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    •  
      CommentAuthorResistance
    • CommentTimeMar 10th 2014
     

    And . . . I’m finally on the 5th series of Breaking Bad. It’s been a long time coming.

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeMar 15th 2014
     

    True Detective. That is all.

  1.  

    True Detective. That is all.

    I binged on it over Spring Break, and right around halfway through, I said to myself “I bet Nossus would really love this show.”

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeMar 23rd 2014
     

    isn’t it the best?

  2.  

    It is v. v. good, yeah.

  3.  

    I’ve watched the first three episodes, so I feel somewhat qualified to jump on the True Detective fan bandwagon. (I figured out how to access HBOGo, so I don’t need to binge the show after all.)

    My one problem with it is that women are so marginalized in general. They’re either wives or mistresses/prostitutes, and they are substantially defined by their sexuality either way, more so than any of the men. You can’t even make the argument that the society is just like that, as some people do with GoT. The show takes place in the 90s, not the middle ages. Was it really impossible for one of the cops interviewing Future Cohle/Hart to be a woman? I’m not knocking on McConaughy’s performance (which is absolutely amazing), but how awesome (and different) would it have been if Rust Cohle were a woman? At this point, if HBO wants to keep flying the ‘revolutionary television’ banner, maybe they could have a female character who is naked only as often as the man she has sex with.

    Once I started thinking about these things, I just can’t stop thinking about it. Not that I want to stop paying attention, I just wish I didn’t have to. :P

    On a related note, I started watching Orphan Black. Tatiana Maslany is great, and I’m definitely keeping up with this one.

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2014
     

    Why does the story even have to have a woman in it? Some stories just don’t have women in them. I mean look at The Hobbit, one of the best stories of them all. It’s just 13 dudes. Sometimes there aren’t women. Why does there have to be a woman? I would like the show a lot less if it were a woman instead of Matthew Mcmgonamsael,. Because the writer wrote it as a man, it would make no sense if it were a woman. Men and women are different and not all stories have to have women in them just like not all stories have to have men in them, but this one does cause that’s the way it was written.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2014
     

    Because women are 50% of the population and sometimes it is fucking annoying to be sidelined as “non-existent/not-important/only-around-if-naked.”

    (Yes, The Hobbit is from a different time period, medieval setting, etc, fine, I loved it as a kid and still do, but most of the dwarves have the characterization of a paper bag with a beard, so don’t tell me “one of the best stories of them all.”)

  4.  

    Why does the story even have to have a woman in it?

    Ahahahhahahahhaahhaha Please tell me you’re joking.

    Because the writer wrote it as a man, it would make no sense if it were a woman.

    ...Why not? Because a woman can’t be a nihilist? Because a woman can’t smoke and drink? Because a woman can’t have something terrible happen to her child, which ruins her marriage and shatters her life? I guess you need testosterone and a penis for that, otherwise it just doesn’t make any sense.

    Women and men might be ‘different’, but in the essentials we are similar enough. We all feel and experience life, and I’m sick and tired of hearing that some stories are not ‘for women’ or not ‘for men’. Stories are supposed to be about humanity, even if only to force you to think about some aspect that you might not have experienced personally.

    And for the record, ‘that’s the way it was written’ is absolute bullshit. I think that True Detective is well-written, but there’s no artistic reason I can see for the absolute lack of female representation. If you can make some kind of rational argument, I’d like to see it, but I doubt that the writer had any kind of GRAND ARTISTIC INTENT of a tough man’s world. Even if he did, it’s a rather tired archetype at this point and wholly unnecessary to get across a good story. In fact, it’s lazy, and that is the opposite of what good writing is supposed to accomplish. I bet he just didn’t think about it that way.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2014
     

    On a related note, I started watching Orphan Black.

    Yesssss, join us. And tell me who the best clone is. There is a correct answer to this question.

    sometimes all the time it is fucking annoying to be sidelined as “non-existent/not-important/only-around-if-naked.”

    Yeah, it’s fine if SOME stories don’t have women, but when almost ALL the stories either don’t have any women in them or the women who are there are unimportant or the women who play important roles are clearly there as fanservice or to validate the male lead or whatever, THAT IS DEFINITELY ANNOYING.

    I would like the show a lot less if it were a woman instead of Matthew Mcmgonamsael,.

    Why?

  5.  

    And tell me who the best clone is. There is a correct answer to this question.

    I’ve only watched the first episode, so I don’t think I’m qualified to say yet.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2014
     

    Ah, well, you’ll figure it out eventually.

    •  
      CommentAuthorResistance
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2014
     

    Why does the story even have to have a woman in it? Some stories just don’t have women in them.

    What if the author just decided he wanted all the main characters to be men? Is that really so sexist? Would it be sexist if he/she decided they wanted to make all the main characters women? There aren’t many male characters in Sex and the City, and I don’t see too many people complaining. Is it really so wrong for someone to say, “I want these main people to be mostly white/black/red-haired/men/women etc. ?”

  6.  

    I don’t think the point is that in this one specific show, women play minor roles and are naked a lot; the point is that in show after show, women play minor roles that primarily serve to make the male characters more complex and (if the network allows nudity) are naked a lot (especially when men in these same shows have much less nudity, and when they are naked, they are usually shown from the back). The trend is what bothers people, and apparently True Detective follows that trend (I haven’t seen it yet myself, so I’m withholding judgement).

    Is that really so sexist?

    What’s sexist (and racist and other -ist) is that our culture considers the default human being to be a white, middle class, heterosexual male. That’s the baseline character. Characters who deviate from that norm have their deviations seen as character traits that overshadow other traits (e.g. a character’s defining trait being that she is a woman).

    Again, from what I’ve heard, True Detective is a great show, and I’m excited to watch it, BUT I’m also excited to see a woman be one of these edgy antihero people that head all of these well-written shows. I want to see a woman Tony Soprano or Walter White, but that doesn’t seem like it will happen any time soon.

  7.  

    There aren’t many male characters in Sex and the City, and I don’t see too many people complaining.

    They go through a revolving door, it’s true, but men are actually a central concern of the show and receive a great deal of attention. Sex and the City does not even remotely marginalize men the way True Detective and other shows marginalize women.

    What’s sexist (and racist and other -ist) is that our culture considers the default human being to be a white, middle class, heterosexual male. That’s the baseline character. Characters who deviate from that norm have their deviations seen as character traits that overshadow other traits (e.g. a character’s defining trait being that she is a woman).

    Hitting the nail on the head. Women and minorities are expected to be grateful that these characters are on the screen at all, as if being portrayed as equal human beings with personalities outside of those ‘defining traits’ is too much to ask for. There is no logical reason for a show like True Detective to have the gender makeup that it does. It’s not wrong to have an artistic vision of the characters that you want in your show (Rust Cohle would have no place in Sex and the City, for sure), but there needs to be more behind it than the automatic assumption that of course everybody’s a guy, this is manly detective territory!

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeMar 27th 2014 edited
     

    There are two main characters. They’re both men. What’s the big fucking deal? Grow a pair.

    It would be a completely different show if Rust were a woman. Women are different than men. If Rust were a woman the whole dynamic between Rust and Marty would be totally different and that’s what the whole show is about.

    I don’t see you complaining about race in the show (the only two black guys are the detectives who have it in for the main character!).

    The writer has absolutely no obligation to make a story that you like, or one that doesn’t make you feel “marginalized.” If you want a story with an edgy woman, go write one. This is a different story.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeMar 27th 2014
     

    You are completely missing the point.

  8.  

    Wow looks like I missed this whole blow-up. FWIW the second season of TD is supposed to have two lady detectives so we will see. I’m gonna post a longer post about it after work today.

  9.  

    FWIW the second season of TD is supposed to have two lady detectives so we will see. I’m gonna post a longer post about it after work today.

    I remember hearing people talk about how each season was supposed to focus on different people, so like I said, it’s the trend that’s the problem, not this particular show, and maybe this show won’t even end up fitting the trend. Who knows.

    •  
      CommentAuthorResistance
    • CommentTimeMar 27th 2014 edited
     

    Characters who deviate from that norm have their deviations seen as character traits that overshadow other traits

    I would disagree. One show that comes to mind is United States of Tara. The show is about multiple personality disorder, and the show features a middle-class woman called Tara dealing with the disease. The fact that she’s a woman never overshadows her other traits. In other words, she feels human. The show is not plastered with signs saying, “THIS WOMAN IS A WOMAN AND LIKE HER BECAUSE OF THAT”. That’s what I like about it. I don’t view Tara as specifically a woman, I view her as human.

    Also, I don’t think the “default” human is really anything but human. Sure, there are divisions, like gender, race, etc., but if you asked someone to draw a human, I don’t think every person would draw a middle-class, white man. People living in poverty would draw people in poverty. People raised in wealth probably wouldn’t draw someone in poverty. People raised around white people would probably draw white people. So maybe for America, with white people taking up 77.9% of the population and the middle class taking up apparently anywhere from 25% to 66%, the “default” would be a white, middle class person. But that’s one country.

    What if if you look at other shows from other countries?

    South Africa’s most watched TV programme is a show called “Generations” and features black actors.

    Argentina’s show “Rebel’s Way” features Hispanic actors.

    The norm here is not the norm everywhere.

    And this isn’t just reflected in countries with minorities in America being the majority.
    One of Spiral’s main characters (a French police-type show) is a woman, described as, “A skilled Paris criminal police officer who leads an investigation group from a territorial division (2nd DPJ), she is known for her energy and tenacity but also for her tough and sometimes borderline methods.” Though her character description also reads, “While she is quite successful with men, her private life is a mess and she seems unable to build a lasting relationship.” This sentiment is also reflected in Fred, Thierry, and Gregory’s profile, i.e. that their work with the police force has ruined their lives.

    Or how about the Candian “La Femme Nikita” about a woman wrongly accused of killing a police officer and being recruited an organization called “The Section” that has her work as an assassin. Or, for an American example, Weeds? It focuses on a suburban mother who starts selling marijuana when her husband dies, described as being like the Sopranos “in the sense of an antihero serving as the protagonist while retaining an individual moral code”. She goes through just as much trial and tribulation as her male counterparts, and sometimes more.

    And for one, I don’t think I’ve ever felt marginalized by there not being as many women main roles as there are male ones. Growing up, I didn’t care if it was a boy or girl on screen or in the book. Honestly, gender didn’t matter that much to me. It still doesn’t matter to me. If I want to watch a show with a male main character, I’ll find one. If I want to watch a show with a female main character, I’ll find one. Diversity is great, but it doesn’t need to be shoehorned in. TV doesn’t have any obligation to put female characters in their shows, or male characters, or Asian characters, or black characters. Yes, TV will reflect the majority. So if the majority is white, most characters will be white. Is this bad? Not necessarily. I don’t think many people are complaining that “Generations” or “Rebel’s Way” don’t have enough Asian representation or white representation.

    One of the best examples I can think of was when I was reading an interview of a rapper, and the interviewer asked, “As a woman trying to break into rap, you’ll stand out because there are a lot less?” and the woman responded, “In fact, rap is like all the people we love” true “, the girl who is” real “, people will support it, the rest who cares! The question is rather whether it speaks to you or not. “ In sum, it doesn’t matter if the character is female or male, it doesn’t matter that there are less female rappers than male rappers. What matters is, are these characters good characters or not?

  10.  

    FWIW the second season of TD is supposed to have two lady detectives so we will see.

    I heard! I really like the idea of one director, one writer, one story per season.

    One show that comes to mind is United States of Tara. The show is about multiple personality disorder, and the show features a middle-class woman called Tara dealing with the disease. The fact that she’s a woman never overshadows her other traits. In other words, she feels human. The show is not plastered with signs saying, “THIS WOMAN IS A WOMAN AND LIKE HER BECAUSE OF THAT”. That’s what I like about it. I don’t view Tara as specifically a woman, I view her as human.

    That means that ‘United States of Tara’ is a good show, and I’m glad that it exists. But just because you have a counter-example doesn’t mean the trend doesn’t exist. Check out the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

    And for one, I don’t think I’ve ever felt marginalized by there not being as many women main roles as there are male ones. Growing up, I didn’t care if it was a boy or girl on screen or in the book. Honestly, gender didn’t matter that much to me. It still doesn’t matter to me.

    I wish gender didn’t matter much to me when I was growing up. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that luxury. I was always a girl, and it was drilled so much into my head that I couldn’t imagine myself in any other shoes. I wanted to be pretty and graceful and please people, because that’s what I saw in every book and movie, and I hated myself when I couldn’t live up to it. I’m not trying to push a sob story on you all, but the point is, media has always mattered to me.

    If I want to watch a show with a male main character, I’ll find one. If I want to watch a show with a female main character, I’ll find one. Diversity is great, but it doesn’t need to be shoehorned in. TV doesn’t have any obligation to put female characters in their shows, or male characters, or Asian characters, or black characters.

    Look, I’m not saying that there should be a quota police. I want to see genuine characters, and that never comes from tokenism. I’m just saying, question your assumptions! Why should this character be white or a man or straight? There’s no reason they shouldn’t be, but normally there’s no reason why they should, either. For the record, I watch plenty of shows with a majority male, white cast. I still enjoy True Detective. I won’t normally boycott a good show for reasons of diversity because I’m just so outraged. But as long as I’m a consumer, I am free to air my opinions. If there are enough like-minded people, TV executives will feel obligated to take us into consideration.

    I don’t see you complaining about race in the show (the only two black guys are the detectives who have it in for the main character!).

    I noticed it, yep. To be quite honest, I am more passionate about some issues than others, because I am a human being with limited energy. It doesn’t make the points that I made invalid.

    If you want a story with an edgy woman, go write one.

    I totally agree with you there. :) I’m working on it.

    Grow a pair.

    Nope.

  11.  

    I’m just too exhausted to get into this argument like I normally would, but I’ll just say I agree with SWQ on all the broad points but I’m gonna play devil’s advocate for TD anyway.

    WRT True Detective in specific, the most compelling defense I’ve seen about the female characters’ marginal roles in the story is that ALL the characters who aren’t Marty or Rust are pretty marginal because that’s the story that’s being told. Two detectives being consumed by a case as they wreck and alienate the people around them. To really develop, say, Marty’s wife outside of her relationship to the leads could theoretically undermine the sense of narrative isolation around Rust/Marty.

    To lazily crib some of the show’s parlance, Rust and Marty are the ones alone together in the void, and everyone else is outside of it.

    As far as making Rust a woman, you could totally do that, but I think it would probably change the tone of the central partnership pretty severely. It’s just too easy to read a rocky, hostile, and complex kinship between a man and a woman as “they really just want to hatefuck one another.” I mean there’s probably a minority that read the Marty/Rust partnership that way right now, but I’d bet it’d be the standard reading if Rust were a woman even if that wasn’t the story they wanted to tell(which it wasn’t).

    I heard! I really like the idea of one director, one writer, one story per season.

    Pretty sure they’re keeping the same writer. The anthology approach is a neat one, though.

  12.  

    To lazily crib some of the show’s parlance, Rust and Marty are the ones alone together in the void, and everyone else is outside of it.

    Okay, I can go with this interpretation, because it makes a lot of artistic sense and fits really well with what the show is trying to get at. This, however, is not generally the case with these kinds of situations.

    As far as making Rust a woman, you could totally do that, but I think it would probably change the tone of the central partnership pretty severely. It’s just too easy to read a rocky, hostile, and complex kinship between a man and a woman as “they really just want to hatefuck one another.” I mean there’s probably a minority that read the Marty/Rust partnership that way right now, but I’d bet it’d be the standard reading if Rust were a woman even if that wasn’t the story they wanted to tell(which it wasn’t).

    I know, I know. It especially sucks because every show that has that whole male/female partnership going on ends in romance between the protagonists, so now people are just waiting for the inevitable.

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeMar 28th 2014
     

    The Killing (great AMC show) centers on a troubled female detective.

  13.  

    Yeah, my parents watched The Killing and said it was good…just too much to watch. I already wasted my entire spring break and still didn’t manage to finish everything. :P But if HBOGo and TimeWarner OnDemand work as they’re supposed to, I can waste my time just as well at school instead of studying for my genetics exam. Huzzah!

    •  
      CommentAuthorTheArmourer
    • CommentTimeMar 28th 2014 edited
     

    Just watched Frozen.

    Good.

    Hmm. I suppose I should post this to the Movie thread. . . . I forgot we had that.

  14.  

    Apparently my school gets an advance screening of GoT on Tuesday, but I can’t go. Well, I can wait until Sunday. :P

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeApr 1st 2014
     

    Everybody is raging over the HIMYM finale and I’m just sitting here laughing my ass off.

  15.  

    Haha so glad I never watched HIMYM the fans are in an uproar

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeApr 1st 2014
     

    Ditto.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeApr 2nd 2014
     

    Got my brother’s login and password for HBOGo, so now I can watch some stuff I’ve been missing out on. Just finished watching True Detective last night.

    It was… not quite what I expected. I’d heard some mentions of there being Lovecraft references (well, technically Robert W. Chambers The King in Yellow, but whatever), so when they started mentioning “the Yellow King” and “Carcosa”, I started getting really interested. But that was it – they name-dropped some stuff, had a few weird moments, but that’s it. I really hope they keep that kind of stuff up with season two, maybe even make it more overt. As is, it’s a decent crime drama with good writing, but not much to separate it from every other one on the air.

  16.  

    HIMYM was fun in the beginning, but it went on way too long. To be honest, I can see why people were dissatisfied with the ending. It essentially undoes 9 seasons of character development. :P

  17.  

    So I watched GoT. All of it. It was a long couple weeks. But anyway. I absolutely adore the books. I read conspiracy theories (and not just L+R=J either. Cthulu stuff. Shadow stuff.) and I’m waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay into theorizing. A couple things I noticed in the series (Don’t kill me SWQ if I nitpick it some):

  18.  

    (Don’t kill me SWQ if I nitpick it some):

    No way, I have nitpicks myself. I agree with you on Littlefinger, if not Margaery Tyrell. She’s much more of an entertaining character here, so that’s what I enjoy.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeApr 9th 2014
     

    Maybe Litlefinger isn’t quite as smooth as in the books, but he is far more entertaining. I mean, any time you get him, Tyrion, and/or Varys in the same scene, their conversation is going to be great.

  19.  

    He’s just too obvious. Nobody in their right mind would trust him.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeApr 9th 2014
     

    I don’t think it’s so much that he’s more obvious, just that we’re seeing him interact more with people closer to his level. And let’s face it, most of the POV characters in the books are a bit thick.

  20.  

    I have no problem with him being more open with Varys. Varys is perfectly aware of what Littlefinger is. But even Sansa thought he was creepy, and nobody has a rosier interpretation of people’s motives, at least in Book 1.

  21.  

    So, that wedding…

    Can we all just give a round of applause? He made the most of his final moments of glory.

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeApr 14th 2014
     

    They really made it pretty brutal

  22.  

    I’m watching it now and I’m remembering how much I HATE Ramsay.

  23.  

    Dude, I don’t care about Ramsay. He’s a psychopath, we get it. He’s not even loathsome in a fun way that furthers the plot, like Joffrey. He spent an entire season just torturing Theon over and over and over again when there are other things that the show could have been focusing on. Some things are better left implied, you know.

  24.  

    Jack Gleeson owned bones in that role right from the jump. It’s a shame he is done acting.

  25.  

    That was basically perfect. Gosh that was amazing. Now I can focus on hating Cersei as much as humanly possible.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeApr 14th 2014
     

    It’s a shame he is done acting.

    Can’t say I blame him. This would probably be hanging over his head for years. I’m still kinda surprised that Tom Felton’s still acting.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeApr 14th 2014
     

    Can’t say I blame him. This would probably be hanging over his head for years.

    I think he’s just busy, really. Isn’t Gleeson a Phd student at some top Irish university or something? I heard some of his Cambridge talks a while back. It’s a true shame he’s done acting, but he’s smart enough that he can really do whatever he wants.

  26.  

    Re: Episode 3

    But it seemed like the running theme of this episode was THE WORLD IS HORRIBLE AND EVERYONE SUCKS AND IS OUT TO SCREW YOU OVER BEFORE THEY KILL YOU HORRIBLY.

  27.  

  28.  

    I did not like that scene.

  29.  

    I think they were trying to show that everyone in Westeros is ultimately an asshole, but to be quite honest I’m getting bored of getting that drilled into my head. It’s more interesting when they at least try to be moral.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeApr 21st 2014
     

    Yeah, how you remember the book is how I remember the book.

    Not that it still isn’t 100% skeevy, but it’s not… that bad. I don’t think.

  30.  

  31.  

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeApr 21st 2014 edited
     

    EDIT: Sometimes, you think you can see where a TV show is going. A lot of times, your prediction turns out to be right, and you’re kinda disappointed that the show didn’t have something better. Other times, the show subverts all your expectations at the last second, and it’s really enjoyable being blindsided. And then there’s the shows where you think your expectations have been subverted, but instead they pull a Double Subversion and it turns out your original prediction was right all along… but in a really awesome way.

    Archer did that tonight. <3

  32.  

    Since when do you watch Archer?

  33.  

    To me it seems like it was just the script and general execution. As far as I’m concerned, as long as one of the parties is saying ‘no’, then it’s rape. Asking whether she really means it or whatever gets into some really slippery territory that is usually just not worth getting into unless you’re going to address it full on. It’s really not that difficult to think twice about anything that could be considered rape and ask yourself: how will this affect my character and how people perceive them? Is that the implication I want to get across?

    Seriously. I’m just pissed off because it’s so completely stupid and pointless.

  34.  

    IIRC, she’s also crying at the end, so she’s clearly not happy about it (I know there are other things to be unhappy about, but in that context, come on).

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeApr 22nd 2014
     

    @sansa – since like four weeks ago. I don’t usually get sufficiently pulled in to shows to marathon them that quickly, but I did all of Archer in like a week.

    • CommentAuthorDave
    • CommentTimeApr 22nd 2014
     

    I did all of Archer in like a week.

    Phrasing!

  35.  

    Seriously. I’m just pissed off because it’s so completely stupid and pointless.

    Yeah, I feel ya. I was hoping maaaaaaybe it would somehow be justified in the following episodes(such that a scene like that can be justified) by being part of some masterstroke of characterization angle-shooting. Based on the comments I’ve read from the people involved, it’s pretty unlikely, since they don’t really seem to get it.

    @sansa – since like four weeks ago. I don’t usually get sufficiently pulled in to shows to marathon them that quickly, but I did all of Archer in like a week.

    Well that was a good decision because it owns. Congratulations on becoming a cooler person.

    Phrasing!

    Dammit. I was too slow.

  36.  

    Based on the comments I’ve read from the people involved, it’s pretty unlikely, since they don’t really seem to get it.

    Yup. For all the flack it gets, you’d think that the writers would have learned to absorb the legitimate criticisms, but apparently not. I hope that they do come out and say that whatever their intentions were, the execution was just terrible and we should forget it ever happened.

    Buuuuuuut I doubt it. :P

    • CommentAuthorDave
    • CommentTimeApr 22nd 2014
     

    Dammit. I was too slow.

    I apologize, good Sir. Won’t happen again ;)

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeApr 22nd 2014
     

    Agents of SHIELD is getting better, guys. Tonight’s episode had so much tension, it was amazing.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeApr 22nd 2014
     

    Phrasing!

    Are we doing phrasing now?

    Well that was a good decision because it owns.

    It really does.

  37.  

    Wait, what? What did I miss on GoT? Rape or something?

    Jamie was my favorite in the books. If they made him into the Mountain I’m gonna be mad pissed.

    • CommentAuthorDave
    • CommentTimeApr 23rd 2014
     

    Are we doing phrasing now?

    Or is phrasing doing us?

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeApr 23rd 2014
     

    @Angel – yyyyep.

  38.  

    So, I’m about 3/4 of the way through A Feast for Crows. Does any of the Bran stuff from tonight’s episode happen in the books because I don’t remember it.

  39.  

    Nope, it’s invented for the show. The whole thing with Craster’s Keep is. Seems fine to me so far, though.

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeApr 27th 2014 edited
     

    I haven’t watched the episode but I thought Bran wasn’t even in Feast. His stuff happens in Dances with Dragons

    edit: nevermind

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeApr 28th 2014
     

    Bran isn’t in Feast, Nossus, but it doesn’t matter because the show’s only in the second half of Storm.

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeApr 28th 2014
     

    Oh, right. I haven’t been keeping up.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeApr 28th 2014
     

    It is a bit confusing – the first two seasons were one book per season. Then they decided to break book three into two seasons, because Storm is just that damn long.

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeApr 28th 2014
     

    Ok I’m caught up now. This show has gone down the fuckin’ tubes.

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeApr 30th 2014
     

    seriously, nobody thinks this show has taken a huge dive in quality?

  40.  

    I don’t know that I’d call it a “huge dive,” but I think the quality is not quite as good as it was (is there more gratuitous nudity, or is that just me?).

    • CommentAuthorDave
    • CommentTimeApr 30th 2014
     

    Is there more gratuitous nudity, or is that just me?

    Can we just skip the wieners and get to the Dragons?

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeMay 1st 2014
     

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeMay 1st 2014
     

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeMay 1st 2014
     

  41.  

    The new ranger is the Bolton guy who’s been standing in for the Bloody Mummers. He’s there undercover to track down Bran and Rickon. All the Craster’s Keep stuff is invented for the North characters just to give them something to do up there. The unfortunate reality is that you can’t just abandon characters for huge stretches of time in a TV show the way you can in a book.

    With the White Walker shit (spoilers for shit that hasn’t come out in the books yet)

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeMay 2nd 2014
     

  42.  

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  44.  

    Silicon Valley kinda owns TBH. I probably laughed harder at this week’s episode than I have at anything all year.

  45.  

    I saw the poster and chuckled to myself. My dad works in Qualcomm, not in Silicon Valley, but from what I’ve seen, there is way more than one Indian dude in programming.

  46.  

    The character is Pakistani! And he is definitely not Mexican.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeMay 12th 2014
     

    Alright, so there’s a trailer for NBC’s Constantine. Check it out. (If you can’t view it, just poke around online a bit)

    Thoughts?

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeMay 12th 2014 edited
     

    Someone made me watch Jurassic Bark from Futurama. Sobbed so hard.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeMay 12th 2014
     

    Game of Thrones has a really solid cast overall, but I still think it suffers from the same problem that House of Cards does, where the disparity between the handful of really amazing and talented actors and those who play minor characters can be really jarring and awkward at times. Again, GoT isn’t as bad as HoC in this aspect, but the nature of the show (and its enormous cast) makes it a bit unavoidable.

  47.  

    ^ What are some examples of that in GoT? I’m of the same opinion, I’m just curious about who you’d pick.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeMay 13th 2014 edited
     

    I know she’s not really a professional actor (at least not the kind I’m referring to…), but I’ve never been a fan of show Shae. She’s just so bland and emotionless. I also don’t like most of the guys who play higher ups on the Night’s Watch or other “mean bullies” on the show (Goldcloaks, I think?) Their performances always seem so forced and one dimensional.

    But again, large cast yada yada. I’m mainly just complaining because Dinklage and the dude who plays Ramsay and the guy who plays Theon who’s names I can’t remember right now were so good that they made everyone else look awful in comparison. In House of Cards I hated the actors who played the reporters so much that I almost quit watching the show because of it. Ugh.

  48.  

    I know she’s not really a professional actor (at least not the kind I’m referring to…), but I’ve never been a fan of show Shae. She’s just so bland and emotionless. I also don’t like most of the guys who play higher ups on the Night’s Watch or other “mean bullies” on the show (Goldcloaks, I think?) Their performances always seem so forced and one dimensional.

    Yeah, fair enough. I think Shae is a weak point, but normally I can ignore her- same with the other minor characters. I’m more concerned about Emilia Clarke as Danaerys, to be honest. Something about her delivery just seems very stilted to me. :P

    I’m mainly just complaining because Dinklage and the dude who plays Ramsay and the guy who plays Theon who’s names I can’t remember right now were so good that they made everyone else look awful in comparison.

    Also props for Lena Headey, who consistently makes Cersei the most compelling person on the screen. She was a bit wobbly in S1 but now I would argue that she deserves an Emmy even more than Dinklage.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeMay 13th 2014
     

    SWQ, have you read the books or are you show only?

  49.  

    I’ve read up to but not including Book 5, but I know pretty much everything that happens.

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeMay 13th 2014
     

    I thought the new episode was… ok. I think 80% of it was made up by the showrunners. I don’t remember any of that happening except Tyrion’s trial.

  50.  

    I think 80% of it was made up by the showrunners.

    To be honest, I’m not opposed with that in principle. I like the books, but I’m not super-devoted to them either. The show does a pretty good job of capturing characters and the world, for the most part. When the showrunners do something I don’t like, it’s not normally because the change is a deviation from the book so much as incompetent writing or execution. In fact, lot of my favorite scenes have been random conversations between characters because the cast is so strong in the first place- Cersei has particularly benefited from this.

    But that Ramsay/Reek storyline is going nowhere.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeMay 13th 2014
     

    Re: Shae

  51.  

    ^ Yeah, that would be an explanation. I’m looking forward to how they deal with the aftermath of this situation.

  52.  

    Anybody watch Fargo? I really like it.