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.

Does Santa need to go on a diet

Yesterday’s blog post brought about a flurry of comments.  As it turns out I forgot I few things.  Since there’s no time like the present, let me put the spotlight on some of the comments.

Andrea said …

“McColl is just another author trying to sell books.  She’s desperate and she knows that creating a controversy will give her her five minutes of fame.  She’s a nut job.”   

(There were more emails to that effect, stating that McColl is simply seeking publicity)

Linda said …

“I always question the motives of these do-gooders.  What alternative motive do they have?  Nobody does something for nothing.”

Michael said …

“If a smoking Santa sets a bad example for kids, so does his body.  Santa is morbidly obese and needs to go on a diet.  His weight sets a bad example for the kids.  Perhaps kids should stop setting out milk and cookies and give him something healthy to snack on.”

Erik said …

“All things considered, Santa is breaking the law.  He’s breaking and entering.  Is this what we want to teach our kids?  That’s it’s okay to go into other people’s houses at night.”

Monica said …

“The whole Santa thing is against my beliefs.  We teach our children that love can’t be bought, but Santa is doing just that.  If he didn’t bring gifts, would kids still love him as much?”

Madeleine said …

“I have three kids and I can’t afford presents for all of them.  Last year each had to make do with a scarf.  When they saw what other kids got, they asked me if Santa didn’t love them.  When I said that of course he did, they asked why he didn’t bring them nice presents.”

Andrea said …

“If we want to set a good example for children, we should look at the fairy tales.  If parents today are complaining about violence on TV and the effect this has on younger viewers, what about Snow white, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel.”

I guess it’s true, the old fairy tales are filled with violence.

Snow white casts a bad light on stepmothers.  The stepmother orders the huntsman to find Snow white and cut out her heart.  When this fails, the stepmother poisons an apple and has Snow white eating it.  She is committing murder.

In Cinderella we not only meet an evil stepmother but two evil stepsisters.  Cinderella is forced into child labor and the whole story is filled with nothing but lies and deceit.

In Red Riding Hood children encounter murder.  Remember the wolf eating Red Riding Hood and her grandmother? If memory serves me correctly, in the end a huntsman kills the wolf which set the grandmother and Red Riding Hood free, which reflects animal cruelty.

In Rapunzel we encounter abduction and a child being locked away in a tower.

The cartoons kids watch don’t set a good example either.

Think of the Roadrunner … how many times has he wolf attempted to kill the Roadrunner?  He’s tried shooting him, squashing him under rocks, blowing him up with dynamite and a series of other ways.

Perhaps McColl has something to say about that too.

Fact is, no matter how much certain mothers try to blame TV for violence, that theory doesn’t hold water.  Millions of kids grew up listening to fairy tales and watching cartoons.  Most of them turned out to be upstanding adults.  Sure, there are a few bad apples, but is that any reason to deprive kids from their favorite entertainment?

McColl and other women with similar notions should take a good look at themselves.  Could it be that, because their life is miserable they can’t rest until they’ve spoiled things for a few others?

Am I too violent?

There are days that all is right with the world and you feel perfectly happy and content, and then there are days that you could kill someone with your bare hands.  Take a guess what kind of day it is today …

It started last night.  One moment I was sound asleep, with Gabriel next to me and Charlotte by my feet, the next I thought WWIII had started.  A high pitched sound screeched  “PEEP, PEEP, PEEP …. PEEP, PEEP, PEEP …. PEEP, PEEP, PEEP!”  It was the newly installed fire alarm and I hate it with a passion. 

The old fire alarm only sounded in the building’s hallways.  It was loud and sounded like a coffee grinder, but it was bearable.  This new system, that the local fire brigade decided upon is not only MUCH LOUDER but installed in every unit.

Gabriel and Charlotte flew off the bed and went into hiding underneath it, while I tried to drown out the noise by holding a pillow over my head.  The pillow somewhat softened the noise, but it was still too loud to go back to sleep with.

From 3:00 until 3:20 the peeping sound went on, and on, and on.  Finally it stopped and I think everyone in the building let out a collective sigh of relief.

Not for long though, at 3:30 the peeping started again.  If I had had a gun, I would have shot the alarm; if I had a baseball bat, I would have smashed it to pieces; if I had strong muscles I would have ripped the alarm out of the ceiling and thrown it out the window.

Once again I covered my ears, tried to drown out the sound, but it didn’t work.  To distract myself I started counting the series of “PEEP, PEEP, PEEP’s”.  I got to 172.

Finally, the peeping stopped and a voice came over the intercom announcing that the fire alarm was faulty and that the mechanic was on his way. 

If I had my way with the fire brigade whose bright idea this was, and the man who installed this devious device, none of them would be breathing today.

I know, I’m a violent person, but can you blame me?