The Face Of A Man Who Let A Million People Burn So He Could Be King

I can’t wait for the final books to come out and everyone will realize this was George R.R. Martin’s plan the entire time. 

Hey I’m as mad as anyone about Dany going crazy… but if you read the books and watch the show you can see this is NOT something completely out of left field for her. She sees herself going mad. She asks the people she trusts to watch her. She tells herself she’s not her father or brother. Now take her baseline and add 2 dead kids and a dead best friend. This is what Dany was going to become.

“Rules are for children. This is war, and in war the only crime is to lose.”

— Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings 

The lack of typical music and the hand-held camera work really improves the series, it gives the show a documentary-like feel, making the uncomfortable subject matter all the more disarming. Everything about this show seems designed to get under people’s skin. If this show doesn’t make your skin crawl, then it’s on too tight. If this show doesn’t pull at your heart strings, you need to loosen them. 

The unsung hero of the HBO’s OZ is the person who was in charge of all the ambiance and horror sound effects and shit. Without them, the series wouldn’t be nearly as fucking intense as it was

I’m reading Katherine by Anya Seton

and I’m torn.

On one hand, the attention to detail is breathtaking.  Seton has fully immersed me in the 14th century, palaces and plagues and all.  Geoffrey Chaucer’s brief appearances are delightful.  The friendships Katherine forms with the other women in her life are a driving force for most of the first half of the book.  Not to mention this gem:

“I am no duchess, no queen, but I have been your equal in love, for this I dare to tell you how I feel.”

On the other hand…

The romance.  

I’m over two-hundred pages in, and Katherine just seems so miserable with John.  They’ve barely had a conversation about something other than how they love each other…and I cannot stress how few meaningful interactions they have had leading up to their affair.  

He comes onto her as soon as his wife—her friend—dies, then even stronger as her husband is dying.  

And when they finally get together, he’s in talks to get married the entire time.  Their “honeymoon” overlooks his future fiancee’s homeland.

He just steamrolls her hesitations and ignores how becoming his mistress decimates her sense of self-worth.  And then he gives her his deceased wife’s ring as a symbol of their love!

Every declaration of love or step forward in their relationship involves her crying and hating herself and her situation, and he is infuriatingly oblivious.

I get that a book published in the 1950′s would have faced backlash if Katherine actively pursued John.  And I’m sure the references to sex caused a scandal when it was first published…but I’d rather have the heroine enjoying the hero and their relationship than simply giving up.

Let’s hope the third-act break-up will lead to Katherine putting her foot down and John recognizing that she is his equal, not just in love, because right now, their “romance” reads less like a love story and more like harassment.

My Favorite Evelina Quotes + Marie Antoinette Screencaps

Les Miserables 2018 Reactions

Episode One

A title card gives a brief summary of the situation in France before dropping us into the day after the Battle of Waterloo, when the “glory” of battle is over and the gore remains. 

 Rather fitting for a series translated to The Miserable (or Wretched) Ones.

Keep reading

This is gorgeous!

the surviving children troublemakers of Catherine de Medici

ok this is probably going to appeal to like. 5 people. but this is just what it is like to watch hbo Rome (2005-2007) AFTER watching Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World (2003)