четвъртък, 10 май 2012 г.

HBO's 'Game Of Thrones' On Track To Be Crowned Most Pirated Show Of 2012

Brace yourselves, HBO. The pirates are coming.
With its popularity swelling and no easy way to watch for viewers without cable, HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones” is inspiring massive levels of piracy, according to numbers from the BitTorrent-tracking and analysis firm Big Champagne. By the firm’s rough estimate, the second season of the show has been downloaded more than 25 million times from public torrent trackers since it began in early April, and its piracy hit a new peak following April 30th’s episode, with more than 2.5 million downloads in a day.
“It certainly appears to be the most pirated show of the year,” says John Robinson, a senior media analyst with Big Champagne. He says it’s too early to measure definitively, but the company’s data so far as well as the popularity rankings on download site the Pirate Bay point to “Game of Thrones” as filesharers’ favorite show of 2012. “The fact that it’s consistently at the top of the Pirate Bay’s top one hundred TV show chart seems like a pretty in-your-face leading indicator of the huge volume at which this is being shared.”
According to the BitTorrent-focused blog and measurement site Torrentfreak, the first season of “Game of Thrones” was the second-most pirated show of 2011 behind the sixth season of Showtime’s “Dexter.”
But Big Champagne’s numbers show that downloads of the second season of “Game of Thrones” so far consistently top “Dexter”‘s piracy numbers from the same point in its season last year. (See chart above left.)
It’s worth noting that BitTorrent is just one way that shows are pirated online–I was able to find streaming episodes of Game of Thrones on sites like free-tv-video-online.me and zzstream.com after just a few Google searches. But those streaming options are even tougher to track and measure than BitTorrent.
While “Game of Thrones”‘ filesharing rates are probably driven in part by its appeal to the young, geeky male demographic that’s most prone to using torrent sites, HBO hasn’t helped the problem by making the show tough to watch online for the young and cable-less. The show isn’t available through Hulu or Netflix, iTunes offers only Season 1, and using HBO’s own streaming site HBO Go requires a cable subscription. (The situation was captured in thewidely read comic strip The Oatmeal, in which the author attempts the rage-inducing process of trying to watch “Game of Thrones” online before giving up and downloading it from a sleazy porn-ad covered torrent site.)
This is absolutely a reaction to the show’s not being available elsewhere online,” says Big Champagne’s Robinson. “It’s a very tricky game trying to create this kind of scarcity.”
Update: Forbes contributor Erik Kain elaborates on why HBO has “only itself to blame” for the show’s piracy.
Update again: Reddit’s “Game of Thrones” forum has someinteresting discussion around this post. Many of the users admit to pirating the show and explain why they do it.


Enhanced by Zemanta

четвъртък, 3 май 2012 г.

Emilia Clarke talks 'Game of Thrones' season 2: What's next for Dany's dragons?


Emilia Clarke’s breakout performance as Daenerys Targaryen on HBO’s Game of Thrones landed her on one of fourEntertainment Weekly covers this week. Shooting in Croatia last fall, the 23-year-old actress took a break from playing the exiled dragon queen to talk to EW. Below, Clarke discusses her character in season 2, fan reactions, working with dragons, the show’s ratings, and more.

Warning: If you wish to know nothing about Dany’s story line in season 2, skip the first three answers below.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What’s your character going through at the start of this season?
EMILIA CLARKE: Things kind of suck, because when you last saw her, it’s like magic was being re‑awoken and it’s all wonderful. Now [she's in] complete and utter despair. She has dragons, but they are tiny. They’re babies. She doesn’t even know how to feed them. So, and she’s got all her people looking to her, including Jorah, and she’s losing the will to kind of see her way through it.
Does your story line pretty much follow the book?
I don’t want to give too much away. There are a few things that are slightly different, just to give her a bit more meat this season. Dany is going to get a little glimpse of what else is going on in other parts of the world of Game of Thrones. There’s a number of surprises in store for everyone.
Any romantic prospects for Dany with Drogo gone?
I feel that the audience knows at this point that Jorah’s feelings toward me are dubious. We’re not sure where they lie. Whether it’s paternal. Whether it’s sexual. We’re not sure. And I think that that is something that Dany is becoming increasingly aware of. But I truly believe that she’s still in love with Drogo.
What’s been the toughest thing about shooting this season?
Working with the dragons, at the moment. They’ve created these beautiful models of the dragons. I’m getting quite maternal towards them. But then they take them away [during filming, with dragons inserted later using CGI] and that’s when I’m seeing nothing. As an actor, there’s so much focus [required] and my imagination is being pushed to its limits. I’m trying to see them in my mind’s eye and I’m trying to work with this invisible thing. And I can tell everyone around me is going, “what the heck, she’s crazy, she’s absolutely lost her mind.” Because I’m just kind of playing with this invisible ball of air.
On the set, the producer noted “the Daenerys stance” that you have, where you look super tough.
It’s kind of “always being ready.” She just has a strength and it’s not modern. I always try to bear in mind the kind of different physical things that she’s up against that give her a core of steel that physically manifests itself.
So that’s very much your character, not you?
Yeah. That’s that’s kind of how she tries to put her armor without actually having any. It’s also like within the book, she’s always continuously asking herself, “What would Drogo do?”
What’s the common reaction on the street when you’re recognized?
It’s happened twice. Once was the frozen yogurt [shop] where I got free frozen yogurt, which is brilliant. It completely made my day. I just walked in and she just went “Oh! Game of Thrones!”
If I was working a Starbucks, I’d like to think I’d just take your order and say, “It is known.”
[Laughs] That would be awesome.
How was Comic-Con?
Oh, it was amazing! I hope that we’re going to please the fans. And by the reaction we had at Comic-Con I think we have. I think we will continue to …all the new characters are like sick. I can vouch for every one of the actors.
With certain popular characters no longer on the show, has there been any concern about the ratings? I suspect they’ll go up anyway.
I think that people are hooked and I think that peoples’ curiosity will get the better of them. And their curiosity will lead them to even better stuff than season 1, which will lead to the same, if not better ratings. Knock on wood. That’s my prediction.
If you had a dragon, what would you do with it?
Oh my, God, what would I do with it? I would definitely keep it where there were no walls, so it would be as big as it could physically be. Rule the world maybe? Have it. Ride it.
by James Hibberd

'Game of Thrones' Alfie Allen: 'I'd love to play Arya Stark'

Alfie Allen has revealed which actors he would have loved to have portrayed in Game of Thrones.

Allen plays Theon Greyjoy in the HBO series, who was taken hostage by Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) and was raised along with the Stark family. Greyjoy, who becomes close friends with Eddard's eldest son Robb Stark (Richard Madden), is the son of Balon Greyjoy (Patrick Malahide).





























"It's so boring, though," Allen told The Mary Sue. "Because everyone really likes her. I love Arya (Maisie Williams), but [she's] everyone's choice. I love Arya's character."

Allen also said that he would like to play Melisandre of Asshai (Carice van Houten) and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage).

The English actor also discussed how he approaches his "complex character".

"I try to play the part as honestly as I can," Allen shared. "I've been living with Robb Stark for almost four years now. In my brain, Arya is my sister; Bran is my brother. 

"So, I can react to them in a very honest way, it just gets complicated sometimes because the lines get blurred."




сряда, 2 май 2012 г.

'Game of Thrones' season two: 'What Is Dead May Never Die' review

"Power resides where men believe it resides. It's a trick, a shadow on the wall, and a very small man can cast a very large shadow." It was the line that featured in many of the season two trailers for Game of Thrones and tonight it all made sense as Tyrion remained top dog in the power brokering and backroom deals that control King's Landing and beyond.

And it wasn't just the sneaky goings on between Tyrion, Littlefinger and co at King's Landing that supported Varys's words of wisdom as many characters offered up surprising displays of strength

[King Renly]
Tyrion at King's Landing
Tyrion's scheming and plotting with Pycelle, Varys and Littlefinger was a cleverly shot scene, which managed to speed along what otherwise could have been quite a tedious plotline. Peter Dinklage remains the epitome of charisma when he's on screen, however, it does feel like his awards and critical praise may have caused him to get more screen time than he probably needs.

However, who are we to quibble when he's causing friction, weeding out traitor Pycelle and causing headaches for Cersei ("the Queen mustn't know"). There were brief glimmers of what trouble may lie ahead for the King's Hand this week though as he confessed that his lady Shae is his weakness. Will the moody sex-loving foreigner prove to be his downfall?

Shae's new relationship as the handmaiden for Sansa is an intriguing prospect; firstly, because Sophie Turner is one of the best actresses in the show; and secondly, because anyone who has to suffer at the hands of King Joffrey day-to-day could do with a saucy handmaiden by their side.
[Theon Greyjoy]
Theon's battles with his father
The return of Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) to the Iron Islands hasn't gone according to plan for the sex-hungry friend of the Starks. Confused by family loyalty and an unfortunate fumble with his sister last week, the last remaining son of Balon has realigned himself with his father and appears to be ready to join the Greyjoys in an attack against the North.

Theon's swaying loyalties have been gripping and are a credit to Allen, who viewers had little emotional connection with in season one. A lost boy in a dirty world of battling men, his burning of the letter to Robb Stark was one of the most significant moments of the season so far and it felt like a big moment in the character's progression from minor player on the sidelines to significant force in the various battles for the crown and control of Westeros.

Renly's bedroom problems
The most surprising shift of power this week came in King Renly's bedroom in the Stormlands. Not only did he annoy his wife's brother, who he is sleeping with (keep up at the back!), by awarding Brienne of Tarth (a woman of all things) a spot on his Kingsguard, but he's also in a spot of bother with his missus.

[Brienne of Tarth]
Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) knows that Renly would prefer to see some of her brother Loras's (Finn Jones) swordplay in the bedroom rather than a bit of hankie-pankie with her and even at one point suggests a threesome between them all. Well, we've had pretty much everything else in Game of Thrones so why not!

Margaery's plot to tie together the Baratheons and the Tyrells through a pregnancy suggests that she holds the real power in their relationship and that perhaps she's the one to be feared on the Stormlands rather than Renly.

Arya's quick-thinking
I may have complained a little about the lethargic pace of Arya Stark's story last week, but I take it all back now. Maisie Williams was finally given something to get her teeth into this week as we saw her relationships with Gendry and Yoren (which was sadly cut short) blossom.

Also, how significant will Arya's decision be to give an axe to Jaqen (Tom Wlaschiha) so that he could free himself? The lingering look between the pair suggested that it wasn't just a friendly gesture from the young Stark.
[Arya Strak]
Yoren's brave and spectacular death (how many spears and swords did he have inside him by the end?) was one of the best fights in the show's rich history of sword slashing, however, the blood-curdling killing of Lommy afterwards may have even topped it for grimace-inducing gore.

Those deaths alone would have usually been enough to leave us psyched for the next episode, but there was still room for a twist in the tale as the capture Arya showcased some quick-thinking, telling her captors that the boy they just killed - Lommy - was Gendry. Will her smart wit be enough to save her and Gendry?

Game of Thrones continues on Monday nights at 9pm on Sky Atlantic. It airs in the US on Sundays on HBO.

What did you think to 'What Is Dead May Never Die'? Share your verdict below!