"He Realized That Crows Had Always Reminded Him Of Time"

History repeats itself. Or so we're told, at least; you could be forgiven for thinking that literally nothing could repeat itself more often than people smugly insisting upon the cyclic nature of time. Though I guess they've been pushing that line for long enough that they've entered history themselves, so eventually they've proved themselves right, like stopped clocks somehow invited to dinner parties to spout obvious bromides as an alternative to engaging with or caring about what is unfolding in the present.

I've strayed off the subject. I'll start again.

History repeats itself. So naturally fictional history has to as well, though of course given its nature it can do so with more precision and panache than reality can generally lay claim to. "High Sparrow" is packed with the past resurfacing in the present. But when the ghosts of history arise in the utterly changed landscape of now, the results can never play out in quite the same way they once did.  This episode is about how different the show's first steps look after we've spent four years learning about the world they happened in. Put another way, this is an opportunity for us to review the opening moves of the game, now we have a much better grasp of the rules.

(TV spoilers follow)

Crucible Final Prediction 2015

Tough job this year; Murphy is on form and has had time to recuperate after his sold beating of Hawkins. Bingham is likely to be feeling the down-to-the-wire victory over Trump last night, but when you've taken out the favourite for the tournament and then the new favourite in successive matches, you're pretty clearly on fire.

Overall, I'm going to give it to Murphy, who I expect to dominate the first session and then hang on tenaciously. So, prediction time: Bingham 16 - 18 Murphy.

CGIntervention

Thorin finds himself surrounded by his foes.

Can't somebody sit Peter Jackson down and have a frank conversation with him about how his behaviour is destructive?

Last weekend I finally sat down to watch Battle of the Five Armies. It is not a good film. Nor is it merely a bad film. It's full-on flat-out incompetent, a swollen, bleeding mass of childish impulse set against a an unconvincing snowstorm of faded pixels.

(Spoilers follow, though if you insist it's important you not know the precise ways in which Jackson has utterly butchered a beloved children's book, it's possible this isn't the blog for you anyway).

“Let Us Read, And Let Us Dance; These Two Amusements Will Never Do Any Harm To The World”

Spoiler warning: I won't talk about this at all.

This week's theme: how to do the absolute minimum possible damage whilst in charge.

(TV spoilers below the fold. Book spoilers entirely absent.)

Yielding The Floor

Given the focus of fully two thirds of my blogs, you might have been expecting me to comment on the news that Iceman will soon be coming out as gay in All-New X-Men.  Really, though, Rachel Edidin has concussed that nail so totally - poor thing must be seeing Angel and Xorn's face flying around its head right now - that there's precious little for me to add. Just read that piece, twice.

(Yes, that's a Playboy link, but obviously Edidin's article itself is smut free, and the surrounding ads are no less SFW than any other ad involving models in bikinis).

A Tale Of Cocktails #52

Screwed Banana

Ingredients

1oz creme de banane
1oz peach schnapps
4oz orange juice

Taste: 7
Look: 5
Cost: 9
Name: 8
Prep: 9
Alcohol: 2
Overall: 6.8

Preparation:  Fill hi-ball glass halfway with ice. Add ingredients and serve.

General Comments: Apparently you're supposed to stir this, but I don't hold with such nonsense. If you stir it you spread the creme de banane through the whole drink; far better to let it pool at the bottom and let this get steadily thicker and sweeter as you go.  Oddly, this also has the effect of making the first half of this drink almost indistinguishable from pineapple juice, albeit with some of the tartness replaced with alcohol.

That's a trade-off I, at least, am prepared to make. As to other factors; well, it's a bit dull to look at, and it's not very strong. On the other hand, it's the work of seconds to make, and I love the name, which combines standard pointless cocktail filth with a play on "screwdriver", the vodka and orange combination this beats into the rancid mashed potatoes it always was.

"A Good Conscience Is A Continual Feast"

Well, not a lot happened, did it? Still, that's sort of the point.

(Game of Thrones spoilers below the fold. As always I'll not be discussing specifics of the books past the point the show is up to. I will though be talking about the tone of book four, so if that's too much for you; best skip this post.)