Synopsis Saturday: House of the Dragon

 

"There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin;

and no war so bloody as a war between dragons."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Miss me?

 

I know this one took me forever. I know. I was a little bit shell-shocked after the season finale this past week and needed a little bit of time to gather my thoughts, because this season was a lot of ups and downs.

 

Mainly ups, but definitely some of downs, and nope we're not in Nottingham!

 

We're in Westeros. A long time before Game of Thrones, although it's all the same in this Song of Ice and Fire saga which HBO is intent on building, considering we're getting A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms too now.

 

It's a bit like something that the Hobbits realize in The Lord of the Rings: they're part of a bigger story, and after they're gone, others will continue it, just as others started it before them

 

But enough with me maudlin. It's time to get serious, because the storm's broken in House of the Dragon.

 

Tuesday Thoughts: The Gilded Age

 

"Persistence is the key to everything. Persistence - and patience." 

Hello everyone!

I have a slightly shorter blog post for you all today, and I hope you'll forgive me for it, but I did try and at least combine a few of my thoughts on the matter within it.

You see, a few show seasons ago HBO launched it's new period drama that I would have checked out for the era alone, but they billed one of the best names in the industry under its star power: Christine Baranski.

And if you know Baranski, you KNOW she never picks a bad role!

Nor did she do so in this one, where she serves us a weekly dose of realism and sarcasm tightly laced into a corset with eyebrows that could challenge Elrond.

I love it.

So if you want to take a quick look at glitz, glamour and a whole lot of humour along with the drama, look no further: we're talking The Gilded Age tonight.

Talkie Tuesday: His Dark Materials

 

"The final rebellion has begun."

 

Hello everyone!

Happy 2023!

It's been a bit since I last posted on here, mostly because even bloggers and vloggers need a break, am I right?

So I took mine and I'm feeling properly energized for another year reviewing things for everyone.

And to start things off, I have a real banger for us.

Now it's been a bit since the first two seasons aired, because thanks to the pandemic things got really shuffled around in production and whatnot, BUT THAT ASIDE, we definitely got the conclusion through December, and WOW.

That's all I can say, WOW.

Well alright, there's some minor details, but other than that ... His Dark Materials return one last time for a final send-off.

Talkie Tuesday: House of the Dragon

 

"The only thing that could tear down the House of the Dragon ... was itself."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Saw this coming, didn't you?

 

I bet you have!

 

Or at least, you should have in any event haha. Because the best epic fantasy series to air on television this fall (for now) has just wrapped its first season and I AM HYPED.

 

Okay, there were mistakes. Tactical and story-wise, but that doesn't mean that the execution wasn't magical, however.

Considering we're coming off the horrendous last season of Game of Thrones, people naturally went into this new Westeros-based show with a lot of trepidation, myself included. Heck, I actively tried NOT to get excited, but ended up being so just the same.

I can't help it. I've ALWAYS wondered what it was like during the Targaryen hay-day, when they had all those dragons and were literally on top of the world.

If you're just as curious, dust that saddle off and let's soar above the clouds into House of the Dragon!

Saturday Snippet: The Red Queen

 

"Boo."

 

xx

*screencap by me

Saturday Snippet: Strong Security™

 

House Strong - keeping you safe since 90 AC

 

xx

*images not mine 

Saturday Snippet: House of the Dragon SEASON 2 ANNOUNCEMENT

 

Season 2, let's gooo baby!!!

 

xx

*image not mine

Saturday Snippet: House of the Dragon OFFICIAL TEASER

 

xx

*video not mine

Talkie Tuesday: Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Return to Hogwarts

 

"After all this time? Always." 

Hello everyone!

Happy New Year!

As is fitting, I chose something that I think most people have tuned into and loved to kick off the 2022 blog posts, even though I have some other topics and titles waiting on the backburner to be used and utilized.

BUT it's always good to take a look back memory lane, especially when it's something so beloved!

In case you haven't been paying attention, Harry Potter made a bit of a comeback recently, and it was SO much better than the book we won't even name.

No, seriously.

When you want to do something right, you go and do it in such a way that it actually makes sense and draws in viewers again.

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is just that.

Talkie Tuesday: His Dark Materials

 

"Once you understand something, you can master it."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Happy New Year!

 

Hopefully this will be a much better one than the one we've just gone through, and in the vein of that hope I am kick-starting all the blog posts on here with something really great.

 

There's a bunch of things to watch if you need something to distract yourself during lockdowns and quarantine, mind, but I suppose there are a few stand-outs even so, despite the fact that it's numerous all around.

 

But when BBC teams up with HBO, you really need to pay attention.

 

Philip Pullman's trilogy already sparked controversy back in the day when it was first published and it's getting right back on track with that now with the television adaptation, but I mean, did we expect anything else at all? In this day and age?

 

Nope.

 

So sit back and relax as we take a look at the second season of His Dark Materials.

 

His Dark Materials (Booktober)

 

"So Lyra and her daemon turned away from the world they were born in, 

and looked toward the sun, and walked into the sky."

 

Considering the fact HBO launched a hugely successful season one of the series last fall season, to say Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials are an unknown would be a monstrous lie. The story that's basically a recreation of Adam and Eve's fall from the Garden of Eden is as old as time, but with the addition of mirror worlds overlapping with ours and daemons who help their humans out, this is a different perspective indeed. Lyra might be the new Eve, but she is also just Lyra - someone you REALLY want to meet as she goes on her adventure to discover who she really is, who her parents aren't, and what it means to fall in love, save the world, and be back home in time for a street fight!

 

Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world. Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power. And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat – and the shattering truth of their own destiny. The two great powers of the many worlds are lining up for war, an inevitable journey that will even take them to the world of the dead ...

(from Goodreads)

 

xx

*image not mine

 

The White Queen (Booktober)

The Thorn Birds (Booktober)

The Bourbon Kings (Booktober)

Cop of the Year (Booktober)

Nefertiti (Booktober)

Timeline (Booktober)

The Murder at the Vicarage (Booktober)

Persuasion (Booktober)

The Longest Ride (Booktober)

Midnight Sun (Booktober)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians (Booktober)

The Chronicles of Narnia (Booktober)

Atlantis (Booktober)

Origin (Booktober)

Quo Vadis (Booktober)

Death on the Nile (Booktober)

The Little White Horse (Booktober)

The Sign of Four (Booktober)

Harry Potter #2 (Booktober)

Troublemaker (Booktober)

The Lord of the Rings (Booktober)

Talkie Tuesday.: His Dark Materials

"The fate of more than this world depends on her."

Hello everyone!

Welcome back to another recap Tuesday as opposed to a general review. I have a few on the backburner still waiting to get their chance to shine, and honestly I should have done this one a couple of months ago after the show first premiered, but life and other creative decisions on the blog interrupted.

If you've ever heard of Philip Pullman, you've probably heard of the movie The Golden Compass, too.

And if you've heard of THAT, then you know there's a show to follow afterwards as well.

BBC and HBO partnered up to bring us another adaptation of Pullman's book trilogy, which tells the story of an alternate world, or well WORLDS, and how there's going to be a second coming of the Original Sin, which a lot of people are trying to prevent.

Of course, one should note that the author himself is anti-political and anti-religion, so you can definitely see influences of that throughout his work.

His Dark Materials, however, remain absolutely amazing.

Game of Thrones: The Bells

"A Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing ..."

Hello everyone!

Still with me here? 

Hearing church bells ringing and thinking you need to take cover from a massive, pissed off dragon?

Or are you looking at the viral vitriol and dubious commentary wars and thinking "this season has gone down the gutter because the fans are now batshit"?

I hear you on both counts.

Actually, I hear you on ALL counts, because: my sentiments exactly.

After the third and fourth episode, I wasn't really holding my breath that the fifth was going to make things any better, execution-wise. The rushed season feels, well, rushed. So really, I went in with a lot of warnings from all around (looking at you, friends!) and emotionally detached.

I was pretty sure there would be great moments (Game of Thrones DOES have those), not-so-great ones (also Game of Thrones territory), illogical ones, and completely nutty ones.

The Bells was all of the above, so might as well put on your helmets and take cover.

Game of Thrones: The Last of the Starks

"We have won the Great War. Now we will win the Last War."

Hello everyone!

We are now officially in the very last leg of this Game of Thrones season, and I have to say that fans are beginning to see just what a shortened season has caused in the overall plot and development. 

Not that this wasn't obvious on occasions prior to this week's episode, but it's usually when everything really comes to a head that you see whether a show can sink or swim.

It seems like Game of Thrones is beginning to slowly sink, which is sad news for something that's been so epic since the beginning.

Was it all bad? Of course not. It IS still Game of Thrones, after all.

But unfortunately it also wasn't all good, either, and that seems to be the standard by which people in general look at these episodes. I have to admit I'm one of them, too. There's a lot of things to sink your teeth into on television these days, but truly remarkable ones remain scattered and divided.

With now only two episodes to go, and five promising to be a smackdown of epic proportions, let's take our leave of the North, shall we? The Last of the Starks is basically a relocation.

Saturday Snippet: The Final Season

xx

*image not mine

Game of Thrones: The Red Woman

"For the night is dark, and full of terrors."

Hello everyone!

Normally, I don't do these kinds of posts, or better still I do posts which cover the whole season of a television series since if I wanted to do recaps of each episode, I'd have to have more sets of hands, more time, and much more blog space. 

But.

In all honesty, the hype surounding Game of Thrones and its sixth season was such that I'd have to be blind not to notice it.

Not to mention, I was right along there with them!

This show is probably the most successul one HBO will ever make, and I'm not saying this lightly given there's a lot of potentially awesome material out there which could very well take the throne, but so far, Game of Thrones seems to be the only thing that's really burning all bridges and collapsing every single record out there.

And honestly, they own it.

Talkie Tuesday: Game of Thrones

Hello everyone!

So it's been ages, or so I feel, since I've last seen an actual movie and talked about it in Tuesday's segment, but I can't help it! There's just SO MUCH going on with TV shows I'm catching up to, it's ridiculous. I mean, I'm still working my way through the Tudors, then there were some others I haven't been able to see yet, and certain ones have just started their summer run (I'm looking at you, Teen Wolf). 

How am I supposed to watch movies then?!  

I don't, I suppose. And I would like to point out at this particular line of the blog that anyone who hasn't yet seen the last season of Game of Thrones should probably stop reading right about now. And I mean it, because there are going to be spoilers, and I don't want you all to come barging and being all WE HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET.

Go watch it, then come back, and we can discuss!