"There will come a time you'll see with no more tears. And love will not break your heart but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there - with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair."
I'm posting two reviews below, one completely without spoilers and one with minor plot points and a full commentary since so many people have read it as well.I'm curious as to others reactions. I'm specifically mentioning this because this book has tons of spoilers, and now there's the mini-series as well, so please beware if you're in the middle or interested in either one.I would love to hear comments too, but please keep all spoilers contained to what's in the first book since I hope to read the next one.
Non-Spoiler Review: I'm really not sure how long I've had this book. It's been awhile. Months. There were definitely months in between receiving it, starting it and finishing it. So my memory is a little hazy about the beginning, which is unfortunate, since it appears a lot of important things were said. Unfortunately, there are so.many.characters. that you're too busy trying to keep up with them and not able to process all the background information at that point in the book. Or at least I wasn't able to. Maybe you're awesome.
The beginning took forever. There was so much information thrown at you. In fact, I look back and wonder if that's why it took so long to read. I specifically remember at around the 450 page mark thinking "Finally! Something's happening!" and hadn't realized I had felt that way until that moment.
The first 450 pages? Months wading through what is practically prologue. The last 450 pages? I read it in three days.
And that's the difference. The last half of the book is really a great ride and by that point you can fly through the characters names, not always trying to remember which lord of what is this and who's their nephew and brother by marriage, blah blah blah.
Overall, I think I liked the book. There's way too much politicking for my taste, but hey, its called "game of thrones." There were sections of this book I really loved. And others that drove me crazy. But most of those were supposed to drive you crazy.
As for if I'm reading the next one, the plan is to try. I'll definitely pick it up (after Gilead) because I really want to know what's going to happen at this point. But if it takes me forever to read again, I may not finish it. I wanted to finish the first one. We'll see how the next one goes.
End of non-spoiler review.
SPOILERS: I loved the last chapter. Loved. The whole second half of this book is on fire.
My favorite character is certainly Jon Snow (and, of course, Ghost). If I were to name other favorites, I would name Arya, Robb (especially that last half!), Ned, Tyrion & Dany. And if I were to name people I would like to punch in the face it would be Cersei, Joffrey and boy-king Robert. Seriously. There are too many boy kings. And too many Roberts.
The page 450 mark I mentioned (where things started happening) was when Catelyn finally reached the Eyrie. After that, things flew. And speaking of which, the entire Eyrie sequence is really disturbing. Again. Boy kings. Mommy, I want to see him fly made me twitch in anger. Why is this kid in charge again?! Oh right. His mom is crazy.
Also, it's unfortunate to decide to read just one more chapter at 1:30 in the morning and it just happens to be the chapter where Jon meets the whitewalkers in the tower. .... I thought I was going to have nightmares.
I love the direwolves as companions. I love that Grey Wind follows Robb into the battle.
I like the use of the Dothraki, but the rape scene when they pillage that first town just about made me sick. I know this book is graphic - I mean, that's about 600 pages in - but that was rough.
And I'm not a fan of trying to keep up with lord so and so who's third marriage was to such and such and their second child is out to kill ahhhhhhh....! Too many names.
And by the end every other page someone is claiming the throne. But! That's what you should expect.
Overall, I really liked it.
So I've heard the next book sails along? I would love to continue the story as it sits right now. What a fantastic ending.
I feel I should note that I am now officially (finally) over halfway through Game of Thrones (550 and something). And now the book is moving very fast, so I should be finished soon. Almost there.
First off: Brad has fixed my computer. He's a genius. I'm much happier and very grateful.
And hey! We got some movie watching done! (For your reference, Sean Connery is still our James Bond.)
Goldfinger was first up. I've been most excited about this one since it's usually referred to as the quintessential Bond movie. It seems to be the one that really furthered the franchise. I finally heard the theme song that people have sung to me every time its mentioned ("Oh yeah! That's the one with 'Gooooldfiiiinger....'") and have been introduced to Pussy Galore & Oddjob. Who is indeed, very odd. I mean. Who actually stays with an atomic bomb after its been initiated? Apparently, this guy.
Distinct lessening of the James Bond theme in this movie, mostly replaced with the title theme. Both were nicely used.
Also, is this the beginning of ejector seats in cars? I was curious. I should look that up.
But I was disappointed. He does not actually turn people into gold with his finger. Sigh.
So this was amusing. One of the reasons we started this project is because all but the first three movies were on Netflix instant play. The ease of access was a major perk. We even double checked a few weeks ago. So tonight when we went to pull up Thunderball, and um, you guessed it... suddenly they're rotated off instant play. Ha! I mean, come on. So we considered for a few minutes. I suggested I could get a membership at the one local rental place in town if they had the movies. After a few minutes of disappointed searching, we finally discovered them off to the side and voila! We're back in progress.
I actually can't remember the theme to the fourth one and I just watched it. So I see why Goldfinger was so catchy. Nonetheless, I think I liked Thunderball better. Mostly because it includes a lot of underwater sequences (underwater fist fighting! yes!). There are sharks. Also, essentially two groups charge each other in battle. Under. Water.
Thunderball is about one fight sequence too long, but other than that I really enjoyed it. (Bond Girl: Domino.)
General Note: I also really like the interactions between Bond & Q & Money Penny. Those are some fun relationships.
Next on the list: You Only Live Twice which Brad warned me is strange. Hm.
Top 5: 1. Thunderball 2. Goldfinger 3. From Russia, With Love 4. Dr. No
Hey look! We're almost to a full top five!
(I keep trying to decide on whether 2 & 3 should be switched. They may be in the future, but I think I liked Goldfinger better overall.)
I thought this year I would blog as the Tony's went along. Therefore, this is more of a collection of sporadic thoughts as it moves along...
Overall Impression: I wasn't excited to watch tonight. I didn't know any of the shows going in and I really thought it would be a lot like last years, which really disappointed me. But the nominated numbers -especially the first hour- was so full of energy and looked great!
Opening Number Um. I'm trying to figure out what they were going for with this...
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - "Brotherhood of Man" Of course, you know they're going to perform this song. I really loved the choreography for this show! So fun. Lots of energy. Great ensemble.
Commercial What, you're really offering The Book of Mormon for only $1.99 on amazon.com for the next 24 hours? Way to go show! I may not actually take you up on that, but I wish more shows would provide opportunities like that.
Catch Me if You Can Wowza! Energy, energy, energy! This is what I'm talking about, Broadway! New shows with old Broadway pizzazz. I had no interest in this show before. But to see *looking up names* .... waaaait, wait, wait...that agent was Norbert Leo Butz?! That was a total knockout performance. If he doesn't win, I'm gonna be so disappointed. I LOVE, LOVE shows that use every note of their music in the choreography and they really nailed it. Nice.
Check this out:
Surprises Wow. I'm really excited to see War Horse take Best Direction of a Play. That was unexpected to me, but from all the clips I've seen from that show it looks incredibly well handled. I was totally expecting that to go to Normal Heart.
The Scottsboro Boys Oh man! There are some REALLY great voices this year on Broadway! I'm really excited by what I've seen so far for this year! (And I'm kind of shocked by that.) Seriously, I can't believe this is closed. I would be really interested in hearing more from this show. That song was really nice and really nicely sung. Hey, while I'm here, anyone know what's with Santa Fe? I mean, RENT has "Santa Fe" and the whole theme for a character in Newsies is getting to Santa Fe and now this show is referencing the idea of getting to Santa Fe.... I've never really known why that was considered a dream place for these characters.
Wait, Victoria Clark is in Sister Act? Where have I been this season?
The Book of Mormon I've had my curiosity piqued by this show. Its composed of a team from South Park and Avenue Q which should tell you a lot up front. Again - I'm not really sure what I make of it.
Neil Patrick Harris/ Hugh Jackman Duo I wasn't really crazy about this, honestly. They sound great together, and play off each other well, but I feel like this sort of montage has become really expected on the Tonys.
Hey, it's Bono! "When I saw the Tony Awards on our schedule, we assume we had been, y'know, nominated." "Seems we missed the deadline." "Cute." "In rock and roll, you see, deadlines are just your manager trying to get you back on the bus." Aw, that was a really nice segment, you guys. Good job Bono & The Edge. That was really well handled.
Spiderman: Turn off the Dark First off, I love the look of the pop-up set. And musically speaking, this song was really pretty. But lyrically, I'm a little confused. "If the world should end tomorrow, there's no need for a savior or a friend"? As in...if the world ends tomorrow, I guess there isn't a need for friends...if we're all dead? If the world ends tomorrow - but we haven't died yet - wouldn't you want friends more than ever? I guess it comes down to how you define the world ending. Maybe I'm just as confusing as the lyrics. The lyrics just remind of the title all over again. It just sounds...turned around. And confused.
Jim Parsons is in The Normal Heart? Don't believe it, Jim Parsons. The League announces every year is the highest grossing season on Broadway.
Getting to see the facades of these theatres makes me miss New York.
Robin Williams has a beard. I mean...an intense beard.
Sister Act Hm... I wasn't really impressed by this. The voices were great, but the song itself felt way too standard.
THE PUPPET FROM WAR HORSE. Oh my goodness, it's really beautiful. I'm torn on whether I would see that show. Honestly, I would love to see the show - but uh. After reading Will's review of the book, I don't think I could handle watching it! Such a heartbreaker.
I think it's really awesome that Memphis performed for low-income schools. I think it's even more awesome that the students learned the choreography ahead of time for the finale and surprised the performers by jumping up in their seats at the end and performing it with them. That's what theatre is all about. But as for the song itself, I'm just still not impressed.
It's only 9:00. Why are presenting Best Play now? There's still an hour to go. I think they did this last year too. Lame, Tonys. Still lame. While I like getting more (and longer) musical moments, plays are still just left out in the cold and that's sad. Why does Memphis get to perform again?
Anything Goes One of the reasons I love to watch Sutton Foster is because she always looks like she's having a blast in whatever she's in. Nice to see tap represented.
So apparently the plays get a two minute segment with a few lines spoken from each one in a montage. Sigh.
Company I'm still not crazy about Neil Patrick Harris as Bobby... But I guess I'll see. (I really wish I could have seen Raul Esparza in the role a few years ago.) I'm most excited because I really don't know too much about this show and I'll get a full experience this week.
The Tribute - In Memoriam Arthur Laurents... Tom Bosley... Shannon Tavarez... Elizabeth Taylor... Jerry Bock... Joseph Stein...
Okay, Sutton Fosters winning speech was really cute. .... What is THIS?! Why are they singing It's Raining Men!? Why is Paul Schafer here? What are these costumes?! WHAT IS THIS?! GO AWAY! STOP! STOP! WHY IS CHRIS ROCK GOING TO PRESENT BEST MUSICAL?! No, Tonys, YOU WERE DOING SO WELL! Priscilla Queen of the Desert is apparently what just happened to the Tonys. Sigh. Maybe if there were more context. Instead of...just appearing...
And Best Leading Actor in a Musical is....NORBERT! YAAAAAY!
Again. Why Chris Rock? Whyyyy? That was terrible. Oh, Tonys. You did so well for the most part...until the last fifteen minutes.
Anyway. On a positive note, I'm so excited to see some of the shows that appeared this year. This is really encouraging! Win me back, Broadway! Win me back!
Flying across the land, trying to get a hand, playing in a travelin' band...
In unrelated news:
Apparently the Tonys are this Sunday. Who knew? I actually thought they were next week. Will I watch? Oh, probably. I don't really know what's up, but I didn't last year either and still got excited at the last minute, so I'm expecting similiar results. Also, Spiderman: Turn off the Dark will be performing (though not eligible for any awards since it hasn't officially opened yet) so that should be interesting. The show is officially frozen now and back open to critics. It will officially open Tuesday, June 14th. (This looks like a pretty well-handled, fair new review if you're interested. It also appears to note most of the major changes.)
Speaking of next week, Company is playing throughout the week at a local movie theatre. Holly's already mentioned her interest (yay!) so I think we're going. ;)
Tonight I discovered Plants vs. Zombies and I have to admit that's a pretty fun game. Not necessarily too challenging so far, but amusing to despair for suns while zombies attack your garden.
The stories from Jopin still break my heart. I don't even know what to say in light of this new struggle.
In good news, I had dinner with Phyllis tonight which was wonderful as always. Chips and salsa may or may not have been involved. You never know with us (actually, you probably do.)
There are way too many anniversaries in June. I've already missed a few. No one else in my circle can get married in June. The limit has been breached.
Many of you read Epbot, but in case you don't, these silhouettes were just too amazing not to share. They're from Olly Moss' art show Paper Cuts. I have no idea who that is, but you should check out their blog because there are loads more (including Godzilla) and they're all wonderful. These are just some of the ones I was happiest to see:
Will, did we ever watch your full season of this? We should.
You know you're already singing it. I love the use of the map!
I thought this was the sweetest one. Up.
Sigh. I really, really hate to admit that it took me a second to get this one. And then all I could think of was a lion being drawn in crayon with a crown on his head... Maybe I have a block against lions. Or...maybe just against the obvious. *headdesk*
How many theme songs are stuck in your head now? :)
This one is merely for me. One of my favorite animes. Ride on, Cowboy.
And of course.... This made me smile. The days are just packed.
I'll be the first to admit I know very little about the X-Men. While I'm beginning to enjoy the deep history X-Men provides - as well as their rich slate of characters - I'm still at the phase where I'm putting characters, timelines and stories into place. There's so much to untangle. And mostly the only energy I put into discovering it is piecing it together from friends conversations.
That being said though, I was really looking forward to this movie (and very sad I had to opt out of the midnight showing). I have no idea if I ever saw X1. I don't really remember it. X2 I enjoyed quite a bit (of course, it had Nightcrawler) and X3 confused the life out of me. (From what I gather, X3 did that to most people anyway.)
So speaking as someone who really doesn't know anything: I loved First Class! It was so well done. The acting was fantastic, I was intrigued the whole way through and loved watching these well-known characters come to life from the start. (And I loved James Mcavoy as Xavier. He was my favorite, with Beast as a close second.) I felt they managed to give enough time to each character so you could invest in them - and not just have name after name thrown at you. Which is what I felt the first three were missing to an extent.
What a great battle scene. The opening scene was fantastic. The closing scenes were fantastic. Heartbreaking.
And while we're on the topic of summer movies, have you looked at this years lineup?
Let's start at the beginning. Movies I want(ed) to see. Thor Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides X Men: First Class Green Lantern Harry Potter 7: Part 2 Cowboys & Aliens Captain America: The First Avenger
And thaaaaat's just the summer.
And then there's some sprinkled in there that I wouldn't mind seeing, but not necessarily sold on either. And I may have missed some.
Last night after church we headed out to Gary & Tina's for our second round of Bond entertainment. (And, of course, to see Sarah who is their sweet Great Pyrenees/ yellow lab mix.)
One of my very favorite dogs. Ever.
We're still in the Sean Connery stage, this time with the second film of the series: From Russia, With Love. (Which always strikes me as a strange title.)
Nonetheless! While I enjoyed Dr. No, this one was much more cohesive. Everything was there to drive along the plot, which was nice. The head of Spectre has now made his debut with his white cat, as has Q. And there was only one main Bond girl this time, which helped it not feel quite so fragmented.
Also, I really liked the whole segment on the Orient Express. How can you not love a mystery on a train?
So let's keep a Top 5 running list, shall we?
1. From Russia, With Love 2. Dr. No
Maybe I should wait until we get at least five films? Hm...
