VoK 285: WolfCast – “The Red Woman” (S06E01 Review)


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VOK Wolfcast roster changes this year, with Dagos_Rivers (Glen) leading the pack and joined once again by Beric175 (Matthieu) – who mysteriously disappears half-way through the recording, and joined by (relative) newcomers: DarkSister24 (Claire) and ChurchofStarryWisdom (David). They review the launch episode of Season 6, of Game of Thrones; they discuss each location, and associated characters; provide their lemoncake scores and make some predictions of where the storylines are going.

The WolfCast discuss whether Season 6 will outperform Season 5, how long the show will last; are the writers eager to end the show, and if certain storylines *cough* Dorne *cough* will survive much longer.

Also discussed:
-Official posters for each Season, and which is the best
-What is this ‘Heads Up’ game, as seen on Ellen?
-We reminisce on E4’s ‘Misfits’.
-How hard it is to get into a show when it is massive, like
Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead.

Running Time: 01:45:50
CREDITS:
Edited by Dagos_Rivers

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VoK 284: DragonCast – “The Red Woman” (S06E01 Review)


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DragonCast takes flight once again to review the sixth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones!

Join Adam (drownedsnow), Casey (Blue-Eyed-Queen), Katie (LadyGriffin), Matt (Varley), Paul (SerDinnerRoll), and Zach (Alias) for a whole new season of not-at-all nitpicky Game of Thrones reviews.

Warning: Contains spoilers for all aired episodes of HBO’s Game of Thrones (including Season 6 promotional material), as well as all published books in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

00:43 – Intros and Lemoncake Ratings
7:05 – The Wall
13:30 – Winterfell
16:25 – Somewhere in the North
21:13 – King’s Landing
26:15 – Dorne
32:35 – Meereen
38:25 – The Dothraki Sea
45:40 – Braavos
46:55 – The Wall (Part 2)

Credits:
Edited by Alias
A Song of Ice and Fire by Alpine Universe
Kellen the Undying by Drumurboy

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VoK 283: Cold Comfort Farm (by Stella Gibbons)


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There’s something in the woodshed!

Amanda (Middlecylone) and Bina007 discuss Stella Gibbons’ hilarious 1932 novel satirising rural melodramas, as well as the 1995 British film adaptation starring Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Fry and Rufus Sewell. There is much mollocking, clettering, and heaving of porridge, not to mention some of the worst West Country accents committed to tape.

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VoK 282: War & Peace (BBC One miniseries)


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Bina007, Stuart (Firenzed) and Imogen.OB discuss, in various permutations, Tolstoy’s epic tale of love amidst the Russian aristocracy during the Napoleonic wars.

To start, Bina007 & Firenzed cover the major story arcs of the mini-series, the depiction of war and other adaptations of the novel. Then at 1hr 7mins, Bina007 & Imogen.OB get into an in-depth discussion of the novel and the mini-series. Finally, the aftershow begins at 1hr 58mins and includes:  Intro to Firenzed, ASOIAF and Chekhov Wildfire; plug for Cockneymoot on May 1st at Blenheim Palace; a lot of Sega/Creative Assembly Empire and Napoleonic Total War chat; our thoughts on Napoleon more generally.

Contains spoilers for the the novel, its adaptations, and Napoleonic history, if such a thing is possible, as well as occasional references to A Song of Ice and Fire.

Music: Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. This was also composed, like War and Peace, many decades after the battle of Borodino to commemorate Russia seeing of the perfidious French invasion.

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Sources mentioned in the podcast:
[BBC TV] The 2016 miniseries
[BBC Radio] The 2015 radio play/podcast
[Bondarchuk!] A clip from the 1967 4 hour Soviet film
[Audrey!] A clip from the 1956 Hollywood epic
[ReliveWaterloo] Real-time Waterloo timeline
[Napoleon The Great?] Debate on Napoleon’s legacy
[Napoleon’s Crimes?] Controversial French book

VoK 281: Alas Poor Yoren! aka The Great Linear ASOIAF ReRead (Part 17)


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In the 17th part of the Vassals’ epic re-read of George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, we cover events from the 18th to 28th February 299.  This translates into Cat 1, Arya 3, Tyrion 2 and Arya 4 of A Clash of Kings.

Your podcast hosts are: Adam (DrownedSnow) Amanda (Middlecylcone),  Bina007, Claire (DarkSister24), Jackie (Joie-Olivier), Matt (Varley), Michael (Khal Wadege),  and Patrick (Ser Patrick The Tall).

Podcast announcements at 1hr 15m and Aftershow at 1hr 24m.

Picture credit: The A Podcast of Ice and Fire MS Paint project of A Clash of Kings. Cat 1 by Mimi Mieville. Music credits: Alpine Universe & the awesome Talking Heads.

The chapters for the next episode will be Sansa 2, Davos 1, Tyrion 3, Arya 5 and Bran 2.

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VoK 280: Game of Thrones – Pre-Season 6 Speculation


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Join our American hosts as they preview Season 6 of HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Hosts: Zack (Alias), Greg (claudiusthefool), Matt (Varley), Adam (drownedsnow), Casey (blue-eyed-queen), Dan (dansparce), Jeff (Jeff14), and Steven (SJLee).

Spoilers for all episodes of this series and all published works in George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Edited by Drowned Snow.

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VoK 279: The Revenant [2016] (Review)


Revenant Movie.jpgThe vassals gather to discuss the film “The Revenant” as well as the life of Hugh Glass, who’s life and deeds inspired the book that inspired the film.

Hosts Greg (claudiusthefool), Jack (It_Rhymes_With_Sleek), Amber (Amberrocks) & Matt (Varley) discuss the life of the mountain man, the ferocity of grizzly bear attacks as well as make way too many beaver references.

Contains spoilers for the novel “The Revenant” as well as the film.

Edited by Greg

Music: “Crawling Back” by Roy Orbison

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Vote for VOK in the Podcast Awards


Hi everyone,
It is the annual Podcast Awards, nominations begin on Friday, 15th April.

Podcast Awards

If you go to the above link, and you will be able to submit a form (from 15th April) of your favourite podcasts, in a number of categories like Gaming, Movies, Politics, Religion, etc.

So we would appreciate if you nominate Vassals of Kingsgrave for Best ‘TV and Film’ Podcast; A Podcast of Ice and Fire for People’s Choice Podcast, and Best ‘Entertainment’ Podcast.

Although, if you don’t want to vote for either podcast, it is still a good opportunity to nominate the podcasts you love in their respective category.

There is a major shakeup which might help both podcasts: they have brought in a rule that podcasts that have won awards, in 2015, will be ineligible, or podcast that have won 5 awards in the past will be ineligible (so Internet Box that VOK lost to last year, in Best General Podcast, has won three times), that may help APOIAF too, as a number of podcasts have won possibly 5 or more awards in the past 10 years (ESPN Fantasy Focus, Rob has a Podcast, Mugglecast, This American Life).

Thanks once again for everyone that takes the time to listen to the podcasts, through iTunes, or through YouTube.

VoK 278: Do Dead Men Dream? aka The Great Linear ASOIAF ReRead (Part 16)


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In the 16th episode of our epic linear re-read of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, we get stuck into A Clash of Kings. The period  covered is the 1st to 10th February 299, and the chapters are the Prologue, Arya 2, Bran 1, Sansa 1 and Tyrion 1. The host is Greg (ClaudiustheFool) and his fellow Vassals are Patrick (Ser Patrick The Tall), Matt (Varley), Jeff (Jeff14), Jack (It-Rhymes-With-Sleek) Casey (Blue-Eyed Queen) and Adam (DrownedSnow).

The next episode will cover the chapters Cat 1, Arya 3, Tyrion 2 and Arya 4 of A Clash of Kings.

Spoilers: All published works in A Song of Ice and Fire.

Picture credit: The A Podcast of Ice and Fire MS Paint project of A Clash of Kings. Tyrion 1 by Stevie Blue. Music credits: Alpine Universe and Gene. The aftershow begins at 2hr 1m.

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VoK 277: Batman v Superman – Dawn of Justice [2016] (Review)


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The Vassals of Kingsgrave review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice featuring our very own Super Friends – Drownedsnow (Adam), eigenvectorjon (Jon), Varley (Matt), easttexasdirewolf (Shane), Alias (Zach) and FTWard (Thomas).
The Vasslas decide which is the best superpower to have, who the greatest detective in the world is and if you SHOULD bring a knife to a gunfight.
Edited by: FTWard XL
Music:
The Red Capes Are Coming by Hans Zimmer & Junkie XL
Performed by Callum McGaw
@CallumMcGaw1
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VoK 276: Twin Peaks ReWatch (Part 8)


The Bookhouse Boys & Girls head back to school for episodes 10-13 of Twin Peaks Season 2: “Dispute Between Brothers,” “Masked Ball,” “The Black Widow,” and “Checkmate.” Steven (SJLee) reveals the secret history of the RCMP, Greg (claudiusthefool) plays with toy soldiers, Shane (easttexasdirewolf) swears his allegiance to the owls, and Katie (Lady Griffin) reads World War Z.

As with previous installments, there are no Twin Peaks spoilers past the episodes discussed.

Credits:
Edited by Katie

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VoK 275: Game of Thrones – Season 5 Retrospective


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VOK Wolfcast concluded, last year, with a review of Season 5, discussing favourite scenes, worst scenes, favourite episodes and the state of the fandom with the impending Season 6 Dilemma. By the time I got around to editing it, it was August, so I decided to hold off until the new Season begins, and to coincide with the Season 5 DVD release, and the availability of Season 5 on Sky Box Sets (U.K. fans).

Dagos_Rivers (Glen) leads the wolf pack, and is joined by SerPatricktheTall (Patrick) and Samos (Sam) to deliver their thoughts on the most popular season to date, and whether Game of Thrones has reached it’s peak or if the show will continue to rise in popularity year on year.

Also discussed:
-Madds Mikelson and NBC’s ‘Hannibal’ cancellation.
-Predictions of the Winds of Winter release.
-Theories about TuPac
-Comparisons between Harry Potter and Oedipus
-The scale of villain vs. Geographic origin.
-The theme of incest within the book series.

Running Time: 02:02:02
CREDITS:
Edited by Dagos_Rivers

Links:
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VoK 274: Dickensian (BBC One series)


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Dagos_Rivers (Glen), and Bina007 (Bina) review ‘Dickensian’: A murder mystery / drama set in Victorian England, with Charles Dickens’ most popular characters interacting with each other. This show commissioned by the BBC was a big rating hit over Christmas, in the U.K. but quickly lost over half it’s audience due to a chaotic schedule. We both hope other countries like Canada, U.S.A. and India will get a chance to watch it!

The hosts discuss major plotlines which form Origin stories for major characters in Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and Bleak House.

We also discuss the following topics:
-The sex appeal of Aidan Turner (Poldark).
-Emerging costume dramas to ‘replace’ Downton Abbey.
-Other BBC Charles Dickens adaptations (e.g. Bleak House).
-Possibility of worldwide distribution, and a second series.
-Would you accept disinheritance from your parents as a ‘compliment’?
-Christmas TV schedules.

Running Time: 01:11:52
Credits: Edited by Dagos_Rivers

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[Forum Thread] Discuss on APOIAF Forums

VoK 273: Skype Purgatory aka The Great Linear ASOIAF ReRead (Part 15)


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All your favorite Vassels (well, White Raven at least) gather for the 15th episode of our linear reread, in which we close out A Game of Thrones.

7:00 – Claire goes over Dany 9
26:10 – Nadia brings us Dany 10
47:25 – Brett delivers prophecy and Bran 7
55:00 – Ravencast begins
1:13:00 Tanja continues to spread her love for Lord Snow with Jon 9
1:37:50 We close out the episode with an original song from the Podcast Bard, Jed O’White Hart.
1:41:30 Aftershow starts wtih a healthy discussion of Valyrian steel and things being too old.

Hosts: Adam (Drownedsnow), Matt (Varley), Nadia (Nadia), Brett (White Raven), Tanja (Scilens),
Claire (DarkSister24), Steve (steveontheforums), Jack (It_Rhymes_With_Sleek), and Patrick (Ser Patrick the Tall )

Music credit: “The Sounds of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel, “Let it Go” by Jed O’White Hart
Art credit: Jenn Rose’s picture of Dany 10 from the Podcast of Ice and Fire MS Paint Project

Warning: The Podcast is dark and full of spoilers for all published works in George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice and Fire series.

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VoK 272: The Black Dahlia (Part 2)


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In Part Two of this Podcast, Matt (Varley), Julia (No True Lady), Bina (Bina007) and Thomas (FTWard) discuss theories and suspects in the murder of Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles, 1947. We also briefly talk about how The Black Dahlia murder has been portrayed in the media.

We would like to warn listeners that the subject matter we discuss is extremely graphic and disturbing. This is not suitable listening for minors and those of a sensitive disposition should consider whether to continue. We also want to emphasise that we have great sympathy and respect for Elizabeth Short, the victim. When we discuss details of her murder it is to better understand the mindset of the murderer. We also discuss details of Miss Short’s life, but in no way agree with the sensationalist contemporary media coverage of her. Rather, the fact that this took place is an interesting aspect of the social history of the time and worthy of investigation in itself.

After Show Starts At: 2:11

Edited by: FTWard

Photo: Santa Barbara Police 1943 Photographer Unknown

Music:
“In California” – by Neko Case & Lisa Marr
Performed by Tawnee Kendall & Jacob Wolkenhauer
@TawneeKendall

“Hotel California” – by Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey
Performed by Gabriella Quevedo
@GabyQuevedo

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Further reading & listening:
[Southampton Books] Ships to the USA & internationally
[FBI Archive] The Black Dahlia Files
[Étant Donnés] Marcel Duchamp’s Tableaux
[Principled Uncertainty] A podcast interview with Steve Hodel
[Principled Uncertainty] The second part of the Hodel interview
[The Dollop] Episode on the early history of the LAPD
[You Must Remember This] Podcast about the early history of Hollywood

VoK 271: Theories of Ice and Fire (Vol.3) – Fifty Shades of Daario


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In which the Vassals of Kingsgrave discuss where various characters in George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire are now.

Hosts: Fire and Bud, George2016, Pops88, Blue Eyed Queen, It Rhymes with Sleek and Varley.
Editor: Shaggydog.

Warning: This podcast is dark and full of spoilers for all published works in George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

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VoK 270: House of Cards (Netflix series) – Season 4


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Here at Vassals of Kingsgrave, we don’t submit to nonsense, we create the nonsense!  In this episode, Zach/Alias; Adam/DrownedSnow; Bina007; Jeff14 and Steven/SJLee discuss the latest series of Netflix’ House Of Cards.  Naturally, we spoil the series in its entirety.

 

Music credit: the original soundtrack of the show by Jeff Beal.

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VoK 269: The Black Dahlia (Part 1)


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Thomas (FTWard), Julia (No True Lady) and Bina007 discuss the social context and discovery of the horrific murder of Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles, 1947 as well as recapping what we know of the victim’s life. The next episode will discuss the suspects in the murder then and now.

We would like to warn listeners that the subject matter we discuss is extremely graphic and disturbing. This is not suitable listening for minors and those of a sensitive disposition should consider whether to continue. We also want to emphasise that we have great sympathy and respect for Elizabeth Short, the victim. When we discuss details of her murder it is to better understand the mindset of the murderer. We also discuss details of Miss Short’s life, but in no way agree with the sensationalist contemporary media coverage of her. Rather, the fact that this took place is an interesting aspect of the social history of the time and worthy of investigation in itself.

Music credit: the original soundtrack of the film The Black Dahlia by Mark Isham.

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VoK 268: The Dark Crystal [1982] (DVD Commentary)


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Bina007 and Beric175’s DVD Commentary for the early eighties Henson animated classic, The Dark Crystal.

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VoK 267: Mad Max: Fury Road [2015] (Review)


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I am awaited! I am awaited in Valhalla!

The Vassals of Kingsgrave review of the latest Oscar-winning instalment in the Mad Max franchise arrives not late but precisely when it means to.

Hosts: Easttexasdirewolf (Shane), Claudiusthefool (Greg),Drownedsnow (Adam), Amberrocks (Amber), Varley (Matt), Alias (Zack), It_Rhymes_With_Sleek (Jack).

Spoilers for all movies in the series.

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