Just watched season 4 part 1 of Vikings.

I was fairly disappointed with it to be honest. It's gotten far too erratic: jumping forward by months or years unannounced, flashes of what's happened, what's going to happen, or what might happen, a hilarious sequence where a character is replaced by a competent version of himself(complete with a spine) just for a dramatic scene, and a majorly over the top battle towards the end that seemed so out of place and surreal it had me cringing. Not to mention the truckload of things they seemed to setup, only to fail to follow up on them.

There were some good bits, but on the whole I'd have to call it pretty mediocre.

Khajiit found season 6 to be pretty damn enjoyable. Having read the book series twice over, this one was constantly scrutinizing and comparing everything in the show to how things went down in the books. Season 6 passes the current place in the book series so having no clue what was going to happen was delightful!

I watched episodes 1 & 2 before supper. I must say that the series has been blessed with a lot of first class acting from the start, some of which is on display in these episodes. I wonder how much of what we see will find it's way into the books, should those ever appear?

As to A Song of Ice and Fire, I've read the first volume four times, the most recent once. Didn't check the middle volumes but suspect either three or two reads each, depending. Oddly (or not) I've no burning desire to read 'em again in preparation for volume six.

During today's errand run I visited Barnes & Noble. Game of Thrones Season Six was on sale for 30% off. I had a printed out B & N 15% off coupon in my pocket. Those combined dropped the price lower than what I'd pay ordering it off Amazon. Haven't gotten around to watching it yet but will likely do so soon. I bought the DVD set since I've still not gotten around to purchasing a blu-ray player.

I watched episodes 1 & 2 before supper. I must say that the series has been blessed with a lot of first class acting from the start, some of which is on display in these episodes. I wonder how much of what we see will find it's way into the books, should those ever appear?

As to A Song of Ice and Fire, I've read the first volume four times, the most recent once. Didn't check the middle volumes but suspect either three or two reads each, depending. Oddly (or not) I've no burning desire to read 'em again in preparation for volume six.

Just watched season 4 part 1 of Vikings.

I was fairly disappointed with it to be honest. It's gotten far too erratic: jumping forward by months or years unannounced, flashes of what's happened, what's going to happen, or what might happen, a hilarious sequence where a character is replaced by a competent version of himself(complete with a spine) just for a dramatic scene, and a majorly over the top battle towards the end that seemed so out of place and surreal it had me cringing. Not to mention the truckload of things they seemed to setup, only to fail to follow up on them.

There were some good bits, but on the whole I'd have to call it pretty mediocre.

Spent all of yesterday evening watching episodes 3-6 of Game of Thrones, Season Six. Had intended to watched only episodes 3 & 4 but just couldn't stop myself from going on to disk three. I've nitpicks with a few things but overall highly impressed with most of what I saw. A nitpick, from what I remember from the books Daenerys' hair should burn away when she is consumed by fire... it didn't on the show. Didn't find Jon's "resurrection" as emotionally satisfying as I had hoped. Or rather the process of resurrecting. It wasn't bad mind you, it just didn't blow me away. But again this is a nitpick.

As with episodes 1 & 2 I felt that much of the acting was spot on.

Watched GoT Season Six, episodes 7 & 8 this morning. I was impressed by/with most everything. That said, the final confrontation between Arya and the nameless girl was too unbelievably over-the-top to suit me. Otherwise I've no complaints.

Next up, the final two episodes.

Just watched the first two episodes of Taboo, the new BBC drama starring (and in part created by) Tom Hardy.

Really enjoying it so far. A fantastic cast, a dark setting, and an interesting story. I'd recommend checking it out, if you have the chance.

Watched the final two episodes of GoT Season Six. The Battle of the Bastards was well choreographed and filmed. The cavalry coming to the rescue at the last possible moment strained credibility for me but was certainly dramatic. As to episode 10, man o man was it good from start to finish. This is the one season six episode I have watched reviews and reaction videos of at YouTube. I worried doing so might lessen the viewing experience. So far as I can tell it didn't, not to any appreciable extent. Well, maybe a bit during the wildfire scene. But only a little. Very fine acting once again by pretty much the entire cast. I can't decide if the lady who plays Sansa has become a better actress as she matures or if maybe her role has simply become more interesting. Melisandra looked super hot during most of her scenes, then again I suppose a fire lady should look hot. At any rate this was a first rate season.

Since watching Rogue One, I have been in a Star Wars mood. So I have been watching The Clone Wars once again. I have been paying more attention to the voice actors, and which ones do which characters. I am really impressed with the talent they assembled for this show. Sometimes it is obvious when one actor is doing multiple roles, especially in the same episode. But what is really surprising me is how often they play multiple roles without me realizing it. So many of them can change their voices so well, that there is just no telling it is the same actor.

For example, Nika Futterman not only plays Ventress, but also Sy Snootles and Ghardulla the Hutt. I just watched the Ziro the Hutt episodes with the latter two characters, and had no idea it was her doing their voices! Jennifer Hale does Ayla Secura with such a strong French accent that she doesn't sound like her normal self at all. But she also does Senator Riyo Chuchi from Pantora, whom I absolutely fell in love with. In no small amount because of her adorable Australian accent. Of course Stephen Stanton is a tour de force. His name was first imprinted on my mind when I saw his Christopher Walken-ish performance of Moralo Eval - the Separatist Prison Warden. But he also does Tarken, Mas Amedda, and a bunch of other characters.

I am also coming to be very impressed with Katie Lucas. She wrote some of the best episodes in the show, including the Nightsisters arc. I just finished reading Dark Disciple by Christie Golden. It turns out that the novel was originally going to be a story arc for The Clone Wars tv show, and Katie was going to write it. I am not sure if she actually finished writing it, or just put together the main story points. But in any case the tv show was cancelled before it could air. So it was given to Christie Golden to write as a novel.

Between yesterday and today, I...

...watched Game of Thrones Season 6 episode 10 for the second time. (DVD)

...watched Game of Thrones Season 1 episodes 7-10 for the first time. (DVD)

...watched Game of Thrones Season 2 episodes 1 & 2 for the first time. (DVD)

...watched a number of Game of Thrones reaction/review videos for the above episodes (except season 2) at YouTube.

I'm going to single out what some might consider an odd highlight. In one episode Little Finger is in a room within one of his "business establishments" while one of his "girls" pleasures another. The girl being pleasured is moaning up a storm, very over-the-top and fake sounding/looking. I'm sitting their thinking, Come on, surely the director ought to have insisted on more "expert" acting from an employee of a high-end elitist establishment such as Baelish runs." Lo and behold, Baelish stops the proceedings and lectures the girl (who is apparently a new hire) on the phoniness of her responses and has her work on a more natural delivery. I had a grin on my face for some minutes following that scene.

As to Season 6 episode 10, I forgot to mention earlier how impressed I am with its music, especially from the beginning through the end of the King's Landing scenes (Tommen), which in my opinion surpasses even Game of Thrones already high musical standards.

...I didn't like Daenerys making idle threats to the 13 (or is it 12?) outside the city when she had absolutely no way to back them up. I don't recall the books making her act that stupidly. Then again, it's been a while since I last read 'em.

Last week I started blitzing my way through Breaking Bad.

It had been on tv a while back, and I'd been recording it on my digibox, but at the end of season two the box stopped recording them for some reason. I'm now at the start of season three, so I'm into the new stuff.

And I still can't believe that it's the dad from "Malcolm in the Middle"

Loving the show.