Hippoi Athanatoi

I haven’t blogged about MUSHing in ages, but a discussion at MU Soapbox was brought up as we were talking about potential CG changes on Blood of Dragons. It concerned whether games should ask for backgrounds or not before letting a character go IC, and the general consensus seemed to be that this is a horrible thing to do (much like anything else that keeps you from logging onto a game and being IC within 5 minutes).

Now, no one can deny that MUSHing is very much a niche hobby today and that it competes with an otherwise rather fast-paced gaming world that offers a lot of near-instant gratification. So, yes, there needs to be quick routes onto a game, such as pre-generated characters. But doing away with any form of background altogether seems like something that would only work for a very limited range of settings where it is enough to say that if you don’t mention any extraordinary events in your background, you’re assumed to have had a normal life up until the start of play. If the setting in question is one where it can be assumed that most players will have a somewhat similar understanding of what a “normal life” would entail, then yes, it works.

That rules out most non-modern day settings (and probably quite a few modern day settings too, depending on location, supernatural elements, etc). After 10 years of running Blood of Dragons, with a background as a mandatory part of CG, we’ve seen that at least 50% of players would come out of CG with some very odd notions about what a “normal life” would have been like for their characters, had we not been able to give them feedback on their write-ups. So, yes, the background is a little bit of a “test”, to see if the player has a concept in mind that will work on our particular game.

I know that some players prefer to “discover” their characters through roleplay and find it hard to settle on too many details before they start playing. While I am the total opposite myself, I know that creativity works differently for everyone. Some plan, some go with the flow. But the approach of seeing where the story takes you is also something that only works in particular settings/genres. Is your game set in a modern-day city where players can arrive IC as they start play, with no ties to anyone? Then that approach can be perfect. There are other scenarios that work too, but they tend to have in common that characters are unconnected to each other and that they can be fresh arrivals from distant places. As soon as your character needs to be worked into a network of other characters, you need to have at least some sense of the character’s past.

When it comes to Blood of Dragons, the setup of the game is such that I would say backgrounds of some kind are indispensable. The setting is not one where we can assume that all or even most players know what “normal” would be for their characters, so they do need some guidance from staff on their concepts (even if they don’t think they do). The kind of characters available (members of noble houses) also rule out concepts such as the mysterious loner with no ties to anyone else. Additionally, CGed characters become part of the stable of pre-gens once abandoned by their initial player, which means that any background or concept needs to be written so that another player—not just the person creating the character—can understand and work with it.

What I have been considering for a while, however, is trying to find a middle ground between a more detailed background (which doesn’t work so well on some types of characters, especially younger ones) and a concept sketch that presents the type of character the player has in mind and includes any key background events, while avoiding a traditional linear writeup. Given that we’ve also introduced an “Events” system that allows players to record significant events by date, any such details can already be migrated out of the background. It might be that moving to more of a concept sketch would both allow more flexibility in how characters are setup and actually prove more useful in helping inexperienced players come up with a playable concept without spending time on padding out a background needlessly.

This is starting to become routine. I stop blogging for a while, I change around the website and I never get things fully finished so that I feel comfortable with starting up. But whether or not I am ready to get back to regular posts, I do feel an urge right now to write about the latest developments with my riding. There may also follow posts about dog training, because I’ve been bitten by that bug too.

But to start with the riding, I am still riding Barka as part of a project at the riding school to give a few students a chance for more intense training as well as some low-level competitions. I ride my regular lesson on Mondays and then I ride Barka on my own on Fridays. In addition to that, we get a chance to ride for external trainers. Last year it was mainly jumping for Gunilla Fredriksson, which definitely highlighted just how basic the jumping we’ve done before has been. This year I’ve had the opportunity to ride twice for Sten Åstedt and that has been a real revelation when it comes to dressage. He has been training the instructors at the riding school for some years, so some of what he said wasn’t exactly new, but being taught one-on-one and really focusing on what he does differently was a whole new experience. Basically, its a matter of retraining a lot of the things I’ve been taught over the years. For example, my seat needs changing from the ground up, since my body is still too used to the old “push your heel down” school of riding. He wants my legs further back, my feet horizontal to the ground and the toes pointing forward. If the horse were to disappear from underneath me, I should land on the whole foot, not the heel which would mean I’d tip over backwards. And then there’s the fact that whether I am doing a circle to the left or a circle to the right, I sit for the wrong direction. One way would be natural (which way depends on whether you’re right- or left-handed), but both being an issue means its a learned behaviour. The fault? Having been taught to look far ahead, which on a circle means your pelvis is going to be going in a different direction than the horse’s body.

He illustrated this very clearly by having me ride Barka on a circle to the right while keeping her flexed at the poll for a circle to the left. As long as I did that, I sat correctly. The first few times that I changed the flex at the poll, my seat changed as well. That is going to be a lot of muscle memory to retrain. He also asks his students to ride from the outside in (outside leg to inside rein) instead of inside out (inside leg to outside rein), in part because he wants us to tell the horses what we want them to do instead of what we don’t want them to do. Show them the way with the inside rein instead of hindering them with the outside rein. A lot of it is definitely the opposite of what I’ve been taught before, but it certainly felt very good once I got it to work. Is it the one true way? I don’t know, I am not experienced enough, but I like the way he presents his ideas. He talks a lot about how it is easy to communicate something other than what you think you are communicating and this is something I’ve had ample proof of when training Breeze as well. Trying to get across exactly what you mean to another species is not easy, especially not when you’re using ways to communicate other than talking or writing such as balance or body language.

The last lesson for Sten (this past Wednesday) also involved a lot of focus on my rising trot. During the first lesson, he’d told me I kept going a little too fast. Now, he also wanted me to sit down much more lightly, as if my horse had a bad back. I definitely need to get my balance down into my feet for that to work and I need to rid myself of my urge to create momentum by using my seat to push the horse forward (in part learned over years of riding the laziest horses I could find), both when trotting and cantering. He had me give canter aids without sitting down in the saddle and at first I couldn’t quite visualize how I could lift the horse’s ribcage by just using my heel, but then suddenly it worked. Quite an amazing feeling, given how much I have struggled with giving soft canter aids and not trying to rock the horse into motion with my whole body.

The final thing for my new checklist was to keep my inner hand steadier (and lower) by imagining that I am holding one finger on a neck ring. He noted that generally he’d place the virtual neck ring further down on the horse’s neck, but my arms were too short. ;P Well, at least I have an expert agreeing with me there, I’ve always said I struggle to ride larger horses because of my short arms. Fortunately, Barka fits me pretty well. No modern dressage horses for me, which suits me just fine. I like the more baroque models. Fingers crossed that she will stay fit so that I can keep taking these extra lessons this semester, because its really motivating.

Well, I failed to write following last Friday’s session (in fact, I rode twice on Friday, both on my own during the day and then a lesson in the evening), but since Monday was largely a follow-up I might as well discuss them together.

I had read an article about improving your feel for the horse’s gaits, so I spent some time at the start of each session working on that. I also worked on getting my legs further forward, to get into a better position. Still need a stronger core, though. Following that, I focused on the basics during the warm-up: straightness, proper corners, obedience. On the whole, I think Barka responds quite well to most work at walk and trot, though once we moved onto shoulder-in and half-pass she does find it more challenging when her right hind leg needs to do more work. But that’s the idea, to try and strengthen it for the canter, since we’re still having a lot of arguments about taking the canter aids without the need for a whip to be applied and at least one protest buck.

I was particularly pleased with her trot towards the end today, after we’d done quite a bit of work on shrinking and enlarging a circle. She felt nicely balanced and fairly straight.

After missing last Monday due to a seminar, I was eager to get back to working on Barka this week. Maybe a little too eager, since I found myself a bit unfocused and doing a bit of this and that initially. However, after warming up, I did settle on doing some of that canter work since she certainly had felt strong enough for it during the jumping class last Friday.

Initially, Barka very much disagreed. She was fine with cantering when I stood up a bit and just allowed her to mind her own business during the warm-up, but once I started asking for canter from a more collected trot or even a walk she balked. I applied the whip and was rewarded with some surly kicks, though one of those did lead into a very nice canter. It definitely took quite a bit of persuasion, but I did get a circle or two of decent canter in both directions. After that, she was a lot more malleable and I asked for a bit more work at walk and trot before wrapping up. By that time she was insisting that she was very tired indeed. I also noticed that around 2/3’s into the hour, she had more or less switched which rein she was supporting herself on. She starts with the right but by the end it was more to the left.

For riding a dressage test, I’ll obviously need to get to the point where she doesn’t question the canter aids, at least not during the test itself. I should probably put in canter transitions during every lesson, just to remind her that I will insist on them.

For this Monday, I wanted to continue working on transitions as well as shortening and lengthening, though the end result was a bit of a mixed bag in terms of keeping to the plan. I clearly need a lot more practice when it comes to planning my own riding.

The good news, however, were that some stretches I’ve been doing seem to have worked to make mounting up a bit less uncomfortable. Still feeling a bit stiff, but I’ll keep at those and see it it keeps improving. I can tell my seat isn’t great without being reminded of using my stomach properly with some regularity, so that’s another one to keep in mind.

As for Barka, I am quite pleased with her at a trot. It is definitely her best gait and she gets quite supple after a bit of work. I rode with spurs today and she was quite a bit more “electric”, almost enough to make me tense up a bit, but she behaved. The canter came more easily that way, though getting it right every time is still a work in progress. Once she’s a bit stronger, I’ll need to do a session focused on canter transitions, but right now it would frustrate her pretty quickly.

I am starting up my horse blogging again, though with a bit of a different focus and format. Since a few weeks before Christmas, I am renting Barka from the riding school twice a week as part of a trial at the stables where they want to offer students a chance to do more than just take lessons. For this spring, the plan is that the riding school will be fielding a team for a regional dressage competition and the core of the team will be three of us “guinea pigs” in the horse rental program. Given this, I have an actual goal to work towards with Barka. Plus, I will be riding on my own, which I am very unused to doing after 30 years of just taking lessons. Taken together, this calls for some planning and what I will be doing with for each session on my own is write down what my goals had been and what I managed to accomplish, as well as make particular note of any issues that I need to work on. Since Barka managed to get kicked right before Christmas, today was the first proper session in a while, though I did help with starting her up again over the holidays. But this will serve as the starting point for project get ready to compete.

With today’s session, I wanted to focus on transitions as well as a bit of lengthening and shortening, working primarily at walk and trot since Barka is still lacking a bit of stamina after her involuntary rest period.

I managed to more or less stick to what I had in mind, though I can feel that the whole planning and executing my own lesson is still very new to me. For example, I probably switch between exercises a little too often. I did feel a marked improvement in Barka’s movement from start to finish, however, and her trot in particular felt balanced and relaxed at the end. The best transitions were from walk to trot, where I felt a nice impulse from the back and she maintained her frame. Trot to walk needs a bit of work, though I think it mostly comes down to my position not being steady enough. Canter work needs a lot of improvement, I will get to that in the next segment. I also had some issues with smaller circles, but that may come down to her only having started doing those again last week.

With this session in mind, I was able to come up with a list of key issues to work on during the spring. Number one is my own fitness, or lack thereof. I have been having a lot of issues with finding a good position in the saddle without various parts of my body hurting, so I will clearly need to limber up my legs and my hips as well as strengthen my back and stomach. I’ve had back issues in the past, but I’ve never felt quite this stiff before. I have clearly hit the age where something needs to be done. As for Barka, I do need to work on balancing her sides so she’s not so uneven, but I find it isn’t that huge of a deal with her all considered. If I improve my position I think that part will improve a lot too. Her canter, however, will need some work. She needs to become a good deal stronger and less likely to get the wrong leading leg in the canter. The latter problem is particularly difficult for me to work on as I am absolutely terrible at telling when a horse is on the wrong leading leg, which means I can’t correct for it quickly enough to be efficient. So that is a bit of a dilemma when riding on my own.

In the first post, I looked only at my years playing Angharad on Tales of Ta’veren, but as hinted at therein characters number two and three made their appearance while Tales still existed. Or rather, characters two and three that really went anywhere. As with my very first attempt at a MUSH, I did try out a few other places very briefly in the 1995 to 2000 span when I was most active as a player. I revisited Riva MUSH (this time with a character that I actually recall the name of, she was called Kelinda after a character in Geraldine Harris’s Seven Citadels series) and also tried out a game based on Feist’s Rift Wars saga, though “tried out” consisted mainly of making a character and not getting much further than that. She was called Rhiannon and by now it should be clear that I always borrow names.

But, I am getting ahead of myself a bit, as character number two did in fact appear as early as August of 1995, which I do believe was well ahead of both Kelinda and Rhiannon.

Putting “part 1"in a title is always a dangerous step to take, as it implies a continuation which does not always materialize. I still find myself in an ambivalent relationship with my various blogs; I like having them for the occasional burst of opinions, but I find sustained usage takes effort. I am once again thinking of collapsing a few of them together and removing others, so we’ll see what the new year brings in that regard. For now, however, I did find myself with an urge to muse about my various MU* characters throughout the years.

I logged into my first MUSH sometime in August of 1995. I had obtained Internet only some months earlier (this was pretty much right when dial-up was launched in Sweden) and largely for the purpose of checking out this MUD thing I had read about in the second issue of Sweden’s first Internet magazine. I’d been interested in trying out role-playing for some time, but I knew no one in RL who played and I was (am) a bit of a shut-in, so on-line seemed like the perfect solution. MUDs ended up entertaining me for a couple of months, but the whole levelling up game was never really a good fit for me. After going on vacation during the summer and falling way behind those I had played a bit with (no such thing as mobile access, of course), I drifted away from MUDs and stumbled on my first MUSH. Riva MUSH, based on David Eddings books, was huge and empty. I wandered about for a bit but never got into any roleplay. Instead it was Tales of Ta’veren, the first Wheel of Time MUSH, that had the dubious honour of being the first game where I actually went IC.

Blogging about my riding experiences has most definitely fallen by the wayside these last years. Depression has played a role, but also a lack of inspiration and a feeling that I was repeating myself a lot and writing because I had to, not because I wanted to. Perhaps I will give it another try, keeping posts to when I feel I have something worthwhile to chronicle. Such as last Monday’s “riding lesson”, which took place somewhere very different than what I am used to. Elio and I were in Spain to present the Spanish edition of The World of Ice and Fire and we went to Barcelona for a few days and then to Osuna, where they were opening a small gallery of the gorgeous Spanish cover art for the series. Osuna is also where they shot part of last season and the town is really hoping to provide some interesting sights for Game of Thrones fans (not to mention that they have some amazing sights in general). They were thrilled to have the official presentation of Spanish edition of The World of Ice and Fire there and to play host to both us, the publisher and the cover artist. We received a very warm welcome, but even that couldn’t have prepared me for the surprise on our last day there.

On Sunday, I had happened to mention that I loved horses and would love to come back to Andalucia to ride a PRE (Pura Raza Espanola—also known as Andalusian, though technically that is a less specific term). On Monday, our host Jesús told me they could take me to a stable in town so I could get to try an Andalusian. I was of course thrilled by the offer, but I had no riding clothes with me. They insisted that we go there anyway. Once there, Luis Calderon and his sister Milagros made us most welcome and showed off their beautiful PRE stallions. After we had seen the horses demonstrate Spanish walk, passage and piaffe in hand, Luis started warming up one of the horses for me while Milagros headed out to find me clothes. She soon returned with boots, pants and a shirt (the latter being a gift from her, showing the logo of the Andalusian side-saddle association, of which she is the president). A riding hat was not included (it is not commonly used), but I realised that I could not pass up the opportunity. I did, however, decline the offer to take a trail ride to our next sight-seeing location; that seemed a little too adventurous without a riding hat. Just one more reason for me to come back and do it another time!

Once I was dressed and ready, I was introduced to a beautiful bay stallion called Latino. We started out in a small indoor arena, with Luis initially having him on a lead-rope as he talked me through the aids. The difference against a riding school horse was roughly the difference between a tractor and a Ferrari in terms of sensitivity to my aids, so I really had to get used to that. Language caused small confusions on a few occasions, but Luis was very patient and clearly used to teaching riders who aren’t used to the power and sensitivity of the PRE. Once I was more settled in, we went outside into the larger arena. There Luis let me experience the Spanish walk, passage and piaffe, all with him helping out with a lead-rope and a long whip to guide Latino when my aids weren’t precise enough. I have, I think, fairly decent hands, but they were clearly not soft and sensitive enough to keep from collecting a little too much at times; I really had to work on trying to hold the reins like fine threads of silk in order to be soft enough.

After a while, it was time for the lead-rope to come off and after riding along for a bit, Luis asked me to try the Spanish walk on my own. The aids are diagonal, with a press of the leg and a squeeze of the rein, but you can’t do it too fast or the horse will attempt a passage instead. We had a few false starts, but then something clicked and all of a sudden Latino was doing the Spanish walk again, with me giving the aids. It was an amazing moment and I have a photo that captures it, showing a giant smile appearing on my face. Of course, I would say the credit for that walk goes to 99% to Latino, who was very patient with a beginner at such things, but the feeling still can’t be beat. This was the most special thing I have ever experienced on horseback.

And I think that those who know a little bit about me as a rider will see another reason for why it was so special, beyond me getting the chance to ride a Grand Prix trained PRE stallion. Ever since my accident when I was ten, I’ve been a nervous rider. For the first few years after the accident, every unexpected thing a horse did would leave me crying. Then it got better for a while, at least when riding indoors and on horses that I trusted well. Now ... well, additional caution always seems to set in with age, and I have gotten very used to riding primarily small horses or large ponies. Then I feel I can stay in control, even if something unexpected happens. In a sense, it is a compromise; I’ve learned to ride better and feel more confident about myself as a rider over the years, but only by keeping myself to a certain type of horse.

Latino, however, was a fair bit from the 14, maybe 15 hands I usually prefer, if not as large as your typical dressage horse tends to be these days. But I got up on him without a second thought (well, pretty much, anyway) and once up there I felt safe. Yes, I was on a lead-rope to start with, and I probably would not have been up for cantering, but what I did (and did without being nervous) was miles beyond anything I have done for years. This was a highly trained, sensitive and at the same times very powerful stallion, and I was actually breathing normally and thinking about my seat instead of hunching over and feeling stiff and nervous. I am not sure where that confidence came from, but clearly Luis, Milagros and of course Latino were very good at making me feel secure.

I should be adding some photos to the site, but until then I have an album up on Facebook.

It is safe to say that it has been quite a day! Wedding in the morning (we met on the Internet in 1995, met for real in 1996 and got engaged in 1998 and now, 2014, we’ve gotten married) and signing The World of Ice and Fire in the afternoon at SF Bokhandeln. And as if that wasn’t enough, the book hit #1 at Amazon. Even if that is due to George and not us it is still an amazing thing to be part of.

So, this day will be hard to beat, but it does feel like its the start of something new (and good) in more than one way.

I’ve been thinking a lot about worldbuilding lately. A few years ago, I decided that adding a Literature degree to my Classical Archaeology degree might make sense given the way things have shaped up with Westeros.org and myself and Elio co-writing The World of Ice and Fire with GRRM. Once I got to the point of doing my Bachelor paper, the broad strokes of the topic came to me quite easily - I wanted to explore worldbuilding academically since it has always been one of the elements of fantasy that holds the most fascination for me. The end result was a paper on the use of history in A Song of Ice and Fire and how it is such an essential part of the worldbuilding.

During LonCon3, I picked out a number of panels related to worldbuilding and in the end I attended five of them. One, the Worldbuilding Masterclass, was absolutely fabulous from a technical and practical perspective, but the more theoretical panels were quite a mixed bag. There were a lot of Agendas and Issues being aired, and there were near Tumblr-level of concerns about certain -isms. I found that some panelists tended to come across as looking down their noses a bit at fantasy writers who weren’t as “enlightened” as they were, where “enlightened” largely seemed to mean “shares and promotes similar opinions on social and political issues”. I would have liked to see more of a variety of opinions rather than so much mutual back-patting, which seemed particularly common on the all-female panels.

I may attempt some more detailed panel commentary once the concrud has left me entirely, but for now this is more of a long-winded introduction to a brief sigh/rant about one of the common complaints raised against GRRM in particular and fantasy in general since the success of Game of Thrones. Every now and then someone will pipe up and snarkily say “oh, so fantasy writers can conceive of dragons and elves but they can’t imagine black/gay/etc characters in their world?” Yes, I recognize that this is a snarky simplification, but too many people take it at face value and do not consider it any further. And it does need to be considered in more detail, because the fact is that worldbuilding is a lot more complex than that.

Creating a fantasy world is in large parts about finding the right balance between the mimetic and the fantastic and ensuring that the two work together. If you look at what Tolkien does in LotR, for example, he inserts a great amount of mimetic detail to “ground” the story; without this approach, the fantastic elements will not be believable because the author will not have created a sufficiently believable world. I cannot see how anyone, especially not an author, can claim that there’s no difference between inserting mimetic details that aren’t necessarily part of your personal experience of the world and inserting fantastic details. It seems self-evident that it is harder to make up convincing mimetic details than it is to make up convincing fantastic details, in part because the latter piggybacks on the mimetic details and in part because there’s no blueprint for what dragons or elves should be like.

So, yes, I think it makes perfect sense that many authors will write what they know and what they are familiar with when it comes to writing mimetic details such as the ethnic makeup of their cast. That does not mean this is all they can do or all they should do, all I am addressing is that particular, snarky comment that equates mimetic and fantastic detail without considering that they are in fact two different facets of worldbuilding.

It has been a while since I felt a need to write at length about my disappointment with Game of Thrones. By now the show has deviated enough that my expectations have sunk to quite a low level. It still manages to anger me at times—and to thrill me as well; I won’t deny that some scenes still manage to feel wonderfully right (Oberyn’s and Tyrion’s conversation in episode 7 is one such, for example)—but my relation to the show was irrevocably damaged after the House of the Undying travesty. If they could do something like that, I knew nothing was sacred.

But some foolish hopes did still remain for certain iconic scenes to be done right. The duel between Oberyn and Gregor was one such scene. Surely they could not drop the ball on that one?

As you may guess—since I am writing this and all—my answer to that question is “yes, yes they could”. But before I go on to the how’s and why’s of that, let me just dwell for a moment (okay, more than a moment - I ramble!) on my rather…complicated history with that scene.

I thought I was done commenting on the Jaime & Cersei scene in episode 3, but I keep seeing one annoying article after another on the subject.

Now, anyone who knows anything about my feelings regarding Game of Thrones would be aware that I hate unnecessary changes with a fiery passion. So, yes, I am on board with the “why change that scene?” criticism. At least to a point, that is. You see, I found the change to the Dany & Drogo scene in episode 1 of season 1 much, much, much more infuriating from a “purist” point of view. There was absolutely no reason to change the tone of that scene so radically. And yet, at the time there were quite a few fans and reviewers who spoke up in favour of that change, mainly citing that they did not find the scene in the books believable anyway.

In contrast, there are quite a few reasons for why the Jaime & Cersei scene could not play out as it did in the books. GRRM cited the “butterfly effect” on his Livejournal and it is absolutely true that by now, in the fourth season, there are many previous changes that demand further changes (this was not the case in ep 1 of season 1, however!). I very much dislike some of those previous changes—I disagree with the decision to have Jaime back in King’s Landing so early and I most definitely disagree with the decision to make Cersei such a radically different character—but the fact remains that those did limit what they could do with the scene in the sept. It could no longer play out as it did in the books, in part because it was no longer a surprising and very emotional reunion between Jaime & Cersei and in part (or so I would argue, anyway) because the Cersei that Lena Headey plays is a very, very different character from the Cersei of the books. She is much less passionate, much less sexual and, it seems, much more dubious about her relationship with Jaime.

In my mind there’s no doubt that the scene was intended as largely consensual. Yes, Jaime initiates it and does so forcefully. But if we look at the books, we have three examples of this sort of interaction between Jaime and Cersei where he initiates a sexual encounter quite forcefully/insistently and where Cersei initially protests. This is clearly part of the dynamic of their relationship. Keep in mind that they do not exactly have a normal, healthy relationship. Any sex they have carries the risk of discovery and severe punishments, meaning that most of their encounters are carried out with a certain urgency. To imagine that this doesn’t leave a mark on how they interact is impossible. I also believe that Cersei is turned on by Jaime expressing that he has to have her, right now, because it shows her power over him.

Of course, in the books these encounters, although apparently initiated against Cersei’s will, soon turn into clearly consensual activities where Cersei verbally expresses her desire to continue. I have, however, seen plenty of people argue that even this is too much, seeing as Jaime initially pushed on without her consent. I dismiss such complaints as ludicrous - you’re talking about a relationship that has gone one for decades, which has its own rules worked out. But, returning to the scene from episode 3, it differs from the books in that there’s no clear verbal consent from Cersei. There is, however, physical consent. Partway into the scene, she kisses him back, she probably (it is hard to see for sure) helps with his undressing and she wraps her legs around him. Again, in a long-established relationship, physical consent has to be every bit as valid as verbal consent.

A lot of people point to what is said by Cersei as a further problem and further evidence that she does not want this to happen. However, I cannot understand how people can equate her “It isn’t right.” with a “No”. This completely takes it back to her protests in the book, which are all about the risk of the discovery and the time and the place being inappropriate. Cersei keeps repeating this even as she is giving into her desires for Jaime (the hand clenched around the funerary cloth must be meant to indicate this) and I feel that this is where the changed Cersei is shown most clearly: her dubiousness about the incestuous relationship, especially in such a risky situation, is so strong that she feels a need to express her concerns even though (or perhaps because) she actually does desire Jaime and does desire the sex at that moment. It is as if Cersei on the show is ashamed about her own reaction and I strongly feel that her “It isn’t right.” is something she is vocalising to deal with her feelings of shame/guilt rather than a further attempt to discourage Jaime.

Obviously, this was not how many people interpreted scene and I do agree that this was probably not the best way to handle this scene. In particular, even though I feel I understand its purpose, the “It isn’t right.” should not have been there. There should have been something more affirmative to make it plainer that Cersei wanted the sex to continue. But ultimately, this is a problem of intent, execution and interpretation. I do not believe, as some have tried to put forward, that TV (or any other media, like books) have a duty to avoid scenes of ambiguous sexual conduct. They wanted to show a darker, more ambiguous scene between Jaime & Cersei than in the books. This is perfectly acceptable and does not in any way make them rape apologists. The established relationship between the characters (and yes, I do count the background material from the books here as well as I do not view this show as separate from the books) allows for this kind of interaction without it being rape. However, the end result apparently came out too ambigious from the point of view of many watchers. That is a fault of theirs, a fault which could have been avoided even with the changed circumstances and the changed characters, but ultimately it does not change their intent.

Which is why anyone who is expecting this to be “dealt with” in the next episode is fooling themselves. And, in the case of professional reviewers who should know better, fooling their audiences just to be able to act even more outraged next week. The season is in the can. They did not shoot a rape scene, thus there will be no follow-up to a rape scene.

Long time, no blog! I miss doing my weekly lesson reports, but I haven’t been able to get back to doing them with enthusiasm rather than with it feeling like a chore. As a result, I’ve avoided the blog altogether, but now I am trying (again) to find a more casual approach to posting and doing it only when I feel inspired by something specific.

Such as my new favourite horse (and dog) clothes from Uhip, acquired at the Gothenburg Horse Show last weekend. I had been eyeing their thermal skirts for a while since my current riding breeches are on the chilly side for winter and since I easily get cold legs in general when I am out with Ringo. I decided to get one of the Sport skirts and since they offered 50% off if you bought two items, I felt I just had to try on their long coat as well. After a bit of my usual indecision, I came away from there with a bag stuffed full of one cosy thermal skirt and one light and fluffy long coat.

And then I thought, why don’t I blog about it? I do book reviews from time to time, after all, so why not cover the occasional purchase related to my other hobbies? So, I dragged off Elio to the woods to shoot a couple of pictures and if you read on you get to see those as well. Bonus Ringo included!

A bit of entertaining stupidity arrived by email earlier today. It seems the bottom feeders over at WORA renewed their fascination with Blood of Dragons and, as usual, a few particularly spectacular trolls have surfaced with more and more amusing claims.

Before I get into addressing some of those, however, lets just clear one thing up for those who doubt that we actually have approval for Blood of Dragons from George R.R. Martin and/or imagine that we only have some kind of very superficial connection to him. The situation, in brief, is that since contacting GRRM in 1998 to ask for permission to run Blood of Dragons, our connection to him has changed from “just” fans running a site to helping with fact-checking of the last two novels and finally to actually collaborating with him on a book. We take the restrictions he asked for when he first approved Blood of Dragons very seriously not only because we respect an author’s right to his intellectual property but because he is also a colleague and a friend.