I can't wait!

Winter is coming, fools.

Now I just have to figure out how I can get HBO out here in the sticks.

I know nothing of the books.
Perhaps I should start too.
But the comments about the huge amount of characters gives me the fear. Despite being a prodigious reader I have trouble separating characters with similar names, If there are 500+ I'm going to have confusion somewhere along the line...

Also, it's now being trailed on Sky. As being shown one day after being aired in America (VERY unusual here). Is it a fully British cast? Remember I'm going on trailers here, but all the accents I've heard so far are not even just British, but English. And not just English but Northern! That wo9uld be a reason to watch it all on its own... In the same way I loved True Blood for its setting and accents.

Yes, but should we watch this or the Borgias????

It's been a while since I read the description in the books, but aren't "White Walkers" supposed to be... white? Or at least light colored? Or maybe that thing was just another animated corpse. Or it could be the lighting.

In any case, I can't wait!

Or were the corpses the Walkers, and the actual creatures just called the Others? It's been a while.

edit:
The corpses are wights, and the Others are the same as the White Walkers.

this damn monitor I have at work is too dark to see anything in any detail.

Must. Get. Cable. (somehow)

The continent that the series takes place in - Westeros - is very much based on English history and lore, much like Middle Earth, and the basis for a lot of the plot is rooted deeply in the Wars of the Roses. The main characters through much of the first book (who remain important throughout the series) are the Stark family, who hail from the northern part of the continent... so it would make sense at least for THEM to have Northern accents, and they have been most heavily featured in the trailers. However, the cast is not all british - Peter Dinklage, who plays one of the many many main characters, actually went to - and graduated from - Bennington College, where I go.

that guy can suck it

Ta muchly, Ibram.
I might start with the series and move from there to the books. The basic plot structure might help me make sense of the names.

As long as none of them look like eachother of course.
As in having similar hair or being the same gender.... Hmmm. Maybe start with the books...?

ETA - point of interest - Bran is traditionally pronounced with a long a, as in farm, as opposed to a short a as in tan.
Of course I don't know the author's ethnicity, he might just have been using a made up name.

I always figured it was a shortening of "Brandon." Would you say that one rhyming with farm, or tan?

The NYT Reviewer is clearly stuck in the box of trying to force A Game of Thrones into the same model as most cable dramas, which does the depth of the story a disservice, although I wonder what he might have said if he knew that at the end of the run, the story will remain unfinished. Barely started, really.

right! dude clearly did not read the books.

and it is most definitely Bran like tan or man or Stan or can.

Listening to these books on audio book forces your pronunciations. The 1st three of these books are narrated by Roy Dotrice
Roy is also playing Grand Maester Pycelle in the series. http://www.roydotrice.com/images/roy%203-2004.jpg and that's how he says it. BEST NARRATOR EVAR.

Here is a sample of him doing the voices of Tyrion and Braun as he narrates from Tyrion's perspective... as Tyrion tells his hired Sell Sword/Steward, Braun of the way he met his first wife. This is one guy doing the narrating and all of the characters in these books, mind. He's so effortless as he slips from one voice to the other, and then to the 'narrator' voice that you forget all about him as a narrator. You're seeing the character in your mind. He acts the dialogue, too. If you have 6 minutes, listen to this. Now in these books, he does use the same gruff voice he uses for Braun when he's doing Sandor Clegane and several other tough guys. But then, Tyrion and Varys and Sam Tarley and Doloros Ed, and I don't know how many other distinct voices are unique and quite complete.



The 4th book is done by one John Lee. (click that link and hit the little green arrow under the picture of the book to hear him) Not a bad narrator... a bit slow and quite smitten with his own voice... it's a good one, I suppose, but not so great following Roy.

Just FTR, Stephen Fry mispronounces Hagrid's first name in the Harry Potter audio books.
It should be Roo-BEY-us, not Roo-bee-US.

Also note the shift in Star Wars from HARN-solo, to HAN-solo after the first film.

I'm not going anywhere with this of course. Just that one of my favourite children's books has a character called Bran (Braan) who is named after a raven - being the same word in Welsh, and I have encountered others the same.

Again, when creating a whole world, you are entitled your own history and pronunciation.

so, who watched it? I liked it, but I wonder about how it would seem to those who had not read the book?

Still no access. But hoping I can somehow watch in on Netflix someday or dvd or something.

I was wondering that as well. I don't regret reading the books at your suggestion, but I don't know if I would have taken to the series quite so well if I hadn't known what was coming ... and even knowing, I gasped out loud at the concluding scene. I also think they're being far more heavy-handed in revealing the "big secret," using it more to push the plot in obvious ways, rather than with the subtlety of the book.

yeah... Jamie and Circe doing it doggy style on the floor of a ruined castle room was much more direct than what my imagination had concocted.

Um ... I was talking about what Jamie did afterwards ...

I figured the abundance of doggie-stylin' was just the director's way of saying, "We're on mutherfuckin' HBO!"

oh!

well, the part you're talking about went just about how it did in my mind, fwiw.


The areas I thought it went a little quickly were when Robert asked Ned to be his Hand, and the interactions between Jon Snow and Tyrion and Uncle Benjin. Also, when they found the wolves....

I loved it, but I do wonder whether it's moving too quick over important plot points, which may be bad for viewers who haven't read the books.

Or, more precisely, whether it's possible to render these plot points on film at the right pace, as I supect that lingering over them may be as bad or worse than passing them too quickly. Of course, The Wire never waited for its audience to catch up, and there wasn't even a book to make up for it, and I loved that.

So far, the casting has been amazing, and the scenery is gorgeous. I'm excited.

As for the white walker, I paused on it, and it definitely was a very dark color, but it also looked very carved. Maybe it was a helmet.

Too busy here so I missed it. I have not read the books yet either. I am thinking about seeing the series first, otherwise when I read a good book and the movie leaves out details, my brain is always noting the gaps or inconsistencies.

I just recently cancelled my HBO...the free offer just ended. I'm not really willing to pay an extra $24 dollars a month on top of what is already highway robbery.

You guys have me sooooo interested, however.

So, would it be better to read the series, or listen to it on cd?

listen to it

Imma wait for Netflix in 3 years.

did I mention that you get to see this girl nekkid?

http://starsmedia.ign.com/stars/imag...oxart_160w.jpg

I finally purchased the book! #1

Yay! Are you going to read it as fast as you can, or are you going to read it up to the point of the end of the current week's episode?

Yeah. She is gorgeous.

Haven't read the books, watched first 2 weeks. I'll keep watching.

I have a general interest question.

HOW do they make the sex on HBO and Showtime look SO REAL?

signed,
Curious (but not bi-curious)

They're ACTORS, ACTING. Other networks have actors, acting.

Plus, it doesn't look "real." Look at reality, and then look at movie stars. Walk through a mall and look at people. Then turn on the tv and look at people. Listen to a typical conversation in real life. Then listen to a conversation on tv. Nobody says "um" or "uh" on tv or in the movies. Everyone on screen looks awesome. I've never watched real people having real sex, but I can guarantee that it wouldn't look anything like what's on HBO. Even regular people making a video of themselves are going to act differently than if there was no camera there. So just having a camera there will make it not real. I think it's quantum mechanics that says you can't observe anything without changing it.

Gotta love Penny Arcade

yeah but the chick is completely NUDE riding on top of the dude who (looks) completely nude....do they digitally remove the g-string??? coz those look like parts rubbing parts to me.

eta - glatt, the sex scenes in Dexter look pretty real...

He's wearing a sock and tucked out off the way. She's wearing a patch over her vajay jay. or so the chick said on the radio when they were interviewing her.

The chick from Dexter?

Ok. so I guess, as an actor, it's too freaky to get a boner while your schlong is in a sock and tucked away and a bunch of people are lighting and mic'ing and filming you, right? Coz, as I've said, it looks pretty real.

I don't think the sock would prevent a boner, but it would certainly weight it down a bit and keep it from rolling into the shot.

It sounds like lookout123 has (ahem) a little experience with this...erotic filming industry as it 'twere.

Thank you! We have been wondering the exact same thing about Spartacus. I had been leaning toward the idea that maybe the actors just agreed to actually have sex, it so surely looked like real penetration was going on... They must throw out so many takes where the sock or the patch accidentally peeked out.

I saw Michael Douglas in an interview talking about it. He said it's not a sock, but a big adhesive patch. And you just stick it to your junk and it kind of holds everything in place. It's apparently painful to take off, so after wearing one for some unknown number of scenes, he refused to wear them any more.

I also heard that one of his female costars was unhappy with the experience of doing sex scenes with him. She did not elaborate, but I assume it was after he swore off the patch and he had a boner slapping up against her. Since she would have been wearing a patch, there would have been no penetration, but it would still be unpleasant if you weren't into him.

When there is a lull in my schedule, I plan to read it all at once. Then, I will rent the episode.

I don't want to pay for HBO when I never watch TV much any- hoo.
I have it in my Netflix cue.

SO~!

I'm enjoying this show immensely.


that is all.

I'm up to episode 5 and in love with this show. I haven't read the books, but I can almost feel them in the show. I am trying to get a copy of the audiobook now.

Brilliantly cast, stunningly well written and acted. Some of the scenes with the king remind me of A Lion In Winter. Absolutely adore The Imp. I cannot speak highly enough of this series.

LOVE it! :D

Same.

Finally got access to HBO, so I saw the most recent episode. I sure wish I could see the previous ones. Anyone know how to do that?

Does your service have 'on demand'?

sort of. It's direct TV. I haven't really figured out how to use it, yet.
It was either that or Dish network.

Try here:

http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/Game-of-Thrones_25243/

I had a hell of a time figuring out how to watch previous episodes and I knew I could do it. just not at all intuitive.

is there a help line at DTV you could call, or an FAQ on the website?

I figured it out, now.

Okay, yeah. Wow.

I'm up to ep 7 I think. That 'golden crown' was amazing. And completely horrifying.

I'm preemptively sad that the season will be over soon.

me too. And Camelot ends tonight. So that's my two current favourite shows coming to a close. At least we know GoT has been greenlit for a second season. Camelots fate is very much in the air still.

I'm an episode behind, I think ... I've seen 8, because they had a preview. I have to make some time for 9. The time I would ordinarily spend watching OnDemand stuff has been taken up by the Casey Anthony Trial.