Game of Thrones

If you love Lord of the Rings (and you’re over 18) check out Game of Thrones on HBO.  It’s Lion in Winter meets Lord of the Rings meets True Blood. Medieval warfare and fantasy creatures and lots-- and lots-- of sex. HBO went all-out on this series, spending something like $50M. But you can see that in the details.  These are real castles. No green screens and peeks of palm trees in the background. They spent $50M and got their money's worth on location in Ireland. I thank them for that attention to detail, and thank them for renewing it for another season. There are a bunch of books in this series A Song of Fire and Ice by George R. R. Martin, so hope I see a lot more of this on HBO.


Now, don’t get discouraged at the beginning because there are a lot of characters. Here’s a little cheat sheet for the main ones, grouped by the cities we’ve encountered so far. There are seven kingdoms, and we’ve only been exposed (literally) to three.

Kings Landing

• King Robert: chubby guy from The Full Monty
• Queen Cersei: beautiful and vindictive.  Must have read Flowers in the Attic one too many times as a youngster, ‘cos she’s ‘involved’ with her twin brother. I wonder which of her 3 kids aren’t Robert’s.
• Jaime Lannister:  hot twin brother
• Tyrion: from The Station Agent and Elf (angry elf!). Their dwarf brother. Very smart and very horny. Manipulates every situation to his benefit, but sees The Big Picture, and uses his manipulative skills to help where he sees fit. I see an Emmy in his future.

Winterfell:  stronghold of the north, closest city to The Wall

• Ned:  Boromir from Lord of the Rings. Honest & good. Asked by Robert to be his Chief of Staff in Kings Landing
• Catelyn:  Ned’s wife. Looks like Joan Allen’s sister.

Pentos:  city across the sea. The Targaryen family lost the rebellion, and are trying to get the crown back. Hair bleach must be one of their primary exports.

• Viserys:  albino-looking brother. Sells his sister to Drogo (warrior tribe leader) in exchange for using Drogo's warriors to take back the throne.
• Daenerys:  the sister. She didn’t think she was going to like Drogo too much but after a few *helpful tips* from her slave girl, she’s liking their under-the-sheets action (a lot) and realizes she has some power. (I think she was just happy to get him to turn her around. Doggie style must be popular in the kingdom.)

The Wall:  Apparently, this kingdom has some messed up seasons, because it’s been summer for about 8 years and all of the elders are predicting a winter like they’ve never seen. And when winter comes, all sorts of hell breaks loose.


HBO's website is really good, so check it out for maps & more detailed family trees. Get caught up on the episodes so you can watch on Sunday nights.  You'll wish it was two hours instead of one. And you'll have a fine replacement for The Sopranos. This is a lot better.
http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/index.html

The American (YAWN)

Here's another shout out for you.  But it's a warning.  My husband & I watched The American this weekend.  I really wanted to see it (George Clooney!), my husband did it to appease me, and there wasn't anything else on.  Now, I'm all for small, unassuming movies.  But this one assumed that I was an insomniac who was out of Ambien.  BOR-ing.  Two hours that I could have spent playing Angry Birds.  Heck, I would have watched Spongebob for two hours.  Don't get me wrong-- it was a beautifully filmed movie.  George Clooney does pullups with no shirt on.  The Italian scenery is stark and picturesque (and uninhabited, with no traffic- seriously?).  But it went nowhere fast.  That movie poster of George running, with a gun?  Must have missed that part, or wait-- was that what happened in the last 5 minutes?  Do yourself a favor and put Get Low on your Netflix list if you're looking for a small, unassuming movie.  Don't waste your time with this one unless you're out of Ambien.

Hillbilly Whisperer

I have to give a shout-out to FX's Justified.  Wednesday nights at 9pm CST.  This show is in its second season, and it gets better every week.  The premise is this:  good-old-boy Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is a US Marshall who shoots first and asks questions later.  This gets him into trouble and so he's removed from duty in Miami and sent back to his home state of Kentucky.  You thought Miami had its drug and crime problems, but Kentucky's got 'em too, only with less chrome and neon.  He maintains a relationship with Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), a born-again, soft-spoken bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold who has a penchant for blowing things up.  (The show gets its roots from short story "Fire in the Hole" by Elmore Leonard.)  At least, I'm rooting for him to have a heart of gold.  You're never sure from week to week which way he's going to go, and you like him enough to care. 

The writing is quick and smart, like "West Wing" except that the suits are paired up with jeans, and Raylan wears a cowboy hat.  (Believe me, it's HOT.)

Check out the first season on Netflix.  Then get caught up on season two on http://vod.fxnetworks.com/watch/justified.  And then tune in on Wednesdays at 9pm after watching American Idol.  You won't regret it.

Wedge

Not that this show needs any additional advertising, but if you haven't yet checked out Modern Family, log yourself into abc.com TODAY and give it a watch.  Last night's episode was one of their funniest, mainly because of Claire and Phil, but all of the side stories played their part to make it a hoot.  For the record, I will admit that I am more like Mitchell than I'd care to admit ("eggs"? ha!).  I'm sure that Robert can count many times where my mind is clearly elsewhere-- Target, Shutterfly, sewing, etc etc--- when it should be on him.  Hear that, Robert?  You're right!  But you know I love you.


And one last thing.  I'm a snob when it comes to lettuce (really- iceberg has no nutritional value at all) but a wedge salad is A Perfect Food.  Dad & Robert (both lovers of iceberg), no need to split a salad with you for dinner.  Let's all have our own, thank you very much.