William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II. scene 2:

The monstrous creature Caliban, drunkenly rejoicing that he is now free from Prospero’s domination:

‘Ban, ‘Ban, Cacaliban
Has a new master: get a new man.
Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom,
hey-day, freedom!

How interesting that the supposedly debased Caliban has all the most beautiful lines in the play. Maybe Shakespeare created a character that stepped off the page and reclaimed himself.

Photographs:above: Djimoun Honsou plays Caliban in Julie Taymore’s filmed version of The Tempest (2010); immediately below: Caliban in Michael Smuin’s ballet, The Tempest, produced at Ballet San Jose Silcon Valley (2003). The role is danced by Willie Anderson. Photo by Robert Shomler;   bottom: Caliban the puppet, a character inThe McCarter Theatre’s puppet production of The Tempest (2007), directed by Christopher T. Parks, http://www.mccarter.org.

   The Tempest, Act III, scene 2:

  

   CALIBAN:

    Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,

    Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

    Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments

   Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices

   That, if I then had waked after long sleep,

   Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,

   The clouds methought would open and show riches

   Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,

    I cried to dream again.

You can go to your local bookstore and buy the books, of course. You know, those things that used to be trees? You can also order them through Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and the HBO store, among other online sources.

But do you need that fix RIGHT NOW?      

Amazon will sell you all five books in ebook format, delivered instantaneously to your Kindle.

And so will BarnesandNoble.com if you own a Nook.

The itunes store will sell them to you, too, delivered through your  ibooks app, and they’ll sell you the audiobooks, as well (Amazon,too). You can also download podcasts from itunes featuring the series author, George R. R. Martin, discussing the books and the HBO series, if that’s not enough for you.

If you go to HBO.com, you can order not only the books but the dvds for the first two seasons and a ton of GoT swag: teeshirts, shot glasses, coasters, you name it. If you want to obsessively re-watch the first two seasons, or catch up if you’re coming late to the party, and you want to do it right this very minute, you can use a feature called HBOGo on your ipad or xbox.

I myself have already read all the books and seen all the shows.

What do I want now? What do I want RIGHT NOW? My own working model of that cool map that starts each episode.

Or maybe. . . how about the total cast of the books/shows, created in Legos?

http://indulgy.com/post/knwmV3lPR1/lego-game-of-thrones

According to the blog HBOWatch.com, that’s how long we diehard fans have to wait until we get our next fix, Season 3. Set your digital countdown clocks now, and in the meantime, learn all about it here: http://hbowatch.com/hbo-series-premiere-schedule/

Can’t wait that long? Awww, go read the books! They’re available for Kindle, too.

The big news, of course, is the signing of amazing Irish actor Ciarán Hinds to play Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall. As many avid fans of both the book and the series can attest, Rayder is one of those fascinating secondary characters that populate George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series. Read more about it here: http://litreactor.com/news/ciaran-hinds-cast-as-mance-rayder-in-game-of-thrones

The lucky attendees at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego this July were among the first to learn about the new season opening and the new actors joining the cast. Martin himself led the panel. http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/

I’ve recently finished Book V of the series, and it’s beginning to seem a bit fragmented to me. Nevertheless, the books and the show are populated with some of the most engaging and complex characters of any fantasy series I can think of. There are so many (Mance Rayder, for instance) that I have a hard time deciding on my favorite. I suppose if someone held an arak to my neck and made me pick one, it would have to be Tyrion Lannister, not least because Peter Dinklage brings him to life and makes us love him, even when (especially when!) he is at his most annoying. But I love Arya Stark, too. For a friend of mine, though, it’s Daenerys Targaryen all the way. Who is your favorite?