Wednesday 29 June 2011

This week : A Game of Thrones - the book and some other stuff.

So the other week , for Father's Day as it happens, I got a bit of stuff to play around with. A few more copies of the seriously dark and doomy graphic novel 'The Walking Dead', the last two volumes of the seriously cool Dillon/Ennis series 'Preacher' and a pack o' cards. (A WoW TCG starter deck, just because it wasn't very expensive at about £6. It was a random deck - a Mage set, not that this would normally thrill me, but it's good source of deck building cards for a relative noob like me.) More of all those later.


But I'm going to start with a brief review of the opening of 'A Game of Thrones', the ubiquitous (?) novel by George R. R. Martin. I had already seen the first few episodes of the HBO series. I was impressed. Especially when I compare it now with the Channel 4 version  of sex 'n' swordplay - 'Camelot', which appears to be a bit like the BBC's 'Merlin' for grown ups - if that's not too condescending. Camelot's production values are excellent and Fiennes is fine as a badman Merlin, but it did feel a little tired. We all know the story already , even if they tried a few different slants on the tradititonal views of the tale.
'A Game of Thrones', however, is more complex. In my view more satisfyingly so. I liked having to work out the relationships and their histories, the back stories and past events. Yes, my brain did have to work, but I enjoyed its gritty, cinematic, darkly atmospheric feel. The production values are far better than 'Camelot's' and I have to say - I love HBO. 'The Wire', 'Deadwood', sex, swearing and slaying, oh and more swearing. Ok, that's me ...easily pleased. But the acting is superior, the plot more sophisticated and the characters more fresh and intriguing. They're all badmans, even Ned!



So, to the book. Book One of 'A Song Of Ice And Fire' as it happens. I'm not going to write too much about the story. There's a lot about it all over t'internet already.  A number of families (or houses) vying for power, political leverage and/or royal favour. Illegitimate children, Direwolves, assassination, incest and greed. Great! I was pleasantly surprised, having expected something rather fomulaic, maybe trite or even cliched. I have to confess to being a bit of a Tolkien die-hard at heart, however, I felt that the short chapters, the controlled descriptive sections and the whole world feel engaged me straight away. I will admit that the young ages of the girls did make me cringe a little, given their in-story 'experiences', but having said that, their treatment is consistent with the kind of world Martin is trying to set up. It isn't Middle Earth, it's tough, it's uncomfortable, it's uncompromising. The Dark Ages even. The pace moves swiftly on, when Tolkien would pause for dramatic effect. The reader has to work things out, where Tolkien would either have a character explain, or write an entire historical appendix. Good characters aren't allowed only to make good decisions for justice and truth, they have to make awful ones for survival and political expediency. And  ...  wot no magic? Cool enough.


Now, I've learnt all of this in the first 100 pages, so roll on the next 700.


Phew!

Saturday 4 June 2011

What have I done lately?

Not much as it turns out. Hmm...I seem to be forever apologising for what I haven't done. Here's something wot i bort then!


Woo! (?) A core deck of MTG 2011 white/black called 'Blades of Victory'. Now, at this point, I must point out that I am a complete n00b. I know it's not nice to admit it, but I just don't play enough even to call myself intermediate standard. What I do know is that I played a couple of games with this deck and I didn't get pwned. A nice break from the usual, given that I normally play my 12 year old son who is as sharp as a very sharp thing.
I can't be very analytical about this but the black deck I played against (a Liliana based swamp/black deck) was really strong early in the game and I was nearly cleaned out within a couple of rounds. I lost at least 8 or 9 points to my causing only one or two. Eventually Pacifism, Vengeful Archon and Palace Guard staunched the flow, as it were. Then Doom Blade and Assassinate levelled the playing field for long enough for a few flying creatures to get going.
In the end Serra Angel came to the fore with Angelic Arbiter (nice foil) being just too much. Hooray and Huzzah!


A hit! a palpable hit!
(P.S. I'm sure one day it'll be less chance and more skill. Until then, may the cards be my saviours...)

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