"That cousin of yours is a smart girl. It's too bad you can't date her. ..."
Stolen from aphrodite_mine who got it from fannish5
1. Jaime/Brienne (A Song of Ice and Fire)
2. Alana/George (The Lioness Quartet)
3. Lilah/Wes (Angel the Series) romance factor debatable
4. Bill/Barb (Big Love)
5. George Michael/Maeby (Arrested Development)
Months ago I bought up the idea of re-reading SoIaF outloud with my boyfriend. He liked the idea but we tend to forget to enact it... because we are always doing other things instead. Last night he asks me really adorably to read to him. So we turn all the lights back on and big through the boxes he still hasn't unpacked to find his copy of Game of Thrones and I open it up and start reading the Prologue to him, checking every few paragraphs to make sure he hasn't passed out. He didn't, he was just sort of curled up happily, and I got the end of the prologue and put it down because I had to get up early but he was all happy and said he liked my voice and I was happy and we are definitely going to actually start doing it. I figured I might as well write my responses to the re-read, since reading aloud takes enough time that I could probably do it in great detail so without further ado:
When I first read this book the prologue mainly just gave creepy ambiance to me. It blurred greatly with the prologue to Sabriel in fact. Re-reading one can see so much more and feel the foreshadowing and all the things that are implied and later will be explained.
Although none of the characters in the chapter will survive long enough to play a part in the series, we do get mentions of three who will: Commander Mormont (The Old Bear), Maester Aemon (Targaryen), and Robert(the King).
The characters present, while not main players, are representative of the state of the kingdom and the Night's Watch:
Will, the POV character, is a convicted criminal who is on the Wall as a punishment, although given his youth and his crime (poaching) one gathers that he was more a hungry desperate peasant than a criminal mastermind.
Ser Waymar Royce, is the youngest son of a noble family and he is cocky and arrogant. His negativity and lack of respect for the other men indicates to me that he sees himself as above them, and probably above being part of the Watch at all. Again, the Wall seems to be not so much a desired calling but a lesser of two evils option, although Ser Waymar doesn't openly state this. He also is very young, and the sort of redemption hinted at by the way he faces the Others indicates that he is not a bad person, just unsuited for his position. This is sort of a foil for Will, who fits into life as a Man of the Night's Watch in a way he could belong nowhere else.
Gared, is very unlike the other two. He is an earlier generation, and it is not possible to tell whether it is time that has erased his past, or things were different when he joined decades before. Either way, we are given no indication of his origins. His identity is utterly that of a Man of the Night's Watch. He is weathered and hardened, which leaves him with more honor than Will, but better common sense than Ser Waymar.
The fact that Waymar is in charge of the expedition and not the more experienced Gared, implies that his birth was probably low and that the Night's Watch is (at least currently) more like the outside society and less a brotherhood of equals committed to a cause. This is a crack, like the method of the other men's recruitment, and Ser Waymar's title and behavior.
So we have societal things. But these are mostly overshadowed by the eeiry supernatural implications and events. Namely the undead/zombies known as "the Others". We won't see them again for a long long time, but their placement here in the Prologue essentially tells us that in the end the story will come back to this threat and away from the Game of Thrones so to speak.
One thing I noticed about the Others and generally descriptions of the freezing cold was the idea of burning. The cold feels like burning and the eyes and weapons of the others seem to burn, although their are icy. This seems important in light of the series title. Is is a Song of Ice and Fire and they seem to be one and the same here beyond the wall.
And I am not one of those people who is convinced that Jon Snow is really Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen's son and not Ned Stark's bastard, but if that is the case the whole idea of ice and fire coexisting seems to serve as foreshadowing for his existence, since the Starks are ice and the Targaryens are fire.
Also regarding the Others, Gared says that fire will keep away bears and wolves and... other things, before they encounter the Others. This indicates an awareness or what particularly might be out there, in addition to the general feeling of wrongness that Will and he both feel. Also his loss of body parts to the cold indicates that he was part of the Night's Watch when the last winter happened. So has he actually encountered the Others before, or is he just aware of the rumors? Do the Others come every winter and it is just that this time they are not prepared for it and they might make it past the Wall and destroy everyone as opposed to just being creepy in the no man's land/wilderness? If there are still men living who have seen them, it seems like there would be more knowledge available on them in later books.
On the whole, even after having read 4 books, the Others still remain an enigma to me in regards to anything but their basic archetype... which I guess means they are a success in their purpose of creeping me out and seeming foreboding.
So this chapter implies a lot about the Night's Watch and the Others and gives us a taste of the supernatural, which will not really reappear until the end of the book (Bran's visions and the connection between the Starks and the wolves are only borderline and implied mysticism).
This morning I got on the scale and it told me I was 134.0 lbs. Based on the 136.8 lbs that I registered as 3 weeks ago that's almost 3 lbs. of weight loss, which is made more impressive by the fact that I have been working out/building muscle so I've probably killed a lot more fat than that and possibly I am getting to the point where my weight is starting to drop finally (Monday I had still lost less than a lb.) but even if I kept up with about 1 lb. a week I would be down to 120 in 14 weeks (so by the end of July). Sure I'd love that to be 2lbs. a week and be at my desired weight by mid June but I was committed and okay with it taking 6 months... so 4 would totally be better than expected.
I do also feel better. Getting up early and working out makes me feel like I've accomplished something. I also makes me want to eat breakfast, which has always been an issue for me. I know you are supposed to eat in the morning and it is healthier that way, but I usually don't feel like it and haven't ever since I was a kid. It also just makes me want to DO THINGS. Like if I didn't have to be at work right now I would totally go work out more. Basically it's all those things people always say it is but you are always like "yeah yeah".
All of this makes the resisting the longing for french fries and s and alcoholic milkshakes, the getting up at 6 am to work out, and the being sore most of the time feel a lot more worthwhile.
Mom thinks I should join Curves. She and her good friend have been doing it and she says it is really easy, quick, and rewarding. I am considering it for the very fact that it is sort of an older woman thing and less with the 90 lb. girls or leering guys and it would be good for me to get over my fear of public working out. Possibly will try to get sophia_helix to join with me. I suspect that company would help make it enjoyable.
1. Jaime/Brienne (A Song of Ice and Fire)
2. Alana/George (The Lioness Quartet)
3. Lilah/Wes (Angel the Series) romance factor debatable
4. Bill/Barb (Big Love)
5. George Michael/Maeby (Arrested Development)
Months ago I bought up the idea of re-reading SoIaF outloud with my boyfriend. He liked the idea but we tend to forget to enact it... because we are always doing other things instead. Last night he asks me really adorably to read to him. So we turn all the lights back on and big through the boxes he still hasn't unpacked to find his copy of Game of Thrones and I open it up and start reading the Prologue to him, checking every few paragraphs to make sure he hasn't passed out. He didn't, he was just sort of curled up happily, and I got the end of the prologue and put it down because I had to get up early but he was all happy and said he liked my voice and I was happy and we are definitely going to actually start doing it. I figured I might as well write my responses to the re-read, since reading aloud takes enough time that I could probably do it in great detail so without further ado:
When I first read this book the prologue mainly just gave creepy ambiance to me. It blurred greatly with the prologue to Sabriel in fact. Re-reading one can see so much more and feel the foreshadowing and all the things that are implied and later will be explained.
Although none of the characters in the chapter will survive long enough to play a part in the series, we do get mentions of three who will: Commander Mormont (The Old Bear), Maester Aemon (Targaryen), and Robert(the King).
The characters present, while not main players, are representative of the state of the kingdom and the Night's Watch:
Will, the POV character, is a convicted criminal who is on the Wall as a punishment, although given his youth and his crime (poaching) one gathers that he was more a hungry desperate peasant than a criminal mastermind.
Ser Waymar Royce, is the youngest son of a noble family and he is cocky and arrogant. His negativity and lack of respect for the other men indicates to me that he sees himself as above them, and probably above being part of the Watch at all. Again, the Wall seems to be not so much a desired calling but a lesser of two evils option, although Ser Waymar doesn't openly state this. He also is very young, and the sort of redemption hinted at by the way he faces the Others indicates that he is not a bad person, just unsuited for his position. This is sort of a foil for Will, who fits into life as a Man of the Night's Watch in a way he could belong nowhere else.
Gared, is very unlike the other two. He is an earlier generation, and it is not possible to tell whether it is time that has erased his past, or things were different when he joined decades before. Either way, we are given no indication of his origins. His identity is utterly that of a Man of the Night's Watch. He is weathered and hardened, which leaves him with more honor than Will, but better common sense than Ser Waymar.
The fact that Waymar is in charge of the expedition and not the more experienced Gared, implies that his birth was probably low and that the Night's Watch is (at least currently) more like the outside society and less a brotherhood of equals committed to a cause. This is a crack, like the method of the other men's recruitment, and Ser Waymar's title and behavior.
So we have societal things. But these are mostly overshadowed by the eeiry supernatural implications and events. Namely the undead/zombies known as "the Others". We won't see them again for a long long time, but their placement here in the Prologue essentially tells us that in the end the story will come back to this threat and away from the Game of Thrones so to speak.
One thing I noticed about the Others and generally descriptions of the freezing cold was the idea of burning. The cold feels like burning and the eyes and weapons of the others seem to burn, although their are icy. This seems important in light of the series title. Is is a Song of Ice and Fire and they seem to be one and the same here beyond the wall.
And I am not one of those people who is convinced that Jon Snow is really Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen's son and not Ned Stark's bastard, but if that is the case the whole idea of ice and fire coexisting seems to serve as foreshadowing for his existence, since the Starks are ice and the Targaryens are fire.
Also regarding the Others, Gared says that fire will keep away bears and wolves and... other things, before they encounter the Others. This indicates an awareness or what particularly might be out there, in addition to the general feeling of wrongness that Will and he both feel. Also his loss of body parts to the cold indicates that he was part of the Night's Watch when the last winter happened. So has he actually encountered the Others before, or is he just aware of the rumors? Do the Others come every winter and it is just that this time they are not prepared for it and they might make it past the Wall and destroy everyone as opposed to just being creepy in the no man's land/wilderness? If there are still men living who have seen them, it seems like there would be more knowledge available on them in later books.
On the whole, even after having read 4 books, the Others still remain an enigma to me in regards to anything but their basic archetype... which I guess means they are a success in their purpose of creeping me out and seeming foreboding.
So this chapter implies a lot about the Night's Watch and the Others and gives us a taste of the supernatural, which will not really reappear until the end of the book (Bran's visions and the connection between the Starks and the wolves are only borderline and implied mysticism).
This morning I got on the scale and it told me I was 134.0 lbs. Based on the 136.8 lbs that I registered as 3 weeks ago that's almost 3 lbs. of weight loss, which is made more impressive by the fact that I have been working out/building muscle so I've probably killed a lot more fat than that and possibly I am getting to the point where my weight is starting to drop finally (Monday I had still lost less than a lb.) but even if I kept up with about 1 lb. a week I would be down to 120 in 14 weeks (so by the end of July). Sure I'd love that to be 2lbs. a week and be at my desired weight by mid June but I was committed and okay with it taking 6 months... so 4 would totally be better than expected.
I do also feel better. Getting up early and working out makes me feel like I've accomplished something. I also makes me want to eat breakfast, which has always been an issue for me. I know you are supposed to eat in the morning and it is healthier that way, but I usually don't feel like it and haven't ever since I was a kid. It also just makes me want to DO THINGS. Like if I didn't have to be at work right now I would totally go work out more. Basically it's all those things people always say it is but you are always like "yeah yeah".
All of this makes the resisting the longing for french fries and s and alcoholic milkshakes, the getting up at 6 am to work out, and the being sore most of the time feel a lot more worthwhile.
Mom thinks I should join Curves. She and her good friend have been doing it and she says it is really easy, quick, and rewarding. I am considering it for the very fact that it is sort of an older woman thing and less with the 90 lb. girls or leering guys and it would be good for me to get over my fear of public working out. Possibly will try to get sophia_helix to join with me. I suspect that company would help make it enjoyable.