A Game of Fathers

i am fully hooked on George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. done with A Game of Thrones, reading: A Clash of Kings. Do you like the lord of the rings? arthurian legends? merlin? dragons? 300? LOST? if you answered yes to any/all of these questions. this is the book for you.

how a game of thrones is like:

1. the lord of the rings: features words like 'westron' and 'lordling', mysterious creatures in the woods that sound a bit like ringwraiths
2. discworld: there's a Night's Watch
3. star wars: the brothers of the Night's Watch take no wives much like the Jedi*
4. 300: the dothraki and khal drogo remind me of xerxes
5. arthur/merlin: knights, dragons, etc
6. lost: daddy issues floating about everywhere, also the mysterious creatures are called 'the others' 

but ultimately it is itself. what makes it so good:

1. realism: lots of death, danger, strategy, betrayal, plots, lies...anyone can die. it's probably as unflinching as whedon that way. 
2. really talks about cowardice, desertion and treason and war. is it cowardice to admit that you're no good at fighting or a lack of denial? is it desertion when you're running away from one thing to go help somewhere else? is it treason when the lives of your children are at stake? is it murder when you kill women and children in wartime?
3. the daddy issues! 
4. the characters. so well written. so many sides to every situation.
5. and finally: direwolves. BEST. PET. EVER. 

*i don't think that was an issue in the original trilogy tho. it's not like luke didn't have a thing for leia before he found out she was SPOILER ALERT his sister. 

tumblpost

yeah my tumblr's acting up again. and i don't feel like spamming the peeps on facebook. that gives me no joy at all. so here you go:

"Ladies love a good mustache ride..."

via @austinkleon with instagram

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Embarrassing Photo Protective Sunglasses

via @UrbanOutfitters

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via @judd147t:

@rsummers89 getting a feel for the Audi R8!

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"Animal ethicists are calling for a new vocabulary about animals, shunning words such as pets, wildlife, and vermin as derogatory and even suggesting animal is a term of abuse."

via @Doublenaut: this is the dumbest thing I have ever read: http://tiny.cc/op6bi

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^note the millennium falcon in the back!

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@dannynorthphoto: incase y'all were worried, I found that pub.

what i like about music

an analysis/list of some things i enjoy in songs.

• long/unusual words eg. 'denouement', 'secateur', 'rarefied', 'insidious', 'frigidaire'...  (guess the songs!) - it's just the love of a good rhyme i guess :D
• when lyrics narrowly escape making sense - i'm not talking gibberish lines, just lines that almost make sense. mostly lots of beatles/bohemian rhapsody/freelance whales...

"I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in / and stops my mind from wandering / where it will go" (fixing a hole)

"My ears are blown to bits from all the rifle hits/but still i crave that sound" (giving up the gun)

•  clapping/whistling/laughter - it's a case of it being really human as opposed to manufactured beats and things or even people playing instruments..there's a certain regularity about that - timing. these are more likely to be a tiny bit off and the idea of that appeals to me. 
• wonky singing - i dig the sort of singing that isn't about hitting the high notes and how long a note can be.. eg. joanna newsom, cyndi lauper, marianne faithfull...
• harmonies! eg. the beach boys, mumford & sons, hanson...
• unabashedly catchy things eg. mcfly! i am remembering that reality show that found leads singers for bands, the inxs season: there was this dude who said something along the lines of "if you can predict how the line should end...you should come up with something else" and to me that's just forcing it. why resist the logical ending? i like being able to listen to a song once and halfway through start singing along. like:

"Don't you want the way i feel/Don't you want the way i feel/Don't you want the way i feel..for you?' (don't you) 

but the strange thing is i seem to look for the exact opposite when it comes to songs in musicals!

• i dig the big singing! the lovely long notes!
• okay all the other ones still apply here XD

..also this is hugely incomplete and most of the music i listen to is probably nothing like this. *shrug* :)

welcome to the blodcast

in the mood to throw things away. be brutal. managed to finally ditch a kurta i bought around 2003/04. it held up really well. shout out to fab india! this is my blog post that will be conducted like a podcast... so just imagine me saying this right? right. moving along. i have paused in the middle of the big clean to do this blodcast (less gruesome than it sounds i promise). i might even do dinner then tackle the last shelf. for now there is a pile of socks before me and i have tough decisions to make. who makes the cut? who gets a second lease of life - sock puppets? who's gone forever? feet friends, you have served me well. and long. and it's time for us to part. i feel like i should sing a song here.

...

what kind should i make?

but i'm not going to. but speaking of songs! (segue!!) i was pondering the difference between songwriting for a musician and a musical. it's all about context. a musical song co exists with a plot. a random song is allowed to be abstract. but does a musical song make any kind of sense to someone who has no idea of the context? mostly yes. because music in that case is like dialogue in a way. it's a story song. like 'tommy' - i havent seen the movie but i feeeeel the album.

discovery

the last time i did this was with blur. last year? or the year before... watched this blur docu, then got into listening to anything blur related in addition to blur ie. graham coxon, gorillaz, the good, the bad and the queen... and now i'm on a vampire weekend kick (fact: they opened for blur once!) and it's leading me to some really good shit. first i found p-i-z-z-a p-(a)-r-t-y and i seriously thought that was as good as it gets :D Ezra's rap duo pre-vampire weekend (or VW as people refer to them in comments...)!! what's better than white boy rapping eh? eh? turns out discovery - rostam's side thing with wesley miles - OMG! i am swooning for this.  oh i almost forgot to mention the best part - that rap duo, it was called l'homme run according to Ezra's it's a "play on words" XD

l'homme run's mascot

...yeah i also swoon for how sometimes he can ramble on in this highly articulate fashion about the different connotations of the word contra and other times be completely monosyllabic.

Interviewer: What is your idea of a perfect holiday?
Ezra: Easter.

before this turns into an Ezra Koenig appreciation post...let me give you something to ponder on: for halloween, Chris Baio once dressed up as a naughty french maid...very naughty... chew on that!

*smoulder*