Game of Thrones Theory Video!

That's right, I was inspired to put together a video explaining a Storm of Swords theory which I became obsessed with in the last few weeks! Check it out.... if you dare!

Yeah, I'm a little fixated on those books.

There's a Legit Error in A Feast For Crows

And this isn't one of those mistakes in character, like when Martin forgets an eye colour, or an unreliable narrator like Sansa's kiss - this one is just a mistake.

Here's the relevant text, from the second-last Cersei chapter, from the torture of the Blue Bard (real name Wat)-
"His father had been a chandler and Wat was raised to that trade, but as a boy he found he had more skill at making lutes than barrels."

A chandler doesn't make barrels - chandlers make candles. It's coopers who are responsible for barrels.  I can't imagine any way this could be a code or something otherwise meaningful, so it looks like it's just something which slipped by Martin and his various editors.

Here's something that bothered me in A Feast For Crows!

So there's this part in A Feast For Crows that really bothers me. Which is doubly upsetting because that's my favourite book in the series - my favorite chapters are Theon's from A Dance With Dragons, but looked on as an overall work, I put FFC at the top.

One thing really bugs me about it, though - there's a line that takes me right out of the book. It's not one of the jokes or references aimed at one of George's friends - I learned about those long after reading the books, and they're largely so subtle that they don't bother me at all. No, this quibble is about language.

Here's the relevant line from the text-

"He brought them the gold they asked for, but they hung him anyway."

"Hanged, Ami. Your father was not a tapestry."

It's an old joke, it's funny and it works, but it still bothers me. Westeros is a fake, continent-sized version of England in an alternate version of Earth (or a terraformed planet in the distant future, depending on who you ask), and as I'm reading the books, I enjoy the various strange flights of language and zoology. They call forts 'holdfasts', and there are still Direwolves and Aurochs wandering around. "Sir" is spelled "Ser".

When Martin has gone through such trouble to come up with so many little ways to reinforce the idea that his world is strange and different and unique, to have one criticize someone's grammar in such a modern way is just puzzling. I can accept dragons and ice vampires with zombie henchmen, and time traveling trees, and psychic wolves, but for some reason, the idea that the people of Westeros, speaking in their common tongue, have the exact same weird rule about using different forms of the past tense of 'hang' to describe people and things is a step too far, and pulls me right out of the book.

Next time: A legit error!

Game of Thrones Avoidance - Week Seven!

We're almost out, folks! Just one more episode left, and I'm clear of Winds of Winter spoilers for (hopefully) another ten months!

Here's a video report on the aftermath of episode nine!

See you next week for finale fallout!

The Game of Thrones Spoiler Avoidance Project! Week 6!

Another week, another video! This one's a little weird, since everyone stopped talking about Game of Thrones. A complete dearth of information on the internet I normally browse. Strange. So I wind up rambling on about something else entirely! Check out the video to discover the thrilling topic!

Didn't see that coming, did you?

This Week in Avoiding Winds of Winter Spoilers! Week 5!

Over the past week Game of Thrones spoilers have died down a little, much to my relief! Even with what little I've heard, I'm not too worried about having Winds of Winter spoiled any more - I explain why in this week's video!

Just three episodes left - can I survive the giant spoilers sure to come as the season wraps up? Are there twists and turns that will legit ruin things? Stay turned to find out!

Game of Thrones Avoidance - Week 4

It was another rough week, as the public couldn't stop talking about a major character death! In this video, I address what that particular plot turn might mean for book-only fans!

See you back here next week, when, with any luck, I'll have heard that Ramsay Bolton is dead! Just kidding, that obviously can't happen until next year.

Oh, damn it, I just realized that the Hound is definitely coming back. Damn Ian McShane. Well, save that for the next video!

Game of Thrones Avoidance! Week 3!

Another week, another rundown of things I've overheard or read in the past week of trying to avoid Winds of Winter spoilers!

This week features a bunch of spoilers, but as far as I can tell, very few of them have anything to do with WoW! So that's promising, right?

The Game of Thrones Avoidcast - Week 2!

That's right, it's been a week, so how have I done in keeping away from Game of Thrones info that might spoil the next book in the series?

Find out by watching the new episode.

Or I suppose you could just ask me, but this is probably more convenient for both of us.

See you back here next time!

The Game of Thrones avoidance-cast, Week 1

Yes, just as the title suggests, I'm going to be spending the foreseeable future avoiding spoilers about Game of Thrones! This journey will be chronicled in video format, starting below!



So join me hear each week for updates on how my trial is progressing - for the next eight weeks. If I manage to stay spoiler-free after the finale, obviously updates will slow down, since less people will be talking about the show!

Game of Thrones and the Hollywood Atheist Conspiracy

For those who aren't theAvod viewers, the "Hollywood Atheist Conspiracy" is a blanket term I use to describe the frequent habit of entertainment industry types to massively underepresent the religiosity and superstitiousness of real people when creating characters for their products. This leads to the odd sight of horror movies in which the majority of characters don't believe in ghosts, except for a lone kook. This compares rather starkly to real demographic surveys, which suggests that a belief in ghosts is a commonplace opinion, with the skeptics being a small minority.

This tendency shows itself in other ways as well. Prominent atheist characters, sparseness of any religious characters unless the plot requires them, and a general lack of consideration to issues of belief and superstition. It even leads filmmakers and producers to shoehorn atheist messages into places where they have no logical or sensible reason for being. Which brings me, naturally to Game of Thrones.