Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 38

Thursday is court day! 

Welcome to the Supreme Court of Westeros! Every week, three pressing questions from the community will be answered by the esteemed judges Stefan (from your very own Nerdstream Era) and Amin (from A Podcast of Ice and Fire). The rules are simple: we take three questions, and one of us writes a measured analysis. The other one writes a shorter opinion, either concurring or dissenting. The catch is that every week a third judge from the fandom will join us and also write a dissenting or concurring opinion. So if you think you're up to the task - write us an email to stefan_sasse@gmx.de, leave a comment in the post, ask in the APOIAF-forum or contact Amin at his tumblr. Discussion is by no means limited to the court itself, though - feel free to discuss our rulings in the commentary section and ask your own questions through the channels above.

One word on spoilers: we assume that you read all the books, including the Hedge Knight short stories, and watched the current TV episodes. We don't include the spoiler chapters from various sources in the discussion, with the notable exception of Theon I, which was supposed to be in "A Dance with Dragons" anyway.

And now, up to ruling 38 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Jim McGeehin, a contributing writer to The War and Politics of Ice and Fire and regular essayist for the Tower of the Hand.

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 37

Thursday is court day! 

Welcome to the Supreme Court of Westeros! Every week, three pressing questions from the community will be answered by the esteemed judges Stefan (from your very own Nerdstream Era) and Amin (from A Podcast of Ice and Fire). The rules are simple: we take three questions, and one of us writes a measured analysis. The other one writes a shorter opinion, either concurring or dissenting. The catch is that every week a third judge from the fandom will join us and also write a dissenting or concurring opinion. So if you think you're up to the task - write us an email to stefan_sasse@gmx.de, leave a comment in the post, ask in the APOIAF-forum or contact Amin at his tumblr. Discussion is by no means limited to the court itself, though - feel free to discuss our rulings in the commentary section and ask your own questions through the channels above.

One word on spoilers: we assume that you read all the books, including the Hedge Knight short stories, and watched the current TV episodes. We don't include the spoiler chapters from various sources in the discussion, with the notable exception of Theon I, which was supposed to be in "A Dance with Dragons" anyway.

And now, up to ruling 37 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is David Getty, who runs his own Game of Thrones inspired site A Game of Thrones Guide.  You can also follow him on Twitter.

A Flight of Links

- The Fall of Kevin Smith part II
- Lazy storytelling in military war games
- Power Rangers gets its own movie
- Speculation about Planet of the Apes 3
- Shovel Knight review
- Fighting Fookin' Legends
- How EA made Dungeon Keeper a fiasco
- How long would Batman last in the real world? 
- I'm sorry for coining the phrase Manic Pixie Dream Girl
- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert cosplay Star Wars for charity
- Two reviews for The Purge: Anarchy
- Two actors who kept their characters alive. Shatner is hilarious
- Middle East Friendship Chart

Boiled Leather Audio Hour 33

We Want the Dunk: Discussing the Tales of Dunk and Egg

Ser Duncan the Tall gets his turn in the spotlight in an episode nearly as big as the man himself! At long last, Sean and I turn our attention to “The Hedge Knight,” “The Sworn Sword,” and “The Mystery Knight,” the three (and counting) A Song of Ice and Fire prequel novellas starring the inexperienced young hedge knight also known as Dunk the Lunk and his precocious, princely squire Egg. Taken together, these stories contain some of George R.R. Martin’s best writing — and his most tonally varied, too. Sean and I go deep into the secret-strewn stories of Dunk and Egg themselves, the politics of the Blackfyre Rebellion and the aftermath that overshadows the stories’ events, the genre-pastiche elements of each story, the chemistry between the characters, our favorite and least favorite installments of the series, and what it takes to be “a true knight.” It makes for an episode thick as a castle wall, and, we hope, entertaining as a Dornish puppet show. See you at the lists!

Mirror here.
Previous episodes here.
Podcast RSS feed here.
iTunes page here.
Sean’s blog here.
Stefan’s blog here.

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 36

Thursday is court day! 

Welcome to the Supreme Court of Westeros! Every week, three pressing questions from the community will be answered by the esteemed judges Stefan (from your very own Nerdstream Era) and Amin (from A Podcast of Ice and Fire). The rules are simple: we take three questions, and one of us writes a measured analysis. The other one writes a shorter opinion, either concurring or dissenting. The catch is that every week a third judge from the fandom will join us and also write a dissenting or concurring opinion. So if you think you're up to the task - write us an email to stefan_sasse@gmx.de, leave a comment in the post, ask in the APOIAF-forum or contact Amin at his tumblr. Discussion is by no means limited to the court itself, though - feel free to discuss our rulings in the commentary section and ask your own questions through the channels above.

One word on spoilers: we assume that you read all the books, including the Hedge Knight short stories, and watched the current TV episodes. We don't include the spoiler chapters from various sources in the discussion, with the notable exception of Theon I, which was supposed to be in "A Dance with Dragons" anyway.

And now, up to ruling 36 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Greg, a member of the Podcast of Ice and Fire forums (claudiusthefool on the forums) and a podcaster with the Vassals of Kingsgrave (VOK Book Club discussion on Neil Gaimain's "Ocean at the End of the Lane" is his next project). He is a bookseller and spends a lot of time at work trying to convince customers who say "I don't like fantasy books" to give ASOIAF a try and they usually thank him for it.

A Flight of Links

- Race of the Iron Throne rereads Davos I
- The Fall of Kevin Smith 
- New Guardians of the Galaxy trailer. I have the feeling I saw the complete movie by now.
- Zack Snyder being dumb
- Watch these Youtube movies
-Yahtzee reviews Valiant Hearts
- MovieBob reviews Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Wot I think: Wolf among us 5
-  Earth to Echo review
- Movie Defense Force: World War Z. Sorry, but the movie also doesn't work as a movie. I never read the novel and I don't really like the damn thing.
- Disregard weapons, acquire tools
- If you're going to hate a video game company, do it for the right reasons
- The Video Game Industry is Going Through Very Awkward Growing Pains
- Review of the D&D starter set
- HBO being evasive
- Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack
- Let me gently point you to these three blogspost. 

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 35

Thursday is court day! 

Welcome to the Supreme Court of Westeros! Every week, three pressing questions from the community will be answered by the esteemed judges Stefan (from your very own Nerdstream Era) and Amin (from A Podcast of Ice and Fire). The rules are simple: we take three questions, and one of us writes a measured analysis. The other one writes a shorter opinion, either concurring or dissenting. The catch is that every week a third judge from the fandom will join us and also write a dissenting or concurring opinion. So if you think you're up to the task - write us an email to stefan_sasse@gmx.de, leave a comment in the post, ask in the APOIAF-forum or contact Amin at his tumblr. Discussion is by no means limited to the court itself, though - feel free to discuss our rulings in the commentary section and ask your own questions through the channels above.

One word on spoilers: we assume that you read all the books, including the Hedge Knight short stories, and watched the current TV episodes. We don't include the spoiler chapters from various sources in the discussion, with the notable exception of Theon I, which was supposed to be in "A Dance with Dragons" anyway.

And now, up to ruling 35 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Michael Crowley. He is a member of the Podcast of Ice and Fire community under the nick of LordPrism and has podcasted with the Vassals of Kingsgrave before.

Boiled Leather Audio Hour 32

Going Rogue: Discussing “The Rogue Prince, or, A King’s Brother”

Another chapter from the GRRMArillion? You betcha! Rogues, the latest cross-genre anthology edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, is out, and you know what that means: another long short story/novella set in the world of Ice and Fire and written by Martin himself. As was the case with Dangerous Women's “The Princess and the Queen,” Martin's contribution this time around is an excerpt from the larger history of the Targaryen dynasty eventually to be published in expanded form as Fire and Blood. And it turns out it’s a direct prequel to “The Princess and the Queen“‘s tale of internecine Targaryen civil war — like, it ends the moment “TPatQ” begins. As such, it casts many of the events and characters of that story in a whole new light. And like that story, it strrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrretches the boundaries of the rubric for its inclusion in the anthology in which it appears. Is it worth it? Listen and find out! (And try not to be perturbed by the sounds of chaos in revelry in the background, as Stefan’s native Germany defeats a rival in the World Cup whilst we record. Just imagine we’re discussing this over a bowl o’ brown in the stews of Flea Bottom. I know I always do!)

Stefan’s review of “The Rogue Prince” for Tower of the Hand
Mirror here.
Previous episodes here.
Podcast RSS feed here.
iTunes page here.
Sean’s blog here.
Stefan’s blog here.

A Flight of Links

- Yahtzee about adventure games
- Trolling players suck
- Why games are terrible at water
- A GOT 4.10 rountable from the Atlantic
- Why you should read like a teen again
- Welcome to the world of IP in Toy Story
- How John Oliver shattered news and comedy formats
- The Graffitti that made Germany better
- Half in the bag about the new X-Men
- Why game developers keep getting laid off
- Where did GOT get wrong?
- The origins of math anxiety
- Holy bananas, Sean T. Collins is right about this one. Minus the tattoo.

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 34

Thursday is court day! 

Welcome to the Supreme Court of Westeros! Every week, three pressing questions from the community will be answered by the esteemed judges Stefan (from your very own Nerdstream Era) and Amin (from A Podcast of Ice and Fire). The rules are simple: we take three questions, and one of us writes a measured analysis. The other one writes a shorter opinion, either concurring or dissenting. The catch is that every week a third judge from the fandom will join us and also write a dissenting or concurring opinion. So if you think you're up to the task - write us an email to stefan_sasse@gmx.de, leave a comment in the post, ask in the APOIAF-forum or contact Amin at his tumblr. Discussion is by no means limited to the court itself, though - feel free to discuss our rulings in the commentary section and ask your own questions through the channels above.

One word on spoilers: we assume that you read all the books, including the Hedge Knight short stories, and watched the current TV episodes. We don't include the spoiler chapters from various sources in the discussion, with the notable exception of Theon I, which was supposed to be in "A Dance with Dragons" anyway.

And now, up to ruling 34 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Neil Smith. He writes in the APOIAF forum under the nick of Valyrian Neil. He is from Cleveland, Ohio, and one of those fans that read all five books between GOT seasons 1 and 2. He thinks there should be a name for them. 

Review: "Valiant Hearts: The Great War"

Can you make a game about World War I? An adventure game, no less? Ubisoft tried its hand at it. The result is a game called "Valiant Hearts", built on the Rayman2-engine, that was released end of June. The concept is a daring one: You experience the first World War from the perspective of an aging French conscript, Emile, his German son-in-law, Karl, a Belgian nurse, Anna, and an American volunteer, Freddy. The game jumps between these characters as they meet and advances three years through the war. The question remains, though - is it possible to adequatly convey the horrors of the war in a comic-style adventure game? The answer is Yes, at times.