Off Topic Thread too point uh

bilston

What an episode!

wp_rathead

awec wrote: »

Two I believe.

but only 13 episodes
7 Next Season
6 for Last Season
:(

awec

The only way that episode gets any better is if there is some lesbian action involved.

bilston

wp_rathead wrote: »

awec wrote: »

Two I believe.

but only 13 episodes
7 Next Season
6 for Last Season
:(

Quality over quantity though (we hope).

As brilliant as the Battle of the B*stards was there have been some lacklustre episodes in this series.

Less is more...just like the Pro 12..

bilston

bilston wrote: »

Quality over quantity though (we hope).

As brilliant as the Battle of the B*stards was there have been some lacklustre episodes in this series.

Less is more...just like the Pro 12..

Yeah I would tend to agree, it's been a good season but there's been a hell of a lot of setup.

Dave_The_Sheep

While the episode itself was spectacular, the season has been lacklustre. Definitely hasn't been as strong since it stopped relying on the books for most of the ideas and writing (not to say there isn't some pure dross in the books too). It just seems simplistic, the politics is gone from the show and they seem to be relying on quite a bit of fanservice to keep it sky rocketingly popular.

DGRulz

Didn't get to see it until late last night. HO. LY. S**T. that was some good TV. Personally I think this has been one of the strongest seasons in a while. I'll take a bunch of setup episodes over endless episodes where characters a just travelling to somewhere and very little is happening. Thank God Westeros/ Essos seems to have discovered fast travel.

And I really hope Jon sends someone to burn all those bodies before Ice Jesus comes and adds them to his army

Dave_The_Sheep

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

While the episode itself was spectacular, the season has been lacklustre. Definitely hasn't been as strong since it stopped relying on the books for most of the ideas and writing (not to say there isn't some pure dross in the books too). It just seems simplistic, the politics is gone from the show and they seem to be relying on quite a bit of fanservice to keep it sky rocketingly popular.

I don't really think that's fair at all, there's been loads of politicking going on this season.

Buer

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

While the episode itself was spectacular, the season has been lacklustre. Definitely hasn't been as strong since it stopped relying on the books for most of the ideas and writing (not to say there isn't some pure dross in the books too). It just seems simplistic, the politics is gone from the show and they seem to be relying on quite a bit of fanservice to keep it sky rocketingly popular.

I think the show can be split into two by location. The goings on in Westeros are still heavily influenced by political manipulation, betrayal etc.

The goings on in Essos are just a bit silly, for me. The storylines are improbable and there seems to be a sense of deus ex machina with some regularity.

If things ever go hugely wrong, a mythical creature the size of a house with the destructive capacity of a nuclear weapon that shoots fire from it's f*cking head swoops in and just wipes the slate clean. If Daenerys loses her city, they'll just fabricate a story where a new army falls at her feet.

The storyline that is ongoing in Essos could be from a completely different book.

molloyjh

For me this season has been a huge improvement over last season, which I thought was quite weak. Stories are finally starting to converge a bit and we're starting to see a real shift in who holds the power (

the move away from men to women

). We can also see how the whole thing is going to unfold over the next 2 seasons. It's been a very rewarding season I think.

Dave_The_Sheep

Sky Mango Tux wrote: »

I don't really think that's fair at all, there's been loads of politicking going on this season.

To be fair, there's some but it's fairly lightweight.

The High Sparrow - Tommen thing is absolutely stupid, and we're expected to go along with it. The only other bit I can remember is Littlefinger and Robyn and Baelish tightening his grip on the Vale. The stuff going on in Essos is the same as last season, "Oh the masters are bad, but Danaerys will return to save the day"... don't even start on the Khals she got involved with. There was nothing there, just more improbable super Dany.

I just feel like the show has lost it's subtlety. I'll keep watching it because it's still quite good, and episodes like last night are redeeming lots of filler crap.

.ak

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

To be fair, there's some but it's fairly lightweight.

The High Sparrow - Tommen thing is absolutely stupid, and we're expected to go along with it. The only other bit I can remember is Littlefinger and Robyn and Baelish tightening his grip on the Vale. The stuff going on in Essos is the same as last season, "Oh the masters are bad, but Danaerys will return to save the day"... don't even start on the Khals she got involved with. There was nothing there, just more improbable super Dany.

I just feel like the show has lost it's subtlety. I'll keep watching it because it's still quite good, and episodes like last night are redeeming lots of filler crap.

Don't agree with all of this, but as 'epic' as the episode was yesterday I felt to me like they were just wow'ing us with a

big epic battle and a good guy win. Very much repetative. Very low-brow compared to the usual twists and turns and plot lines you get in GOT. I felt a little underwhelmed in that sense.

Still, this season has produced some amazing twists and turns.. Hodor!

irishbucsfan

.ak wrote: »

Don't agree with all of this, but as 'epic' as the episode was yesterday I felt to me like they were just wow'ing us with a

big epic battle and a good guy win. Very much repetative. Very low-brow compared to the usual twists and turns and plot lines you get in GOT. I felt a little underwhelmed in that sense.

Still, this season has produced some amazing twists and turns.. Hodor!

That episode wasn't remotely low-brow to me. I thought it was incredibly well directed and performed. Just because there it's action heavy doesn't mean it's low-brow as far as I'm concerned. It was shot extremely well also which hasn't always been true of the show. The scenes with Jon in the pile of bodies was as good as any scene in the entire show. The show also continues to be extremely subtle in it's callbacks and imagery this season.

Kit Harrington was also good in that episode. He has been the weakest actor in the show for me at many times, but he's either really improved or the new post-death Jon suits him so much better. The same goes is true of Sophie Turner this season.

Also a shoutout for Iwan Rheon whose performance as Ramsey in Game of Thrones has been so good over the seasons, right to his very last scene. An extremely memorable on-screen villain.

It looks like we're going to end up with a "war of 5 queens", but very hard to tell how it'll actually play out.

.ak

irishbucsfan wrote: »

That episode wasn't remotely low-brow to me. I thought it was incredibly well directed and performed. Just because there it's action heavy doesn't mean it's low-brow as far as I'm concerned. It was shot extremely well also which hasn't always been true of the show. The scenes with Jon in the pile of bodies was as good as any scene in the entire show. The show also continues to be extremely subtle in it's callbacks and imagery this season.

Kit Harrington was also good in that episode. He has been the weakest actor in the show for me at many times, but he's either really improved or the new post-death Jon suits him so much better. The same goes is true of Sophie Turner this season.

Also a shoutout for Iwan Rheon whose performance as Ramsey in Game of Thrones has been so good over the seasons, right to his very last scene. An extremely memorable on-screen villain.

It looks like we're going to end up with a "war of 5 queens", but very hard to tell how it'll actually play out.

Sorry, I think you've missed my point. I'm not talking about the direction being low-brow, I'm talking about the story. There were two battles in the episode, and both were painfully obvious the the dragons/knights of the vale/whoever was going to come in and safe the day at the last minute. That for me is lowbrow, it's just rinse and repeat.

The actual direction was brilliant, some of the shots before the battle in winterfell were breath taking.

Zzippy

Totally unnecessary spoiler tags, just to look cool, like you guys...

Seriously, is GoT really that good? I've read the books but never watched the tv show, didn't want to be disappointed after reading the books I suppose...

awec

Zzippy wrote: »

Totally unnecessary spoiler tags, just to look cool, like you guys...

Seriously, is GoT really that good? I've read the books but never watched the tv show, didn't want to be disappointed after reading the books I suppose...

Yes, it's that good. Watch it.

Do you like battles and do you like boobs?

One of the things I love about the show is

that any character can die. I do not believe that anymore. Jon Snow's invisible arrow barrier was a tad ridiculous. He literally put himself in the worst possible situation at the start of that battle yet still came up on top. Even the arrows that Ramsey was firing at his shield as he rushed up to him were ridiculous. They were going through the shield. They could have easily gone straight into his wrist. For someone who is supposed to be such a great fighter, he relied far too much on luck. Surely a great fighter is one who mitigates risk as well being very skilled. Think of Bronn when he fought above the moon door. He won the fight dishonourably but won it pragmatically. Characters who stick stringently to honour have died time and time again in this. Not Jon Snow though. I did enjoy it but it feels closer to Lord Of The Rings where the good guys win and the bad guys lose. That's not GoT.

Zzippy

awec wrote: »

Yes, it's that good. Watch it.

Do you like battles and do you like boobs?

Do you really need to ask that?

Scythica

£230 taken off car insurance by blagging random quotes and generally being a nuisance #fakeittilyoumakeit

wp_rathead

Deleted User wrote: »

One of the things I love about the show is

that any character can die. I do not believe that anymore. Jon Snow's invisible arrow barrier was a tad ridiculous. He literally put himself in the worst possible situation at the start of that battle yet still came up on top. Even the arrows that Ramsey was firing at his shield as he rushed up to him were ridiculous. They were going through the shield. They could have easily gone straight into his wrist. For someone who is supposed to be such a great fighter, he relied far too much on luck. Surely a great fighter is one who mitigates risk as well being very skilled. Think of Bronn when he fought above the moon door. He won the fight dishonourably but won it pragmatically. Characters who stick stringently to honour have died time and time again in this. Not Jon Snow though. I did enjoy it but it feels closer to Lord Of The Rings where the good guys win and the bad guys lose. That's not GoT.

re: bit I bolded

Sansa tried to tell him to "mitigate risk" by basically telling Jon that Rickon is dead- Ramsay will never let him survive and to remember that.
Ramsay knew that Jon will try save Rickon despite being no hope (Remember Jon nearly deserts the Nightswatch and gets himself killed when he hears of Ned being beheaded) and exploited that, deliberately missing Rickon so drawing Jon further and further into reach of his archers- completely fecking up the Stark plan of letting the Bolton's attack them.
Yes there was luck. Ridiculous amount of luck. But in reality, it is luck which saves you from the chaos around you in these battles, not just skill.
Plus Jon Snow did die for being pragmatic- by saving the Wildlings and letting them through he was allowing less recruits for the army of the dead. This ended up with his death on the hands of some of the Nightswatch.
Plus I'd love to have your faith that not "any character can die" as I was sh1tting myself that Tormund was a gonner
I knew when Davos found the stag he would survive but because of the banter Tormund had I was sure he was gonna bite the dust

irishbucsfan

Narrative has somewhat evolved nowadays in modern shows where instead of being confident in the survival of characters you instead become confident in the completion of the narrative. Sometimes that means a character cannot die because the narrative is totally dependent on them. Some shows can't avoid that no matter how smart they are, Breaking Bad was dependent on Walter White for example.

In Game of Thrones they've done a great job of avoiding this in Westeros because each arm of the narrative isn't dependent on particular characters. Sansa and Jon make each other nominally redundant. The Lannisters make each other redundant etc. You can't be confident in the survival of any of them because it wouldn't terminate the narrative. Even though Jon survived against silly odds, it was always a complete possibility that he would die again ad Sansa would be left running those things. That would mean the narrative was reliant on her but the return of Arya could aleviate that.

The problems in Essos are two-fold. One, they haven't got that redundancy in their narrative. Even though there are multiple characters there the only thing that's keeping them there is one character. The other issue that escalates the relevant of that is the fact that there is only one arm of the narrative there. Not a single character in any other group is fleshed out and there is no reason why anyone else would win or why you would care if they didn't, so there's very little reason to care about the who, what, where or why. Everything on that entire continent is just a roadblock for the narrative delaying their arrival in Westeros. It's the narrative equivalent of a loading screen. There's nothing to invest in, even if the characters were more interesting than they are. The only things on the continent worth watching are boobies.

I think that this has been unavoidable for GoT because the only way to solve that particular problem would have been to spend many more hours on it. It actually would have potentially worked as two seperate series with a combined final crossover series or something like that but that's in hindsight. In a way it's interesting to think that it's a problem they've highlighted for themselves because they've avoided it so consistently in other areas. It's been a feature of modern literature that I've always liked so it's great to see so many shows embracing it and it's something that would greatly improve a lot of others. Unless a story is incumbently focused on a character, the narrative should remain redundant of any single agent.

mfceiling

And that folks is how you qualify for the last 16 in a major soccer tournament.

*unclenches arse cheeks*

awec

Was anyone else completely unaware that at the end of August the eFlow tags will not work any more on the M1, m7, M8 and n25 / n7 toll plazas?

Synode

awec wrote: »

Was anyone else completely unaware that at the end of August the eFlow tags will not work any more on the M1, m7, M8 and n25 / n7 toll plazas?

That's a pain. Looks like some sort of contract dispute. Hopefully they get it sorted

Synode

Rory McIlroy after pulling out of the Olympics (where he would have represented Ireland) citing fears over the Zica virus!!

I wonder will he be available for the 2020 Olympics

Buer

Synode wrote: »

Rory McIlroy after pulling out of the Olympics (where he would have represented Ireland) citing fears over the Zica virus!!

I wonder will he be available for the 2020 Olympics

Whilst a legitimate excuse, I suspect he was eager enough to find one. I suspect he's just disappointed the reason didn't present itself when he was under the microscope for selecting a nation to represent.

The golf is becoming a bit of a joke at the Olympics after such a publicised effort to have it reintroduced. A good few major winners from modern times have distanced themselves from the tournament. Any further withdrawals and the winner might have to have an asterisk next to their name...

Synode

Professionals shouldn't be anywhere near it (nor the boxing). The Olympics has always been about amateur sports

Buer

Synode wrote: »

Professionals shouldn't be anywhere near it (nor the boxing). The Olympics has always been about amateur sports

That's tentative, in fairness. Large part of the Olympics haven't been amateur for a long time.

I would imagine most see athletics as the central event at the summer Olympics. Whilst the likes of Usain Bolt make the vast majority of their money from sponsorship, he makes what would be considered a pretty handsome living from prize money. For example, Bolt would have pocketed around $150k from the world championships last summer so he's far from amateur.

Aside from the likes of basketball and tennis which have superstars involved who earn astronomical money, there are multiple athletes who make a decent enough living from their sports. The amateur days ended a long time ago.

Buer

Buer wrote: »

That's tentative, in fairness. Large part of the Olympics haven't been amateur for a long time.

I would imagine most see athletics as the central event at the summer Olympics. Whilst the likes of Usain Bolt make the vast majority of their money from sponsorship, he makes what would be considered a pretty handsome living from prize money. For example, Bolt would have pocketed around $150k from the world championships last summer so he's far from amateur.

Aside from the likes of basketball and tennis which have superstars involved who earn astronomical money, there are multiple athletes who make a decent enough living from their sports. The amateur days ended a long time ago.

Track and Field is a million miles away from Amateur. Many countries have athletes in programmes where they are remunerated in the forms of grants on top of sponsorship. All kinds of fee's and awards are paid to take part in leagues and some athletes are also employed by sports brands.

I had to pay back a sizeable chunk of change to go from professional back to amateur to compete at NCAA and if the Olympics worked the same way the sport would change over night.

If track and field events went completely amateur tomorrow they would need to cancel all existing world records as they would never be broken again.

awec

Deleted User wrote: »

Track and Field is a million miles away from Amateur. Many countries have athletes in programmes where they are remunerated in the forms of grants on top of sponsorship. All kinds of fee's and awards are paid to take part in leagues and some athletes are also employed by sports brands.

I had to pay back a sizeable chunk of change to go from professional back to amateur to compete at NCAA and if the Olympics worked the same way the sport would change over night.

If track and field events went completely amateur tomorrow they would need to cancel all existing world records as they would never be broken again.

Are you thee Venjur, the famous shot-putter?

awec

awec wrote: »

Are you thee Venjur, the famous shot-putter?

Threw a few of these

bilston

The Olympics were probably tainted in Rory's mind because of all the s*** he got around it. We just have to take his word for it that the Zika virus is sole reason he has pulled out but it is easy to be cynical on this.

Anyway as said Golf has no place at the Olympics. Nor does Tennis or Football, but then at least the Football is nominally U23.

irishbucsfan

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Threw a few of these

Can I have a medal?

irishbucsfan

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Can I have a medal?

Rory didn't take too long to change his mind... http://www.the42.ie/rory-mcilroy-rio-olympics-zika-virus-2800990-Jun2016/

I’m ready to play. I feel like the advice I’ve sought out over the past 10 days has put my mind at ease and makes me more comfortable going down there knowing that, even if I do contract Zika, it’s not the end of the world.

The politicising of the whole thing was shambolic too. Having a reason not to play and alienate people is fine imo.

swiwi_

Suspicious number of regular rugby lads posting in the soccer thread.

Not looking at awec or anyone else.

Deserved win: there was 2 clear cut penalties not awarded in the first half IMO.

Podge_irl

I am not going to be able to watch the seniors, U20s or the football this weekend. All because of one ****ing wedding. The football is on an hours train away but nooooo ill be on a plane. I may murder my friend.

awec

swiwi_ wrote: »

Suspicious number of regular rugby lads posting in the soccer thread.

Not looking at awec or anyone else.

Deserved win: there was 2 clear cut penalties not awarded in the first half IMO.

Soccer is my first love mate.

Will be missing the second half of the final test on Saturday cause it clashes with the Northern Ireland match.

Ireland win tonight meant Northern Ireland play Wales instead of France.

swiwi_

Would love it if Ireland beat France. Just for the Henry cheating.

Also the Swiss don't like the French. Uppity bigger neighbours and all that.

Would love to see Iceland progress, 330`000 population with 10% apparently in France to support their team.

BBDBB

mfceiling wrote: »

And that folks is how you qualify for the last 16 in a major soccer tournament.

*unclenches arse cheeks*

Apparently so.




*never in doubt ;-)

irishbucsfan

awec wrote: »

Soccer is my first love mate.

Will be missing the second half of the final test on Saturday cause it clashes with the Northern Ireland match.

Ireland win tonight meant Northern Ireland play Wales instead of France.

Is that true?

BBDBB

swiwi_ wrote: »

Suspicious number of regular rugby lads posting in the soccer thread.

Not looking at awec or anyone else.

Deserved win: there was 2 clear cut penalties not awarded in the first half IMO.

Love em both swiwi

Not gonna apologise for it

Delighted to see the clean sweep

swiwi_

At first glance I thought the 24-side tournament was a bit lame. Basically Europe minus the Faroe Irelands. And Holland.

But it's actually worked out very well.

There is way too much sport on this Saturday, and I'm going to have to choose between rugby and soccer :eek:

Buer

swiwi_ wrote:

At first glance I thought the 24-side tournament was a bit lame. Basically Europe minus the Faroe Irelands. And Holland.

It still is. The tournament is severely diluted.

But I not longer care.

Dave_The_Sheep

Soccer players often get stick from rugby fans about being cheating prima donnas, but there's a few that pretty much get universal respect. Buffon is one of them - straight over to O'Neill/Keane tonight after the final whistle. Classy individual.

I've turned off soccer a fair bit in the last decade or so, but it's great to see the fans who have stuck with it get rewarded with nights like tonight.

awec

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Is that true?

Is what true?

irishbucsfan

awec wrote: »

Is what true?

Are you an apostate?

mfceiling

Hi Scotland,

Can you water the plants and put the bins out. We're staying another week.

Thanks,

Wales, England, Ireland and Northern Ireland

awec

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Are you an apostate?

I am.

Does this annoy you? :pac:

bilston

awec wrote: »

swiwi_ wrote: »

Suspicious number of regular rugby lads posting in the soccer thread.

Not looking at awec or anyone else.

Deserved win: there was 2 clear cut penalties not awarded in the first half IMO.

Soccer is my first love mate.

Will be missing the second half of the final test on Saturday cause it clashes with the Northern Ireland match.

Ireland win tonight meant Northern Ireland play Wales instead of France.

Rugby is my first love but the 3rd test on Sat will have to take a backseat to the Northern Ireland Wales game! I think we have a chance. They have Bale and Ramsey who are better than anything we have but other than that the teams are much of a muchness, plus we have the greatest keeper that ever played the game!