Matter Of Fact – SpecFicMedia

BTW Article – Game of Thrones – How to be a Fangirl/boy

Hi, Nuchtchas here. On the Beyond The Wall podcast I claimed to be the resident Fangirl, so I thought I would help out other aspiring fangirls and fanboys. How do you become as obsessed as me? Simple, read each of the books a few times, listen to all the podcasts, even the podfaded ones, talk incessantly about the series with anyone who will listen to you for at least six years, scour the net for every bit of information you can find and start naming your pets after your favorite GoT characters.

Is that too much? Probably too much to do before next week’s episode, so let’s start small.

TWITTER

On Twitter you can follow @GameOfThrones the official HBO twitter account for the show. They do a great job of promoting the show, of course, and will keep you informed about cool items such as the food trucks, iron throne sightings and rickshaws, fan art (and more!).

Next there is @Westerosorg, run by the same people that run the site mentioned above and sanctioned by George R. R. Martin himself. They are going to be good about not giving spoilers but will also help with fun facts, links and information. As a matter of fact as I was getting ready to watch the premiere I tweeted a question about the swords used in the show to them and they answered me right back. That was pretty awesome, I’m sure they get many tweets a day.

VIEWERS GUIDE (no spoilers)

GUIDE Here you just have the map and the basic houses with the characters you will see in the series. It’s good for those of you just getting started.

GRRM’s “Not a Blog” and Author website

GRRM stands for George R.R. Martin. It’s how we fans refer to him, mostly because of his “Not a Blog” where he writes about football, the series, writing and whatever else suits his fancy. He vowed over a year ago that his Not a Blog would be spoiler free for the new fans and he expects his fans to respect this wish and keep the comments free of spoilers. He even has his assistant Ty check for those.

He also has his main website HERE. Yes, it looks like it was coded in the 90’s and for a very good reason: it was. You may encounter some spoilers there, so tread lightly.

WESTEROS (SPOILERS AT SITE, not in the description below)

http://www.westeros.org – This site has more information on the heraldry of the houses then anywhere on the internet. It also hosts the Wiki of Ice and Fire and one of my favorite features, “So Spoke Martin,” where they have collected quotes from interviews from Martin or through direct correspondence with the author. There are forums and a host of other features, including a MUSH (yeah, they still have that) and the site runners have claim to be the source that George R. R. Martin uses for fact checking his own world.

WINTER IS COMING

http://winter-is-coming.net – This site was created after talk of a HBO series first started. Focuses on news and rumors around the television series. Read enough and you’ll find some indirect spoilers.

TOWER OF THE HAND

http://www.towerofthehand.com – Tower of the hand is an extensive source for information on the books. You can click on each book you’ve read and customize your experience to where you are in the series. They have chapter by chapter descriptions and will help you gain an encyclopedic knowlege of the series, or at least give you a place to look up the facts you need. If you register there are more features available, more customization too. (While you can find spoilers, this site is geared to protect you from them).

HBO FORUMS

http://www.hboforum.com – Of course HBO would want to have a forum right there on their own site. Here you can chat with other fans and get involved in some of the ARG produced by HBO. (I would hope this is to be kept somewhat spoiler free).

Yeah some of those sites can get intense. But when you consider how long some of the fans have been following the series, it’s not much of a surprise.

Enjoy!

Movie Review – Suckerpunch

This review comes to us from author Tee Morris (more on Tee after the review):

Director and Writer Zack Snyder can really make a beautiful movie. Snyder set his own style with films like 300 and Watchmen, but has also come under fire for making movies that lack depth or are very \\comic book\\ in their almost balletic approach to graphic violence. When you consider his last two films were pulling from (wait for it!) graphic novels, it makes you want to bitch slap critics. Perhaps this is why critics (and perhaps, some moviegoers) have been overly critical of Snyder’s latest film, Sucker Punch.

On reading some of these reviews, though, I have to ask \\Did you see the same film as I did?\\ I not only loved Sucker Punch, I am here to tell you that missing this on the big screen would be a crime. It is original. It is surprising. It is intelligent.

What is isn\\™t is what the critics are making it out to be: Geekboy Titillation.

Now there\\™s no denying it: Snyder covers all of the bases in this flick. Sucker Punch offers up zombies, steampunk, dragons, WWII bombers, and katana swordfights. And yes, all of the gunfire and swordplay is happening with women who all just happen to be hot.

Quite hot.

Smoking hot, as a matter of fact.

But the titillation critics rant on and on about just isn\\™t there. I didn\\™t find anything really \\stimulating\\ about Sucker Punch unless you count the alternate realities where our femme fatales are kicking surrealistic asses in a variety of ways. Snyder\\™s signature \\artistic action\\ sequences could hardly be described as \\erotic\\ in their video game brutality. (And the more I think about that, the more I come to understand why Snyder’s fantasy sequences are so epic. You have to see the movie to catch it.) An episode of Sailor Moon or Bubblegum Crisis has more titillation than Sucker Punch. What should be titillating \\” Baby Doll\\™s hypnotic dance that segues into her own imagination \\” we never see. All we see is the reaction to it, and that is really intriguing.

Before any of my female readers comment with \\If this isn\\™t geekboy pr0n, why then are Sucker Punch\\™s insanely attractive women so scantily clad in the action sequences? I mean, where’s the realism? What\\™s with the high heels in the giant samurai sequence?\\ I would like to present a few visual aids to end this debate.

History tell us that this is Sparta:Frank Miller and Zack Snyder, on the other hand, tells us that THIS \\” IS \\” SPARTA:

This just in from Zack Snyder: \\You\\™re welcome, ladies.\\

Critics have also been making references that the principle players as \\happy hookers\\ and \\sensitive strippers.\\ Both of these assessments are completely and utterly wrong, and ruin the subtext running through this film. While these girls are carrying stripper names like \\Rocket,\\ \\Sweet Pea,\\ and \\Baby Doll\\ (the lead), and while they are exotic dancers performing extravagant burlesque productions, they are not hookers nor are they strippers. And they’re not “happy” by a longshot. They\\™re sex slaves.

Let me say that again: These girls are sex slaves.

When you accept that uncomfortable fact, the whole mood of Sucker Punch changes; but from the opening \\” a very bleak, powerful opening telling the backstory of Baby Doll\\™s arrival to the insane asylum \\” this movie makes it clear that this is not a fun ride we are undertaking. This is the kind of darkness that makes Synder\\™s Watchmen look like an episode of Super Friends (the first season with Marv and Wendy\\¦who were those kids anyway?!), and adds a sense of desperation for the girls daring to escape. Calling them \\hookers/strippers with hearts of gold\\ really could not be farther from these characters\\™ dismal collected truth.

And when you consider the reality that Baby Doll is truly escaping, this tale takes an even darker spin.

That\\™s where I nurture a growing respect for Sucker Punch: it\\™s amazing layer-like quality and intelligence. Sucker Punch keeps you guessing as to where the lines of reality reside. Perhaps this is another reason why critics are coming out hard against this movie: Snyder made a geeky action movie that you have to pay attention to when watching it. This is a tale of redemption, and the lines of what is real and what isn\\™t are blurred just enough that when you walk out of the film, you are trying to piece together what was real and what wasn\\™t. Giving away any details right now would be spoilerific so I will simply say the ending completely caught me off-guard. How things play in the finale, which you discover isn\\™t the finale you were expecting, are a complete and utter surprise.

Perhaps this is why critics are so \\angry\\ about Sucker Punch: They didn\\™t see this coming. But isn\\™t that the title right there? I was waiting for this movie to jump the rails. Pip was, too. It\\™s the morning after and I\\™m still waiting! Sucker Punch was not even close to what I was expecting, and I loved experiencing it on the IMAX big screen.

And concerning Sucker Punch\\™s soundtrack, I rank it right up there with the music from Scott Pilgrim Versus The World. Sweet crapbuckets, did this soundtrack ever rock! Props to Snyder, Tyler Bates, and producers for coming up with some fantastic covers and a Queen mash-up that gave me goosebumps!

In the age of reboots, remakes, and comic book movies, Sucker Punch is a breath of fresh air and originality, along the same lines as Inception and Black Swan. Dismiss the critics on this one, and go see it. If you can catch it on IMAX, do so as the bigger screen just makes Snyder\\™s composition \\” even the ones based in reality \\” breathtaking. You may be pleasantly surprised. You might walk out wondering what the hell you\\™ve seen, but you will be talking about it. Consider the tagline: \\You will be unprepared.\\

I was. Delightfully so.

______

Tee Morris is the author of such novels as Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword and Legend of Morevi, and is one half of the team (with Philippa Ballantine) that is set to bring us the steampunk thriller Phoenix Rising, Book 1 of the The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, from Harper Voyager.