Category Archives: Fandom

VoK 642: A GameShow of Thrones #3 (VOKathon Edition)

Posted on March 11, 2021 by | Leave a comment


During their 24-hour VOKathon, the Vassals face off in another thrilling round of A Song of Ice and Fire trivia. Join quizmaster Duncan (Valkyrist), scorekeeper Matt (Varley), reigning champion Michal (inkasrain), and challengers Abdullah (Quaith from Asshai), Peter (Shellfish), Abby (DaceyMormont), Sara (DrBlood), Zach (Alias), Ben (King Jucio), Matt (mattdaze13), Michael (Khal Wadege) David (davidhhh), Hannah (thewingedshadow), Patrick (TheTall), and Kevin (nuncle kevin).

Who will claim the crown? Who will spit the dummy? There’s only one way to find out!

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist

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Links
A GameShow of Thrones #2
A GameShow of Thrones #1

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VoK 634: Creature Chat

Posted on January 25, 2021 by | Leave a comment


The Vassals of Kingsgrave sit down to chat about creatures. Join vassals Shellfish (Peter), Munjorock2 (Jock), Daceymormont (Abby), and DrBlood (Sara) on their expedition into the animal kingdom! Topics of discussion include pets, animal intelligence, and genetic memory. 

Credits:
Edited by Peter

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VoK 604: Will Winter Ever Come? aka The Great Linear ASOIAF ReRead FINALE (Part 107)

Posted on April 23, 2020 by | Leave a comment

hG8oLWH

Join the Vassals for the final episode of the reread! We begin with Bina007 delivering some nerd stats about who has hosted which episode. At 16 minutes in we move to a Dance With Dragons trivia quiz hosted by Pops88/Noah. And finally 24 minutes in we delve into a thematic discussion of Dance hosted by Khal Wadege/Michael.

The themes are:
– failing to rule the peace (24 minutes in)
– the journey to yourself (40 minutes in)
– what isn’t there – the others and the dragons (52 minutes in)
– all things prophesy (1hr 3mins in)
– Southern ambitions (1hr 10 mins in)
– Greyscale and Marwyn (1hr 19 mins in)
– The Grand Northern Conspiracy (1hr 29 mins in)
– The rising power of religion (1hr 46 mins in)
– The children of the forest (1hr 55 mins in)
– Thoros of Myr (2hrs 5 mins in)
The hosts are rounded out by Marie/Nymeria – Michael/Khal Wadege – Varley/Matt – Matt/Blu3arm0r and Jock/MunroJock2.

The podcast is dark and full of spoilers for all works in George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series but for Game of Thrones, the TV show.

Music credit – Alpine Universe.
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VoK 602: Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (Netflix miniseries)

Posted on April 11, 2020 by | Leave a comment


While isolating at home the Vassals have been pulled into the vortex that is Netflix’s “Tiger King”. We examine what this miniseries showed us, what it didn’t show us, and if anyone involved will be profiting from this show for very long?

Hosts: Adam (drownedsnow), Kevin (creep nuncle keving), Hannah (Shadowbaby), Jock (Munrojock2), Saad (saad164), and Casey (blue-eyed-queen)

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VoK 600: The Dance of the Vassals VI aka The Great Linear ASOIAF ReRead (Part 106)

Posted on April 6, 2020 by | Leave a comment

final

Welcome to the 600th episode of the Vassals of Kingsgrave! We begin with some chat from the VOK Curators  about the status of the fandom and what will come next for VOK in the absence of a new book. Your hosts are Casey/Blue-Eyed-Queen; Hashtag Greg/ClaudiusTheFool; Adam/Drownedsnow; Zack/Alias; Bina007, the Podcast Bard/Jed O’White Hart and a guest appearance from Nadia.

At 41m, we move to the penultimate episode of the reread but the final chapter episode!  We cover the final two linear timeline chapters of A Dance With Dragons – Dany 10 and Jon 13 – both taking place at an unspecified time in late July to – late August 300 AL.  To do so we reunite some of the hosts of the first two episodes of the reread – published back in August 2015 – Thomas/FTWard; Brett/Whiteraven; Michael/Mordion; Matt/Varley and Bina007.  And we also get two special songs from the Podcast Bard.

The podcast is dark and full of spoilers for all works in George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series but for Game of Thrones, the TV show.

Music credit – Alpine Universe.
Picture credit – HBO’s Game of Thrones.

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VoK 581: Video Game Roundtable – Best of 2010s Edition

Posted on December 17, 2019 by | Leave a comment

The Vassals of Kingsgrave engage in a different sort of video game discussion this time around. Instead of evaluating the best games of 2019, they take a look at the entire catalog of games released over the past decade. Join Bing (Shoeshiner), Katie (Lady Griffin), Matt (Blu3arm0r), and Zach (Alias) as they share the games they each personally felt best defined the past 10 years in gaming for them.

This podcast contains spoilers for The Last of Us, Persona 5, the Batman Arkham series, and Gone Home.

9:50 – Telltale’s The Walking Dead
22:30 – Undertale
32:45 – The Last of Us
43:45 – Persona 5
58:15 – Gone Home
1:09:50 – The Witcher 3
1:20:20 – Batman Arkham Series
1:25:30 – Starcraft 2

Credits:
Edited by Zach (Alias)

Music:
Witcher 3 – The Trail
Journey – Apotheosis

My Life of Starcraft by Day9

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VoK 574: A History of Horror Movies (public lecture)

Posted on October 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment


Why are horror movies so popular? In this lecture, Valkyrist explores the arcane origins of horror cinema and speculates over the social and psychological reasons behind its appeal. Celebrate Halloween season by dissecting the power and meaning behind some of the most famous (and infamous) horror movies of all time.

The presentation includes video clips from the following movies:
Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau, 1922)
Frankenstein (James Wale, 1931)
Godzilla (Ishirō Honda, 1954)
Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)
Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathon Demme, 1991)
Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist
Music from John Carpenter and Disasterpiece

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VoK 562: Yara Greyjoy – The Ultimate Ironborn Warrior (Con of Thrones Panel)

Posted on July 23, 2019 by | Leave a comment

image

This episode features live audio from the “Yara Greyjoy: The Ultimate Ironborn Warrior” panel at Con of Thrones 2019. This panel featured Vassals Casey (blue-eyed-queen) and Michal (inkasrain), as well as con attendees Queen of Rock and Salt and Simone C. Greene.

Note that this podcast has been re-edited to improve the audio, but still has jumps in subject matter because questions to the panel were not picked up by the recorder. Hopefully you’ll still find the responses insightful. Note also that it contains show spoilers. Music credit – Alpine Universe. Picture credit – HBO Game of Thrones.

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Posted in A Song of Ice and Fire, Books & Novellas, Fandom, Game of Thrones, Podcast

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VoK 560: Video Game Roundtable – Mid-2019 Edition

Posted on July 9, 2019 by | Leave a comment


The Vassals of Kingsgrave convene for another video game discussion to talk about what we’ve been playing and some of the news coming out of the biggest video game event of the year, E3. Join Matt (blu3arm0r), Bing (Shoeshiner), Katie (Lady Griffin), Adam (drownedsnow), and Zach (Alias) as they talk recent favorites, look at what games they are anticipating in the coming months, and engage in an epic rant about the current state of the video game industry.

1:35 – What We’ve Been Playing
1:28:15 – What We’re Anticipating
1:55:00 – Discussion on BioWare and the State of the Video Game Industry
2:22:10 – Aftershow

Credits:
Edited by Zach (Alias)

Persona 5 – Life Will Change
Red Dead Redemption 2 – That’s the Way It Is

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VoK 558: YouTube Cast

Posted on July 3, 2019 by | Leave a comment

youtubeimage

Welcome to YouTube, please submit your personality to the algorithm! Join Vassals Michal (inkasrain), Casey (blue-eyed-queen), Jock (Munrojock2), Matt (blu3arm0r), Michael (Mordion), and Thomas-ish (FTWard) as they explore a fraction of the internet’s strange, wonderful, and essentially incomprehensible video place. Topics discussed include our own YouTube proclivities, the perils of family vlogging, capitalism, beauty guru drama, and how math can make you a radical. Plus, learn to carve a turkey and start a cult in less than ten minutes.

Also check out our episode on ASMR: https://vokpodcast.com/2019/06/27/vok-556-asmr-cast

Edited by inkasrain

Articles referenced:

Algorithms Won’t Fix What’s Wrong With YouTube:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/14/opinion/youtube-algorithm.html

The Making of a YouTube Radical: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/08/technology/youtube-radical.html

Intro music: The YouTube Song by Trevon Johnson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj7ycgOlIWw)

Outro music: The Official YouTube Song by James Adams
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BIpqGi4Wiw)

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VoK 557: RainbowCast – Pride Month

Posted on June 30, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Remembering-Stonewall-Riots

Join QueenJames, Lady Griffin, and Davidhhh for a RainbowCast discussion on pride month. Lady Griffin brought us the story of the Upstairs Lounge Fire of 1973, QueenJames discusses the Stonewall Riots and Marth P. Johnson, and David shares some exciting stories from his activist days in ActUp.

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VoK 556: ASMR Cast

Posted on June 27, 2019 by | 1 comment


Please join Vassals Michael (Mordion), Thomas (FTWard) and our special guest Tori ASMR (@toriperezz) as we discuss our experiences with ASMR, the ASMR community, YouTube and the tragic apostrophe shortage in Canada.

After Show: 1:38:00

ToriASMR 
This American Life: A Tribe Called Rest
Reese The Movie: A Movie About Reese (An ASMR Experience)
WhispersRed ASMR
SouthernASMR Sounds
Phoenician Sailor
Waluigi Whispers
VioletsVoice
Scottish Murmurs ASMR
ASMR Glow
Goodnight Moon
TheOneLilium ASMR
ARDRA -asmr-

Credits:
Edited by FTWard

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VoK 549: Words Cut Deeper than Swords (Ice & Fire Con Panel)

Posted on June 6, 2019 by | Leave a comment


In their first ever panel at Ice & Fire Con, the Vassals of Kingsgrave rank their favourite passages from A Song of Ice and Fire. Join Duncan (Valkyrist), Casey (blue-eyed-queen) and Dan (Witless Chum) as they reflect on some of the most powerful moments of Martin’s dialogue and examine the meaning behind his prose – from Sansa’s twilit snow castle, to Dany’s desert hallucinations, to Catelyn’s fevered flight from Storm’s End.

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist

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VoK 547: Video Game Roundtable – Music Edition

Posted on May 30, 2019 by | Leave a comment


The Vassals of Kingsgrave convene for a different sort of video game roundtable. Instead of talking about favorite games, they come together to explore some of their most beloved pieces of video game music. Join Bing (Shoeshiner), Duncan (Valkyrist), Matt (blu3arm0r), Kevin (Gaiden), Zander (The Lord Baron), and Zach (Alias) as they talk about what video game music is all about and share the tracks that left a lasting impression behind.

9:25 – Zelda Block
27:45 – Civilization 4
35:20 – Resident Evil 4
42:00 – Final Fantasy Block
54:45 – Metroid Prime
1:01:40 – Witcher 3
1:06:00 – Dragon Age: Origins
1:12:40 – Mass Effect Block
1:24:20 – Dark Souls
1:31:10 – Undertale
1:36:40 – To The Moon
1:40:35 – Donkey Kong Country 2
1:47:20 – Pharaoh
1:49:30 – Streets of Rage

This podcast will contain spoilers for a lot of things, including the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Mass Effect series, Metroid Prime, Donkey Kong Country 2, Dark Souls, and some badly contained spoilers for Final Fantasy 7.

Credits:
Edited by Zach (Alias)

Super Mario Bros Official Theme
Zelda Ocarina of Time – Hyrule Symphony
Zelda Ocarina of Time – Ganondorf’s Theme
Zelda Ocarina of Time – Great Fairy Fountain Theme 
Civilization 4 – Baba Yetu
Resident Evil 4 – Regenerator Theme
Final Fantasy 7 – Aerith’s Theme 
Final Fantasy 13 – The Promise
Metroid Prime Credits
The Witcher 3 – The Fields of Ard Skellig
Dragon Age Main Theme
Mass Effect 3 – An End Once and For All 
Mass Effect 2 – Suicide Mission
Dark Souls – Gwyn, Lord of Cinder 
Undertale – Hopes and Dreams 
To The Moon – For River
Donkey Kong Country 2 – Stickerbrush Symphony
Pharoah – Stha 
Streets of Rage – Boss Theme 
Transistor – Paper Boats

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VoK 536: Ice & Fire Con 2019 Recap

Posted on May 6, 2019 by | 1 comment


The Vassals of Kingsgrave convene to recap their experiences at the always wonderful Ice and Fire Con held at Dear Creek Lodge in Mt. Sterling, Ohio in the last weekend of April, 2019. Join Casey (blue-eyed-queen), Zach (Alias), Jon (eigenvectorjon), Duncan (Valkyrist), Adam (drownedsnow), Thomas aka Tomas (FTWard), Dan (Witless Chum), and Matt (blu3arm0r) as they talk about all the fun events held at the con, indulge in some Ohio bashing, and reflect on the many hangouts they enjoyed together.

Credits:
Edited by Zach (Alias)

Music: Kellan the Undying by Drumurboy

Ice and Fire Con Website (including 2020 information)
Ice and Fire Con YouTube (where videos from the event will be posted)

The Ultimate Winds of Winter Resource by BryndenBFish

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Posted in A Song of Ice and Fire, Board Games & Trivia, Fandom, Podcast

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VoK 509: Video Game Roundtable – 2018 Edition

Posted on January 28, 2019 by | Leave a comment



The Vassals of Kingsgrave convene for another video game roundtable.  This time around Vassals Thomas (FTWard), Bing (shoeshiner), Matt (blu3arm0r), and Zach (Alias) gather to talk about some of their favorite video games in the year of 2018. They also share some of the biggest games they are anticipating in 2019.

0:15 – Introduction
23:50 – Kingdom Come: Deliverance
37:50 – Marvel’s Spider-Man
47:30 – Valkyria Chronicles 4
56:30 – BATTLETECH
1:05:30 – Celeste
1:11:40 – God of War (2018)
1:20:30 – Everything Else We Played
1:44:00 – Most Anticipated (and Unanticipated) Games of 2019

Credits:
Edited by Zach

Field of Hopes And Dreams – Deltarune OST
Kingdom Come Deliverance – Skalitz 1403
Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4) OST – Spider-Man
Valkyria Chronicles 4 OST – Title Theme
BATTLETECH 02 – Restoration
Celeste Original Soundtrack – 02 – First Steps
God of War | God of War OST
Gris, Pt. 1

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VoK 501: A GameShow of Thrones (ASOIAF Trivia)

Posted on December 19, 2018 by | 3 comments


The vassals continue their 500 revelry with a heated round of ASOIAF trivia! Join Duncan (Valkyrist), Casey (blue-eyed-queen), Zach (Alias), Greg (claudiusthefool), Michal (inkasrain), Adam (drownedsnow), Patrick (Ser Patrick the Tall), and Nadia as they go head to head in a battle of wits, wills and White Walkers.

Who will be crowned champion and who will be fed to the dogs? There’s only one way to find out…

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist

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VoK 500: The Dance of the Vassals V

Posted on December 15, 2018 by | 1 comment


The curators of Vassals of Kingsgrave celebrate their 500th episode!! Join Casey (blue-eyed-queen), Zach (Alias), Greg (claudiusthefool), Michal (inkasrain), Adam (drownedsnow), Patrick (Ser Patrick the Tall), Duncan (Valkyrist), Glen (Dagos_Rivers), and Nadia as they answer listener-submitted questions about the books, the podcast and the fandom of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Topics include: our favorite episodes, meetup experiences, Westerosi survival tips, best and worst tinfoil theories, dream podcast guests, stalking George, how the series has affected our lives, and what the future holds.

Stick around for the Aftershow (at 2:31:51) for an interview with Amin Javadi from “A Podcast of Ice and Fire,” in which he elaborates on the early years of the ASOIAF fandom and the origins of VOK.

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist
Music from Age of Empires

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Links:
Full VOK Episode Archive

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VoK 499: GRRM’s Loew’s Theatre Interview Recap

Posted on December 9, 2018 by | Leave a comment

IMG_6440.jpg

Join Vokers Inkasrain, blueeyedqueen, and Sweetshireen as we discuss our adventure at the Fire and Blood event with George R.R. Martin and John Hodgman! No book spoilers, just first impressions.

Watch the video from the event here:

Picture credit: me! (blue-eyed-queen)

Music credit – Alpine Universe

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VoK 488: SoccerCast (Vol.6) – English Premier League 2018–19 (Opening Games)

Posted on August 29, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Premier-League-fixtures-973068

Join Bing, Noah and Leigh as they discuss the changes to the teams in the English Premier League transfer window and review the opening games of the new season, in the first of our all-new shiny monthly Soccercast! It’s the VOK series that no-one was clamouring for but everybody needs in their life.

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