Krone

Damn, ESPN giving me all the feels

I loved Stannis and that's a first for me. The view of the two sides pinching the forest from up above was absolutely awesome. It's nice to see Jon Snow give some props where they are deserved too. For the past few seasons - really since he got to the wall - Jon was always that guy who, and I don't want this to come across wrong but the guy who thought he was better than everyone. Obviously he didn't think that and in reality he was smarter than the lot. but him finally stepping up to someone smaller than him was nice and I think they could form a solid tag team. One that I didn't see coming either.

Hound going down was all sorts of sadness. Brienne isn't a bad character by any stretch, but I prefer the Hound over her ten fold. I am stoked that Arya is going to Bravos finally. I've been all sorts of curious about those assassins since they helped her escape and was wondering when they were going to bring that up again. It's comical in the sense though to think of how close all the Stark's have come to one another at some point (Bran -> Jon Snow) (Arya -> Sansa) and yet how far away from each other they are again.

Tywin was obviously the biggest "shock" for a death but I wasn't really all that stunned. It wasn't like a Ned Stark or even Oberyn, but he is really a character that I'm sad to see go. He was the head honcho for the Lannisters, the ultimate heels, and now they are down their leader. I can only assume this means Cersei will try and throw her power around now, but I'm more curious to see where Tyrion goes.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Miami come out guns a blazing tonight. If they win, they're right back in home and in a comfortable position to send it to a game 7. Question is whether anyone besides Bron Bron will show up for the Heat.

If the Spurs do pull it out tonight though, I see Kawhi getting the MVP nod. I know Diaw has played incredible, but Kawhi really has given them that scoring boost they needed to put them above the Heat and was something they were missing last year. Mostly because of Manu at the time though.

Yeah I could see that. If not MJ at #1, I could see some soccer athlete as that's the only other sport I would consider as widely popular (actually more popular) that basketball.

Ray Allen is that dude. I swear I just watch him jog down the court and bury threes like it's 2004. I love it.

With that being said though, it's about time Leonard showed us what he was capable of. I hope to see the Spurs hold on and make things more interesting than Miami (who I believe is undefeated at home this post season?) going up 3-1 quickly on SA. This is their game to take.

Some pre-hype for tonight, I read that it's the highest amount they've spent on a single episode. If I had to guess what it would be before this, probably the Battle of Blackwater. Wonder what's gonna be costing them all that. Giants?

Oh I'm in no way discrediting her opinion. Just as anyone else I can respect it.

I just figured I would share my opinion on a fairly good case. Game of Thrones also has the rare privilege of airing on HBO where it can stretch it's boundaries, more so considering it's fiction and non-similar world to today. It's not like a Breaking Bad or Dexter where it's based on current day or Boardwalk Empire from the prohibition era which was still within the past one hundred years.

Without wanting to dredge everything up again, a couple of lines of dialogue would never be as powerful in setting up a concept as showing it would. 'Oh my, life is bad' just won't be as effective as showing the brutal reality.

But how many times does it need to happen? Because a lot of rapes happen we need to keep seeing them?

I agree that it's powerful, but let's be honest, as awkward as the rapes are it's part of the world as others have said. It's the same thing as talking about how brutal some of the murders are in the show. Did we really need that incredibly gruesome ending to last weeks episode? I mean, it's not something that doesn't happen, and you could talk about just how vile some of the stuff such as the murders, Theon's Kaientai experience, and others that I'm probably not thinking of off the top of my head really are. Such is life, and that's why I appreciate Game of Thrones, because they aren't afraid to show how it is. We can connect with the world because it doesn't seem too "soft" or "fabricated". Everything feels real and it embraces our emotions only to twist them on us in a seconds notice that keeps us coming back for more.

I would go with Baelor first as Ben said, it really set the tone for the show. Then the Red Wedding. I mean that right there just let all the shit fly in. Blackwater was nice, and everyone was good, but it didn't throw me the whole "I didn't see that coming..." type effect.

Robert Flores just confirmed on SportsCenter that the Spurs have announced game 2 will take place under Inferno Match rules. I could get behind that.

My god was that death brutal. It was such a heart wrenching moment going from Oberyn being this "holy shit, get a load of this guy saving good ole Tyrion" to his chicklets getting blasted all over the pavement. And those fingers to the eyes? What in the bloody fuck was that? That was some dark shit right there. I hope they don't kill off Tyrion.

Arya's laugh was awesome, loved that bit. I hope we get to keep seeing the tag team of Arya and the Hound because I for one LOVE it.

I'm over the Theon Greyjoy shit. Reek is such a demeaning name though and I love it.

Sansa joining Little Finger was unsuspected as hell, but I loved it. It's like someone else is looking to throw their name into the ring in hopes of becoming the eventual king.

No Bran again. I should go back on what I said a few weeks ago. I want to see this story develop just because it's been going since season one. The crow with the three eyes - we get it. Now can we just eventually get to the finish so we can see some other shit?

I think Faried is going to explode soon enough. Back in the Melo days I was a huge Nuggets fan (the Cuse crossover) and after he left they just fell off. Camby, K-Mart, Boykins, those guys were good but Denver just fell behind on the times. Hopefully Faried brings that fire back to Denver.

10 years have passed and a lot of people didn't forget the '04 Pistons.

Ahhh, Ben Wallace. And Rasheed Wallace yoo

Damn, just checked the score on my phone. San Antonio looks to be mauling OKC alive. Who's been the big player for the Spurs?

Loved the whole thing, start to finish. Man I know I've said it before but I am LOVING the stuff between Arya and the Hound. It just keeps getting better every week. My interest has waned in Stanis and the fire bitch. I feel we've barely seen them do anything noteworthy in recent memory. At least Daenerys is running over cities.

No Bran though was disappointing.

One thing I will agree with about the characters:

The Cranston fake out was fucking weak. I wouldn't mind if they'd made it somewhat clear it was a smaller role in the film, but

all of the marketing had him as a lead character, so killing him off twenty minutes in leaves a sour taste in my mouth. That's not to say you can't kill off a major character, but you really shouldn't lure people in with a name actor and then kill him off straight off the bat. I didn't mind Taylor Johnson, but I think we can all agree the film would've been even better if we were following Cranston around instead.

On the spoiler

I definitely agree with this 100%. Cranston was put over heavily as the lead actor and before I knew it, the best actor was out of the movie and just lef us with Watanabe and no bonafied star power. I wonder if the reason they did that was so Godzilla wouldn't be overshadowed by the bigger actors and in turn would make him bigger. Sounds crazy, but when the second half is pretty much just a monster movie with them fighting and shit, there's not much room for the actors really. Especially given what Cranston's role was.

Also, when I first saw the MUTO I thought it had a strong resemblance to Clover from Cloverfield. Maybe it was just the weird four-six arm type monster approach, idk, but it gave me that vibe.

Caught the new Godzilla with my girlfriend last night, I will spoiler my thoughts.

It was surprisingly good, but it did feel like it was broken up into two movies. Cranston was billed as one of the main actors and was out less than halfway through the movie I felt. One of the only things I didn't like was how the MUTO just so happens to find it's way to San Francisco. Like yeah, the MUTO's just happen to be everywhere Ford and his family are.

The one thing for me was that I needed to appreciate it in a different sense. I'm a sucker for monster movies. Cloverfield is one of my favorites of all time - probably because of how much I followed the viral marketing and such - but when you see movies like that, it's MONSTER BAD, CITY TERRORIZED. Here, it was more of Godzilla versus the monster which was very cool. Sadly, I feel I didn't even respect it in that aspect til about 3/4's of the way through the movie, but man was it awesome. When he grabbed the last MUTO's head and just breathes in the blue shit (not sure what it's supposed to be) was fucking sick.

I did have high expectations for this. My dad took me to see Godzilla in 1998 when it came out and I've always loved Jurassic Park, so "dinosaurs/monsters" on the big screen is like a holy grail for me. I will always love the reveal of Godzilla in the '98 because everyone was clamoring for what he looked like where as here, we knew what to expect, but they still made it special and way more realistic. Hawai'i get's killed.

Final Thoughts: Great way to spend a Thursday night. It may not be your monster versus humans type plot (monster vs. monster and Serizawa vs. Stenz for the "let them fight" thoughts) but man was it good and different. The monsters felt like the main focus for the second half, and despite the film feeling separated into two parts, it was nice to see Godzilla back on US soil for the first time in sixteen years.

K Love would be awesome in LA though. Let's be honest, he's a wasted talent in Minnesota that isn't going anywhere. At least in LA, him and Kobe can give the Clips a run for their money and plus he will bring in a humble attitude.

Bill Simmons taught me everything I know.

Nah man, its all good. Were all ball fans here.

My comment did come off worse than I had hopes too. Love ya all.

Btw Ben, I'm just giving you a hard time. I see Indy taking two games tops maybe from the Heat. They're just too good in a conference that is medicore at best. Only a team from the west has a chance at taking out Miami in my opinion, and that's gonna be either LAC or OKC. Both can go into their bench (LA has an amazing bench imo - best in the NBA) and still hang with the Heat which is what a team is going to need.

Spurs old legs, I just don't think they can last seven games and still be fresh down the stretch with their old age. That forces their bench to play a little more and a little harder and that's where things will go downhill.

LOL, are you a child?

Tell me how the Nets are gonna do Ben? Tell me again how they're gonna do? Because if the best chance of beating the Heat is a team taking one game, this should be a pretty easy playoffs for the defending champs.

Shit, I don't know how I missed that

But in all seriousness, I quasi-agree. If the Pacers can play at the level they are capable of, I think they take the cake. But, if they look like they did against the Hawks, I see Miami in 5.

For alllllll those people who dished out likes but didn't know a damn thing about basketball. I knew the Nets would have no chance in blue hell. When your number 3 and 4 guys (Pierce and KG) are on the brink of retirement and couldn't get it done two years prior on a pretty damn good team...

Then again, Tim Duncan will probably be saying hello again in the finals. Which is what I love about the Spurs. You think they're too old every single year, but they're always atop the West. Duncan is easily one of the greatest of all time.

I don't know, even my lack of basketball skill wouldn't have me jacking up that 3 like Russ did. Christ, if Paul didn't hit his arm today would be International "KEVIN YOU NEED TO TAKE THE FIRST FLIGHT TO DC AND NEVER LOOK BACK" Day.

Let's not forget though that Westbrook heaved up the three at the end of game 5 as well and it almost went down. I've heard people saying KD was open on the play, but I didn't see it... Then again, had Westbrook made that, the Clips could be eliminated today.

Lots of "what if's".

I gotta echo the statements on how awesome that last scene was. I wasn't sure if it was just me, but apparently not. Gave me goosebumps.