jad1

If Cersei's rumor has anything to do with wildfire in the city, Jaime will probably wind up killing her, echoing his slaying of Aerys. Bran's earlier vision of Aerys could be foreshadowing Cersei's demise.

Jaqen wasn't captured by the Lannisters. He was given to Yoren from the black cells, was freed by Arya when Yoren's group was attacked (by the Lannisters), and then showed up at Harrenhal disguised as a Lannister soldier. In the show, he ends up back in Braavos. In the book, he most likely is still in Westeros. How a faceless man ended up in the black cells is a mystery in the show, as is his target in Westeros. In the books, the reason he is in the cells and his target might tied to the Blackfyre rebellion, Varys, and Blood Raven.

Anybody else wondering where Ghost is? If Jon and Sansa are going on a campaign to win allies in the north, wouldn't having a direwolf by their side be an asset? Ghost has been absent since the first episode. Is it because they are saving money in CGI? Did the writers just forget about him? Or is resurrected Jon not really Jon (rather a zombie), and the bond between the two is broken? I'm hoping the writing is tight and the third option is the case. It makes the upcoming battle much more interesting. Also, it looks like the dragons that Tyrion unchained in the first episode of the season might actually do something in the next couple of episodes. Maybe they were going to leave the catacombs while Tyrion was negotiating with the Slavers, but they saw their shadow, so they went back underground for 3 more episodes.

The title "Game of Thrones," is a direct reference to the poltics of power. So there is a political story being told. There is also a fantasy and science fiction story being told. The show seems to be leaning more towards fantasy, while the books are leaning more towards science fiction.

This is difficult. The show has established that the crown appoints wardens and lords. It also approves the naming of bastards to be true born. Roose Bolton was appointed Warden of the North by Joffrey. Tommen approved Ramsey Snow's promotion to Ramsey Bolton. And this is where it gets tricky. In the books, there are rival houses to the Martells in Dorne. The crown could recognize one of those houses as the warden of Dorne and give Sunspear to them, easily undermining Elia's plot. The tricky part is that the show hasn't mentioned any other houses in Dorne. I don't the show has even mentioned Sunspear as a location (it's just Dorne). So far as viewers know, the only two groups in all of Dorne are Dornan and the Sandsnakes. The equivalent of this would be if the Starks lived in the North (not Winterfell) and had no bannermen. In the interest of time, it's understandable why the Dorne and Iron Born plotlines were pared down. I guess my criticism is that the way in which thet were pared down undermines the excellent work the show has done in establishing the culture and mores of Westeros.

I can see that, although I would argue that Elia and the sand snakes are all the same character. It was a bit shakey at the end of last season when Elia killed Myrcella while Jaime had custody of Trystane. But the premier of season 6 showed that Elia and her group could care less about Trystane. So that works. I guess that we have to buy that the Dornish will let a group of bastards either rule or choose the next leader of Dorne; a group of bastards who are the equivalent of king and kin slayers. Again, this is an execption to societal norms that show has established (Even an evil, crazy bastard like Ramsey invents a story about his fathers death, at the risk of being revealed as a kin slayer). So, with some exceptions, the Dorne plot works.

The problem I had with the kings moot wasn't that it didn't follow the books, it was more that it wasn't consistent with how the show previously presented the characters. In the Yara scene with Balon earlier in the season, Yara sounds decidedly anti-war. In the kings moot, she's much more hawkish, promising to build a naval fleet. So is she an advocate for peace or war? When the show introduced Euron, he was sinister and menacing, claiming to be the Drowned God. At the kings moot, he was presented more as a drunk uncle at Thanksgiving. And if Euron has been sailing the world, bringing death to all he meets (per his drowned god reference) where's his crew? Is he sailing alone? Is his ship a rowboat? And was his ship among the ones stolen by Yara and Theon? How believable is it that Dany, with all her titles, would marry a guy who loses his ship minutes after being crowned. The guy appears to lack the skills to win the Mother of Dragons. Also, Euron freely admits to being a king slayer and a kin slayer, two major taboos in Westeros, but he's given a pass because nobody likes Balon? If Tyrion had only used that defense at his trial, Oberyn wouldn't have suffered that horrible headache. Finally, Euron commands the Iron born to build him 1000 ships. With what? The Iron islands are bare of trees and vegetation. Ramsey calls them s###-stained rocks in his Theon letter to Balon. The Greyjoy words are "We do not sow," due to the fact that there is so litle to sow in their homeland. They just lost the forested Deepwood Motte (per Yara's converstion with Balon). Where's Euron going to get the wood to build that mamy ships in such a short period of time? When the writing on the show is good, things snap together in a satisfying way. We understand why Ned's death and the red wedding happened. We get why Jaime saves Brienne. Hardhome and Hodor's death offer insight to the larger story. And then, we get Dorne, which completely lacks the craft and care of the other storylines. It looks like Euron and the Iron Born might be in that same boat.

The most disappointing scene in the show was the kings moot. The Dorne-ification of the Ironborn has begun.

That's cool. Both the books and show are great. I enjoy discussing them both.

Maybe in the show, but I'm not so sure about that being Bran's path in the books. I don't even think that the Three-Eyed Raven is Blood Raven in the show. In the last episode, the Three-Eyed Raven claims to be entwined in the tree for over a thousand years. Blood Raven in the book is around 150 years old. In season 4, the Three-Eyed Raven looked similar to how he is described in the book; in season 6, he's played by Max Von Sydow, and is presented as being much more robust. A reason for the change in appearance might be that the Three-Eyed Raven accompanies Bran on his vision walks, and the show runners thought it might be distracting having a one-eyed, decomposing corpse walking around the tower of joy. Overall, the Three-Eyed Raven is presented as more of a mentor to Bran, which could fit into a hero-journey arc for Bran, where he gains knowledge and then plays a key role in the ultimate battle between good and evil. But that's in the show. It's pretty clear that Martin isn't writing ASOIAF in the vein of Tolkien fantasy, and Bran's journey is much darker. =====SPOILERS======================================= In the books, the weirwood cave in which Blood Raven resides is a freakin' house of horror. Even before arriving to the cave, Bran practices cannibalism when Coldhands kills a group of rangers and feeds them to him, Jojen and Meera. Inside the cave, the floor is littered with bones. Blood Raven is described as a decaying corpse, with his skin falling off his skull. He doesn't eat or drink, and Leaf informs Bran that Blood Raven's life force is leaving him. Bran slips inside Hodor to explore the caves. Skinchanging into a human is considered an abomination, and he hides what he is doing from Meera nad Jojen. Jojen is freaking out, almost anticipating the death that he has foreseen for himself. Bran skinchanges into Summer at night, who hunts zombies with his wolfpack. Often the moon is described as a crescent, thin and sharp as a knife. Blood Raven and the children of the forest he meets (singers) don't instruct him on the origin of the others, or how to defeat them. In fact they seem totally unconcerned with them. They teach him how to green-see, and when he slips into those visions, he is alone, without Blood Raven. Blood Raven explains the mechanics of how green-seeing works, but he doesn't control where Bran goes or restrict him from what he sees. The Singers build Bran his own weirwood throne, similar to the one Blood Raven is nailed to, and Bran realizes that he will most likely end up like the decaying man. To add to the horror of all this, the Singers and Blood Raven have Bran eat a bowl of weirwood paste that has red veins in it, like blood. The first taste is horrible, but the second and third mouthfuls are the most delicious thing he's ever tasted. When he gets back to the group's sleeping area, Jojen and Meera are missing (Jojen paste? maybe). As he sleeps, he has a vision from the godswood at Winterfell. He sees a bunch of scenes of his ancestors. The last of which is a woman beheading a man, and Bran tastes the blood. So it's hard to believe, just on the basis of the foreshadowing of all of these events, that Bran is on some kind of hero's journey. Especially when this imagery is coming from a writer like George Martin. It's a bit of a stretch to think that Bran is going to evolve from cannibal to something like dragon rider.

He might be able to do it, but as Bran becomes more entwined in the weirwood net, he's probably going to lose his free will. It's pretty apparent that Bran has been called to the cave north of the wall to replace Blood Raven, who by appearance in the books, looks like his expiration date is just around the corner. I think the opinion of Bran's future is shaped by whether you believe if Blood Raven is acting of his own free will as an independent agent in his current incarnation, or is he no longer sentient and is being used for his ability to send green dreams (telepathy) to key players in the series by other (probably nefarious) forces (cough childrenoftheforest).

Drogon has already shown up. ADWD ends with Dany standing next to Drogan when Khal Jhaqo shows up with his 50 warriors. There's no way she's going to be taken prisoner in the books. Jhaqo will probably immediately swear an oath to become her blood rider (the Dothraki worship strength, and Drogon represents the ultimate strength). However, she will, most likely, head to Vaes Dothrak with Jhaqo, due in large part to the prophecy you suggest. She'll win the remaining Khals without having to burn them alive.

I don't think that there was a flamable substance. It's more likely that Dany is telekinetic, and can manipulate fire with her mind. Martin writes about telepathy and telekinesis in many of his works. Warging and dragon riding are probably forms of telepathy. Reanimation, face changing and maybe even shadow babies are probably examples of telekinesis. Dany most likely isn't fireproof. She most likely has telepathic and telekinetic abilites, which fits into Martin's science fiction writing.

I'm tired of the NHL pushing these events to sun belt cities whose fans are barely interested in playoff hockey, much less some 'boring' event like the draft. Maybe if its proven that 'hockey' cities can create revenue from events like the draft, the NHL will be less likely to stage these events in disintrested markets in a misguided effort to "grow" the game. Drafts, all star games, outdoor games are all cool bonus events for cities to host, and it seems that Buffalo has been on the outside looking in when they have been awarded. They either lose out to larger or weaker markets. By charging and delivering revenue, maybe the Sabres will catch the league's attention the next time they award an all star game, or schedule an outdoor event, or fix a draft lottery. Anyway, if you disagree, kindly post a picture of Gwen. I've had a crush on that chick half my life.

How were the approaches different? Both teams traded current assets for future picks and prospects. Most of the Sabres trades involved UFAs who they had no interest in re-signing or the player showed little interest in re-signing with Buffalo. The idea that the Sabres left behind after those trades didn't play hard is bogus. In fact, they almost blew the tank at the end of the season. This narrative that Buffalo did something different than Toronto or Winnipeg or Arizona is bogus.

These two books will be better appreciated when Martin completes the series. Much like "Empire Strikes Back" was better appreciated when the Star Wars trilogy was completed than when it first premiered.

Imagine telling the young guys that they'll be wearing this piece of crap instead of their county's colors in the tournament.

If Babcock turned down Buffalo because he wanted more power, or real power, then Toronto is a weird place for him to land. Shanahan definitely has a strong voice in making personnel decisions. And Lamoriello is one of the most hands-on GMs in the league (sure Lou was hired after Babcock, but Shanahan had made it clear that he was bringing in a GM when Mike signed on). So instead of being part of a duo with Murray in Buffalo, he chose to be a part of a triad in Toronto? Toronto's organizational structure doesn't really offer a great opportunity for Babcock to drive personnel decisions. I think Babcock's desire to be more involved with personnel decisions is overblown. He wanted to coach the Maple Leafs and he wanted a big contract, and that's what he got.

Couldn't any owner whose team isn't winning be considered "in over his/her head," especially to guy like Bucky?

I can't see Murray trading productive players for draft picks. I just don't see him looking to get younger in that way. He might try to move him as a package for a younger productive player like he did for Kane, but there's no way he's going to trade an effective McGinn for 2nd round pick. If Gionta or Moulson are still dragging along and somehow generate interest at the deadline, he could let one of those guys go for a 6th rounder.

The absolute worse impact of this rule is that players become more tenative entering the opposition's zone. You want guys to hit the blue line with speed. In the past, the reward for playing fast into the zone outweighed the risk (an offside call and a faceoff). Now the risk (disallowing a goal after a missed call) is much greater than the award of taking the zone with speed. Ultimately, this could have the effect of slowing down the game even more, as players become more tenative entering the zone because they don't want to be responsible for the negative impact of a disallowed goal.

Yep, it's within walking distance of more than 20,000 hotel rooms.

The Ducks slow start is a surprise.

Twin Peaks - The Matt Ellis of Breastaurant chains CircusCircus - The Matt Ellis of Vegas casinos Norm MacDonald - The Matt Ellis of Colonel Sanders Flo from Progressive - The Matt Ellis of "doable" celebrities

Hydrox - The Matt Ellis of sandwich cookies.