Westeros

This teaser was solid—some nice images reacquainting ourselves with a number of characters from the first season, and prominently featuring a brand new one in Stannis Baratheon—but it was definitely a tease.

Still, we’ve extracted all the most notable images from the teaser, and have them up at our Previews gallery, with our usual commentary. Most of the comments are quite brief—what’s left to be said, right?—but we do have some thoughts on Stephen Dillane as Stannis, and some guesses as to what scenes are being shown in some cases. Check it out!

Here it is, the newest teaser for season 2 of HBO’s Game of Thrones!

Annotated screencaptures to follow. We’ll post when they’re ready.

A great article by Amy Chozick about how the Dothraki language—created by David J. Peterson—and other created languages are helping make fictional worlds seem more real. Some excellent details from Peterson and others. Favorite part? Peterson recorded translations of various phrases, which provides us the Dothraki pronunciation of Brooklyn and their version of, “Fughedaboutit!”

I’m not ashamed to say it: this parody music video from @WinterSpringPro is rather addictive!

Great work by the duo and their crew. Particularly love the snow-Ghost. Very cute!

The prestigious American Film Institute, which among other things selects ten films and television programs each year for outstanding achievement, has announced this year’s honorees. And, as you might guess, Game of Thrones is a winner!

This year’s honorees were selected by a jury, the full list of which can be found here, but includes producer and writer Steven Boccho, critics James Poniewozik, Maureen Ryan, and Matt Rousch, and more.

Our hearty congratulations to HBO, the cast, and the crew!

Ahead of tonight’s Game of Thrones teaser, the Making Game of Thrones official production site has a new interview with a member of the crew. This time, it’s on-set VFX co-ordinator Niall McEvoy, who worked on the first season of the show as well as this second season (which is due to wrap filming today—the last footage is being shot in Iceland at this very moment).

HBO‘s dropped us a note to let us know that before the finale of Boardwalk Empire on Sunday, there’ll be a brand new teaser for Season 2 of Game of Thrones. The finale airs at 9PM Eastern, so make sure to tune in before that. And if you don’t have HBO? It’ll be online, and we’ll be sure to embed it when it’s available.

Here’s a hint of it, though: the teaser has a title: “Cold Wind”. Brrrr.

Tv.com is running their Best of 2011 awards, and of course Game of Thrones and its actors have taken quite a few places. Here’s the list:

• Best Overall Series of 2011
• Best New Series
• Best Drama Series
• Best Dramatic Actor (Sean Bean)
• Favorite Kid Character (Arya Stark)
• Favorite TV Couple (Khal Drogo & Daenerys Targaryen)
• Biggest Badass (Daenerys Targaryen)

Voting is open for 23 more days, with final results on January 3rd.

EW’s latest issue has hit shelves, with its main feature being their listing of their Entertainers of the Year. We had an inkling of the fact that EW considered George R.R. Martin among that number… and this confirms it, as popular comedic actress Amy Poehler of Parks and Recreation writes about GRRM and the novels, which she’s halfway through at present.

We’ve previously reported on the benefit auction for writer Terri Windling, with contributions of rare and signed items from various authors, artists, and more, including George R.R. Martin. Some more GRRM-related material has come in—including an original piece of art from the Subterranean Press limited edition of A Feast for Crows, drawn and donated by artist Thomas Canty (one of our very favorite artists, BTW!) so we’d thought we’d provide links to all the relevant items to make it easy to find:

• Signed Double Volume Book, Starlady/Fast-Friend
• Signed Graphic Novel, Doorways
• Signed Graphic Novel, Fevre Dream
• Signed Hardback Wild Card Novel, Busted Flush
• Signed Hardcover Wild Card Novel, Inside Straight
• Limited Edition Signed Box Novel, Tuf Voyaging
• Signed OOP Book, Nightflyers
• An Original Illustration From A Feast For Crows By George R.R. Martin, Thomas Canty

There are many, many other things in there, from prints from Alan Lee to signed books by Neil Gaiman, and much more. All for a good cause!

The latest Making Game of Thrones update is out, and it’s a good one, as we see stunt supervisor Paul Herbert discuss the fight scene coordination for this season. Some great shots… including a glimpse of Brienne of Tarth in action! See below for the video:

Those who’ve been waiting patiently for Amazon UK to allow preordering of the Game of Thrones season 1 DVD and BluRay sets have seen their patience rewarded, as the DVD boxset and Blu-Ray boxset are now listed.

Interestingly, while other regional retailers are saying the date is March 19th for the release in the U.K., Amazon itself is pegging it at March 5th. Much like the Amazon US BluRay, the UK BluRay edition come with an exclusive bonus disc, “Creating the Visuals”, which covers VFX for the series. Of course, HBO US has its own bonus disc for direct orders through their store, while we’ve heard another UK retailer, Play.com, is offering an exclusive photobook.

So, pick your poison as far as what bonus exclusive sounds the most interesting to you!

Two august television- and film-producing bodies, the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), have released their shortlists for their annual awards… and Game of Thrones has scored places on both!

No, he’s not become an Elder God, passing through strange aeons. But the conquests continue, nevertheless, and this time it’s TIME’s “Top 10 of Everything 2011” list where he reaches the summits.

A Song of Ice and Fire has taken New York City by storm, A Dance with Dragons has pummeled its way to the top of the Goodreads Choice Awards... and now it’s TIME magazine critic Lev Grossman has named ADwD his top fiction novel of the year.

His colleague James Poneiwozik tries his hand at list-making as well, and has put forward his view of the year’s best television and episodes, and Game of Thrones ranks #5 in his top 10 television programs, with episode 9, “Baelor” taking the #10 spot in Best TV Episodes of the last year. Well-deserved… and I really need to get around to watching Breaking Bad and Justified, it seems.

First he’s named Best Supporting Actor at the Emmys… and now he’s GQ’s Stud of the Year!

We first learned about this last month, but had forgotten to keep an eye out for when they posted the article yesterday. Now it’s up, and it’s rather amusing. As he holds forth on Game of Thrones and his alleged studliness (or lack of same), he’s surrounded by a bevy of models in a rather distracting photoshoot.

Thanks to feistyflo for the reminder about the article.