George R.R. Martin's Blog, page 226

How Sweet It Is

And down go the Dallas Cowboys, for a season sweep.

Only a SuperBowl tastes sweeter than a victory over the hated Cowboys. Once again, as in the playoff game at Dallas two years ago, all the talking heads picked Dallas, and once again all the so-called experts were wrong. If anyone had told me yesterday that Tony Romo would complete 41 passes and Eli Manning would complete 11, I would have figured the game for a Dallas blowout... but if anything, the final score should have been more lopside...

Thursday Night Lights

Life is magical and full of... uh... a tiny teeny bit of hope?

The Jets beat the Bills of Buffalo last night in Toronto, which was good. Defense looked awesome, especially Darrell Revis, who completely shut down that loudmouth TO. Offense, not so much. And things got even worse on the offensive side of the ball when Mark Sanchez dove for a first down and hurt his OTHER knee, the one not already in a brace. Really, he's taking this "following in the footsteps of Joe Namath" thing too far. ...

Make It a WILD CARDS Christmas

Pat of Pat's Fantasy Hotlist runs good contests, evil Dallas Cowboys fan that he is. Right now he's giving away five sets of the first two books in our current Wild Cards triad, INSIDE STRAIGHT and BUSTED FLUSH.

Check out the details at http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2009/11/win-set-of-wild-cards-novels.html

Meanwhile, Tor has scheduled the release of SUICIDE KINGS, the third and concluding volume of the Committee triad, for December 22.


The contributing writers for this one are Ian Tre...

It's a Wrap

Another highlight of my time in Morocco was the wrap party.

For those not familiar with the term, it's a Hollywood tradition to throw a big party when you finish shooting -- or "wrap" -- on a movie or television project. I attended quite a few great wrap parties during my ten years in LA, but the GAME OF THRONES wrap party blew them all away. We held it in the Ouarzazate Museum of Cinema, a pretty amazing place itself, complete with local musicians, belly dancers, acres of Moroccan delicicac...

Jerusalem

I know that you all want to see pictures from the pilot shoot for A GAME OF THRONES, but alas, I can't show you the sets, the actors in costume, or any of that good stuff.

Which is not to say that I can't show you a few other things from my recent trip.

Jerusalem in Morocco, f'rinstance.

Here are some shots of the huge city walls and siege machinery that Ridley Scott built for KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, outside the city of Ouarzazate in Morocco. We did shoot some scenes here... but inside, in a court...

Jets

Life is... well, not magical, but tolerable today.

Jake Delhomme threw more interceptions than Mark Sanchez today, so the Jets beat the Panthers and still have a pulse. A very faint one, to be sure, but still a pulse.

Revis was amazing, completely shutting down Steve Smith.

Obviously my teams can only play well when I am here watching. I can never leave home again.

Giants Game

Life is meaningless and full of pain.

Suddenly it seems a thousand years ago when the G-Men were 5-0 and dominating. What the hell happened? Clearly I can't leave the country during football season. My teams just seem to fall apart without me.

Happy Turkey Day

Feeling much better this morning, and off in a few minutes to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family.

(I am once again relying on TIVO to record the Giants - Broncos contest tonight, so no commentary about it here, please. I probably won't watch it until tomorrow).

I have a lot to be thankful for. My readers, my friends, and most of all Parris.

I hope all you reading this are similarly blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving.

NFL

I am about halfway through watching the football games that were TIVO'd for me while I was overseas.

I came back from my trip sick to my stomach, as I reported last post. These games are only making me sicker.

Life is meaningless and has no joy but the Raiders.

Home Again

I got home a little past midnight on Sunday night, after a long and gruelling trip from Casablanca. Three flights, changes in NYC/ JFK and Minneapolis/St. Paul, close to twenty-four hours in transit since the wake-up call came through in my Casablance hotel. I was pretty much a zombie by the time I stumbled off the last flight into Parris's loving arms, and a rotting zombie at that. After being oh-so-careful in Morocco -- not drinking the water, brushing the teeth with bottle water, avoidi...