[Sandwich]

I've read the books.

MUHAHAHAHAH!

[Aesaar]

And who are you, the proud lord said,
that I must bow so low?
Only a cat of a different coat,
that's all the truth I know.
In a coat of gold or a coat of red,
a lion still has claws,
And mine are long and sharp, my lord,
as long and sharp as yours.
And so he spoke, and so he spoke,
that lord of Castamere,
But now the rains weep o'er his hall,
with no one there to hear.
Yes now the rains weep o'er his hall,
and not a soul to hear.

[General Battuta]

Literally the most entertaining part of these dumb books is watching reactions to this

[Phantom Hoover]

i think the #nowthatchersdead effect is fully in play again with #got, most of the tweets are jokes about how shocked everyone's reactions are going to be

[Grizzly]

As someone who has read the books but does not follow the series atm, what exactly happened?

Spoiler:

I am geussing the 'red wedding'?

[Black Wolf]

Yep.

But that means next week...

Literally the most entertaining part of these dumb books is watching reactions to this

Disliking something popular makes you cool and clever. We should listen to your opinion.

[General Battuta]

Come on, man. These books have been around since long before the TV show, and you know I'm an SF/F writer with pretty developed opinions about storytelling. Is it so hard to believe I have substantive reasons to think GoT is mediocre that totally predate the TV series and its popularity? They're not **** awful, there's actually a couple important things they do really well.

I guess I should probably just snap something back and roll my eyes in return but damn, that kind of stung. 

[MP-Ryan]

Come on, man. These books have been around since long before the TV show, and you know I'm an SF/F writer with pretty developed opinions about storytelling. Is it so hard to believe I have substantive reasons to think GoT is mediocre that totally predate the TV series and its popularity? They're not **** awful, there's actually a couple important things they do really well.

I guess I should probably just snap something back and roll my eyes in return but damn, that kind of stung. 

To be fair, you did just call them 'dumb books' without any form of elaboration, so I don't think Black Wolf's response was entirely off-base.

I really enjoy the books (less so the show, because it diverged so much in the second season), though I wish Martin would quit introducing new characters willy-nilly and focus on completing the damn story arc.

[An4ximandros]

 Did the bat hurt 'tutta? I am sorry, I could not resist.

 I frankly believe the series is all right. Nothing magical (the show and books.) But it entertains.

 Now, if someone were to make a series inspired by The Anarchy...

[General Battuta]

We've had loads of past discussions full of elaboration, though if BW wasn't there I suppose I don't blame him for the response, I'm just surprised that was the conclusion he leapt to. It speaks to a contempt I didn't know was there.

[22:13] <Aesaar> also, to this day I have no idea if battuta likes ASOIAF or not

[General Battuta]

[An4ximandros]

Image was borked

[Black Wolf]

I've got no doubt about your talent, Battuta, or in sight or whatever you want to call it. But when people jump into conversations about a popular piece of pop culture (be it books, movies, bands, games, whatever) just to call them crap with no other context, it's only ever done to draw attention to the fact that the commenter has some kind of dissenting, non-"mainstream" (and therefore, superior) opinions. Generally, it leads to people leaping to the defence of their book/movie/band/whatever and a dull conversation that only makes one person happy.

It's the same kind of hipsteriffic, attention-seeking "I liked them before they were cool but now they've sold out" attitude that deserves to be pointed out and deflated, online or off.

[General Battuta]

This is an ongoing conversation that's spanned some time and involved a great deal of substance and nuance. I'm not jumping in here.  I don't know how much of that conversation has occurred in places you've read, but at least part of it has been in the past GoT threads right here on HLP.

[StarSlayer]

We've had loads of past discussions full of elaboration, though if BW wasn't there I suppose I don't blame him for the response, I'm just surprised that was the conclusion he leapt to. It speaks to a contempt I didn't know was there.

To be fair, when you say 'dumb books' you show a level of contempt for them, which in turn makes folks who enjoy the books feel like you hold them in contempt as well.  Ergo you get a harsh response.

It makes you seem like your on a high hoity tonight literary mountain and we're all slumming it with our serf literature. 

I don't take personal offense or anything but there you go.

[General Battuta]

To be clear, is the assertion here that I'm an attention-seeking hipster trying to start an argument? That's pretty harsh.

I don't want to start a slapfight, so I'm debating whether to try to put together a more in-depth response about the nature of criticism and the way its expressed. Do I need to open any posts in a Game of Thrones thread about a twitter hashtag with a few pasted paragraphs about my opinions of the books and show? Would that provide the necessary context? Would it defuse the concern that I'm making posts for, uh, attention on a small internet forum?

This has really rapidly become a discussion about me which is a little uncomfortable.

[General Battuta]

Maybe we can give it another spin:

These books by George R R Martin are on the whole mediocre, due to the author's failings as a structural and prose writer, his Robert Jordanesque inability to track or manage his own threads, and his slightly puerile fixations; but they offer admirable lessons in both consequentiality in character agency and tangibility in setting design, as particularly exemplified by The Red Wedding, which we just saw on TV. My favorite parts of Game of Thrones, in spite of my own inability to really enjoy or respect the books, are the reactions of readers forced to confront events that do not mesh with their expectations of a genre narrative. (I can't fit this in a tweet tho, hope that's okay)

e: fixed mismatched pluralization

e: ANOTHER ONE

e: FUUUUCK

[Beskargam]

due to the author's failing as a structural and prose writer, his Robert Jordanesque inability to track or manage his own threads, and his slightly puerile fixations; b

What do these mean

[General Battuta]

It doesn't matter we should be talking about the hilarity of the Red Wedding aftermath

https://twitter.com/RedWeddingTears

e: ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha someone finally nailed it

[NGTM-1R]

hipsteriffic, attention-seeking

Who are you and where have you been for pretty much everything Battuta has ever done on these boards?