The NY Times review

[The Imp]

GRRM just posted a sort of response to the Times review.

I was livid, not only becuase of the lies, disrotions and how obvious it was that this person hadn't watched with an open mind or given the show a chance. her review probably ruined the efforts I had made in trying to get my wife to watch at least the first episode of GOT.

?Game of Thrones? Begins Sunday on HBO - Review - NYTimes.com

I read it after she went to bed and sent her a snarky email telling her what I thought of the reviewer. I then followed up with the follwing. i'm sure much more can be added.

GRRM must be REALLY pissed if it affected him as badly as it did me, and for him it was much worse.

The email to my wife. Quoted parts are the reviewer.

With the amount of money apparently spent on "Game of Thrones," the fantasy epic set in a quasi-medieval somewhereland beginning Sunday on HBO, a show like "Mad Men" might have the financing to continue into the second term of a Malia Obama presidency

She makes fun of the show because they spent a lot of money on it?　
Keeping track of the principals alone feels as though it requires the focused memory of someone who can play bridge at a Warren Buffett level of adeptness. In a sense the series, which will span 10 episodes, ought to come with a warning like, "If you can’t count cards, please return to reruns of ‘
Sex and the City.’ " no, maybe instead it should say "if you like mindkless **** that lacks wit, intelligence, inticately woven plotlines, etc. this isn't for you. VIewers will actually have to WATCH THE ******* SHOW and not spend half their time tweeting and surfing"
　

"Embedded in the narrative is a vague global-warming horror story"
　

Pure fiction.
　

How did this come to pass? We are in the universe of dwarfs, armor, wenches, braids, loincloth. The strange temperatures clearly are not the fault of a reliance on inefficient HVAC systems. Given the bizarre climate of the landmass at the center of the bloody disputes — and the series rejects no opportunity to showcase a beheading or to offer a slashed throat close-up — you have to wonder what all the fuss is about. We are not talking about Palm Beach.

　
classist, elitist snobbery at it's worst. Only the rich are worth caring about?
　

The bigger question, though, is: What is "Game of Thrones" doing on HBO? The series claims as one of its executive producers the screenwriter and best-selling author David Benioff, whose excellent script for
Spike Lee’s post-9/11 meditation, "25th Hour," did not suggest a writer with Middle Earth proclivities. Five years ago, however, Mr. Benioff began reading George R. R. Martin’s series of books, "A Song of Ice and Fire," fell in love and sought to adapt "Game of Thrones," one of the installments. What does this even mean??? HBO shouldn't be doing such a show becuase........?????
　
The show has been elaborately made to the point that producers turned to a professional at something called
the Language Creation Society to design a vocabulary for the savage Dothraki nomads who provide some of the more Playboy-TV-style plot points and who are forced to speak in subtitles.

　
I guess she would have preferred "OOOOOH, me wantum shiny beads. Me tradeum 5 horse for 1 shiny bead". Creating a real language with a real grammatical structure and a (as of right now) 3 thousnad word vocabulary is a bad thing I guess. Savage should speak as "savage". Keep them darkies in their place.
　

Like "The Tudors" and "The Borgias" on Showtime and the
"Spartacus" series on Starz, "Game of Thrones," is a costume-drama sexual hopscotch, even if it is more sophisticated than its predecessors. It says something about current American attitudes toward sex that with the exception of the lurid and awful "Californication," nearly all eroticism on television is past tense. The imagined historical universe of "Game of Thrones" gives license for unhindered bed-jumping — here sibling intimacy is hardly confined to emotional exchange.
　

There IS no unhindered bed jumping. This is another complete fabrication
　

The true perversion, though, is the sense you get that all of this illicitness has been tossed in as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise. While I do not doubt that there are women in the world who read books like Mr. Martin’s, I can honestly say that I have never met a single woman who has stood up in indignation at her book club and refused to read the latest from Lorrie Moore unless everyone agreed to "The Hobbit" first. "Game of Thrones" is boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half.

Now the series is perverted. Nice job. And who says women won't like it? And what does this paragraph have to do with anything other than trying to snarkily say that it's a series for men, which it isn't.
　

When the network ventures away from its instincts for real-world sociology, as it has with the vampire saga "True Blood," things start to feel cheap, and we feel as though we have been placed in the hands of cheaters. "Game of Thrones" serves up a lot of confusion in the name of no larger or really relevant idea beyond sketchily fleshed-out notions that war is ugly, families are insidious and power is hot.

　
More fiction. Trust me, this is just a distortion and fictionalization of what the series will be about. And how the hell dcoes she know these are sketchily fleshed out? She clearly hasn't read the books or seen more than a few minutes of episode one, if that much.
　

If you are not averse to the Dungeons & Dragons aesthetic, the series might be worth the effort. If you are nearly anyone else, you will hunger for HBO to get back to the business of languages for which we already have a dictionary.
　

She now reduces everything down to a board game. Nicely done. This is a pathetic excuse for a review. Notice she gives virtually no detail (becuase she hasn't watched it0 and speaks in the broadest of negative generalities.
　
But it MUST be true becuase it's in the New York TImes, the paper of record, all the news that's fit to print

 

[nixie]

The true perversion, though, is the sense you get that all of this illicitness has been tossed in as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise. While I do not doubt that there are women in the world who read books like Mr. Martin’s, I can honestly say that I have never met a single woman who has stood up in indignation at her book club and refused to read the latest from Lorrie Moore unless everyone agreed to "The Hobbit" first. "Game of Thrones" is boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half.

WHAT THE The true perversion for me is the above quote, which I find rather patronising. Oh and could someone tell me who Lorrie Moore is?

I lasted 2 weeks at a book club I joined because most of the reading material was chick lit but I'd did manage to persuade a few of the others to broaden their horizons and one in particular is now completely hooked on ASOIAF, she really can't understand why I prefer Erikson.

This is one female who will be turning the phone off 9pm on Monday evening and settling down to enjoy this.

 

[Ursa major]

Let's just hope that this misguided** review does not put too many potential viewers off watching the show and judging it for themselves.


And here's wishing that Mrs Imp is persuaded to at least see the first episode.






** - I'm being very kind.

 

[The Imp]

Let's just hope that this misguided** review does not put too many potential viewers off watching the show and judging it for themselves.


And here's wishing that Mrs Imp is persuaded to at least see the first episode.






** - I'm being very kind.

I think I'll be able to talk her into watching it on Demand. She has to be at the thesis performance of one of her students at 7 PM

 

[southron sword]

I agree with Imp. I'm not sure she actually watched the show all the way through, or just glimpsed certain scenes. It is a bad review and I got the impression this reviewer is a feminist. Theres nothing wrong with that, but you need to be able to look past that if you want to give an accurate review, IMO.

But not everyone is going to like this show, there will be people hating it and I don't think us fans should get too worked up by it.

I wonder if this type of review might get MORE viewers?

I also think people are idiots if they rely on a review. Watch for yourself and decide.

 

[The Imp]

I agree with Imp. I'm not sure she actually watched the show all the way through, or just glimpsed certain scenes. It is a bad review and I got the impression this reviewer is a feminist. Theres nothing wrong with that, but you need to be able to look past that if you want to give an accurate review, IMO.

But not everyone is going to like this show, there will be people hating it and I don't think us fans should get too worked up by it.

I wonder if this type of review might get MORE viewers?

I also think people are idiots if they rely on a review. Watch for yourself and decide.

I agree SS. i never read reviews, although for movies i do go to Rtooen Tomatoes and Metacritic to see what aggregate scores a potential movie has gotten, just to get a sense of what lots of people are saying. I'd never rely on one person.

As for feminsts, i'll repeat to you guys what I've said to my wife. IMO ASOIAF is pro feminist as it empowers women of all ages and in certain ways portrays women in a more favorable light than men. Snansa, Arya, Dany, Brienne, Cat, Cersei, etc. etc. are all very strong characters, more so in certain ways than their male counterparts.. But you all already know that

BTW, I know 9 women ranging in age from 24 to 64 who all love ASOIAF. All but one would label themself as a "feminist"

 

[Needle]

OH IMP! I am so withyou on this reviewer! Hollywood and TV networks regularly spend millions of dollars on some of the STUPIDEST films ever thought up, yet they should not do so for anything that may require thought! Sorry Ursa I cannot be nice! Someone ought to hang this **** by her toes! My biggest problem with her is this quote --" The true perversion, though, is the sense you get that all of this illicitness has been tossed in as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise. While I do not doubt that there are women in the world who read books like Mr. Martin’s, I can honestly say that I have never met a single woman who has stood up in indignation at her book club and refused to read the latest from Lorrie Moore unless everyone agreed to "The Hobbit" first. "Game of Thrones" is boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half." As if women have no brains and will only watch something for the sex!! An insult to women everywhere! And who the **** is Lorrie Moore?!

 

[Boaz]

Lorrie Moore is an author. The witer of the review is Ginia Bellafonte. Remember... critics don't make money by liking stuff. How do you think Jim Rome, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Calamity... err, Hannity, and Simon Fuller stay in business?

I don't like much on TV and it seems that neither does Miss Bellafonte. She reminds me of a song by Toby Keith... The Critic. Here are the lyrics...

Tell it like it is...

He gets up real early on his mornin drive.
Down to the office for his 9 to 5.
He drives a 94, 2 ton, economy car.
Loves to tell the local bands down at the bar that he's The Critic.

Yea, I can hook you up, I know everybody, in the business.

He flunked junior high band he couldn't march in time.
He tried to write a song once, he couldn't make it rhyme.
He went two or three chords on a pawn shop guitar, he just never quite had what it took to be a star, so he's a critic.

I work for the Gazette man...I got a real job.

He did a 5-star column on a band he never heard.
He did a bluegrass review about an unkind word.
He thought it was time to ask his boss for a raise, his boss said I can't even tell if anybody's even readin your page.

Yea...

So he thought...and he thought a little more.

He caught a young hot star headin into town, and then he hid behind his typewriter and gunned the boy down.
Here come the letters, the e-mails, the faxes, they raised him to 20,000 dollars after taxes.

He's a happy critic...

He's rollin in the dough...

Man I could do this forever...this is easy. Everybody's readin my column!

Please don't tell my mom, that I write the music column for the Gazette.
She still thinks I play piano down at the Cathouse.

And I'm also reminded of Theodore Roosevelt's comments regarding critics...

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

 

[The Imp]

Lorrie Moore is an author. The witer of the review is Ginia Bellafonte. Remember... critics don't make money by liking stuff. How do you think Jim Rome, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Calamity... err, Hannity, and Simon Fuller stay in business?

I don't like much on TV and it seems that neither does Miss Bellafonte. She reminds me of a song by Toby Keith... The Critic. Here are the lyrics...



And I'm also reminded of Theodore Roosevelt's comments regarding critics...

If your assessment is correct it's unfortunate as Miss Bellafonte is on staff at the Times as a to at least in part be a TV critic.

My wife is a college teacher and still a performing artist . We see a LOT of plays dance, photgrahpy exhibits, you name it we go to it. The stuff we see ranges in skill from students to professional stuff in museums, theaters and galleries in New York City. I've seen a lot of good, bad and indifferent reviews, but I've never seen anyone "review" anything at any level without at least giving an idea of who is in it, something about what the subject matter is, what they liked and what they didn't. Bellafonte is entitled to hate fantasy as being "boy fiction' but if she's going to review a new show she has an obligation to give some level of detail. IMO her review is an epic fail.

Grats to her though. She just got her 15 minutes courtesy of Mr. Warhol.

 

[Wiggum]

I'm pretty sure Al Gore actually wrote that review under a pseudonym.

 

[xLORDSNOWx]

Everyone should be prepared for the hot/cold criticism that will mount from the TV Series. Remember, there was never any harsh backlash from the true "readers critics" in regards to the "status quo" lines that GRRM crosses so eloquently in written form. Now that it will be brought to the visual, it will bring a lot of publicity in which controversy will stir. But as they say, all publicity good or bad, is good publicity.

His books were a NYTimes best seller several times. Where were these comments then?

 

[Uncle Grandpa]

You're all probably right that she didn't watch the entire episode. Hell, she could have fabricated her entire "review" just from watching the trailers!

 

[firstfist]

I could care less what a random "critic" has to say about, well, pretty much anything. Only when I have found the opinion of someone regularly matches my own on a fairly regular basis will I consider their critique.

I havn't actually seen aforementioned television show, but I don't believe I will be in agreeance with Ginia Bellafante's opinions. I won't take the time to actually read any of her other "reviews", but guarantee I don't agree with at least 98% of what she has to say.

God I hope she's wrong.

 

[hadd]

Oh the irony...Trying to be feminist, yet bashing female readers between the lines.

 

[Needle]

I wish to apologise (sorry cant spell!) to Boaz or anyone else who felt I was taking my rant out on Ms. Lorrie Morre. I was not. I am a wife, mother and student who spends the vast majority of my time either at school or with my nose in a textbook. I still however average about a 1000 pages a week for pure pleasure and have never heard of her! Ms. Bellafonte has the right to her opinion just like everyone else, and who knows the show may **** (please GRRM say it ain't so!) but to include all women in her prejudice is asinine and unworthy! And yes Imp, you must record your game and watch GOT with us when it premiers ( even though it will probly be on 50 times before episode 2!) Ok, I am done *****in! Thanks for listening!

 

[Mouse]

WHAT THE The true perversion for me is the above quote, which I find rather patronising. Oh and could someone tell me who Lorrie Moore is?

I lasted 2 weeks at a book club I joined because most of the reading material was chick lit but I'd did manage to persuade a few of the others to broaden their horizons and one in particular is now completely hooked on ASOIAF, she really can't understand why I prefer Erikson.

This is one female who will be turning the phone off 9pm on Monday evening and settling down to enjoy this.

I'm with nixie, entirely. That whole 'boy fiction' and book club comment gave me total rage! (I also have no clue who Lorrie Moore is.)

I'd love to watch the show, but unfortunately I don't have Sky TV, so I'm with Ursa on the waiting for DVDs. But I will be watching it.

 

[Ursa major]

Sorry Ursa I cannot be nice!

No problem.

Just because I'm a constant purveyor of goodness and light rolleyes:), doesn't mean I can't understand those who find it necessary to speak their minds.


(And comments from someone calling themselves Needle are bound to be pointed at least some of the time. )

 

[The Imp]

I could care less what a random "critic" has to say about, well, pretty much anything. Only when I have found the opinion of someone regularly matches my own on a fairly regular basis will I consider their critique.

I havn't actually seen aforementioned television show, but I don't believe I will be in agreeance with Ginia Bellafante's opinions. I won't take the time to actually read any of her other "reviews", but guarantee I don't agree with at least 98% of what she has to say.

God I hope she's wrong.

Well, we KNOW she is wrong about women and the fantasy genre. We KNOW she wrote of a review that didn't talk about any of the people in the work she was reviewing, or give any detail, or talk about anything meaningful. She's entitled to her opinion, and her "piece" would have been appropriate as an opinion piece AFTER GOT aired, but to present it as something that people could use as a guidleine for whether or not they should watch the show is insane. Fortunately, most people who read the Times are too smart to fall for biased and factless BS, and I think that her review is going to be GOLD for GRRM as a lot of people may be watching now that might not have. The feminist/geek girl blogs that I have looked at are all outraged at her presumption to speak for anyone who is a woman.

In short, if a reviewer can't say things like "I liked the way they did............" or "So ans so's acting belonged in a high school performance , not on national television", in other words, give me something to like or not like that isn't based on the reviewer's personal biases, if the review is just a platform for someone to rant about a genre or actor or author or director, etc that they hate, then that reviewer isn't worth that tasty little piece of rat meat you might find in the brown at Fleabottem.

 

[the smiling weirwood]

I don't think she's being a feminist so much as a literary elitist. You know most people look down on what they call genre fiction because it has a setting or plot elements other than the real world. She's just basing her entire opinion on the fact that it's somewhat fantastical.

 

[Needle]

No problem.

Just because I'm a constant purveyor of goodness and light rolleyes:), doesn't mean I can't understand those who find it necessary to speak their minds.


(And comments from someone calling themselves Needle are bound to be pointed at least some of the time. )

Thanks Ursa, you made my day! Keep up the goodness and light!