Really! Well it was many years ago when I read it. I thought I specifically remembered a line where he refers to the woman he's with as a "rich bitch." But maybe I'm wrong. Where did that come from:)

I don't have that kind of antipathy towards that story but I remember being shocked as a teenager reading the vicious hateful thoughts of the wounded protagonist towards his wife/girlfriend? That was pretty damn shocking and kind of took me out of the story. Later, I learned more about Hemingway and was like….ok,…

That was a pretty well-realized character and Cruise did a scary good job of making him real. He was kind of a Tucker-Max like douche bag that sad-sacks would worship, but I think Magnolia came about first.

Gotta be close to the most overrated anyway. There is very little music that I loved in high school that I still love. Pearl Jam Ten is maybe the only exception. That whole album still does it for me. Nevermind on the other hand, I have found nigh un-listenable to since I was a teenager. Yeah, it's got a few good…

I had to look that word up. Now I will never think of creamed corn the same again.

I guess I can see how someone would find Alfred's story in DK to be over the top, or a little cheezy. Though, I thought it was pretty haunting and Alfred's colonial interloper past functioned nicely as a parallel to Batman's own outsider status and mission, complete with a Joker-esque villain of pure evil in pursuit…

I always felt Littlefinger taking Sansa to Winterfell was just something that might happen eventually in the books. And because of time restraints, D and D just had no plausible idea how to get her there in time, so they just had Littlefinger act decidedly un-strategic (downright non-sensical and idiotic actually) in…

I do think the House of Black and White storyline has been too separate from the main story for too long to be interesting to me anymore. BUT, I know that she will rejoin the main narrative at some point, at which time I expect it to be completely awesome.

Hey yous guys: befores I place my bets, I's just wanna know what's the vig? No, seriously, I've always wondered what a vig is?

Ok. That's true. But I would argue that ending ASOIAF where it currently stands would be more like ending LOTR before the battle of Helm's Deep and not at all like ending it before the (completely unnecessary to the main narrative arc of the story, as you said) return to the Shire.

True, but Jackson didn't excise the entire third act. But if you are really cool with a story ending two-thirds of the way through, that's a real time-saver I guess.

You guys are both saying some things I agree with. Martin doesn't owe anyone anything. At the same time if he doesn't finish the series it will be a personal tragedy for him and a bummer for everyone else. But that still doesn't make us entitled to anything. I follow his blog. He does a lot of different things and…

The weird thing about Darkstar is just came across as a mopey young prick with an unknowable chip on his shoulder, who is also supposedly really good with a blade. Then he chops of Myrcella's ear in a murder attempt and I'm like: ok, you really are a bastard. But, yeah, he better end up be a shadowbinder or something…

That would be like if we had Unfinished Tales but no Return of the King. Ok, it would be better than that, but still…

I just found that out. Two early released and consecutive Arianne chapters having her head in the direction of Aegon and some sort of conflict (and resolution?) only to..not quite…reach that goal. If I was being cynical I could say this was a microcosm of the frustrations of the entire story so far: a long journey…

I'll take it because I'm weak and even though it's probably not a good way to read it. What would be preferable would be for him to release like one chapter a month (and for him to have done so for some time now). Otherwise, releasing the whole book at once is obviously the best thing. What really is strange is…

AFFC is kind of ASOIF's "Vietnam" book if that makes any sense. Brienne (and Jaime's to some extent) wanderings in the book remind me of that line from Platoon: "We drop a lot of bombs then we walk through the jungle like ghosts in a landscape." Yeah, those chapters are all about the real cost of war, the mop-up…

Cool. His last Arianne chapter had her heading to Griffin's Roost. Maybe this one will have her reaching Storm's End and Aegon. Exciting!

He's a lover of language and that shows in his expositions (food pornography to some, richly evocative to me) and in his dialogue like you've just shown. He's just a very strong writer.

That would actually be far preferable to me than a 5-6 year wait between books.