Game of Thrones reaches its end, with one or two shocks left

Daenerys has reduced King’s Landing to ashes in a dramatic, heart-stopping episode of Game of Thrones. (AP)
Updated 20 May 2019
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Game of Thrones reaches its end, with one or two shocks left

  • The last episode of the medieval fantasy based on the novels of George R.R. Martin ran roughly an hour and 20 minutes
  • The series had become the cornerstone of HBO’s primetime offerings, but its final season was also its most divisive

Warning: This story contains spoilers for the final episode of “Game of Thrones.”
After eight seasons and 73 episodes, HBO’s long-running smash series, “Game of Thrones,” wrapped up on Sunday, with one more shocking demise and an unlikely character named as king.
The last episode of the medieval fantasy based on the novels of George R.R. Martin ran roughly an hour and 20 minutes to conclude the storyline of more than a dozen characters and intertwining plots.
The fierce competition for the fictional Iron Throne — the seat for the show’s ruler, made of hundreds of swords — ended with a death and an unexpected choice to rule the fictional kingdom of Westeros.
The series had become the cornerstone of HBO’s primetime offerings, but its final season was also its most divisive, with both fans and critics finding specific plot twists, particularly the handling of one primary character, troubling.
HBO says the record-breaking final season drew 43 million viewers on average for each episode in the United States alone, an increase of 10 million over Season 7 in 2017.
Most notable in fans’ criticism was the malevolent turn by Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen, the “Dragon Queen,” who used her dragon to lay waste to the show’s fictional capital after her enemies had surrendered.
The move angered fans, as the episode, titled “The Bells,” now garners the weakest ratings of all episodes in the eight-season run on Rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates critics’ reviews.
Brutal acts by Clarke’s character in previous seasons were similar to those of other leaders, but many viewers saw the decision to kill tens of thousands of innocent people as too drastic, based on her previous actions.
The final episode features her death at the hands of Jon Snow, her lover (and nephew, among numerous incestuous relationships portrayed), played by Kit Harington, who kills her, fearing her tyranny merely mirrors that of predecessors.
Her last living dragon then burns the Iron Throne, melting it down with his fiery breath.
Without a ruler, numerous members of the show’s noble houses eventually make an unexpected choice of king, settling on Brandon Stark, played by Isaac Hempstead Wright.
In the premiere episode in 2011, Brandon was pushed from a high tower, crippling him, but awakening mystical powers that eventually allowed him to see the past and the future.
Some critics viewed the Sunday episode’s choice as odd, since Stark’s abilities implied he foresaw the events, including the deaths of thousands, that would leave him ruler.
“He’s got the whole history of Westeros stockpiled in his head, so how is he going to be able to concentrate on running a kingdom?” wrote Rebecca Patton on Bustle.com.
From its ragged beginnings — its original pilot was never aired, instead undergoing substantial re-shoots and recasting of several characters — the series became a cultural phenomenon.
Its budgets grew, with the last season’s cost running as high as $15 million per episode, Variety says. It also won numerous primetime television Emmy Awards, including three for “Best Drama.”
It became known for unexpected, nerve-wracking moments, including the first season’s death of Eddard Stark, the nobleman played by Sean Bean, highlighted in a marketing campaign, and Season 3’s “Red Wedding,” a massacre in fictional wars that author Martin based on medieval Scottish history.
HBO, owned by AT&T’s WarnerMedia, is already planning a prequel series, set thousands of years earlier, while creators Dan Weiss and David Benioff are scheduled to make the next series of “Star Wars” films.


Moscow bids farewell to late ballet supremo Grigorovich

Updated 11 sec ago
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Moscow bids farewell to late ballet supremo Grigorovich

MOSCOW: Fans paid tribute on Friday in Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre to late ballet supremo Yuri Grigorovich, who died this week at the age of 98.
Born in the Soviet city of Leningrad to a ballet family, Grigorovich’s career — as a dancer and choreographer — spanned 80 years.
For much of it, he was the artistic powerhouse behind the Bolshoi, which he was said to have run with an iron fist.
Grigorovich made his name staging classics such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and The Stone Flower.
The latter was his most famous piece, based on folk tales from the Urals accompanied by composer Sergei Prokofiev’s music.
He then led the Bolshoi between 1964 and 1995.
“This man was a gift from God,” Agnessa Balieva, 78, a former star dancer at the Bolshoi, told AFP when she came to pay tribute to Grigorovich.
The choreographer’s coffin was covered in garlands in front of the stage of the Bolshoi, alongside a large black and white portrait of him, while music from his ballets was played.
“He was a great man, a genius, a legend,” said Ilia Krivov, a 42-year-old former Bolshoi dancer.
He said Grigorovich had elevated male ballet to “an unprecedented level.”
“Grigorovich was the soul of the Bolshoi,” said Svetlana Staris, a journalist and poet, hailing a figure who “revolutionized ballet.”

‘Leap together,’ Kermit the Frog says in commencement address at University of Maryland graduation

Updated 23 May 2025
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‘Leap together,’ Kermit the Frog says in commencement address at University of Maryland graduation

  • Kermit, who was created in 1955 and became the centerpiece of the Muppets franchise, is no stranger to the school
  • Muppets creator Jim Henson graduated from Maryland in 1960 with home economics as his major

COLLEGE PARK, Maryland: Kermit the Frog knows it’s not easy being green — or graduating from college and entering the real world, especially during a time of economic uncertainty and political turmoil.
Members of the University of Maryland’s class of 2025 received their diplomas Thursday evening with sage advice from the amphibious Muppet ringing in their ears.
“As you prepare to take this big leap into real life, here’s a little advice — if you’re willing to listen to a frog,” the beloved Muppet said. “Rather than jumping over someone to get what you want, consider reaching out your hand and taking the leap side by side, because life is better when we leap together.”

 

The university announced in March that Kermit, who was created in 1955 and became the centerpiece of the Muppets franchise, would be this year’s commencement speaker. He is also no stranger to the school.
Muppets creator Jim Henson graduated from Maryland in 1960. A home economics major, he fashioned the original frog puppet from one of his mother’s coats and a Ping-Pong ball cut in half, according to a statement from the university. Henson died in 1990.
A bronze statue of Henson and Kermit sitting on a bench is a well-known feature of the College Park campus.
In a video announcing the speaker pick, Kermit is described as an environmental advocate, a bestselling author, an international superstar and a champion of creativity, kindness and believing in the impossible.
His speaker bio calls him “a star of stage, screen and swamp” whose simple mission is to “sing and dance and make people happy.”
“I am thrilled that our graduates and their families will experience the optimism and insight of the world-renowned Kermit the Frog at such a meaningful time in their lives,” university President Darryll J. Pines said in a statement.


In tune with nature: expert sounds out all of Ireland’s bird species

Updated 23 May 2025
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In tune with nature: expert sounds out all of Ireland’s bird species

  • Some clips show birds mimicking other animals like dogs, people and other bird species

COBH, Ireland: On a mission to record all of Ireland’s bird species, many of which are dying out, Irishman Sean Ronayne calls his unique audio archive a tool to both raise alarm and bring hope.
According to conservation bodies, some 63 percent of Ireland’s birds are currently either red or amber-listed, meaning they are at severe or moderate extinction risk.
“Birds are in trouble in Ireland like they are across the world, the loss of wildlife — sonically and physically — is devastating to me,” said the 37-year-old.
“But I focus on hope and beauty, which is essential,” the ornithologist told AFP at his home near Cobh (pronounced “Cove“) in County Cork.
More than four years into his recording project he has sampled 201 different Irish bird species, stocking over 12,000 audio clips from around the country, Ronayne told AFP.
Just two remain to be documented: the great skua, and red-breasted merganser.
“If people realize just how spectacular wildlife is, there’s no way they would let it disappear, attitudes would change,” Ronayne said.
Ireland may be famed for its green fields, but Ronayne paints a bleak picture — “realistic” he says — of a degraded landscape and a bird population decimated by vanishing habitats.
Most of Ireland comprises intensively farmed fields bounded by trimmed hedgerows, drained and mined peatlands, overgrazed uplands, and minimal native woodland, he told AFP.
Non-native conifer plantations — approximately nine percent of Ireland’s 11 percent forest cover — are also a biodiversity villain, described by Ronayne as “a species-poor industrial cash-crop.”
“I try to show people the beauty of what we’re erasing and what we must stand up and fight for,” said the wildlife expert.
Last year he published an award-winning book, released two albums, and made an acclaimed documentary film. His talk tour is currently selling out venues around Ireland.
“Wildlife sound is such a great engaging tool to connect people to nature itself and get them acquainted with everything that’s on their doorstep,” Ronayne told AFP.
“If you know your neighbor you’re more likely to help them in times of need,” he said.
At the shows Ronayne, who was diagnosed with a form of autism as an adult, presents the story of his life and how nature is woven through it.
He also plays audio of warbles, tweets, trills, screeches and chirps, and mystery sounds, inviting the audience to guess the origin.
Some clips show birds mimicking other animals like dogs, people and other bird species.
“Some species in my collection can mimic 30 to 40 other species in their song,” he said.
Laughter is common at his talks, but also tears and grief as listeners learn of Ireland’s endangered birdlife.


Ronayne regularly holds “dawn chorus” walks, bringing small groups into silent forests far from road noise to experience the birdlife waking up.
A gradually building cacophony of sound, the dawn chorus is “a reflection of the health of a given environment,” he told AFP in an old woodland near his home while waiting for sunrise.
“The more sonically diverse it is, the healthier the habitat is,” he said.
After unpacking his audio recorder, parabolic microphone and tripod, he quickly identified the melodies of song thrushes, robins, blackbirds, goldcrests and others as they greeted the day.
“Chiffchaff! Did you hear that?! There’s a grey wagtail!” he exclaimed, head twitching toward each sound in the lifting gloom.
Ronayne also hides recorders for weeks and even months in remote untouched places where birds congregate.
On Ballycotton beach near Cobh, migrating birds swirled overhead before settling on an adjacent lagoon.
Ronayne carefully placed a waterproof recorder — able to run for up two weeks — in grass by the shore.
“They have to fly right over here to there,” he said pointing upwards at their route.
“After I collect it I’ll be able to monitor the birds, capture their calls, and tell environmental stories from the audio,” he said.
Back home, he scrolled on a computer showing thousands of archived sonogram clips — visual representations of sound — of birdsong audio.
Each entry included data on the behavior, calls and protected status of each bird: many either red or amber.
“First we must realize how wonderful nature is, then how fragile it is, and how much we have kicked it down,” Ronayne told AFP.
“When we as a society fall back in love with nature, and respect it as we once did, beautiful things will happen.”


Disney delays next two Marvel ‘Avengers’ movies

Updated 23 May 2025
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Disney delays next two Marvel ‘Avengers’ movies

  • “Avengers: Doomsday” now will come out on December 18, 2026

LOS ANGELES: Walt Disney’s movie studio has postponed the release of the next two installments in Marvel’s blockbuster “Avengers” series, the company said on Thursday.
“Avengers: Doomsday” now will come out on December 18, 2026, about seven months later than its previous date of May 1. “Doomsday” will bring Robert Downey Jr. back to the franchise as the villain, Doctor Doom.
Disney also moved “Avengers: Secret Wars” to December 17, 2027 from May 2, 2027.
The new schedule was chosen to give the filmmakers more time to complete the superhero movies, which are among the biggest Disney has ever made, a source familiar with the matter said. “Doomsday” is already in production.
“Avengers: Endgame,” released in 2019, is the second-highest grossing movie of all time with $2.8 billion in global ticket sales, behind “Avatar” with $2.9 billion. 


YouTube hires former Disney veteran to oversee sports and media

Updated 23 May 2025
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YouTube hires former Disney veteran to oversee sports and media

  • The platform has also expanded beyond traditional video sharing and into live TV

Alphabet’s YouTube has hired long-time Walt Disney executive Justin Connolly to serve as its global head of media and sports, the company said on Thursday, as the video service pushes further into sports and traditional media.
Connolly will manage the platform’s relationships with major media companies as well as take charge of the company’s growing live-sports portfolio, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The popular video sharing platform has been aggressively pursuing live sports for the past few years, alongside competitors such as Netflix and Amazon, in a bid to take advantage of its massive user base and large sports audience.
YouTube inked a $14 billion NFL streaming deal in 2022, which enables it to stream big football matches, while Amazon and other media firms also rushed to secure big sports streaming deals.
The platform has also expanded beyond traditional video sharing and into live TV, music and podcasts, and generates billions in advertising revenue from its vast content reserves.
Connolly spent over two decades at ESPN and Disney and exited his role as head of platform distribution earlier this week as Disney gears up to launch its ESPN sports streaming platform.