I dig the nifty packaging it came in too.

I’m kinda wondering: There hasn’t been a feminist rant regarding the HBO premiere of George R.R. Martins A Game of Thrones. Why? Because the TV version changes some things for the worse.

Granted, any book adaption simply has to change things, shorten scenes, leave out some storylines, especially if tackling a big and convoluted work like Martins Song of Ice and Fire. And overall, HBO did a fantastic job: The actors, the mood, the costumes, the sets — it all shows the Westeros I imagined.

But towards the end of the first episode, we get two sex scenes that, hmm, kinda blew it for me. First of all, apparently everyone important in Westeros goes at it doggy style. Even the high-and-mighty arrogant Cersei. Does she want to compensate for something here?

But worst is the first coupling of Khal Drogo and Daenaerys: The book takes several pages to bolster the princesses confidence, to set up the tone that she finally is at a place where she doesn’t have to be afraid. She isn’t just put on that horse, but she rides it out of her free will and with evident pleasure. And later on, during the wedding night, she does the same with the barbarian she was forced to wed, understanding and enjoying the customs of the Dothraki. The result is an empowered and awakened princess Daenaerys.

HBO though just cuts that whole thing down to a few minutes of showing that the Dothraki are really brutal and uncivilized (at one point two men literally fight to the death over the right to continue humping one woman) and then immediately cuts over to how Khal Drogo rapes Daenaerys. Granted, he does it without beating, cursing or anything, but yes, it’s a rape.

Right now, I cannot see how that is supposed to be the foundation of a future career as self-confident and empowered queen. Unless of course, they resort to the age-old mysogynistic path of „every woman secretly wants it anyway“…

So far I always thought Laddie the Wonderdog was a parody of Lassie. Now I wonder if everything I thought to know is wrong: Laddie the Super Dog

If you fail to observe this, the appearance of elder gods may very well be the result. Hence I give you the Unspeakable Vault of Doom (yum, humans!) and..

…Hello Cthulhu. Alas, the latter isn’t updated anymore, but it’s fun nonetheless!

*) This Webcomic Monday is delivered in english because I was too lazy to properly transport that bad mankind pun into german.. sue me.

Ok, invoking Rule 34, here you are...

Happy now?

Bernd is, at least a bit, the geman variant of the „Guy Fawkes Anonymous“. Actually, he’s a living misanthropic tin loaf from childrens TV, but he’s also a synonym for being anonymous in the internet. If you go to Krautchan, the local flavour of 4chan, you’ll see lots of Bernds there.

So, today is Being Bernd Day, which means that we all should strive to be a tiny bit less forthcoming with our private data, a tiny bit more self-conscious about privacy, and thus, of freedom.

Join us, be Bernd today too, and enjoy the irony of a privacy-advocating group joining together on Facebook, of all possible platforms…

Wieder mal via Nerdcore.