The whole hand removal thing suggests they're not overly bothered about that, though.  I know it was only a deputy doing that, but he'd have to be damn sure that his boss would be OK with it.  Ned Stark would probably get straight to the beheading if his men started randomly cutting off important people's hands.

We kind of still would, because the interesting thing is that, assuming ice zombies and dragons are as powerful as they're cracked up to be, all the fighting in Westeros might only amount to rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.  Whoever gets onto the throne might not hold it for long.

"You… know a little too much, Jon Snow."

Did anyone else go off this show a little at around seasons 3?  It was still funny, no doubt, but it felt like they were reaching for wackier scenarios… the first two seasons generally felt a bit more grounded and character-based.  Mind you, that probably wasn't sustainable so wacky hijinks were inevitable.

Spinachleaf: yes, that is the joke.

I was all 'And what did it say? What did it say, goddammit?'

I could see Stannis getting it at some point in the future, but only surviving on it for just long enough for the irony to sink in.

Yeah, it is odd that Tywin doesn't seem to be already on that shit. Mind you, he probably knows that nobody's going to make a marital move on Sansa without coming to ask him about him first.

HOME ENSLAVING IS KILLING THE SLAVE INDUSTRY

It's Platonic like a relationship.

Personally I'm still not a fan of the Night's Watch scenes in general.  That mutiny was nicely done, but there was so little build-up to it… seems to me that showing more growing dissatisfaction in the Night's Watch would have prepared for it better than a bunch of Craster scenes.  Mormont also never felt like more…

Someone really needs to do one of these for babylon 5:

See also the computer game Alpha Centauri. Iin fact there's a whole list of 'sentient planet' stories on wikipedia.

Amen.  There's such a huge disconnect between sci-fi novels and sci-fi films.

If you didn't like Embryonic at all, I'd say chances aren't good that you'll like this. But what kind of an inhuman monster wouldn't like Embryonic?

It's a good way of capturing the tone/mood, but not really the sound of the album. Maybe more like Feeling Yourself Disintegrate as sung by a dying robot trapped down a mineshaft with only a synthesiser for company.

Well, the music itself is pretty dark too. But when you can make out the lyrics it gives you that extra little push off the cliff.

Heh, my only drug experiences have been two unsuccessful attempts to smoke pot, and I love the Flaming Lips. So, uh, there.

Because it's a completely different kind of music from those albums, and you don't like this style, probably.  I like both, but I think on balance I prefer this and Embryonic to those two.

But if they're racing, that suggests one of them will be getting there first. And that means the prize might not be the cure after all…