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if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

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Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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Battle won, war still ongoing.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Game of Thrones

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  3. 3.

    TriassicSands

    Is everyone as excited as I am?

    Undoubtedly not. I didn’t know you were so into the Easter Bunny.

  4. 4.

    askew

    The show is way too gruesome for me. I am looking forward to Veep starting on April 14th though.

    Since this is an open thread, does anyone to tell if you have a female box elder tree? I’ve looked at pictures on the internet and can’t tell. Apparently, the tree is the reason I am suffering from an infestation of box elder bugs. I hate those fuckers.

  6. 6.

    RobertDSC-iMac G5

    I’ve read the first four novels of GRRM’s saga and I have a question about this show. Are they filming just the first book and nothing else, or is it an amalgamation of stories from the series?

  8. 8.

    arguingwithsignposts

    This is on HBO, right? Given that people who don’t subscribe to cable or satellite can’t watch the show legally, and I’m not paying for cable television for any reason, the answer is “no.”

  12. 12.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    I’ll wait for the Netflix DVD’s watching season 2 DVD’s now. However I have been reading the novels, and I can say WOW!

  21. 21.

    cathyx

    @askew: With Box Elders, which is a maple by the way, the female flowers form a pendulous raceme,(think Wisteria), and the male flowers are in a corymb.(think Queen Anne’s lace). The boxelder bugs eat the fruit from the female trees.

  22. 22.

    max

    Is everyone as excited as I am?

    Well, not excited, but damned interested.

    max
    [‘The only show I’m watching consistently beside Colbert & Person of Interest.’]

  27. 27.

    celticdragonchick

    @gene108:

    Not enough nudity, sex, violence and gore to keep my attention :-)

    Needs mor boobies??

    Seriously, yes, I am jazzed about season three… :)

  29. 29.

    Paul W.

    I’ve been counting down the days literally since the end of the last Season. I’m loving the translation to screen from HBO, and since Book 3 is what it is… I am SUPREMELY stoked about tonight.

  32. 32.

    WereBear

    Mr WereBear sure is. He kinda got ahead of me… and it is terribly violent.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Dramatically speaking.

  33. 33.

    Lolis

    I can’t wait. Thankfully I know a good website that will have it after midnight tonight.

  34. 34.

    Mary G

    Trying not to be totally obsessed about GOT, probably failing. Reviews of first four episodes are good, though tonight is mostly setup.

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Is everyone as excited as I am?

    Not about GoT, no, but I am looking forward to “Mr. Selfridge” on PBS.

  38. 38.

    askew

    @cathyx:

    Thanks – that helps. I definitely have a female one in my yard then. Now to convince the homeowner’s association to pull up the tree. That ought to be a fun conversation.

  40. 40.

    Loneoak

    I’m excited for you to see the Red Wedding episode this season, so you can know what GRRM readers have suffered all these years.

  41. 41.

    Raenelle

    We were paying $150/month for TV, and I realized the only thing on TV I gave a crap about was GOT. As much as I love GOT, that just didn’t make sense, so we cancelled our TV. As March 31 got closer and closer I got edgier and edgier. Not having TV is no big deal. No GOT? Aaarghhh.

    So, we have a two-pronged plan in place. We’re going to go to a friend’s house to watch it. But, since the friend has not seen Season 1 or 2, that could be really unpleasant; anything less than complete uninterrupted, undivided attention is just sacrilege. I’m not sure I could handle a loud groan or cheer occasionally, let alone an explanation here and there. So the follow-up plan, if the friend can’t maintain absolute silence, is to rent a motel every Sunday for an hour for the next 10 weeks.

    GOT is pure unpolluted pleasure, and I am really excited.

  42. 42.

    raven

    Along with Call the Midwife there is a new Masterpiece

    At the unfashionable end of Oxford Street in 1909 London, an American retail tycoon arrives to jettison fusty British tradition and open the biggest and finest department store the world has ever seen: Selfridges. Three-time Emmy® winner Jeremy Piven (in his first television appearance since his iconic role as Hollywood agent Ari Gold in Entourage) stars as Harry Gordon Selfridge, the flamboyant entrepreneur and showman seeking to provide London’s shoppers with the ultimate merchandise and the ultimate thrill.

  43. 43.

    quannlace

    Shhh! I’m watching the Season 2 marathon to get ready.

    Just recently reinstated HBO, and Ive just waded into Season 2. Like somebody else stated, the show does like showing lovingly up-close details of all and any blood-letting.

  46. 46.

    MikeJ

    @Raenelle: Record it at your friend’s place. Watch at your leisure. My HD recorder plugs into the analog out on the cable box on one end, a laptop on the other.

    Or you could borrow a recording that one of your many friends on the internet has already made.

  49. 49.

    mouse tolliver

    I almost forgot about Game of Thrones. Waiting for the season finale of The Walking Dead. Why do all the shows I want to watch come on on Saturday and Sunday night? There’s absolutely nothing worth watching the whole rest of the week.

  50. 50.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    My wife and I have been waiting months for tonight. Can’t wait to see what’s in store on screen after finishing the books.

  51. 51.

    Redshirt

    Internet Rule 77: On any discussion forum, someone will spoil you. It’s already happened in this thread. I’m always amazed.

  52. 52.

    Mike in NC

    @khead:

    Excited? Yes. But not for Game of Thrones – for The Walking Dead.

    All of the above. Did a Season 1 and 2 Game of Thrones DVD marathon this past week and it wore me out.

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @mouse tolliver: I wouldn’t go that far (Justiifed on Tuesdays, and I’ve heard The Americans is really good, and Parks and Recreation, and… yeah, that’s about it). But the Sunday glut can be aggravating, especially since if you’re also and intertubes junkie, or even listen to the radio, or get texts from well meaning friends, it’s really hard to avoid spoilers.

  57. 57.

    Loneoak

    I assume it was me? That’s not a spoiler, that’s a taunt. There’s like 14 possible weddings that someone who has only seen the first two seasons could be thinking of. ‘There’s a wedding in this season’ is not a spoiler.

  58. 58.

    Alison

    @Redshirt: The only thing I see as even potentially considered a spoiler is about something that happened in the first season, in an episode that aired almost two years ago. So…sorry, that’s silly to consider that a spoiler.

  59. 59.

    guachi

    No. Can’t say that I really care. I have far too many shows that I enjoy watching that I’m not spending $15, or whatever, just for one more show.
    Especially because I don’t know if FiOS will put a copy flag on HBO. They don’t for any of their non-pay channels. And that means I can record it, strip the commercials out, compress it, and save it for later.

  62. 62.

    Punchy

    Its bazebawl season, yo. Watch the boys of summer field the can of corn while avoiding the golden sombrero.

  63. 63.

    Loneoak

    I’m sorry, but as far as discussions of known cultural artefacts on the Internet go, that’s not a spoiler. Now, if I told everyone that Ned Stark isn’t really dead, he’s wandering rural Georgia as a headless zombie in a crossover with Walling Dead, THAT would be a spoiler.

  64. 64.

    James E. Powell

    I read all five books, so I’m feeling like the show is five or six seasons behind me, at least five or six. Wondering if the actors will stick around long enough to finish the job.

  65. 65.

    patroclus

    Can’t wait a moment longer! Joffrey better get killed early this season, and Tiberius needs to get horrendously killed in Spartacus too.

  66. 66.

    Alison

    @Redshirt: Okay, what are you referring to? Ned Stark or the Red Wedding? Because…the former, as I said, happened two years ago, and the latter is certainly vague enough not to be considered a spoiler unless you’re being ridiculously nit-picky.

  67. 67.

    Anoniminous

    Not to be a Debby Downer but …

    Iraq, Afghanistan Wars Will Cost U.S. 4-6 Trillion Dollars: Report:

    Costs to U.S. taxpayers of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will run between four and six trillion dollars, making them the most expensive conflicts in U.S. history, according to a new report by a prominent Harvard University researcher.

    While Washington has already spent close to two trillion dollars in direct costs related to its military campaigns in the two countries, that total “represents only a fraction of the total war costs”, according to the report by former Bill Clinton administration official Linda Bilmes.

    Curious* they would put this out on the Saturday before Easter when no one is paying attention to the news.

    —————————————————————————————–

    * Not really

  68. 68.

    Loneoak

    @Alison: RedShirt is referring to the Red Wedding. It’s a wedding and dramatic and it happens. Spoiled it for ya, eh?

  69. 69.

    Redshirt

    You people! Sigh….

    This show has a particularly difficult time on discussion forums because 1. There’s a good deal of interest in the TV show and 2. There’s a series of books that many, but not all, have read.

    So, you have an exciting show that many people are obsessing on mixed up with folks who could ruin it for them at any time.

    It’s too tempting a target for many.

  71. 71.

    Alison

    @Loneoak: OMG HOW COULD YOU. Next you’re gonna haul off and tell me people also say words and drink booze and there is some fighting. NOW I DON’T EVEN WANNA WATCH.

    Look, I can understand getting bugged when people put clear spoilers for new episodes right in a post title or above a jump…but a very vague reference to something in a comment thread? If you’re that easily annoyed with spoilers, maybe don’t read the comments on a post about the show. Just a thought.

    (ETA: By “you” in the second paragraph I don’t mean you, Loneoak, I mean general “you” :))

  73. 73.

    Alison

    @Redshirt: But if you haven’t read the books, and you know most viewers of the show have read them, you should expect that discussion are going to involve things from the books people are looking forward to or curious about or whatever. If you choose to read comment threads where that discussion is obviously going to happen, then that’s your own fault. You can’t expect people who have read the books to not want to discuss them just because you haven’t. In that case, you have to do the due diligence of not getting into those convos, rather than insisting everyone tailor the conversation to your more limited knowledge of the saga.

    (Again, general “you”. I should say “one” or something, maybe)

  75. 75.

    Loneoak

    @Redshirt: Good, if one professes to be a fan but hasn’t read the books yet then one just has to expect a certain risk of participating.

    I get sports results spoiled all the time by checking fB. I don’t get angry about it because I was dumb enough to log on.

  77. 77.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @Redshirt:

    I can’t be spoiled. However, if I was only watching the show and hadn’t read the books I sure wouldn’t trust reading threads like this.

    Exactly. People have to have the ability to discuss things in books they read and shows they see. If you don’t want a spoiler, don’t read threads that are openly about the show. Storm of Swords was published 13 years ago. What’s your statute of limitations?

  78. 78.

    Vico

    Yes indeed. My only question is whether to watch it right now (6 p.m. PDT) or wait and watch it in HD at 9.

  79. 79.

    John M. Burt

    @askew: I am dubious that the presence of an actual box elder (male or female) is necessarily the source of a box elder beetle outbreak. Here in Corvallis, they are known as “Benton Hall Bugs”, because they began appearing all over town just after renovations began to the oldest building on campus. They were apparently quite happy living in wood that probably hadn’t even been a box elder tree when it was alive a century before.

    As for Game of Thrones, not having cable we’re not watching it, but I like the books all right.

    And I keep giggling at the idea that Martin began writing the series to vent all the ideas he could never have used on Beauty and the Beast, because of budget constraints or network censorship, and now it’s appearing on TV . . . .

  80. 80.

    MazeDancer

    @mouse tolliver:

    Ad buying prospects governs all TV show placements. Sunday night is the night most people stay home. Thus, it has potential of higher ratings. That’s why 60 Minutes is on Sunday.

    The other big night is Thursday. All the Friday movie debuts will buy premium space.

    Ten years from now, none of this will matter. But that’s the heritage of why some nights more full of good stuff than others.

  81. 81.

    Alison

    @Redshirt: Okay, so we agree. But you also seemed to say that just the mention of “Red Wedding” was a spoiler, and to me, that’s stretching the definition way too far. The simple fact of a wedding happening – when you don’t necessarily know who is involved, what happens, why it’s a big deal, etc – is as much a spoiler as saying “there are battle scenes”.

  82. 82.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Where is your god now, Burnsie?

    His hockey team (Union) is getting blown out, too. They’ve also decided to goon it up along the way. They’ve had two players ejected for really dirty hits.

  83. 83.

    Anoniminous

    @Mike in NC:

    Wouldn’t have brought it up in a thread about GoT but the bastards are trying to bury it.

    (+4 and going AFC to go +5)

  84. 84.

    Redshirt

    @Alison: You’re using your own subjective opinion of what is and is not a spoiler. Rather than the far simpler definition of: If it has not aired, it’s a spoiler.

    And who’s to say the next person using their own subjective opinion of what is and is not a spoiler will jibe with yours? There’s none, of course, and that’s why subjective opinions should not be used as the basis of judgement.

  85. 85.

    Redshirt

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Infinite, when it comes to a new TV show. When the blog host posts a thread about how excited he is for the new season of the TV show, this implies he has not read the books and in fact is enjoying the story via the show.

    But like I said, this is an immutable Internet law, so what can you do besides avoid the Internet. Which doesn’t seem fair, but there we are.

  87. 87.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Alison: well here it’s just impolite because Cole didn’t specifically say “no spoilers or I will punch you in the neck.” But an argument could be made that he shouldn’t have to. And in fora specifically devoted to tv shows there in fact are both spoiler-free and spoileriffic threads. And WATBs who cry oppression when The Man bans them for failing to respect the difference.

  90. 90.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @Redshirt: I guess we have a difference of opinion as to who is responsible for making sure you don’t learn material that’s more than a decade old. If you watch a show based on books that were written a while ago, it shouldn’t surprise you when people discuss the events as if they were written a while ago. It’s not their responsibility to shut up about things forever. If a thread is specifically marked as spoiler-free, that’s different. If it’s not, though, then read at your own peril.

  92. 92.

    Redshirt

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): It’s a dilemma, to be sure. There’s arguments to be made on both sides.

    For myself, I consider each artistic creation to be new and unique, and thus worthy of spoiler freedom. Consider the LOTR movies. A small percentage of people worldwide knew the 50 year old story backwards and forwards. The vast majority of the many people who went to (and enjoyed, and made the movies critical and popular successes) the movies did not.

    Did they all deserve to get spoiled? I say no. Your mileage unfortunately may vary.

  95. 95.

    lojasmo

    I wish I could JUST subscribe to HBO. Cable TV is a total ripoff. Oh well. It’ll be on netflix or hulu eventually.

  96. 96.

    Mnemosyne

    @lojasmo:

    The first couple of seasons are available on DVD and Amazon Instant Video, FWIW.

    Just don’t think you can watch it during dinner. WAY too gruesome for that.

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