The Winds of Winter update

So George RR Martin said to an interview that there is a huge twist that will happen on the Winds of Winter that is not possible to happen in the show because a character is already dead in the show that is still alive in the books.
Possible characters George is hinting to:
1. Myrcella:
According to Maggy the Frog's propechy, "Gold shall be their shrouds, and gold shall be their crowns." In the show, Cersei's two sons did become kings, but not Myrcella. In the books, there is this Dornish plan to wage war against Tommen's rule under the banner of Myrcella. So it's possible for Myrcella to sit on the Iron Throne and be queen for a while.
2. Stannis (the Mannis)
Stannis, although already dead in the show, is still alive in the books. ADWD ended with him readying for war against the Boltons.
3. Osha and Rickon
Osha and Rickon currently settles in Skagos. Ser Davos was supposed to go to him after House Manderly's plea to get Rickon out of there to unseat the Boltons from Winterfell. Maybe Stannis will use Rickon to get the entire North to back him to tip the result of the battle for his winning.
4. Jeyne Westerling
This is a huge deviation from the books: Jeyne, the wife of Robb, didn't go to the Red Wedding and she still have with her Robb's child. Maybe the Lannisters will use her and her child to get Winterfell.
5. Mance Rayder
Mance's survival is a big twist that the showrunners didn't bother to put on the show. He was pretty much still alive in the books for it is not really him that was burned on Castle Black. It was but one of the wildlings that wears Melisandre's necklaces. He is currently in Winterfell in a guise of a musician to rescue "Arya."
6. Ser Barristan Selmy
He's supposed to be one of the POVs for the next book. Maybe he will reveal something about the Targaryen's past.
7. The Bolton Family
One of Old Nan's story is the story of a half-human half-white-walker that lives in the north. There's this huge theory that Roose Bolton is the man in Old Nan's story judging on his appearance: has blue eyes and always looks coldly. Maybe the reason why the Boltons have this culture of skinning people is that they wear them to hide their true form. It fits with another theory on the reason why they really want to have Winterfell: under the crypts is a huge thing (maybe the real Night's King) that will start the winter on Westeros.

'The Lost Hero' Review

This book is trying too hard to say that it is about Roman Mythology, that it is different from the previous series, yet the main gods and goddesses involved are just the same. The chapters are oddly separated; they're most of the time too short. The love story is very conspicuous, and I hate that Riordan didn't even bother to present it in a subtle way.
Everything is too 'in-your-face' like the author thinks his readers are too dumb to understand what he's saying. I think the problem is this: This book is for young adults but the author thinks he's still writing for children. His form of writing didn't change a bit and the choice of words and phrases are too childish, even though he's already targeting a new demographic.

Jon Snow and Ice Dragons

It is the popular belief that "A Song of Ice and Fire" pertains to Jon Snow, because he is a product of a Stark (Ice) and a Targaryen (Fire). But how can we be sure that the title implies that Jon Snow is Azor Ahai or the main protagonist of the story? When you think of it, it could be that the title pertains on how Jon Snow will be the biggest villain in the end of the story; kind of how "Lord of the Rings" pertains to Sauron.

Ice dragons are pretty much hyped in the books and the TV series, because the army of the dead will not stand a chance against Dany's fire dragons. Who is the best candidate to control an ice dragon than Jon, who has dragon's blood and a certain affinity to the cold?

Why The Hobbit felt inferior from The Lord of the Rings

Although there are lots of stuff from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy that Peter Jackson managed to incorporate in his latest Hobbit Trilogy, there are still some that were failed to be included to improve the films. The Hobbit Trilogy successfully mirrored (and most of the time improved) the technicalities of LOTR. The fight scenes are impressive and the visual effects are a lot better. What Jackson failed to integrate in the prequel series is the emotional connection of every character to the audience.

There's a reason why we didn't feel any impact when Thorin or Kili died. It is because we haven't invested our feelings for them. We saw them fighting and altogether venturing their journey of a lifetime, yet we didn't see them interact as much as Sam and Frodo in LOTR. That's why the end result felt cheap and powerless. The little things like Gimli and Legolas's funny moments, Merry and Pippin's filling around, and Sam's monologues about bravery and friendship, let us cultivate the feelings that they implanted in our hearts. Things like these made the movies unforgettable. Neglecting them made the Hobbit series as generic as all of the fantasy films that stemmed out of the The Lord of the Ring's legacy.

Probability and Sherlock Holmes

I was always concerned on how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses probability to justify Sherlock Holmes's evidence in indicting a certain suspect. He always assumes that the more the events there are to imply, the higher the probability for the whole scenario to happen. The truth is actually the opposite. The more uncertain events you're presenting to prove a point, the lower the probability that we get the right conclusion.

For example, if you saw a man with a dirt on his shoe. You could imply from this that the man didn't cleaned his shoe last night. You can imply from this that the man is probably tired last night and doesn't have the time to clean it up. You can imply from this again that he probably have gone to party last night, that's why he didn't get time to clean his shoes. It can go on and on until you land to a conclusion that the man has a dog in his house.

The problem arises when you put implication over another implications. Because you are never sure in every implication, the probability of the whole scenario that the man has a dog will be diminished. To address this problem you need to put another evidence to improve every level of implication. For example you know that it didn't rain morning of that day, then the event of him cleaning his shoe last night will be more probable to happen. Doyle uses this most the time. He puts more evidences in every level of Sherlock's implication. Still, we are uncertain in every conjecture that we devise, no matter what happen, the conclusion that we get that the man has a dog in his house will be more uncertain to happen. It is not the other way around that if we deal with more implications, the higher the certainty for the conclusion to be true, even if you could see that the whole story fits.

The Lord of the Rings re-release

Since The Hobbit film series already ended, are there any plans in re-releasing The Lord of the Rings film series? Kind of what they did with Titanic wherein they re-edit it to be released in 3D. I still remember watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 3D and although the film is not as good as any of the LOTR films, the experience I had watching it is still great, mainly because of how good the 3D-ness was done. Imagine watching the original trilogy in breathtakingly good quality.  It could also gave them opportunity to repolish those effects they did on the original series that are not that good since the technology nowadays is better. I kind of hoping they will thought of releasing it on 2021, the 20 years after they released The Fellowship of the Ring.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child review

Albus Severus is having a hard time being overshadowed by his overly famous father, Harry Potter. In order to create his own name in the wizarding world, he and his friend, Scorpius Malfoy, will embark upon a task to change the past and save a life. Meanwhile, secrets from the past are being unravelled and new dark forces are coming about. The new generation of the wizarding world is again in deep trouble.

The first part of The Cursed Child was really nostalgic. It brings us again to the epilogue of The Deathly Hollows where Albus is first time to ride the Hogwarts Express and is discussing to his father the possibilities of him being sorted to Slytherin. Hogwarts had changed, yet certain customs like sorting students in their respective houses using The Sorting Hat is still present. The entire premise is intelligent and imaginative. Using the time turner to save a life of a deceased character is a great fun to read. It tickles the mind of the readers on some possibilities on what might have happened if Dumbledore's army lost the Battle of Hogwarts. It also lets us meet some of the characters that had passed away in the battle. The new generation of characters are colorful and they didn't drag the whole story down. Scorpius and Albus forms a great tandem that is reminiscent of the book series' trio: Harry, Ron and Hermione.

There some instances that they included plots in the book that is not on par with their universe. Things like the escape from the Hogwarts Express (seriously, that thing is dumb), the quickly made polyjuice potion just to fit the story, and somehow out of the blue conversation about fears of pigeons. I imagine lots of the diehard Harry Potter fans cringing on those scenes. Also, other key characters are not present in the story. Neville Longbottom (my favorite character in the book series) didn't join the old gang. Neville is actually a faculty member of Hogwarts now and most of the plot is in the school, that is why it is hard to understand why they didn't give him any parts of the story.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a  satisfying yet flawed continuation of the beloved franchise. It brings back all the memories we have from the original book series and gives us one last taste of the magic it brought to us, although it doesn't offer more than nostalgia.