It's one of those words that sends me to sleep immediately. I guess I'm just not that interested in cryptozoology.

You know, I have a high esteem for reason too, but for me that involves cultivating an awareness of its limitations. Art can be very helpful with that. Of course we can't know any absolute truth in art - it's good practice for coming to terms with the fact that we can't know much in terms of absolute truth in…

That's a good point - you could never have such a permissive culture that people wouldn't find a way to seek the thrill of transgression. Still my issue here is that a movie like this is presumably not exactly trying to be 120 Days of Sodom. I strongly suspect it lacks awareness of the true extent of its own vileness…

Because it's so edgy!

Bystander effect. Seems to apply to artistic atrocities as well as any others. You think that someone else is surely going to raise the issue and absolve yourself of personal responsibility.

Well, that's just one thing art can do. But I've never been that interested in illusions of complete control. Some amount of escapism is nice on occasion (I do like a bit of poetic justice, although it can be such a horrible fallacy when applied to real life), but I prefer art that can do a bit more than that. On…

My college flatmate and I had developed a fairly high tolerance for subpar romantic comedies, because we liked watching TV together and most of the things I'd watch on my own tend to be too bloody and depressing for her. Sometimes you just want something harmless with pretty people who get a guaranteed happy ending.…

I'm the other way round, I'm annoyed when things are too neatly tied up. Usually seems contrived to me, airless, the hand of the puppet master too obvious. Life tends to offer neither certainty nor closure, why should art?

Yeah, I'm not too crazy about that whole "female sexual transgressions must be punished immediately and disproportionately"-line of storytelling, to be honest. But I've already been informed that my reading doesn't add up since interviews with the actors clarified that the boys were actually in danger and suspect we…

Ah, okay, sometimes the editing on this show is a bit too brisk for me.

Dying is one thing, staying dead quite another…

You don't plan on having kids, do you?

Well, the show has already introduced some plot points that were not the in the books (eg. the Nightwatch's excursion to Craster's Keep) and so far they all have been more or less filler. I suspect that's basically the plan - cut some filler from the books, introduce some new filler that's a bit more economical about…

I think the show's suggestion is that Harbard made Siggy hallucinate the kids breaking through the ice, in order to sacrifice her for better health for baby Ivar.

I was also appalled by the ladies' apparent lack of grief over Siggy but then I figured that maybe they don't know about her death yet. When Habbard tells them "Your friend Siggy is happy in Valhalla", he also adds, "If you don't believe me, ask the seer" - maybe they're not even missing her yet. There's also some…

If they really wanted to, they totally could introduce characters and plotlines they're skipping now at a later date - lots of plot strands have been sufficiently unconnected up to now for that to work to a certain degree. If they really do 10 seasons, I could well see them introducing some Greyjoy uncles after all.…

Of course Floki is unreasonable - he represents religion, what else could he be? What else has he ever been? The voice of reason is just not his function in this narrative. As a voice of the Norse Gods, though, he's pretty spot on. They're about to be replaced, and they're understandably nervous.

So much for "If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife." I always thought that was bullshit.

Lots of secrets are taken to people's graves. I get why some people feel like making that gamble.

Good for you, still not the standard, sadly. For most women it's less a matter of using sex as a bargain chip, but rather of just being too physically and mentally exhausted after being left with the lion share of the chores, because hubby just doesn't pull his weight.