If you have a cat then you know you’re in thrall to that little furball pussy-paws. Your cat rules your life and only lets you live because you feed it, empty its litter tray, and sometimes you can be quite amusing like a smelly old court jester telling fart jokes. You know your place. And so does your goddam cat. So isn’t it time you just admit who’s boss in your household? Who’s the veritable Regent of all it surveys? And give your cutesy cat god the throne it deserves like maybe the one from Game of Thrones?
Made for Pets make “pet furniture” for your favorite feline (or even canine) to snuggle-up in. Among the many designs on offer is this “Iron Throne” cat bed as inspired by the hit book and TV series Game of Thrones. It’s a bit pricey at around $200 (£158.64) but if you love your cat and you know it’s really the protector of the realm, the top feline of all the Seven Kingdoms, etc. etc. etc. then you know damn fine your kitty deserves its very own Iron Throne. See details here.
Inspect more of your cats new bed, after the jump…
Well, another season of Game of Thrones has come and gone, leaving boffo ratings, now-useless .mkv downloads, and millions of thrilled fans in its wake. It’s enough to make you feel like you’ve been brained by the Mountain himself (who seldom seems to brain anybody, by the way, have you noticed that?).
A raven recently brought dispiriting news that we might have to wait until 2019 (!) for the next season, but if that’s true we can at least take for granted that the six (extra long) new episodes that remain will be chock full of awesome shit. In the meantime, we have little recourse but to ponder the fate of Tormund Giantsbane (he died, right?) and enjoy amusing GoT/rock music mashups such as those perpetrated by the Why the Long Play Face Instagram feed.
Usually this feed is dedicated to Star Wars album cover inspirations, but in honor of the big season finale on Sunday, they put up a few Game of Thrones versions instead. Perhaps we can send whoever is responsible to undertake further such labors in the Citadel, where grim lectures from Archmaester Ebrose punctuate the day (but we benefit, at least).
A Polish gentleman by the name of Paweł Zadrożniak has been posting videos on YouTube of sync’d-up floppy drives following a pre-arranged sequence of commands that collectively create music. He’s posted the “Imperial March” from Star Wars, as well as “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
The one that caught my fancy today, however, was the theme song from Game of Thrones.
Warning: Listening to this will make you want to watch the show, and it’s going to be like a year before there’s new episodes, so proceed with caution!
Okay, so I’m going to have to keep this post spoiler-free for all you Game of Thrones fans who haven’t seen the latest episode yet. All I’m going to do is park this delightful Hodor door stopper right here without explanation and let you all know it’s available on Etsy for $25.00. You can get it here.
I’ve found other Hodor door stoppers (featured below) but I have no idea if they’re available for purchase yet.
With a week to go before Game of Thrones returns to our screens, Sesame Street have produced a parody of the hit TV series—where the bloody feuds and wars are settled not by sword, sorcery, or dragon but by playing a game of musical chairs…
It’s certainly fun—with Muppet versions of Cersei Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, Robb Stark and Joffrey Baratheon all battling it out, as a typically lustrous-locked Tyrion Lannister and (the unfortunately named) Grover Bluejoy look on.
While Sesame Street have brought some knowing humor to proceedings, there is an interesting article by Paul Mason over at the Guardian which asks “Can Marxist theory predict the end of Game of Thrones?”:
If you apply historical materialism to Westeros, the plot of season five and six becomes possible to predict. What happened with feudalism, when kings found themselves in hock to bankers, is that – at first – they tried to sort it out with naked power. The real-life Edward III had his Italian bankers locked up in the Tower of London until they waived his debts.
But eventually the power of commerce began to squash the power of kings. Feudalism gave way to a capitalism based on merchants, bankers, colonial plunder and the slave trade. Paper money emerged, as did a complex banking system for assuaging problems like your gold mine running dry….
There is a reason so much fantasy fiction adopts the conceit of a feudalism that is always in crisis but never overthrown. It forms the ideal landscape in which to dramatise the secret desires of people who live under modern capitalism…
Future social historians, as they look back on the popularity of Game of Thrones, will not have much trouble deciphering the inner desires of the generation addicted to it. They are: “all of the above” plus multipartner sex.
Trapped in a system based on economic rationality, we all want the power to be something bigger than our credit card limit, or our job function. Nobody sits at home watching the these dramas imagining they are a mere slave, peasant or serving girl: we are invited to fantasise that we are one of the characters with agency – Daenerys Targaryen, a beautiful woman with tame dragons, or the unkillable stubbly hunk that is Jon Snow.
Here’s some confusing cosplay: a woman dressed-up as a sexified version of Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones. When you think you’ve seen everything the Internet has to offer, something like this pops up and you’re left speechless. And then you think to yourself, “Nothing is going to top this one.” But something inevitably does… the very next day. Very Aphex Twin, ain’t it?
I demand to see more sexy versions of Tyrion Lannister this Halloween, please and thank you in advance.
Long before Rory McCann became internationally known as scarred, brooding hardman “The Hound” Sandor Clegane in Game of Thrones, he was the pin-up poster boy for Scotland’s traditional breakfast cereal Scott’s Porage Oats.
“Porage Oats” is a brand of porridge that takes its name from the Scottish word “poray” and the French word “potage”—hence porage. While porridge has long been a Scottish dietary staple, often providing breakfast, lunch and dinner, Scott’s Porage Oats has been household favorite since the late 1800s. A welcome winter-warmer, Scott’s Porage Oats is instantly recognizable with its distinctive packaging of a Highland laddie in kilt and vest putting a shot.
This iconic image was first added to the packaging in 1924, and it has been suggested that the figure was modeled on a soldier from the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, whose barracks were not far from Scott’s oat mills in Edinburgh. According to their website:
This figure of strength, health and vitality has changed only a little over the years as fashion conscious and enthusiastic Marketing Managers have lengthened and shortened his hair, and occasionally, very controversially, his kilt.
With his Sean Conneryesque good looks and powerful build, McCann was the ideal actor to bring this trademark figure to life. In 1999 he was cast as the ever-helpful Highland laddie in a series of adverts.
What Scotsmen wear under their kilts and more top shelf entertainment, after the jump….
Milan Vuckovic reimagined the Game of Thrones title sequence and theme song as a 60s-era homage to famed movie title designer Saul Bass.
Someone in the YouTube comments asked Vuckovic if the static you hear during the song was done purposefully. Vuckovic said indeed, that it was done on purpose.
This Game of Thrones Season 4 blooper reel was just screened at San Diego Comic-Con and it’s rather amusing to say the least. I’m so invested in these multifaceted characters—I’m a diehard fan of the show—that it’s difficult for me to view them as thespians breaking out of character. I think BuzzFeed did a post a few years ago with photos of the actors and actresses out of costume and in everyday streetwear… it was just plain weird.
In my mind these folks are not acting but actually these characters at all times. Silly I know, but that’s how damned good they all are at their craft.
It’s kind of a treat to see their real personalities, though, if only for a few seconds.
Game of Thrones actor Kristian Nairn has announced a Rave of Thrones tour of Australia this August and September.
Nairn, who plays the gentle giant from Winterfell, has a second career as a successful DJ back in his native Northern Ireland and has perfomed with Scissor Sisters and as far afield South Africa and Australia. Now he will returning “down under” to bring the Seven Kingdoms with his skills as a DJ.
It kind of figures that Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin would be a fan of Marvel Comics’ The Fantastic Four, with its strong main characters, who may often bicker and argue with each other, but always unite to fight various dastardly enemies. The other Marvel characters—with a few exceptions (mainly team-ups like The Avengers, and Thor)—tend to be geeky loners, who have difficulties fitting into society. The Fantastic Four are their own little society, just like all those families in Martin’s Game of Thrones.
In 1961, a 12-year-old George wrote a gushing letter of praise to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for their #17 August issue of The Fantastic Four, which was published in the #20’s letter page:
Dear Stan and Jack,
F.F. #17 was greater than great. Even now I sit in awe of it, trying to do the impossible—that is, describe it. It was absolutely stupendous, the ultimate, utmost! I cannot fathom how you could fit so much action into so few pages. It will live forever as one of the greatest F.F. comics ever printed, ergo, as one of ALL comics. In what other comic mag could you see things like a hero falling down a manhole, a heroine mistaking a toy inventor for a criminal, and the President of the U.S.A. leaving a conference that may determine the fate of the world to put his daughter to bed. The epic story, spectacular and exciting as it is, is not all that made this mag so great. The letter column was top-notch, too. I nearly died when I saw Paul Gambaccini’s letter. You’ve really made him change his tune; that letter was a far cry from the one printed in F.F. #9. Then there’s your cover boast—THE WORLD’S GREATEST COMIC MAGAZINE! Brilliant! You were just about the World’s worst mag when you started, but you set yourself an ideal, and, by gumbo, you achieved it! More than achieved it, in fact—why, if you were only half as good as you are now, you’d still be the world’s best mag!!!
George R. Martin
35 East First st.
Batyonne, N.J.
The Bullpen replied:
We might as well quit while we’re ahead. Thanks for your kind words, George, and now—it’s time for our favorite department—where we talk to you straight from the shoulder———
I wonder if the Paul Gambaccini mentioned in George’s letter is the BBC radio presenter?
“Battle of the Trident”—Seiji writes: “This is the iconic duel between Robert Baratheon and Rhaegar Targaryen that preceded the series by seventeen years. Instead of a war hammer, Robert wields a Kanabō, a club-like samurai bludgeoning weapon. His antlered helmet is inspired by the famous helmet of the warlord Honda Tadakatsu.”
What would “Westeros” be in Japanese? “Wesatarosu”? (Apologies if that’s way off.) At any rate, That’s the question prompted by these marvelous artworks by imgur user seiji, who is clearly a fan of the HBO series/endless series of novels by George R. R. Martin as well as of the distinctive visual steez of 18th-century Japanese woodblock prints.
As Seiji commented on his imgur page:
“I thought it would be interesting to draw a retelling of the [A Song of Ice and Fire] universe as if it took place in feudal-era Japan. These drawings are inspired by the Ukiyo-e style.”
Now I’m imagining Toshiro Mifune occupying the diminutive shoes of Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. Nah, can’t see it without Dinklage….
“Tyrion at the Eyrie”—“Catelyn Stark, her uncle Brynden Tully, and a dispatch of the Knights of the Vale journey to the Eyrie while transporting their captive, Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion is dressed in the robes of a nobleman.”
“Bran Stark and Hodor Journey North”—“Weirwood lore shares some interesting similarities to Shinto practices, so I drew a shimenawa (prayer rope) around the tree trunk.”
“Jon Snow Duels Qhorin Halfhand as Wildlings Look On”—“The wildlings are dressed like the Ainu, who are the indigenous people of northern Japan. The Ainu are thought to be the descendants of the first inhabitants of the islands, and throughout history they have lived independently in the cold far north, beyond the grasp of the Emperor.”
“The Execution of Eddard Stark”—“Instead of having Ilyn Payne simply execute Ned Stark, an amused Joffrey orders Ned to commit seppuku. Ilyn is on hand to perform the kaishaku, or ritual decapitation to quicken the death. The paper in front of Ned is a death poem, which a samurai would traditionally write before ending his life.”
“Mother of Dragons”—“Danaerys wears traditional Heian-period royal clothing and is seated on the Mongolian Steppes, a fitting analogy for the Dothraki Sea, far from Westeros.”
I’m a big fan of HBO’s Game of Thrones. So when I watched this recut trailer depicting Game of Thrones as a Medieval theme park comedy, I almost peed myself a little. Especially at Peter Dinklage’s character “Terry.” Oh my dear god, this is good stuff.
This mash-up of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” works freakishly well with the Game of Thrones theme song. I would have never thought of these two songs paired together in a million years, but the proof is in the pudding.
One minor quibble though, anyone who watches Game of Thrones knows “It’s a Woman’s Woman’s Woman’s World.”
