plurie

I just saw Sean Bean (Ned Stark) in THE MARTIAN. He played the NASA official in charge of the crew on the Mars mission. And he DIDN'T die!

Yes, Abi Maria is an awful person. But everyone already knows this. She's emotional and extremely sensitive to any real or imagined slight. So if you invite her into your alliance, you have to constantly reassure her and stroke her massive ego. If not, she'll turn on you. Shirin should have known this. I'm not sure why Pei Gei is getting a pass from Abi; perhaps it's because she never pretended to be her "friend," only an alliance mate. Abi would never expect Pei Gei to "comfort" her, but she expected her "friend" Shirin (who invited her into the alliance) to do so. And Terry, who is just about the last person we'd expect to show any emotional intelligence, jumped on this "betrayal" and "comforted" her out of the alliance.

That would be Andre DiMeara, who has been "dead" for years, but just showed up back in Salem without any real explanation (or any explanation of how he's Stefano's son and not his nephew).

This was not the first year med school gross anatomy class. She started off by saying that they'd need to forget everything they know about anatomy. It was my impression that it was a SURGICAL anatomy lab for the surgical interns.

Yes, there was some sort of pulley or hook or something heavy that he put into the bag just before he threw it into the Salem River.

And...? Don't leave us hanging. He was really good (as were all the rest of the actors). I didn't want to post spoilers about the movie, but...

I just saw Kit Harington (Jon Snow) in "Testament of Youth" based upon the WWI memoir by Vera Britain. He played her fiance.

Can we change the title to say "Now Reading A Storm of Swords"?

The only prior mention of "Floating Islands" that I've encountered is in the Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn movie classic, "Desk Set" when Hepburn's character makes this for dessert when Tracy ends up at her apartment after a rain storm. I always assumed that no one made them anymore.

Maybe Nicole and Chloe can hook up to raise Parker together?

Molly Burnett (ex-Melanie Jonas) was a guest star on episode 4 of the new Netflix season of LONGMIRE. She played a bridesmaid at a bachelorette weekend at the newly opened casino.

Hope HAD money, but I thought that she no longer did. Bad investments or something.

She did. She's still owed a bundle from Xander, but he's broke since Victor took all his money away. So I don't understand where she's getting the money. I suppose Shane could give Theresa a bundle to invest if he's so inclined, but there's been no indication that this is ever going to happen.

Just because Theresa has done horrible things doesn't mean that Brady isn't abusive to her. They're BOTH abusive! But Brady is the one with the money, power and physical strength. All Theresa has going for her is that she's not quite as stupid as Brady.

Women CAN inherit the throne if there are no direct male heirs, which is the case (as far as anyone not named Howland Reed knows) in Westeros.

What does Brady hope to accomplish by abusing and threatening Theresa? They have a legal custody agreement that allows her to move out with the baby whenever she wants to. If he no longer wants her to move out (because he doesn't trust her alone with Tate), perhaps he should stop treating her like dirt. This will only encourage her to move out, and, perhaps to vindictively sue for full custody. Despite appearances, her parents are rich, and hate the Kiriaki. So they would happily hire the bestest custody lawyer in the world. It could get really nasty, really easily, which would not be good for Tate or Brady.

While it is a fictional world, it's based upon medieval Europe. Noble women were pretty much defined as mothers of potential heirs, and as property of their husbands. So while I would hate to be a woman in Westeros, it seems believable to me. The other exceptions are older women like Olenna Tyrell, who have a LOT of power that doesn't derive from their sexuality. It all circles back to the "Maiden, Mother, Crone" archetypes that are reflected in three of the seven gods of the Faith. The corresponding male gods "Father, Smith, Warrior" are more of a creation of GRRM, and don't represent phases of a man's life, but rather roles he may or may not inhabit. I haven't really given this a lot of thought until now, so this is not a fully formed thesis. But I do find it interesting.

I don't consider myself a Stannis fan, but he was the ONLY one of the five kings who sent help to the Wall. So once in a while, his priorities were in the right place, which is more than you can say for any of the others. And I really like Davos, who is extremely loyal to him (but doesn't approve of burning people alive). The "burning people alive" thing is hard to get past. If Catelyn HADN'T released Jamie, Karstark would have killed him. IMO, she made the best of a bad situation. And, like Jamie with Aerys, she didn't deign to explain this to anyone.

Nicole was wearing a handkerchief top, with a half tuck! Where are the fashion police when you need them?

There was no test for HIV in 1983, but AIDS was diagnosed by the ratio of helper (CD4) to suppressor (CD8) T cells. I doubt that the "test" that Alex took would have been positive so early. He's asymptomatic (as far as we know), so his T cells counts are probably normal. HIV wasn't discovered until May ("LAV" discovery by Montagnier) or November ("HTLV-3" discovery by Gallo) of 1983. The joint announcement that they were the same virus and the cause of AIDS didn't come until 1984. The blood test wasn't licensed in the US until 1985. (See https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/aids-timeline/). I was in medical school from 1982-1986, when all of this was happening.

There's a better app, A WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE, that lets you set the spoiler level. It includes a map and character/house index. You buy each book separately. I don't remember what it costs, but I think it's worth the money.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. It's an excuse to dress up in costume and eat candy. What could be better? I don't like pumpkin, but you could do all sorts of things with the seeds. But really, anything orange and black would work. I would do salmon with candied sweet potatoes and squid ink pasta. And some roasted pepitas with whatever kind of spices you like (even harissa would work). And coming up with a Halloween story shouldn't be that hard for anyone who grew up in the US. (Rue might have had trouble with this; I don't think they celebrate Halloween in Zimbabwe.)

Marie converted to Catholicism, but I don't think any of the other Hortons (or, at least those who didn't marry into one of the Catholic families) did.

SOME of the characters (the Bradys , DiMeras and Hernandezes) are Catholic. The Horton/Deveraux's are some flavor of Protestant. The Kiriakis' are Greek Orthodox. There haven't been any Jews in Salem since Robert and Robin left. AFAICT, they've never had any Muslims or Buddhists.

I hated the ending. Not because it was "dark," but because it was stupid. If the Hitler Youth froze all the "adults," ther's no one in town with more than a high school education. Who trained Amy to be a nurse? What are they going to do without doctors, engineers, teachers, etc.? If you want to rebuild society, and keep things running in the Mountain (and, therefore, in WP), you need trained personnel. Not a bunch of high school grads and teenagers with no adultvsupervision!