Do I wake or sleep?

I can't really post this on Facebook because it'll come off as passive-aggressive. But I have to say--if you don't want to see/read spoilers. STAY THE FUCK OFF SOCIAL MEDIA. It really is that simple. It is exactly what I do during the Olympics--I stay off Facebook, I avoid the news, I take responsibility for my avoidance. I just--a major event happened last night on Game of Thrones and people are posting about it. They're excited, they're horrified, they want to talk about it. Which is basically the point of social media--to enable conversation and connection. Cue a flood of outraged viewers who didn't watch last night and are now bemoaning people talking about it. STAY THE FUCK OFF SOCIAL MEDIA. You don't HAVE to spend hours on Facebook, you know. Avoid being spoiled by not going where people are talking about spoilers! People complaining about spoilers on Facebook is like walking down a hallway, hearing a conversation through a closed door, and then opening the door and telling the people in the room to stop talking. It just annoys the living shit out of me. My friend Dave wrote "The king is dead!" a fairly cryptic comment. Immediately some idiot wrote "If that's a Game of Thrones spoiler...shush! I haven't watched it yet." Fuck you! Why ask for confirmation that it's a spoiler? That MAKES it a spoiler, moron! Which is what I finally wrote back after this person came on again and demanded that everyone "stop talking about spoilers!!!!!"

No, this wasn't directed at me since (because I hate dealing with that type of people) I wrote my status update so carefully, you had to have watched the episode *and* known that I'm a G of T fan to have understood what I was talking about . (I didn't even identify the show!) But that sort of camp-counselor bullshit just winds me up.

ANYWAY. The weekend was good. My Dolphman team had a game Friday and we won handily, 3-0. I scored the last goal, right between the goalie's legs :) It was a great game, we played very well. Afterward at the bar one of the other players in the league was doing pushups on the floor--he got to about 30. then Brian, one of my teammates, did his own set but he was doing extreme pushups--tiger pushups, one-handed, etc. He did about 25. Then I started and I did over 50--54, I think, but the crowd had stopped counting at that point. Afterward one of the guys leaned over and said my new nickname would be "Fi'tty Pushups" which made me laugh :)

So, yeah. Game of Thrones. WOW. Still processing that episode. I just HATE violence on screen, I cannot bear seeing people just get slaughtered, not to mention cruelty to animals. But it WAS great storytelling, and the acting and directing was also terrific. I'm not saying HBO or GRRM should have done anything differently, I'm just not sure if I'm the audience for it. I was talking about it with Tesse who was BURSTING with spoilers but was able to contain herself. I have to say, I'm very impressed that so many readers were able to sit on this and not spoil it for the rest of us. I was STUNNED, I had no idea that was going to happen. I have to be careful when I find articles about G of T online, because so many commenters include spoilers. I love Hitfix's reviews, but man, the commentariat--even though the reviewer explicitly forbids spoilers, people just do it anyway. So any article, any YouTube video, I watch or I read then but I do not scroll down. (Mad Men content online is much easier on the nerves, because Weiner NEVER allows a hint of what's going to happen to escape.)

I have to admit, this made me laugh:



Poor Arya. Poor Sansa. Bran at least is becoming a boss.

I did think of Glencoe, which is probably the most notorious breach of hospitality in history. I believe the Glen is referred to as the Valley of Weeping. Sadly, Scottish history is chockful of horrible incidents like that--read about what they did to David Rizzio, the private secretary of Mary Queen of Scots when she was pregnant (this parallel also occurred to me as I watched the Red Wedding). Shameful, the Scots didn't even need the English to wipe them out--we were doing just fine killing each other.

I can't imagine anyone will have anything to do with Walder Frey now--not only did he commit the worst kind of treachery, but it's obvious he doesn't give a crap about his wives. Who would willingly marry their daughter to that? The only thing that will redeem G of T for me is seeing either Joffrey or Walder Frey (IDEALLY BOTH) suffer painful, humiliating demises.

Going to Belmont Stakes this Saturday with Tim. I directed a reading of a new play, written by his friend, a writer for the NY Times. John has ambitions--he wants to take the play to Off-Broadway or even further (as I told the cast "it means--we may be goin' to Broad. Way"). We had some possible investors there. We'll see. The cast killed it--I had 3 actors with Broadway credits, and the other 2 were terrific as well. I was a little nervous about the whole thing because John had to be pushed to do ANYTHING--I was constantly having to explain to him yes, you need to pay for this, no, we can't do that. And frankly if an actual producer with $$ does take over and decides they should get a director with more of a name, I would understand that--that's a business decision. (Although I would push for being dramaturg!) That said, in my head I've already made some aesthetic decisions about what I'd like to do if the play goes further.

It was a lot of fun working with an all-guy cast--of course I adore Ryan (and oddly, this is the first time we've worked together since Virginia!) and it was great to work with Tony again. And Carlos just makes me laugh--he has such a genuine good nature, kind of a reformed rascal, and rascals always make me laugh. Matt knocked Stearns OUT OF THE PARK, did a fantastic job with some tricky dialogue, and Eric was terrific as well.

A sudden thought just occurred to me. I have a feeling that Sansais going to die. The Stark children's direwolves are obviously avatars to some extent--Nymeria is alone and on her own (like Arya), Shaggy Dog is shaggy (like Rickon), Ghost is the different one (like Jon)...and Lady died early on.

I haven't finished the second book yet, and haven't seen the season finale yet, so I'm just speculating.

I do hope I'm wrong, she's one of my favorite characters.

Mad Men--great as always.  I LOVE how dark this season has been!  ( Spoilers )
Last night's episode took place in late October of 1966 and I'm ticking off the historical markers to come in my head--less than a year until the Summer of Love, less than 2 years until the RFK and King assassinations, less than 3 until Woodstock and the Manson murders.  Just 2 years for the heyday and fall of the counterculture.

I have to say, I'm really getting sick of the constant criticism of every actress who isn't Peggy/Elizabeth Moss or Joan/Christina Hendricks.  Jessica Pare is doing a fine job as Megan and although I'm not terribly interested in her character, I certainly not going to whine and moan about how MW & Co. are "hitting us over the head with how wonderful Megan is" and how she's a "Mary Sue." (God, I'm over that term.  A Mary Sue is a specific *thing,* not just any female character who isn't a bitch.  You can't win.  The vitriol that Megan's character gets is part of what I call the Ginny Weasely syndrome, when the Hero's GF/wife is introduced at a later time, and the fans are jealous.  Ginny REALLY couldn't win--she was trashed for being both a Mary Sue AND a bitch.)  The posters on TWoP are so efffing obnoxious sometimes, and the scrutiny given to *any* female character except the designated Awesome One(s) is so inherently misogynistic.  You saw this on The X Files as well--Scully was the Designated Awesome One and poor Annabeth Gish as Reyes could never ever measure up.  January Jones/Betty got this kind of hatred as well, and Alexis Bledel as Beth last night also got routinely trashed.  All of them are terrific. So-called fans need to hold female characetrs to the same level of scrutiny as the male characters--no more, no less.  If Don and fucking PETE get love, so should the ladies.
 
I spent the weekend (most of it) in Philadelphia, visiting my brother and his family.  He and his wife have 20 month old twins and they are PRECIOUS.  Little fairy-haired, blue-eyed blonde cherubs, just like Freddie and Flossie Bobbsey.  Absolutely gorgeous.  Philly is a fun city, actually--lots of museums and a huge park.  Erik lives in a good neighborhood within walking distance of some great museums--we wandered around and had lunch at a Mexican place nearby.  Yesterday we went to see the Liberty Bell--so cool and iconic!  Amazing to see that crack.  For the train ride down I bought a copy of the book version of Game of Thrones.  So far it seems to be a very close adaptation.  My favorite chapter is the one when
( Spoilers )
and talking to the crow.  Really solid writing there.  I have not been able to watch this week's episode yet, because Lori was in labor (she had her baby!  A boy!) so I'll have to find a way to get it online, although Amazon and iTunes only seem to have last season.

Lots of softball this weekend--FOUR games!  Then I'm hanging out with my soccer team Saturday night--birthday celebration, and we're doing karaoke.