Top entertainment enterprenuer, chief Miebaka Obuoforibo was full of excitement on Thursday night as V 10 entered the Port Harcourt scene.
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 by Krushnaraj Hudad
Extraordinary individuals have always ended up becoming representatives of something larger, something that resonates with the public's spirit and their culture. Many of them have been nudged to voice political stances, some of them have taken up the mantle to bring social issues to a balance. However, they were all able to affect the public opinion because the fans loved them, people associated certain meaning to their faces, and they represented something greater to the masses. Since they represent multiple ideologies while having a public face, their consistency of opinions is always a subject of mainstream discussions. For example, how the Kardashians make news by just wearing an outfit or adopting a new style. People also mimic their favorite celebrities, many of their opinions depend on this larger-than-life characters. However, what happens when the admiration turns into obsession and people have moral or other standards that they expect their icons to live up to? Since these popular figures enjoy the power to mean something more, what happens when they fall from grace? Too much attraction for someone can be lethal too, and here are the faces that suffered the wrong form of love from their fans. 1. John Lennon To most readers, this would strike as an irony to the points made earlier. John Lennon's demise happened for almost no reason at all. Lennon's death was not because of any hidden provocation or some resistance or a change in ideology. His fans loved him too much to kill him, and The Beatles star was not so notorious to attract the ire of his fans. However, Mark David Chapman shot him on the night of December 9, 1980, for all the unseemly reasons one could imagine. Chapman killed Lennon just to be famous. Since Lennon enjoyed so much fame, Chapman thought he could be famous too, just be killed a popular man. He had no other intention at all, his objective was to get instant fame. Chapman was denied parole for the ninth time in September of 2016. As stated by the Telegraph, Chapman described himself to have "a true sociopathic mind". Chapman had told that he wanted to "shoot [Lennon] so that I [Chapman] could be somebody." he was quoted by the Telegraph. Chapman had shot John Lennon in the door of his home in the Dakota building and is now serving a life sentence at the Wende Correctional Facility without parole. 2. Andres Escobar The times were seeing the Colombian football team with the promise of a World Cup in 1994. The fateful day of June 23rd, Andres Escobar ended up netting his own goal in a match against the United States, which had sealed the defeat for the Colombian outfit by 2-1. Little did Andres Escobar knew that his one mistake would cost much more than his reputation and a short-lived embarrassment. It was not so long after that mishandled dribble, that Escobar was out in a restaurant in his hometown of Medellin that he faced the last of his fans in a heated argument over his own-goal. It was the patrons of the place that riddled Escobar with multiple bullet wounds, with the last words that Escobar heard were "thanks for the own-goal", a report by Independent confirms. Fox News states that the shooter was a gangster by the name of Humberto Munoz Castro, who is said to be a part of a betting ring that had its profits running on the Colombian victory in the World Cup matches against the United States team. Escobar ended up paying with his life for the ugly business side of the sports. 3. Rebecca Schaeffer One of the new faces that was gaining prominence in the late 1980s, Rebecca's death was a shock to the Hollywood. Her murder ended up having a lasting impact on the legal system. The young star of 'My Sister Sam', was only 21 when she was shot down by an obsessed fan on July 18, 1989. The killer, Robert John Bardo was reportedly stalking Shaeffer for three years before killer her, Los Angeles Times confirms. The fan had also sent letters to Schaeffer, who had not responded too positively. Bardo's hired private investigators had acquired Schaeffer's address from California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Bardo reportedly was in possession of a copy of the infamous book Catcher in the Rye on the night of the shooting. The same book, allegedly, had also inspired Mark David Chapman to kill John Lennon, which the killer had revealed later to the parole board. Rebecca Shaeffer's death later led the legislation to make a law that prevented DMV employees from giving out addresses. 4. Rob Knox One of the faces that swims up to the Harry Potter fans when such deaths are mentioned, Knox's story is as inspiring as is tragic. He has played Marcus Belby, the ice-cream lover Ravenclaw in the Harry Potter's sixth installment - The Half-Blood Prince. It was a big role for him at that time, but nobody had anticipated the end of the journey that awaited him. Knox's character had a part in the following installments of the franchise, but who knew that a casual outing night would take a fatal turn for the upstart. Knox was with his brother at one of the pubs in London when an attacker came with a naked knife, calling for a fight. According to a report by the Telegraph, when the attacker Karl Bishop came forward to harm Knox's brother, the young actor stepped in to defend him. A heroic end met Rob Knox, who only 18 years of age. Knox had succumbed to his four knife wounds later that night. 5. Christina Grimmie A rising and refreshing voice, Christina was poised to take the world of music by a storm. She had finished third in a popular reality music show The Voice and was on her way to gaining a lot of love and popularity. Who knows what Grimmie could have achieved in the world of music, but Kevin James Loibl had plans to end that question's relevance altogether. On June 10, 2016, a stunned audience witnessed Loibl killing Christina Grimmie. Click Orlando reports Cory Dennington's description of Loibl: a severe loner who had grown psychotically attached to Grimmies over a year prior to the tragic killing. Loibl, reportedly, used to watch Grimmie's music videos on repeat and also changed his appearance to date Grimmie. When the fanatic thought that he didn't have a chance, he decided that nobody else can have her heart too. After her show, Loibl came up to Grimmie, who was signing autographs. Loibl produced guns that he had hidden from the authorities and shot Grimmie multiple times. By the time Grimmie's brother grabbed him, Loibl had killed himself. 6. Dimebag Darrell One of the performers whose last moments were on a stage. Dimebag was a former Pantera guitarist who had taken up the name Damageplan in 2004. The fan who shot him while he was performing was Nathan Gale, a former US Marine. For some reason, Gale began to believe that he had written a few songs for Pantera. Gale was a loyal Pantera fan who had gone on to claim that Pantera had plagiarized his work and he was going to sue them. Gale was blaming Darrell for the disbanding of Pantera, reports the NY Daily News. When Darrell was performing in Columbus, Ohio, Gale had made his way to the stage and screamed "You broke up Pantera!" before shooting the guitarist and three others. The police had to kill Pantera later in the action. Culled from www.thedailynet.com  Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul and 'greatest singer of all time,' dies at 76
Lyndsey Parker Editor-in-Chief, Music Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul, died Thursday at her Detroit home, the Associated Press reports, surrounded by family and friends. She had been battling various undisclosed illnesses for years, and, in recent weeks, was receiving hospice care. Franklin was 76. As news of her declining health spread over the past few days, visitors including Stevie Wonder and the Rev. Jesse Jackson reportedly paid their respects at her bedside. Beyoncé and Jay-Z dedicated their Monday concert in the Motor City to Franklin, declaring the iconic singer. “We love you,” Beyoncé said, adding a word of thanks for “the beautiful music.” Over the course of her nearly seven-decade career, Franklin established herself as one of the most important artists in music history, winning 18 Grammy Awards, selling more than 75 million records worldwide, becoming the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and recording 112 charted singles on Billboard, thus setting the record for the most charted female artist in the trade magazine’s history. Franklin’s other accolades during her lifetime included three American Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, three NAACP Image Awards, one Golden Globe, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Grammy Legend Award and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, being named 2008’s MusiCares Person of the Year, and honorary degrees from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, and the Berklee College of Music. She performed at Martin Luther King’s memorial service and at the inaugurations of three presidents: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. In 2010, Franklin’s commanding mezzo-soprano voice earned her the No. 1 spot on Rolling Stone’s list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time.” Contributing to that issue, admirer Mary J. Blige wrote, “You know a force from heaven. You know something that God made. And Aretha is a gift from God. When it comes to expressing yourself through song, there is no one who can touch her. She is the reason why women want to sing. Aretha has everything — the power, the technique. She is honest with everything she says.” Franklin was born in Memphis on March 25, 1942. Her family moved to Detroit when she was 5 years old, and her mother, Barbara, died shortly before Franklin’s 10th birthday. Her father, Clarence LaVaughn “C. L.” Franklin, was a famous preacher at Detroit’s New Bethel Baptist Church, and his home was subsequently frequented by celebrity guests like Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, and Mahalia Jackson, the latter of whom pitched in helping to raise Aretha and her siblings after Barbara’s death. It was around that time that a young Franklin began singing solos at New Bethel. Franklin was a mother of two by the time she was 14 years old, giving birth to her first son, Clarence, when she was 12, and welcoming a second son, Edward, two years later. (She gave birth to two other sons, Teddy Richards and Kecalf Cunningham, in 1964 and 1970.) However, young motherhood did not stop Franklin from launching her professional career as a gospel singer at age 14. Managed by her father and signed to J.V.B. Records, she released her first album, Songs of Faith, in 1956. When she turned 18, she shifted to secular music, recording for Columbia Records and charting a few singles on the R&B and pop charts, but major mainstream success mostly eluded her. It was only after Franklin signed to Atlantic Records in 1967 that she had her big breakthrough. In February of that year, Atlantic released “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You),” recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala.; the song became her first top 10 Billboard hit. Two months later, she followed up with her famous cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect,” which went to No. 1 on both the R&B and pop charts. Her first album for Atlantic, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, soon went gold. She capped her amazing 1967 run with the September release of another signature song, her cover of Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” which became another Top 10 hit. By the following year, Franklin had won her first two Grammys and graced the cover of Time magazine. Franklin continued to chart during the early ’70s with Spirit in the Dark, Young, Gifted and Black, and the double-platinum gospel LP Amazing Grace, the most successful album in her discography. Her career began to stall in the late ’70s, but she experienced an upswing after delivering an iconic performance in The Blues Brothers movie and leaving Atlantic to sign with Clive Davis’s Arista Records. She then made a successful crossover to MTV in the ’80s. Her 1985 album, Who’s Zoomin’ Who?, went platinum on the strength of the hits “Freeway of Love,” the Eurythmics collaboration “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves,” and the title track; her 1986 duet with George Michael, “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me,” went to No. 1 in eight countries. After keeping a lower chart profile in the early ’90s. Franklin experienced another career comeback in 1998 with the gold-selling A Rose Is Still a Rose (the title track of which was produced by Lauryn Hill) and with her spectacular “Nessun Dorma” performance at that year’s Grammy Awards, filling in at the last minute for the ailing Luciano Pavarotti; that performance is still widely considered to be one of the greatest Grammy moments of all time. Franklin also participated in the first VH1 Divas special that year. Other historic TV performances Franklin delivered in more recent years included “The Star-Spangled Banner” with Aaron Neville and Dr. John at Super Bowl XL in 2006, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” at President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony in 2009, a medley of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” on The Late Show With David Letterman in 2014, and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” for honoree Carole King, at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2015. In 2010, Franklin canceled several concerts while recovering from an operation to remove a tumor. (Franklin denied reports that her “unspecified illness” was pancreatic cancer.) Over the years she returned to performing sporadically, but she still dropped out of many shows, including her birthday concert this year at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and 2018 appearances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Toronto Jazz Festival. In February 2017, Franklin told Detroit TV station WDIV that she planned to make one more album, with several tracks produced by her old friend Stevie Wonder, before officially retiring to spend more time with her grandchildren — though she hoped to open a nightclub in Detroit where she could occasionally perform. That album has yet to materialize, though in November 2017 she released A Brand New Me, a collection of archival Atlantic Records vocal recordings set to new orchestral arrangements by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. (Another compilation from that era, The Atlantic Singles Collection 1967-1970, is due out Sept. 28.) Franklin gave her final performance on Nov. 7, 2017, at Elton John’s 25th anniversary gala for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York City, at which John declared Franklin the “greatest singer of all time.” However, Franklin’s last public concert took place several months earlier, on Aug. 26, at the Mann Center in Philadelphia. A review of that show in the Philadelphia Inquirer said, “Regardless of advancing years and medical setbacks, Franklin seemed largely undiminished in voice or spirit, even if her exclamations sometimes soared past the limits of her breath. … The extended coda of ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman’ was a showstopper, reminding the enthralled audience that even if she couldn’t quite ascend to the heights of her younger days, Franklin had a gift that was more about wringing profound emotion from a lyric than about vocal gymnastics.” Still, perhaps it was Barack Obama who summed up Franklin’s legacy best, when he beautifully stated in an email to The New Yorker in 2016: “Nobody embodies more fully the connection between the African-American spiritual, the blues, R. & B., rock and roll — the way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope. American history wells up when Aretha sings. That’s why, when she sits down at a piano and sings ‘A Natural Woman,’ she can move me to tears. … because it captures the fullness of the American experience, the view from the bottom as well as the top, the good and the bad, and the possibility of synthesis, reconciliation, transcendence.” Culled from www.yahoo.com  By Susan Osimiri The show took place on the 13th of May, 2018 at the L.A. Kings Hotels and Suites, Stadium Road, Port Harcourt. The event was graced by dignitaries from all walks of life, beautifully dressed and adorned in their different regalia, looking all pretty and handsome. On-Air Personalities, high profile politicians, as well as a good number of performing artistes among others were at the L. A. Kings. It was an opportunity to meet one-on-one with OAPs and other broadcast and movies celebrities. The likes of China Ikwerriman Acheru, and his sports crew from Wish 99.5 FM, Emmanuel Etim from Cool Nigeria Info FM, Lagos, Okon Nya, Ufuoma Egbamuno, Kofi Bartels and MaryAnn from Cool Wazobia Info, Port Harcourt, and a host of others. The show set off at about 6pm with the red carpet which was followed by a chain of symphonic music as the DJ thrilled us with his mix. Not to forget the Entertainment was top notch as we were razz led and dazzled by their performance. Starting from the music down to the comedy skits, we had the likes of Akas Baba, Whokias, Dan the Humorous, Rugged pastor and lots more. I can say for a fact that we were all cracked up and I personally could not stop laughing. They were all so spectacular I actually saw Whokias whine and twist his waist better than most girls. It was really exciting. I went there hoping to have fun and was not disappointed and I’m sure that was the case for everyone present at the book launch. Still on the entertainment, the artistes were so magnificent. I think the best for me was that artistes from the University of Port Harcourt, Dan Dizzle as he literally blew our minds with his free-styled rhymes. He made the rhymes out of nothing some of which made sense others just made us laugh but in all we were all butt- glued to our seats starring at such raw talent indeed that was it. But then we had not seen the man we all came out to see, the reason we were all gathered. He had friends and family from far and near who came to celebrate his masterpiece. Also amongst us were people who knew nothing about him but had heard him on radio once or twice and thought it wise to be part of the celebration. While we were nodding and moving our body to the mix of the DJ, the Master of Rhymes was introduced and welcomed on stage with a standing ovation, looking all handsome and smartly dressed in his suit a radiant spark on his face. “Was it the lights,” I thought ,or maybe the excitement but as he addressed the audience, he shared some heart felt stories from the hood where it all began, then I realized it was his heart that was filled with joy and gratitude that radiated a shimmering glow on his face as he looked down at the full hall that had come out to celebrate him on the day his work was brought to reality. This was followed by a speech from his mother the look on her face spoke a thousand words. She was happy, we were happy he had made us proud. Not just because of his work but because some of us who knew the struggle. There he was, the star of the day, CHUMA NNOLI in whom we are all pleased. A copy of the book was handed to everyone present at the event but the show was not over yet. Chuma surprised us to the very end, he had prepared for us. He made sure we were satisfied as the show was wrapped up with a raffle draw with amazing prizes to be won. Three people won 3 cartons of indomie, a cash price of five thousand naira was given by Chuma and finally, a Fero S500 smartphone was given by one of their sponsors, Callus Miller. And that was where we drew the curtains for the Book of a Hundred Rhymes show. It was over but that day remains evergreen in our hearts as Chuma Nnoli has left his prints on the sands of time, and that cannot be overemphasized nor forgotten in a hurry. Chuma has taken book launch to a different level and dimension as his was off the hook. Kudos to Chuma Nnoli. He nailed it and we can only say the sky is his starting point. ,  Odewole Olusegun
The Big Brother Naija season 3 (BBNaija 3) drama is gradually enveloping. Away from the wedding band spotted on Miracle’s finger, a rumour the housemate’s brother debunked and Tobi becoming the ‘head of house’, the housemates are already coming out of their shell as Khloe, one of the ‘entrepreneur housemates’ is already going braless. Recall that we reported that Khloe aka KokobyKhloe is 24 years old, a fashion designer and single. She loves horror movies and would be a cat, if she were an animal. She reportedly said she wants people to see the real her whilst she is in the House, because she is sometimes misunderstood. She also disclosed that she detests people who lie. Khloe also had a dance with Tobi, in her braless session as housemates sang Tuface’s hit single. Culled from www.kurukonga.com.ng  Edwin Akwudolu
A new pay TV service TVST is already in town and launched on 1st October with lots of people already excited on everything about it. Now there are lots of speculations going on how TSTV services would be delivered and we particularly noticed that many people out there don’t really understand the nature of services that TSTV promise and hence the wrong information been spread across. For example when TSTS talks about pausing of subscriptions, the amount of data that would be actually allotted and what you can do with the data etc. Six things to know about TSTV Today we want to bring to you first-hand information on the 6 things that you should know about the new TSTV pay TV service that is slated for launching later in the day and before you start thinking of getting a TSTV decoder. Without further ado, below are the 6 things you should know about TSTV before launching 1. The N5000 for TSTV initial purchase includes a decoder, a dish and a remote control but excludes any installation service charge. 2. TSTV Pay AS You Go pause service i.e. the ability to pause your subscription when not in use would be available to those that would go for the maximum subscription which is the monthly N3,000 package and you would only be able to pause subscription not more than 7 days, thereby allowing you 37 days at most for your monthly subscription. So don’t expect to use your 1 month subscription from January to December in the name of pausing or expect to user 1 day N200 subscription for 1 month. 3. The first time you buy the decoder is the only time you would be able to enjoy up to 20GB of data as bonus, for subsequent full monthly subscription comes with 10GB of data and not 20GB as some of you might be thinking. 4. TSTV has incorporated its subscription service payments into Quickteller the popular E-payment service in the country and just like DSTV, you would also be able to easily pay for your TSTV subscriptions through Quickteller. 5. You would be able to buy extra 1GB data or above from TSTV at the cost of N300 for 1GB 6. TSTV data allocation has nothing to do with watching of TVST channels but just a separate and additional offer to the entire TSTV concept or better still what you commonly regard as Value Added Service (VAS) Finally, TSTV has launched and its decoder would be available from next week, but don’t expect them to be readily and easily available across the country at this period, for it would take some time for the TSTV decoder and services to spread round the country. Culled from www.highteknology.com  Nigerian media personality Abisola Aiyeola, better known as Bisola will be attending this years UN General Assembly as a ONE ambassador.
Bisola won ONE’s Back to School presentation task during this season reality-show Big Brother Naija. ONE’s #GirlsCount campaign focuses on the importance of girls’ education. The #GirlsCount campaign recognises that globally, 130 million girls are out of school with 51 million of them in Africa. Bisola’s winning presentation called on Nigerian policymakers to prioritise girls’ education. As part of the collaboration between Big Brother Naija and ONE, housemates were asked to put together a presentation based on information and statistics about girls’ education in Nigeria from ONE’s Poverty is Sexist policy report. The aim of the task was to call on the Nigerian Federal and State government to prioritise girls’ education. As part of the task, housemates highlighted the barriers to girls’ education in Nigeria and presented possible solutions to ensuring every girl in Nigeria completes primary and secondary school. In Nigeria, the #GirlsCount Campaign is focused on increasing access and quality education for girls in Nigeria, with an emphasis on girls in Northern Nigeria. Because poverty is sexist, it disproportionately affects women and girls. While globally, there are 130 million girls out of school, in Nigeria there are at least 10.5 million children out of school. In addition, Nigerian girls’ participation rate in education remains lower than boys’ across all levels of education, particularly at senior secondary level. In primary school, 31% of Nigerian girls are out of school compared to 27% of boys. Commenting on the winning presentation, ONE’s Nigeria Director Serah Makka said: “We are proud to have Bisola! Her presentation was very moving as she highlighted the status of girls education. ONE looks forward to working with as we take our Campaign to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week. During the UN General Assembly we will ask Nigerian and other African leaders to make education work for every girl by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4.” All Nigerians and followers of BBNaija across the continent are encouraged to join the campaigns main ambassador Omotola, along with Bonang, Waje, and others by making their voices heard in support educating the girl child, by joining the #GirlsCount campaign. Add your voice by posting a #GirlsCount a video or picture online with a message on girls education. Get creative! Ask your friends and family to take part and help us spread the word by going to www.girlscount.one.org  A privileged Lagosians who rides a G-Wagon vehicle and resides at the highbrow Ikoyi area in the financial hub of Nigeria has lamented on how easy it is to win the hearts of ladies in recent times. A man who claims to be rich has opened up on how he has slept with about 22 girls this year – 2017. According to him, ladies spread their legs with ease due to the size of his bank account. In his letter to a relationship adviser, Joro Olumofin, he is seeking for a lady that is hard to get. This has attracted vicious attacks from female folks on the blog. Read his full story below: culled from www.informationng.com  
Game Of Thrones season 7 episode 6, Beyond the Wall was the penultimate episode of the season and just like the previous seasons, we got a spectacular episode that gave us an amazing battle between the living and the dead.
The episode was visually gratifying and at the same time, it also broke our hearts as we saw Viserion being killed and resurrected by the Night King. The mission to retrieve a Wight was successful but it came at a huge cost and now there are just 2 living Dragons remaining in the world. As usual, there were many references to events that happened in the previous episodes of the series and we will talk about the details that you might have missed in the episode. You can also check the details you might’ve missed in the previous episode, Eastwatch. 1. Mance Rayder reference While on their mission to capture a Wight, Tormund asked Jon about Daenerys and he told Tormund that Daenerys would fight for him only if he bent the knee. Tormund immediately talked about how Mance Rayder was a great man but he refused to bend the knee and let his people die for his pride. This echoes what Daenerys said to Jon Snow inside the cave, during the 4th episode of this season. When Jon refused to bend the knee saying that his people wouldn’t accept her as a ruler, Daenerys told Jon, “Isn’t their survival more important than your pride” These two incidents might have convinced Jon Snow that being stubborn about bending the knee would only harm the people he wants to protect and when Jon finally spoke with Daenerys at the end of the episode, he agreed to bend the knee. It appears that the discussion with Tormund played an important part in Jon taking the decision. Also, during the 5th season, Tormund was Jon’s prisoner and Jon told Tormund that his people should fight together with the Night’s Watch against the White Walkers. Tormund replied that it wasn’t possible as his people would kill him if he ever asked them to team up with the crows and Jon told Tormund, “You are condemning them to death, worse than death because you are too proud to make peace.” However, Tormund wasn’t too stubborn and he kept aside his pride and agreed to convince his people to fight with the Night’s Watch. This moment gives us a glimpse into Tormund’s thought process, as he was willing to keep aside his pride to help his people. 2. Arya was wrong about Sansa for the second time this season During the episode, Arya went on an offensive against Sansa and accused her of betraying her own family. She even spoke about the moment when Ned Stark was killed. She told Sansa, “I remember you standing on that platform with Joffrey and Cersei when they dragged father to the block. I remember the pretty dress you were wearing, I remember the fancy way you did your hair.” However, that wasn’t how things actually happened. When Joffrey gave the order to behead Ned Stark, Sansa couldn’t believe what she just heard and she had to be held back by a member of the Kingsguard as she was trying everything she could do protect her father. However, it’s possible that Arya might’ve missed all that as she immediately rushed towards Ned Stark once Joffrey made the announcement. This is the second time Arya has wrongly judged Sansa in this season. Arya already thinks that Sansa wrote the letter to Robb on her own and now she made it clear that she still felt Sansa was supporting Joffrey when their father was killed and all these misunderstandings are creating a rift between the sisters in this season. 3. Butchered pig in the background While Arya was having the heated argument with Sansa, we could see that she was standing in front of a butchered pig and it reminded us of Mycah from the first season. Mycah was the butcher’s son and he was Arya’s good friend and the Hound murdered him because Sansa took Joffrey‘s side and refused to tell the truth. During the scene, Arya told Sansa, “I didn’t betray our entire family for my beloved Joffrey,” and it’s possible that she was also thinking about Mycah during this scene. 4. Jorah kills the zombie Polar Bear with a Dragonglass weapon The main reason Jon Snow went to Dragonstone was to meet Daenerys and convince her to let him mine the Dragonglass and on Tyrion’s advice, Daenerys gave Jon the permission to mine it. We hardly got to see Jon’s men mining it but in the previous episode when Gendry met Jon, we saw that the work was going on inside the cave and while leaving, Jorah and others kept boxes filled with Dragonglass in the boats. In the latest episode we got to see that Jon’s trip South helped them immensely as they were carrying weapons made out of Dragonglass and when the Wight Polar Bear attacked them, it was getting difficult for everyone to kill it. Beric set it on fire and Tormund attacked it with an axe, but the bear kept on attacking them. It finally fell down when Jorah stabbed it with a Dragonglass dagger. That’s not the only Dragonglass weapon they were using. We saw Tormund using a Dragonglass axe while fighting against the Wights. 5. Daenerys’ matching dress The moment Daenerys received the message that Jon was in trouble, she decided that she was going to fly beyond the Wall with all her Dragons to save everyone and she even paused for a moment to select some matching clothes for the occasion. Daenerys was wearing a White dress with shades of gold and black on it. The choice of colours was interesting as her now dead Dragon, Viserion had cream and gold coloured scales. 6. Parallel with the Battle of the Bastards scene During the latest episode, Jon Snow paused for a moment while fighting against the Wights and he realized that there was no chance of survival and we could hear a slow and sad score playing in the background. This reminded me of the Battle of the Bastards scene where Jon was stuck in a stampede and for a moment it felt as if the battle was lost and he was going to die. There seemed to be no chance of survival and a slow, sad track played in the background. In both the cases, Jon received help from unexpected sources, which helped him survive. During the Battle of the Bastards, the army of the Vale arrived just in time to crush the enemy forces and Jon Snow was saved, while in the latest episode, Daenerys and her Dragons arrived at the last moment and it gave Jon Snow a chance of survival and he did survive in the end. 7. Sansa found Walder Frey’s face After the huge argument between Sansa and Arya, Sansa sneaked into Arya’s room to find the letter that could threaten her position as the leader of the North and she noticed Arya’s bag. When she opened the bag, she found two masks in it and one of the masks seemed familiar, as it belonged to Walder Frey, who Arya killed during season 6 finale. 8. Longclaw’s eyes Fans are losing their minds over the tiny detail about Longclaw in the latest Game of Thrones episode While fighting against the Wights, Jon Snow was tackled by some of them and he fell into the icy lake and Daenerys had no option other than running away, as the Night King was about to throw a spear in their direction. Jon somehow managed to come out of the lake and that’s when something interesting happened. We got to see a closeup of Longclaw and just as Jon came out of the water, the sword seemed to open its eyes. Fans are losing their minds over the tiny detail about Longclaw in the latest Game of Thrones episode This created a lot of confusion among the fans as many believed that Longclaw actually opened its eyes and I even wrote about it and also mentioned why I felt that it wasn’t true. By now, many fans might’ve come across this piece of information but there might be few who are still not aware of this detail and that’s why I am including it in the article. 9. Last time we heard the name Dany, Viserys died Jon did something unexpected once he woke up and saw Daenerys in his cabin. He called her “Dany“, a name that hasn’t been used in the show since the first season. Here’s how the conversation happened. “Thank you, Dany,” said Jon. A surprised Daenerys replied, “Dany? Who was the last person who called me that? I’m not sure, was it my brother? Hmm. Not the company you want to keep.” 9 details you might have missed in Game of Thrones season 7 episode 6: Beyond the Wall Daenerys was right about the last person calling her Dany but it appears that she doesn’t remember her brother’s final words. Just before Viserys was killed by Khal Drogo by pouring molten Gold on his head, he screamed, “Dany please.” What are your thoughts about these details and if you have more details that we didn’t include, do let us know in the comments section. Culled from www.wikiofthrones.com  By Sarah Larson
On last night’s “Game of Thrones,” a North of the Wall-focussed episode that we expected to be snowy, wighty, and grunty, we got all that, and just a smidge more: Khaleesi tears, a swinging-lantern surprise, a knapsack full of gross intrigue. And yet, for some of us, this penultimate episode of the penultimate season of our show of shows underwhelmed; I got reports of a bird flipped at a television in Massachusetts. On the other hand, it’s hard not to love these crazy goofballs. Shall we? We open on snow, snow, and more snow: our gang of fur-clad bravehearts, bareheaded except for Gendry, who wears an amusing hood atop what appears to be a shearling coat. “You ever been North before?” Jon Snow asks. “Never seen snow before!” Gendry says, shivering. Tormund mentions the utility of fucking to keep warm, then, after making a crude joke to Gendry that leaves him wide-eyed, worries to Jon Snow that Gendry isn’t smart. How dare you, sir! The long trudge through the North gives the men lots of time to catch up—there won’t be time for exposition, the writers seem to be reminding us, once the wights start skibbling. They talk of the Dragon Queen, and of everybody’s favorite topic: bending the knee. Jon Snow complains about it; Tormund reminds him that Mance Rayder was too proud to do it. “How many of his people died for his pride?” Tormund says. Gendry squabbles with the Brotherhood guys for selling him to Melisandre—remember the leeches, you bastards? The Hound rolls his eyes. “This one’s been killed six times,” he says, nodding at Beric. “You don’t hear him bitching about it.” Like real brothers! Jon and Jorah catch up about Jeor Mormont and Ned Stark: fathers who lived nobly and died unfairly. This is a manly prelude to a portentous moment: the handing back and forth of Longclaw, Jon Snow’s Valyrian-steel sword. If you, like me, did a little who’s-got-Valyrian-steel refresher before this episode—because Valyrian steel and dragonglass are the only things that can kill White Walkers—you might have been reminded that Jeor gave Jorah’s sword to Jon, who was like a son to him. “Changed the pommel from a bear to a wolf, but it’s still Longclaw,” Jon says, all decency. No, Jon Snow! You are too noble! You need that thing, for chrissakes. “It’s been in your family for centuries,” Jon says. Aw, shucks, Jorah says—but I brought shame upon my house. You take it. May it serve you well. Phew. At Winterfell, Arya, somehow effectively tricked by Littlefinger’s machinations of last week, has grown suspicious and scheming. Arya tells Sansa a story about shooting arrows even though it was against the rules, and their father clapping for her when she hit the bull’s-eye. “I knew that what I was doing was against the rules, but he was smiling, so I knew it wasn’t wrong,” she says. “The rules were wrong.” She’s off to a good start; they think of Dad fondly for a second. “Now he’s dead, killed by the Lannisters, with your help,” she says. Oy! No, Arya, no! Sansa’s eyes widen. “What?!” Arya takes out the scroll she found in Littlefinger’s mattress and reads it melodramatically. It’s the letter that the Lannisters made Sansa send to Robb—remember Robb?—asking him to swear fealty to Joffrey. Standing in front of what appears to be a huge pink slab of meat, they bicker about loyalties and Ned’s execution. Seems like they should have spent more time catching up before this—surely Sansa would have mentioned despising Joffrey at some point? More bickering, hard to believe and harder to enjoy. (You want to be a pretty queen! You should be on your knees thanking me for saving Winterfell! Well, I still hate you! Your suffering sounds like baloney! Etc.) Then Sansa says something sensible: “Do you know how happy Cersei would be right now if she saw us fighting?” To this I might add, do you know how happy Littlefinger would be, too? In fact, he’s probably nestled behind a nearby pole, but for once, the camera doesn’t cut to him doing the old lurk-and-smirk. On the Long Cold Trudge, Tormund and the Hound engage in some sailor talk. At least someone’s got some joie de vivre around here! Tormund says he wants to make babies with Brienne of Tarth. “Great big monsters,” he says. “They’d conquer the world.” The Hound, we can see, is more focussed on the time that Brienne nearly killed him, but he doesn’t get into it. Beric and Jon Snow discuss the Lord of Light, a.k.a. the Great Resurrector, and his mysterious ways. “Death is the enemy,” Beric says. “The enemy always wins, but we still need to fight.” You said it, brother. Up ahead of them, the Hound sees the vision he saw in the fire made real: “A mountain like an arrowhead.” The plot is nearly upon us! In cozier quarters—the regal caves of Dragonstone—Tyrion is staring into the fire, talking about boys with Dany. “Do you know why I like you?” she says. I honestly don’t, he says. “You’re not a hero,” she says. As Tyrion offers evidence about the Mud Gate and his face slash, she continues: heroes do stupid things and they die. She rattles some off—all heroic, most not dead. “Drogo, Jorah, Daario. Even this . . . Jon Snow.” They’re all in love with you, he points out. She scoffs at Jon Snow’s puniness, then asks about Cersei. If Bran wargs this conversation and tells Jon about it, I hope he leaves that part out. Up in Snowsville, things are really getting cooking: a huge blizzard, panting and trudging, and lo—a creature in the distance! Could it be an ice spider? No—before you know what the hell is going on, or why, a bear—a bear the size of a woolly mammoth, with the threadbare fur of an old teddy bear and the eerie shuddering moves of a military-grade robotic dog—is upon them, snarling and snorting and chomping, and being whacked with flaming swords. At Winterfell, just as reasonably, Sansa is confiding in Littlefinger. Her concerns are legit: Now that Arya’s found that scroll and believed the worst, will the Lords of the North have reason to mistrust her as she leads them into the Long Horrible Winter? Why not talk to Bran, all-seeing stiff, or that woeful tree he hangs out with? That thing’s never betrayed you while purring about being in love with you and your late mother. Littlefinger acts like he’s being loyal to both sisters. “Arya’s not like them,” he says. “She would never betray your family.” He suggests that Brienne help—a legitimately good idea. What is he up to? Now we’re scaling Mt. Arrowhead. Jon and Tormund see some bad guys down below: a White Walker, accompanied by wights. The White Walker—tall, with good posture, a balding head, and long white hair and beard—looks like a metal version of Mr. Rosso from “Freaks and Geeks.” Sadly, he is much less chill. Our ragtag troupe attacks from behind, and, after a whole bunch of group fighting, Jon whacks the W.W. and he shatters like glass—Goodbye, Mr. Chips!—and the wights, in turn, crumble, too. Well, not all of them. “[Snarling continues],” as the closed captioning says: in the background, one precious brown-skulled howler howls on. Our heroes look at him, a little bit in love. Could you be the one?, they all think simultaneously, and begin to capture their new friend to bring to Cersei. They’re in too deep to realize the absurdity of this plan now. (As a friend put it, bringing a wight to Cersei would be like bringing some melted glacier water to prove climate change to Trump—that is to say, ineffective. On the other hand, you can’t let glacier water out of a bag and have it run around the office like a psychopath. I’m optimistic!) As they subdue it and put a bag over its head—?—they hear the rumblings of a jillion more wights in the distance. Jon tells Gendry to scram. “Run back to Eastwatch! Get a raven to Daenerys, tell her what’s happened!” he says. I’d be very curious to read that raven’s scroll. Our pals scamper onto thin ice, pursued by the jillion wights. Within seconds the little group is surrounded, à la a certain recent Boston situation, with good guys and bad guys reversed, and minus the gazebo. Meanwhile, Gendry scurries up and down mountains, moving at the speed of late-season “Game of Thrones” everything—in other words, fast. The wights have our boys surrounded, and it’s still just a weird stare-off. Why? I am unclear on wight strategy, but they don’t have brains in those rattling skulls, I guess. Gendry collapses—but he’s right outside the gate! Ser Davos pops out to summon a maester and a pen. So far, so good. And so unlikely, but who cares? Thoros of Myr has not survived all this mishegas. Beric prays for him to the Lord of Light; Jon says to burn his body; they do. The wight thrashes a little in his burlap. Jorah suggests that they kill the walkers and hope that their wights fall, too. Jon disagrees. “Daenerys is our only chance,” he says. Beric suggests killing the Night King, gesturing up at a hill, where the N.K. and some friends are looming icily on horseback. Might that solve this whole shebang? “You don’t understand,” Jon whispers, snow in his hair. Him and me both. Sansa receives an invitation to King’s Landing; inexplicably, she decides to send Brienne of Tarth in her stead. “My lady, I swore an oath to protect you and your sister. If I abandon you—” Brienne says, offering to leave Podrick behind. Nope, Sansa says. You’re outta here. Man, oh, man, it’s not easy being Brienne of Tarth! How do you serve people who make decisions that aren’t in their best interest—decisions you will later have to fix? (Editorial assistants the world over can relate to this.) On the other hand! Sansa’s weird decision will reunite Brienne with Jaime, which I am very pleased about. Let Sansa be in the hoist-petard business: I want to see what happens when Jaime confronts someone he respects again. In the finale, they can wave hello. At Dragonstone, Dany is saddling up the dragons. Tryion is pleading with her not to leave, telling her that she’s the most important person in the world. He’s come a long way since his days of being a drunkard in a basket. Forget it, she tells him: “I’m not doing nothing again!” I’m with you, babe. Our fellows need saving. But Dany—while you’re headed that way, shouldn’t you bring, I don’t know, a ton of dragonglass? Just flap down to the mine on your way! (Where are the storage compartments on a dragon?) As we all know, one of the greatest qualities of White Walkers and wights is their love of pausing, staring, and waiting. Yes, they’ve had the ability to unleash a lot of hurt on our heroes this entire time. Yes, they’ve had some great opportunities. But, like classic Bond villains, or Red John on “The Mentalist,” they’d just as soon lurk maddeningly, forever, torturing us with bad vibes. Back at Battle of the Bastards on Ice, we see that the Hound and Jon Snow & Company are still just staring at the ring of wights, which is, frankly, insane. So is the fact that the Hound, apparently bored, throws a rock at one, and then another; the rock slides, like curling. It’s on, dingbats. Old Flame Sword fires up his flame sword, the wights advance like ants at a picnic, the men brace themselves, and thus commences about an hour and a half of growling and swordplay. Snarling, flames, throaty noises, chopping with a hatchet, whacking, clubbing, Tormund fighting off one thing after another. Meanwhile, I’m checking the wights for disguised members of rock bands, hoping to jazz things up. Somehow, after a while, Jon and his buddies are on a small cliff, and music begins playing, which, along with the slo-mo, makes you wonder if dragons are coming. They are! Dracarys, motherfuckers! Dany looks cute in her army-of-the-dead-fighting dress, too. The dragons breathe fire on everything—careful, you guys, don’t breathe fire on our pals!—and Jon Snow looks up at her. These two are finally hitting it off, I think. But uh-oh. The Night King, who clearly has an ice Qyburn, or is his own ice Qyburn, unsheaths some kind of kryptonite ice javelin. In a beautiful and horrifying shot, he throws it at a dragon—Viserion—and hits him, making him catch fire. (Hang on—what is a dragon’s relationship to fire? He breathes it but doesn’t want to be engulfed by it? This is no time to ask questions, I suppose.) Viserion falls from the sky and slips beneath the ice into the water, and everyone watches in horror. Tormund is wide-eyed; Dany is stricken. Even Drogon looks sad. Jon resumes fighting. He looks up at the Night King, like, You want to mess with my sexy secret aunt’s dragons, asshole? “Go! Go now!” he yells to his fellow-humans, and falls through the ice. Everybody’s underwater these days! Suddenly, our whole crew, sans Jon, is on the dragon—pile on, gang!—and they’re flying off as the Night King throws another spear, which, to be fair, should logically hit them all and basically end this show but does not. They fly off, Dany smiling placidly, and Jorah swinging off the side and then clambering on. (Greyscale, take a look at me now!) Down below, an artful shot of Longclaw the Sword by the edge of Jon’s ice hole, and then Jon, spluttering his way out. Is this the classic be-your-own-Bronn maneuver, where you outwit your foes simply by going for a dip mid-battle, emerging safely before you freeze, drown, or run out of oxygen? I’m really not sure, nor am I sure what his plan is for defeating an unending army of the dead by himself. Advanced glowering? Staring contest? Super-swift swordplay? Luckily, none of this becomes an issue, because in the distance, on horseback, a man gallops up swinging a fiery lantern and clocking wights with it willy-nilly. Well, if it isn’t Uncle Benjen! I forgot about him, but showing up to save the day is his thing, like Big scooping up Carrie in his town car. “Uncle Benjen—how?” Jon sputters. No time to explain that—the season is ending! Take my horse, please! I’ve got this lantern to swing around. I’ll be fine. Around this time, I got a text from a dear friend that said “THIS EPISODE IS SO DUMB I AM DYING.” Fair enough! Dany is watching anxiously for Jon on the Eastwatch ramparts, where Jorah, too noble right now to be jealous, is telling her it’s time to go. Where the hell are they going in such a hurry? But don’t worry, here’s Jon Snow on that horse; two seconds later, they’re caring for him on a boat, and he’s shirtless. Yowza. Dany looks at his flagrantly scarred chest, like, A-ha—I knew he was stabbed to death and brought back from the dead! It seems only to increase her affection. After all of this, you’re probably not expecting that one of the episode’s craziest scenes involves Sansa snooping around in Arya’s room—unless, unlike me, you’d stopped to consider the notion that Arya probably keeps a knapsack full of human faces under her bed. “What are these?” Sansa asks Arya. “My faces,” Arya says. In this episode, Arya has basically started strutting around like a total Jaqen H’ghar—a stringy-haired hotshot enamored with her own freakiness. She makes an irritating speech that she ends with dagger in hand, threatening to cut her sister’s face off. “I wonder what it would feel like to wear those pretty dresses, to be the Lady of Winterfell?” she says. “All I need to find out is your face.” I miss the days of Needle and a little gumption, maybe a pie or two. That unpleasant scene is followed by a vast improvement. Jon, still shirtless, and Dany are talking about the day’s events, over a fur pelt. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, shaking his head. “I’m so sorry.” He takes her hand. “I wish I could take it back. I wish we had never gone.” She shakes her head. “I don’t,” she says, kindly. It’s crazy up North; now she knows. The dragons are the only children she’ll ever have, she says. “We are going to destroy the Night King and his army.” Now she’s invested. “And we’ll do it together. You have my word.” Her eyes are glistening with tears. Emotion, Khaleesi! After all this time! Well, well. He calls her Dany; she laughs; he says, “How about my Queen?” He offers to bend the knee. She protests a bit. This I like—two people not acting like jerks. She cries and says she hopes she deserves it; more tender hand-holding in the fur. “You do,” he says. O.K., I’ve made a decision here: they should have sex. Yes, they’re secretly aunt and nephew, but, hey, I didn’t invent this creeped-out world. Jon makes an expression of fatigue that reminds us of when he was dead on the slab. “You should get some rest,” she says. You know who doesn’t need rest anymore? Viserion the dragon. In the final scene, we’re back in Snowtown, where an unusually well-coördinated army of the dead, standing in lines and lugging chains, is hauling Viserion out of the water like a sedan from a lake. The Night King has a scheme, and I don’t like it one bit. (If only they’d set the rest of Viserion’s body on fire! Benjen really did a sloppy job with that lantern.) In the final moments, Viserion’s eyes open—and they’re as Windex-blue as the Night King’s. Sometimes kids will break your heart. Next week: the season finale. Things might get weird. Sarah Larson is a roving cultural correspondent for newyorker.com. Culled from www.newyorker.com |
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