Post-GAME OF THRONES diet

Obviously, I’m really excited about the return of GAME OF THRONES this Sunday. In anticipation, I’ve been trying to remember all the fun things to do after watching the show. I should have made this list last year, but when Season 3 ended, I re-read the books and forget.

Here are the things I enjoy after an episode of GAME OF THRONES:

Shortly after airing

• The AV CLUB “for newbies” review.
• The AV CLUB “for experts” review.
• Alan Sepinwall’s review on HITFIX.
• Sean T. Collins’s post-show interviews / reviews on ROLLING STONE.

The following day

• Andy Greenwald’s thoughtful review on GRANTLAND.
• WIRED’s double-bylined recaps.
• Thomas Fichtenmayer (aka stannisisthefury) over on ESQUIRE.

Later in the week

• GRANTLAND’s Hollywood Prospectus podcast
• Boiled Leather Audio Hour
• GAY OF THRONES on FUNNY OR DIE. (I hope they do this again as it was one of my favorite things last year.)
• SOUND ON SIGHT’s GOT coverage, including dedicated episodes of the Televerse podcast.

Adding to the mix this year

• Lawyers, Guns & Money podcast
• UNspoiled podcast

Podcasts I don’t listen to

WiC’s Game of Owns. I find their lack of critical-thinking (one co-host “didn’t see” any sign of SanSan or other romantic pairings / foils in the text) and nerd rages (“But in the book, his hair is LONG!”) unpleasant. Other opinions are available, but that’s mine.

And then Tumblr. I spend a lot of time on Tumblr during the GoT season, even though it’s frequently just re-blogs of the same GIF-sets.

What am I missing? Where do you like to go after an episode of GoT?

One GOT article, six mistakes

VANITY FAIR finally published its interview with GAME OF THRONES showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss (D&D) online. The story is part of the magazine’s April 2014 issue dedicated to HBO‘s popular fantasy epic.

Considering that a version of this interview already appeared in the print edition, I am totally confounded by the presence of (at least) six typos. This is maybe nit-picking too much, but I am getting seriously annoyed by legitimate media organizations (as opposed to blogs / fan sites) that can’t bother to check the fucking copy before hitting “publish.” Really, really pissed.

Here are the things I found. There may actually be more, but I just skimmed the story since many parts had already appeared on other sites.

Failed to bold interviewer question.

Surely, he said “experienced.”

Correct book title is A Game of Thrones; “A” should be italicized too.

Maybe he said “these”? “There” certainly doesn’t make any sense.

“Every little thing,” maybe? Definitely not what this says.

“Even though.”

It’s entirely possible that I’m in the minority, as far as annoyance at these kinds of mistakes, but I genuinely believe that they impede comprehension and increase mistrust in whichever organization is responsible for such things. If VF can’t be bothered to get basic transcription right, why should I believe an in-depth report they’ve allegedly researched? Put another way, if you can’t get the small things right, how can you expect to get the big ones right? I sure as hell don’t think you can.

⇒ In my own tiny defense, I’d like to point out that I’m not calling whoever wrote the headline to task (as that would be a real asshole move). If you’ve read the books and like MONTY PYTHON, there are several references within the text. However, I don’t expect everyone to have read the books, so I’ll let that slide. Plus, I _hadn’t_ known that they’d filmed the pilot at one of the HOLY GRAIL castles, so that was a fun fact.

Gendry spoiler for GAME OF THRONES season 4?

I haven’t seen this mentioned on any of the ASOIAF sites I follow (Mindset, Boiled Leather, WiC, TotH, etc.) so I thought I’d post it here.

In August 2012, Joe Dempsie (Gendry) tweeted about how fortunate he was to have worked with some people that year.

Gwendoline Christie (Brienne) responded to the thread, despite not having shared any scenes with him.

This leads me to believe that SPOILERS FOR SEASON FOUR, KIND OF Dempsie and Christie filmed a scene at an inn together during the production of season 3 for inclusion in season 4. Given the clips we’ve seen in the extended preview put out by HBO — the armor, Brienne on a horse, Christie talking about biting a man’s ear off — it seems like she’ll be running into everyone’s favorite blacksmith at a place where roads cross.

Of course, this could be wishful thinking, but I think it’s a way to at least get the story back on track and leave all the Edric Storm stuff behind.

“Veronica Mars” season 1 cameos of note

Inspired by recent events, I’m re-watching VERONICA MARS and figured I might as well throw up the two cameos that I don’t think I’d noticed the first two times.

BREAKING BAD‘s Aaron Paul was one I knew about in retrospect. I think when I started watching BB and checked out his IMDb I put the pieces together.

VERONICA MARS “Silence of the Lamb” 2005

TRUE BLOOD‘s Reverend Steve Newlin was a surprise though. Michael McMillian can certainly pull off all different kinds of creepy weird guy.

VERONICA MARS “Weapons of Class Destruction” 2005

What I am really noticing this time around is that Veronica is an incredible asshole. Everything she does is motivated by her own desires and everyone is a pawn, gopher or obstacle for her. Additionally, she never takes anyone else’s feelings into consideration. I’m pretty sure she’s a sociopath.

NYT editors: 7 out of 8 ain’t bad, I guess

What’s the name of the protagonist on GIRLS? I don’t even watch the show and I know. She’s mentioned eight times in the story about the season two finale, seven of which are spelled correctly.

Compare the name “Hannah” in the first and last lines.

Avon Barksdale on “Southland”

I was excited to see THE WIRE‘s Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) on SOUTHLAND as something other than a drug dealer… but then he turned out to be a drug dealer. Which he also played in the recent DREDD (2012). Color me disappointed. Sigh.

Wood Harris on SOUTHLAND (NBC) 2×01

Big nerd correction on NYT story about Emilia Clarke

Emilia Clarke, most known for her role as the mother of dragons on HBO’s GAME OF THRONES, is starring in a new Broadway production of Truman Capote’s BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY‘S.

The New York Times wrote a profile of the young actress.

And someone was revealed to be a HUGE NERD.

What’s wonderful about this is that someone, somewhere in the writing and editing chain on this story, knew enough about George R. R. Martin’s story to know who Dany’s dead eldest brother was, as well as how to spell his name. Genius.

“The Amazing Race” on “Enlightened”

What is happening?! Watching ENLIGHTENED is freaking me out with all the cross-referencing it’s doing.

[Deep breath.]

Ok, it’s not that surprising that a contestant from THE AMAZING RACE‘s “Unfinished Business” season would cameo on the show. Mike White, the writer of every episode and a co-creator of the HBO series, was also on that season. But still! It’s too much!

Here’s Justin Kanew of TAR‘s “Justin & Zev” on the fourth episode of the second season.

Justin Kanew (center) on ENLIGHTENED 2×04 (“Follow Me”) on HBO

Speaking of Asian people on “Enlightened” …

I haven’t found empirical evidence of this yet, but I am pretty sure that the Asian woman on the bus that Laura Dern’s character rides one day is the same lady as the one in SPEED (Natsuko Ohama) whose skirt-straightening gives the game away to Dennis Hopper’s madman.

ENLIGHTENED 1×05

I’m going to get to the bottom of this, even if it means watching all the credits on SPEED. If I’m right, it’s got to be some kind of shout out, right? Why else would you cast the same woman to ride a bus in the greater-LA area?

Charlotte Lu on Enlightened!

I got into THE LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES (an Internet-savvy retelling of Pride and Prejudice) sometime around the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s genre-creating book. One of the most clever innovations of this version is that it incorporates the existence of non-white people, notably Asians, by changing the names of one of the characters from Bingley to Bing Lee and another from Charlotte Lucas to Charlotte Lu. Well done, show.

What I hadn’t realized they’d also done was cast the series so well that when I heard Charlotte speaking off screen on HBO’s ENLIGHTENED, I would a) totally recognize her and b) be completely thrown. I *knew* she was an actress, but I hadn’t yet made the connection that some of the people on TLBD would, you know, actually be appearing in other things.

Charlotte Lu(cas) [Julia Cho] on ENLIGHTENED 2×02

For the record, Julia Cho was totally believable as “Nurse.”