More from George R.R. Martin, a Titanic expansion, and Game of Thrones torrenting by state
George R.R. Martin had a busy visit to Edinburgh for their International Book Festival, in addition to his two Q&A sessions, he also sat down to speak with Sky News, and BBC Radio.
In his interview with Sky News he discusses the popularity of Game of Thrones and how it filled the void for an adult epic fantasy series. He comments on the fact that many of his fans would rather he be at home writing than at a book festival, and talks more about reading fan theories in the late 90’s that had guessed the future of his story correctly, but says that he doesn’t read them anymore. He admits that he is reluctant to identify his series as feminist in case he offends anyone, but that he tries to portray a wide variety of females in his work, and addresses the controversy over the Jaime and Cersei sept scene.
In his interview with BBC Radio Martin talks at length about the historical influence on his work, and his appreciation for Tolkein’s stories leading to a number of re-reads. He explains how he keeps track of all of his characters, and the immense popularity of his series and its television adaptation. He says that he has had meetings with the showrunners about how the books are going to go, and gives them manuscripts before they are published, but it’s up to them which direction the show will go in. He explains his writing process, and says that 5-6 pages completed marks a good day, but that he often struggles to achieve that. He also discusses his violent subject matter, his approach to writing women, the decision of television over movies, and the pressure to finish his story.
Game of Thrones has helped to make Northern Ireland a desirable location to film major productions. While the Northern Ireland film industry continues to grow, so will Thrones’ home base, Titanic Studios.
It was reported yesterday that a planning approval has been granted to extend the studios in Belfast by 100,000 sq ft, bringing the complex’s size to more than 250,000 sq ft. The permission was granted by Environment Minister Mark Durkan after no objections were received to the application submitted in December.
The expansion will cost £14 million, and will include two additional film stages, new film production workshops, office space, additional parking, and a roof-mounted solar panel system.
Real estate company Movoto recently took it upon themselves to break down bit torrenting habits in the United States. After collecting data from the top 300 torrents of movies, television shows, and video games over the past 40 days, comprising of 4 million seeding nodes and 3 million unique IP addresses, they have mapped the country’s torrenting habits.
Their map of the most popular torrented television show by state shows Game of Thrones coming out on top. Thrones was the top show in 15 states, which is pretty impressive considering the last episode aired nearly two months ago.
When compared to their map of states that torrent the most television shows, it’s interesting to note that many of the states that took part in the least amount of torrenting, downloaded Game of Thrones the most.
Movoto has also set up an interactive map that allows you to select any of the 300 torrents individually or in groups, if you have some time to kill.
Get a daily update of the site’s latest news, conveniently sent in newsletter form, directly to your inbox. Sign up for WiC Daily.
Spoiler Alert!
Please take care to tag spoilers in your comments by wrapping them with <spoiler></spoiler>. Spoilers in comments are hidden by a gray overlay. To reveal, simply hover or tap on the text!