Maedhros

It's the same with the books. It gets less interesting when all the main characters are so far apart from each other.

The books are grander, and is altogether just more a rewarding experience for me. Watching the tv-series is fun, but it can be frustrating how little time you get to spend with each character. It's definitely a dumbed down/simplified experience as opposed to the books where you really get to delve into each character's thoughts and experiences. Best example of how a character suffers from this is Loras Tyrell. In the tv-show he's pretty much just a "token gay character". I don't mind learning more about the families and their members, and I like how even minor characters like Garlan Tyrell, Kevan Lannister etc all seem very fledged out with a distinct personality of their own. Then again, I'm one of those guys who loved to read about all the elven family trees in The Silmarillion, so I feel right at home when GRRM starts rambling about Tyrion's various uncles and their exploits. Makes the world seem more realistic/alive to me. People got annoyed with Ros because she was an annoying character. No one minds when they make new scenes that are actually good. Such as King Robert and Cersei discussing their marriage in season 1 for example.

People thought Jack Sparrow was awesome and charming back when the first Pirates film was released. Daario in the books is pretty much a more ruthless, less drunk version of Jack Sparrow. Silly looks but incredible swag and confidence. I think this picture is better: I don't really mind the change, but he is definitely more boring in the tv-series. Very generic pretty guy.

The TV show has done a really good job so far, and even improves on the book in certain cases. However it clearly works best when dealing in dialogue and drama, you never really get the huge cinematic "Lord of the Rings" scenes due to the series' budget. Just simple scenes like the King visiting Winterfell in the first episode - in reality it was thousands of people accompanying the king. And of course the budget restrictions means we barely get any Direwolf fighting. What annoyed me the most so far though was the lousy job they did with the costume on "the guy Bran meets" (avoiding name spoiler ) in his last scene. Let's just say the character is very significant for several reasons. The tv-series however portray him as just a relatively old man sitting in some trees. They said the reason was they had run out of money at that point, but this is how he's supposed to look (note the eye): No idea why they thought CGI skeletons (why not just have white walkers/zombies attack them?) was a good thing to spend money on instead of getting his look right.

The Hobbit 3 Not as bad as the last one, but it still had tons of flaws. Legolas' ridiculous stunts, and the Alfrid-character being the worst ones. Still, I had fun and the first half was actually pretty strong. The film works best when Bard is the "point of view" character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiabUnjU84w

The only freedom you have that I don't is the freedom to fail, really. Well, that and hate speech I guess. I like my safety net! It's not like the government is forcing us to pay high taxes, we, as free folk and all that, prefer it that way.

Norwegian here (so you might not be too surprised with my results):

I usually don't mind dumb scientists/science in films, as long as the film is redeemed by other qualities - but Promotheus didn't really have any strengths as a film. It had maybe one or two good scenes. The intro scene with the engineer was brilliant, but it set a tone the film never managed to follow up on. Interstellar was in a different league entirely. Even though it shares similar flaws with Promotheus, I was immersed in a whole different way. Pacing/acting/music(!), some breathtaking scenes, it was just all over a better film.

According to reports, the pilot is up-and-coming actor Oscar Isaac.

Not sold on that trailer at all. Has that "yet another sequel" feeling to it. Feels off.

Just bought it for PC, and it crashed after the first dialogue option, awesome

Boyhood A bit long, and some of the scenes were really cheesy - but overall it was a great film. Haven't seen anything quite like it. I can definitely see it winning a couple of Oscars this year.

Nope. Swedish and Norweigan you can guess your way through with varying success. Finish might as well be Russian. Denmark, Norway and Sweden historically traded a lot and was ruled by the same kings on occasion. Iceland was a Danish possession until they decided to mine their harbor and we decided not to bother contesting their rebellion. Interesting, so are you saying that Icelandic is like the old Danish language (because it was a Danish colony) which modern Danes don't understand? Yeah Icelandic is very similar to Old Norse. Guessing it was more similar to the Norwegian dialect though, as most of the settlers on Iceland were Norwegians. All Scandinavians spoke Old Norse during the 900-1300s, but Norway apparently had a different dialect than Sweden & Denmark: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Norse#mediaviewer/File:Old_norse,_ca_900.PNG But yeah, Norwegians/Danes/Swedes don't understand old norse at all, while Icelanders can read the old sagas in norse writing fine (as far as I know).

Looking forward to it very much. I don't really support any particular national team, but kinda hoping for Uruguay to win it, with Suarez controversially scoring the matchwinning goal. If only to annoy the predictable whiners.

Wow, did not see that coming. I thought the previous one was pretty much the most unneccesary film ever made, and didn't really offer anything that the previous triology didn't. What was good about this new one?

Great cast. Pretty excited about this actually - guys like Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) and Domhall Gleeson (About Time) are very impressive up-and-coming actors. Looks like Mark Hamill is getting into shape as well.

Crusader Kings 2 is a better RPG than pretty much any RPG.

Pretty much every "beloved" oldschool crpg plays terribly now. Clunky controls, ugly graphics, boring dungeon grinding, etc. Even newer ones like the Kotor games, and NWN 2 are horrible to play now. Jade Empire passed the test of time slightly better. I thought Dragon Age handled controls and combat better than pretty much any crpg released. Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2 were horrible games. Waste of my time, both. Same goes for Alpha Protocol and Dungeon Siege III.

True Detective is fantastic. Sunday's episode was the best one so far.

Therese Johaug, yeah. Such a beauty.

Yeah, Marit Bjørgen is a beast. Best female skiier of all time pretty much. Dat arm.

Looking forward to it. Then again, I'm Norwegian and we've always liked the sports no one else does. Gonna watch curling (hypnotizingly fun), hockey (gogo Zuccarello!), cross-country skiing (crushing Sweden is always fun), and biathlon - with the best biathlete of all time still competing at 40, and having a real chance at gold.

A bit strange that Rush didn't get a single nomination. One of the best films this year. Then again, Formula 1 isn't very big over there I guess, could have something to do with it.

American Hustle. Hilarious performance by Bradley Cooper. The movie was good, as is pretty much always the case with David O. Russel nowadays. The ending was a bit underwhelming though. 7/10