Isn’t it fascinating how difficult it is to change our bearing? But then again, isn’t it kind of beautiful that, as a species, we can be so hidebound?
Last Friday, I caved. Caved into Awesome. I was perusing the internet for ways to take in “A Game of Thrones”. Apparently, you can buy cloud access from Amazon.com fairly reasonably, but I’m not a big fan of the cloud yet. Frankly, I’m becoming a bit hidebound. I don’t always like new technologies because I’m usually just getting used to the last generation of tech when the new one comes out. That’s another discussion though. The next place I checked was the HBO website. HBO offers online access to their shows through HBO Go, but it ran somewhere around twenty bucks a month, and I figured that if I were going to pay that much, I may as well go ahead and just get HBO through AT&T Uverse, which we already have at home. Lo and behold, I wander over to look at my Uverse bill to see how much it is, dig around a bit after remembering I’d already paid the bill on the first, and discovered that HBO and Scinemax are on special through Uverse, free for ninety days. So, I clicked subscribe. When I got home from work, it was there waiting for me.
Distractions kept happening. Dinner. Taking the trash out. Heart shaped booties. Needing sleep. Well, sleep just had to wait, because I’d wanted to see AGoT for a long long time. Yes. Two “long” usages is appropriate. One for each season that I had missed. I clicked the play button, and away I went. I think Coleen (reference – heart shaped booty) truly hates the show, if only because it sucked me away from her so adamantly. From last Friday evening until yesterday, I was glued to it. I watched the entire series thus far. A boy became paralyzed, a Lord (or fifty) was killed, demons were birthed, zombie-things walked the earth, dire wolves happened, and I MAY have drooled a little bit at the idea of dragons being brought back into a world so cleverly as Mr. Martin brought them back.
The story portrayed in the TV show is beautifully torrid, hauntingly addictive, epic in scope, and it sets my brain on fire with imagination. I picked up the first book in the series to see how the two compare today. (Also, be aware that Half Price books MAY be putting any authors starting with Mc’, Mac’, or similar Irish starts BEFORE the Ma-s, so Martin comes after McCaffrey. LAME!) The books is sitting out on the coffee table right now. I may read it in a way that’s as incestuous as a Lannister, but don’t you judge me.
General notes about the TV Show –
It is NOT child friendly, unless you like your children viewing full frontal nudity of both sexes in nearly every episode.
It doesn’t appear to follow the books exactly, but I’m hoping that it is at least as true to the book as the “Lord of the Rings” movies are to Tolkien’s work.
The violence is fairly graphic. At least as graphic as LoTR, Braveheart, or similar films. In fact, I think it may be more graphic simply because being released on cable is easier on the ratings.
Watching the show may leave you with a very healthy respect for Peter Dinklage. I would compare him to Warwick Davis, but I think he’s more comparable to Sir Patrick Stewart or Sir Ian McKellan. The talent is just above and beyond, and it is utterly refreshing to see someone with any kind of dwarfism in a serious role.
Stupid HBO hasn’t made the 3rd season yet. *sigh*
