Game of Thrones Recap S5-E2

Arya
Good Lord this young gal is a BADASS.  She makes her way to Bravos and goes to the House of Black and White and asks for Jaqen H'ghar.  Per the wizend older gentleman who answered the door, there was no one there by that name.  She sat on the front steps through a rain storm and still no one would let her in.  She had no where else to go so she waited.   After a time when no one would let her in, she threw the coin Jaqen gave to her into the Bravos bay and left the island.  Later in the episode she was walking through the streets of Bravos and there were three fellas who wanted her sword.  She gets into her water dancer stance and then the gentleman from the House of Black and White walks behind her and it scares off the would be robbers.  She then follows him to the island and it turns out that the old man is Jaqen and he does not have a name.  I am so excited for what is yet to come for Arya.  There are moments with her that make me think of Jon.  I suppose that is planned but it is still nice to see.

Sansa
I hate Sansa.  She is blindly following Littlefinger still and it drives me crazy.  Brienne and Pod bump into Sansa and Littlefinger in a inn and Brienne pledges her sword to keep her safe.  Sansa denies her assistance of course.  Brienne and Pod are now on the run from Littlefinger's men.  GRRR.  In the end Brienne and Pod escape and they will follow Sansa and Littlefinger.  Why can she not disappear the same as Rickon did?

Tyrion
Varys and Tyrion are now on a boat headded in the direction of Meereen to find Daenerys.  There is a long deep discussion about being trapped in a situation and Tyrion trapped in the box.  Nothing really new here just a follow up on last week.  There is not alot going on here but what is left to the imagination.  I am imagining he will help teach Daenerys how to be queen.

Jamie and Cersi
Cersi the bitch is ugly to Jamie as they discuss Myrcella and what to do.  Cersi received a serpent in a box and told Jamie it was a threat from Dorne.  Cersi is so ugly to him and I do not understand why.  Just a bitch I guess.  Jamie leaves and goes to Bronn to try and enlist his help to get Myrcella back from Dorne.  Some humters bring Cersi what they think is Tyrions head.  It is not.  She then has a talk with the small council and everyone volunteers to be the new Hand of the King.  Cersi gives it to Qyburn who is the Maester who was stripped of his chain.  Cersi's uncle Kevan states that he is not going to be her little puppet and if Tommen, the King, wants his assistance then the King can ask for it himself.  He then leaves the small council.  I can NOT wait for what is yet to happen to Cersi.  This has been 4 seasons and still no retribution for Ned.  Also, will it ever get through her head that all of her nightmares are because she let Joffrey kill Ned?   Or maybe, just maybe it is because she helped kill her husband the king?  Bitch.

Jon
Jon is at the wall talking with Stanis who is pretty pissed that he shot Manse.  Oh well.  Then we find out there is to be the election of the new Lord Commander.  They expect that Allister Thorne will be the new leader.  Stanis wants Jon to take the knee and give him the north.  In repayment for the fealty, he will give Jon the name Stark and return him to Winterfell.  Jon has wanted to be a Stark for all of his life and tells Sam this.  During the election process, Janos Slint (the guy who was cowering with Gilly during the battle) stands up and declares how awesome Thorne is.   Sam finally speaks up and talks about how Slint was cowering with Gilly and how Jon would make the better leader of the Watch.  Jon is not terribly pleased.  It comes down to a tie with Maester Aemon yet to vote.  He votes for Jon.   Jon Snow is the new leader and lord Commander of the Knights Watch.  WOO HOO Jon.

Not a lot of action this episode.  This was more of a moving the pieces around the board to get them in place for the right move kind of episode.  I EAGERLY await the next moves.

R.i.P. Jonathan Crombie

Disclaimer:  If there are spelling mistakes or typos I am sorry.  I am writing this as I cry.  Did you know Gilbert Blythe has died?
HOLY NOOOOOOOO.  For all things good, why?

Back in the 1980s there was a miniseries created called Anne of Green Gables.  This series was based on the series of books by Lucy Maude Montgomery.  I grew up reading these books and have pretty much memorized the dialog from the series since I have seen it so often.  I just watched the series a few weeks ago.  Once of the main characters in the series is Gilbert Blythe.  He is played by an actor named Jonathan Crombie.

Jonathan Crombie was one of my heart throbs growing up.  Since the Anne series was not a major Hollywood production he was not ever on the cover of teen beat or Bop magazine otherwise I would have had him all over my wall.  That being said, I might have been late to that party due to my age.

Crombie passed away on April 15th.  This is so sad.  He was such a talented actor.  By all accounts, he was an amazing fellow.

Growing up, I knew I wanted to marry a Gilbert Blythe.  Now, I liked Gilbert in the books just fine.  It is the visual interpretation by Crombie that I fell in love.  His infallible love for Anne, his charming charisma and his humor is what I wanted when I grew up.  In my teenage years he is whom I compared all of my love interests too.  I know it was silly.  Still, I did it.

What am I going to compare to now?

Game of Thrones

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have not seen the end of season 4 or read the book A Feast For Crows, you might not want to read on.

I know, I am late to this party.  Many, many, years ago I read Game of Thrones.  I was so upset  by the beheading of Ned Stark that I barely finished the book and did not continue on in the series.  I did go on to read wikipedia and see if Joffrey Baretheon got what he deserved or not.  At that time, the Red Wedding had not yet been written and Joffrey was still on the throne.  I was so pissed off that there was no resolution or retribution to the murder of such an honorable man.  I decided I would never finish.

Many years have passed and the show was now on HBO and the buzz is everywhere.  My brother read all of the books and kept trying to get me to read them and watch the show.  Finally, after years of silent protest and solidarity for the life of Ned Stark, I decided to watch.  I think my brother almost peed his pants when I suggested we watch it.

The creators of this series have done an amazing job.  From the costumes to the special effects, the cast to the screenplay.  EVERYTHING has been done with such a deft hand, I am surprised.  I have now watched the series more than once and last Sunday was the season five premiere.  This is he first time I will be watching week-to week.  This is also the first season of the show that will be ahead of the books.  I am a bit nervous for what is to come.

I heard that the first four episodes were leaked.  WTG HBO.  I hope that I miss all of the spoilers that are inevitably coming out in the next few weeks.  I have also decided to avoid my brother as he has of course downloaded and watched all of the leaked episodes.    This episode was a bit slower than most.  I think it was intentionally that way to get you back in the swing of things and remember who was where in their stories.

The Lannisters:

Tyrion.
By FAR my favorite Lannister and my favorite male character.  His story begins with a view from a box.  He has left King's Landing in a crate, smuggled away by Vyres.  They are both now in the house of Illyrio Mopatis.  We know of him because he housed the exiled Daenerys and her brother Viserys Targaryan at the beginning of their story.  Master Illyrio also gave Daenerys the dragon eggs as a wedding gift when she married Khal Drogo.  Tyrion is in a funk since shooting his father on the privy.  (HEE HEE I never thought that word would come up here).  He and Varys continue to discuss (not terribly pleasantly as Tyrion is covered in poo from his crate) their escape and future.  Varys will forever be a patriot of the realm and not whomever is in power.  He is trying to encourage Tyion to take up with Daenerys and her dragons.  Tyrion is by this point drunk and not really caring what happens to Westeros.

Cearsei.
My least favorite person in like forever...wait...only since Joffrey died I guess.  Her season begins with a flashback when she was a child.  She snuck off to go see a witch and have the witch tell her the future.  The witch did indeed tell her that future, and you can see how some of Cersei's decisions come from that place.  Her knowledge she will have three children and not from the king.  The king will have 20 but not from her.  We come back to present time and they are preparing the funeral for her father Tywin.  She is beyond rude to Jamie-her brother whom she has born his 3 children (and is hot).  She blames Jamie for taking up with their monster brother (Tyrion) and then killing their father Tywin on the loo. Jamie helped his brother escape but then Tyrion took the crossbow to their father unbeknownst to Jamie.  That was last season.  This season is the funeral for Tywin and Cersei is bitchier than ever.  Her betrothed, Loras Tyrell, tried to provide comforting words and all she did was blow him off.  Bitch.  He is the Knight of Flowers and brother to her soon to be daughter-in-law the BEAUTIFUL Margery.  Granted he is gay and not any happier about their engagement than she is (she is almost double his age) but he is trying to put up with her.  Then her recent lover (to replace Jamie while he was a captive of the Starks) and first cousin, Lancell Lanister comes up to her and tells her how he has found the seven Gods and to show penance for what they have done (cousins sleeping together and plotting her husband Roberts' death) and the Gods will understand.  She is a total biatch to him too.

The Starks

Jon Snow
Jon is at the wall.  Big shocker.  He is helping train some of he young soldiers in sword fighting when the Red Priestess Melisandre comes to him and has him go to the top of the wall to see Stanis Baretheon.  Stanis tells Jon that Jon needs to convince Mance Rayder (the captured leader of the wildlings) to bend the knee and join Stanis in the war for the Iron Throne.  Jon goes to Mance and does try to convince him.  Mance refuses stating that he would rather die a free man than lose the respect of his fellow compatriots by caving to southerners.  I do not really blame him.  I would not want to kneel to Stanis either.  Besides, Stanis is a bit of an ass hat.  His wife is CRAY CRAY and his mistress, Melisandre, is creepy as hell.  Manse is then put to the death by being burned at the stake.  As a show of honor, in front of everyone-wildlings and all-Jon shoots Mance with an arrow so he will not lose honor why screaming while being burnt.  I believe this to be foreshadowing.  With all of the wildlings and the Knights Watch all looking to Jon with honor and respect, I believe when the time comes he will be the force that unites both groups to fight the White Walkers.

Sansa
Disclaimer: I think Sansa is a bit of a waste of oxygen.  That being said, I had hopes for her for the first time with the end of last season.  At the end of last season, Sansa lied for Petyr about the death of her aunt Liza.  There was a look she gave Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish that said she knows how to play this little game now.  She then dyed her hair and it seemed that  the old pushover Sansa was gone.  WATCHOUT here comes the new Sansa. That was all at the very end of last season.  This season she is now in the Vale with her cousin Robyn and her guardian of sorts Littlefinger.  Robyn is being trained in sword fighting and he is proving to be a total wimp (in the books he has always been sickly).  Not at all surprising there though.  From what we see it seems Sansa is well and truly under Petyr's finger.  This totally bums me out!   HAHAHAHA I was fooled.  She is still being manipulated by Petyr.  UGGGG I had such high hopes.  Alas, she is pretty lame.

Arya
Arya is nowhere in this episode at all.  I was bummed.  She is my favorite character.  In the show, she is a total badass.  In the books she is even better and she started this story at NINE years old.  At the end of the episode, there are previews of episodes to come.  One shows where she goes to Bravos to train.  YAYYYY!

Others

Daenyres
Daenerys is busy in Meereen dealing with holding the city.  Nothing really new here.  She is learning that compromise is not a sign of weakness but of strength.

Brienne of Tarth
Brienne is still in the world heading....where again?  Who knows and cares at this time.  Podrick Payne, previous squire of Tyrion Lannister, is with her and they are looking for Sansa (sort of).  There is a scene where Sansa and Littlefinger are in a carriage that passes Brienne and Pod in the wild.

Gendry
He is still rowing to King's Landing.  (I assume).

This is where we are now.  I love the books and the series is doing them so much justice.

Here is a very old pic of me trying to be Catelyn on the throne.  HAHAHA I had finished book 1 and was trying to show bitchy for the redemption of the death of Ned.


~I have many many friends and family that read/watched this series.  This is for all of them, they who have pushed and encouraged me to continue this wonderful journey.  This blog is dedicated to my friend Suzie who has had a really bad week.  I hope whatever happens, it happens soon and things get better.

My Love of Maggie Smith

Recently there was a story floating around the internet about the greatness of Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter.  This article made me think.  Many of the points were quite valid.  The one that struck me the most was the one stating that she was played by Maggie Smith.  Do not get me wrong, Professor McGonagall is a total badass and she is totally underrated, but this is about Maggie Smith.  For awhile now I have wanted to do this post but life and things kept pushing it back.  So now I am here to tell you:

Dame Maggie Smith is a total BADASS!

I have loved Maggie Smith for as long as I can remember.  She has such excellent comedic timing and poise. She is a great lady and one I have always admired.  The first thing I saw her in was one of my all time favorite movies.  The Evil Under the Sun.  From that time on, everything I saw her in was magical.  It did not surprise me at all that she was cast as Professor McGonagall.  When reading the books, she is the face I imagined as this powerful and loving professor.  One of the things I think makes her so spectacular is that she is so underrated.  She will never be the marquee name that brings audiences into the theater but knowing she is in the ensemble cast makes me know that this will be one very good feature.

In  research for this article I read several biographies, tidbits and quotes of hers.  I do not think I will  be able to convey how truly awesome she is.  I can only hope that I encourage you to check out some of her other works you have not yet seen.  She is one of a handful of ladies that have won a Tony, an Emmy and an Oscar.  WOWIE!  That being said while filming the Harry Potter movies she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery and chemo while she continued filming.  WOW how awesome is that?  In 2014 she was honored by the Queen of England for her contributions to the theater and cinema.  For her many decades of magnificent work, going forward she will be known as Her Ladyship, Dame Maggie Smith.

Dame Maggie has been in such beloved pictures as the Harry Potter series, Sister Act, California Suite, Murder By Death and Gosford Park.  Most recently she can be seen in playing Muriel Donnely in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in the theater and the Dowager Countess of Grantham on Downton Abbey.  She brings most of the stellar lines and definitely the best expressions to this dour series.  Her career spans over 50 years and so many beloved movies plays and TV shows.  Holy bananas has she has had an amazing career.  If you have not seen her stellar performances in so many wonderful movies, please, please, please check her out on Downton.

In most recent years she has played more sour types of characters and is known to say: "It's true I don't tolerate fools, but then they don't tolerate me, so I am spiky. Maybe that's why I'm quite good at playing spiky elderly ladies".  She has played spiky and lovable in the same sentence for so long.  Personally, I think there is no one better than the Dame.

I am sorry.

Hello again!

I would like to apologize to all of my readers for my absence.  I tried to be someone that I am not.  A coroporate bee worker who took their work home with them.  I tried it and I hated it.  Not again.  I am BACK!!!! WOO HOO!

This past fall has brought s some great shows and some not so great. I will get into those on a more individual time later.
For now I am doing a puzzle and wanted something on in the background.   There was not a lot on tv so I was flipping through and I found  Eragon.

This is a movie based on a series of four books by Christopher Paolini.  He started these books when he was just a teenager (probably even before that).  I love these books.  LOVE LOVE LOVE. 

The books are about a young boy who finds a dragon egg and it decides to hatch for him.  From the moment they were joined they were hunted by the evil empire.  These books go through the growing up of Eragon, Saphira and the entire realm as they try to rebel against the empire.  There are dragons, dragon riders, lore, magic, elves and dwarves.  What more can you ask for in a good story?

The movie on the other hand was pitifully bad.  Yes the book is five hundred pages so some things had to be cut,  I get that, but this was a disaster.  The acting was not terrible, Jeremy Irons as Brom, John Malkovich as Galbitorix and Robert Carlyle as Durza were all quite good and to the point performances.  The CGI was not half bad.  What was so sad was the screenplay.  They tried to squeeze too much into a 1.5 hour movie.  The highlight of the entire endeavor was Rachel Weisz as the heroine and dragon Saphira Bright Scales.

I suppose this is an intro to the stories but geez it was so bad they did not finish the series.  I think that if Starz or HBO could get a hold of these this would make a good 4 season show.  Who do I ask to get this done?  Maybe I can ask Jane Espenson if she could write a good screenplay for these?  I do not know.
I know with all of the Genre out there this would be a great addition if someone did it properly.

Here is to hoping.

At a Con

This weekend I went to a con.  MileHi Con in Denver.  This was a smaller con.  Probably less than a thousand or so attendees.  Compared to several of the smaller cons I have attended this was pretty good.  I will say the organization was stellar.  I had some issues but all in all it was really good.
My issues were petty but they were there. The big one was that on the schedule there were listed several scenarios for D&D 5e.  I tried to attend 3 of them and not once was there a DM to be found.  The last scenario I tried on Sunday, I found someone with the handbook and we hung out for like 45 minutes.  Many people came by to join in and yet no DM.  I worked on my character, still it kind of sucked.  There were six of us and there was nothing to play.  BUMMER.  While we all waited to see if the DM was just late we chatted about us all trying to play throughout the weekend only to find no DM.  My other issue was scheduling. 

Peri Charlifu Pottery

The vendor hall was meeh...nothing great nothing bad.  They even had someone selling jelly.
I went to watch the critter crunch or the robot battles.  Lots of fun.  The Art auction was great.  If you have never seen the pottery art of Peri Charlifu, I think you should check out his facebook page.  His talent is amazing!

The Con Suite was awesome.  I went several times.  There were always friendly people there.  Tons of food and soda.  The organizers did a spectacular job putting this together.

I have some concerns for this con.  First, The hotel they were in this year was small and will not allow for much growth.  This is an easy fix when they grow, move.  Second, I think the average age of attends was >45  years old.  Not good if you expect to keep going.  The people were all amazing, but this con will not last much longer if you do not bring in younger generations.  There was not any fun.  There was entertainment but the fun was seriously lacking.  There were no parties.  The con suite was fine, but not fun.  I went to a panel (I am not going to say which one) and I learned a lot but it was not fun.  Honestly, if I was at a larger con, I would have left this and one other other panel I attended and gone to something else.  But, this being so small I did not think the other options were any better so I stayed. 

This con like many others was focused on literature.  To get a younger audience, they need to bring in things that are more relative to the younger crowd.  There are tons of YA authors out there and yet I did not meet a single one.  There was not a single panel on Game of Thrones, Arrow, Gotham, or any other currently popular sci-fi.  NOTHING!!!!!  No comics, no tv, NOTHING.  Not a single fan panel on what is on tv or in the movies.  There have been several movies, tv series, and best selling books come out in the last year since the last con.  We, as a society, are all looking for instant gratification, the younger generations especially.  They need to bring in new and current subject matter.

Two years ago I went to a struggling Baycon and they came up with a DIY room.  I think it saved that con.  When I went again this year there were DOZENS of folks under 30.  Maybe MileHi should try that too.  They need to do something.  The social media presence is little to none.  Beef it up!!! There has to be some volunteer that is a Twitter, Facebook, Pintrest, Vine, Instagram, Google Plus, Tinder, Snapchat, Cyberdust, etc guru.  Seriously, they have a webpage, and a smaaaaall facebook gathering.  Honestly, more relevant panels and panelists.  That in itself will go far.  Hell, get Nicholas Brendon, he does cons and apparently he is entertaining. 

All in all, I liked this con.  It was entertaining, not really fun, but entertaining.  I hope they can grow and are able to continue.  If you are in the Denver area, I recommend going. 

Sports

This week has been a busy week in sports.  My usual TV program watching has been relegated to the DVR since all of these sports have come up.  I am stressed about missing the season premiere of The Flash, but sports need to be watched in real time.  Super Heroes are ok to visit the DVR.
This week has been a busy week in sports. There has been football, college and professional.  NASCAR, the basketball pre-season began and the post-season for baseball.  I love sports in different scenarios. 

My Nebraska Cornhuskers played and lost to the Michigan State Spartans.  Big bummer since it was the first Nebraska game I have been able to see on live TV in a long time.  Still it was amazing to be able to watch my team live.  It has been over a decade since I have seen one live.  There was a ton of red of crowd in the crowd and that made me so happy.





 Then come my Kansas City Royals and beyond all doubt they clinched their play-off bid with a win over the Oakland A's.  After that, they went on and swept the LA Angels of Anaheim (what a load of a name).This is their first trip to the post season since they won the World Series in 1985.  I wanted to jump for joy and to cry for the look of sheer joy on the face of George Brett. 

 
The San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburg Pirates in the wild card and are currently up 2 games to 1 over the Washington Nationals-oh yeah what does Gloria Estefan have to do with the Nationals?  I was confused by that on the commentary.  Game 4 in SF is on now so I might update this after the game.  Maybe, maybe not.  Oh Well.





My brotherish-in-lawish went to the NASCAR race in Kansas City and had a total blast-do I know what happened?  Hell no but he and my sister from another mother had a blast.  I am not that huge of a fan but I have been to a couple of races and wow, it takes your breath away watching the cars go by and feeling their the whoosh.

My Dallas Mavericks are on tonight against the Houston Rockets and hopefully they will win.....I know it is pre-season and all but I want them to win.  It is funny listening to the commentators having difficulty with the Mavericks players, Chandler Parsons and Tyson Chandler.  I think this difficulty will continue for the whole season. 



I have been so busy watching sports and I am sorry I have not updated on the weekly Gotham and Scorpion.  I watched them both a bit late and I think they are both continually getting better as the weeks go on.  Right now, though, I am busy rooting for whichever team is on.  GO HUSKERS, MAVS, GIANTS and I hope more than all the rest that the ROYALS win the World Series.