At 'Game of Thrones' premiere, nerds can identify
And asked why he really was behind the rope line at the event -- when everyone making their way down the line to talk to the assembled press gaggle was either a member of the cast or a producer -- Newmark simply said, "I'm just wandering around. A nerd's got to do what a nerd's got to do."It was only after he walked away that it occurred to me that I had missed my one opportunity to ask the founder of Craigslist what a personals ad in Craigslist Westeros would be like. I'm sure the words "smoking hot," "heir to the throne," "skilled with swords," and "dragon-friendly" would be part of it.Speaking of geeks, or nerds, though, it was interesting to note some of the cast members' opinions on the fact that "Game of Thrones" has a significant following among the tech set. Actor Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, said he thinks it might be because one thing about geeks is that they "love escapism and they love fantasy." Executive producer D.B. Weiss said he thought it might have something to do with the fact that "people in the tech world can handle complexity," and "Game of Thrones" is nothing if not complex. I dare anyone who hasn't read and then re-read the books or seen the first two seasons multiple times to intelligently recap the story so far and keep it all straight. This is, after all, a show with one of the largest casts in television history, we were told.CNET's Brian Tong takes a picture of George R. R. Martin, the writer of the 'Game of Thrones' novels, and an executive producer on the HBO adaptation of the books.Daniel Terdiman/CNETSadly, HBO brought out only eight of the show's actors to the San Francisco screening of the season three premiere (which will show on HBO starting March 31, and which fans are no doubt going to love), and favorites like Dinklage, Emilia Clarke (who plays Daenerys Targaryen), and Lena Heady (who plays Cersei Lannister) were absent. Still, "Game of Thrones" poster boy Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Rose Leslie (Ygritte), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell) and Harington were there.I wondered if Harington uses Twitter, but he said no. Mirroring a common belief that Twitter is simply a place for telling the world what you're up to, he said, "I talk about myself enough, to be honest, doing things like this. And I think if I spent my spare time writing about myself to the world, then I think I'd go crazy."I also wanted the opinion of some involved with the show about the fact that on the one hand, so many people are cutting the cord these days, refusing to pay for television service at all, let alone for premium channels like HBO, and that on the other, keeping up-to-date with a show like "Game of Thrones" requires access to the service. Harington and Martin both noted that the show is currently the world's most-pirated. HBO probably has mixed feelings about that, given that it's losing potential revenue, but that it's gaining an audience.Martin added that it's important to remember that any show on HBO, no matter how successful, has a smaller audience than the broadcast shows he worked on in the 1980s, when people had far fewer entertainment options. "We're moving into an era when we have so many choices," Martin said, mentioning cable channels, Netflix, and original Web programming. "So I don't know what's going to become of it. I leave that to the guys with the suits. I'm just telling my stories." San Francisco was treated to a screening of the 'Game of Thrones' Season three premiere Wednesday night.Daniel Terdiman/CNET
