Kingkiller Chronicle

So the Kingkiller Chronicles might end up as a series on Showtime. This could be a great option for The Game of Thrones fans. Of course, the author (Patrick Rothfuss) works like George R.R. Martin - we have been waiting about 7 years for book 3 in the trilogy.

I'm re-reading the first book: The Wise Man's Fear.

I love the stories within stories. I'm reading it with a little more care as I try to come up with some theories for the last book.

Game of Thrones - Risk!

This is perfect... Game of Thrones version of Risk. I never played the board game version, but I remember several of us gathered around a computer in the early 90's to play on someone's Mac in the dorm.




Via Kinja Deals

Cheap Kindle Books

I've not read of the "50 Shades" books, so I can't comment, but I liked Ready Player One, The Martian, A Game of Thrones (duh), The Kite Runner, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Gone Girl. My wife loves the Outlander books.

$2 Kindle Books

Game of Thrones - All 5 Books for $10 (Paperback)

So I thought $24 was a good deal for all five books in the Game of Thrones series... well, Wal-Mart has all five paperbacks for $10. (And that matches the best deal I've seen for the Kindle version.)

Via Kinja

Game of Thrones - All 5 Books for $24 (Paperback)

Just ahead of the season six start...

Once upon a time, you could get all five Game of Thrones (Kindle) books for $10. (Currently, $20 for the Kindle versions.)

If you prefer the dead tree version, you can get the paperbacks for about $24.

Be Afraid

Potentially bad news for your favorite Game of Thrones characters:

“I have a large number of important characters who I switch between to tell the entirety of the story, and that limits who I can kill … The viewpoint characters are meeting up with each other and being in the same point at the same time,” said Martin, “which gives me a lot more flexibility for killing people.”

George R.R. Martin via WinterIsComing.net.

Game of Thrones - All 5 Books for $10

I had posted previously about a deal for cheap books in the series, but it just got crazy. All 5 books in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" aka Game of Thrones series for $9.99. (Kindle versions of course!)

Game of Thrones Deal

Wow! You can get all five of the A Song of Ice and Fire series (aka Game of Thrones) for less than $20! These are my favorite books of all time. I've got them all in hard back - including a signed copy of A Feast for Crows, but I may still have to get the Kindle versions. I suspect I will want to reread them when George RR Martin finally gets the next book out.

WOW HBO Go!

Some good news... I'm getting HBO Go later this year. Game of Thrones on the iPad Mini! Knology was always slower than Comcast at getting features. We switched to Knology years ago when they had just a few high def stations. Their offering lacked some features the other cable companies, but the internet connection has always been fast and the I've saved a ton of money using them. Now if they will upgrade the cable boxes, so that I can control them from my smartphone or tablet, we will be rocking.

"Dear WOW! Customer, 

We’ve heard from many of you, our HBO customers, that you want HBO GO. At WOW!, we’re HBO GO enthusiasts too, so we understand why you are asking. If you’re not familiar with HBO GO, it’s an online application available only to HBO subscribers that offers video streaming of HBO programs on your computer and other mobile devices.

To make HBO GO available, we need to do some technical work that takes a bit of time to complete. This involves integrating systems between WOW! and the former cable provider in your market, Knology. We are working hard to make this content available as quickly as possible and aim to have HBO GO ready this fall. We realize that it’s frustrating knowing that HBO GO is already available in other WOW! markets and we want you to know that we will make it happen for you, too. Once we’ve completed the technical integration, all WOW! customers will be able to enjoy the HBO GO experience, no matter where you are located.

Please hang in there and know that we are on our way with HBO GO.

Thank you for letting us serve you.

Cathy Kuo
Mom, Karaoke Fan, Optimist
Chief Marketing Officer
WOW! Internet, Cable and Phone"

No Radio News

Nothing in the radio world is inspiring me at the moment, so you get this...

Game of Thrones character name is the fastest growing baby name - Arya.

A geography game using Google Street View - GeoGuessr.

Download your 3-D gun plans - at Joe Huffman's place.

The truth about IT people - Google Skills.

Say Uncle's worst nightmare - Unstoppable.

Ellen does security - Password Minder.

Almost radio related - DIY AUX port.

Baofeng, but still not a radio.

HP rep, in talking about new side docking stations for their laptops, described it as looking like a credit card imprint machine. If I was any younger, I probably would not know what she is talking about.

A weeks worth of groceries from around the world.

A split-screen interview - because we can!

Because I have the sense of humor of a 12 year-old: ship my pants!

A Song of Ice & Fire Teams

Get geared up to cheer on your favorite house from the Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones series. (Via Wired)

Game of Thrones and HBO

Some notes as the Game of Thrones Season 2 ends...

Game of Thrones is this season's most pirated show.

And if people like the content so much, maybe HBO should start offering it directly. I would probably pay for an HBO Go account since my provider, Knology, doesn't include it with the HBO subscription.

And a funny suggestion for other shows to watch while we wait for the third season.

Image via 9gag.com via winteriscoming.net

Game of Thrones & Maroon 4

Some pretty funny lines.

"Don't call me on at nine on Sunday nights."
"Theon Greyjoy, you were a nice boy..."




Original here.

Game of Thrones: Religions of Westeros

This video is a good review of the religions in Westeros from the A Song of Ice and Fire series of books and the HBO Game of Thrones TV series. One of my favorite things about the books is how tightly the culture, geography, religion, fashion, and architecture are tied together.

 

There Be Dragons in Knoxville

One my favorite authors, George R.R. Martin, linked to an article about a dragon coming to Knoxville.

And speaking of GRRM and a Game of Thrones... the HBO series is so good, it is leading people to a life of crime (written version, cartoon version).

Game of Thrones: Peter the Stud

Peter Dinklage is GQ's Stud of the Year. Click the link for more pics. I've liked Mr. Dinklage's work for a long time.

Games of Thrones - Arya/Arry

Making Game of Thrones: Arya's New Look

A little too much info about shampoo, but it gets me ready for the second season.

Via GRRM

Game of Thrones for Dummies

Spoilers a plenty if you've not read the book and/or seen the series. Mildly entertaining and mostly correct - worth the watch if you are struggling to keep all the players straight.

Maps and Character Locations

Obviously, I have been reading George RR Martin's Not a Blog today. He links to a Spanish site that includes a map of character location by episode. Pretty cool.

I had a similar idea when reading his A Song of Ice and Fire books, but was thinking more about locations based on the fictional date. Some of the chapters in the books overlap so chapters aren't perfect for defining a point in time either. Someone with a little technical savy and some time could map out the locations and then allow you to click "play" and watch them move around Westros. Given the number of characters and locations this would be a slick compliment to the books. You could even move back and forth through time to watch the relative movement of characters. Imagine using something like that to map out Heroes or Back to the Future.

As I mentioned before, the title scene does a good job of giving an overview of Westeros. If I was a good writer, I would have said it like this:

"From the spires of King's Landing and the godswood of Winterfell, to the frozen heights of The Wall and windy plains across the Narrow Sea, Elastic's thunderous cartographic flight through the Seven Kingdoms offers the uninitiated a sweeping education in all things Game of Thrones.

- Will Perkins, Contributing Author"

The above quote is from an article on the Game of Thrones intro at The Art of the Title Sequence. The article includes a video of the intro along with several good pictures of various components of the sequence.

And it sounds like my speculation that the intro would change based on the locations of the characters is correct. Plus one for me!

"At this point, we made a list of the locations we needed to build. Then we figured out how many different versions of the sequence we would need to create, the idea being that the opening title would show you all the places you would visit in each episode. And we boiled it down to four different sequences, each a subtle variation."

I'm loving the series. I can't believe we have seen five episodes already, but I'm glad we have several more and a whole second season!

Art of the Title Sequence info via Not a Blog

The Problem with Environmentalist Tree Hugging Hippies

[ SPOILER ALERT ]

[ SPOILER ALERT FOR GAME OF THRONES - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK ]

[ SPOILER ALERT ]

Life imitates art again... George RR Martin discusses the response to the demise of one of his characters in the Game of Thrones series.

"It has come to my attention that a number of television viewers (mostly those who had not read my books and did not know what was coming)were shocked and upset by what befell Sansa's direwolf Lady at the end of the second episode of HBO's GAME OF THRONES.

Good. I mean, that was kind of the point.

But some people were reportedly so shocked and upset that they wrote angry blogs about it, and even declared that they would not continue watching the show.

Not so good. Obviously, I'm sorry to hear that.

I don't know if any of those people are reading my Not A Blog. But in case they are, perhaps it will make you feel a little better to know that Zunni, the Northern Inuit who played Lady, is alive and well, and has been adopted by Sophie Turner, the lovely young actress who plays Sansa in the show. We didn't really kill her."

But here is the kicker...

"(Rhodri Hosking, the young actor who played the butcher's boy Mycah, was not actually killed either, though oddly, no one seems quite so upset about him)."

How often do we hear about saving the tree/bird/unicorn, but with nary a word mentioned about the impact to people?