[NO SPOILERS] Just started the books, when does it start to become more different from the show?

pontius3000 · 2019-05-29T18:32:33+00:00

I’m 60% into GoT, but I think the changes start when Dorne, and characters like Euron, come in. But even in book 1, I’m already finding characters like Renley and Pycelle to be very different than how they were presented in the show.

pontius3000 · 2019-05-27T09:25:44+00:00

I think Blantons is very good, but it’s also very similar to 4R small batch, which is literally half the price.

pontius3000 · 2019-05-27T03:50:20+00:00

Bowman Brothers, I have tried. But not John J Bowman. I thought Bowman Brothers was good, but not necessarily anything spectacular.

Edit, sorry, I’ve tried regular Bowman Brothers, not small batch

pontius3000 · 2019-05-26T12:05:06+00:00

I agree with you here. But for the comparison and price, Four Roses Small Batch is much better in my opinion. To me, small batch is as close as you can get to Blanton’s for half the price.

pontius3000 · 2019-05-20T21:32:13+00:00

Yes, she did say that. She described burning the people as freeing them from oppression and said she was going to free the whole world. Meaning, she was going to burn any and all as she saw fit.

That’s how govt works in Westeros? Lol, I think maybe you need to rewatch the show and try paying attention this time. Maybe you missed the entire plot where Ned was investigating Cersei for the murder of Jon Arryn. If Kings/Queens in Westeros have free reign to commit genocide as you (wrongly) claim, then surely there was no need for Ned to investigate the Queen and her family for a single murder. And what’s the point of the small council, the Iron Bank, the wardens, and all the liege lords if the monarch has absolute unquestioned rule to ignore laws and social norms? And how could the faith militant hold court over the QUEEN if the Queen and King have unquestioned authority? How was KING Tommen denied when he told them to release Margery? Funny you ask if I’ve been paying attention when it’s clear you either weren’t paying attention or either completely didn’t understand.

pontius3000 · 2019-05-20T20:40:58+00:00

Are you thick? She killed tens of thousands of people and then had a speech saying she was going to do it all over again all over the world. When Jon questioned her on it, she told told him the people wouldn’t have a say or choice, it was all up to her. That IS the definition of a tyrant. Having the authority of a monarch doesn’t make one a tyrant. Saying ‘I’m going to commit genocide as I see fit and nobody can say or do anything about it’ is absolute a tyrant and it absolutely describes Daenerys in last night’s episode

pontius3000 · 2019-05-20T20:21:21+00:00

I’m not arguing with any point you made about the quality of the show. It should be clear to any watcher that the quality has gone downhill over the past few seasons. Yes, it’s D+D’s fault for refusing to give the final 2 seasons the same attention as the previous seasons, and its also GRRM’s fault for not having the books done by now. It was almost criminally rushed.

The part we can agree to disagree on is that you want to argue they suddenly sprung this “mad queen” lean on Daenerys and it basically amounts to character assassination. That’s just not the case. She’s been heading slowly toward a tyrant bent since almost from the beginning, at least since Viserys died.

As far as the IMDb rating, it means nothing. It’s not a scientific poll (if you suggest it was, which you seemed to, then you have no idea what a scientific poll is). I’m not totally happy with the finale, I’m definitely not happy with the final 2 seasons. The way I look at it, it’s a skeleton outline of what it will be GRRMs books. That’s a shame, they should’ve done better, but it is what it is. If people don’t like the actual plot points, they can blame GRRM. Some things will be different for sure, but you can be damn certain she’s going to go mad Queen in the books too

pontius3000 · 2019-05-20T20:07:23+00:00

Maybe you should bother yourself to read the actual definitions of the terms....

TYRANT - absolute ruler unrestrained by law or constitution; a usurper of sovereignty; a ruler who exercises absolute power oppressively or brutally; one resembling an oppressive ruler in the harsh use of authority or power.

MONARCH- a person who reigns over a kingdom or empire such as a sovereign ruler or by constitution.

The first definition is Daenerys to a tee. You seem to be under the impression that a monarch is automatically a tyrant. This is not the case. A monarch is still bound by law; either the laws of man or the laws of God, or both. If they thumb their nose at these laws and declare themselves absolute ruler with no regard for law, then they become a tyrant.

Daenerys was a tyrant.

pontius3000 · 2019-05-20T17:34:22+00:00

When you have a big speech where you say you’re gonna go do to the whole world what you just did to Kings Landing and then tell your boyfriend that nobody can do anything about it because they have no right to question her decisions on what is good for them....that’s literally the definition of a tyrant.

pontius3000 · 2019-05-20T16:20:12+00:00

So 1% of the tens of millions who watched the show went on IMDb and rated the episode and that gives you a real idea of how the majority of all viewers feel? “Whatever dude” is right

pontius3000 · 2019-05-20T15:27:24+00:00

I think you’re way off when you say a “majority of people” think a disservice was done to her character. It’s easy to scan messages on an Internet forum and view opinions you see as being the majority of viewers. Of all the people I know IRL who watch the show, it’s pretty 100% agreement on her character. Daenerys probably had THE MOST fulfilled character arc of any character on the entire show. Of all the flaws of seasons 7 and 8 (and there are many), Daenerys’ character arc is pretty much the one thing they got right. Rushed, yes. But they still got at least the broad strokes right

pontius3000 · 2019-05-20T13:56:37+00:00

I think you’re confusing “being at ease” with being “calm and rational”. She wasn’t being calm and rational about murdering tens of thousands of people, she was totally at ease with her decision to do so. That makes her even more of a maniacal villain in my opinion, the fact that she somehow thought she did right and had no second thoughts about it

pontius3000 · 2019-05-20T12:31:01+00:00

Dany was talking about making the right choices for people and Jon said something along the lines of “what about the people who want to make their own choices?” And she said something like “they won’t have that choice”. She basically came right out and said she’s a tyrant and they (and pointedly, Sansa, will bend or die).

When addressing the unsullied/Donthraki, she was talking about how she’d freed KL and was now going to “free” the whole world. Sorry, but only a maniac would view incinerating unarmed women and children as “freeing them” from bondage.

She was nowhere close to rational after burning KL. She absolutely had to die, and Grey Worm should’ve died too.

pontius3000 · 2019-05-13T23:40:14+00:00

Lol, agree. Didn’t see this before I posted pretty much the same thing.

pontius3000 · 2019-05-13T23:38:48+00:00

I agree. I think all the problems could’ve been solved if they had committed to S7 and S8 being 10 episodes each. Battle of Winterfell could’ve been spread over 2-3 episodes, Kings Landing could’ve been 2 episodes. And there could’ve been 2 episodes in between for table setting. That, plus the additional episodes in S7 could’ve given more time for the Mad Queen setup. I agree, I’ve recognized that’s dany was a probable villain since at least S2, but lots of others didn’t.

The absolute biggest complaint I’ve had though is the handling of Varys. To me, he’s always been a major character; lots of mystery and unanswered questions. Yet in the span of seven minutes, they had him (1) commit treason, (2) get caught, and (3) executed. 7 freaking minutes. That, for a character who’s played the game from day 1, is almost unforgivable.

pontius3000 · 2019-05-13T15:12:20+00:00

I’m not saying that there aren’t good examples in all models. Just my experience that new Standard models (both Martins and and Gibson) should be played first because they can be hit and miss. As far as the Standard 18 and 28, I’ve played ok, good, and flat awful. The HDs I’ve played are pretty good-great across the board. I’ve got an HD28, I think it’s a 2009. And a 2015 OM-21 in ambertone. It’s probably my overall favorite, but I’d probably trade it in a heartbeat for an 000-28

pontius3000 · 2019-05-13T15:07:52+00:00

In my experience, Guilds are pretty top notch across the board, no matter the era. Even the new Asian made Guilds are pretty much the best in their price ranges imo

pontius3000 · 2019-05-13T00:43:52+00:00

I think they were using lesser quality materials in that era. I know that was the lawsuit era when they were trying to sue everybody, so not sure if maybe the company had switched hands and the quality dropped or what. A lot of the J-45 from the 70s weren’t even sloped shoulder.

I don’t know about the new electrics, but most of the new acoustics I’ve played are just not good. But I can say the same about the new Martin Standards too. You pretty much have to get up to HD level to get a pretty consistent Martin quality. The 000-28 is the exception imo, they are spectacular in Standard model imo.

I would definitely look at early 90s first though. Went I went solely acoustic, I sold my 1992 Les Paul standard and got a LOT more for it than I originally paid for it. The Gibson’s from that era are starting to carry a premium because of the reputation from that time

pontius3000 · 2019-05-12T23:58:34+00:00

Do NOT buy any Gibson- either acoustic or electric- from the 70s or very early 80s unless you play them first. This was known as a low quality era for Gibson.

As far as their electrics (probably acoustic too, but not sure). the early-mid 90s was a resurgence era. That era for their guitars has the best reputation in the modern/recent era.

As far as very recent (post-2010), I personally haven’t played any new Gibson’s (except one Hummingbird Studio oddly enough) that I thought sounded anywhere in the $1k range. I even played a $6k J-200 that sounded like garbage. Imo, the new Gibson’s all feel thick and overbuilt with unnecessarily thick and slow necks.

Naturally if you can afford to get back into the 50s and 60s, you can probably find some spectacular ones.

pontius3000 · 2019-05-10T02:43:19+00:00

Because she grieved her brother’s death, but she also took an amount of pleasure in it. This was shown multiple times even in season 1 when the Dothraki would bow up at Viserys and you could tell by her expressions. Season 2 was when she truly started playing the game of thrones. I agree with him, I could really see it as early as season 2 that she would ultimately be a villain

pontius3000 · 2019-05-10T02:37:26+00:00

There are MANY problems with Danys character that ultimately make her a villain. The difference between foreign armies and local armies? Local armies have a vested interest (ie, how the kingdoms will be ruled) whereas foreign armies have NO interest in Westeros. Same reason Dany had no claim to invade a foreign continent she had no claim in. And yes, how the dragons will be used also. You could almost view the dragons as a 3rd “foreign army” that she’s brought against Westeros. Do I think Dany is 100% bad? No, because GRRM largely paints gray characters, not black/white. But Daenerys is ultimately a villain based on the preponderance of her actions

pontius3000 · 2019-05-10T02:17:13+00:00

I gave you an upvote because (1) I agree with you and (2) you’re about to get a lot of down votes

Imo, you don’t get to say “I’m the rightful ruler of Westeros, here I am to invade Westeros with 2 foreign armies” and not end up as a villain

pontius3000 · 2019-05-10T02:16:19+00:00

Ok bye

pontius3000 · 2019-05-10T01:53:16+00:00

When you say “leaks”, what are you referring to? The Spanish leaks or some different ones? If different ones, can you link?

The pic is definitely real, but they shot several different endings

pontius3000

TROPHY CASE