Returned home last night from my short visit to LA, where I attended a private screening of the first two episodes of GAME OF THRONES, made a surprise visit to the food truck in Venice, enjoyed a great celebratory dinner with Dan and David at the Palm (where we first met, lo these many years ago), called on Justin Sweet in his Yorba Linda studio and saw some gorgeous roughs of the artwork he’ll be doing for the forthcoming WORLD OF ICE & FIRE concordance, met with Mark Newbauer of Mike the Pike Productions about their on-going SKIN TRADE film project, and even enjoyed a great lunch with old friend Ron Perlman, from my days on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. It was an amazing few days, if insanely busy.

The first two episodes look spectacular, I think, especially when seen on the big screen at CAA. Cinematic quality. (I have a new 55 inch TV set being installed this week, and now I’m afraid that it’s too small) These were the first complete episodes I’ve seen, and I loved them. Yes, there are changes from the books, and of course there are things missing — lines of dialogue, bits of business, scenes — but without twice or thrice the running time, there was no way to get EVERYTHING in. The story is there, that’s the important thing. Fans who know the books inside and out may miss certain things, sure, but the vast majority of viewers, those who have never read the novels, should do just fine.

My hat is off to David and Dan and the team they put together. They’ve done an amazing job.

Oh, and HBO has released a new trailer. Herewith, “Poison.”

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