Jaye's Musings

Overall, I'm satisfied with how Game of Thrones ended. No, not necessarily happy, but satisfied. For the most part, it works for me. That doesn't mean that I liked all the choices that were made, and I certainly had my share of gripes. And FWIW, here are my thoughts.

Like many, Season 8 (and much of Season 7) was rushed. The care that had been taken with how long distance in Westeros takes in prior seasons was thrown out of the window. And with that certain character development went along with it.

( Spoilers for GoT...duh! )

As I said at the start of this TL;DR, it's not the ending I wanted (I'm not even sure what I wanted exactly) but it's an ending I'm satisfied with. There are a lot of people in fandom making noise about how bad Season 8 was (admittedly it wasn't the best) and how it was the worse series finale since "Lost". IDK about that as I never watched "Lost" but it strike me, and I'm seeing this more and more in fandom that showrunners just cannot win. If they give fans what they want, they are accused of being too fan-service-y and if they don't do what fandom wants the show is ruined!

Yes, I've listed my gripes above, but those didn't ruin it. Sure, if I was the writer I would have done some things differently, but I'm not. They are. There is such a sense of entitlement in fandom nowadays that a whole show or movie is ruined if that fandom's favourite ship is ruined or doesn't happen or if a character that's not their favourite wins. The fact that fans can interact with showrunners on social media has seemed to foster this sense that the showrunners 'owe' the fans what they want. Such as the ridiculous petition to do-over Season 8. A) this is what fanfiction is for and b) the writers told their story (and GRRM's) and it's just too bad that it wasn't yours.

FFS, once, just once, I would like to be able to do a financial transaction online without it turning into major ass pain.

First off, half the (US) companies I attempt to buy something from don't recognize APO address or don't ship to box numbers...which, of course, is what all APO addresses are. There are companies that offer to receive your purchase and send it on through the Military Postal Service...for a fee, of course. So, essentially, you end up paying twice for shipping and handling.

But the real ass pain is, the actual financial transaction. I can go to a shop here and, assuming they accept credit cards, use mine to make a purchase...no problem. I did this recently in France with both my debit card (from the base community bank) and my credit card. But if I dare try to use it online to make a purchase...no, no, NO!

I've just been trying to buy something through my cards using Paypal. I tried my credit card (which the issuing company STILL hasn't updated my new address)...so no go as the address doesn't match. And when I use my old address, it doesn't work because I'm not in California. So then I try my local debit card. Should work, right? The address matches...right? No. APOs are a US address...but the phone number is not a US phone number! It doesn't fit the US format and they don't recognize it.

I'll sort it out eventually...but that's not the point. Companies, especially US companies (I rarely have this problem with British or German purchases, for example) need to recognize that APO are valid addresses and that, amazingly, we are not going to have phone numbers or state abbreviations that neatly fit their forms.

So for the good. I went and had a good work out this morning. 35 minute walk with a little bit of running mixed in (Go me!) and then weights. After coming back home for shower, I then went and saw Star Trek for a second time, by myself. It was the earliest showing, nice and quiet I thought to myself. There were maybe twenty people there, so why did one couple choose to sit right behind me, when their entire row was free? Not just that, but god knows what they were doing with their popcorn supersize bucket, bowling with it from the sound of it. Then there was the couple with their elderly parent(?) who settled in a couple of rows in front...fine. But then not more than ten minutes into the movie, they decide to move back two rows to mine and just a few seats down, and then the old biddy was asking for a running commentary throughout. It wasn't as if their original row was worse than mine, probably better. Well, at least no one's phone went off, so I should be thankful for small mercies.

And anyway, the main thing was that I enjoyed ST as much this time as I did the first time. Probably the best big screen movie I've seen since '300'. And I'm not even much of a Trekkie/Trekker.

So, I get home, and the TV doesn't work. WTF? It comes on for about 3 seconds and switches off again as if it's on the sleep timer...but it's not, and I can't disable that either. Oh well, telly is about 10 years old, and the picture quality has been getting noticeably worse, so I guess it's time for a new one. Great. At least it might give me a chance to catch up on my DVD watching.

And anyone getting notifs? I haven't had any since last night...so just wondering.