The Bard of Banefort

Hello, m'lords and ladies. For anyone interested, Fire & Blood was selected as a nominee in the fantasy category for this year's 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards. If you have a Goodreads account (or want to make one now), you can vote here: https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-fantasy-books-2019 I don't know how people here feel about online/fan awards, but I figured I'd share it for anyone who thinks this book is phenomenal, like I do. Cheers

After re-reading the Dance, one of the biggest mistakes from that war was the decision to to arrest the dragonseeds. It alienated Daemon and Corlys from Rhaenyra, and cost her three dragon-riders. I believe that decision sealed her fate.

Exactly. When I first started the show, before I read the books, I kept getting Robb and Theon confused. Judging by the Targs featured on GOT, they're all going to be wearing the same white wig, so it'll be easy to mix them up. It's also pretty common for TV shows to only have one woman per hair color. When there's more than one, there's something else physically differentiating them. Take GOT, which has a huge cast. There are four important red-haired women: Sansa, Cat, Ygritte, and Ros. Sansa is much younger than the others, and Cat is much older. Ygritte and Ros are then contrasted by their vastly different wardrobes, with Ros wearing revealing silk dresses, and Ygritte wearing bulky snow suits. I fully believe the cast and crew will be able to make the characters visually stand apart, I'm just curious as to how they go about it. (I'm also looking forward to the costumes. One thing I liked about season six was that it had a different costume designer). * * * Fire and Blood has plenty of great material for a show, but I also think that there's a lot of great material where George left out. The post-Regency period could make for a really entertaining, chaotic family drama. You start at the end of Aegon III's reign, then carry through Daeron's conquest, Baelor and his sisters, Aegon IV as a Henry VIII-type figure (and judging by all the Tudors' superfans I know, I think that could really sell), and ending during Daeron II's reign, before Dunk and Egg starts. (I also think George could easily release make F&B a trilogy, with this period making up the second volume, but that's another conversation). Viserys II could be portrayed as a cross between Ned and Tywin: the long-suffering patriarch who spends his whole life preventing his family from implosion.

I honestly love the idea of this being an anthology show. There are so many stories to tell, and it would also allow them to possibly sign-on some high profile actors, since they'd only be around for a season or two. It's kind of funny how George suggested buying Rogues and Dangerous Women in addition to Fire and Blood, seeing as F&B has the complete Dance. But hey, royalties, right? ;-) Fire and Blood being a history rather than a traditional novel also gives the showrunners more flexibility. They can make more changes without sacrificing the overall story. The one thing I'm curious about is how they're going to differentiate the characters on a visual level. With the exception of two or three characters, all the Targs look the same. People already had a hard time keeping the GOT characters straight; this time, they won't even be able to use House arms to differentiate them.

So this is likely about Aegon's Conquest, right? It seems weird that they'd be going forward with both this show and the Dance at the same time, since I imagine they're both going to be marketed around the dragons-riding-into-war aspect. Maybe they're going to make two different series pilots, but then only pursue one?

The crazy thing about Bill's son is that that crime was also based on a true story: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/little/readings/crucifixion.html I think we're beginning to see how this line of work really takes a toll on the personal lives of the team. I do feel a lot of sympathy for Bill, and although I understand why his wife left him, I think she should have at least told him she was doing so, even if it was over the phone. She told him repeatedly that she needed help, but at the same time, it's hard to argue against the deaths of 28 children, especially when the only other person qualified to do your job is still recovering from a mental break-down. If anything, I think Bill's big mistake was not being more open with Nancy; as far as we know, she didn't know about what happened to Holden, or the politics going on behind the Atlanta case. Maybe he just didn't want to burden her, but it might have helped save their relationship. I know I'm in the minority, but I actually liked Debbie and missed having her around this season. As for Wendy, while I didn't care much for Kay, I thought Wendy was unreasonably harsh towards her. The woman just wanted to see her son. You don't need to be a mother yourself to understand that. Something that I thought this season did really well was show how so many cases are botched by bureaucracy and not having properly-trained staff (the crosses for the march, not getting permission to hang flyers, the police not bagging the evidence from Williams' car, etc.). I read an interview the other day that John Douglas (the inspiration for Holden) did, and you can see how annoyed he is that the Wichita police weren't able to solve the BTK murders sooner: https://www.vulture.com/2019/09/mindhunter-john-douglas-atlanta-child-murders.html?utm_source=undefined&utm_medium=undefined&utm_campaign=feed-part&fbclid=IwAR32zj_pFhzIAqpRjiuE0XVoxlFQUiNxlOCYDjb31Grydu241HWPFOBLelA#comments

I get your point, but there have been other shows that have managed to consistently tackle troubling topics while also maintaining a degree of humor and levity. Six Feet Under is good example of that.

Even though they finally made the movie, Deadwood will always be a loss. They needed at least one more full season to wrap up the show properly. I recently watched a cancelled CW show from the early 2010s called The Secret Circle, and it was terrible, but terrible in a really amusing kind of way. I feel like they could have just gone completely bonkers for another season or two, and it would have been fun to watch.

Modern Family - "Connection Lost" (6.16) Boy Meets World - "And Then There Was Shawn" (5.17) These are both each show's top-rated episode on IMDb, and they're the episodes that most stick out in my mind. Now time for the hardest question. . . . what's the best episode of The Golden Girls?

I've watched season two twice through now. Honestly, I think I might like the second season more than the first. Such a gripping show. Also, there's an interesting GOT connection as well: the guy who played Henley (the southerner who procured young men for his older mentor/lover, before turning on and killing him) was the same guy who played young Ned in the Tower of Joy flashback.

I guess I should try to finish season two now that season three is coming out. The Deuce has great acting and is very atmospheric, but I don't know. . . I feel like it had so much potential and could have really built up to something more compelling. The show doesn't have much of a plot, and can feel like misery porn sometimes, but I think the biggest problem for me is that I just don't find most of the characters to be particularly likable. Sure, I want to see them achieve their goals and live better lives, but I don't really feel any sort of emotional connection to any of them, which makes it hard for me to stay engaged. The trailers are fun, although they don't reveal much (fun fact: I have a cousin who worked on the editing team for the first season's trailer). It looks like they got rid of Abby's terrible season two wig, although I'm still not sure why she stayed with James Franco for fourteen years. I will be shocked if she hasn't left him by the end of the of the series. Now that I think about it, the friendship between Harvey and Candy might be my favorite part of this show, along with Lori's journey. Even though they're definitely covering the AIDS crisis with Paul, I don't see how it could possibly not affect the sex workers as well. Maybe they just didn't want to reveal too much in the trailer. HBO doesn't seem to promote this show much, and I can't help but wonder if that's because of the many accusations against Franco. They started this show before Weinstein/MeToo, and I'm guessing they couldn't unload him without having to cancel the show entirely. Which is a shame, since I do think that Maggie Gyllenhall, at the very least, deserves more recognition for her work in this series.

I've been re-watching bits and pieces of the first season, and I was surprised by how darkly funny this show is as well. It went over my head the first time through, but there's a lot of dry humor in there. I think they did a really good job at establishing the 70s aesthetic, not just in decor but also in the way the characters behave. There's also something very relevant in the psychology. The reasoning behind why these men become serial killers (a deep-set hatred of women, a response to drastic cultural and political changes, etc.) is something that I think is reflected in the acts of violence we see today.

I'm considering making a post about this, but how exactly did Aemon the Dragonknight survive in that cage in Dorne for so long? We're told that Baelor was in King's Landing when his brother died, which would mean that news would have to travel from Dorne to King's Landing, Baelor would have to make a barefoot trek to Dorne to negotiate with the Martells, then he would have to travel to where Aemon was being held captive. This would presumably take several months. For that period of time, Aemon was being held in a cage over a viper pit in the desert without any clothing. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the Dornish weren't feeding him either. The only reason why I'm asking about this here instead of on the general page is because I'm not sure if this is one of those "don't overthink it" situations where there isn't actually a logical explanation. Did I miss something here?

The first season of Mindhunter was one of the best seasons of television that I've ever watched, and season two is right around the corner. I'm interested in hearing what others have thought of the show so far, and if you're looking forward to what comes next. For those who haven't seen them yet, here are the newest trailers:

We don't know that Viserra didn't mourn Alyssa's death. It's implied that Viserra tried to seduce Baelon right before she was to be sent to White Harbor, which was in in 87 AC. Alyssa had died three years earlier, in 84 AC. I also don't really understand Alysanne's argument that Viserra was scheming to be queen. Aemon was still alive at this point, as was his daughter, Rhaenys. Unless Alysanne thought Viserra was going to kill her brother and niece, then there was no way Viserra was going to be queen (unless George messed up the timeline and intended for Viserra to die after Aemon).