Tag: HBO

When Game of Thrones Leaves The Nest

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Rebecca Kordesh, Director
Twitter | Blog

 

 

A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) by George R.R. Martin has been around now for over 20 years, and the HBO show adaptation, Game of Thrones, has just completed its sixth season. Both the book series and the show are incredibly popular with a huge, devoted fanbase. As a result, the official forum as well as sites like Reddit have ridiculously active discussions filled with fans who have massive amounts of information about the ASOIAF universe and people who have very strong feelings about them. My participation in such communities has taught me many things, the primary of which is that the fans who utilize these sites tend to be extremely critical of the HBO adaptation.

My pop psychology analysis of this widespread criticism leads me to believe that a lot of negativity comes from fan frustration concerning how long it has taken Martin to write the much anticipated sixth novel of the ASOAIF series, The Winds of Winter. As the years stretch on between the release of A Dance with Dragons and its sequel, everyone waiting for it wants it more and more desperately, and finds themselves increasingly frustrated with the fact that the only new ASOIAF material being released is the television show. I can’t tell you how many people have outright said the only reason they watch the show is because they need something to fill their time while they wait for the books, and while I think this amounts to a very small percentage of show viewers, it seems to be a large percentage of vocal internet critics. Understandably, the thing you turn to for distraction while you wait for the thing you actually want is never really going to meet your needs, so you probably don’t feel overwhelmingly good about it.

Although this post does not discuss specific events, it will be most interesting to people familiar with both the book and TV series, and links may contain spoilers. You have been warned.

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From Doormat to Dominance

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Rebecca Kordesh, Director
Twitter | Blog

One of the coolest things (in my humble opinion) about long-running book series or TV shows is the potential for character growth that they allow. When you’re with people over the course of several books or several seasons of television anything can happen to them and there are myriad opportunities for their characters to develop and grow and change (hopefully in good ways, but people get broken, too). The sign of a good series tends to be this kind of development; after all, nobody likes it when things start to feel stale and predictable.

An especially exciting thing for me, as a female consumer of all things Game of Thrones, has been watching the way the women of Westeros (and beyond) have moved from traditional medieval-type roles into more interesting physical and symbolic spaces over the course of the series. But before I go on, I’m going to insert the obligatory spoiler warning here, because obviously I cannot talk about development without, you know, talking about the things that have happened recently in the world of Game of Thrones.

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SPOILER WARNING: If you are not caught up with at least Episode 5, Season 6 of Game of Thrones and you do not wish to be spoiled, run away. This is not the post for you.

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Confectionary Fandemonium

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Madeleine Cassier
Producer
Website | Twitter | Goodreads | BookTube

As you may well be aware, Game of Thrones, HBO’s television adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, returned to television for its sixth season on April 24th in what can probably be accurately described as one of the biggest television events of the year. People gathered for viewing parties, some set their DVR, and others, like my flatmate and I, carved out our 9PM EST hour as “Unavailable for Consultation.” It is a church-like ritual, in which our butts are placed upon a couch and our eyeballs glued to the IMG_0299television set.

Except, this year, we added cupcakes to the mix.

The trend of “artisanal cupcakes” is popularly linked to “the moment Carrie Bradshaw and co stepped into the 1950s-styled Magnolia Bakery in Manhattan and ordered a cupcake in Sex and the City in 2000.” And while it has certainly quieted in recent years, unique and sometimes downright peculiar cupcake combinations are still popular. In the Fan district of Richmond, VA, there is a pink-painted building that houses Carytown Cupcakes. Specializing in “creatively-inspired cupcakes made with all-natural ingredients,” this confectioner opened its doors in 2009, and features 16+ flavours per day with at least 2 vegan and 2 gluten-free offerings. They accomplish this by having at least 9-10 “classic cupcakes” and then (usually) 6 specially-themed cupcakes.

As you’ve probably guessed, their special theme through May 1st was Game of Thrones. What amazed me was not that somebody would decide to make cupcakes inspired by various Thrones characters and foods — after all, there are plenty of cookbooks on the topic — no, it was the creativity with which they concocted these confections.

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