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Season 7 of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is upon us and with only 7 episodes this season, it’s going by quickly. Get your fix with “Game of Thrones” podcasts.

Whether you are a book and/or television fan of “Game of Thrones,” the likelihood that you can’t get enough of Westeros is high. If you are looking for some insights into the latest episode or want something to enjoy when the season is over, podcasts help to flesh out the world of Westeros created by George R. R. Martin.

7 Game of Thrones Podcasts

1. Podcast Winterfell – A true fan’s podcast, after each new episode of GoT airs, followers get a week of three different shows, including an initial reaction podcast,  a fan call-in show (where you can share your latest theories), and a deeper dive with additional analysis.

2. A Storm of Spoilers – As the title indicates, this podcast may contain spoilers. The Spoilers’ team (made up of Joanna Robinson from “Vanity Fair,” Dave Gonzales of Thrillist.com, and Neil Miller from Film School Rejects) tries their best to present spoilers (and theories) from the George R. R. Martin books, as well as other pop culture sources.

3. Nerdette Recaps Game of Thrones with Peter Sagal – Peter Sagal from NPR’s “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me” joins Greta Johnson and Tricia Bobeda from the Nerdette podcast for a thoroughly entertaining weekly recap of the latest GoT episode.

4. Game of Thrones Coffee Klatch Crew – Hosted by Jason Pistorino and Cristina Lomangino, the self-proclaimed “two dopes that actually put too much time into this cast,”  are the Coffee Klatch Crew. A thoughtful, entertaining, light cast that is the perfect thing to listen to while enjoying your morning cuppa. It’s almost like you are there.

5. Game of Owns – Owns is more than just a podcast about HBO’s GoT series. Hosts Hannah Panek and Zack Luye get super into the GRRM books, as well as hosting special guests from the series and from other podcasts. There is also an impressive archive of over 370 shows.

6. Sistah Speak: Game of Thrones – Sistah Speak is the latest iteration of the Sistahs Entertainment Review (S.E.R.) podcasts. Sistah Speak includes a series of podcasts produced and hosted by Sistah J and Sistah K. The Sistahs get into GoT, as well as “The Walking Dead” and “American Gods” among other pop culture phenomenons.

7. History of Westeros – This GoT podcast is a bit unique in that it is live-streamed and there is a podcast forum so there are plenty of opportunities to get in on the action.

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The post 7 ‘Game of Thrones’ Podcasts To Get Your (Mostly Spoiler-Free) Fix appeared first on EcoSalon.

Be forewarned: There may be dragon’s blood in your skincare.

No, this is not a “Game of Thrones” Season 5 premiere week marketing ploy. Dragon’s blood is an actual skincare ingredient.

We love our anti-aging skincare. Nearly every beauty brand these days includes an anti-aging product or two. Seems we are willing to slather on almost anything in the name of youthful skin from plant oils, to acids, to blood of the dragon.

Ok, it may look like blood and does come from a living thing, though not a mythical beast. Dragon’s blood is the resin from the rattan palm tree, or Daemonorops draco, which grows in Southeast Asia. When the bark is sliced, the sap drips out and looks very much like blood.

The ingredient may be new to us but has a long history of use in the East as a topical treatment, digestive aid, fever reducer, incense, and dye. It is also said to be used in modern witchcraft as an ink in spell writing. Creepy nickname, Harry Potter-esque tree species, and black magic rituals aside, the use of dragon’s blood in cosmetics may be legitimately beneficial.

Dragon’s blood contains natural anti-inflammatory and antibacterial qualities, making it suitable for use in skincare. The ingredient also has a pleasant earthy smell which works well in soaps and lotions. While you aren’t coming across this ingredient every day, it is becoming more popular among creators of anti-aging skincare for its antioxidant and skin protective effects.

If you want to hop on the latest trend since snake serum and try a little blood o’ ye dragon for yourself, you should know it is not that easy to come by. Not that it is so rare, just that most brands touting the whole dragon’s blood hype are using it in name only. Some do contain actual dragon’s blood but also contain synthetic ingredients. I’ve yet to find a completely nontoxic anti-aging product that contains dragon’s blood. You can try it in Soap for Goodness Sake Dragon’s Blood Bar Soap or Zum Rub moisturizer in, um, dragon’s blood scent.

To find the ingredient on a product label, look for: Daemomorops Draco, Jatropha Dioica, Croton Lechleri, or Dragon’s Blood. For all of you DIYers out there, dragon’s blood resin is available for purchase at Mountain Rose Herbs if you feel the urge to concoct your own home brew. And please, if you do, let us know how it goes.

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Image of Dragon’s Blood sap by J. Davis Rorer at Flickr.com, cc

The post Dragon’s Blood: New Miracle Anti-Aging Skincare Ingredient or Spoils of Dragon Slaying? appeared first on EcoSalon.

This week’s Link Love we get a taste of craft beers from around the world, local goes up against organic, now you can drink “Game of Thrones” wine, EcoSalon’s own Fatima Olive and why Apple hates female anatomy.

5 of the best craft beers from around the world. [via Organic Authority]

Is local better than organic? [via Eat Drink Better]

“Game of Thrones” gets its own wine. [via Mashable]

Our own beauty expert Fatima Olive featured in Minnesota Monthly! [via Minnesota Monthly]

Apple won’t engrave what on your computer? [via Jezebel]

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Want rippling abs, heaving bodices and more sex and magic than Vegas? Here’s why you should be watching “The White Queen.”

History has been ruined by the modern age of television—and it is glorious. Sure, there’s the occasional serious historical drama with traumatizing small pox vaccinations and naked Benjamin Franklin in the bath. (Hat tip: HBO’s “John Adams.”) These productions massage our brains like an NPR-podcast, making us smarter by proxy of Laura Linney’s historically-accurate brown teeth.

Then there are other dramas that dress history in chiseled abs, heaving bodices, and more scene-chewing than a badger in a woodshop. Ladies and a few gentlemen, meet “The White Queen.”

Starz’s import from across the pond tells the story of Britain’s War of the Roses, but through the eyes of the womenfolk. A period piece set during the 30-year feud between the House of Plantagenet, there’s lots of magnificent hair, explosive acting, and impeccably-lit sex scenes where proper hygiene is never an issue.

We start off following the life of Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner who married King Edward IV in 1464. Elizabeth was a 27-year-old widow of fertile breeding who once sweet-talked the king under a tree while begging for land rights or something non-bosomy. The King, a cable TV-handsome youth who appreciated a good plea for real estate, was bewitched—possibly literally.

Elizabeth and Edward secretly married, everyone freaked, and power struggles abounded for the next two decades.

Over the ten-episode arc, we follow Elizabeth and Edward, but also Anne Neville (Faye Marsay), the daughter of the “Kingmaker” Warwick, as well Margaret Beaufort (Amanda Hale), who is the mother of the future king, Henry Tudor.

Starz, which just started airing the first episodes, crows that the “The White Queen” is told through these three “different, yet equally relentless women.” But critics haven’t exactly loved the ten-part series, which The New York Times found seriously “not-as” interesting, sharp, compelling, layered or adventurous as HBO’s wildly-successful “Game of Thrones.”

Well, yeah, if you take it seriously. But shall we compare a direwolf to a house cat? We shall not, because we’d miss out on some of the best reasons to watch “The White Queen.”

1. The hair.

Sure, “The White Queen” may not be a cinematic masterpiece to regale the senses. But check out Janet McTeer’s hair. The impeccable McTeer plays Elizabeth’s mother, Jacquetta Woodville, a character who also believes herself to be descended from a river goddess and therefore, magical.

But Jacquetta isn’t the only woman sporting elaborate braids and a bitchy attitude. “The White Queen” is ripe with characters whose lives are ones of “love and lust, seduction and deception, betrayal and murder.” Its Alexis and Krystle all over again, this time in a coronets and combs.

2. The scene chewing.

Sure, “The White Queen” boasts Oscar-nominated names like Janet McTeer and British mainstays like James Frain. McTeer in particular makes you buy what she’s selling, so much so that you feel like you’re watching a completely different production when she steps on screen.

But sans McTeer, it’s acted by lesser-knowns who would be just at home on a CW shoot or sparkling it up as a brooding vampire/wolf/elf. This means you get dialogue like “You will have to wade through blood!” uttered by gorgeous faces that are not only historically-inaccurately washed but probably steam-cleaned and pressed.

The actors are hammy, hilarious, and no one has nightmares after an unexpected red wedding or castration. Everyone wins!

3. The lads.

Beefcake, be thy muse. The White Queen and her co-horts may flash Pilates-sculpted derrieres at will, but their rugged male conspirators are the real draw. It’s like casting hung up a brooding beacon, immediately drawing in every chiseled-jaw Brit with a SAG card.

There’s Anthony Rivers (Ben Lamb), Elizabeth Woodville’s brother, keen in the ways of courtly behavior and political struggles. There’s King Edward IV (Max Irons) a “fierce solider” who follows his heart. Sprinkle in various sculpted Dukes and we have a fantastic medieval Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue.

4. The magic.

Magic. Sex. Seeing. “The White Queen” has it all. Sure, it may be considered (to be read in hushed tones) pagan, but the women of the War of the Roses know how to make life magical when necessary.

Usually, this happens at conveniently-plotted expository moments, like when Elizabeth stares dramatically into a mirror, while a woman covered in blood stares back at her and she thinks it is her own blood.

Or Jacquetta, armed with ominous music, mysteriously knows that the Duchess Cecily, mother of Edward IV, is a common whore who lay with an archer and cuckolded her husband. But how does she know this?

5. The sexy sex.

Want more skin and moans? Then be sure to stay on the revolutionary side of the Atlantic, because the Starz version has a lot more bang for your buck.

As Kind Edward (Max Irons) himself told the Metro via The Daily Beast, “You get a lot more arse in the Starz version—the cameras kept rolling after the BBC stopped the scene.”

(See also: “tastefully shot but historically dubious soft-core porn.”)

“The White Queen” airs Saturdays at 9pm on Starz. You can watch the first episode free online.

Photos courtesy of Starz.

For further reading:
Women on Film: Daenerys Targaryen Shows Us Strength

Best Braid Hairstyles for Grown-Up Girls

Follow Katherine on Twitter @KathieButler 

The post 5 Sexy Reasons to Watch ‘The White Queen’ appeared first on EcoSalon.

The best of EcoSalon’s stories this week.

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Did you know the remarkable story behind Burt’s Bees – the good and the bad?

If you’ve been watching HBO’s Game of Thrones, you’ll know that Daenerys Targaryen is one tough cookie. In the words of the actress who plays her, Emilia Clarke, “she’s an incredibly strong and powerful woman who doesn’t come into her own until much later on.” (So keep watching!)

Being a foodie is all too often equated with being a snob – and Anna Brones is keen to point out that it’s not all heaps of succulent decadence. Sometimes, simple really is best (as long as it tastes good, of course).

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Daenerys Targaryen of Game of Thrones shows us how to lead (through fire).

Life is difficult on most levels and tedious on others. Joy and sorrow waltz about as our close companions on this planet, tricking out each moment with happiness, sadness, or simple ambivalence. We are generally left vacillating between emotions to experience to more emotions. And in the meantime, we can be left feeling a bit spent inside.

Enter cinema and an epic scene which can fill you with inspiration all over again. Here is such a moment from HBO’s Game of Thrones, based on the novels by George R.R. Martin. (Warning: NSFW.)

Watching Emilia Clarke’s turn as Daenerys Targaryen in the epic historical fantasy is a bolt of lightning out of the blue. When we first meet Daenerys, she’s timid, persecuted, and unsure of her place in a world of exile. By the end, she’s an incredibly powerful dragon princess. And vengeful – for all those unfamiliar with the series, the woman Daenerys binds to her husband’s funeral pyre is responsible for his death.

Daenerys comes from the world of George R.R. Martin, who wrote several epic volumes of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, including the first, Game of Thrones. In the seven kingdoms of Westeros, the Lannister and Stark families battle for power. It’s a world of magic, menace and a myriad of character plots. Our dragon princess is but one of many faces in Westeros – but to many fans, she’s the favorite. As Clarke spoke of her character, “She’s an incredibly strong and powerful woman who doesn’t come into her own until much later on.”

In our world, where life can tear at you like a pack of dire wolves, she’s an inspiration.

HBO’s Game of Thrones: Season Two premieres April 1, 2012. In the meantime, you can learn more about Daenerys here.

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