A reader’s guide to the Feastdance

If there is one common thread you can find in many reviews of HBO’s adaption of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, then it is the need to somehow strengthen the weak source material of its fourth and fifth installments, “A Feast for Crows” and “A Dance with Dragons”. The pervasive feeling seems to be that these books are overlong, at periods boring and set their characters on road trips that really lead nowhere. In the most extreme case, Brienne’s whole arc in “A Feast for Crows”, this is apparent from the get-go because her quest to find Sansa in the Riverlands or on Cracklaw’s Point can’t succeed in finding a girl having chapters in the Vale. Tyrion’s “Where do whores go?” drinking tour is also already infamous.

A Flight of Links

- You know, actually the review might be right. 
- That's dedication.
- Sean T. Collins criticizes True Detective Season 2's pilot.  
- E3 gender breakdown
- SCOTUS are Spiderman fans
- Did Nazis design the Star Wars logo?
- Batman Arkham Knight review
- What GOT can teach you about game design
- GOT and sexual violence
- The evolution of Colin Ferrel
- Pocahontas meta
- Great analysis of the GOT season 6 casting
- Wertzone started a series on ASOIAF facts and figures. 
- The history of Mark Wahlberg, Hollywood workhorse. 
- Wertzone's part 2 concerning ACOK

Appearance on Westeros History

I was invited to a roundtable about Game of Thrones Season 5 over at Westeros History. We did kind of an award show for the season, including stuff like best arc, worst arc, etc. but also some more hilarious awards like "Best Burning " or "Best Singer", and it was a blast! Check out the video after the break or wait for the audio to be released soon!

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 83

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 83! Our guest judge this week is Neill Smith, a member of the community.

Appearance in the New York Magazine

I was invited to participate in a roundtable about season 5 for the New York Magazine. Other guests include Miles Schneidermann, Elio and Linda, Amin and Jonathan Vess. Check it out!

A Flight of Links

- GOT S05E10 reviews: Sean T. Collins, Alan Sepinwall, A.V. Club, Wall Street Journal, Stormsongs,
- Yeah, yeah sure. I believe it when I see it.  
- Sean T. Collins has it.  
- And here.  
- Great, Sean, your last entry made me sad. 
- Blizzard has some smarts. 
- Damphair meta
- Ghost meta
- How to become an Other
- Yep.
- I disagree.
- Yahtzee on turn-based games
- I agree.
- In defense of reboots
-Wertzone reviews GOT Season 5
- Good news!
- Yahtzee reviews Hatred. Can't say I share his approach. 
- No problem with the Witcher review, though.

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 82

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 82! Our guest judge this week is Nina Friel, writer for Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire and moderator of /r/asoiaf. When not obsessing over Westerosi history, she's a law student and sometime writer of her own novel(s). You can find her on Twitter.

Game of Thrones Season 5 Episode 10 "Mother's Mercy" Review

And thus, it ends. As season five draws to a close, one of its most prominent victims is the ability of book readers to predict what is going to happen. Whereas in places the show doubled back on itself not to race too far beyond the books, in other places it surpassed them or changed them up entirely. This worked more often than not, and if anything, season five gets a strong closure. The many finales of the episode can’t really fail to have an impact, whether you agree with the artistic choices or not, and one thing is for certain – Game of Thrones engages you.

Look at my works, ye mighty, and despair

A Flight of Links

- GOT S05E09 reviews: Sean T. Collins, A.V. Club, Hitflix,
- Sean T. Collins about the Deep Ones and The World of Ice and Fire
- Meta about the endgame for the Stark kids, Mace Tyrell, Euron Greyjoy, Jaime, Azor Ahai
- Some comments about Ramsay
- Making of Hardhome
- Kung Fury and Nostalgia
- My words in the hands of a better writer 
- The Atlantic reviews Jurassic World
-  And talks about Batman vs. Superman
- AND delivers great meta about Shireen's death
- Todd van der Werff is fed up with GOT violence
-  And Dave Roberts complains about Arya
- While Andrej Prokop throws out the idea that Stannis will die in episode 10
- Matt Yglesias thinks the Shireen scene is really good
- Very deep review of Jurassic World
-  The Martian trailer
- Quick analysis of the Night's Watch's role. 
- Good analysis of Apocalypse Now
- Theon III

Boiled Leather Audio Hour 39

BLAH 39 | (What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace Love and Bummer Stannis: Discussing “The Dance of Dragons” and Other Elements of Late Season Five “Game of Thrones” 

We’re back, and we’ve got a burning desire to discuss Stannis, Shireen, and the controversial scene that dominated the conversation around “The Dance of Dragons,” Game of Thrones Season Five’s penultimate episode! This time out, Sean and I tackle what the Mannis’s heel turn really means for the character, the adaptation, the fandom and more. We also take a quick tour of the disappointments of Dorne, gaze into the fires and give you our predictions for the season finale (including a theory from Sean that’s either bold or batshit), and address the very nature of criticism itself. All in a tight 32 minutes and 32 seconds!

Download Episode 39

Additional links:

Mirror.

Sean’s review of the episode.

Stefan’s review of the episode.

George R.R. Martin recommends Boiled Leather for your fighting about GoT needs.

Sean’s piece on the four worst types of TV critics.

James Poniewozik’s essay on tapping out of extreme art.

“Bells for Her” by Tori Amos.

Previous episodes.

Podcast RSS feed.

iTunes page.

Sean’s blog.

Stefan’s blog.

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 81

Thursday is court day! This week, we're really late. Apologies.

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 8! Our guest judge this week is Anton Jumelet, a philosophy student from the Netherlands, who previously judged on ruling 65 of this court. He's usually not an active member of the fandom, but does ferociously follow everything ASOIAF-related. He's ashamed to admit that he once believed in something quite like the Bolt-On Theory, with Roose being an outpost for the Others. If it turns out to be true, he'll say he thought so all along.

Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 80

Thursday is court day! This week, we're really late. Apologies.

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 80 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Jay, who swore his sword to House Manwoody many winters past, though his words are The pen is mightier. He recently graduated from a modern Citadel, forging links in literature and writing. He hopes to someday write something half as good as A Song of Ice and Fire. Jay just moved from the Pacific Northwest to the Kings Landing of the U.S.

Game of Thrones Season 5 Episode 9 "The Dance of the Dragons" review

I have to admit, I never had such a hard time to keep my inner book reader at bay as I had in this episode. So many things are changing so fast, it’s hard not to cry foul at any given minute and to separate the simply new stuff from the foul one. On a theoretical level this was always to be expected, and I have myself confidently predicted that this would happen, coddled into a false sense of security by the idea that it would just mean that characters end up in the same locations by different routes. This naïve idea died screaming on a pyre this episode.

A Flight of Links

- Reviews of GOT S5E8: Alan Sepinwall, Sean T. Collins, A.V. Club
- George R. R. Martin on why he things GOT needs Lady Stoneheart 
- The secret history of Ultimate Marvel 
- Tyrion VIII
- Witcher 3 controversy
- 50 years first spacewalk
- That sounds boring
- Two good metas about Big Walder

Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Spoilers for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" ahead.

When I watched "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" back in 2010, I was positively surprised. It was a well thought out, gripping movie that managed to tell an interesting story with interesting characters, avoiding some major storytelling chliches among the way. The movie ended with the apes finally free in the woods around San Francisco and humanity on the verge of the outbreak of a giant virus. The "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" is set ten years later. I have to admit, when I watched the trailer back in 2014, I wasn't entirely convinced. It seemed like a pretty generic story, in which the good human Malcolm (Jason Clarke) would be drowned out by the bad human Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), leading to conflict with the peaceful apes under their benign leader Caesar (Andy Serkis). But the movie doesn't go down this route at all; one could even say that the trailer was a deliberate disception. 

Game of Thrones Season 5 Episode 8 "Hardhome" Review

There has been much talk about how “Game of Thrones” is going into unchartered territory now, with the books not really giving that much of an advantage to readers anymore in terms of guessing what will come next. But really, if episode eight instead of episode nine sees such a big event, what can you take for granted anymore? And there are at least three major beats left in quiver for the final two episodes. That being said, I’m more excited about what happens on “Game of Thrones” than ever, not necessarily because of the overall quality, but simply because there’s no way to tell anymore, and I haven’t felt the natural excitement of, you know, not knowing, since “A Dance with Dragons” came out way back in 2011. And oh boy, did this episode end with a bang. This, my friends, is the episode that ends Game of Thrones.

A Flight of Links

- What 50 Shades of Grey and Batman have in common
- The Highs and Lows of VR gaming
- Hey, girl, Mad Max Edition
- These casting calls sure are interesting
- Recycling ships is ugly. 
- This sounds fun
- Very interesting thoughts that correspond well with the main theme of this blog. 
- Great R+L=J meta
- Regarding the question of why Daemon is an asshole, I can't agree more with these two.
- Great Sansa meta
- Not that it mattered because they are two different mediums, but someone compared rapes in book and TV show of GOT. 
- Yahtzee reviews two Cyberpunk Indies
- Alysanne meta
- GOT spelling game. I scored perfectly. Accept the challenge!
- Laci Green on Mad Max 
- Feastdance History Lessons
- Yep it was pretty hilarious
- The secret of Mad Max: editing
- What about Garlan and Willas and their absence from the show?
- The Atlantic predicts how GOT season 5 will end
-Wertzone reviews Mad Max
- The Witcher review by RPS
- Wertzone reviews GTA5