Wednesday, July 27, 2011

FIGcast - Episode 27 - "Limp Boom Mic: Comic-Con Special Part 1"

Warning: the limpness of the boom mics increases as the podcast goes on.


FIGcast - Episode 27 - "Limp Boom Mic: Comic-Con Special Part 1"


Shownotes:

P.S. - If you're looking for actual comics news from Comic-Con, come back next week.  We had planned to include that in this episode, but we were already running long, and there's just so much happening at the Con these days.  Keith will be back with us next week to talk all the Marvel, DC, and everyone else news.

Don't forget, you can email us at FullyIntegratedGeeks@gmail.com, you can follow us on Twitter with @theFIGcast, or you can look for us on Facebook or the iTunes Store.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Game of Thrones News: Liam Cunningham is Davos Seaworth

Casting announcements for Season 2 of Game of Thrones are finally here!  These are the actual people HBO has hired to play the parts, not to be confused with the speculation posts I've been doing up to now.  I'll start each post with the character description (which may be recycled from a speculation post), and then we'll examine the actor who's been announced.  Let's take a look at some of the new players we'll meet in 2012:

--------


Davos Seaworth
Art by Amok
Davos was a successful smuggler who came to the aid of Stannis Baratheon during Robert's Rebellion. Stannis was under siege at Storm's End for the duration of the war, and just as the castle ran out of food Davos beat the blockade with a shipload of onions and salted fish. Stannis knighted Davos for his service, but had the tips of his fingers cut off for smuggling.  Davos has been in Stannis' service ever since, and is commonly known as the Onion Knight. He is easily Stannis' most loyal retainer.



















Liam Cunningham
Liam is from Dublin, but was actually an electrician in Zimbabwe for a few years before moving back to Ireland, getting bored with his job, and giving acting a try.  In the mid-90s he was in A Little Princess and First Knight.  More recently he played Mad Dog Maguire in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Brick in Centurion, and Solon in Clash of the Titans.  This year he played Richard Tate in the BBC's Outcasts and Colfur in Starz's Camelot.  He's also won two "Irish Oscars" for his work in Hunger and The Wind That Shakes The Barley.  This guy has a great look, and he seems to be really well respected in the Irish acting community.  I'm totally on board, even though his name isn't Robert Carlyle.














--------

Season 2 Cast Additions:

Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell


Gwendoline Christie as Brienne Tarth


Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon


Carice van Houten as Melisandre


Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Game of Thrones News: Carice van Houten is Melisandre

Casting announcements for Season 2 of Game of Thrones are finally here!  These are the actual people HBO has hired to play the parts, not to be confused with the speculation posts I've been doing up to now.  I'll start each post with the character description (which may be recycled from a speculation post), and then we'll examine the actor who's been announced.  Let's take a look at some of the new players we'll meet in 2012:

--------


Melisandre
Art by Amok
Mel is a Red Priestess of R'hllor from Asshai, a land in the far, far, far east of the GoT world.  She claims to receive prophetic visions from her fire god, and travels to Westeros to serve King Stannis Baratheon, who she has seen in her visions.  Mel is the second of the major new characters for S2, and will quickly become one of King Stannis' most trusted advisors.  She is described as "beautiful, with a slender figure, full breasts, and a heart-shaped face. He hair is burnished copper, her eyes are fed, and her skin is pale. She always wears red." - (from Tower of the Hand)






















Carice van Houten
Well, we didn't get Christina Hendricks, but she's got a pretty good thing going with Mad Men.  I haven't seen Carice act yet, but this casting has moved Black Death up to the top of my viewing queue.  Carice is Dutch, and has won four "Dutch Oscars".  She came to the attention of American viewers as the lead in Black Book.  That led to a role in Valkyrie with Tom Cruise, and Repo Men with Jude Law and Forest Whitaker.  She also has the horror film Intruders coming out this October.  She's the right age, and I think she has the right look.  I like that she's not British, and I hope they let her use her native accent to lend a sense of "other" to her performance. As far as I'm concerned, HBO has done well for themselves yet again.







--------

Season 2 Cast Additions:

Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell


Gwendoline Christie as Brienne Tarth


Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon


Carice van Houten as Melisandre

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

FIGcast - Episode 26 - "Hobbits Versus Transformers"

I'd pick the Hobbits in that battle.  No question.  Also, we were a bit off our game after missing a week.  We apologize.


FIGcast - Episode 26 - "Hobbits Versus Transformers"


Shownotes:


Don't forget, you can email us at FullyIntegratedGeeks@gmail.com, you can follow us on Twitter with @theFIGcast, or you can look for us on Facebook or the iTunes Store.

Game of Thrones News: Stephen Dillane is Stannis Baratheon

Casting announcements for Season 2 of Game of Thrones are finally here!  These are the actual people HBO has hired to play the parts, not to be confused with the speculation posts I've been doing up to now.  I'll start each post with the character description (which may be recycled from a speculation post), and then we'll examine the actor who's been announced.  Let's take a look at some of the new players we'll meet in 2012:

--------


Stannis Baratheon
Art by Amok
Stannis is the second of three Baratheon brothers, younger than Robert and older than Renly. For those that believe Robert & Cersei's "children" are illegitimate, Stannis has the best claim to the throne following Robert's death.  Stannis has been the Lord of Dragonstone since the Rebellion, and has served for many years as the Master of Ships for the realm.  He will probably show up in the opening scene of Season 2, as he is the biggest new player in the game of thrones.  He is described as "broad-shouldered and sinewy with leathery skin and a pinched, narrow face. He has only a fringe of black hair remaining around his head and a close-copped beard covering a square jaw. He has dark blue eyes." - (from Tower of the Hand)













Stephen Dillane
OK, Stannis' face will never, ever wear this expression. Other than that, doesn't this guy look pretty much perfect? Dillane is actually a few years older than Mark Addy, but that's not a huge deal, the character has always seemed like the kind of guy who's been 75 on the inside since the day he was born.  If you don't recognize him, go get HBO's John Adams. He played Thomas Jefferson, he was awesome, and he was nominated for an Emmy.  He was Horatio in the Mel Gibson Hamlet.  He played Merlin in the Clive Owen version of King Arthur.  He also won a Tony Award for his work in The Real Thing.  It would have been awesome to get someone like Christopher Eccleston or Mark Strong to play Stannis, but that was never going to happen.  I'm very, very excited about this casting, and if he can be half as good as he was the last time he worked for HBO, we're in for a real treat.










Bonus Pic
The Baratheon Brothers









--------

Season 2 Cast Additions:

Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell


Gwendoline Christie as Brienne Tarth


Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon

Friday, July 8, 2011

Game of Thrones News: Gwendoline Christie is Brienne Tarth

Casting announcements for Season 2 of Game of Thrones are finally here!  These are the actual people HBO has hired to play the parts, not to be confused with the speculation posts I've been doing up to now.  I'll start each post with the character description (which may be recycled from a speculation post), and then we'll examine the actor who's been announced.  Let's take a look at some of the new players we'll meet in 2012:

--------


Brienne Tarth
Art by Amok
Brienne is the daughter (and only surviving child) of Selwyn Tarth, the Lord of Evenfall, an island off the coast of the Stormlands.  She is a female warrior, a rare thing in Westeros, especially outside the North, and pledges her sword to the cause of the newly crowned King Renly Baratheon at the very beginning of the second book.  She is as tall or taller than most men, and is considered quite unattractive.  She is described as having "large, blue eyes, straw-colored hair, broad, coarse features, and a flat face. Her teeth are prominent and crooked, her mouth is too wide, her lips are swollen, her nose is battered and has been broken more than once, and her face is covered in freckles. She is tall and ungainly, thick for a woman." (from Tower of the Hand)

















Gwendoline Christie
The guys at WiC were dead-on with this one, good for them, I was way too scared to even try to pick a Brienne. It's tricky because I don't know a ton of British actresses who are close to or taller than six feet, and the ones I do know about look like super models, often because that's how they got their start.  Brienne can't be played by a super-model. 

I like this choice. Gwen isn't ugly, but I can see how they can give her a bad haircut, some false teeth, and a nose prosthetic, and she's Brienne.  It doesn't hurt that GRRM said she basically had the part the minute she walked in the room. His enthusiasm always gives me confidence.  From looking at IMDB, the only way you've ever seen Gwen is in a small scene in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, or if you frequent British playhouses.  I'm sure some of our British brethren will dig up some new photos of her and get them on the web in the next nine months, but for now the pickings are slim. Oh, did I mention she's 6'3"? :)





--------

Season 2 Cast Additions:

Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell


Gwendoline Christie as Brienne Tarth

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

FIGcast - Episode 25 - "Purple Monkey Dishwasher"

The title is a Simpsons reference.

FIGcast - Episode 25 - "Purple Monkey Dishwasher"


Shownotes:


Don't forget, you can email us at FullyIntegratedGeeks@gmail.com, you can follow us on Twitter with @theFIGcast, or you can look for us on Facebook or the iTunes Store.