Sorry, Stego. (But only a little).

My heart stopped several times this evening.

What a game.

I hate the prevent defense. Hate it, hate it, hate it. But that was a sensational catch by Randy Moss. Though the Jets should have jammed him, as they’d been doing all game.

Where the hell do the Patriots keep getting these great quarterbacks? Matt Cassel was amazing, I have to say. Four-year college benchwarmer, hasn’t played since high school, but he gets better every game, and tonight he looked like the reincarnation of Johnny Unitas. And he was what, a seventh round draft choice? And Brady was a sixth rounder? Scott Pioli has an amazing eye for quarterbacks. The Jets back-up is Kellen Clemens, a second round choice and a major college star, but in the NFL so far he has been less than ordinary. Let’s just hope that Brett Favre never goes down.

Much as I despise him, Evil Little Bill is still a great coach. Just when it looked as though the Jets were going to blow the P-men out on their own home field, BB goes to a no-huddle offense, and exhausts Gang Green’s gigantic man in the middle, Kris Jenkins, negating our most effective defensive player. No one else thought of that, all season. Fortunately for truth, justice, and the American way, Jenkins was able to find a hidden reserve of strength in the fourth quarter, when it counted, but… I may despise Belichek, but I never make the mistake of underestimating him.

But enough props to the Patriots. The Jets won. Finally. When Moss caught that TD with one second left, I felt like a dagger had been thrust through me, and the words “Same Old Jets” came inevitably to mind. It felt like we’d already lost. These were the Patriots, after all. Even when we won the overtime coin toss, things looked grim… especially after the first two plays, when the Jets faced third-and-fifteen.

Then Brett threw that rope to Dustin Keller, and the world changed.

Favre was… well, Favre was Favre. He’s done it before, he’ll do it again. Jericho Cotchery had that astonishing catch, snatching the ball out of the air in the crook of his elbow while falling forward with a defender draped all over him. Leon Washington returned a kickoff for a TD. But Dustin Keller was the one who really made me sit up. It looks as though the Jets knew what they were doing when they traded up into the end of the first round to get him (and a good thing, since their other first round pick, number four overall Vernon Gholston, shows every sign of being a bust). Tannenbaum and Mangini struck gold with Keller, I think. We have our tight end for the next decade.

Anyway… great game, great win, and I’m a happy boy.

Life is magical and full of joy.

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HBO has given the production order.

They will be filming the pilot episode of A GAME OF THRONES.

It’s just the pilot so far. They’ll need to see that before they decide whether to proceed with a full season’s episodes. So let’s all hope the pilot will kick serious ass.

It should. David Benioff and Dan Weiss did a terrific job with the script. And yes, all of you can relax, it’s very faithful. Dan and David will be the executive producers for the pilot and (we hope) the eventual series.

More details when I have ’em. The news is very fresh. HBO just issued their own press release, which should be up on their website soon, if it’s not there already.

Winter is coming to HBO. Hot damn.

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He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/10/obama-collects-comics-50_n_142755.html

That’s so cool that I’m willing to forgive him for being a Harry Potter fan.

I bet I have a better Spidey collection than he does, though.

Let’s just hope his spider-sense starts to tingle whenever the country is in danger.

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Life is magical and full of joy.

Great wins today by both the Jets and Giants, though the two games could not have been more different. Gang Green absolutely destroyed the Rams, leading 40-0 at the half, and coasting to an easy 47-3 victory. This year’s incarnation of the Rams look truly pathetic, true, but in the years past the Jets have shown a tendency to play down to the level of their opponents and lose such games. Years past? No, make that weeks past. The loss to Oakland just a few weeks back still rankles. Anyway, it did not happen this week, and the Jets look primed and ready for Thursday’s big showdown with the Patriots for first place in the AFC East.

The Giants game was a whole different animal. Their annual contests with the Eagles are always hard-fought, and this was no exception. The G-Men dominated yardage and time of possession with their monstrous three-headed running game, but somehow they could never quite put the Iggles away, so the decision came down to the final two minutes of the fourth. It was a sloppy game, marked by lots of turnovers (I love Brandon Jacobs, but I hope Coughlin tells him to stop trying to jump over tacklers. He does much better when he just plows into them), but a damned exciting one. My heart was in my throat as time ran down, until the Giants defense stuffed Westbrook on those two final runs, and settled the matter. Replay challenges played a huge role in the outcome as well — one crucial one by Coughlin, which he won, and two foolish ones by Andy Reid, both of which he lost.

A win is a win, though, and the Giants now sit at 8-1, with a commanding lead in the NFC East. Their schedule only gets harder from here, though. Next week it’s the Ravens with that brutal defense of theirs. Should be another great game, for those who like D.

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Get your preorders in now.

The last three stories are nearing completion. The interior art by Tom Kidd is spectacular. If you like Jack Vance, you’ll love this book. And if you don’t like Jack Vance, what’s wrong with you?

Order direct from SubPress at http://www.subterraneanpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SP&Product_Code=martin07

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‘Nuff said.

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Well, this a lousy way to start a week.

Last night, shortly after I made my post about yesterday’s Jets and Giants game, my office was broken into and burglarized.

We’ve been adding on a two-story library tower to the back of the house. The construction started in June and will continue to December. That’s how they got in, entering through the back yard and construction area and ripping down the temporary plywood wall that separates the new rooms from the rest of the house.

They pulled open a lot of drawers, rummaged through a lot of stuff, and knocked over my computer monitor, but didn’t get much of a haul, all in all. I lost a video iPod and a Bose docking station (although they overlooked the remote), plus two replica swords I had in a corner awaiting the end of construction, so I could hang them on a wall. So far as I can tell, that’s all that’s missing. They smashed the electronics on our safe, but were unable to open it. Some of the tools that the workmen had left at the construction site were also taken; a power saw, a few other things.

One of the swords was a gift from readers, a beautiful piece. That’s the only real loss, though. Easy enough to replace the ipod. The second sword was junk.

(And no, they did NOT take my computers, so the hard drive where A DANCE WITH DRAGONS lives is still there, and safe, and I haven’t lost any work. And yes, I back up regularly, so even if they had made off with the hardware, I have all the finished text saved on disk. So you can all come down off that ledge, please).

The most unsettling part of all this was the timing. I came over to the office last night after football to make my LJ post about the games and answer some emails. One of the mails in my in box was from a friend who wanted to come over and watch television. I said sure, then went back to the main house to tell Parris that our friend might be dropping over. She never did, so Parris and I watched ENTOURAGE and CALIFORNICATION and a couple of episodes of THE DAILY SHOW from last week that we’d TIVOed. Two hours worth of television. After which I went back to my office… and discovered the break-in. Spent the next couple of hours dealing with the cops and the aftermath of all this.

But if I hadn’t gotten that email from our friend, I might have stayed in the office and continued to answer emails, which meant I would have been here when the thief (or thieves) broke into the construction site and then into the house. I would certainly have heard the sound of the plywood wall being ripped down. Most probably a shout from me would have sent them fleeing back into the night… but maybe not. I suppose I could have tried to drive them off with one of those replica swords, but I’m just as glad I didn’t have to try. I am not exactly a figure to inspire terror in night stalkers.

All in all, we got off light, but it’s still a crappy way to start the week, and I’ll be spending most of today dealing with police, insurance companies, locksmiths, our alarm company, and the like. And somewhere out there, some asshole has my sword.

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Life is beautiful and full of joy…

… well, mostly. The Jets and the Giants both won, but Big Blue’s win was much better than Gang Green’s. The Jets played a wretched game against the Kansas City Chefs, who would be the worst team in the NFL if not for the existence of the Detroit Lions, and had to come from behind to win. There were a few highlights, sure — some fantastic play from little Leon Washington, and an amazing catch by Coles for the winning touchdown — but the way Brett Favre was playing had me wondering if maybe the Dolphins would give us back Chad Pennington if we asked really, really nicely. The playcalling was also suspect. Last week Thomas Jones ran for almost 160 yards. The Chefs have the worst run defense in the NFL. So what did the Jets do? They came out throwing, throwing, throwing. Sigh. Sometimes I think Mangini gets too clever for his own good.

The Giants’ win over a tough Pittsburgh Steeler team was much more satisfying. Great hard-hitting game between two tough teams that are almost mirror images of each other. If you love defense, as I do, this was a game for you. The Steelers managed to shut down the Giants league-leading three-headed running attack, and stopped them repeatedly inside the ten, forcing them to settle for field goals again and again… but the Giants did at least keep Eli safe, while Big Ben was getting sacked repeatedly and making costly mistakes in the face of the relentless Giants pass rush. Even so, Pittsburgh seemed to have the game in hand until their long-snapper went out of the game with an injury, and his replacement hiked the ball five feet over the punter’s head for a game-tying safety. You could feel the momentum shift then, as the Giants’ offense finally came alive.

So the G-Men are 6-1 and have passed their first big test. Next week, the Cowboys.

As for the Jets… oh, god, next week it’s Buffalo, and the buzzsaw part of the schedule begins. If Brett doesn’t stop throwing to the other team, the rest of the season could be grisly.

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Once upon a time, before robocalls, swiftboating, twenty-four cable news, sound bytes, blogs, and internet fundraising, when pundits did not yet cover the land like locusts, presidential campaigns involved things like torchlight parades, whistlestop tours, buttons, bullhorns, barbeques, straw hats… and theme songs.

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Can you imagine the ridicule if either McCain or Obama rolled out a campaign theme song like this in the present political climate?

It was a different age, truly. But I am the Ancient One, and I remember.

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