Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire)

A Literature/Television Analysis

George R.R. Martin weaves together an army of colorful, honorable and malicious characters into a fantasy book that as series will be known to rival that of J.R. Tolkien.

If you have ever read manga and watched anime you know how the Japanese have created an interesting combination. The manga is like a comic, except is much more in depth, it is truly an art  in the right hands. If the manga does well they turn it into an anime. This is interesting, because all these characters you saw frozen into place on the panels of the manga are coming to life. Game of Thrones has done something that almost enhances this enjoyable viewing method.

There are seven books to the series and Game of Thrones is the first out of five released. What is so amazing about the the show, brought to us through HBO, is that it captures the whole essence of the books. Season one (ten episodes) is book one, season two (ten episodes) is book two and so on so forth. What is amazing is you see all the dialogue and character development captured on the screen, which is much easier to do in a manga/anime because the characters are already view able in the manga. You see all the dialogue in the show is taken from the book and the setting of it is portrayed vividly in the show. 

To talk about the plot would be long and tedious, what is more interesting are the characters and families that drive it. The book/show is violent, lustful and political, perhaps that is in the wrong order, the book is political, lustful and violent. When I say political I don't mean it is talking about Clinton's presidency or the war in Iraq, I mean it in the way that the monarchy and battle for it is portrayed.  

Two Great Indie Games (That Are Creepy As Hell)

Now when I talk about platformers, gamer's have a good ol' nostalgic taste of the past. But believe it or not, side-scrollers aren't dead, and not only are they not dead, they are getting very innovative.

1. Limbo 


The point of this game is your looking for a little girl, who is dead, what about that isn't already disturbing?

This game follows a little boy who wakes up between life and death, and you are on a mission to find your little sister. The first "boss" of the game is a giant spider. Let me reiterate the point that this is a little boy. Let me also remind you that this spider isn't a normal silk spewing nasty monster, it is a silk spewing nasty monster that is about as big a large house.

This sure makes you feel bad, because who loves there sister that much. Now I wouldn't even save my ill-fated sister from a giant daddy long legs.

This goes to show that Sweden has some spiritually disturbed video game designers. (ref. Mojang and Frictional Games)

Felt like crawling into a fetal position and praying I go to heaven after finishing this on

2. Braid

Braid follows the journey of a man with mysterious powers. You get the Mario Bros vibe until you start going back in time... IN GAME.

This game is literally cutesy on the surface, as well as fun to play. But subtly this game is really quite disturbing. 

A Batman Villian (Who Was Unfairly Looked Over)

Hush

   Yes, his name is derived from a scary children's rhyme and guess what? Him (Tommy Elliot) and young Bruce Wayne grew up together, both from rich families. Hell, they probably heard that nursery rhyme together. Though there was one thing that set these two future tycoons apart, their relationships with their parents.

"Your parents are dead? That sucks, mine are total douchers!"

      Now before you start thinking this kid was a spoiled brat or had dirty rich kid syndrome you have to know that he cut his parents breaks because his mother made him memorize Socrates instead of spanking him. Now he hated his mother because of that but he hated his father even more. Even though they were ass-spankingly rich, his father was about as drunk as an Irish immigrant on Saint Patricks day. He beat little Hush up more than Bane beat up Batman. If Batman was formed because of a love for his parents, then Hush is what happens when your a genius, friends with baby Batman, and you hate your parents.
   His frail mother who he sort of loved survived the accident and eventually Tommy got sent to a psych ward... Only to be released! He becomes his mothers caretaker to insure that he got the family funds upon her death. When he got bored taking care of his mother he bides his time by hating on Bruce Wayne. What Bruce had was what he wanted for his life, he wanted success and leisure.
   Like most people who are being taken care of by a lunatic, his mother heals, and to her future dismay, she denies her son any of the family fortunes because he has been sleeping around with a modest lady named Peyton Riley. Like two angry people denied lots and lots of money, those two kill her and it is publicly seen as an accident. He finally wins, he killed the two people he hated... Well besides one.

Why Nolan should have used him:

-He is genius.
-He strangled his own mother.
-He is a shadow in Bruce's past.
-He is a master plastic surgeon, even making his face to look exactly like Bruce Wayne.
-He abandons love to rival the life of Bruce Wayne, eventually MANIPULATING the JOKER.
Was that story not gritty enough? If that wasn't then I am going to go show a classroom full of Mormon kids American History X.

“Okay kids, who can tell me why we don't drop the soap?”

Why being crazy is the new sane (Or trying to justify my actions)

To what extent is insanity a function of mental illness as opposed to a social construction of nonconformity? 


If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.

-Hunter S. Thompson

Some people would like to argue that living a repetitively normal life of complete complacency is satisfying, well I'm here to say why, perhaps, they are wrong. Some of the most influential people of all time were lunatics, for better or for worse. 

"Now snort this upside down! Yes.... yes, like that."

Just cause they are insane doesn't mean you need to take all of their advice. Hunter S. Thompson lived the definition of extreme, but this guy also did himself in near the end. I wasn't a dear friend of Thompson, but I can tell he wasn't completely joyful while he was still kicking. Drowning yourself in drugs doesn't always seem like a good way of projecting all the happiness you have boxed up inside. Generations have different ideas of "lunacy". Thompson may have been a lunatic in his time, but now, after reflecting on his ideas, is almost worshiped by anarchists and commune hippies.

What would categorize a crazy person today? Do you think you should be a little bit crazy in life? Perhaps when you look at the bigger picture at the end of your days, do you want to be viewed as boring...