Across the Internet: Ryan Lochte, Catching Fire, and The Winds of Winter

The past couple of days have brought some exciting things in the world of the internet, so I'm going to talk about them, because that's the point of me having a blog!

The long saga of Ryan Lochte getting a reality show has finally come to fruition- E! announced on Tuesday at the TCAs that they will be airing a six-episode reality show starting in April titled What Would Ryan Lochte Do?.  I've heard a lot of people making negative comments about the show, saying it's going to be awful and it's going to be a complete failure and paint Ryan in a bad light.  However, I'm of the opposite frame of mind.  

First of all, when has reality television ever painted someone in a good light?  Reality TV is about vaguely scripted drama and generally always makes people think the subjects are idiots.  You don't watch reality television for hard hitting stuff, you watch it because it's hilariously ridiculous and entertaining.  And if Ryan Lochte is trying to pick up girls in front of a camera, I'm pretty sure it will be both ridiculous and entertaining.

It's also going to be a huge promotional boost for the sport of swimming itself- with World Championships in Barcelona this summer, what better way to get people excited for it than a reality show on national television airing a couple months before the championships themselves? People love watching swimming during the Olympics, it would be great if the general public would show the same enthusiasm for the sport during another event.  I'll watch Worlds regardless, but if the show can bring in more fans to the sport, I'm not going to complain.

Today, Entertainment Weekly posted the first official still from Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games, of Katniss Everdeen and Finnick O'Dair on their Facebook page.  

If you haven't read the book (which, if that is you, you need to do so ASAP because in my opinion it is the best of the three), Finnick is another tribute in the 75th Hunger Games, along with Katniss.  The casting of Finnick was a big deal, because he is a main character in both this movie and the next one, Mockingjay, and a lot of people were upset by Sam Claflin's casting.  People will probably still doubt him and complain about him, but after seeing this picture I think he's going to be a great Finnick.  He looks cocky, strong, and very attractive. Katniss looks great, as always (I mean, it's Jennifer Lawrence!), but she's not the reason I immediately made this picture my phone screensaver- Finnick is.

Finally, yesterday George R. R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, posted a new preview chapter of the sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter.  It is from the viewpoint of Arianne Martell, the princess of Dorne and one of my personal favorite characters.  It's difficult to really talk about it without spoiling anything in A Feast For Crows or A Dance With Dragons, because Arianne is a key figure in those two books, but I know a lot of people who would read this haven't read those yet.  I was entertained and intrigued by the chapter, and will definitely have to do a re-read of ADwD before this comes out (though knowing how long it takes GRRM to write these books, I'll definitely have time.)  I'll leave you with this non-spoilery quote:

I was a foolish willful girl, playing at the game of thrones like a drunkard rolling dice.