So Fetch Friday: Blogathon Season

Well, things are looking up a little bit for me now. My last class has finally ended, which means more time for writing, blogging, and stop motion. The timing is perfect, since as it happens we seem to be getting a lot of blogathons right now (as I'll get into later) so now I'll actually be able to take part in some of them. That reminds me, I'm not sure if anyone has actually been watching these but I did manage to make a new stop motion short. For this one, I decided to try not to rigidly stick to the silent movie format that I'd been using before. There are no title cards (outside of credits) and instead I've tried to tell the story entirely through visuals.

Outside of that, I don't have very many new updates to share. I haven't had much time for watching a lot of films this week, though I do hope to start watching some more now that I'm done with this class. Normaly I'd have a few things in here, but right now I don't have a lot of material so perhaps I'll just skip ahead to the usual fandom updates.

I finished season 3 of The Killing, and it got depressing. First, they killed off Bullet. The character who I said I was really getting invested in last week got killed off shortly after I made my last So Fetch Friday Post. I liked her and I was really getting interested in what she was up to. We are starting a new plot thread for season 4, though it still connects somewhat with the events of Season 3 which is nice (as opposed to completely leaving it behind like season 3 did to the first two seasons).

The season finale of Game of Thrones proved to be really intense. There were some rather shocking moments and a lot abrupt loose threads that leave me wanting to know what happens next. Jame and Bron were all ready to go, until it turned out that Ellara has apparently poisoned the daughter they'd set out to rescue. It seems she was not ready to take no for an answer and is determined to provoke Westeros into war. Considering that the woman she murdered was Cersei's daughter I'd say there is a pretty good chance that she succeeded.

Meanwhile, Stannis doesn't seem to be very good at military conquest, is he? First he gets horribly owned by Tyrion at King's Landing, now he loses basically everything else. Half his army has deserted, his wife committed suicide out of guilt for their... questionable actions in the previous episode, and now they're going up against an army of men on horses at Winterfell. Stannis never stood a chance. He should have fallen back to the wall and regrouped, but he was too stubborn to accept that. It seems the only people left of Stannis's party are Davos (who was sent to Castle Black in the previous episode) and Melisandre (who left shortly before the battle happened). Of those two, Melisandre is the only survivor who knows what really happened. I guess the big question is what happens now that Stannis is dead. Is Davos going to join the Night's Watch since he can no longer serve "the one true king" or is he going to have to find himself a new leader?

Meanwhile, Brienne has managed to reclaim some honor by being the one to kill Stannis. She has managed to remain loyal to Renly Baratheon (the first person she tried to pledge her loyalty to) by avenging his murder at the hands of Stannis. At least Brienne has found some honor, which has proven difficult since she has a streak of swearing loyalty to people only for them to keep getting murdered. Unfortunately, doing this also meant that Brienne had to turn her back on Sansa just when she was finally in a position to light the candle in the high tower as instructed.

Now Sansa has to rely on herself, which she has done by managing to break out of the room she has been locked in. She almost got caught by Ramsay's psycho mistress Myranda, who tried to mutilate her with a bow and arrow, but fortunately Theon has finally been pushed to his breaking point and can't take it anymore. He managed to hurl Myranda over a ledge and send her plummeting to her death just as the Bolton soldiers were returning. They were last seen jumping over one of Winterfell's walls. This part did seem a little odd. Was Theon trying to commit suicide or does he have some plan in mind for getting down safely? I don't know, but if Theon does manage to survive I have a feeling that all the torture that was inflicted on him is going to come back to bite Ramsay. I don't know how it will happen just yet, but it will.

Finally, I've saved the most shocking development for last (also fitting since this is where the episode ended). This of course happened on the wall, where John Snow has brought the Wildlings inside. It was already established that there were people in the Night's Watch who objected to bringing the Wildlings through the wall, and I was expecting there to be tension, but I was not expecting... this. Jon Snow got lured outside to where he found a group of his own men gathered around a sign saying "traitor". Then, in a fashion that now realize bears a startling resemblance to the murder of Julius Ceasar, they began stabbing him one by one "for the watch," including one boy who had been loyal to Snow until now. Season 5 literally just ended by killing one of the most popular characters in the show.

I'm sorry I don't have much else right now. There really has not been a whole lot going on this week for me to draw from for this edition. It's definitely not an easy time for fandoms with most of the popular shows having finished already (though I think Doctor Who should be starting up again soon), and I haven't had as much time to think about movies or do much in the way of writing. Fortunately, now that I'm finally done with this class, I should have a bit more time for those sorts of activities.

There is one exciting development, however. I'm officially signed on to volunteer at the Female Eye Film Festival, a festival specifically centered on promoting films by female directors. I'm also looking at possibly volunteering for the Raindance Film Festival and Tiff, though those two are not completely set in stone yet.

Stuff From Other Bloggers

It seems to be Blogathon Season now. Everybody is going and starting their own blogathons. I'm sure Fritzi Kramer will be pleased to know I've already managed to get started on my entry for her Classic Film History Blogathon, but there are plenty of others going around I either have not yet gotten around to checking out, or which I still haven't decided on what to contribute. I think there's a few I'm forgetting as well:

• Bernardo Villela is hosting The Wonderful Ingrid Bergman Blogathon
• Caz is running the Childhood Films Blogathon
• Sister Celluloid is running the "Love Hurt" Blogathon