Small Talk: Slaves To Gab

[Anothermi]

Well, I'm back... but just barely. Have been busy since the above post and haven't even gotten to re-watch episode 7!

Glad to see Llywela is back and in fine form. <<big wave across the pond>>  I hope the rest of you are doing well but distracted by other things (Olympics?). I will start catching up in a few days.

[Llywela]

19 hours ago, Anothermi said:

Well, I'm back... but just barely. Have been busy since the above post and haven't even gotten to re-watch episode 7!

Glad to see Llywela is back and in fine form. <<big wave across the pond>>  I hope the rest of you are doing well but distracted by other things (Olympics?). I will start catching up in a few days.

*waves back*

I thought I was going to be so behind when I came back from holiday, but it turns out...not so much - instead I've been feeling lonely!

[Pallas]

Hello, Anothermi! Can't wait for you and gingerella to catch up through The Pointy End, which is where Llywela and I have set up camp. No one's in any hurry to revisit the Sept of Baelor. Sometimes I wish someone would just blow it up. 

[Anothermi]

4 hours ago, Pallas said:

Hello, Anothermi! Can't wait for you and gingerella to catch up through The Pointy End, which is where Llywela and I have set up camp. No one's in any hurry to revisit the Sept of Baelor. Sometimes I wish someone would just blow it up. 

Hee!

Just about to start writing my thoughts on You Win or You Die. Probably have something to post before this evening.

[Pallas]

Welcome back! I hope your time away was great; I'm finally on vacation this week, but here -- at the barn a lot, but here. Summer is Ending. Looking forward to your thoughts!

[gingerella]

I am back too, post Olympic haze...Will get back on the horse post haste. I already told Pallas that I don't think I can watch some of the more horrific Joff scenes a second time so I foresee FF becoming my new BFF during the remainder of our re watch.

[Anothermi]

Yay! The posse is re-forming. Watch out for saddle sores Ging!

[Llywela]

On 28/08/2016 at 5:13 PM, Pallas said:

Hello, Anothermi! Can't wait for you and gingerella to catch up through The Pointy End, which is where Llywela and I have set up camp. No one's in any hurry to revisit the Sept of Baelor. Sometimes I wish someone would just blow it up. 

Yes, yes, welcome back, everyone! We certainly have set up camp at The Pointy End - I was trying at first not to fall too far behind the viewing schedule, but abruptly came to a crashing halt, because I apparently can't quite bring myself to revisit the aftermath of Ned's beheading just yet.

Perhaps when everyone else has caught up...

[Anothermi]

OK. Just an FYI....

I've got my comfy seat, my tissues, my pillow, a little wine for fortitude...

I'm going in tonight. Sept of Baelor, here I come.

[Pallas]

I forgot about the horse.  I really, truly, forgot about the horse. Watching him dragged in, confront the remorseless, face the blade and then crash to his knees (too!)...

To the thread, tonight.

[Anothermi]

3 hours ago, Pallas said:

I forgot about the horse.  I really, truly, forgot about the horse. Watching him dragged in, confront the remorseless, face the blade and then crash to his knees (too!)...

To the thread, tonight.

Yeah. That horse scene was even more horrible than the 1st time. I immediately thought of (was it Janjan? geez I've forgotten exactly who now) but they pointed out that this story is so bad to horses (only in more colourful language).

[Pallas]

Yup! -- janjan. "This show's a dick to horses."  And to heroes. 

[Anothermi]

Somewhat silly question to those of you knowledgeable about horses. @Pallas @janjan @gingerella

There was a shot, in Spoils of War, of the back of Arya on her horse looking over an expanse towards Winterfell. (screen-cap of that scene )

I remember thinking her horse's tail had been altered at a salon or something. It almost glowed white/rose-gold. I suppose the rose-gold tint could be due to the lighting wizard, but do horses have that level of two-tone in their tails (dark at the base but turning whitish part way down? I really don't know much about horses so yah, silly question but I'd still like to know.

Edited August 13, 2017 by Anothermi
spelling & clarity

[Pallas]

Beautiful screen-cap, Anothermi! Yes, Arya's horse is a dapple-gray, like this Lusitano: as you can see, he's graying-out in different "moments" all over his body, and like Arya's horse, right now his tail is that pearly tint yet with an almost black base, or dock.  Here's another, more nearly evenly two-toned.  Catch up on grays here! 

My horse used to have a penchant for grays: among his own kind at an off-track thoroughbred show, he hallo-ed to every gray he saw, and only the grays. Now his stall is next to a gray TB that my horse, for reasons known only to him, finds criminally annoying. (The best I can figure out, going off my horse's silent-screen emoting is, He eats hay!  He drinks water!  He sometimes moves around!)

[Anothermi]

Ah Pallas. Thanks so much. Beautiful Horses. Too bad the full effect was hidden by Arya's saddle and gear. But I shouldn't be surprised that horses don't need salons to be beautiful.  I love the extra book learning that comes with this show.

I'm also surprised that horses take after cats in some respects. Perhaps your horse wasn't so much hallo-ing to the greys but "clear off-ing" to them? (LOL. Animal personalities. Not just anthropomorphize - ing.)

Love that family tidbit.

[Pallas]

4 minutes ago, Anothermi said:

Perhaps your horse wasn't so much hallo-ing to the greys but "clear off-ing" to them?

Oh no, there's a beautiful, sometimes poignant bugling horses do to summon or salute their fellows, a trilling come-hither. Lucky the human to receive that greeting from her horse.

My guess is that my horse was the stable-mate of a gray at the track where he lived and worked for three years, sharing the daily routine and heightened atmosphere. After hanging up his racing plates, the next time he saw so many thoroughbreds together was at this little show. He wondered if his friend might be among them. The gray at our barn is superficially enough like his old friend...but not him. No, not him, at all.

My horse hasn't given up though. A new gray thoroughbred arrived recently, and as we walked past his stall the other day, my horse abruptly rooted himself so that they might touch noses, whisper up and down each other's neck, and finally, entwine heads. 

[janjan]

I once had occasion to trailer a horse (for a show) back to the farm where I had bought him 3 years before. When we pulled in, he went nuts, neighing and and snorting frantically. An answering neigh/snort came from far away, around intervening buildings. It turned out to be his old stable-mate, whom he couldn't see, of course, still in the trailer and  with all the stuff in between them. How did he even know where he was, let alone that his buddy was there? And how did the buddy know he was back? But they both did., and they made that clear. We put them together for the afternoon, just like a long-delayed Stark reunion. Much nuzzling ensued.

[Anothermi]

Loverly tale janjan. Much thanks.

I wonder if it was smell? It seems animals get a lot more information via smell than we mere humans do.

[janjan]

Yes, I think it was smell -- and a long memory! When my old guy died recently and was lying in the yard awaiting burial <sniff>, my younger horse was frantic. The vet had braided and removed his tail for me [ not the vet's tail, Pallas! :-) ], and I put it in the stall. The young guy sniffed it with great interest and seemed satisfied.

[janjan]

Dunno if it's true, but I've heard that horses are better than dogs at tracking fugitives over rough terrain. They get the smell from the air instead of nosing through the underbrush. The challenge is getting them to do it. Since they're not predators, they have little interest in unfamiliar smells.

But humans are easy to track. Some anthropologists credit our species's survival not to the big brain or the opposing thumb, but to a noxious smell that puts us low on predators' menus. African forest rangers report seeing a lion step over a whole camp of sleeping men to get to a dog.

We become desensitized to our own redolence (except after a gym session), but smells are important in international relations. Japanese in WW II were apparently grossed out by Westerners who "stink of butter," and Chinese-Russian relations were touchy because, reportedly, Mao was appalled at Khruschev's "peasant stench."

That's us: skunk apes.

[walnutqueen]

Good tracking dogs also "air scent".

I had a slew of Appaloosas, aeons ago, all with their own penchants for quirkiness, with multi-colored tails to boot.  My little stud was totally normal until he was sent up North to get schooled by a trainer; by the time I rejoined him, he'd turned gay as a Swedish Meatball ((TM) Love Actually).  Let's just say he gave a whole new meaning to "Western Pleasure" and "Trail" events. He wanted to mount the geldings in front of him during Western Pleasure events (nothing like having a big ole' cowboy on a big ole' Quarter Horse sidestep up to you saying : "Hey Lady, your horse has 5 legs").  During the Trail competition, he sidestepped the water obstacle so he could straddle and hump his way down the adjoining bushes.  And in his stall, he refused food & water, going crazy for the gelding in the next stall; yes, he was trying to hump the stall wall that separated them.  I eventually had to let them geld my poor confused baby, and neither of our lives were ever as interesting thereafter.

[janjan]

34 minutes ago, walnutqueen said:

 I eventually had to let them geld my poor confused baby, and neither of our lives were ever as interesting thereafter.

Gelding your horse made your life less interesting? That's interesting. :-)

[walnutqueen]

7 hours ago, janjan said:

Gelding your horse made your life less interesting? That's interesting. :-)

Yes, indeedy.  We had a flirtation, of sorts.  (And get your filthy mind out of the gutter!)  My stud colt & I grew up together during tumultuous times - too soon, I lost all my horses to my parents' folly, and my life changed, not always in a good way.  He went on to have a lovely life with a girl who adored him; I sank down into a life of debauchery, premature marriage and an unanchored life.

Not interesting in the least.  :-)

Edited August 15, 2017 by walnutqueen
closing parentheses matters

[janjan]

Pallas, we're waiting for a Kitty Report. ;-)

[Pallas]

I am Dizzy, Mother of Kittens. I was born to rule.

 

I am petite, yet I am poised. A pregnant year-old stray brought to a shelter in Iredell County, NC, within a week I became Mother of Kittens. Five spotted Bengal-mix kittens (was I most of the mix or all there was of the Bengal?). Together we traveled North, where after four months all of my children -- including a boy already the size of me -- have found other homes. I loved them well, and am well rid of them. 

In my new realm, I have met a cat. She has not bent the knee. I am petite, yet I am bold; I make pronouncements: she bends her head, and licks her paw. She bends her back, and licks her belly. She bends her legs...under herself, and shuts her eyes. As if to acknowledge, It is known: a cat cannot look at a Queen. 

Perhaps we shall leave it at that, for now.

[Anothermi]

:-D

*bends the knee. extends relaxed hand, at a discreet distance, should The Queen have questions about my lineage. Back away quietly.*

Dizzy. OK then. I almost thought that might be short for Diznaerys, but on second thought I expect she is 1st of her name.

Sadly,  the link did not provide a picture. Just a thumbnail icon, a prompt to view full size and a big old "You.Do.Not.Have.Permission" notice.

Can I have permission to view the Mother of Kittens? I'll swear fealty! (and I've already bent the knee.)

[janjan]

Perchance only the trueborn get a working link, or else try a different browser. Dizzy, Mother of Kittens, appeared on my screen in all her furry glory, her eyes of gold deigning to look down on her humble servant and loyal retainer, lying prostrate before her in the company of Firefox 53.3.0.

[gingerella]

I tried to bend the knee to the Mother of Kittens, but was denied an audience with the new Queen. I fear she incorrectly thought me a Dogwalker and is wary of my presence. I was going to journey North to the Carpet Wall, but then a passing journeyman told me about another place across the Narrow Sea, and so now I am off now to Cath Vaes, where I hear there are shimmering field of a grass worthy of a Queen, and I shall return with copious amounts of nippage of cat for the Mother of Kittens. Perhaps then, she will allow me to bend the knee, or at least throw the plastic fishing rod thingy, in her company. If that does not work, I shall not give up hope! I will call for Hotpie to bake a fish pasty, and perhaps request Arya to go undercover as a kitten, to see what this Queen is up to...

Edited August 20, 2017 by gingerella

[Anothermi]

18 hours ago, janjan said:

Perchance only the trueborn get a working link, or else try a different browser. Dizzy, Mother of Kittens, appeared on my screen in all her furry glory, her eyes of gold deigning to look down on her humble servant and loyal retainer, lying prostrate before her in the company of Firefox 53.3.0.

You've nailed it janjan. I've been hiding out in the wilds trying to avoid paying further tribute to the Virtual Houses who rule the internet and their demands to take on their "improvements". But my old, trusty and still working unit is being rendered blind due to lack of enough memory space to see the more complex mysteries on offer. Slowly becoming obsolete and starved of the virtual opiates I had once taken for granted would remain available to me.  The company I keep is a much lower Firefox and my old trusty unit cannot carry the load of bits and bytes now required for the higher versions.    :-(

[Pallas]

The Mother of Kittens commanded that the good simple woman who harbors the Mother of Kittens allow all who are prepared to sing her praises, a glimpse of her visage. "PM 'em," said she, and so I have.

[gingerella]

3 hours ago, Pallas said:

The Mother of Kittens commanded that the good simple woman who harbors the Mother of Kittens allow all who are prepared to sing her praises, a glimpse of her visage. "PM 'em," said she, and so I have.

And indeed, I looked into the Fire(fox) and I saw her vision among the flames...golden of fleece, glowing of eyes, she is a Queen to behold, and I do believe she represents Fire...The Khaleesi of Kittens, indeed...

Edited August 21, 2017 by gingerella

[janjan]

17 hours ago, Anothermi said:

I've been hiding out in the wilds trying to avoid paying further tribute to the Virtual Houses who rule the internet and their demands to take on their "improvements".

You and me both. My machine is still running Windows XP. If it ain't broke. . . .

I have Win 7 on my work machine (company refuses to "upgrade," and it's a major computer company!). I put Win 10 on another home machine, just because it was free for a while, but I rarely use it.

[janjan]

On 8/21/2017 at 11:29 AM, janjan said:

My machine is still running Windows XP. If it ain't broke. . . .

 

Just as A Show delights in punishing A Viewer who dares think all will be well in Westeros, the Virtual Gods beheld my complacency and smote down my vintage computer, my trusty companion who was old enough to vote and run Windows XP. It died in my arms that very day. I had bought a new one 3 years ago, but couldn't face the trauma of migrating so it has sat in the box all this time. All hail the new computer! Now out of the box and sitting regally on the Iron Desk, winking and blinking and trying to take over my life, as computers are wont to do.

[Anothermi]

My condolences janjan and I wish you good fortune in the Trials (& tribulations) to Come with this new Usurper.

Welcome back.

[janjan]

10 hours ago, Anothermi said:

I wish you good fortune in the Trials (& tribulations) to Come with this new Usurper.

Thanking you. I hope they don't exceed those of the great migration across the Red Waste between Windows versions, where the bytes are stark and full of errors.

[Pallas]

New Computer: to my Windows XP way of thinking, it can transform only from (1) Sorcerer in a Box to (2), Knifey, Last Seen on Ned's Desk, Trying to Look Innocent. 

[DirewolfPup]

I am the group heretic running a Mac OS for all personal correspondence. Though my daily slogging is off of a Window's 7 running unit. (in a Fortune 500 company no less). Old habits die hard.

For further anecdotal evidence, I too was denied the pleasure of seeing the Mother of Kittens. Lady Pounce, first of her name, descendant of the first cats and defender of the realm.

[janjan]

2 hours ago, DirewolfPup said:

Though my daily slogging is off of a Window's 7 running unit. (in a Fortune 500 company no less). Old habits die hard.

Not sure it's because of habit. Windows 8 was such a disaster that many avoided it.  In fact, when I bought The Usurper, Win 8 was the current version but Dell put Win 7 on new machines by default -- you didn't get Win 8 unless you specifically asked to have pain and suffering rain down upon your head like Lannister armies transporting stolen gold and grain to KL. M$ then rushed out Win 10 (I guess they don't do 9s), but it was just damage control, not much improved over 7.  But by then the damage was done -- people had learned that newer doesn't have to mean better.

I work for Hewlett-Packard, in a division so technical we have circuits embedded in our heads and wires hanging out of our ears. And we're running Windows 7.

[Anothermi]

* rushes in... wipes piles of crumbs and grease from the table with my cloak... neatly re-arranges the (faux) fur skins in the sitting area... and cracks open a new case of grog *

Brethern of the Spitball Wall!  Be on your best behavior. We have new blood joining our ranks.

(I hope. This one may even be a horse!)

@Racinante by name.

All Hail.

< eagerly awaits >

[janjan]

A toast to new member! <slurps grog. Hiccups>

[gingerella]

Brethren, I shan't watch A show until the morrow...until then...

[Llywela]

5 minutes ago, gingerella said:

Brethren, I shan't watch A show until the morrow...until then...

Me either, most like

(quakes and hides...)

[Pallas]

We'll be waiting, and not patiently! 

[Llywela]

dammit, didn't get a chance to watch last night - another day of avoiding spoilers it is, then!

[Drogo]

Just leaving this here..

Looking for folks with an interest in playing GoT Mafia.  Signups have just opened for an upcoming game; it's all about trying to read people, pick up on hints/nuances, find clues in the stories, find bad guys, it's fun. You get assigned a character by the game mods and it's a secret.  It's a lot of fun with a bunch of good people, and well shit.. you get to be a GoT character. 

PM me if you're interested and I'll shoot you the signup link.

[Pallas]

This sounds wonderful. And since it comes at Drogo's invitation (and at this late point in our own saga),  I think we can play and have no fear of losing our good name as Unsullied. Sillied, perhaps, but not Sullied. I'm in! 

[Drogo]

1 hour ago, Pallas said:

This sounds wonderful. And since it comes at Drogo's invitation (and at this late point in our own saga),  I think we can play and have no fear of losing our good name as Unsullied. Sillied, perhaps, but not Sullied. I'm in! 

Absolutely no sullying..  definitely a little sillying... And some alternate realities! :) 

Hope to see you there. 

[DirewolfPup]

Hello? <crickets>

Testing the waters to see who's left after all this time.

[Llywela]

On 1/24/2019 at 3:04 PM, DirewolfPup said:

Hello? <crickets>

Testing the waters to see who's left after all this time.

Hallo! I'm still alive (and ducking trailers for the final season, which looks like it might actually air at some point). Anyone else around?

[Meredith Quill]

3 hours ago, Llywela said:

Hallo! I'm still alive (and ducking trailers for the final season, which looks like it might actually air at some point). Anyone else around?

FYI, April 14th is the premiere date.