A Flight of Links

- Yes, I'm tired of it, too. 
- Interesting mini-analysis of character relationships on TNG
- Red Letter Media reviews the new Hobbit
- GRRM is pissed at Sony too
- Sony seems to be planning to dump the movie for free
- Amazing science images from 2014
-  Groovy Earthworm Jim pics
- Yet another devestating Hobbit review
-  Marco Polo review
- Which GOT season is best?
- Renaissance super heroes
- I don't think that's a good idea. Marvellous efford, yes, but I can't imagine the end product being much fun. Chronologically is overrated to actual editing.
- Analysis of "The Interview"
- Shamus answers reader questions
- MovieBob's ten top movies 2014
- Wertzone reviews Breaking Bad season 2
- And Walking Dead season 4
- MovieBob reviews American Sniper
- And talks about the new Star Trek director
- Analysis of the latest change in trailer style
- Romans vs. Chinese? I'm sold. 
- Sean T. Collins continues reviewing The Wire
- Jennifer Lawrence, Box office returns and the lack of non-whites
-  Finally
- Interesting opinion argument
- New theory for trips to Mars

A Flight of Links

- More thoughts about a Mario movie. I still don't care.
- Such. A. Bad. Idea.
- Yathzee has some really interesting thoughts about facial animations in Bioware games. 
- Five feminist moments in the history of video games
- Tim Burton on the Marvel bandwagon
- io9's critique on the Hobbit movies
- The psychology of duelling
- Alien: Isolation best horror game of 2014
- Aaron Paul is Luke Skywalker
- Sonic Boom review
- Sean T. Collins reviews more of "The Wire"
- 538 about The World of Ice and Fire 
- Another devestating critique of "The battle of the five armies" 
- MovieBob actually likes it 
- Robert Rath looks at how exact Far Cry 4 represents Nepal
- The best Polygon features of 2014
- One of my favorites
- Great essay by Steven Attewell

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 58

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.
Casting Call: We're searching for guest judges again! If you like to participate, even if you have been part of previous rulings, send us an email.

And now, up to ruling 58 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Todd, who started reading the books upon a recommendation from a friend and with the goal of staying ahead of the show, which he is in the process of convincing his wife to watch.  He is currently on his third re-read, learning more each time through.  He's mostly a lurking member of the community, but took part in the TOTH re-read series. His Beat Train pseudonym comes from his time as a runner at the University of Notre Dame.

A Flight of Links

- Apparantly, the new Newsroom episode sucked. 
- I mean bad. 
- Alan Sepinwall about Sons of Anarchy. 
- Toys are more divided by gender than they were 50 years ago
- MovieBob about the Target-GTA-boycott
- Sean T. Collins rewatches The Wire. Fuck Yeah!  
- The reason I put up with Sorkin
-  Exodus: Gods and kings seems pretty bad
- Wertzone reviews the new Hobbit
- Yathzee about RPG elements
- And about Dragon Age: Inquisition
- The Smiler and the Slayer
- The Rising Sun of Winter
- MovieBob drafts a Mario-screenplay
- Christopher Nolan's cosmos
- Marvel's Civil War storyline is a right-wing fantasy
- Read this great article on Danaerys' arc
- Is the biblical epic dead?
- Someone leaked the draft of Superman v Batman
- Political reinterpretation of The Lord of the Rings, tongue-in-cheek

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 57

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.
Casting Call: We're searching for guest judges again! If you like to participate, even if you have been part of previous rulings, send us an email.

And now, up to ruling 57 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Marcus Roberts, head of research for a British think tank and spends almost as much time strategising his Game of Thrones board game moves as he does planning election campaigns.

A Flight of Links

- I need one of those. It's essentially a come-up. 
- Why Terminator 2 is still relevant today.
- Teeth of the Rising Sun
- How the new Hunger Games is not a blockbuster, seriously
- Dornish letter theory
- MovieBob on Bill Cosby
- And about feathers on dinosaurs.  
- Bran III
- There have been a lot father-daughter-stories lately. 
- Wot I think: Game of Thrones
- Great essay about Aegon's conquest. 
- Filmschool Reject also looked at the Terminator trailer.
- Colbert talks about the new Star Wars trailer. 
- Why some franchises repeat the same story
- Why Assassin's Creed Unity's main character sucks
- Far Cry 4 review by Yahtzee 
- Yes, I remember. Ah, ye olden days.  
- One does not simply assume Sean Bean dies a lot
-  Epic fanmade Hobbit-trailer

Impressions from the Terminator trailer

The first trailer for the corny-titled "Terminator: Genisys" has come out (watch below the break). My first impressions, in chronological order:
- That speech by John Connor sure sucks. It has a sign of "bad pathos-ladden stuff" all over it.  But perhaps it will be better in context, like "cancelling the apocalypse".
-Also, the future lacks the gritty element of the 80s original.
- Kyle Reese looks like a ringer. But that's an improvement over the whiny teenager from the trainwreck that was Terminator Salvation.
- WHERE ARE MY TERMINATORS? I don't know if I will get used to Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor, but I'll give her a chance.
- CGI Arnold against Arnie the Pensionaire. Don't know which looks more ridiculous.
- I mean, seriously, the altered timeline can't avoid having logic holes big enough for trains to fit through and groan-worthy explanations for stuff. It comes with the territory. One time travel is bad enough, but this? They collaps the timelines of four movies, containing already three altered timelines, and build up yet another one on top. If they pull that off, I'm really impressed. Judging from the impressions of the trailer, I seriously doubt they will.
- I don't know where the old movies play in this. The beginning especially clearly caters to the fans, invoking the classic pictures, but I can't imagine that they will be that important later on. Would drive off the younger audiences. This is essentially the same trick as in Star Wars Episode VII, I'd assume.
- After touching a car, a bus is flipping through the air like it's a bouncy ball. Physics, who needs them?
- Now CGI Arnie the Pensionaire skydives into a helicopter. This could be fun in an unintenioned way.
- Oh, boy.

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 56

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.
Casting Call: We're searching for guest judges again! If you like to participate, even if you have been part of previous rulings, send us an email.

And now, up to ruling 56 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Tyler Kendal, a teacher of history and literature. He is a moderator of the A Song of Ice and Fire subreddit at www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf.

A review of Telltale's "Game of Thrones"

Warning: Mild spoilers for the first episode ahead. 

Telltale is by now a household name for dramatic storytelling in video games, with well developed characters and intriguing, entertaining plot lines. Games such as "The Walking Dead" or "The Wolf Among Us" have shown new heights that can be reached even with mediocre source material, and the recent "Tales from the Borderlands" shows that they also succeed at comedy. Their track record gave rise to hopes for a good "Game of Thrones" game, of which there haven't been much lately. So, did Telltale succeed? Not to beat around the bush too much: most of the time, yes. 

Boiled Leather Audio Hour Episode 35

Four Against the World: A “World of Ice and Fire” Roundtable feat. Steven Attewell and Amin Javadi

Celebrate Cyber Monday the old-fashioned way: in boiled leather! The Boiled Leather Audio Hour is back for our second episode in one week, and once again it’s our biggest to date. Since no one episode, and no two hosts, could contain The World of Ice and Fire, Sean and I have tapped Race for the Iron Throne’s Steven Attewell and A Podcast of Ice and Fire’s Amin Javadi to join in the discussion of George R.R. Martin, Elio M. García Jr., and Linda Antonsson’s seemingly inexhaustible world book. We tackle many of the topics we missed in our first episode on the book, and double back on a few besides.

One more note and then it’s on with the show: Thank you so much for your generous donations to BLAH’s emergency tech-crisis fund. Your support has done a great deal to help defray the cost of the new computer and software Sean needed to continue recording the podcast. If you haven’t already, and you’re still in a spending mood after all those hot online deals, and if you enjoy the show or the blogs enough to warrant it, you can donate via paypal here or here. Any amount is extraordinarily appreciated.
Alright, that concludes our message from the Iron Bank. Check the links below for a host of posts and podcasts this fearsome foursome has already done on the book, then listen and enjoy!

Donate here or here.
Mirror here.
Sean & Stefan’s previous BLAH episode on TWoIaF
Amin interviews Elio & Linda about the making of TWoIaF for A Podcast of Ice and Fire
The whole Podcast of Ice and Fire gang discusses TWoIaF
Steven’s chapter-by-chapter analysis of TWoIaF
Sean’s Rolling Stone article: The 10 Craziest Things We Learned from The World of Ice and Fire
Stefan’s “ruminations” on TWoIaF for Tower of the Hand
Previous episodes here.
Podcast RSS feed here.
iTunes page here.
Sean’s blog here.
Stefan’s blog here.
Amin’s podcast here.
Amin’s twitter here.
Steven’s blog here.

A Flight of Links

- First Jurassic World trailer, looking surprisingly good. Didn't even know Chris Pratt was in this. 
- Welcome Home, music video
- Intercepting ravens
- Wot I think: Tales from the Borderlands, episode 1
- You have to earn your apocalypse
- Why the new Assassin's Creed fails at the French Revolution. Oh boy, I so feared it would turn out that way. Same thing with the American Revolution.
- If you're interested in the most powerful woman on the planet, you should read this astonishing (and long) piece. 
- German article about Kickstarter.
- Broken movies
- Anita Sarkeesian as title story on Bloomberg business week
- The history of deleted scenes of Star Wars
- Quick and slow time events
- Robert Kirkman's big regret shows that he isn't a good storyteller in my opinion.
- Stormsongs reacts to the Star Wars teaser
- Tyrion V
- Escapist reviews the new Assassin's Creed Rogue
- As does Yahtzee for Unity
- Wertzone reviews the World of Ice and Fire
- And True Detective
- Dragon Age: Impositions
- Game responsiveness is about more than framerate
- Beautiful short film