Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 63

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 63 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Jeff, otherwise known as BryndenBFish. He is the creator of a dedicated A Song of Ice and Fire Blog known as Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire. His personal interests in the series are strongly tied into the political machinations of the characters as well as the military strategy and tactics used by the major and minor players of the game of thrones.

A Flight of Links

- Johnny Depp's later career stages
- My new essay about Daenerys' future is online
- Deception in Siegecraft and A Page from history as the two new and incredibly compelling Mediations on Song of Ice and Fire.
- Sean T. Collins reviews the first half of The Wire's season 4.  
- A slam of The Man in the High Castle. 
- Next part of the Mediations. 
- Where pilots matter?
- How come we recognized the earth revolves around the sund?
- How long can the superhero-train run?
- How realistic is video game swordfighting?
- This debate is so stupid it takes my breath away. Fucking mysoginy in gaming.
- And while we're at it, Wikipedia's male dominated editor dictatorship banned five female editors from all Gamergate and gender articles. 
- The trailer for the next Telltale GOT episode is out.
- Five Nights at Freddy's and This War of Mine. 
- Review of the first Better Call Saul episodes.
- And an interview with the creators.  
- Frank Castle is the American Sniper. Spot on.
-  Deep Web Trailer
- New wave of bible movies incoming
- This is still bringing me to tears every time
- Go, Daniel Brühl!

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 62

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 62 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Johnny from Philadelphia. He began reading the series after the 1st season of Game of Thrones and began listening to BLAH and APOIAF. He is on the forums at APOIAF as The Smiling Knight. A while after his first read he began getting a few friends together to form a book club. Two of them were reading for the second time and the other two were first time readers. Throughout the books he took detailed notes for discussion at the meetings, which he has posted on the forums. This is his second time as a member of the Supreme Court of Westeros.

"A Hymn for Spring", the next Tower of the Hand ebooks, comes out

As the photo suggests, the long-awaited sequel to the excellent collected volume, Tower of the Hand: A Flight of Sorrows, will be published April 15th, with pre-orders starting a month early. Tower of the Hand: Hymn for Spring features some of the best writers from the ASOIAF community, including Steven Attewell of A Race for the Iron Throne, Amin Javidi of the Podcast of Ice and Fire, Jeff Hartline, founder of Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire, and many more.

Hymn for Spring also features several essays from me! The first one is a character study of Barristan Selmy, while the second one concerns itself with the question of whether you should judge theories on their textual or narrative basis. Hey you in the second row, I see you snorting there! Wake up, this is interesting stuff! 

Boiled Leather Audio Hour 37

The Theory of Everything: Analyzing Popular Theories from a Narrative & Thematic Perspective

A Song of Ice and Fire fans are a meticulous, scholarly lot. That first baby step into the wider world of fandom that we all take instantly introduces us to an eye-popping array of theories about past, present, and future events in the story that our fellow fans have painstakingly assembled from hints and clues embedded within the text. We all have our favorites and our least favorites, theories we think is a sure thing and theories we break out our tinfoil hats to discuss.

In this episode, Sean and I vote yay or nay on many of the biggest, coolest, and crackiest — from R+L=J to fAegon, from Tyrion Targaryen to the Bran-tichrist, from “Oberyn poisoned Tywin” to the eternal question “Where do whores go?” — but with a twist. Our main metric: Does this theory make narrative and thematic sense?

Even the most beautifully constructed theories constructed from tantalizing tidbits in the text often fall apart when theorizers focus on how but ignore the why. Would this theory make for a satisfying story? Does it support the series’ primary thematic concerns or undermine them? Does it have a point at all beyond being a secret to uncover? Forget about why Roose Bolton or Obery Martell or Varys the Spider might do whatever’s being theorized about — Why would George R.R. Martin want them to do it? This has long been the approach both of us take, and we had a blast going full-throttle with it in this episode. Hopefully, you will too.

One quick note: Right at the end of the episode Sean and I begin discussing a recently discovered note in the publicly available manuscript for A Dance with Dragons that appears to spoil a much speculated-about theory in a way neither of us are quite comfortable declaring was intentional on the part of Martin or his editor/publisher. We give ample spoiler warning at that point, so feel free to bail on the episode during those final moments if such a thing makes you uncomfortable.

Mirror here.
The r/asoiaf Reddit thread that contains that semi-leak spoiler mentioned above (caveat lector) here.
Previous episodes here.
Podcast RSS feed here.
iTunes page here.
Sean’s blog here.
Stefan’s blog here.

A Flight of Links

- Second Sons
- Wertzone reviews Breaking Bad season 3 
- The new Avengers 2 trailer explained
- Tower of the Hand counts down the most favored characters of the fandom. I did the profiles on Sansa, Jaqen H'Qar and Quentyn Martell, so keep your eye out. 
- Lost season seven in the making? 
- Lost was thought up on the fly. Does this surprise anyone?
- Sean T. Collin's review of The Wire goes on
- Animating the Universe
- Spiderman will appear in the Marvel Crisis movies
- I really have to check this out
- Total War: Warhammer? Interesting. 
- Shadowrun Returns returns, or something
- GTA V and their lack of good tutorials
- Idris Elba is making a trilogy in Edgar Allan Poe fighting demons, because of course he is
- Taken analysis. It's basically dadsploitation. 
- The Man in the High Castle got a pilot
- Worst boardgames ever invented
- Children's movies are full of death
- Definitive article on Casterly Rock

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 61

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 61 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Michael, previous judge and member of the community. 

More George R. R. Martins! - Multiplicity 2 trailer

I have the feeling I saw all the good gags in that trailer, but what the heck. Video after the break.

A Flight of Links

- Great essay about slavery in Essos and the real world
- Scathing review of American Sniper
- Sean T. Collins continues his too short run on The Wire
- Ant-Man trailer, or is this finally Marvel's first flop? 
- Ziggy Forever 
- Why you should watch Agent Carter 
- The terrible 20 part 1 and part 2
- Preview of Total War: Attila
- Highlighting the critical games of 2014
- Top and worst 5 games of 2014
- Plus honorable mentions
- Moral Dilemma of The Last of Us 
- Grand unifying theory of gaming continues
- Complete Winds of Winter ressource
- Who told Stannis that Joffrey was a bastard? 
-

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 60

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 60 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Alex, a member of the community.

Boiled Leather Audio Hour 36

The BLAH Salon: Jamelle Bouie

Slate.com’s Jamelle Bouie joins us for the start of a project we’ve been planning practically since the Long Night: The BLAH Salon! In each installment of this series, we’ll be spotlighting a writer or artist whose work doesn’t normally touch on A Song of Ice and Fire or Game of Thrones but who is nonetheless a fan, exploring how the world of Westeros interests and influences them.
Our first guest in the BLAH Salon is Jamelle Bouie, staff writer for Slate. As a national political correspondent with a specific focus on race, he’s written with compelling clarity about the tumultuous, troubling year that just ended. He was also the first famous face Sean spotted in boiledleather.com’s followers. His insightful and enthusiastic commentary on the books, the show, along with other pop- and nerd-culture cornerstones, coupled with his insight into sociopolitics, made Sean and I think he’d be the perfect guest for this inaugural installment. Our wide-ranging discussion hits on Slaver’s Bay, the role of Roose & Ramsay, the problem with privilege discourse, how good hip-hop and good fantasy both wear their influences on their sleeves, the bizarrely productive racism of H.P. Lovecraft, and the scene that made him a believer in George R.R. Martin’s magnum opus. Enjoy!

Mirror here.
Jamelle’s work at Slate here.
Previous episodes here.
Podcast RSS feed here.
iTunes page here.
Sean’s blog here.
Stefan’s blog here.

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 59

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 59 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Lady Gwynhyfvar, a writer and fan of ASoIaF and GoT who features ASoIaF analysis on her blog and co-hosts the RadioWesteros podcast. Connect via her blog or Radiowesteros, or follow her on Twitter.