Armstrong 1st MRB

China has been conspicuously silent during those whole affair with Ukraine I have noticed, but then my guess is that its because they don't really have a stake in what goes on with it, whatever the outcome it won't overly effect them. The U.N. in general has been silent, but then there is no point in bringing the matter up because Russia has a veto.I don't know what to believe about what is going on in Ukraine anymore, I think Putin is pulling a fast one by having his ambassadors say one thing while he does another. But then again, I still think that the U.S. hasn't ever really left its cold war mode. They'll guide public opinion for whatever will fulfill their objectives, just like any other government, and are not truly accountable to tell the public the full story. I don't know, I find international politics childish now for the most part. I couldn't watch CNN or the major news outlets for most of the summer of 2012 without laughing at how ridiculous the back and forth play between Iran and North Korean fears of nukes was.

Doran Martell is mentioned a bit in both book 2 and book 3 before he appears in book 4. It's possible that they will establish his full role, but at the same time I expect him to have a scene or two preceding/after the death of The Red Viper. Probably going to explain Dorne's placement/allegiances (although I think they'll refrain from having him be loyal to Daenerys just yet) and the imprisonment of the Sand Vipers now. There's still a lot of book 3 to cover with the Purple Wedding, Arya traveling to Braavos, Jaime's character development, and Tyrion's imprisonment. Not to mention the resolution of a few things at the Wall and dealing with the happenings in the Eyrie. I'm just unsure since they didn't really bother to show off Stannis or Mance during the first season even though they are mentioned at several points. If they do Doran I'll wager it'll probably just be the Water Garden Scenes and maybe his travel to Sunspear with Hotah. I agree that they still have a lot to cover of book 3, but its just leaving me curious as to where they'll stop with each character.

I was just liken it to Germanys pre WW territory expansions (all of which were age old disputes, like parts of Poland & Czech Republic) True, but Germany hadn't let those territories sit for 70 years, it had only been lees than half that time. Claims on land mean nothing if they are not actively pressed, that's how international politics have worked since the Middle Ages. That, and with a regime change such as the one from the U.S.S.R to Russia currently, which was based partially on the fact that they could no longer control their proclaimed territorial possessions while waging war effectively makes me doubt that they would go after those four islands unless they're insanely important warm-water ports which I doubt. Who'd have thought a crazy Russian would flout international law? Stranger things have happened True, but at least Hitler was quite confident that nobody was going to be able to stop him before he invaded Poland. If Putin invades Japan, the international community isn't going to be silent if they're making such a fuss over Ukraine.

Season 4 is the second half of book 3, so you really wouldn't see any characters drop out regardless. Next season when they break into book 4 then you'll see them meld in book 5 with it. Really? I haven't watched many of the trailers, I don't really want to watch any of it until I've seen Season 3, but one of my friends told me that Doran Martell is cast. He doesn't make a physical appearance until scenes in Book 4, and there isn't really much reason to show him off if they're only doing the second half of book 3, which made me wonder if they were going to go and take a few steps into book 4 with a couple of the characters.

Very good selection of pixelated deaths there, I think there will be at least four more, maybe five or even six to add to that list by the time season 4 is finished. I also think this will be the season most apparent where they stray from book continuity for the purposes of making a watchable TV show. Mainstream audiences who haven't read the books (cannot see why anybody watching this far in wouldn't have at least started) wouldn't really appreciate half the characters suddenly dropping from sight for a while.

I was just liken it to Germanys pre WW territory expansions (all of which were age old disputes, like parts of Poland & Czech Republic) True, but Germany hadn't let those territories sit for 70 years, it had only been lees than half that time. Claims on land mean nothing if they are not actively pressed, that's how international politics have worked since the Middle Ages. That, and with a regime change such as the one from the U.S.S.R to Russia currently, which was based partially on the fact that they could no longer control their proclaimed territorial possessions while waging war effectively makes me doubt that they would go after those four islands unless they're insanely important warm-water ports which I doubt.

So Russia would nuke Japan over four islands? I don't think that's a likely scenario given that they never fired one once during the numerous scares of the Cold War.

I thought the first was one was a very good classic mix of live action and animation and its a shame I don't have a copy of the original. As for a sequel...I think Warner Bros is just grasping at straws for anything that may make them money at this point.

Well, it may be true that some of the protesters are Nazis - doesn't change the fact that the Ukrainian president has become the dictator of a police state. I'm not one to underestimate stupidity when it comes to political views, but I'm surprised so many condemn the protesters. Where is this pro-Russia, pro-dictator, anti-west stuff coming from? I believe they're just trying to find an excuse for it other than themselves that will be easy to believe for those who don't have direct access to information. Its much easier to blame the U.S.A. or "The West" is behind some devious anti-government plot right on Russia's border (despite the fact that the cold war has been over and done for decades) because you don't really need to prove it, its almost a type of reverse onus or even Catch 22. As in, if the U.S. makes no comment, they look guilty, but if they do make a comment, then they drag themselves into this and look bad automatically to those who don't want to see Americans anywhere near this. But no, its too easy to say that the Ukrainian people are fed up with the current President's decisions to get closer to Russia and attempts to write a bunch of anti-protest laws. Also, I've been finding that it is a recent trend that I've noticed (at least on Yahoo) that in any sort of event like this, whoever the "rebel" side is, always draws the short straw in terms of support. Everyone calls protestors or rebels "Terrorists", "Extremists", or some sort of political standing that people have been brainwashed into thinking is inherently evil for some reason (ie. Socialist, Communist, etc.). No doubt there are some such people who want to see their own agendas pushed through in every revolution or civil war, but that doesn't mean that people can make carpet bombing statements about them like some people do.

Looks like we hang onto our title from last Olympics again. Very intense game though, best of the best squaring off and couldn't ask for a better match.

The picture is probably even more out of date since that tent city on the right side is probably nothing but ash by now, still its quite striking.

I've been debating this on Yahoo for the last few days now and almost everyone on there seems to be of an opinion that these protestors are no good, are a radical minority, are Fascists, are being fueled by western spies, or are just a bunch of kids who have no idea what is best for Ukraine. I have a friend in Finland who has a friend in Crimean Ukraine whom he talks to regularly and from what he heard, the Ukrainian Government is calling their own people Fascists and were sending in Police to charge into Independence Square to break up peaceful protests of people standing in human chains singing the national anthem through lead bullets. Everyone on Yahoo has criticized me and what I heard as stupid or that I'm supporting the same people who supported Hitler and the Nazis and I hate it. I'm not willing to believe that the Ukrainian people forgot so soon how things were under the USSR and being starved to death that everyone would suddenly jump at the chance to getting closer with the Russians again though. Either way, glad to see a decent timeline of things though.

I never played any of the old Thief games so I cannot really compare, but it looked like a decent game on its own to me.

Anyone getting excited for the new Thief game about to be released? A lot of hardcore fans of the originals I heard haven't been totally impressed and think it'll just be a different version of Dishonored, but I trust Arkane to deliver. I think it'll be cool considering the replay-ability in the adjustment of the difficulty to things like death on sight, death in one hit, loud footsteps, no checkpoints(I think that is an option), etc. Last I heard nobody on their crew had actually been able to beat the entire game with all difficulty settings on, but who knows now. In any case, its one of the few games that has got me pumped this year.

Marvel has so far impressed with its films and this one could be pretty damn funny. As for DC, IMO the only thing they have done well is Batman and the way they did it only worked for Batman and his universe so far.

Prepare to cry. My girlfriend actually sobbed for about 30 mins haha That'll be tough, since I've already read it in the books and it was pretty intense in that, but we'll see.

I'm pretty sure if Fenrir was going to swallow the Moon (He isn't supposed to kill Odin in the versions I've been told, unlike this site) and begin the last divine war where the dead and living collide there would be more signs foreboding its arrival all over the world. I love Norse Mythology and want to learn more about it to maybe become a proper Polytheist, but come on. Over a thousand doomsday dates have come and gone in the last century alone, all with possibly less reasons to be afraid than our ancestors in the past(The Black Plague and the century's events around it actually fit closely with The Book of Revelation's prophecy), and none have come true. Hope they have a good festival, keep your eyes on the Moon that night to make sure it doesn't go anywhere, but I wouldn't place too much faith in it.

Just bought a hard copy of Season 3 today, time to see what the Red Wedding is all about in the TV series...

This is definitely true but I think all Churches back then did the exact same thing. They did not want anyone free thinking on their own! Lets post what you think we would have had if this scientific interruption did not happen. I am going to say....Transporter pods. They would be in train stations, subway stations and airports. You just step into the pod and you would be at your destination in a few seconds. World hunger would be eliminated due to the fact that all the restaurants all over the world could transport unneeded and extra food, immediately to the needy all over the world. It depends on the religion, and whether or not they care about centralizing their control over the minds and morals of the public like the Catholic Church did, or how most Islam sects held the Qu'ran and its divine knowledge over the human knowledge gained through science. I personally wonder what would have happened if we had more Polytheistic "Pagan" Religions over the major Monotheistic religions of today. As for scientific advancements without the stagnation...its hard to guess, but I think we may have new sources of energy, a greater understanding of how we can effect and control the climate, and perhaps even better rockets for space travel. Maybe even a better source for dealing with infections, since most of our antibiotics are going to become useless in about a decade or so since we've misused them due to our insufficient knowledge.

We had this same lecture when I started World Archaeology this term, we were talking about Pseudoscience and the differences between Creationists and Scientists. Both are not strictly incompatible, you can be a religious person and still be a scientist, its just a question of where they draw information from. Scientists can test their theories and draw empirical lines of evidence, Religion relies on personal feelings and experiences and for the most part cannot be backed by empirical evidence. This doesn't mean we should automatically uphold science over religion, I myself am taking a course on Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft (Anthropology course) and there are plenty of cases where science alone cannot explain everything. The trick is to find the right balance, and draw your own conclusions based on what you see without being completely blind to new developments. The most zealous Theist can be just as blind as the most ardent Athiest IMO.

Lets be honest here, Russia is the most corrupt democracy in the world in terms of major powers. It wouldn't surprise me if a good portion of that money they spent (supposedly the most spent on the games yet) didn't actually make it to Sochi itself.

Those movements for scaling walls and air assassinations do seem to be exactly like those of Assassin's Creed, and Wraith mode seems to share a couple elements with Eagle Vision but reminds me much more of Corvo's abilities in Dishonored. If they did copy or steal Ubisoft's codes without credit to them, then they should probably give them credit, but otherwise this looks like a pretty cool game. I may buy it since I'm a big fan of LOTR, but Thief and Watch Dogs will be coming first for me.

I'm curious as to how far into Book 4 they go here in Season 4, because there are still several events of note that have to occur from book 3, but since they are not dropping any of the characters from the audience's sight several will probably be beginning their scenes from books 4 and maybe even 5 in some cases. As for speculating things, I've read all of the books and have a few theories, though I won't put them here without spoiler tags.

Got Assassin's Creed Black Flag since I was enthused enough to get it when it came out I decided to get it for Christmas, several movies, some money, and two chests for storing my various things in. No books though since I already have a stack sitting on my desk.

Yeah, unfortunately many of the characters in the series don't match the basic visual we got from them in the book. Theon for example is supposed to have black hair and have a somewhat dark shade to his skin since he is a Greyjoy. Instead his hair has this colour to it that would resemble a Stark. It's not THAT big of a deal but all they had to do was simply dye his hair black for the series. Same with Asha (Yara). Benioff and Weiss aren't the book purists, i guess. Yeah, they've changed a fair amount from the books (or at least I think they have since I can pick out most of the changes having read the books fairly meticulously), but to their credit it is the best book-to-film transition I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few. Therefore I'll always tip my hat off to HBO for its amazing work on bringing the modern American Tolkien's work to life.