FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hazzben]

RE: GOT Season 8 Ep 3

Without spoiling stuff too much. I really liked it. Pacing was exceptional. Tension was through the roof. Some very satisfying deaths. An excellent plot twist involving a death we didn't expect.

GOT has always been about the political machinations for the throne, the White walker threat, and the incredible characters. They had 4 episodes left to bring some sort of conclusion to all three. I'm fine with the order they are going with. And if the last episode was any indication, I think they'll continue hitting all the right notes as they bring this home.

I also think, given how epic the series has been in general, and the complexity of the three things listed above, there's just zero chance everyone is satisfied with how this all comes out.

[wally_wabash]

RE: GOT Season 8 Ep 3

Without spoiling stuff too much. I really liked it. Pacing was exceptional. Tension was through the roof. Some very satisfying deaths. An excellent plot twist involving a death we didn't expect.

GOT has always been about the political machinations for the throne, the White walker threat, and the incredible characters. They had 4 episodes left to bring some sort of conclusion to all three. I'm fine with the order they are going with. And if the last episode was any indication, I think they'll continue hitting all the right notes as they bring this home.

I also think, given how epic the series has been in general, and the complexity of the three things listed above, there's just zero chance everyone is satisfied with how this all comes out.

I've found myself thinking back to the show Lost.  That show was less epic than GoT, but over the first 2/3 of that series, the show built this incredible mythology, mysteries upon mysteries, questions upon questions.  Like GoT, talking about what you thought was happening or sharing theories about what has been as-yet-unexplained was half the fun.  And then they announced an end to the series.  I forget when they announced it and what the finite time left was (I want to say it was like two seasons worth of runway left to tie up all of the loose threads they created).  And as that show spun down to its own endgame, viewers were left doing the math and looking at their checklists of stuff that had to be answered, and looking back at the time left and....well it became pretty obvious that they weren't going to answer all of the mysteries of that island in the amount of time they had left. 

GoT just had their Lost moment, and I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't let myself see it coming.  There just isn't enough time to neatly sew up all of the mythology and mystery and questions.  Count me among those that are a bit unfulfilled, but I should have seen that coming given the amount of time left and the things that we all know are left to be done before the credits roll that last time.  Something was bound to get shorted. 

[hazzben]

I HATED the Lost ending.

Given GOT hasn't actually ended yet. And they've still got 4.5 hours of showtime left, I'm not willing to saddle them with a "Lost Ending" label quite yet.

Unless they somehow try to explain that Westeros is Purgatory 

[wally_wabash]

I HATED the Lost ending.

Given GOT hasn't actually ended yet. And they've still got 4.5 hours of showtime left, I'm not willing to saddle them with a "Lost Ending" label quite yet.

Unless they somehow try to explain that Westeros is Purgatory 

Once they got beyond the source material, B&W have always done a much, much better job navigating the political/military aspects of the story and have kind of been hamfisted with the fantasy stuff.  I do think the final three episodes are going to be more in their wheelhouse and should be great. 

[OzJohnnie]

Spoilers coming.  Skip this post if you want to watch this barf-fest clean.




Well, here are my reasons and they are all storytelling failures.  Failures so great I'm left wondering if perhaps George Lucas has a rival for the title of Biggest Storytelling Failure in History.

* The greatest force the world has ever seen is one shot?  Seven seasons of super natural build-up is terminated with a little deus ex machina sneaky-sneaky?  This guy sat around for 8000 years waiting for this moment, he can see the future and the past, and he gets caught like this?  And when THE ONLY WAY TO LOSE IS TO EXPOSE YOURSELF TO DANGER (a stupid premise in the first place) he goes and exposes himself?

* We're now supposed to believe that the final boss is the incompetent, bumbling, short-term thinking run-of-the-mill bad guy?  There are two full-sized dragons left alive.  Given the number of people left alive this is less of a challenge than the first time dragons came to Westeros and that was a challenge the way beating your five-year-old niece in a fist fight is a challenge.

* As stupid as the defensive plan was, the attacking plan was doubly stupid.  Either let the dead run over the Winterfell for three days until Bran is the only living thing alive (let a zombie bring him some water in his wheelchair) or do a silent fly by and torch the Gods Wood - Bran is not immune to dragon fire and the Night King can see where he is at any moment.  But whatever you do, listen to Jaime Lannister and DON'T EXPOSE YOURSELF WHEN THERE'S STILL FIGHTING GOING ON.

Let's call those the Lost-level failures.  Here are the Lucas-level ones:

* Why was Jon Snow resurrected?  The single greatest major character event was purposeless.  Either he faces the Night King and loses or he wins.  But to not face him at all?  Medachlorian level story telling failure.
* What about Azor Ahai and the Prince that Was Promised?  These two prophecies are repeatedly discussed and talked about and they mean nothing?  The one person who is the hero didn't come from the list of about 9 major characters who actually fit the prophecy?
* If the Blue/Green/Brown eyes thing is supposed to be all prophetic, Mel met Arya midway through season two and yet spend the next five season chasing other stupid prophecies?   She was nothing but a giant red-herring not only for the audience but for every major character on the show.

They say they knew who was going to kill the Night King about three years ago. If so, then they pulled it out of their ass because they either knew when they wrote that stupid brown/green/blue line (which is the only prophecy on the show not in the books) or they fell back on it in desperation.

Really unhappy.  Star Wars level of unhappy.

[sfury]

All very interesting thoughts, Oz.

But brief counterpoint to your Sager-length post: Last night's episode was great.

[OzJohnnie]

You could see it and follow the action?

[sfury]

It was definitely a tad dark but could still follow.

And then it was completely dark 45 minutes in when our cable and internet went out for 6 hours and I had to watch the rest this morning.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Congrats to Bethel University Royals All-Americans Dawson Brown and Kyle Kilgore on receiving rookie minicamp invitations from the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings!

[Mr.MIAC]

You could see it and follow the action?

Any darker and it would be an audio book...

[AO]

You could see it and follow the action?

Any darker and it would be an audio book...

It was obviously meant to be dark and hard to see some things but I wasn't really squinting to make out what was happening.  It was also definitely filmed with the idea you'd watch it in a dark room like a movie theater.  If you really want to see all the details in the shadows you'll have to wait for the bluray.  Streaming technology falls short with that much action and darkness.

[OzJohnnie]

You could see it and follow the action?

Any darker and it would be an audio book...

It was obviously meant to be dark and hard to see some things but I wasn't really squinting to make out what was happening.  It was also definitely filmed with the idea you'd watch it in a dark room like a movie theater.  If you really want to see all the details in the shadows you'll have to wait for the bluray.  Streaming technology falls short with that much action and darkness.

There were too many CGI effects and they couldn't make them all with detail.  So they darkened and used constant shakey-cam for the filming.  I watched it on a 4k HD broadcast.  Couldn't see anything.

But I'm over it.  I may read the final two books (if they are ever written) but I'll wait first to see if they do this same plot destruction.

[OzJohnnie]

Great recognition for a spectacular year.

https://gojohnnies.com/news/2019/4/29/sjus-erdmann-gillach-receive-honors-april-27-at-minnesota-football-awards.aspx

Junior quarterback Jackson Erdmann (Rosemount, Minn.) was honored with the Bobby Bell Impact Player of the Year Award, while senior wide receiver Will Gillach (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) received the Stein-Fallon Scholar-Athlete Award. Gillach became the third consecutive Johnnie to win it, following linebackers Carter Hanson '17 and David Franta '18.

Erdmann is the eighth recipient of the Bobby Bell Impact Player of the Year Award, which is presented to the player in the state who has made the greatest impact in their respective division, and the third from NCAA Division III. The award is in honor of former University of Minnesota football student-athlete Bobby Bell, who was an All-American at Minnesota and a member of the Gophers' 1960 national championship team. He went on to star for the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs and is a member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.

The Stein-Fallon Scholar-Athlete Award is in honor of former University of Minnesota football student-athlete Bob Stein and the late Pat Fallon, who was the CEO of Fallon Worldwide and a Minnesota graduate. It is awarded to one senior football student-athlete from a Minnesota college or university who demonstrates outstanding academic achievement, football leadership and community citizenship.

A member of SJU's 1976 national championship team, Mike Grant '79 received the John Gagliardi Legacy Award Saturday.

[OzJohnnie]

Speaking of Lake Calhoun, it looks like I was ahead of the times not behind them.

http://m.startribune.com/bde-maka-ska-is-lake-calhoun-again-court-of-appeals-rules-monday/509215742/

[MIAC23]

More St. Thomas coverage from the Fargo/Moorhead area.

https://www.inforum.com/sports/1013427-MIAC-decision-weighing-heavily-on-St.-Thomas-and-its-fans