An ongoing exploration of the dark and gritty reboot
I realized something a few weeks ago. Something that surprised me. Something that had not occurred to me but that, as soon as I realized it, I was shocked I had not realized sooner. Listen: I am burned out on Game of Thrones. I am tired of talking about it, reading about it, hearing about …
Continue reading Why I’m Reluctant to Write About the Final Game of Thrones Season
An investigation into a major hole in Google's knowledge I discovered something strange yesterday. It began when, in an effort to make a stupid joke on Twitter, I tried to figure out the names of the Hobbit movies. What baffled me was that this quickly turned out to be a harder task than anticipated when …
Continue reading Why Doesn’t Google Know About The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug?
We are nearly two weeks away from the Super Bowl. The Big Game. The Final Battle of the latest NFL season. And while being a fan of the NFL can be trying (see this article from two years ago for more on the topic), this has been a good year to be a good Vikings …
Continue reading Why Game of Thrones Fan Should Hop on the Minnesota Vikings Bandwagon
The end of 2017 is nigh. And with it, the top ten lists, the retrospectives, the predictions. Rather than the Top Books Published in 2017 or the Best Films of the Year or anything like this, here's my list of opinions, ideas, and arguments that I have not already written about in 2017 and would …
The internet loves a good fan theory. The trouble is, the phrase "fan theory" has started to go the way of words like content or hipster or artisan or any of the other words whose definitions are so vague, so all encompassing, that they have very little meaning at this point. "Fan theory" is currently …
Continue reading Why That Game of Thrones Fan Theory Is Not a Game of Thrones Fan Theory
Game of Thrones is Not Sacred. It’s Grateful Dead Fan Fiction The first episode of the seventh season of HBO’s Game of Thrones sparked a multitude of reactions, but perhaps none more virulent and hysterical than how certain GOT fans responded when Ed Sheeran appeared onscreen. The response was so rabid that some speculated Sheeran …
Continue reading Ed Sheeran Didn’t Ruin Anything. Game of Thrones is Rooted in Popular Music
It's early December, which means two things: time to start recapping 2016 and predicting 2017. While not as exhaustive as The Economist's The World in 2017 or as doomsday-esque as some other lists that I won't link to, this is my list of the headlines and stories I expect in the coming year. Netflix Starts Original News …
Continue reading Let Them Eat Freedom Fries, and Ten Other Headlines to Anticipate in 2017
In a previous blog post, I investigated the possibility that George R.R. Martin took inspiration for Arya Stark's storyline from the song "Dire Wolf," by the Grateful Dead. I'm far from the first person to make connections between Martin's words and the Dead's lyrics, as this has been a topic of speculation and deduction for years. But …
Continue reading Is There a Connection Between Bran Stark and “Uncle John’s Band”?
Exploring the connections between the Grateful Dead and A Song of Ice and Fire It's no secret that the Grateful Dead's music has influenced George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books. He first acknowledged it during a 2014 interview with 927 Plus, including indirectly admitting that the spiritual Weirwoods in the world …
Continue reading Did a Grateful Dead Song Inspire Arya Stark and Her Story?
In a post published on this blog earlier today, I discussed why I "stopped feeling the Bern," i.e. why Bernie Sanders is a troubling, disappointed candidate, in my opinion. This is a follow-up, companion to that article. As I pondered Senator Bernard "Bernie" Sanders, he began to remind me of another disappointing character: Lord Eddard "Ned" …
Continue reading Is Bernie Sanders the Ned Stark of the 2016 Election?