HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones - Thread 2. There are a lot of nerds.

Frederik I can't believe you didn't bring up the best cameo of the season, native son Frank Hvam as the Citadel's receptionist

― El Tomboto, Monday, June 27, 2016 3:19 PM (1 week ago)

― El Tomboto, 4. juli 2016 21:51 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh, sorry!

See you in 2021 for season 7!

I found the conversation upthread about whether or not GoT is fantasy mostly quite clueless. It is definitely 100% fantasy. It has a somewhat different and rather more interesting approach to character and morality to most of the Tolkien-esque heroic fantasy from which it draws, but that doen't make it not fantasy by any means.

Anyway, killer finale.

different but 100% the same makes sense

Yes, it actually does. You build a house out of vinyl, it would be different from all other houses, but still 100% a house.

would sound better than other houses

everyone in the world: i usually dont like shit with dragons and swords but i like this
nerds: ahhh nooo this really freaks me out for some reason

everyone is the world: i usually dont like shit with dragons and swords but i like this therefore it must not be fantasy.
nerds: Yes it is. Some fantasy is really good, we've been trying to tell you.

Plus, I said it was different to most Tolkien-esque heroic fantasy. This is only one kind of fantasy.

Game of Thrones is 100% nerd, even though it was stitched together from the skins of cool people

game of thrones is mostly scifi if were being honest

game of thrones is mostly scifi if were being honest

― lag∞n,

Haha bollocks.

http://www.goldlabel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Martin-Starr-Party-Down.jpg

post-fantasy

Is that a younger Gilfoyle from Silicon Valley? xp

That's Martin Starr from the well pre-SV (and probably ultimately superior) Party Down.

lol younger Gilfoyle

I think you mean older Haverchuck

Martin Starr debating hard sci-fi with that woman in Party Down is probably the funniest thing I've ever seen on TV. As well as his attempt to point out that Jim Morrison didn't write the lyrics to "Light My Fire".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCqjR1gHyIQ

I know this show is really popular but I've been surprised by how often I hear supermarket workers talk about it and people I know who I never imagined would like it.

Sullivan: Oh, Gilbert! You and your world of topsy-turvydom. In 1881, it was a magic coin; and before that it was a magic lozenge; and in 1877 it was an elixir.

Gilbert: In this instance it is a magic potion.

Taystee drops a "Winter is coming" in the latest season of Orange Is The New Black.

Hoping Cersei will respond in kind with "trust no bitch".

would sound better than other houses

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Tuesday, July 5, 2016 2:14 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

warmer, too

cut down on your electric

The actress they got to play Lyanna in the last episode actually looked quite a lot like Emilia Clarke in her scene. Theories ahoy!

everyone in the world: i usually dont like shit with dragons and swords but i like this
nerds: ahhh nooo this really freaks me out for some reason

This is the TV equivalent of nerds throwing tantys because Normal People all play games not but theyre not REAL gamers.

http://www.nappertime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/milestones-grrm.jpg

Quite like this picture

This is the TV equivalent of nerds throwing tantys because Normal People all play games not but theyre not REAL gamers.

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Wednesday, July 6, 2016 1:25 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah it's the classic nerd backlash pattern: lamenting the lack of respect or appreciation for a treasured show/genre/movie/book/band/whatever but flipping out when it actually receives some

Have to admit that it annoyed me when some people sold it as "fantasy for people who hate fantasy", partly because this style of fantasy has been quite popular for a long time now.

There's a huge crossover in the readership of historical fiction and fantasy, so historical fantasy is also popular.

Yeah it's the classic nerd backlash pattern: lamenting the lack of respect or appreciation for a treasured show/genre/movie/book/band/whatever but flipping out when it actually receives some

― Rob Boss (latebloomer), Thursday, July 7, 2016 11:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

everyone is the world: i usually dont like shit with dragons and swords but i like this therefore it must not be fantasy.
nerds: Yes it is. Some fantasy is really good, we've been trying to tell you.

― chap, Tuesday, July 5, 2016 2:58 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's a variation on this with comics - had this conversation a lot circa 2007

"Watchmen is amazing! Have you read it?"
"Yes! Also, if you enjoyed that, these are some really good comics you might like..."
"Nah that's nerd stuff"

i.e. Frustration is seeing people miss stuff they'd probably enjoy, not being protective of our precious genre boundaries. It's like when your grandparents can't be arsed to figure out how the digital TV works - "But you love nature documentaries and channel 43 is nature documentaries ALL DAY" "Nah it's too much effort I'll stick with BBC 1 thanks"

it's not like gRR martin is hiding his devotion to jRR tolkien

busted!

But you know what people meant when that say they like this but they don't like fantasy, right? They mean they enjoy the real world stuff, but aren't interested in the fantasy stuff. I like fantasy, but at the end if the first book I would have loved for it to continue without dragons or white walkers. I think that's what people mean - what they enjoy is not the 'fantasy' tropes.

Ha, and sometimes I feel like Patrick O'Brian's books could use the odd giant octopus

Dowd- I feel some of that. I love otherworldly fantasy but in the case of GOT it is mostly the historical style stuff I love. I could easily leave the dragons, but without white walkers or any fantasy at all, it probably wouldn't be as good.

I'd say HBO's Rome and the two different shows about the Borgia's would be examples of ancient age soap operas that have been tried in the past decade or so.

In my mind invented cultures, societies and histories are just as much fantasy as dragons and zombies. Not trying to diss anyone else's perspective, though.

sometimes I feel like Patrick O'Brian's books could use the odd giant octopus

You should probably read "The Terror" by Dan Simmons.

^ That's about to be a TV series on AMC

Oh shit!

Read some off-putting things about Simmons but have had him recommended to me a lot. (Sorry, can take that to the SF thread on ILBooks.)

In my mind invented cultures, societies and histories are just as much fantasy as dragons and zombies.

Sure, I agree - but that's not what people are talking about when they discuss whether or not GoTs is 'fantasy' or not.

Well I'm not sure I have much helpful to add to that version of the discussion.

Xposts - Simmon's politics are... odd, but he's a good storyteller with some great ideas. Very offbeat.

TBH I don't think I've ever heard someone say e.g. "This would be great without dragons!" I mean, I don't really care that it's snobby about genre, it's more that it's a dopey call about what works for the story.

Dragons just never did it for me somehow. I love loads of mythical creatures.

xps Simmons' books are hit & miss. Hyperion/Endymion are probably my favourite sci-fi books ever and also really enjoyed Illium/Olympos and The Terror. Flashback is absolutely awful though as his right wing political views come crashing to the fore

Never heard of Dan Simmons, where to begin? The Terror?

Yes. Begin with The Terror. Survival/historical/horror. Endymion/Hyperion is Chaucer in space.

TBH I don't think I've ever heard someone say e.g. "This would be great without dragons!"

I cant be 100% certain, but I swear at least one person said something along these lines on the original thread.