Another reason to keep my HBO subscription: the network is ordering a pilot based on “Game of Thrones”, the first book in George R.R. Martin’s epic “A Song of Ice & Fire” fantasy series. I’ve discussed my enthusiasm for these books in previous entries and I’m anxiously awaiting the fifth installment. While many familiar tropes of the fantasy genre can be found in the books (swords, feudal societies, dragons), their tone is quite dark. Combine that with healthy doses of explicit sex and the material seems like a perfect fit for HBO’s sensibilities. The books’ cast of thousands might have to be pared down to accommodate the realities of a television series budget, but Peter Jackson has already demonstrated that it’s possible to adapt a literary work without slavish adherence to the text.
Just one request: please don’t film it in British Columbia. It seems like every genre series uses BC for exterior shots and it’s getting old. When I imagine the land of Westeros, I don’t get a Pacific Northwest kind of vibe.
Hello and thanks for a great blog!
Let me introduce myself: I am a Finnish journalist and a good (well, at least 30 years ago) friend of one of your nurses, John Hauser. We met when I was a foreign exchange student in Milwaukee in 1977. We started an email correspondence again by accident recently and by now have learned quite a lot about eachother’s lives.
John linked me to your blog and I have now enjoyed myself with it for a few weeks. You have a very wide perspective on things, and not only because you live on the 19th floor… I have a cp-handicapped son of my own, so I am aware of and interested in the issues of the disabled. Your work and ideas are a cause of envy to us all, not to mention your sense of humor.
Also, your views on the presidential election were enlightening, and I even got around browsing the digital New Yorker. Thanks for the hint!
This is just to let you know you have readers in Finland, too. And if you ever decide to take a trip to the Nordic countries to study the famous (though crumbling) “welfare state”, let me know. I would be happy to assist you in every way. I know there are people here on all the levels of the society who would certainly like to meet you.
Yours, Suvi Ahola