Michael Offutt's Blog, page 93

Olenna Tyrell had the best lines in The Broken Man but Lyanna Mormont stole the show in A Game of Thrones.

I really love grandmother Olenna Tyrell. She's wise, knows how to play the Game of Thrones, and isn't afraid to speak
her mind. Her conversation with Cersei was probably one of the best written that the series has to offer.So after watching "The Broken Man" on Game of Thrones last night, I'm pleased that the Hound is still with us. "You must be here for a purpose," a priest says to Sandor Clegane. But what purpose? Many readers of the books think it has to do with Cersei's impending "trial by combat" and the fact that her champion will be "The Mountain" and the faith's champion will be "The Hound." It's long been a speculation swirling on the internet. I don't know if I ever really bought into it, or thought that would even be a fair fight (given that I think The Mountain is pretty much unkillable in his undead state). But if anyone ever stood a chance against The Mountain, it's The Hound. Maybe The Mountain is super flammable (a thing that all undead on the show seem to be). If that's true, then that's a weakness The Hound could theoretically exploit (if he even figures out what has happened to his brother). However, it also presents its own set of problems though because the Hound is afraid of fire.

But in my opinion the real star of tonight's episodes were the castles that we got to see. The Mormont castle ruled by a very plucky girl who could devote as much as 62 of her house soldiers to the Stark cause to take back Winterfell was absolutely gorgeous. Next to a waterfall, it reminded me a little of a cross between Winterfell and Rivendell. Add to this the fact that we got to see Riverrun (as beautiful as ever), and the Tarley castle in the previous episode, and I think the only thing left that I really really long to see is Highgarden. It's supposed to be surrounded in fields of roses (and I love roses) and as the seat of one of the greatest houses in Westeros I'm sure it's going to be spectacular.

With the passing of tonight's episode, I think there are only 18 more left in the entire series. The end is coming quick, and I'm curious as to how they plan to tie up all the storylines. Did you have a particular piece from tonight's episode that you liked?

My random observations: I so want Lyanna Mormont to get together with Rickon Stark. I think that's a match made in heaven.

I hope that Arya's storyline doesn't end with her dying due to her wounds inflicted by the Waif. Her storyline has been boring, and she needs to kill the Waif. I think that would please the Many-Faced God and me at the same time.

The Blackfish has no fear of Lannisters. Telling Jaime off and not really caring what happened to Edmure Tulley was very fun.

Sansa is calling for Littlefinger. Oy...I wonder if that's a good thing or not.

Five ways in which insecure writers can reap rewards by publishing their writing

Today is Insecure Writer's Support Group day. For this once a month blog-a-thon, I decided I would write down five ways in which writers can reap rewards by publishing their writing. So if you're insecure about your writing, hopefully you'll find some motivation below that will spur you unto the finish line.

1) Without publishing, you won't ever find your audience. There are people out there who will both love and hate your writing and the things that you write about. In many ways, I think it's as difficult to connect with an audience as it is to find your soul mate. However, if you keep plugging away at it, the chances improve that someone that is engaged with your writing will eventually stumble across it. I know because this has happened to me. You've got to put yourself out there in order to be found.

2) Without publishing, you will never be finished with your project. I think hitting the "publish" button is important for a writer, because without doing so your manuscript/project will linger in this weird space where you can always find something wrong that needs to be fixed. You may even pick at it, finding some word that you can't believe you used and replacing it with another or a handful of things that you might view as mistakes but no one really notices or cares about. The act of publishing gets rid of all that by saying, "I'm finished."

3) Without publishing, you will never get an accurate sense of how good or bad of a writer you are. Everyone turns to their friends and family for critiques, and these are generally the worst kinds of reviews because they are heavily biased. I think that the only opinion that matters is one from your target audience, which is why it's important to a writer to maintain contact with these people once you connect with them (newsletters, blogs, and publishing more books are all good ways to stay in touch with your target audience once it has been found).

4) Without publishing you won't make any money. You have to get your product out there, and if you want to be taken seriously, publishing is one way to do that. By taking the final step, you are asking your target audience that your labor of love is actually worth money. How much you actually get back is going to vary from author to author. But that first dollar actually feels pretty darn good.

5) Publishing shows people that you can finish a project, but it also makes writing the next book easier. It goes without saying that once you've done something, it's much easier to repeat. You also get better at stringing words together (in general) as with any craft. Even if your sales end up really small, the fact that you published anything at all is a success in my book.

Barn owls are so silent that they don't even produce any air disturbance over the ground they soar

I saw this video on how silent a barn owl actually flies, and it's fascinating. They have such soft feathers and a huge wing span that they're virtually undetectable. To visually illustrate the point, the researchers directed the barn owl to fly over some feathers, and they don't move. Watch the video and see for yourself and have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend.

The Flash just hit the reset button on the entire CW universe so we could get Flashpoint in season 3

Please don't read further if you haven't seen (but intend to watch) the Flash season 2 finale, "The Race of His Life"

Season two of the Flash ended last night with a pretty spectacular episode. This entire season (of course) has been dominated by Zoom who managed to be much scarier than Reverse Flash in season one. As far as villains go, he was a pure psychopath willing to destroy infinite Earths (and all the people on them) as a trophy to his greatness. I think that sets the bar pretty high as far as evilness goes, and I suppose its appropriate that the Speed Force got rid of him for Barry by sending out the Time Wraiths. I love that the Flash doesn't directly kill people. It says something about his unsullied character that I really like, however, it obviously means that certain villains never get their comeuppance.

It's that cliffhanger ending though that I ultimately want to talk about. First off, Barry and Iris are doomed to forever stay apart. She gave him permission to go wherever he needed to go and do whatever he needed to do to address the hollowness inside him and said she'd wait for him right there. The only thing is, she had no way of knowing that Barry would race back into time and stop Thawne from killing his mom. Barry seeing his younger self wink out of existence (in the Flash costume) is probably a good sign that the future for the entire CW universe has now been rewritten.

In Flashpoint, a limited run comic book series, the Flash essentially wakes up in a dystopian universe. Everything is kind of turned on its heel and nothing is as you'd expect. Blogger P.T. Dilloway shared with me via email that he thinks this is where the Flash may be headed, and I tend to agree. Of course Barry does have his mom alive, but his dad died (I think) of a heart attack. So there's really no version of the present in which Barry gets to keep both of his parents.

If the CW wanted to, they could make huge changes to all of the timelines. Legends of Tomorrow killed off Captain Cold so he could be back and in charge of Central City. Laurel from Arrow could be back (or some version of her) as we've already seen there's a different Earth version of her that has even more fantastical powers than the one in Arrow that got killed. Not to mention the introduction of Supergirl season two (which I think will fit nicely into the whole expanded universe thing). However, the season finale of the Legends of Tomorrow teased the formation of the Justice Society of America, so that may also be what's going on. Either way, the season finale of the Flash opens up almost endless possibilities that the CW can explore, and I think that's a good thing.

Now I've got the summer to trudge through, but at least AMC's Preacher looks very promising.

In the gut-wrenching finale of The Door I'm left to believe that Brandon Stark is probably A Game of Thrones biggest villain.

Spoiler Alert: We need to talk about last night's episode of Game of Thrones, so please don't read on if you are unprepared.

I think I just watched the best episode of Game of Thrones I've ever seen, and I know I said that about another episode this season already. However, in surpassing the books, the story has really accelerated, and there wasn't a second of wasted time in "The Door" that seemed extraneous or unnecessary. One huge reveal we got from the show was that the Children of the Forest actually created the White Walkers. I suppose the "Why?" was answered pretty well by one of the Children that participated in the ritual (someone that's obviously immortal) in that they were at war and were being killed by the Andal invaders (who had no respect for their ways and destroyed their trees). So the White Walkers were a kind of nuclear option designed to destroy the human race. It's a fascinating reveal, but it does make me wonder how they lost power over the White Walkers. I've never seen a twist quite like this in any fantasy series. It does remind me of the plot of the movie Prometheus in that the Engineers obviously created the xenomorphs (aliens) to also kill off the human race. But I'm giving George R.R. Martin the stroke of genius for coming up with that (instead of Ridley Scott) because it's obvious he thought of this decades ago.

But the gut-wrenching moment of the show was finding out that Brandon Stark destroyed Hodor's mind. With the White Walkers coming for Bran, and with him struck in a trance with the Three-Eyed Raven and experiencing a vision, he warged into a young Wyllis. When it came time to "Hold the Door" to keep the ice zombies from eating Meera and Bran, Meera kept yelling that phrase and the psychic link somehow melted Wyllis' mind for decades. I just can't get over that. Yes, it's brilliant but I think I was more disturbed by that than any of the rape scenes in the show. Guys...Bran destroyed Hodor's mind. I can't think of anything more cruel than destroying a beautiful mind. And Bran did it by forcing a young Wyllis to live the moment of his death at the hands of the White Walkers decades before it happened.

So is Brandon Stark now the biggest villain of the show? Is this child of the Starks responsible for everything that's happened in the show? The Three-Eyed Raven warned that in the pages of history the ink is already dried. But it's obvious that this isn't the case and that the past, the present, and the future are happening at the same time when it comes to Brandon Stark's power. In fact, did Bran try to use his power on Aerys (the Mad King) and drive him mad by linking his brain to the future? If so then he's been responsible for countless deaths through time. But there is one question that burns in my mind about all of this: why is the Night's King wanting to kill Bran (who is now the Three-Eyed Raven)? Is it because he feels that Bran could somehow stop him?

It's a given that the White Walkers are murdering biological weapons unleashed upon the human race for one purpose: to destroy them and use the male babies to create more White Walkers. However, the fervor by which the Night's King went after a singular individual, going so far as to dispatch many of the White Walkers and his whole army of the undead seems a bit peculiar. Why is Bran such a threat? Is it because Bran has the ability to change time? Or does he fear Bran's ability to track him and his army wherever he goes? Or maybe he just fears Bran because he knows Bran will succeed him and become the new Night's King. Yeah, I'm going with that.

My favorite mutant in the X-Men comics is Nightcrawler. Who's your favorite?

Next week we get another X-Men movie, and that's just perfect (I don't really care what the reviews are going to be either). In celebration, I'm revealing my favorite mutant. It's Nightcrawler. Here's a few tidbits about him.

He goes by the name Kurt Wagner. Nightcrawler also possesses superhuman agility, the ability to teleport, and adhesive hands and feet. He has indigo colored skin (which helps him hide in shadows), two-toed feet, and three-fingered hands. He also has yellow eyes, a prehensile tail (like a monkey), and pointy ears. His mother (in the comic books) is Mystique and his father was Azazel. He grew up in the circus.

Why do I like him? I've always thought the ability to teleport at will was just really fun. Because of that, Scorpion was my favorite Mortal Kombat character (he could also teleport around) followed closely by Raiden (who could also teleport). I even invented a secret order of assassins in my Dungeons & Dragons game who all get special powers (like mutants) and my favorite one can teleport.

So now that I've told you my favorite X-Men, do you have one? If so, name it in the comments please. You get bonus points if you tell me why you like them so much. 

The cartoon comparing Michelle Obama and Melania Trump is pure garbage.

This election season has been awful. But just when I didn't think that it could get any lower, I saw this cartoon pop up on my newsfeed yesterday. I can't help but think that the ivory white followers of Trump view anyone that isn't white (like myself) in the ugliest of ways.

Girl power was all over the place in last night's Game of Thrones episode.

Girl power was all over the place in last night's Game of Thrones episode called The Book of the Stranger. So here are my assorted musings.

1) Jon and Sansa! Two Starks in the same room. Getting this family back together again has got to be crucial to whatever end game that this series has in mind. And it was wonderful to see after all the horrible things that both of them have suffered. I also loved that Sansa took charge and pushed Jon to go after Winterfell and Ramsay Bolton (I never thought someone could be worse than Joffrey but Ramsay really takes the cake). I love that Sansa is humble now and realizes how horrible the world really is and that she needs to fight for the good that's left in it. I was also really shocked that they killed off Osha. I think she deserved better, but at least she wasn't made to suffer by being flayed alive.

2) Tormund and Brienne needs to happen. I know she has this thing for Jaime Lannister (do we call it respect?) and Jaime seems to be in love (just a little bit) with Brienne. I like the politely disgusted look she gave Tormund; I sensed pure chemistry.

3) The High Sparrow really needs to die. I'm so tired of his smug expression, his platitudes about his religion, and his general terribleness when it comes to the Tyrells. However, I of course don't trust Cersei's plan. I think she's leading the Tyrell's into a trap in order to get rid of them all. Not sure how that will work out, but I wouldn't be surprised if it gets all the Tyrells snuffed out in short order. Another great house bites the dust.

4) Dany killing off all the Khals was pretty awesome. I wasn't expecting her to burn the temple of the Dosh Khaleen to the ground with everyone trapped in it (including herself). The show has not shied away from examples of her being fireproof. I like it, and I like the fact that she knows how to use it to her advantage. And now she has a khalasar to add to her army of unsullied. I wonder how she's going to view the 7-year agreement that Tyrion worked out with the slave masters?

Anyway, those are my assorted musings. What are yours?

With Supergirl moving to the CW the likelihood of a Justice League of America series just got better

Supergirl is moving to the CW for season two. This is great news. I liked watching Supergirl on CBS, but I always felt that it was out of place. It needed to be on the same network as The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. And now, it's looking like there will be lots more crossovers between the series, which I think is a great stroke of fortune for the DC side of television.

The Superman mythos is pretty incredible when you actually sit down to think about it (strong enough it seems to be fertile ground for endless stories). For one, kryptonite was a great source for "monster of the week" type episodes. But the doomed planet of Krypton, and the clues that Jor-El left on Earth for Kal-El to find was a great source of entertaining story arcs in Smallville. Having those worlds kind of merge with the multiple universes of The Flash and with the Batman-esque rogue's gallery of Arrow is probably going to mean some bigger team ups. And I love team ups and shared universes, because they're lots of fun. Oh and did I mention that with Supergirl comes Martian Manhunter? I really can't wait for the inevitable Arrow, Flash, Supergirl triple crossover week. It's going to be awesome.

Now on my wishlist is a return of Wonder Woman to the small screen and a return of the Green Lantern. At that point, the CW could literally launch a Justice League of America for the small screen, which would satisfy all of my nerd buttons by punching them multiple times. I love the CW. I think it's my favorite network.

Does Thor feel out of place in the Marvel movies?

This weekend I watched Captain America: Civil War like many other Americans. Afterwards, my friends and I had a discussion about what was good and bad, and my friend Brad pointed out that he enjoyed it much more than he did the Avengers films primarily because Thor wasn't around. Wanting to know more, he basically said that his brain has a hard time reconciling Thor as a character with the other Avengers because they have such different backgrounds.

Practically everyone else in the Avengers comes from some kind of scientific background. Captain America comes from a super soldier serum. Iron Man gets his powers from a suit. Black Widow is a trained agent and the Hulk comes from a gamma ray experiment gone bad. And then you've got these "gods" which are basically mythologicals inserted into all of this, and he doesn't like it. It's kind of like guns and laser cannons being inserted into a Dungeons & Dragons game...one of these things is not like the other.

So it made me wonder: does Thor feel out of place in the Marvel movies? I'd be curious to know your opinion on this?