Day 22: Why was Game of Thrones so popular

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 22: Why was Game of Thrones so popular

I often wondered what made Game of Thrones so popular. Let me put the cat among the pigeons. To me, the popularity of Game of Thrones can be summed up in three reasons:

Full frontal nudity

Explicit sex scenes

Graphic violence

Wherever I turned people were talking about Game of Thrones, collected memorabilia and eagerly anticipated the next season.

Personally, I was among the 2% who never watched a single episode. That is until the finale aired, and I watched that.

Curious what all the hype was about, I decided to watch Games of Thrones from the beginning. I made it halfway through season 3 and then … I gave up.

As to why Game of Thrones was so popular, I did some research and found the following:

 Women like how women rise to power

 The frustration that never ends

 The unconscious desire to be liberal

 Taking Curiosity to a new level

 Some people enjoy the complexity

 Love of violence

 They enjoy seeing the power struggle

Baloney, I listed my reasons for the show's popularity above. Without the sex and the nudity, I think far fewer people would have watched the show. It was basically free porn.

The thing is though, it's all full-frontal female nudity. Where are the men? Don't the ladies deserve some eye candy?

As for the violence ... I found it a bit too graphic. I don't need to see how a deer and a rabbit get skinned or how a head gets chopped off. Some things are better left to the imagination.

The only two characters I really enjoyed were Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister, and the three dragons of course. The rest got on my nerves, especially Cersei Lannister and Ygritte. I could have killed those two with my bare hands. 

As for the cinematography ... I hope the cinematography of Game of Thrones wasn's nominated for an Emmy because it sucked, big time! There were some beautiful shots, but there were just as many disasters. Shots so dark the viewers couldn't see what was going on. My favorite shot ... this one.

All in all, I found Game of Thrones overrated and disappointing and people's reaction to the series in line with The Emperor's New Clothes.

The disappearance of Chanel

The weather forecast promises rain and thunderstorms for today. To be on the safe side they neglected to say where exactly. Is this rain to fall in Richmond Hill, in Kitchener, in Waterloo? From the looks of it, we in Toronto are not going to get anything. All I see are clear blue skies with big white puffy clouds here and there. A bit like the sky of ‘The Simpsons’.

To cope with the heat the cats have taken to their own private places to chill. Let’s take Chanel for instance ...

Yesterday morning I did a quick headcount and only counted four out of five cats. Chanel was missing.

I looked in all the usual and unusual places, but there was no sign of her.

“Chanel! Chanel!” I called ... no response.

I looked all over the apartment again. I went from room to room, looking under beds, in cabinets, behind cabinets, in closets, on windowsills ... nothing.

“Chanel!!!” I was getting frantic now.

None of the doors had opened, so she couldn’t have slipped out, but where was she?

I made a third trip around the place, calling as I went along. No response.

Where was that darn cat?!

Then I got an idea ... treats, if I rattled the bag of treats, maybe she would just show up.

Perhaps you’re familiar with the TV commercial for Whiskas treats where a cat comes crashing through walls and doors to get to the treats. Not that I expected such a reaction from Chanel, but if she would just show herself.

I retrieved the bag from the cabinet and rattled it. Charlie, Mickey, Charlotte and Gabriel immediately came running. I rattled the bag again and Charlotte gave one of her throaty meows, looking at me with eyes that said “Well, what are you waiting for?”

As I dished out some treats, there was Chanel, coming to get her share. She just appeared out of nowhere.

“Where have you been?” I asked her. No response of course.

I guess I’ll never know where Chanel had disappeared to. Is it possible that cats can beam up and beam down like Scotty used to do with the crew of 'Star Trek'?