First of all... thank you to the NFL players and owners for ensuring that we will have an excuse for drinking on Sundays... and more importantly, a fantasy football season. We knew it would happen eventually, I'm just glad we didn't sacrifice any regular season games to the lock out.
Secondly, the show "Wilfred" on FX (10:00pm on Thurdays) is the surprise hit of the summer. I love it. Elijah Wood is surprisingly hilarious, though we should have seen this coming after his starring role in the Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right Revisited" video.
Okay, on to the main focus of this blog: The "Game of Thrones" HBO series and the "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series written by George R. R. Martin. I first heard about these books from my friends Ethan and Kata, who both seem to like ready nerdy fantasy-based fiction that I usually stay away from. However, when I heard that HBO was going to be making a series about it, I decided this had to be worth looking into. I started watching the series - the first season ended a couple of weeks ago - and was soon so caught up in this fantastical, medieval-feeling, politically charged drama that it was all I could think about. After seeing this trailer, how could you not be at least intrigued...
Now, the first season basically covered the first book of the series and hinted a little bit at the second book. I of course had to know what was going to happen next so I bought the rest of the books. There are currently five books out, with two more on their way. I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I won't get into the plot details. Sufficed to say, Martin takes you on a roller coaster ride with scheming, honorable and secretive characters, all who seem to have alterior motives justifying their actions. Just when you think you've got characters pegged as "good guys" or "bad guys" everything gets turned around, and you realize you were basing your protagonists and antagonists on only fractions of the story.
Aside from the books, the series itself is amazing. They did most of the filming in Europe in countries like Ireland and Italy. Hans Zimmer performs an original musical score written by Ramin Djawadi, and it really adds depth to the scenes. The result of this is a fantastical story set in a very realistic back drop. The costumes and make-up are phenomenal and the acting is superb. Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister aka The Imp) might be the overall most impressive performance through the series, but Sean Bean (Lord Eddard Stark) is nearly as good. However, the rest of the cast pulls off really believable acting as well. My personal favorites include Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), and Maisie Williams. (Arya Stark) The writers did a very good job sticking to the book, and when they did add scenes, it only added to the emotions we're meant to feel for each character. I guess for the amount of money HBO pumped into this project, they're getting their just returns.
I'll leave you with a clip from the show. Probably one of my favorite scenes from season one. Enjoy, and remember, "Winter is coming..."
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