Game of Thrones: The Winds of Winter

"Winter is here."

Hello everyone!

IT'S DONE, YO! 

Ahem.

Anyone who knows me or who has been reading along with these blogs knows that I'm pretty much all over the place when it comes to Game of Thrones, but this Sunday's tenth and final episode of the sixth season was SO worth all the annoyance and tears and aggravation that came before. Most notably in season five because a lot of the stuff in five seemed to be something we would never, ever understand, only to realize it was all a huge build-up for this hour and some minutes!

Oh yeah, it was a super-sized finale. Gotta love THOSE.

And I didn't actually get to it before a friend of mine told me I better strap in for the ride, because apparently it was explosive. Like, literally explosive.

I didn't believe her until I saw through the ep, but you know what they say: seeing is believing.

I am now a firm believer. Also, I declare for House Stark, but that's beside the point.

Saturday Snippet: Friendship

You're supposed to trust friends. You have no reason to be his friend? That is part of the pleasure of friendship: trusting without absolute evidence and then being rewarded for that trust.

David Shore

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Days of Blood and Starlight

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil held a wishbone between them.
And its snap split the world in two.

Hello everyone!

On occasion when I'm trying to come up with a blog post, I will go and consult my little sheep notebook which I dedicated to random notes and jotting down lines about the stuff I read and/or watch. I don't always use it - sometimes it's all so fresh in my mind I only have to close my eyes to remember what it was all about - but when I'm trying to conjure a blog post about, say, a book I've read a couple months ago, it isn't always as easy as thinking about it.

This book tonight is a prime example of what I'm talking about, because I think it's been at least three months since I sat down to read it.

Now, not sure if any of you will recall, but I did a review about Laini Taylor's first book, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, way back when. I'll be posting a link down below so if you need it, scroll to the bottom of the page, please!

My point being here that I had read and written a blog about book one, but then didn't seem to get around to book two for a little while.

Actually, a long wile. But I finally got my butt into gear, and lo and behold, here is the review for Days of Blood and Starlight!

Game of Thrones: Battle of the Bastards

"You will die tomorrow."

Hello everyone!

So.

It happened.

Episode Nine.

I swear the number alone should come with a warning when it's Game of Thrones, because, looking back on previous seasons, the penultimate episode of each has ALWAYS been the one that made people remember just why it was that they initially began watching the show in the first place.

Season six, episode Nine, did not disappoint either.

Not only was it brilliant visually and condensed in terms of space and time, but it was also pretty much an epic smack-down which told us who will, in the end, probably prevail and stand over the charred and/or frozen corpses of their enemies.

Although, I will also freely admit that I made a very vital mistake in eating dinner prior to watching the episode.

Special shout-out to Maegan because, well, she told me not to, and I didn't listen.

Saturday Snippet: A New Superman In Town

Hello everyone!

News broke this week that Tyler Hoechlin has been cast as the new Superman for TV. While Henry Cavill remains our Man of Steel, Tyler has been signed on to join the cast of Supergirl in its second season, starting this fall.

I'm definitely ALL for this!

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: The Rose and the Dagger

Hello everyone!

After having to fan myself because the internet pretty much just broke over the news that Tyler Hoechlin has been cast as Superman for CW's Supergirl, I'm back with a book blog this week!

And okay, yeah, I'm human, alright? I can take a minute (or ten) to appreciate the eye candy that Mr. Hoechlin is. I've been wondering where Derek was in Teen Wolf.

Guess he's been getting measured for a new cape!

But I digress.

Two weeks ago I wrote a review about a book called The Wrath and the Dawn (I'll post a link down at the bottom of the page), and because it was such an amazing retelling of Arabian Nights, I just had to get my hands on a copy of its sequel, The Rose and the Dagger, pretty much as soon as humanly possible.

As I also knew that I probably wouldn't be able to put the book down once I started reading, I held back until earlier this week when I had time to spare, and then just curled up, reading it in one go!

Game of Thrones: No One

"A girl is not 'no one'."

Hello everyone!

Back yet again with another review for Game of Thrones. This week's episode was titled 'No One', and it was actually quite fitting as it moved most plotlines forward, pointed out no one is invisibl to death, dealt with Arya (thank the gods!) and even managed to make me not headdesk that much.

Okay, I lied about that. 

I headdesked through ALL of the episode. Mostly.

Then again, this is Game of Thrones, so I'm not sure why I'd even be surprised that it brings out such conflicting and rather ... er, irrationally strong emotions out of me. You'd figure after five full seasons and the sixth coming to a close, I'd be immune to the lot of it.

But, nope.

Every time I sit down to watch, it's a case of yet another scintillating monologue between me and my computer screen. Always intelligent, of course.

Saturday Snippet: Work & Music

Hello everyone!

So I don't know about you, but I find that, sometimes, I work much better when there's music involved. Although, to be honest, not just any kind of music, either.

For example, as a translator, I need to focus specifically on the words that are staring at me from the computer screen. This means that if  hear any kind of song where the artist starts singing, especially in one of the two languages I'm working with, my concentration will be shot pretty much to hell, and I'll need to start a sentence from scratch again.

This is probably one of the chief reasons why I've gravitated towards score music over the years.

I've always loved soundtracks. I remember when my dad would still order CDs from a magazine that was delivered once a month to our house (yeah, this was way before online shopping), my sister and I could each pick one CD every few months, maybe once or twice a year.

First one I picked?

The Fellowship of the Ring. Haven't looked back since.

My current addiction are the extended Hobbit soundtracks; please ignore the playlists in the middle as I'm way overdue for some overhaul, those are the same as they were five years ago!

Over the years, as I became more and more immersed in popular culture, I realized that movies and TV shows alike usually have two different kind of musics running through them: on one track, there are songs by featured artists, either written specifically for that purpose or picked because the message the song conveyed was on the spot; on the second track, the orchestral score with no lyrics, underlining what was going on.

I will sometimes enjoy the first set very much, but mostly I veer sharply towards the original scores. There's something incredible about hearing the main theme of something you're watching on-screen. Probably everyone knows the Game of Thrones one, or Star Wars!

Which is why, when I translate, I make sure to pop in my headphones, get my original motion picture scores, and crank them up so they block out all other noise.

Then, in my happy place, I translate.

xx

*image © to me

Some of the composers I enjoy listening to: Howard Shore, John Williams, Klaus Badelt, Hans Zimmer, Alexandre Desplat, Bear McCreary, Blake Neely, Trevor Morris, Michael Giacchino

Favourite Score: The Lord of the Rings

Favourite Track: The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

Favourite composer: Howard Shore; Hans Zimmer is a close second

Favourite theme song(s): The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Star Trek, Pirates of the Caribbean

Summer tune: Hawaii Five-0 (2010 version)

Tome Thursday: The Hidden Oracle

Hello everyone!

Book time again. And I have to say, this has to be one of those books that you can read through in one sitting if you have a couple of hours to spare.

And to be honest, for me, if I didn't have them? I'd wait to read until I did. Because I'm not sure how I could have paused at any given point in the book without wondering what, precisely, was going to happen next.

I'm talking about Rick Riordan's newest book, The Hidden Oracle. This is the first in his series The Trials of Apollo, which returns to the modern-day Greek gods world of Percy Jackson and his cohort, but this one takes place after the previous two series.

Can you tell though that I was super excited to learn there would be a new book altogether?

I love Riordan's books. Like, I really do. He's one of those authors I could read again and again, no matter which book it was. So this one was no exception whatsoever, despite the fact that I would have been very happy with some better appearances by our favourites!

However, you can't have it all.

Game of Thrones: The Broken Man

"I am a Stark. I will always be a Stark."

Hello everyone!

Back with this week's recap of the latest Game of Thrones episode, and, BOY, are things heating up the closer we get to the finale! 

Which, I just realized ...

Guys.

GUYS.

There are only three episodes left in this season!

Where did the time go?!

It feels like just last week we were all jammng along loudly to our favourite opening tune to any show when it returned to television for this run, and now here we are, entering the final stretch with only episodes eight, nine and ten left!

And if it'll be anything like previous seasons, I'm thinking episode nine is one to watch.

Saturday Snippet: Summer!

Hello everyone!

So summer doesn't officially begin until later this month - much later - but the weather is beautifully perfect either way here on the sunny side of the Alps! I'm really looking forward to spending some more time in the sun.

With appropriate protection of course.

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: The Wrath and the Dawn

Hello everyone!

So a long time ago, in blog terms that is, I wrote a post regarding a retelling of Arabian Nights, this one being titled A Thousand Nights. And then, what I promised myself and anyone who really reads this blog, was that I was going to read The Wrath and the Dawn and compare the two books side by side, or at the very least point out differences and similarities.

That being obviously other stuff besides the retellings of Arabian Nights, of course.

And then what I did was conveniently forget about the lot of it, meaning I didn't get around to actually even reading this book until very recently, and go figure but when I went to check on when exactly I wrote the first blog, it was six months ago.

I really do ace these things, I know I do.

Now, that being said, I have to mention I'm a big fan of Arabian Nights - in fact, I actually have a gilded book in Slovene of one translated version of the thing, which is so huge I need to sit down when I'm reading it.

Yeah, you could probably whack someone over the head with the hardcover and they'd drop. Nifty weapon of choice!