth.   I understand the constraints of a television show and not being able to show more of his role in the Battle of the Blackwater, but I still wish we could have seen more of the naval battle that Davos was such a big part.  He is found on a rock and looking quite the worst for wear.  A ship that survived the battle finds him and he goes to confront Stannis and more importantly Melisandre.  Unfortunately for Davos, Melisandre holds sway over Stannis and after a brief confrontation he is thrown into the dungeon.  The question being, how does Davos get spared the fate of others who defied Melisandre?  He is such a good character and like Tyrion is a survivor.  Having read the books, I don’t want to spoil much, but I will say I’m interested to see how far we get into his story.

One final part of the Blackwater fallout is the story of Margaery.  It should be a lot of fun to watch her and Cersei engage in a court battle.  It is obvious that Margaery knows how to play the game.  She works the commoners at an orphanage and while it would be nice to think she did it out of the goodness of her heart, no one in George RR Martin’s world does things with purely altruistic motives, at least not those associated with the throne.

We got to see Robb march and Daenerys go to yet another free city.  Things will get more interesting as we go along, but like Davos, I wonder how far we will get.  Probably my favorite moment of the episode came in the Dany portion.  During an assassination attempt on Dany’s life a hooded stranger saves her life.  He is revealed to be the forced out Kings Guard, Barristan Selmy.  We know his reputation as a skilled fighter and he has the feel of an old gunslinger trying to make a mark one last time.

We also got to see a bit of the Night’s Watch and John Snow, but not as much as I thought there would be.  The white walkers are on the move and I hope they treat the march back to the wall like the Anabasis of Xenophon, but with snow and zombies.  As far as John Snow, it will be interesting to see how Mance Rayder is treated in the adaptation.  I found him to be a very likable in the books and so far I don’t have much of a feel for the television character.  Granted, it was a short scene and like so many of the choices of actors in the series they do a great job finding the right person.

Though there wasn’t a lot of action this week, it is great to have Game of Thrones back.  Between this and the return of baseball on the same day, I was kind of confused if this was Easter or Christmas.