Game of Thrones, Season 5 product showcase: Get Your Drink On

In my continued attempt to cover cool products related to HBO's GAME OF THRONES adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, let's act civilized and have a drink. And if you're a fan, there are some very cool products available now.

Also, as shown here, available from Calhoun Sportswear, are the house banners from GoT, so you can show your Stark or Baratheon, or other affiliation. Many of the popular houses are available. The banners run 30 by 50 inches, and have three grommet holes so you can hang wherever you please.

When at the HBO headquarters on April 13, for the product review, there were many cool items on display. Here are a few related to Dornish wines, and the like.

And on to the drinks accouterments table, where featured were various glasses, steins, coasters and wine stoppers. See detailed photos below, there are so many great gift ideas for your banner-men. 

The table display of most, if not all of the "barware" which included mugs, pint glasses, coasters and other collectables for those with the drinking appetites of King Robert, or perhaps Tyrion.

A coaster set from Dark Horse features the bold house sigils, a crowd pleaser for Sunday night GoT viewings. They add a hint of color and affiliation to any gathering with drinks. Not pictured are wax seal coasters available from Think Geek, inspired by the gratuitous wax stamping which runs rampant on the show. 

 The large stein mugs with sigil and house slogans are a favorite, whether you decide to actually drink out of them, or use them to hold the pens on your desk. They are a statement piece, even the Greyjoys get their moment, although I am particular to House Baratheon. They do have the best slogan of all the families. They just do.

I wouldn't have put the House Lannister pint glass front and center, but perhaps this is Casterly Rock we're looking at here. Anyway, a good pint glass or set of them goes a long way.

And last but not least, and perhaps the best photo I took that day, are the Dragon Egg wine stoppers from Olga Ganoudis. The eggs reflect the very ones given to Daenerys on her wedding day, and go a long way in stopping your wine from spoiling.

There you have it, more next time on jewelry, I think. I will check through my remaining photos, and see what we have next. Then after all of this, I'll get back to the books. And maybe a notebook feature as well.

Game of Thrones Season 5 Product Showcase, part 1: Upcoming Game of Thrones Monopoly Set

Greetings to all fans of HBO's amazing GAME OF THRONES series, meticulously adapted from the spectacular book series by George R.R. Martin. After tuning in to the first new episode on Sunday, I know that fans around the globe just can't get enough of Westeros and the amazing action that takes place there.

As a blogger who talks about books and popular culture, I was thrilled when I was invited to the HBO offices in midtown Manhattan to see the collection of upcoming licensed products tied to the HBO series, and they had many of the current and coming soon products on display. I plan to post a few times to focus on each of the product categories, but felt the premiere post should feature the new GoT Monopoly set which will be coming next month, in May, and which looks amazing.

All products are or will be available the online HBO shop in the US (store.hbo.com) and EU (hboshopeu.com), and the HBO shop in NYC on 6th Avenue & 42nd Street, and at retail outlets around the world. Get them while you can.

Here are a few product pictures of the upcoming Game of Thrones Monopoly set coming in May 2015. There are some very cool game pieces, which I've tried to get a few close ups of, see pictures below.

Stay tuned for more in the following days. 

The complete Game of Thrones Monopoly board with other gaming products lined up on the left and back. It looks like a very cool set.

A close-up of the game board reveals map details, some of the space details, such as Luxury Tax's aptly named, "Master of Coin" and hot (although dangerous) property "The Iron Throne"

In this second close-up photo shows the star of the game pieces, the Stark direwolf game piece. There's also a raven, an Iron Throne, a Dragon Egg, a crown and the last figure I can't quite make out but could be Dany or another character.

Stay tuned for more posts about other items at the showcase, such as GoT jewelry, home decor, house pennants, adult beverage items and more.

Jay of House Baratheon
Ours is the Fury

Disclosure: Although this blog is personal and all books selected and all topics are my own choice and reflect my personal opinions, I must mention that in my day job, I work at DK Publishing, and imprint of Penguin Random House, which also happens to be the parent company which publishes GRRM's books.

Hitting neutral in the tail of a commet...INTERSTELLAR

Finally rented INTERSTELLAR on Saturday night, and wow... just wow. The intense science of it: the relativity, time loops, hibernation sleep, the singularities, all of it is swirling in my head as if I was thrust into a black hole, floating aimlessly into the unknown. 

The film opened up so many possibilities, so many questions, and again I was very impressed by Christopher Nolan. The man makes a heck of a film. I do love a movie or book that you can't stop talking about after finishing it. My wife and I have talked more about science in the past few days than we have in some time. I can't seem to get it out of my head. 

It felt very apt that INTERSTELLAR was the next thing I posted about after finishing reading THE MARTIAN last month. There have been very strong space travel books and films of late, and I'm currently really into reading about this stuff.

In the coming weeks I look forward to posting about Ernest Cline's upcoming second novel, wonderfully titled, ARMADA. I'll just mention it now, with a detailed post coming soon, but what a ride it is... there is so much to say about it.

I leave you with this promotional poster for INTERSTELLAR, watching as an astronaut floats toward a black hole in the warping planet-scape, a surreal visual that I just love. Right up there with the space art I talked about recently when reviewing THE ART OF SPACE by Ron Miller a while back.

Go boldly...