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Untimed – The Second Cover

Jul12

Just finished up a new “working cover” for my second novel, Untimed. Thanks a million to my friend and long time business partner Jason Rubin for concocting the excellent logo. He is a true Photoshop wizard.

If any of you have thoughts on the cover (the book’s a YA time travel adventure), post them in the comments.

Now back to working on the second draft.

I will use powers of superhuman concentration to ignore the fact that I have A Dance with Dragons sitting on my iPad — more or less unstarted.

I will.

Not reading during working hours!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Untimed

Tagged as: Andy Gavin, Covers, Creative Writing, Fiction, Jason Rubin, Novel, Time travel, Untimed

Eating Florence – Nove IX

Jul12

Restaurant: Nove IX

Location: Florence, Italy

Date: June 17, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Tuscan

Rating: Tasty!

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Our Florentine friend brought us to this attractive new place on the banks of the Arno river as the sun was making it’s way into that great tunnel in the west.

It’s actually about three blocks to the left of this, past the Ponte Vecchio. Nove IX is more typical of a city like Florence than most of the Tuscan restaurants we have been eating at in that it’s a bit more modernized, trendy. Still, the cuisine is solidly rooted in the local countryside.

The menu.

The have their own olive oil.

This 90 point Chianti Rufina is readily available in the Florence area. “The 2007 Chianti Rufina Riserva shows the open, opulent personality that makes this vintage so alluring. Ripe, silky tannins frame a core of red fruits, flowers and spices, all of which come together with unsual grace. Though medium in body, there is wonderful generosity to the fruit, not to mention fabulous overall balance. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2015.”

This is a tartar of beef with parmesan.

And on a more modern note, a tartar of tuna with avocado and tomato.

And one of white fish (perhaps even yellowtail) with citrus and a light frise-type salad. Certainly showing those Matsuhisa type influences.

The Nove IX take on the mixed salad.

Risotto with spigola (sea bass), lemon, and Florentine zucchine.

Spaghettini with pesto of zucchini flowers.

Paccheri (wide pasta) with tomatos, mozzarella and fried eggplant.

Shellfish ravioli in creme of zucchine sauce.

Trofie alla genovese. Traditional twisted little pasta with pesto (basil, olive oil, garlic, parmesan, and pine-nuts) as well as a bit of sliced potato and green beans. This was the best pesto I had until we got to Liguria (where pesto comes from).

Chopped chicken with green beans and balsamic sauce. Not so far off from a chinese dish!

Nothing at all wrong with Nove IX. The food was great, and it was a welcome change to see a little bit more updated menu without compromising at all on quality.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Arno, Chianti, eating-italy, Florence, Italian cuisine, Italy, Olive oil, pasta, Ponte Vecchio, Tomato, Toscana, Tuscany, Wine

Kushiel’s Dart

Jul11

Title: Kushiel’s Dart

Author: Jacqueline Carey

Genre: Epic Historical Fantasy

Length: 912 pages, 315,000 words!

Read: June, 2011

Summary: Long, overdone, but intriguing

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This book itself as Fantasy, but it’s certainly not your typical one. Really it’s a sort of reinterpreted epic (and I mean long) historical romance — without much of the modern sense of romance (almost none). But it does have plenty of the traditional, more atmospheric form.

This is a flowery first person narrative about a slave girl brought up as a sort of high end courtesan who gets involved — very involved — in politics. I’m going to try and break down and discuss various elements of the work.

It’s worth noting the tremendous length. The book is 900+ pages and feels it. I enjoyed it, but it’s like four novels glued together. This lends it a decidedly Gone with the Wind effect. Just when you think it should be over (except for the fact that you have 650 pages to go!) everything switches up and it moves on to a new stage. This happens several times.

First the setting. With the exception of a bit of prophecy and one large scale pseudo divinity (the Master of Straights) at about the 85% mark this novel really has no magic. And in fact, is actually a sort of disguised work of Historical Fiction. The Fantasy is more the invented nature of the tale than any actual magic. As best as I can tell the whole thing is more or less set in a reinvented thirteenth or fourteenth century France. It felt late medeval or early Renaissance. At times I wondered if it even had overtones of Carolingian (ninth century France). The names of the places and faiths are all changed, but in a recognizable way for those of us who know our European history. Rome is “Tiberium,” Spain “Aragonia,” the Germanic tribes the “Skaldi.” Carey does a good job of this, and her grasp for the flavor and cultures of Europe between the fall of Rome and the modern era extremely solid. The central nation of the novel feels both troubadour French and even a little Late Venetian Republic at times. There are plenty of deviations from real history. First an foremost the loosey goosey religious situation (as opposed to the dogmatic Catholic church). The religions have been reinterpreted and the nation founded by what appears to be an interesting mating of Jesus and Dionysus. An intriguing (and Romantic) mythical entity who was also followed around by a bunch of demi-god disciples who seeded various schools or bloodlines. Overall, the setting was probably my favorite part of the novel.

The voice. At first I loved the voice. Yeah it’s flowery. Girly. Really girly. And full of words that the Kindle dictionary informed me were “archaic” or just chosen for plain weighty flavor. Words like “limned” or “ague.” The sentences have an unusual and formal structure. There is a LOT of reppetition. This began to wear on me. Carey reminds you like 50 times who everyone and everything is, which considering the vast cast of characters and the incredibly complex political situation might be necessary for those that don’t have a semi-photographic memory or an obsessive knowledge of European history. The narrative is first person, and told from some unspecified far future point in Phedre’s (the protagonist) life. It’s the antithesis in many ways of my own voice, as it’s really really really heavy on the TELL and fairly light on the SHOW. Carey loves to insinuate before the action (when it occasionally occurs, separated by many many pages, but often enough given the titanic length of the book) that things won’t turn out as planned, or that something bad is about to happen. Lots and lots of stuff is done with narrative summary. I myself try to set everything in scene and tell it as it happens in a more hard boiled style, more like the Maltese Falcon or the Big Sleep, even if the subject matter is very different. Carey chooses a more sentimental approach. But at the same time I found the voice very distancing. A lot of this is the feeling that it is written looking back on events, which removes a lot of the tension inherent in the action. The rest is probably the TELL factor.

I liked the whole sex-slave-girl-bondage-courtesan angle. But Phedre is a little too good at just about everything other than pure agressive bravery, and she has her constant companion the warrior-monk for that. While bad things do happen to her, she pretty much flawlessly reads every situation and is titanically lucky / unnaturally talented. I still kinda liked her. And the fact that she has a lot of edgy sex is good. The book alternates between graphic and evasive in this realm, which ends up being more teasing than satisfying. Still, I guess normal people might find it dark.

Now the overall affect of this novel is pretty good. It starts off great. But it sometimes bogs under volumes of political talk I found excessive — and I read multivolume political histories for pleasure! Some of the sub-adventures (like Phedre’s time as a Skaldi slave) are really good and there are lots of varied settings, cultures, and characters. I also really enjoyed the depth of world building and the alternate but very “realistic” religious mythos. But…

There is absolutely no psychological realism to any of the characters, our protagonist included. The central condition of Phedre’s nature is supposed to be that she finds pain and suffering intrinsically hot. Even this isn’t really handled totally consistently. The rest of the people — while interesting and possessed of different traits — merely serve the story or the need to roster out a bunch of interesting types. The don’t feel exactly cardboardy, as they are detailed, but unlike the completely brilliant Game of Thrones, there is no fundamental relationship between the different nature of different personalities, their situations, and the decisions they make and the consequences those decisions bring.

In the end, I found the way in which things just sort of grandly worked out for Phedre tedious. The big war at the end is complex, but summarized, and the wrap up phase of the story nearly 100 pages. Carey also just loves to throw in grand and sumptuousness just for it’s own sake, which at the beginning felt lush, but by the time Phedre has dressed in 62 elegant gowns a bit much.

Still, I kind of liked the book, if only for its world and its very creative reinterpretation of medeval/renaissance fantasy. At times it reminded me of Guy Gavriel Kay, but his works felt somehow a bit more connected to place and certainly more emotional.

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Books

Tagged as: Arts, Book Review, Fiction, Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Dart, Literature, Phèdre, Places in Kushiel's Legacy, reviews

Eating Florence – La Cantinetta Antinori

Jul10

Restaurant: La Cantinetta Antinori

Location: Florence, Italy

Date: June 17, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Tuscan

Rating: Slick and tasty

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On our first trip to Florence (we went thrice) we met up with an Italian friend and her family and they brought us to the Antinori wine empire’s casual enoteca, where they combine slick modernized Tuscan food with a large selection of excellent wines.

The lovely room in Palazzo Antinori.

A nice light quafable mineral laced white. We went through about half a bottle a person at lunch!

The menu. Sorry the meat courses are out of focus.

Assorted bruschetta, Tuscan standard.

Insalta Caprese. Tomato and buffalo mozzarella. Basil and olive oil.

Panzanella. Traditional Tuscan salad of soaked stale bread, tomato, basil, onions, olive oil.

The ubiquitous Insalta Misto.

Taglierini agli scampi freschi. Thin noodles with tomato, basil, garlic and you guessed it, a giant crayfish creature.

Fagioli. Tuscan fava beans and olive oil.

Sea bass, capers, sun dried tomatos, potatoes.

Pounded veal in mushroom sauce.

Filetto di manzo. Beef filet and potatoes.

Almond semifreddo with caramel. This is SO up my dessert alley. Creamy and sweet. Oh yes. Oh yes.

Expresso, to counter the copious amount of wine I consumed.

This was a nice place. Not radical, not staid. Fitting of a hot spot in Florence, it’s basically traditional Tuscan fare with 10% modernization. Given the quality of the ingredients and the base cuisine, this is more than enough for a great meal.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Antinori, Bruschetta, Chianti, Dessert, eating-italy, Florence, Food, Insalata Caprese, Italian cuisine, Italy, La Cantinetta Antinori, Olive oil, Panzanella, pasta, Pasta e fagioli, Tomato, Travel and Tourism, Tuscany, Wine

Eating Colle di Val d’Elsa – Arnolfo

Jul09

Restaurant: Arnolfo Ristorante

Location: Colle di Val d’Elsa , Italy

Date: June 16 & 23, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

Rating: Awesome, but hard to find

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Just fifteen minutes from our villa and Siena lies the city of Colle di Val d’Elsa and its two star rated Michelin restaurant, Arnolfo. So we went twice! This is an amazing restaurant in a gorgeous location atop the old city. The rub, however, is getting there. The first time the GPS insisted we drive into a masonry wall (closed road). We gave up with that, parked, and ended up walking over a mile, including taking the elevator up to the old city. The walk back wasn’t no fun either and the staff told us that to actually drive here you have to go 6km out of your way to the next town and then come back by one particular approach — but then there is no parking in the old city.

So the next time, feeling all smart, I tried to park in the “close” (only 500m) lot below the old city. But the first entrance I tried was so narrow that I almost got stuck and had to back up my 9 seater van down 200m of alley and around a 90 degree turn — only took 30 minutes and soaked through my suit in the 88 degree humid weather. Then we had to hike up the half mile.

But it was worth it.

They have a gorgeous patio which far from “being in the middle of a city” looks out on the Tuscan hillside.

Even the non-view direction is lovely.

Grissini, first of several bread courses.

The menu on June 16 (the last of the “spring menu”).

And the new “summer” menu on June 23, as we luckily straddled the change.

Compari and soda.

Stating with a little prosecco to cool off.

In the glass.

Then comes a tray of amuses. From left to right. Green pea mouse, tomato stuffed with mozzarella, apple disc with prawn, veal croquet, and gorgonzola and fig jam sandwich. These were all good, but the last was incredible.

Like most great restaurants Arnolfo caters to every restriction. This is a variant amuse plate for vegetarians.

For example this beet and goat cheese mini.

Bread course number two, tomato bread and with lardo (sliver of pig fat).

And for those not so into the pig, the one on the right is onion.

Nor are the gluten free left out. Various potato and rice triscuits!

I’ve come to like Vernaccia, which is a D.O.C. white from San Gimignano. Very light, but with more flavor than a Pinot Grigio.

“Scampi, Goose Liver Escalope, Strawberries.”

“Sea Bass, Strawberries.” A variant for the shellfish impaired.

My notes failed me a little here, but I think it’s some kind of fish (possibly a pork belly though) in a pea soup.

Heads up, bread course three!

“Red mullets, Peas, Silver skin Onions.”

“Asparagus, Ricotta Cheese, Eggs.” Now this was an interesting dish. The white asparagus were grilled and wrapped in pancetta (bacon). The white and yellow stuff is deconstructed egg (yolk and white as powder). The ricotta is in the upper right and was delicious. The powder wasn’t as successful as the bonus egg, shown below.

This is more or less a coddled egg. I dipped the asparagus for extra umph.

This was a small production local Chianti Classico that the sommeler recommended. Good too, and like 30E. Try to find a decent wine at that price at a French 2 star!

“Guinea-Fowl, Chick-peas, I.G.P. Tuscan Ham.” Good stuff.

“Spinach soup with sea bass, tomato.”

“Perlina Aubergines, Tomato, Watermelon, Buffalo Mozzarella I.G.P.”

“Prawns, Peaches, Yellow Pepper.” Yummy. The pairing of the delicate shellfish was delicious with both the fruit and the peppers.

Arnolfo has very nice presentation, which I couldn’t photo every aspect of.

“Goose Liver, Red Onions, Spices, Cherries.” Oh wow yum. And that is some kind of cheese foam/ice cream on top. This was really good stuff.

And two extra goose liver preps for good measure. A sort of Napoleon and a little pistachio coated truffle, solid fois inside.

“Rabbit, Bloack Olives, Ratatouille.” Not your everyday Ratatouille. Notice the white asparagus too.

“Turbot with mozzerella.”

“Tortelli with chicken from Val d’Orcia, with asparagus and red pepper soup.” These are serious homemade pastas.

“Tortelli, Red Onions from Certaldo, White Beans from Sorana.”

“Mezzelune pasta, Courgettes flowers, Wedge shells.”

“Tagliolini, Rabbit, Black Olives.” In the front, out of focus, are discs of rabbit meat to go with the chunks of bunny in the pasta.

“Ravioli, Aubergines, Ewe’s Ricotta, Red Pepper.”

Gluten free pasta too!

“The 2006 Badia a Passignano Chianti Classico Riserva is a pretty, juicy red laced with cherries, dried flowers, tobacco and underbrush. The tannins dry out a touch on the finish, which is the only thing that keeps the score from going higher. Still, this forward, fruit-driven Chianti should drink nicely over the next few years. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2016. “

“Cod, with onions.” And some other stuff.

“Fish soup, Crustaceans, Mollucs, Vegetables.”

“John Dory, Asparagus, Datterini Tomatoes, Capers from Pantelleria.”

“Dentex, Gazpacho, Aubergines.”

“Swordfish, Roasted Peppers, Candied Tomatoes.” You can see that each dish is quite complex.

A brunello recommended by the sommelier.

“I.G.P. Chianina Veal Steak and cheek.”

“I.G.P. Chianina Veal Tartar and vegetables.”

I didn’t used to be into tartar, but it’s really been growing on me over the last several years. Quail egg on top.

“I.G.P. Chiania Veal Steak, Potatoes.”

“Cinta Senese Suckling Pig, Porchetta, Leg, Loin, Leaf Cabbage, Beetroots.”

This town evidently produces 14% of the world’s crystal. Italian shopping hours being what they are, despite three visits, we never saw one open.

Ah the suffering involved in dining in one of the world’s great wine regions. 93 points from Parker. “Consulting oenologist Carlo Ferrini has turned out a beautiful wine at this historic estate, a property which he speaks of in effusive terms. Talenti’s sublime 2001 Brunello Pian di Conte exhibits a deep, translucent ruby color. It opens with captivating, vibrant aromatics, with notes of freshly cut roses, raspberries and licorice. Gorgeously expressive yet delicate on the palate, it offers layers of dark fruit, earthiness and sweet oak supported by a refined, classic structure, with exceptional length and fine, silky tannins on the fresh finish. It is a superb effort. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2021.”

We are assaulted by a battery of pre-desserts. Vanilla ice cream with cherry rhubarb “soup.”

“Almond Mascarpone, pistachio ice cream.”

“Ricotta Cheese, Orange, Honey.” Tart and sweet.

“Selection of Tuscan Sheep’s-milk and Goat’s-milk Cheeses.”

And some nice condiments.

I can’t even remember what this one was.

“Zuccotto, Star Anis, Coffee, Fennel Ice Cream.”

“Grand Dessert Assortment.” Because one isn’t enough. Chocolate cake, Passionfruit sauce. Coffee something. Strawberry flan. A bit of the above Zuccotto, and something else.

“Zuccotto, Pinenuts, Alkermes, Chocolate Sorbet, Fleur del Sel.” The central thing was basically a meringue.

“Fruit and custard mille fueile.”

“Apricots, Almonds, Lavender Ice Cream.”

Worth a bit of zoom.

And this too.

We also had a birthday (mine more or less), so there was this bonus cake!

And just a few petite fours. Lemon jelly in the center. A little fruit tart on the right.

More, on the second night. Berry tart. Ricotta vanilla dome. Pistachio burger. Blackberry mouse. Almond marzipan.

Our second meal here was slightly better than the first for some reason, but both were top notch. Service was spectacular all around. Highly recommended as a very updated medium modernist take on Tuscan cuisine. The quality of local ingredients was impeccable, and they know how to modernize playfully without letting the techniques get out of control.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Arnolfo, beef, Bread, Breadstick, Chianti, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Colle di Val d’Elsa, Cooking, Dessert, eating-italy, fish, Gluten-free diet, GPS, Italian cuisine, Italy, Michelin, Michelin Guide, pasta, pigeon, pork, Shellfish, Tomato, Tuscany, veal

Eating San Gimignano – La Griglia

Jul08

Restaurant: Ristorante La Griglia

Location: San Gimignano, Italy

Date: June 16, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan Tourist

Rating: Mediocre

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We visited San Gimignano, as nearly all tourists in our part of Tuscany do.

This is an interesting town, fairly unique in that it is filled with medieval “skyscrapers” (watch towers) which seemed to have been some kind of antique masonry version of keeping up with the Joneses (or Jocominis in this case). Because of this unusual attraction the town is a bit over touristed, but it’s still worth visiting.

We chose a lunch place at random, which did in general work very well on this trip, but in this cast ended us up with the second worst genuine lunch of the month. I’ll exclude a couple of quickie stops at Panini places to grab a ham and cheese that are not worthy of the Eating Italy blog.

Here is a tuna salad, more or less a kind of Salade Niçoise. With anchovies too.

Pizza Margherita. Probably frozen, the crust tasted like cardboard.

A salad with ham.

Minestrone soup. Not even close to as good as the one at Trattoria Pepei or Pizzeria Il Rifugio (another random lunch pick).

Spaghetti pomodoro. Looks like what it is, mediocre.

Meat tortellini in ragu. This was tolerable, but fairly uninspired.

Pizza fungi (mushroom) with ham/prosciutto. Mediocre crust and ingredients.

Overall, this place was just mediocre. Not that it was even really that bad, but considering the sea of excellent meals over the month, and the fact that many random lunch picks were very enjoyable (like Lo Sfizio di Bianchi) it was just catering to tourists and weak.

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chianti, Cooking, Italian cuisine, Italy, Pizza, San Gimignano, Siena, Travel and Tourism, Tuscany, Vernaccia

Eating Tuscany – Villa Dinner

Jul07

Location: Staggia, Italy

Date: June 15 & 18, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

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Twice in the villa we arranged a “simple” dinner of local bounty. All the stuff below was purchased at either the local market in Staggia or at various local gourmet shops. Almost everything below was prepared by “D” who volunteered her excellent cooking and preparatory skills, along with her skill at attractive plating given few resources. My mom served as sous chef.

On the right is a cheap but pleasant prosecco.

In the middle the incredibly available and decent Nipozzano rufina (10 euros locally!) which parker gives a 91+, “The 2007 Chianti Rufina Riserva Vigneto Montesodi is a decidedly brooding red for this part of Tuscany. Smoke, grilled herbs and dark cherries meld into a palate of intense, richly concentrated fruit as this dense, powerful wine opens up in the glass. This is one of the few 2007 Tuscan reds that definitely needs bottle age. Today the tannins are rather imposing, particularly within the context of the vintage, but they should soften over the next few years. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2022.”

On the left is the 2007 Capannelle Chianti Classico Riserva which we bought at the vineyard, also earning 91 points. “Juicy red cherries, flowers, spices, leather and new oak are some of the notes that emerge from Capannelle’s flashy 2007 Chianti Classico Riserva. Soft and luxurious on the palate, the Riserva impresses for its superb balance and long, harmonious finish. The open, seductive personality of the vintage is on full display. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2019. “

Sauteed mushrooms with coriander.

Big red chunked tuna bruchetta with arugala.

Marinated anchovies.

Local eggs. Notice the bright yellow yolks, different than our eggs.

Local melon and prosciutto di Toscana.

Tomatoes, basil, olive oil and balsamic.

And it’s soul mate, fresh mozzerella di buffalo.

Large Tuscan green olives — in no short supply here!

Homemade ratatouille, courtesy of “D.”

Bread.

The remnants of some of our cheeses.

And some slightly fresher ones. Most of the local cheeses are peccorinos (sheep cheeses) of various ages.

Boar and brunello salami.

Simple pasta for the kids.

Salad.

Asparagus.

Local fruit.

Cherries are in season.

And watermelon.

Here is the spread on June 15.

And again on June 18.

It’s a rare spot in the US where the local bounty makes for such an excellent meal! In typical fashion high quality ingredients and products are available nearly everywhere. Even the Autogrill rest stops on the Autostrada (super highways) have 50 types of cheeses and cured meats for sale!

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chianti, Chianti Classico, eating-italy, Italian cuisine, Toscana, Tuscany, Wine, Wine tasting descriptors

Game of Thrones – Episode 10

Jul06

Title: Game of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 10 – July 1, 2011

Status: First Season now airing on HBO

Summary: Wrap up with a twist

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Episode 10, “Fire and Blood” serves primarily as a transitional episode, moving the characters from our headless climax into position for season two. Still, it’s a great episode, doing a good job of managing our many story threads without seeming too rushed.

Arya is pulled out of her fathers execution and set on the way north with Yoren with a bunch of scumbags, Gendry, and some annoying boys. We could have gotten a better look at the men in the cage, but I guess we have episode 1 of season 2 for that.

In Winterfell, Bran has a good scene with Osha and Rickon in which the prophetic (or at least psychic) power of his dreams is hinted at nicely. We actually see Shaggydog too. I’m continuing to come around to Osha, but not sure about Rickon — not that he matters too much.

In King’s Landing we get two scenes showing the odious Joffrey at work. He’s amusing as always, but when he drags Sansa out to the battlements to see her father’s head we do get to see something impressive. Despite her being an annoying snit during most of the season, we can really feel for her predicament here, and the little seed of Stark strength that the situation is nurturing. A moment with the Hound hopefully foreshadows their peculiar relationship too.

Robb makes the transition from warleader to King, and they’ve done a pretty nice job with this. The moment of his proclamation was always one of my favorites, echoing the traditional elevation of sovereigns by the troops (Imperator Imperator!). It feels a tiny bit small, but good nonetheless. They should have picked him up on their shoulders or shields!

Catelyn has one final conversation with captive Jaime, which is as much to establish where we are leaving him at season’s end as anything. Still, this is a very nice scene, and Coster-Walkda continues to nail the character. His continued arrogance is pretty delectable, particularly “I’d hoped the fall might kill him” and the pause when she asks him WHY he pushed Bran out the window.

I suspect the Cersei sleeping with Lancel scene back in King’s Landing will come off as odd to new viewers (although it does satisfy the show’s never ending appetite for boy butt). But Tywin’s handing off of the job of Hand of the King to Tyrion is very well done. In the show it comes off more generous than in the book, less barbed. Sure it’s a reaction to Jaime’s capture, but it makes us think the bad man might actually care — just a little. Then we get just a touch more Shae.

At the wall, Jon is finally determined to run away and help his brother, but his new (black) brothers race after him and bind him metaphorically with a reiteration of their oath. This is surprisingly effective. Partly because of the strength of Sam’s performance, and partly because the oath itself almost brought a tear to my eye. He is then later pleasantly surprised when Morment knows, isn’t too pissed, and he learns they are about to march off north of the wall. And so we have him maneuvered into place with the northern offensive set to launch.

Then before we get to the real wrap up, we have a have a bizarre little bit with Maester Pycelle and Ros, the busiest whore in Westeros. In this we see the relativity of viewpoint as well as more of naked Ros. But what is most disturbing, and most amusing, is the moment at the end when a transparent top (only) wearing Pycelle does a little post sex octogenarian jig.

Now as to Dany, her final pivot of the season, and the culmination of her transformation from meek princess into Mother of Dragons. This is the seminal moment of the first season, the return of magic in Westeros. She smothers the lifeless Drogo, builds his funeral pyre, then loads the annoying Mirri Maz Duur on to burn (good riddance). Finally, walking in herself. But “no true dragon can be hurt by fire.” The acting was uniformly good — except for Duur — through both this scene and her morning awakening with the dragons, but I thought the pyre scene itself needed some more magical effect punch just like the tent scene did last episode. It seems weird and anti-climatic that Jorah and crew don’t notice anything weird and magical at the time, but come check the ashes out in the morning, only to find the hot, dirty, naked, bedraggoned Dany alive and well. This final scene, was however, very effective, despite the gratuitous use of a green dragon as a fig leaf! We just needed some more magic, and the time gap between the two actions possibly reduced. The dragons themselves looked good, although perhaps the camerawork could have been a little more dramatic.

Still it was a great end, and I weep with regard to waiting ten months for more.

As to my concluding thoughts on this very strong television adaption of a great book: Bang up job. I have only three real complaints — fairly mild considering — and all involve punching things up a little bit. 1) The score didn’t feel scored enough. A slightly more dramatic musical underscoring of events would have helped with the scale. 2) The supernatural needed better treatment. Not cheesy, but Lord of the Rings serves as an excellent model. 3) The large scale action and people scenes needed a bigger feeling of scope and more cinematic dynamism. The wide locations shots were great, but they needed this equivalent for crowds, and perhaps some more hectic and creative cutting (in occasional scenes) to imply larger action.

But they got so many things right. The writing, casting, and acting first and foremost. 90% of the roles were cast and performed to relative TV perfection. And given the time constraints of 10 episodes, they more or less wrote the heck out of it.

Bravo!

Or my review of A Dance With Dragons.

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My novels: The Darkening Dream and Untimed

or all my Game of Thrones posts or episode reviews:

Season 1: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Season 2: [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]

Season 3: [21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30]

Season 4: [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40]

Season 5: [41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50]

Season 6: [51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57]

By: agavin
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Posted in: Television

Tagged as: Conclusion, Episode 10, Game of Thrones, HBO, Historical fantasy, List of characters in A Song of Ice and Fire, Lord of the Rings, Major houses in A Song of Ice and Fire, Television, Television program, World of A Song of Ice and Fire

Eating Volterra – Pizzeria Il Rifugio

Jul05

Restaurant: Pizzeria Il Rifugio

Location: Volterra, Italy

Date: June 15, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan + Pizza

Rating: Solid Pizza

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I highly recommend the medium sized town of Volterra. Besides the negative of being the home town of one of fiction’s most ridiculous gangs of vampires (Twilight’s Volturi) it’s a really cool place.

Anyway, we settled in for lunch at this pizzeria behind the mini dump truck. It’s not far from the Museum of Torture, a creepy institution well worth a visit.

The endless menu.

Bread as usual.

A pretty spectacular minestrone soup. Those canned American ones we are used to are just pathetic.

Needs no explanation.

Pizza Margarita.

Pizza al Funghi (with mushrooms).

And my personal favorite, with sausage and gorgonzola. This wasn’t overdone, there isn’t a ton of blue cheese on here, but it was a very good pizza. The sausage was that slightly sweet kind with fennel. Yum.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
Comments (4)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: eating-italy, Italian cuisine, Italy, Minestrone, Pizza, San Gimignano, Tuscany, Volterra

Game of Thrones – Episode 9

Jul04

Title: Game of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 9 – June 30, 2011

Status: First Season now airing on HBO

Summary: Best episode in the series!

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Episode 9, “Baelor.” This is the episode where it all comes together, pretty much summed up by the text I got on first airing from a friend I convinced to watch (he hadn’t read the books — but is now): “OMG! They killed Ned Stark!”

Not only does it take a lot of guts to up and kill your most central character near the end of the first book of an epic series, but George R. R. Martin really grinds the emotions in by making the reasons it happens so damned personal and believable.

This is the episode where the frothing cauldron of the last two boils on over. For everyone. This emotional tone renders it less sensitive than the previous episode to the diminutive effects of TV. We open with Varys visiting Ned again in the dungeon, and this narrative is used to spell out Ned’s last choice: die honorably, or confess and hope for exile and to save his daughters.

Then we have Robb faced with the choice of making a disreputable deal with an even more disreputable lord in order to gain military advantage in his war. He knows he’s got no choice but to win, and so he’s forced to go all in. Frey is just as amusing as in the books, and while he doesn’t have quite so many children as I imagined, the scene is well done. Particularly amusing is when Catelyn tells Robb he has to marry a Frey daughter and he asks, “how did they look?” and she replies “one of them was well…”

At the wall, Jon ponders not only his father’s imprisonment but the fact that his brother is going to war. Mormont tries to bind him further to the brotherhood by giving him his family sword. This is nicely done and there is some tie-back to Jorah. I particularly like the “he dishonored himself, but he had the decency to leave the family sword behind” bit. In another scene he gets a lecture from Maester Aemon about the hard choices between duty and family. Jon finds out exactly who the Maester was and we have another great scene from the books nailed with top performances.

Tyrion learns that he and his violent new tribesmen friends will get the most dangerous position in the upcoming battle. He stomps back to his tent to find Bronn has brought him a whore named Shae. She’s not how I imagined her in the books (they made her foreign), but I like the way Sibel Kekili plays her. I noticed her last year in the heavy German film Head On, and she’s a gifted actress. Although, we do have to wonder where Bronn dug up such a smart and sexy whore on short notice! Later in the show when the three play medeval “truth or dare” is a really good scene. Shae is cocky and sexy, and Tyrion’s rendition of his boyhood innocence and treatment at the hands of his father is perfect.

However I had mixed feelings about the battle — or lack there of. Tyrion is great and there are some funny lines like Bronn’s advice to “stay low.” But, instead of actually managing to fight — albiet badly — he’s just knocked out. The visual effect of him being dragged along is kind of cool, and I know they were trying to save time and money. But… they could have given us a three minute little window on the fight. I can’t help but feel this is more “TV shrinking effect,” the show’s biggest problem (really it’s only significant problem at all). I can’t help but feel the producers could do something creative and get a little more scope of action without too much more money.

And the same goes for the (non) battle of the whispering wood, where we just see Robb race back to his mother and deposite a captive Jaime at her feet. Come on. It was a night battle, they could have shown some horses and soldiers clashing in front of Riverrun and Jaime’s last stand. The books actually also suffer from certain large scale action being off screen (which I always felt was odd), but I’d hoped the show would rectify rather than amplify this. It would be easy enough.

Now as chaotic as the action is in Westeros, Dany’s journey is just as important. Her world is crashing around her. Drogo’s little chest wound from the last episode is now infected and he’s dying. For some slightly mysterious reason she has trusted the witch lady she saved (Mirri Maz Duur) to treat it, and now is willing to do whatever it takes to save his life, even if that means black magic. I love this part of the story, and I think Emilia Clarke handles it extremely well, but I do have a couple problems. The Mirri Maz Duur actress feels a little silly to me, not too bad, but she doesn’t have enough gravitas. And more importantly, the handling of the magic is underplayed. I liked the weird wailing sounds coming from the tent, but they decided to forgo any kind of special effects for the ceremony. I think this is deliberate rather than purely budgetary (although that is surely a factor). They have consistently played down the supernatural. But they needed it here. They didn’t have to go all the way to swirling wisps of light (ala early 80s Conan), but I think they should have done some kind of creepy animated shadow-play. As it is, the whole dark ritual is left mostly up to the imagination, and it may be hard for the new viewer to know what is supposed to be happening. It almost felt psychological. But the horse death was pretty decent.

And the final scene isn’t half assed at all, which is typical with the show, managing big pivotal (big in the sense of important, not scope) scenes nicely. Arya living in the streets is great, and then her viewing of Ned’s tragic “confession.” Joffrey continues in deliciously despicable style and orders the execution anyway. The handling of this for all involved is well done. Arya perching by that statue. The hysterical Sansa. Even Cersei livid. I would have just liked a little nod to the fact that they use Ned’s own sword: Ice. Come on, everyone loves a sword with a name. Jon said it when he gave Arya Needle, “all the best swords have names.”

Still, by the standards of TV, this is a near perfect episode. The human drama is handled flawlessly, they just need to add a little more cinematic feel to the action and magic.

Reviews of previous episodes: [ Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8 ]

Or the next, Episode 10.

Or find out about my own fantasy novel, The Darkening Dream.

By: agavin
Comments (8)

Posted in: Television

Tagged as: Arts, Baelor, Characters in A Song of Ice and Fire, Emilia Clarke, Episode 9, Game of Throne, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, HBO, Historical fantasy, Major houses in A Song of Ice and Fire, Television, Television program, World of A Song of Ice and Fire

Eating Monteriggioni – Il Pozzo

Jul03

Restaurant: Il Pozzo

Location: Monteriggioni, Italy

Date: June 13 & 22, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

Rating: Classic Tuscan

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This local resteraunt in the cute little walled town of Monteriggioni pretty much typifies Tuscan cooking at its traditional best. We initially went here on the basis of our villa owner’s recommendation. He has good taste, and we came back a second time. This is probably the best of all my reports to get a sense of the classic Tuscan courses.

The restaurant is located in the main square of this qaint medeval village.

The name seems to mean well, shaft, or pit. There is an old well in the square right outside the restaurant, so that’s probably it.

The menu.

The interior is cute and traditional.

And they also have this lovely side patio.

The usual bread.

We started with a white from San Gimignano, Vernaccia, an old school but very pleasant DOC white.

Beetle juice anyone? Compari and soda.

Incredibly common, Tuscan ham with local melon.

Classic, caprese.

Smoked salmon served with a bit of salad and butter.

Local “pici” pasta with basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil.

Spaghetti pomodoro.

Pappardelle al Cinghiale, boar ragu. This was a scrumptious rendition of this wonderful dish, with perhaps a little cinnamon or nutmeg in the ragu.

Pasta with butter and cheese for the under 10 set.

Polenta with porcini mushrooms and cheese fondue — a rare out of focus photo.

A fantastic meat risotto. Basically a Bolognese sauce with rice. Really good.

The basic salad, but very well done.

Zucchini and walnut salad.

Fried fresh zucchini blossoms. Unlike in the states, these had no ricotta inside (which does frankly improve them), but they were still really good.

A good local Chianti Classico Riserva. It’s hard to really go wrong with some of these riservas at the local prices.

Grilled fillet of Tuscan cow. Rare (always)!

Guinea fowl braised and served in a sauce with slices of fresh truffle. No hating this.

Pork Senese, in a sweetish Vin Santo and fennel sauce. I liked this sauce which complemented the pork perfectly.

A total Tuscan classic, Salsicce con Fagioli — franks and beans. Tuscan sausage with stewed fava beans (a favorite of Hannibal Lector, but he uses the other other white meat).

Grilled lamb chops. Tuscans do love their Griglia (grilled meats).

Plenty of aperitifs available to wash down those slices of animal flesh.

The dessert menu.

Vanilla Gelato with hardened chocolate shell.

Creme Caramel. One of my personal favorites.

Tiramisu.

Cheese cake, Tuscan style.

You can really see the rhythm of a Tuscan meal here. The only things missing are the bruschetta and the minestrone, but those are shown in lots of other reports like Trattoria Pepei. First with have the antipasta, in this case cured meats, fish, etc. Then the pastas, then salads and vegetables accompanying grilled meats, followed by the cake-like desserts.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: beef, Chianti, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Defensive wall, Dessert, eating-italy, ham, Il Pozzo, Italian cuisine, Italy, lamb, Meat, Monteriggioni, pasta, Pine nut, pork, Restaurant, San Gimignano, Toscana, Tuscany, Vernaccia

Game of Thrones – Episode 8

Jul02

Title: Game of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 8 – June 30, 2011

Status: First Season now airing on HBO

Summary: Oh boy, it’s coming

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I had to delay watching the last three episodes of the show for a month while suffering on vacation in Italy (travel log here). Even after being up for 36 hours I binged through two of the three after unpacking.

Episode 8, “The Pointy End.” The last third of the season, or even last half, is all about grinding out the consequences of positions and choices made in the first half. Many of these lead to additional hasty decisions that will also have repercussions. Also it is worth noting that this episode is actually penned by George R. R. Martin himself, which is fitting because it’s one where the character arcs are really pivoting.

One of the great things about Martin’s novels are how believable these difficult choices are for the characters. They don’t see the future, aren’t even always aware of all that the reader is, and even more importantly, are filtered through their own biases and priorities.

We open with the play out of the season’s most central pivot, that Ned’s attempt to show the queen and her children mercy leads to disastrous results for his family and for the realm as a whole. His entire household in King’s Landing is slaughtered, and Sansa is captured. But Arya, training with her “Dancing Master” Syrio is not so undefended. Syiro is a favorite character and he is played delightfully by Miltos Yerolemou in the show. I do think that — like many scenes in this episode — that the production felt a little TV. Syiro holds off about five Lanister guards with a wood training sword, which is bad ass, but the choreography could have used just a little more punch. There just wasn’t enough zing to his movements. Still he kicks butt and his final line, “And what do we say to the god of death?” -> “Not today” is awesome. Similarly Arya’s all important stabbing of the stable boy felt a little flabby. Or maybe it was just by mood (very tired).

Ned is briefly visited by Varys in the dungeon, and I do love this portrayal of the spider. Instead of the interior monologue of the novel their conversation is used to expose the central crux of his moral journey: The fact that his mercy (toward Cersei) lead to his downfall, and that he must now chose between family and principles — and they aren’t good choices either way. We also have some wonderful background on Varys.

The news of events in the capital is spreading, linking the separate story-lines together. Jon is forced to cope with his own choices and loyalties between family and duty. We even see a bit of ghost! And then he gets to fight the white walker. This was pretty cool, but again, as I felt with a lot of this episode (but not about Episode 9) lacked a tiny bit of gravitas (not to mention Morment’s raven — boo!). But it’s still important as it really starts to establish his role with the Black Brothers.

In Winterfell Robb must deal with the imprisonment of his father, being forced to become the man he knows he should be. This is well handled, and there is a pretty good sense of him coming into his own. Theon is well set up. In the books he is extremely minor in book 1, but clearly the producers have chosen him as a character to emphasize in seasons 2 and 3. We have a bit of Bran in this part of the arc too. Somehow in the second two thirds of the show Bran feels much more absent than he does in the novels (as there he has all the POV for Winterfell). This brings him back a little, but I would have liked more emphasis on the wolves and the dreams. I’m coming around to Osha a bit though — even if she has crazy hair.

Tyrion and Bronn make their way out of the Vale. Their dialog is first rate as always, and they have their encounter with the mountain men. This too felt a little TV as they just couldn’t show enough men. You see about fifteen, but it really wanted at least 150, a real camp, and more of a sense of ferociousness.

Across the sea Dany is coming down off the high of being promised the world by Drogo to see a bit of the reality of what it really means to be a war leader. The Dothraki are slaughtering the “lamb people” and she tries to put a stop to the rape of some local women. This is a decision that for her will bring momentous change, continuing the theme illustrating the dangers of mercy. We also meet the witch, who looks like some Italian mother from Brooklyn. Like the other big scenes, and many of the Dothraki scenes in the whole show, this little battle felt crimped by the TV budget. Just not large enough or dynamic enough. Drogo’s fight however, defending his manhood and her honor, is pretty awesome. Jason Momoa has some real charisma, and I’m looking forward to the new Conan. He pulls off the very personal manly man-ness (guy-liner and all) to good effect.

The episode concludes softly with the dismissal of Ser Barristan, which is very well handled. You get a real feel for Cersei and this unctuous Joff overextending themselves. Barristan is wonderful too, along with Jaime the only developed member of the Kingsguard.

The plotting and characters of this story are just so good. Everyone is in motion, in conflict all the time, but not just the kind of meaningless Transformers 2 style conflict, but real honest to goodness stuff that tests their fundamental values.

Reviews of previous episodes: [ Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7 ]

Or the next Episode 9.

Or find out about my own fantasy novel, The Darkening Dream.

By: agavin
Comments (6)

Posted in: Television

Tagged as: Characters in A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Throne, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, HBO, Historical fantasy, Major houses in A Song of Ice and Fire, Programs, Television, Television Review, The Pointy End, World of A Song of Ice and Fire

Eating Gaiole – Lo Sfizio di Bianchi

Jul01

Restaurant: Lo Sfizio di Bianchi

Location: Gaiole in Chianti, Italy

Date: June 14, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

Rating: Surprisingly good for a random pick

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My father and I went on a Chianti Classico wine tasting quest, and this brought us to Gaiole, which is deep in the heart of Chianti’s best wine growing area. This is one of those “one road” towns where the road is just striped by buildings. We wandered into a store for something and the clerk sent us to this restaurant located in the town square.

The name seems to mean “the whimsy of white”.

The usual longish menu.

This was a very nice caprese in a country of really nice capreses. Note the really red tomatoes, the arugala, the dusted basil, and the generous blobs of mozzarella. Even I, consumate raw tomato hater, ate some of the beasts.