Waiting for Winds of Winter or Waiting for Godot #YouPrefer
A thread 🧵about GRR Martin's yet-to-be-completed A Song of Ice and Fire
A Game of Thrones - the first book in GRR Martin’s epic saga A song of Ice and Fire - came out in August 1996.
@GRRMspeaking originally planned this as a trilogy, but the scope of the work forced him to expand it to a 7 book series. The last two books are yet to be published.
The series was a reaction to Tolkien inspired fantasy tropes.
Martin wanted to ask “was Aragorn a good king? What were his tax laws like? Does a good warrior make a good king?”
Here is the original letter that GRRM wrote to the publisher outlining the series
PC- @Waterstones
While the books and the hit HBO show have a ridiculous following. The series is particularly (in)famous for fan theories. Some of the fan theories are, well, ummm, I.N.S.A.N.E
Exhibit 1) All the Brandon Stark’s or as the redditor observant_hobo calls it “All-Bran Serial” theory.
This is based on one of the several stories that Old Nan tells Brandon Stark: reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comme…
Exhibit 2) Jojen Paste Theory: This is about Jojen Reed who unfortunately occupies a minor place in the shows, but is fairly important in the books. This theory involves blood sacrifice, a paste that Brandon Stark consumes and more!
Exhibit 3) Lord Varys is a mermaid. Yes you read that right. We cannot even explain this so please read wikiofthrones.com/6568/game-of-t…
Exhibit 4) The Bolt-On Theory ie. Roose Bolton is an immortal skin shifting vampire! The crux of the theory is that the Boltons are vampire Lords and that there has only been one Bolton patriarch.
One of the primary reasons cited is the frequent leeching that Roose Bolton undergoes in the books to remove bad blood. #ok But if this floats your boat this reddit thread indulges in paralysis by analysis! reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comme…
For many such fan theories and some amazing discussions head over to reddit.com/r/pureasoiaf where ONLY the books are discussed and reddit.com/r/asoiaf where the books, the show, and everything in between are discussed.
While a lot of ink/youtube snark has been directed towards GRRM for not finishing A song of Ice and Fire.
We would like to point you to @neilhimself’s immortal words “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.”
Finally, the entire series has spawned an industry of nerd-related collectibles & spin-offs: coins, limited edition books, maps, signed original art, art prints, video games, board games, calendar, cookbooks etc all set in the world of ASOIAF.
Warning: DON'T CHECK THE PRICES
Here is a peek into the @SubPress signed limited edition (limited to 500 copies) of A Game of Thrones that we are EXCITED to own.
You can say, we put this 🧵only to show these off.
Some of the content in these were based on discussions with Satyajit Chetri. Do read his blogpost on his favourite unfinished book series.
Now that North India has finally woken up to the genius of Ilaiyaraaja, we have a special thread to celebrate the achievements of Ilaiyaraaja (born Gnanathesikan).
This thread was compiled by his superfan who wants to be known only as Reddy.
Reddy, who lives in Chennai once visited Bangalore for a day to watch Ilaiyaraaja live in concert only to get back to Chennai and watch him perform live yet again.
Raaja began his musical journey at the age of 14 by playing music for communist songs in his brother Pavalar Varadharajan’s troupe called "Pavalar brothers".
Here is the story of how the 1982 Asian Games started a temple ritual that continues to this day.
A thread 🧵
Little bit of context - Thrissur is considered the cultural capital of Kerala and has hosted the Thrissur Pooram - at the Vadakkunathan Temple every year when the moon rises with the Pooram star in the Malayalam Calendar month of Medam.
In other words, around May every year.
The pooram event sees a good collection of elephants (more than 50) decorated with nettipattam (decorative golden headdress), strikingly crafted Kolam, decorative bells, and ornaments.
What is a raga?
Did Kumara Gandharva really want Raghuram Rajan to come back?
Hindustani ragas in film music?
On this fine Monday morning, we have a thread 🧵about Hindustani Classical Music.
We will look at a little history, some music based on it, Indian and international, some anecdotes all thanks to the inimitable @shenoyn
Right. Off we go
PC- sacred arts research
Indian Classical Music was written down circa 200 BC to 400 AD, but it is probably much older.
Bharata wrote “Natya Shastra” which covered dance and music, but the detailed text for Indian classical music is the Dattilam, written by Bharata’s disciple, Dattila.
We want to share fascinating stories about Alam Ara, the first Indian "talkie" movie.
How were the actors chosen?
How did the director get inspired to make a movie with sound?
How did Jinnah play a part in this movie?
What is the movie's Jewish connection?
A Thread🧵
It all began some time in 1929 when Ardeshir Irani, the director of Alam Ara watched a Hollywood movie - Show Boat.
Ardeshir Irani was no stranger to movies at that time. However all the movies he made had been silent.
Movies with sound were a different beast altogether. Irani had no access to a soundproof stage and lacked the technical know-how on how to make a talkie.
So, in this thread we will explore how politicians in @UKParliament have found creative ways to communicate unparliamentary ideas! 🧵
Although the list of unparliamentary words is long and sometimes not too clear. Calling another member of the parliament as *a liar* has been frowned upon in the @UKParliamant since forever!!
Winston churchill “introduced” the term "terminological inexactitude” instead.
Accusing fellow members as crooks is considered unparliamentary.
In a heated debate, the Labour MP Dennis Skinner who was an MP for 49 years once said “half of the Tories opposite are crooks”.
Asked to withdraw, Skinner said: “Okay, half the Tories opposite aren’t crooks.”