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