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| Monday, July 1, 2013 09:08 AM |
| Book Report - A Games of Thrones |
 by Fëanor |
I just finished listening to the audio book of A Game of Thrones. I think it's probably my third or fourth time "reading" the book. I wasn't too far into it this time when I almost gave up on it. It was right around the scene when Ned has to kill the wolf. It was so brutal, and it made me remember all the other brutal and awful things to come for all these poor characters, and I just wasn't sure I could face it. These books are rough. Every time a character prays desperately for something not to happen, it happens, and vice versa. As soon as Martin establishes that a character loves something with all their heart - boom, he takes that away from them.
But I stuck with the book, and I'm glad I did. It really is excellent. I feel like later on in the series, things begin to get a bit tired and plodding, but this is a fantastic first book. I tried to focus this time on the structure and the form, on the way Martin builds the world and its people. He carefully and skillfully introduces you to a huge number of characters and a huge, complex world, giving you pieces at a time, slowly adding more, repeating things so they stick, slipping you hints of what's to come. Because I'd read it all before and knew what was coming, it was easier to notice those hints, and I was able to recognize a lot of subtle foreshadowing. He slowly begins to grow these characters, and teach them and mold them and change them. Each chapter is from a single character's perspective, and each one is a complete scene, with its own little arc. I feel like every Jon chapter he learns a little more, becomes more of a man, becomes more of a leader - the same with the Dany chapters. And everything slowly builds to those last two chapters, which are absolutely amazing - so powerful and triumphant and exhilarating. The King in the North! Mother of Dragons! This book is an impressive achievement. I'm going to try to listen to the rest of the series in audio book format, too. Hopefully by the time I get through them all, there will be a new one available... |
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| Wednesday, September 26, 2012 12:46 PM |
| Recyclotron |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- I enjoy my friend's Tumblr and its many gifs. Celebrating Ian McKellen, cat being funny, one of the greatest scenes from Clue, a hedgehog, George R.R. Martin being a dick, a statement of principles, and the cutest thing ever.
- I also am a big fan of io9. They've got clips from the special features on the Princess Bride 25th Anniversary release, an essay on the good and bad and in between of time travel stories; and a weird set photo from what will no doubt be a very weird movie, Darren Aronofsky's Noah.
- I guess the all-woman Expendables is going to be a real thing, because Gina Carano just got cast in the lead role.
- A wonderful new Wondermark.
- Twitter repostings! The toaster that burns the weather into your bread (conceptual only, sadly), and clips of David Lynch's guest appearance on Louie.
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| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Animated GIFs (Not), Books (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Gadgets (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), George R.R. Martin (Not), Language (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Song of Ice and Fire (Not), Technology (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Web comics (Not) |
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| Wednesday, April 4, 2012 11:05 AM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Man, it's been a while, huh? Let's fire up the old Recyclotron again for old time's sake and see what comes out.
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Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
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| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Animated GIFs (Not), Art (Not), Books (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Craft (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), Links (Not), Mashups (Not), Monty Python (Not), Movies (Not), Obama (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Song of Ice and Fire (Not), Star Trek (Not), Star Wars (Not), Technology (Not), Tolkien (Not), TV (Not), Video games (Not), Web comics (Not), Wonderland (Not) |
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| Wednesday, March 7, 2012 11:06 AM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- Dude, my friends wrote a book! You can buy it! You should buy it. Buy it now!
- One of my favorite of the recent posts on Reproductive Ryan Gosling. My very own poppy is a co-founder and contributor!
- Awww, look at the tiny Avengers! So tiny!
- A little goat! Hopping! On a bed!
- I love Marion, and I love Raiders of the Lost Ark, but... yeah. Baskets. *facepalm*
- Female Holmes and Watson.
- Blue And Bluer celebrates one of the great film classics, Grosse Pointe Blank.
- Some Game of Thrones humor.
- A little Daily Show for you.
- Heh. Poor Michelle.
- SANDWICH POLICE. That is all.
- Now here's something you can base a system of government on!
- Can't remember if I posted this before, but it's worth a repost if I didn't: Elmo and Grover as Street Fighters.
- An old script for an episode of the original Star Trek that was never filmed is going to get turned into a webisode by the New Voyages crew. Nice!
- There are birthday cake Oreos? Where can I get them?!
- Oh hey, it's that time of year again! March M.O.D.O.K. Madness!
- I kind of want this bird nest bed.
- Some pics from, and a new trailer for, Men in Black 3. I want to like this, because the original Men in Black is such a great movie, but... I just don't know.
- Another movie I want to like is John Carter. You can watch ten minutes of it right here. I was hoping to be really impressed by this, but despite some clever moments (and an inspired choice of when to cut short the clip), I could take or leave this movie.
- Some really cool props from Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor are up for auction.
- Cool Star Wars crayons.
- Cute Saruman figurine. All right, maybe cute isn't the right word, but whatever, I like it, is the point.
- Wow. Mike Mignola did a book cover for Heart of Darkness. Two great tastes that taste great together!
- I've mostly soured on the whole Simpson-izing thing, but these Simpsons versions of Scooby and Shaggy are fun.
- Look out! Tiger Batman!
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| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Animated GIFs (Not), Art (Not), Avengers (Not), Batman (Not), Books (Not), Captain America (Not), Cartoons (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Food (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), Iron Man (Not), Links (Not), Mike Mignola (Not), Monty Python (Not), Movies (Not), Muppets (Not), Photography (Not), Politics (Not), Products (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Scooby-Doo (Not), Sherlock Holmes (Not), Simpsons (Not), Song of Ice and Fire (Not), Star Trek (Not), Star Wars (Not), Street Fighter (Not), Thor (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not) |
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| Friday, December 23, 2011 12:03 PM |
| (Last updated on Friday, December 23, 2011 02:20 PM) | | Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- Aww, happy holidays from the Broship of the Ring!
- You should check out Draw a Stupid Animal. And maybe contribute, if that's your thing.
- Here's a fun holiday news story for you.
- Heh. Yeah.
- This is amusing.
- Inflatable tentacle arm! Nice.
- That Buffy movie they were going to make without Joss Whedon is probably not going to happen. Which is probably good news.
- In case you have somehow not seen them yet, here are the trailers for Prometheus and The Hobbit. It's now extremely clear that Prometheus is indeed an Alien prequel. The logo even slowly builds up line by line, just like in Alien! And yeah, I'm still not sure about how the dwarfs look in The Hobbit, but that trailer is pretty great. When they start singing the song at the end? Chills!
- Dude, a LEGO Zelda would be amazing.
- How about some Princess Leia hair bun headphone covers? I'd wear those.
- The cover for Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Century: 2009, the final installment of the "Century" trilogy. It's coming in June, 2012. I only read the first entry in this trilogy, and wasn't that impressed, but I still have a fondness for the series as a whole. And anyway, it's a great cover. (Via)
- Some news on the cast of the upcoming Ender's Game movie, the biggest item being that Colonel Hyram Graff will be played by Harrison Ford. (Via)
- New evidence suggests that children start forming solid memories as early as two years of age. So we only have a few months before we have to really start worrying about scarring our son for life? Good to know.
UPDATE:
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| Tagged (?): Alan Moore (Not), Aliens (Not), Animals (Not), Art (Not), Buffy (Not), Children (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Dinosaurs (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), Holiday (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Parenting (Not), Products (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Science (Not), Star Wars (Not), The Hobbit (Not), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Not), Tolkien (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Web comics (Not), Wolverine (Not), Zelda (Not) |
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| Wednesday, August 17, 2011 10:23 AM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- The resurgence of animated GIFs was funny... at first. Now it's starting to wear on me. Tumblr is just full of them! Full, I say! But this one is funny.
- Some really wonderful pics from The Big Lebowski blu-ray release party.
- Pretty great reimagining of the cover of the classic video game Bad Dudes.
- An interesting post about a book called The Unofficial LEGO Minifigure Catalog.
- Drawn linked to a couple of neat art sites: Spencer Goldade's 365 Abstracts and Graham Annable's website.
- The top 100 sci-fi/fantasy novels, as voted by the readers of NPR. As usual with such lists, there are things on here I like and things on here I don't like. But I definitely approve of the top pick, natch.
- The latest episode of Awesome Hospital is pretty amazing.
- A first look at Pottermore, the new interactive online Harry Potter world.
- I've heard good things about Ready Player One. It's the first novel from a fellow named Ernest Cline, and it's "about a dystopian future where gamers fight to control the future of their virtual world, the OASIS." io9 has the first two chapters free to read on its site.
- io9 also has a list of fun upcoming sci-fi comics, including a Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes crossover book from IDW and DC. Woah!
- Did you see the latest Immortals trailer? Holy crap! Yeah!
- We've got a US release date for the next Wii Zelda game: November 20th.
- I know there are countless altered/parody versions of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, but... well, here's another one. It's fun! There are monsters!
- Hipster Thundercats.
- Heh.
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| Tagged (?): Animated GIFs (Not), Art (Not), Books (Not), Cartoons (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), Harry Potter (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Monsters (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), Mythology (Not), News (Not), Painting (Not), Photography (Not), Photoshop (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Star Trek (Not), Tolkien (Not), Toys (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Web comics (Not), Zelda (Not) |
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| Friday, August 5, 2011 11:16 AM |
| (Last updated on Friday, August 5, 2011 12:22 PM) | | Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- The ultimate "Spock is not impressed" image. (Definitely check out the Tumblr if you've never seen it.)
- Creepy-cool illustration of Wilbur Whateley.
- Very cool good-bye tribute to Harry Potter in the form of a poster.
- These illustrations make a very pointy point about gender in comic books.
- Hee hee.
- A lovely piece of Hobbit art by the always delightful Mr. Hipp.
- Scientists have found evidence of flowing salt water on Mars! Neat!
- I posted this video to Twitter/Facebook a while back, but it's so wonderful I'm posting it here again: a mariachi band serenades a beluga whale.
- The first official photo of Henry Cavill as Superman, the first official photo of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, and a very unofficial, Game of Thrones-mashed-up 'shop of the Catwoman photo (that was quick).
- This trailer for the upcoming animated series Tron: Uprising features lots of cool concept art, an exciting video clip, and bits of the Tron: Legacy soundtrack in the background - a soundtrack which, I may have already mentioned here, I am obsessed with to the point of mania.
- The new Ultimate Spider-Man is half-black and half-Hispanic. For some people, this poses a problem. Those people are wrong.
- Wondermark is very strange, and I love it.
- Steampunk Samus Aran arm cannon!
- NASA is sending LEGO minifigs representing Jupiter, Juno, and Galileo to Jupiter.
- Game of Thrones as a (NSFW) 8-bit (or is that 16-bit?) RPG.
- John "Walter Bishop" Noble is hosting a new show for the Science Channel investigating true stories of fringe science. It's called Dark Matters.
- Joe Quesada's Twitter feed isn't always all that interesting, but the other day he went through his process for creating a piece of art for the 50th anniversary of the Fantastic Four, and it was really cool. Plus, the piece came out great. Luckily, Comics Alliance collected the entire sequence of tweets.
UPDATE:
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| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Art (Not), Batman (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Cosplay (Not), Costumes (Not), Craft (Not), Fantastic Four (Not), Fringe (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), Harry Potter (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Lovecraft (Not), Metroid (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), Photoshop (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Science (Not), Sherlock Holmes (Not), Space (Not), Spider-Man (Not), Star Trek (Not), Steampunk (Not), Superman (Not), The Hobbit (Not), Tolkien (Not), Toys (Not), Tron (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Web comics (Not) |
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| Wednesday, July 20, 2011 03:10 PM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- An amazing, 11-minute, Spike Jonze-directed, Beastie Boys music video starring action figures in all the roles. It features zombies, a yeti, a shark, and plenty of the old ultra-violence.
- Guillermo del Toro is doing a Beauty and the Beast adaptation starring Emma Watson, who is disturbingly hot.
- Here's a video from Toyota showing off their concept of a car window as a touch-sensitive smart device. Woah.
- I don't have the time to read it just now, but maybe you do: Neil Gaiman's short story "The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains." I like the title, anyway. (Via)
- Here is an astonishing product: glow-in-the-dark rats that you can wear on your fingers, which are advertised as "Ideal for NIGHT BLOGGING."
- Remember Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake's "History of Rap" medley from a while back, and how it was way better than it should have been? They've done another one, and if anything it's even better.
- Here's the trailer for the new Spider-Man movie. Can't say I'm too impressed. The dude playing Peter Parker looks ridiculous (what is with the two-foot high haircut?), and dragging his parents into the story seems unnecessary. That being said, the first-person shooter-style final sequence is pretty exciting. I assume that's what the video game version will be like?
- Take a gander at the craziest experimental weapons of the 19th century.
- Concept art from the third Riddick movie.
- Helena Bonham Carter is joining Johnny Depp on the cast of The Lone Ranger.
- Speaking of casts, here's the latest casting news for season 2 of Game of Thrones. We now have Stannis, Melisandre, and Davos. I'm not familiar with any of the actors, but they all look right, at least, and everybody else on the cast so far has been so great, it's hard to imagine they will be bad. (There goes the rumor that Eccleston will play Stannis. Ah, well. Maybe he'll show up as Balon Greyjoy.)
- I am intrigued by this short story collaboration between Lev Grossman and Mike Mignola - even if the only other prose collaboration I've read by Mignola was not so good.
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Automobiles (Not), Books (Not), Celebrities (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), Links (Not), Mike Mignola (Not), Monsters (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), Neil Gaiman (Not), News (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Spider-Man (Not), Technology (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Zombies (Not) |
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| Friday, July 8, 2011 09:56 AM |
| (Last updated on Friday, July 8, 2011 10:33 AM) | | Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- I've got a bunch of Song of Ice and Fire links for you today! First up is a list of ten characters io9 suspects they will leave out of season 2 of Game of Thrones. I'd be happy if they left out the rather horrendous story of poor Lollys, but I'd be really sad to lose Vargo Hoat, Aeron Greyjoy, and Craster. Next is a huge, amazing map of Westeros (via). Then we've got 11 versions of the excellent theme song from Game of Thrones. Finally, a few photos of the actress who will play Brienne in the series. She seems a little too pretty for the role, but George R.R. Martin says she looked the part when she came in to audition, so...
- If you haven't already seen it, here's our first look at Dori, Nori, and Ori from The Hobbit.
- A shirt that gives us a map of the Earth, if the Earth were reimagined as Super Mario World.
- A cool illustration blog, featuring covers for books from video game worlds. (Via)
UPDATE:
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Clothing (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), George R.R. Martin (Not), Green Lantern (Not), Links (Not), Mario (Not), Movies (Not), Muppets (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Shirts (Not), Song of Ice and Fire (Not), Star Wars (Not), The Hobbit (Not), Tolkien (Not), TV (Not), Video games (Not) |
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| Monday, June 27, 2011 12:43 PM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- I enjoyed this web comic. Perhaps you will, too!
- I'm subscribed to Don Kenn's blog because I love his creepy, evocative, monster-filled art. Now he's made a creepy, evocative, monster-filled music video for Danish artist Fallulah. The music's not bad, either!
- Have you heard about the controversy over the Superman comic book starring an Islamic superhero that mysteriously disappeared? Here's an amusing web comic about it.
- The Branch Holder makes any stick more sword-like. Awesome!
- In this great photo, the Captains Kirk arm-wrestle it out.
- Rumor has it Chris "The Doctor" Eccleston could play Stannis Baratheon or Balon Greyjoy in the second season of Game of Thrones. I like him for either part!
- Another ban of violent video games struck down. Yay!
- I'm loving this MST3K bed frame.
- I really love this photo of Wild Things on the subway.
- I feel like I've seen, and possibly posted, this TIE Fighter costume before, but it is very funny and clever, so it can't hurt to post it again. (Via)
- Recyclotron is a bit heavy on the web comics today, I know, but here's one more: Scott Meyer's commentary on the recent news about Mark Zuckerberg's eating/killing habits. (I kind of admire the guy for this move, actually, but yeah, there is something weird and creepy about it.)
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| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Art (Not), Books (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Cosplay (Not), Costumes (Not), Craft (Not), Food (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), Law (Not), Links (Not), Monsters (Not), MST3K (Not), Music (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Products (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Religion (Not), Star Trek (Not), Star Wars (Not), Superman (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Web comics (Not) |
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Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
