A Flight of Links

Last links of 2012!

- Price crash in Diablo's economy
- Sansa doesn't owe Tyrion shit
- The NASA has made a video-parody of Gangnam style. While there are many parodies out there, I think the intention and execution deserves credit: it's an adaption to the realities of modern communication in the social network era, using pop culture to carry your message. In this case: Science, Lady!
- Best and worst of SciFi this year. 
- A collection of horrible Frank-Miller-panels. Wow, there are many horrible Frank-Miller-panels.
- Race to the Iron Throne has Arya II.
- Yahtzee talks about Far Cry 3 and shooters in general, compared to the military shooter crap floating around. 
- Random in the fandom has a real nice analysis of why Catelyn doesn't like Jon. 
- 6 terrible plans in movies that just sort of work out
- These are the best costumes I've ever seen. At least the cutest.
- A staggering analysis of The Hobbit's themes.
- An old piece of io9, but still interesting, as this one is.
- Alyssa has two pieces on video games and violence following the Newton Massacre.
- A service message for my German readers: Until now I totally missed the existence of WASD, a magazine about gaming. The articles are pure Meta, and they seem very interesting, one example here about games and the depiction of politics.  
- Wertzone reviews FarCry 3.
- A naval expert talks about the differences between the Enterprise aircraft Carrier and the Star Trek variety.  
- The Escapist presents the best Critical Games of 2012. Worth checking out for sure!  
- Moviebob reviews Django Unchained.  
- Woah, found a new site about video games: Rock, Paper, Shotgun.  Really, you need to check it out, if only for this article crying for a meaningful debate about violence in video games or this one containing an interview with the writer of FarCry 3.

Biting the feeding hand

When Sandor Clegane rode on the tourney ground in "A Game of Thrones" Tourney of the Hand, Renly Baratheon and Petyr Baelish make a wager: 100 golden dragons on the winner. Renly calls out, cheeringly, that "the Hound looks hungry today", to which Littlefinger only replies that "he knows better than to bite the hand that feeds him". The result is known: Sandor unhorses Jaime Lannister, and Littlefinger loses the money. Sansa then tells him that she knew it would end that way, and Littlefinger asks her to tell him beforehand next time. This little episode tells us quite a bit about Renly and Littlefinger and their approach on politics. 

Ready to bite.

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 11

Thursday is theory day now. 

This is the eleventh article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 11. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously. 

Assassin's Creed 3 Recap, Part 4: Fighting Templars

In case you wondered why I omit the present-day-storyline around Desmond from my recaps: I will do it in one final part, since it seems to me it would disrupt the flow of these recaps. That being said, let's rejoin Connor on his way to New York. When I played, I encountered a nasty bug, preventing me from entering the city. So, I took my sweet time to explore Boston and the Frontier and to perform some naval missions, something I didn't do later in the storyline. I have the feeling that the game should force you a littlebit more to do these things while playing the main storyline, preferably by making money useful. I did the game without ever buying any new weapon or stuff in the shops, and I only used money  to improve the ship, which didn't seem to have such a great effect at all. It would be cool if you really needed money to solve some plots. 

New York's best days clearly lie ahead.

The Boiled Leather Audio Hour Episode 16!

Book Report: “The Lands of Ice and Fire” and “A Flight of Sorrows”

Christmas is just around the corner, but what do you get the A Song of Ice and Fire fan who has everything? Don’t worry, we’re here for you, as always.

Please consider this your shoppers’ guide to two major A Song of Ice and Fire-related releases from the past couple months or so: The Lands of Ice and Fire, the first-ever collection of officially sanctioned maps of everything in George R.R. Martin’s world as designed by Jonathan Roberts, and A Flight of Sorrows, an ebook collection of essays by contributors to Tower of the Hand (including myself) and A Podcast of Ice and Fire. Are they worth stuffing your ASoIaF-nerd loved one’s stocking with? Listen and find out!

Mirror here.
Previous episodes here.
Podcast RSS feed here.
iTunes page here.
Home blog here.

A Flight of Links

- Valve plans to produce a plug&play Gaming PC for the living room. It would run on Linux/Steam, so it'll be another (logical) step into the world of secluded platforms.
- Prepare for the Iron Baby!
- Humor and realism don't mix, says Yahtzee.
- Taylor Marvin wrote about sexual harassment in Westeros, inspired by our latest podcast. Thanks!
- The German newspaper FAZ has an interview with George R. R. Martin and a portrait. If you don't speak German, you might want to try Google Translate, since they have a nice and interesting approach on the topic.
- Race to the Iron Throne has another great essay about the Hands of the King, this time for Tyrion.
- Ohio University thinks they found evidence of long-term effects on playing violent video games. I remain sceptical, since these studies are in really arbitrary conditions, but there could be some fruitful follow-up for this.
- Supergirl, Part III. Man, I'm so glad I'm not a comic fan like that.
-  Sean T. Collins gives you a breakdown of the 13 most important things you need to know about the Hobbit.
- MovieBob, io9, Ramble On, ScreenRant and the Wertzone review The Hobbit. Everyone has their unique take on the subject, and especially Ramble On's review may be interesting for regular listeners of BLAH.
- Did you know there were female pilots in Star Wars? Apparantly, they were cut.
- And Race's next chapter analysis is out, Tyrion III this time.  
- Two good pieces of ASOIAF meta (here and here) and two really great ones (here and here). Check them out, seriously!
- MovieBob looks at the Man of Steel Trailer. ScreenRant does the same.
 - The merits and flaws of 48fps.
- Some information on Pacific Rim. 

Pic: The Stark Family

Assassin's Creed 3 Recap, Part 3: The Road to Lexington

After finally getting the business started in the Boston Massacre and learning the ways of the city by courtesy of the tutoring of Samuel Adams, we return home to the wise sage(tm) and ask ourselves what the hell just happened. So, the Templars started the American Revolution. Why? It's not clear, at least not yet, but we can hope that they will provide some answer in the future. One thing is certain: Samuel Adams, who is perhaps most responsible for the escalation in the true version of history, is on our side. The problem is, I don't know why. Really, I don't know. He just popped out of nowhere and explained Boston to a halfblood. 

And involves him on a high level in the conspiracy to create the USA.

Assassin's Creed 3 Recap, Part 2: Connor's Training

After having examined the prologue, in which Haytham Kenway lays the groundwork for the templar's organisation in America, we get to know our real protagonist, Connor. In a voiceover of his mother, we are informed that the Indians, kind and trusting people they are, took Connor in with no problems at all, ignoring his half-blood heritage and loving him as one of their one. This leaves me with a bad feeling in the stomach, because this romantization of the native Indians should be a thing of the past. It's just benevolent racism to paint them as nature's children, taking no more than they need and living in harmony, yadda yadda. In case you didn't get the point, the soundtrack spells it out for you, constantly displaying an Indian chant in the background that soon tires and never stops. 

In exchange you get breathtaking scenery.

The Boiled Leather Audio Hour Episode 15!

Women of Westeros, Part II: Brienne & Asha

WARRIOR WOMEN OF WESTEROS IN HOT SWORD-ON-SWORD ACTION! Haha j/k
LOL.

Sean and I proudly present the second installment in our intermittent series of episodes focusing on female characters. Our leading ladies today: Brienne of Tarth and Asha Greyjoy. The similarities are obvious, and the juxtaposition instructive, I think. We look at their attitudes toward violence and war, sexuality, gender, and their “careers,” to use an anachronistic term; the way their societies and their circle of acquaintances have shaped their lives; their resonance with the mindsets of modern readers; and much more. We also take some detours into Jaime Lannister and Victarion Greyjoy, always a good time. And be sure to listen until the very end, when we answer the only question that really matters. You’ll see.

By the way, I think our audio issues have been resolved. We’re not going to win a technical Grammy or anything, but you should no longer want to rip your headphones out and throw them across the room, either. Let us know!

Mirror here.
Previous episodes here.
Podcast RSS feed here.
iTunes page here.
Home blog here.

A Flight of Links

- MovieBob talks about the upcoming Justice League movie.
- Blizzard registred a very conspicious new domain. 
 - Ron Gilbert would like to have Monkey Island back, but it's firmly in Disney's hands now (read: corporate evil).
- What The Walking Dead tell us about the War on Terror.  
- MovieBob talking Man of Steel again. I love the idea he has.
- The Escapist talks about the new information on season 3 of Game of Thrones.
- Alyssa thinks we need a pause from violence and series, but I wouldn't agree.
- A very insightful look into the depiction of apocalypse in popculture.
- Yathzee talks about Black Ops 2 again, calling it the noveau rich of video games. Interesting comparison.
- Supergirl, Part 2.
- Sean T. Collins about the finale of Boardwalk Empire Season 3.
- Time does the same, and has a very personal look into the series.
- The Escapist has a review of the overhauled Baldur's Gate. Never was into the game much, but if you were, have a look!
- Sean T. Collins reviews "The Lands of Ice and Fire". 
- More on the question of violence in TV. 
- 8 ways the X-Men movies fucked up continuity. I don't think any of these points matters at all, by the way. 
- A frame-by-frame analysis of the Star Trek Trailer.
- Concept art of The Dark Knight. 
- A collection of scripts that almost became movies but luckily got shelved. 

Pic: Batman is cool

Pic: Read the booooooks!

Homecoming

If you don't know what Gangnam style is by now, you're most likely living under a rock or another planet entirely. The song, and more so the video, from artist Psy from South Korea has become a popcultural phenomenon that's almost unrivaled in its scale. If somebody told you that a silly hip-hop-song from South Korea, in South Korean, would become a major hit and the slightly chubby performer an international celibrity dwarfing most contemporary pop-stars before it started, you would have declared the guy nuts, and rightly so. 

This guy.

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 10

Thursday is theory day now. 

This is the tenth article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 10. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously. 

Thoughts on Homeland's first season

Spoilers for the first season of Homeland.

I finally caught up with Homeland, having watched the season one finale. Since there was much fuzz about it, I thought I couldn't be left out of the loop. And while it was a fun ride and gave me some hours of guilty pleasure, I'm not entirely sure why. Yes, the show had suspense and tension, and the characters were unusually strong for this kind of series (compare it with Prison Break and you know what I mean). But would it pass my unfailing test of "Is this series any good?"? Hardly. The test, by the way, is answering the simple question: would I watch it again? I have watched all good series at least two times or intend to do so. I have no desire to do so with Homeland whatsoever. 

Good premise, to be sure.

The Walking Dead, Season 3, Episode 8 "Made to suffer" Recap

Woah, that was a rollercoaster ride of a season! It started with something of a cold opener, introducing us to yet another group of survivors. For one moment I thought a reunion with the father and his son from the very first episode was coming for us, but after a few moments I have to sense the error of my ways. New characters, entering the prison. That's going to be interesting. We won't see them for a while, though, as the show carefully centers around the action we're waiting to resolve. 

Meet the new guy

A Flight of Links

- 7 plot holes you didn't notice due to editing. 
- io9 has the eleven characters most unlikely to win the Iron Throne.
- Sean T. Collins rants against Breaking Dawn part 2.  
- And he praises Boardwalk Empire's latest episode.
- An insightful critique of Boardwalk Empire's second season and its style in general.
- Yahtzee reviews Black Ops II, which seems every bit as bad as I expected, and hilariouly keeps calling it Blops.
- MovieBob gives us the first installement of a series about Supergirl.
- Yahtzee again, on naming sequels.
- io9 has cliffhangers that would have been great season finales.
- Race's "Eddard IV" will blow your head. Great analysis and much stuff for future discussion.
- Nerd is a universal language, finds Greg Tito, which, as you might remember, is the founding premise of this blog.
- Three posts about ASOIAF: Why HBO!Catelyn is so bad (not a view I necessarily share), In defense of Lysa, and an insightful look at Sansa and the Game of Thrones.
- MovieBob talks what the Justice League movie needs to do.  
- Wow, Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified really seems to suck. Seriously, what did you expect with the title and concept? It's a shame to see how short so many video games still fall of delivering a meaningful experience.
- ZombieU seems to be able to get a certain level of immersion in the beginning of the game, but the horror aspect losing to tension and rinse-repeat-patterns is not exactly a new problem. It's a shame.
- FarCry3 seems to be really good.

Pic: Badass Ninja Turtles

Pic: Pulling a Shane

Pic: ABC of character deaths in ASOIAF

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 9

Thursday is theory day now. 

This is the ninth article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 9. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously.

The Walking Dead, Season 3, Episode 7 "When the Dead come knocking" Recap

Poor, poor Glenn. He just gets beaten the shit out of him, but to see the once so reckless runner stand through it so tough is worthy some cheers. We get a little remainder on just what a fucking, disgusting asshole Merle really is. A bully if there ever was one. But Glenn suffered through all of the beating, while Maggie, seperated only by a thin tin wall, heard everything that went on and was forced to use her imagination to paint a picture of what was happening exactly. That placement of hers surely wasn't accidental. 

Because nothing shows you're a nice guy more than threatening to cut noses off.

Assassin's Creed 3 Recap, Part 1: The Prologue

I have waited quite some time for Assassin's Creed 3. I like the series very much, despite its flaws in gameplay, because it takes an approach to storytelling that isn't seen very often, providing not only an engaging narrative, but also themes that are worth exploring. Compare it to the Modern Warfare series and you know what I mean: on the one hand, meaningless hurrah-bravado to underline the badassery of what passes as characters, tied together by an awfully constructed plot designed only to tie the sceneries together in which you shoot at generic bad guys. Assassin's Creed tries to give meaning to its story, exploring the old "freedom vs. security" theme in a surprisingly deep way. Of course, one needs to bear in mind that it's still a video game that needs to apply to a certain demographic and not a playable civic lesson, so there are limits. In this article series I will comment on the narrative of Assassin's Creed 3 as I play along. I will write these essays without knowledge of what comes next, so please refrain from spoilers in the comments and try to stick with the present state of the narrative. 

Read my lips: no spoilers!

A Flight of Links

- Race to the Iron Throne gives us Jon III. 
- Yahtzee complains about the story of Assassin's Creed 3. More on that later.
- Moviebob talks about movie release dates and how awesome he is.
- Gaming made me: Fallout 2

Pic: The Name of Thrones

Pic: Davos' Battle Plans

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 8

Thursday is theory day now. 

This is the eight article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 8. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously. 

The Walking Dead, Season 3, Episode 6 "Hounded" Recap

Things are speeding up. After we got the new status quo set up in the previous episodes - Andrea in Woodbury, introducing us to the Governor, and the gang in the prison, minus some old and plus some new members - things are heading toward the inevitable confrontation between the group and the Governor. The focus of this episode was on Rick's state of mind, thankfully going back to normal, and on Michonne/Andrea. Since both storylines still are largely independent from each other, let's talk the prison first. 

There and back again

A Flight of Links

- Blizzard announced StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, and Werthead is enraged by the price policy.
- Get rid of the dang arrows, Yahtzee demands.
- MovieBob talks about Disney and Star Wars.
- Paradox produces Europa Universalis 4 and an combat-oriented offshot. Although heavily bugged almost per default, I like their games. They are really different.
- Wind of Winter release asks if all open plots can be closed within two books and lists them. I'd say yes, without a problem. Most of them could even be wrapped up in Winds of Winter alone.
- 9 Reasons to be grateful for Twilight. 
- Early draft of "Prometheus" was leakes. io9 has the changes summed up, which is pretty interesting.
- I got the link to this extensive look into space combat after my article. I understand only half the techno-babble, but  that guy has a better grasp on the physiques than I do for sure!
- The first Podcast to Flight of Sorrows is up!
-  Venture Village has the first part of being German in 20 steps, which is as hillarious as it's true.
- Tom Hiddleston (Loki in Thor and Avengers) would like to be in the new Star Wars. Good news, everyone!
- I'm excited about the new Star Trek for a number of reasons (being a Trekkie not among them, since I'm not), and Benedict Cumberbatch surely is one.
- The six most brutal murders conducted by Batman.

Pic: ASOIAF Children's book

Pic: Lannister/Snow-Ticket

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 7

Thursday is theory day now. 

This is the seventh article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 7. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously. 

Random thoughts on space combat

It is always interesting to see how science-fiction-franchises depict space combat. In the end, it has to provide something familiar to viewers so they can connect, cope with the special challenges the nature of space provides and do something interesting with it. Let's give you two examples for this. Star Wars essentially went for the approach of recreating World-War-II dog-fights. Space combat is almost exclusively restricted to fighters (X-Wing, Tie-Fighter, etc.) and bombers (the Millenium Falcon). There are big battle ships like the Star Destroyers, but we seldom see them fight. Their primary use is as targets for the fighters and bombers. Wing Commander, on the other hand, does the exact opposite. They recreate naval warfare, relying heavily on nautical terms for "destroyers", "frigates" and "carriers". The battles between the big ships resemble the big man-of-wars of the 18th and 19th century engaging in broadsides, while the carriers start fighters and bombers that engage conflict in eerie resemblance to the aircraft carriers of World War II. 

See? Blends right in.

The Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 5 "Say the Word" Recap

Woah. They turned up the gore and violence, for sure. After the last episode, "Killer within", we just continue this way and see Terminator Rick dismember the zombies some more. But let's go through this step by step. The episode picked off just where we left the last time: Rick crushed on the floor in agony, Carl with a baby in his arms, Michonne and Andrea still at grips over whether to leave or to stay. The first reaction of the gang in the prison is one we can all relate to: after something so devestating, take your mind off it and do something useful. 

Not an option he enjoys.

A Flight of Links

- Wired has "Top 10 Fictional Characters We’d Like as U.S. President". I'm for Edmure on spot #9.
- MovieBob talks straight about the alleged racism in "Cloud Atlas".
- This article is so good - Butterfly's problem with Rhaegar.
- Cracked has 5 Awesome Movie Roptots with Inexplicable Design Flaws. 
- I feel this prediction is worth linking.
- Lincoln seems to be pretty good.
- Alyssa has a more balanced and detailled review. 
 - Skyfall too. Not sure whether I should be happy by a return to the "old Bond style", since I actually loved the grim, more grounded Bond of the last two movies.
- Race to the Iron Throne has an almost ridiculously well written and thoughtful analysis about Varys and Littlefinger.
- When TV characters should kiss.
 - Ridley Scott is to produce six small-budget-genre-movies.
- Alyssa talks about Arrow's unique treatment of superhero trauma.

Pic: Arya costume

This is so evil.

Pic: Eye of the Tiger

Via Memecenter

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 6

Thursday is theory day now. 

This is the fourth article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 6. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously. 

The Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 2 "Sick" Recap

Episode 1 left us with a big cliffhanger after the emergency amputation of Hershel's leg. Episode 2 picks up exactly where the first one left and leaves Rick, Glenn, Daryl and Maggie at gunpoint with some inmates of the prison who clearly can't believe what they just saw. There's not much time for chit-chat, however, as Rick commands Hershel to be brought back immediately before he bleeds out. The inmates, of course, follow them. They are more afraid of the group than the group is of them. That's a clear sign how times have changed; in season 2, guys like these would have scared the shit out of Rick and the others. Now, they are more a nuisance. 

Can't really take them seriously.

The Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 4 "Killer Within" Recap

Woah, that was an episode tonight. I haven't seen such sadness since the fourth season of "Mad Men", and if you think that comparison is off, brace yourselfs for this episode, because "Killer within" really delivers on the promise in three ways and really is the motif of this episode. Unlike the previous two episodes, we get both character arcs this time around: the Andrea/Michonne/Merle/Governor-square and the gang in the prison. I'm not quite sure whether this works out so well, because the Woodbury-parts drag on and don't reveal anything new. Yeah, Merle wants to search Daryll, big surprose, who didn't see that one coming? Andrea still falls in love with every abusive nazi she happens to find, the Governor has a crush on her and Mishonne walks around, swaggering hips, looking badass and raising concerns without doing anything because she loves Andrea. It feels like we didn't really need these parts, but perhaps we get a payoff in episode 5. 

Honestly, Andrea, your taste in men sucks.

A Flight of Links

- A reader hinted at this article at Overthinker, debating the economics of Star Wars. I'm always a bit reluctant to put too much thought into Star Wars. It's very important to pop culture, sure, but Lucas didn't think past his own nose when he created it, so overthinking it always makes stuff up out of thin air.
- David Graeber, author of the notorious and highly recommendable book "Debt", wrote about super heroes and the constitutency of power, thus affirming my initial post that pop culture is creeping into mainstream more and more.
- Just found a site with extensive reviews and information on TV (and fashion and celebrities, if you're interested in this stuff). I'd bookmark it for your favorite series if I were you.
- Alyssa poses a great question: where do governments go in all these post-apocalyptic stories?  
- Yahtzee talks about where Dishonered falls short in terms of ambience.  
- Yet another example that "classic" literature doesn't appeal universally.
- At Alyssa's there's a discussion about the meaning of freedom in Cloud Atlas.
- Alyssa, again, talking about what Episode VII could be about.
- Every movie sporting color-coded Ninjas in it gets a chance.  
- The guys from "Assassin's Creed meets Parcour" did another video, themed for Assassin's Creed 3 this time.

Pic: USS Harry Truman

This German guy really built the USS Harry Truman from Lego bricks. You have to admire the dedication. I would have loved that thing as a child. Never'd find the patience to build it, though. Now I wanna know what's inside and how the parts work. See here for more details.

The Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 1 "Seed" Recap

The second season of "The Walking Dead" was not as good as the first one, that is a common sentiment. There's a lot of hatred out there for it, especially since the characters tend to do pretty stupid stuff all the time eating up a lot of the time, but I for one didn't regard it as such an utter failure as many others. But whoever wasn't happy with how things got in season 2 should be more than happy with the first episode of the newly launched season 3, in which the show throws in an entirely different gear. We meet the group after their flight from the herde in the last episode of season 2 still on the run, visibly more professional than before. They routinely kill off walkers and are tougher than ever, but also gaunt and haunted, weary and worn down. From their dialogue we learn that there is a seven-month-gap between season 2 and season 3, but other than that they survived the winter, we don't know much. 

Would you have imagined here doing something useful for a change? Welcome to season 3.

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 5

Thursday is theory day now. 

This is the fourth article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right. 

Prepare for part 4. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously.

The Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 3 "Walk with me" Recap

After last week's episode showed us the fairing of the Ricktatorship in detail, this week's episode of The Walking Dead returns to Michonne and Andrea. Both were more or less only hinted at in the first episode "Seeds" and get a whole episode dedicated to their story. Oh, and the Governor appears, but we'll save that for later. The episode starts with a helicopter crash of some soldiers, and until Michonne and Andrea spot the smoke from the crash site it's not exactly clear whether it's a flashback or not. It's noteworthy that we still don't know what the story behind the two walkers Michonne's carrying on a chain is, nor who exactly she is and why she carries a samurai sword. Seems like many of that is left for later.

Chicks get dangerous when equipped with swords.

Review: X-COM: Enemy Unknown

When you were old enough to play video games back in 1994, you may or may not have played "UFO: Alien Invasion" or "UFO: Enemy Unknown" (depends on where you live, first name was the US release, second one the international one). This game send you into squad-based combat against an alien invasion. Between missions, you expanded your bases, researched technology and produces better weapons to increase your chances in the missions. And oh boy, was that necessary. The game was brutally hard, and if you ever survived it, you really accomplished something. The game spawned a series of sequels, but then the franchise lay dead in the water and survived several remake attempts until about a week ago "X-COM: Enemy Unknown" hit the shelves. So, is it any good you might ask? I will answer the question after the break, but first look at this screenshot from the original UFO game: 

This passed as state-of-the-art graphics back in the day. Look at my work, ye mighty, and despair.

A Flight of Links

- Some design student produced a CDC-kit for the event of a zombie apocalypse.
- A very well thought-out article on the Escapist concerns "The Burden of Lore" and how world building affects later products of a franchise.
- Zero Punctation knows it's about the characters, stupid!
- Blizzard planned a Space Diablo at some point but scrapped it.
- Steven Attewell gives us a brillant analysis of the handships of Eddard Stark and Jon Arryn.
- MovieBob talks about the strange tattoo on the Mandarin's neck depicted in the Iron Man 3 trailer and throws some theories around.
- There's a featurette for Cloud Atlas on Youtube about the different roles the actors had to play. I'm very excited for this movie, since I read the book and want to know how they pulled it off, especially my favorite chapters. Alyssa has a review for the movie, by the way.
- io9 has news about the Maps of Ice and Fire.
- How Germany would vote. Real poll done here by a huge tv station.
- Thought catalogue examines ASOIAF characters for their marital material-ness and tells you who you are based on your favorite character.
- "Overthinking it", a site I hadn't known before and which I linked in the sitebar, has a very nice essay about Martin's repetition of words in "A Dance with Dragons". Also check out this and this and got searching for yourself.
- This must be the weirdest and funniest political ad by a Hollywood celebrity I saw up to date: Joss Whedon endorses Mitt Romney. 

Pic: Dragon Eggs

(Source: the-clash-at-demonhead, via sharing-is-for-communists)

Pic: Gormless face

 

via Memecenter

The magic of "Speed Racer"

A list on io9 praising the movie "Speed Racer" brought some memories back, and I decided to write an article about it. Which you just started about reading. So, let's hook you a bit with a personal story after this dreary introduction. I remember that when I went to the cinema into some movie (I don't remember which), the trailer for "Speed Racer" went over the screen, and it just was a slug-fest of weirdness. The bright colors, the style, the ambience, and you didn't know what it was about after it was over. I had never heard of the franchise before. My then-girlfriend and today's wife didn't like the trailer, and so I forgot about it, although I found it interesting. Then, sometime later - two or three years - I found the DVD for a ridiculoulsy low price, something around four or five Euro. I picked it up and put it on the shelf and only watched it out of boredom about half a year later. I have rewatched it at least three times since. 

They guy is, in all seriousness, called "Speed", surname "Racer".

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 4

Thursday is theory day now. 

This is the fourth article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right. 

Prepare for part 4. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously. 

Blogging timetable

Just so you know what my rationale for posting what I post when I post is: I made up a timetable for me, sorted thematically, and I intend to keep it. Should a day pass without a post, I have nothing in this category at the moment, or no time. That being out of the way, look at it: 

Monday: 

A Flight of Links. It collects whatever I found interesting, but not worth devoting an entire article to in the course of the week. 

Tuesday: 

Essay. Can be anything. 

Wednesday: 

Essay. Can be anything. 

Thursday: 

A Song if Ice and Fire theories. I will post three theories and my stance on it. Feed me input to direct what I will be talking about. 

Friday: 

Video. If I have any notable videos, I will post them Fridays. 

Saturday: 

Funny pic. 

Sunday: 

Funny pic. 

Now that you know all that, keep checking in and returning to the blog. Just keep in mind that I am GMT+1, so this will affect my blogging times. You can also follow me on Twitter (@StefanSasse), where a bot creates an automated tweet each time I update Nerdstream.

Looking into the mirror, seeing Mad Men

"Mad Men", for those of you who happened to live under a rock for these past years, is a series by AMC depicting the life (or lack thereof) of Don Draper, an advertising agent in 1960 (as of season 1). Working for a small advertisement agency, he encounters challenges in business (i.e. tough campaigns), in relationships (i.e. with his wife) or with himself (trying to find meaning). The series is notorious for having the characters drink and smoke a lot. Plus, the men mistreat their women all the time, forcing them into secondary jobs or into being house-wifes. Now, all that doesn't sound exciting at all if you write it down like this, but the series is compelling, and its ongoing success is the best proof of this. But why is this? Surely it's not just for the manly charme of Jon Hamm in his depiction of Don Draper, bringing back the macho man from long forgotten pasts. 

But if, who could blame them?

A Flight of Links

- MovieBob has some speculation on the upcoming Ant-Man movie and Marvel's route in general.
- Cracked brings you 6 insane stereotypes of movies that need to be stopped, but I'm not sure about all of them. They need to stop bloating adjectives like that, to be sure.
- Middle Earth gender breakdown.  
- MovieBob again, this time with information about the planned Justic League movie and some speculation on it.
- Race for the Iron Throne grants us Eddard III.
- The Vulture has a very well written bio about Elio and Linda. 
- I'd rather go with the Swedish Supreme Court than with Missouri here in depicting whether or not Mangas can constitute child pornography. 
- New research suggests that teenagers get sleep disruption from playing action games before going to bed.
- MovieBob explores the advantages of remaking Star Wars, and it's actually quite interesting.
- Homosexuality leads to ducks taking over the world. Seriously.  
- io9 explains why electing supervillains beats Obama and Romney.
- Sean T. Collins did an interview with the Walking Dead creator. 

Pic: Last Supper

Pic: Bitch King

When Gordon meets Chell

Awesome!

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 3

Thursday is theory day now.  

This is the third article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right. 

Prepare for part 3. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously. 

Looking past "A Storm of Swords"

Warning: Contains spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire" books and HBO episodes. 

By now we know that HBO has decided to split "A Storm of Swords" for the filming of season three and four, since the novel is just too large to cover in ten episodes. Several interesting questions about the future of our favorite "A Song of Ice and Fire" TV adaption arise from this anouncement, especially since it has become clear that the split of "A Storm of Swords" won't arise roughly in the middle of the text, but rather at about two-thirds. The third season will, therefore, clearly incorporate the Red Wedding. I don't want to delve too deep into the question where exactly the split will be, since Winter is Coming does this satisfactory, but rather guess a bit in which direction the series will develop. It should have become sufficiently clear to everybody by now that we can't expect a 1:1 conversion of the books to the small screen, a thing that I continue to argue is good. So, where do the big issues lay?

Why, here, of course.

A travesty of justice

Warning: Contains heavy spoilers for the third season of Battlestar Galactica.

When the second Exodus was over and the people rescued from Cylon occupation on New Caprica, then-president Tom Zarek performed the most idiotic of all moves by Executive Order: he legitimized the founding of a Circle of six men and women to try and judge the most notable collaborators of the occupation era. The Circle, as it was called proofing a sense of sincere sincerity, used evidence - witness reports and some looted documents, mostly - to judge the collaborators in question. They met in secrecy. The trial could have only two outcomes: death warrant or release. Guess which one was more likely. After the verdict was passed, the culprit was beaten up, taken into an airlock and got a chance to have his or her say before being flushed into space. No one was ever to hear of the culprits fate as to prevent civil war, and the Circle had only three days to conclude as many trials as they could. Gee, what could possibly go wrong? 

Around his neck: the Medal of Dumbassery, First Class

A Flight of Links

Monday is link-day, as usual!

- You wouldn't believe this, but Race for the Iron Throne is back for Sansa I.
-  Cracked has a list of the six most mind-blowing and pointless achievements in video games, and believe me, they're mindnumbling pointless.
- Remember UFO:Enemy unknown? The Escapist reviews the remake.
- You won't believe this until you saw it: the Ohio State University Marching Band performs a giant dedication to video games in the halftime of the football game. I can't make out all figures, so if you want to help, comment ahead! Space Invaders, Tetris, Mario, Halo and Pacman are clear, but the rest?
- Apparently, they're doing a new Die Hard movie...with Bruce Willis...yeah...after the total disaster that was part four, this one can only get better.
- The most obvious difference between North and South Korea is, of course, StarCraft, courtesy by the Oatmeal.
- The Escapist interviews the makers behind the remake of Tomb Raider. They talk much about storytelling in video games, which is a big topic of mine, so expect some larger post about this in the future. Watching the trailers, what I find really annoying is the high-pitched moaning whenever she gets hurt, and she gets hurt a lot. But the game really looks interesting. They already have a review of the first demo, and it sounds pretty good.
- Several prominent people made an ad for women reproductive rights, includig Kevin Bacon. Ads like this are a strange sight for me all the time since celebrities don't get involved into politics here like this.
- Alyssa talks about women in "Dredd" and really makes me wanting to see the movie.
- 8 movies made possible by extremely incompetent characters
- One does not simply warg into Hodor, says Butterfly, and rightly so. I linked the site in the sidebar permanently, so check it out!
- Same goes for "Kings have no friends". I'm just starting to read the damn pages this tumblr already has, but this post got my attention for sure. Reading along, I also recommend this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this and FUCK I DID THE WHOLE BLOG IN ONE EVENING. I don`t necessarily agree with all of it, but it's sure worth the read.
- PBS takes on the idea that playing D&D can enhance your success in real life. To drive the point home, a personal story: friend of mine works at Boston Consulting, and when he applied there, he listed playing an especially epic campaign in our P&P in his vita. His interviewer played the same game, and they chatted along nicely about it and the campaign during the interview. Needless to say, he got the job.
- Alyssa talks about the real problem with Pokémon and animal abuse in light of a new PETA campaign.
- Alyssa, again, talks about casting women for action roles that match the physical requirements, citing Katee Sackhoff in BSG as a great example, which I wholeheartidly support.
- Yet again a political ad with celebrities, this time for bipartisanship and not "letting politics divide us", courtesy by Sean Penn and Kid Rock. It gathered some hate at MovieBob`s, but I'm not exactly sure for what. I found it rather entertaining.
- Very useful: 5 weapon myths you probably believe thanks to movies

Pic: H&M Winter Is Coming Edition

Pic: The Hound's car broke down

Oh my god, this is so evil:

Violence, sex and censorship in media

Most countries have censorship to protect their youth in one form or the other. Most likely young adults find their access to some products of the entertaintment industry somewhat limited because age restrictions have been put in effect, preventing them from entering the cinema or buying something controversial. As a rule of thumb, America censores for sex, and Europe censores for violence. You can shoot someone to bloody pieces in the US and still get it at age 13, but let one character say "fuck" at some point, and the game's rated "R" with a warning label (I'm exaggerating). In Europe, it's the other way around. You may swear and hint at sex (or be rather specific about it), but show a drop of blood, and the game is off the shelves (exaggerating again). Now, in Germany, everything is done just a littlebit more thorough. This does not only include fighting wars or controlling speed limits, but also the censorship to protect the youth. Since censorship had something of a bad taste after World War II (the Nazis and all), the government tried not to make any laws and to let the industry sort it out themselves. That worked pretty well, since they founded their own organisations, much like the American Comic Code Authority. The FSK and USK (Voluntary/Independent Self Control, respectively) test games and movies and rate them for audiences, and everyone needs to comply with that. 

For example, this logo tells you that only adults may buy the stuff in question. Comes in red, for better recognition.