The Fireside

First of all, since the show has now passed the books, I am keeping this post spoiler-free. I have a few friends who will not watch the show until the corresponding book is published. Those wishing to avoid spoilers, merely avoid any potential comments. Well. Wow. WOW. That was quite the season. The best since Season 1, or potentially, the best season of the show so far. Season 5 was VERY weak to watch week-by-week,but benefitted greatly from 'marathon' (screw the term 'binge') viewing. I've yet to re-watch Season 6 now that it's done though. I follow a website from time to time known as 'The Werztone'. He has used some phrases and wording and phrasing that mirror my thoughts on the season, which I will copy + paste here, followed by more of my own thoughts. Tis whole article is spoiler free:  " The fifth season of Game of Thrones was its worst, saved from mediocrity by the penultimate episode Hardhome which completely raised the bar for the sho...

I am a big fan of history, and historic events. Brexit happened, and as of July 2016, we don't know what the future will hold. Due to my interest in history as mentioned above, to me, it's interesting to see how the UK will change, if there is is any further change beyond separating from EU. So I'm going to have a look, and share a few thoughts with "Potential future of the British Isles." Please note, that that is not in any shape or form intended to be treasonous or disrespectful, but rather a speculative look at an unknown future. First up, we have a flag that combines England and Wales, leaving out Scotland and (United?) Ireland : Next up, is a map, as well as a re-naming of portions of the UK. I gotta, say, I like the names selected for the regions, as well as what regions will go where. To me, as a Canadian, it seems logical. But of course, a citizen of England, Wales, Ireland (either) or Scotland may disagree.... So, we have "The Celtic Union o...

Time for another Tolkien Tuesday post! Next up on my bookshelf to examine is The Silmarillion . The edition I own is in hardback by Harper Collins, and I believe was published for its 30 th anniversary. Since it was originally published, The Silmarillion hasn’t changed all that much, nor seen as many editions as The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings . This could be because of the fact that The Silmarillion is younger publishing wise compared to the others. So let’s have a look at it. The cover features cover art by Tolkien himself; and the texture is matte / paper like the others I've covered. Removing the dustjacket, the book itself is black with copper / brass embossment of the Tolkien logo as well as the book’s title on the spine. The text of the book has been fully corrected, with a few minor errors here and there that needed to be fixed . In more recent editions of The Silmarillion (this among them), a letter by Tolkien was included which explains the ...

Yes, the Welsh flag. Brexit happened, and it's not just England that got affected: the entire UK (as it's presently known)  is affected. That's right: the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish. I chose the Welsh flag to show that it's not just England. So, I'm dong up this post because I saw an article I saw on BBC I wanted to share with my readers, whether or not they live in the UK. Well, especially if they live in the UK. It can be found here: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=facebook And also: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36619817?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=facebook Look, I don't want to piss anyone off on my blog. My intent is to inform, and entertain. Something sensitive like politics, I usually tend not to dabble in due to extreme opinions of others. After a moment...

It’s time for another Tolkien Tuesday post! This one will be a bit longer than last week’s, and for good reason: it’s The Lord of the Rings . My current edition is the 60 th anniversary box set. Funny thing about that, is nowhere in the books included does it say “60 th Anniversary”. Except for maybe the Reader's Companion.... ? Yes, it does, OK, but it's not super obvious or as advertised as much the 50th was. However, if one checks the publication date and subtracts “60” off that, then hey, there you go. Instead, there’s a part of The Fellowship of the Ring that refers to itself / this edition as “Revised Edition” ( "Foreword to the Revised Edition" in the table of contents) so that’s what I’ll call it. Hey, it’s what the book does , and it works, as there are well over 400 corrections to the main text of The Lord of the Rings .  OK, now on to the cont ents of my set. There are four volumes included: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The...

It's finally here, and I finally saw it: Warcraft . So far, it seems that there a lot of movies this summer that have been getting bad reviews by the critics: X-Men: Apocalypse, Ninja Turtles , and Warcraft . Of all those, Warcraft is the one I've been waiting the longest to see, as well as the one I want to see the most. There area few reasons for this: - I've played the games and heard of the name Warcraft as far back as '95-'96. I own the first two games, played the third, and some of World of Warcraft (from '06 -'10...I think "Secrets of Ulduuar was my last new content.) - the movie has been talked about and planned for so long - Blizz Con 2015 footage won me over So, how is the movie? Well let's see here....the film is based on the very first video game when orcs and humans meet for the first time ever. So, no: this is not a World of Warcraft movie. Your jokes and references about that game have no place here.    It feels very uni...

Well, tonight is a night to look forward to. I'm gathering some of my favourite people up (those that can make it of course) for supper at a locla brew-pub. In fact, there's going to be 10 of us! Well, at the very most. I've got the reservations all set. Following that, most of us will be off to see..... Yes, we will be seeing Warcraft , which is based on the first-ever video game from the '90s, NOT the 2004 (and onwards) MMO, World of Warcraft . There's been love/hate reviews coming in, so I'll provide my own after I see it. What am I expecting? Not as bad as what the critics are saying, but nowhere near the Game of Thrones or The Lord of the Rings level epic that was promised. Perhaps as good as one of The Hobbit films. But we'll see. Who knows, maybe the beer from Big Rig will make it better than it really is. Look for my review this weekend [yes, I know I failed t deliver a few movie reviews here and there but this one I will definitely d...

A new trend I'm starting today is "Tolkien Tuesday", where each Tuesday I will do a Tolkien related post. For the next bit, I'll do a sort of 'review' of the books I own, as well as the edition etc. So, naturally, first up is The Hobbit , published by Harper Collins in 2007 for the 70th anniversary in hardback; with the ISBN of 9780261103283. The dustjacet cover is by Tolkien himself, and has been on editions ever since it was initially published. It has a paper-y / matte feeling to it. Removing the dustjacket, the book itself is black, with copper / brass engraving of the 'Tolkien Logo' as well as the title on the spine. When you open the book at either end, you are treated to a map. The front end has Thror's Map, and the back end has Wilderland. It is on brown-ish paper this time, and looks quite nice. There is also bit of color here and there as well. The text includes a preface by Christopher Tolkien, as well as a Note on the Text. Then...

There’s another Tolkien book coming on the horizon! Each time another one is published, I think ‘will this be the last one?’ Because, aside from anniversary or deluxe editions, there’s no telling. In the case of this one I’m going to mention, and A Secret Vice (and possibly others) it’s existing material, but ‘expanded’…because we are seeing more ‘expanded’ Tolkien works, I’m going to give a new category called that. Anyway, this time, it’s The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun . Here is the official ‘blurb’, and info (still a tad early in regards to know if a deluxe version will be coming (it could come later like The Story of Kullervo , whose deluxe edition is coming in October. USUALLY the deluxe version is published the same time as other versions, or shortly after. In Kullervo’s case, it’s about a year off) “Coming from the darker side of J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination, "The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun" is an important non Middle-earth work to set alongside his o...