Season 5 of "Game of Thrones" premieres on Sunday, April 12 at 9PM ET on HBO. To get you ready for the big event, we put together an economic update of the Seven Kingdoms through season 4 of the HBO show. The analysis is based on information from the TV show and the books.

Produced by Sara Silverstein and Alex Kuzoian. Additional Illustrations by Mike Nudelman.

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For over ten years, records show the Church of Scientology has had one man lobbying Congress on its behalf.

According to House of Representatives and US Senate disclosure reports, the controversial religious group has paid over $1 million to Greg Mitchell to lead its lobbying efforts since 2003.

No other lobbyist has reported working for the church during this period.

A spokesperson for the Church said Mitchell's lobbying work is "aligned to our broad humanitarian social initiatives."

In his disclosure reports, Mitchell provided extensive details about his lobbying for Scientology. These records show he has focused on several areas for the church — pursuing federal funding for Scientology's educational programs and disaster relief efforts, promoting efforts to help prisoners re-enter society, working to promote programs to help religious workers immigrate to the US, and working to make "international religious freedom" a priority for the government. 

In a conversation with Business Insider on Wednesday, Mitchell said his work on "religious freedom" is currently the main focus of his lobbying for the church. This work often involves working with other religious organizations to encourage the US to put pressure on foreign countries that are persecuting religious groups. 

"The US government ... they already do raise these issues with all these countries," Mitchell said. "So, I work with like all the different faiths in order to keep working with the US government to get them to make it a higher priority." 

Mitchell said his efforts to pursue federal funding were limited to a few specific instances. He characterized his work on immigration issues as a "secondary thing" and said his work on prisoner re-entry mostly occurred during the early period he lobbied on Scientology's behalf.

Mitchell explained that his efforts to promote prisoner re-entry were conducted in conjunction with Scientology's rehabilitation programs for criminals and drug abusers, Narconon and Criminon. 

Mitchell is the founder and chief executive officer of The Mitchell Firm. He is a member of the church and has been lobbying on its behalf since 2003.

"I have friends who are in it and they're the ones who really introduced me to it," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the church approached him to lead its lobbying efforts because of his personal belief in Scientology programs.

"That's really why they asked me to represent them. I did it because I believe in the programs," said Mitchell.Along with support for "their reform programs like Criminon," Mitchell said he appreciates the way Scientology works with and for other groups to support religious freedom internationally. He characterized this as a "multi faith approach." 

Mitchell entered the political arena as a college senior in California where he worked for former Rep. Carlos Moorhead (R-California) beginning as an intern. He went on to serve as chief of staff for former Rep. James Rogan (R-California), both when Rogan led the California State Assembly and during his time in Congress. Mitchell began working as a campaign consultant in 2000 and started his firm in 2003. 

His company site features pictures of Mitchell posing with politicians including former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton. It also touts his "political instincts gained from vast experience organizing grassroots efforts, managing successful political campaigns, and getting bipartisan legislation passed and signed into law."

Along with the Church of Scientology, Mitchell has represented other clients including the American Civil Liberties Union, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, and the Open Society Policy Center. He said his work with these other groups has also focused on prison reform and religious freedom. 

Scientology has been in the spotlight in recent weeks following the release of the HBO documentary "Going Clear" last month. The detailed various allegations that have been leveled against the church by critics including that it bilks followers out of money and has subjected them to physical abuse. Scientology has issued extensive and detailed rebuttals denying many of the claims made in "Going Clear."

One critic who appeared in "Going Clear" is Mike Rinder, a former high-ranking Scientology executive who left the church in 2007. The church has also released lengthy statements questioning Rinder's motives and credibility. In a conversation with Business Insider, Rinder said that he was "not familiar" with Mitchell.

"Back in my day, the lobbying in Washington was really done through Hill & Knowlton," Rinder said.

However, Rinder said foreign religious persecution was still the main focus of the church's lobbying efforts before Mitchell began leading the operation. He connected this to what he described as the church's belief its members were being mistreated in foreign countries where it has expanded over the years.

"What they primarily were dealing with was human rights violations, the persecution of Scientologists in Germany and France, or trying to get the State Department in the US to act to curtail what the church believed were abuses of its parishioners in those foreign countries," Rinder explained. 

According to Bloomberg, Hill & Knowlton "resigned the Church of Scientology account" in 1991 after some of the company's clients in the pharmaceutical industry complained due to the religion's efforts campaigns against psychiatric drugs.

Mitchell's work for the church has included lobbying members of Congress and President Barack Obama's White House transition team. According to Mitchell, officials in Washington have largely been "accepting" of him as he has represented Scientology in spite of the fact the church has been controversial. He attributed this to the fact many of Scientology's lobbying efforts have been conducted in conjunction with other religious groups.

"They're accepting because it's really about the issues and not the client. I do issue and cause-based lobbying. And all the issues I work on are issues that they are interested in also," Mitchell said of the officials he has encountered while working for Scientology, adding,  "I do a lot of my lobbying in coalitions. ... When I did meetings with the Obama transition team, I was there shoulder-to-shoulder with representatives of other faiths."

SEE ALSO: 13 celebrities who left Scientology

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NOW WATCH: What the Chinese saying 'The ugly wife is a treasure at home' actually means

At first it seems like a fluke — a 2-year-old playing with the knobs and buttons of a sophisticated music system. Yet, the pint size boy is in control of the beat of the bass-heavy house music. He is South Africa's youngest disc jockey, DJ AJ.

At a shopping mall appearance, a crowd gathers around the young boy as he bops his head to the beat, his large headphones slipping off. Adults whip out their cellphones to capture the moment while children just stare.

Oratilwe Hlongwane is still learning to put together words but the toddler is already able to select and play music from a laptop and has become a viral phenomenon on South Africa's social media.

His mother, Refiloe Marumo, credits his father's decision to buy an iPad for his then unborn son.

Glen Hlongwane planned to download educational apps to speed up his child's education.

Hlongwane, a gymnastics coach and aspiring DJ, also downloaded a disc jockeying app for himself.

At about a year old, DJ AJ learned how to manipulate the gadget. Not satisfied with number recognition games, he began to fiddle with his father's DJ app.

"Whatever he was doing with the mixer, turning the knobs, the timing of him doing what he was doing was like so good and he knew where the effect button was and he was fading in and fading out," his father told CCTV Africa.

The parents were blown away when their son, still in diapers, repeated what he had learned on the app on actual DJ equipment, playing with sound effects and bouncing between songs. A cellphone video of him playing went viral and now DJ AJ has nearly 25,000 Facebook fans.

His newfound fame has brought special appearances and sponsorship deals many older DJs dream of.

But celebrity has also brought some criticism as some accused his parents of abuse and profiting from their child's precocious ability.

"I'm not going to exploit my kid," said his father. DJ AJ's parents will not allow him to play in clubs or at parties.

Hlongwane and Marumo are adamant that they will not force their son to be a DJ when he grows up, but say they believe his affinity for electronic equipment will probably decide his future.

Hongwane said: "I can see a future Bill Gates here."

Here is a video of DJ AJ:

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NOW WATCH: This is what happens to your brain and body when you check your phone before bed

Gwyneth Paltrow is living off of food stamps for a week as part of Mario Batali's "Food Bank Challenge," where people are invited to limit their family's food budget to $31 per week — around $1.38 per meal.

Paltrow, Hollywood actress and founder of lifestyle curation site GOOP, has often been criticized as being "rich and oblivious," (her holiday gift guide once suggested a $995 cashmere throw blanket).

She posted her grocery haul this week on Twitter, which totaled $29.

But some folks on Twitter weren't impressed with Paltrow's attempt to join the commoners for a week's worth of food shopping.

The Telegraph discussed Paltrow's food stamp challenge in an article titled "No Gwyneth, busy mothers can't live on lettuce, limes, and beans," pointing out that "Ms Paltrow's selection of green vegetables meant she would be consuming fewer than 1000 calories a day – that is about half what the NHS recommends for a healthy, balanced diet."

“Nutritionally speaking, this is a vitamin bonanza,” Writer Rebecca Vipond Brink explained on The Frisky.“But people who live on [food stamps] don’t just have to get nutrients, they have to get actual calories, because they tend to have very physical lives, doing service labour and taking care of children and not necessarily being able to afford a car and so forth.”

Here's Vipond's idea of a more respectable shopping list on a $29 budget— items like peanut butter, oatmeal, potatoes, and frozen chicken breasts all made that list.

But Vipond understands that a healthier $29 shopping cart haul isn't necessarily accessible for the 46 million American families living on SNAP (food stamps) and those who don't live in walking or driving distance to a grocery store. Instead, they take advantage of the food that's close and convenient — mostly fast food restaurants that offer a lot of food for a low price.

But if the point is not for Paltrow to live on lettuce and rice for a week, but instead to get people talking about the millions of people who struggle to access affordable and healthy food, then maybe it's working.

SEE ALSO: Another horrifying but misleading Vine is going viral — here's what's really going on

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NOW WATCH: This is what happens to your brain and body when you check your phone before bed

We unboxed and assembled a Lego TIE Fighter to see if it looks like the real thing. 

Produced by Joe Avella

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NOW WATCH: This massive outdoor escalator in China is 10 stories high

HBO's hilarious comedy 'Silicon Valley' starts up again on Sunday. Back in February HBO released the first promo video for the second season of “Silicon Valley.” It’s a short one minute clip, but it looks funnier than ever.

“Silicon Valley” is an HBO show that portrays the life of a first-time startup founder who turned down massive buy-out offers to build a sustainable business.

Billionaire venture capitalist Mac Andreessen once called it the tech industry's first “accurate satire.” Star TJ Miller was recently invited to host the Crunchies, a tech industry awards show, where he took potshots at audience members, including a long exchange with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's girlfriend, Gabi Holzwarth.

SEE ALSO: Tech awards host made fun of Uber CEO's girlfriend for a cringeworthy 10 minutes

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This weekend, Netflix launched its highly anticipated original series of Marvel's "Daredevil."

It's an amazing show. Gritty, well-acted, and done with an incredible amount of intelligence and fun. It's the kind of superhero show that is perfect for 2015. Before Christopher Nolan launched his fascinatingly dark Batman trilogy, a show with this kind of grit wouldn't have fared as well. But now, the way has been paved for "Daredevil" to be a huge success for Netflix.

The show follows a man named Matt Murdock. Murdock was blinded as a young boy and as a result of the event, his other senses were boosted to superhuman levels. For example, Murdock can tell if people are lying by hearing the sound of their heartbeat. Murdock is a lawyer by day and a blind, crime-fighting superhero at night.

Part of the grit of this series is the violence. There is a lot of violence. In fact, at times I've had to turn away from the television "Game of Thrones" style to dodge the inevitable cringing from broken limbs and spurting blood. But this is all part of the show's dark charm.

Another part is the amazing innovation in the fight scenes.

The most notable of these is at the end of the second episode where Murdock, decked out in rugged black costume and mask, takes on a mob of Russians in an attempt to save a kidnapped little boy.

It's an amazing scene done in a single shot. That means the camera never cuts away.

Philip J. Silvera is the stunt coordinator for the show. He recently spoke with The Observer about that scene, and described what it was like to choreograph a single shot fight sequence for a blind and very injured superhero.

... a good amount of planning had to go into it but again, we had such a short amount of time to do that planning. We had maybe a few days to set up that fight. You know, most feature films would get weeks to rehearse something like this. Even the remake of Oldboy probably had at least a couple weeks to plan this. We had literally days. I felt like the New York stunt community stepped up in a big way. To me, it’s going to be a highlight of the show.

There is plenty more great stuff in this interview with Silvera, you can read the whole thing at The Observer here >>

SEE ALSO: Netflix's 'Daredevil' is extraordinarily good

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NOW WATCH: Netflix's new 'Daredevil' show looks way better than Ben Affleck's version of the superhero

There are currently five “Game of Thrones” books with a few more in the works. However, author George R.R. Martin’s original plan was for the series to be a trilogy. 

Redditor TheNextRobin noticed a tweet from UK bookseller Waterstones which contained three photos of a 1993 letter Martin wrote outlining the entire series. The tweet has since been deleted, but not before the images made it to the Internet. 

Variety first picked up on the Reddit post. 

While the letters detail many differences that never ended up occurring in the books and show. The biggest real is the five characters who survive at the end of the entire book series.  

Of course, this could have changed by now, but back in ’93 here’s who Martin listed as surviving “Game of Thrones”: *spoilers* Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark, Jon Snow, Bran Stark, and Tyrion Lannister. *spoilers* 

Here are the letters below. 

So you don’t need to squint, I’ve included a typed out transcript of the three letters. There are some omissions because of giant glare marks on the letters. One of the last paragraphs is also blacked out. There are big spoilers below for those who haven't read the books or watched the shows.

First, the images:

Dear Ralph,

Here are the first thirteen chapters (170 pages) of the high fantasy novel I promised you, which I'm calling A Game of Thrones. When completed, this will be the first volume in what I see as an epic trilogy with the overall title, A Song of Ice and Fire. 

As you know, I don't outline my novels. I find that if I know exactly where a book is going, I lose all interest in writing it. I do, however, have some strong notions as to the overall structure of the story I'm telling, and the eventual fate of many of the principle characters in the drama. Roughly speaking, there are three major conflicts set in motion in the chapters enclosed. These will form the major plot threads of the trilogy, [unclear] each other in what should be a complex but exciting (I hope [unclear] tapestry. Each of the [unclear] presents a major threat [unclear] of my imaginary realm, the Seven Kingdoms, and to the live [unclear] principal characters.

The first threat grows from the emnity between the great houses of Lannister and Stark as it plays out in a cycle of plot, counterplot, ambition, murder, and revenge, with the iron throne of the Seven Kingdoms as the ultimate prize. This will form the backbone of the first volume of the trilogy, A Game of Thrones.

While the lion of Lannister and the direwolf of Stark snarl and scrap, however, a second and greater threat takes shape across the narrow sea, where the Dothraki horselords mass their barbarian hordes for a great invasion of the Seven Kingdoms, led by the fierce and beautiful Daenerys Stormborn, the last of the Targaryen dragonlords. The Dothraki invasion will be the central story of my second volume, A Dance with Dragons.

The greatest danger of all, however, comes from the north, from the icy wastes beyond the Wall, where half-forgotten demons out of legend, the inhuman others, raise cold legions of the undead and the neverborn and prepare to ride down on the winds of winter to extinguish everything that we would call "life." The only thing that stands between the Seven Kingdoms and an endless night is the Wall, and a handful of men in black called the Night's Watch. Their story will be [sic] heart of my third volume, The Winds of Winter. The final battle will also draw together characters and plot threads left from the first two books and resolve all in one huge climax.

The thirteen chapters on hand should give you a notion as to my narrative strategy. All three books will feature a complex mosaic of intercutting points-of-view among various of my large and diverse cast of players. The cast will not always remain the same. Old characters will die, and new ones will be introduced. Some of the fatalities will include sympathetic viewpoint characters. I want the reader to feel that no one is ever completely safe, not even the characters who seem to be the heroes. The suspense always ratchets up a notch when you know that any character can die at any time.

--

Five central characters will make it through all three volumes, however, growing from children to adults and changing the world and themselves in the process. In a sense, my trilogy is almost a generational saga, telling the life stories of these five characters, three men and two women. The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Arya, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow. All of them are introduced at some length in the chapters you have to hand.

This is going to be (I hope) quite an epic. Epic in its scale, epic in its action, and epic in its length. I see all three volumes as big books, running about 700 to 800 manuscript pages, so things are just barely getting underway in the thirteen chapters I've sent you.

I have quite a clear notion of how the story is going to unfold in the first volume, A Game of Thrones. Things will get a lot worse for the poor Starks before they get better, I'm afraid. Lord Eddard Stark and his wife Catelyn Tully are both doomed, and will perish at the hands of their enemies. Ned will discover what happened to his friend Jon Arryn, [unclear] can act on his knowledge [unclear] will have an unfortunate accident, and the throne will [unclear] to [unclear] and brutal [unclear] Joffrey [unclear] still a minor. Joffrey will not be sympathetic and Ned [what appears to say] will be accused of treason, but before he is taken he will help his wife and his daughter Arya escape back to Winterfell.

Each of the contending families will learn it has a member of dubious loyalty in its midst. Sansa Stark, wed to Joffrey Baratheon, will bear him a son, the heir to the throne, and when the crunch comes she will choose her husband and child over her parents and siblings, a choice she will later bitterly rue. Tyrion Lannister, meanwhile, will befriend both Sansa and her sister Arya, while growing more and more disenchanted with his own family.

Young Bran will come out of his coma, after a strange prophetic dream, only to discover that he will never walk again. He will turn to magic, at first in the hope of restoring his legs, but later for its own sake. When his father Eddard Stark is executed, Bran will see the shape of doom descending on all of them, but nothing he can say will stop his brother Robb from calling the banners in rebellion. All the north will be inflamed by war. Robb will win several splendid victories, and maim Joffrey Baratheon on the battlefield, but in the end he will not be able to stand against Jaime and Tyrion Lannister and their allies. Robb Stark will die in battle, and Tyrion Lannister will besiege and burn Winterfell.

Jon Snow, the bastard, will remain in the far north. He will mature into a ranger of great daring, and ultimately will succeed his uncle as the commander of the Night's Watch. When Winterfell burns, Catelyn Stark will be forced to flee north with her son Bran and her daughter Arya. Wounded by Lannister riders, they will seek refuge at the Wall, but the men of the Night's Watch give up their families when they take the black, and Jon and Ben jen will not be able to help, to Jon's anguish. It will lead to a bitter estrangement between Jon and Bran. Arya will be more forgiving ... until she realizes, with terror, that she has fallen in love with Jon, who is not only her half-brother but a man of the Night's Watch, sworn to celibacy. Their passion will continue to torment Jon and Arya throughout the trilogy, until the secret of Jon's true parentage is finally revealed in the last book.

--

Abandoned by the Night's Watch, Catelyn and her children will find their only hope of safety lies even further north, beyond the Wall, where they fall into the hands of Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, and get a dreadful glimpse of the inhuman others as they attack the wilding encampment. Bran's magic, Arya's sword Needle, and the savagery of their direwolves will help them survive, but their mother Catelyn will die at the hands of the others.

Over across the narrow sea, Daenerys Targaryen will discover that her new husband, the Dothraki Khal Drogo, has little interest in invading the Seven Kingdoms, much to her brother's frustration. When Viserys presses his claims past the point of tact or wisdom, Khal Drogo will finally grow annoyed and kill him out of hand, eliminating the Targaryen pretender and leaving Daenerys as the last of her line. Danerys [sic] will bide her time, but she will not forget. When the moment is right, she will kill her husband to avenger her brother, and then flee with a trusted friend into the wilderness beyond Vaes Dothrak. There, hunted by [unclear] of her life, she stumbles on a [something about dragon eggs] a young dragon will give Daenerys [unclear] bend [unclear[ to her will. Then she begins to plan for her invasion of the Seven Kingdoms.

Tyrion Lannister will continue to travel, to plot, and to play the game of thrones, finally removing his nephew Joffrey in disgust at the boy king's brutality. Jaime Lannister will follow Joffrey on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, by the simple expedient of killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession and blaming his brother Tyrion for the murders. Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Arya Stark while he's at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow.

The next graph is blocked out.

But that's the second book ... 

I hope you will find some editors who are as excited about all of this as I am. Feel free to share this letter with anyone who wants to know how the story will go. 

All best,

George R.R. Martin

SEE ALSO: A “Game of Thrones” actor just broke a 1,000 year-old Viking record for strength

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NOW WATCH: The Real King's Landing In 'Game Of Thrones' Is Actually This Little City In Croatia

"A Lannister always pays his debts." Actor Peter Dinklage, however, has few debts to pay.

The Jersey-born actor essentially bootstrapped his career, living as a self-described starving artist for years before reaching his "Game of Thrones" success.

Dinklage now ranks among Hollywood's most wanted actors — and just happens to be a dwarf. You can catch him on season five of "Game of Thrones," which returns to HBO on Sunday.

Peter Dinklage was born to a Morristown, New Jersey, couple in the summer of '69. He said his childhood was "uneventful" — his father sold insurance, and his mother taught music at an elementary school.

Source: Esquire

His parents never treated him like he was special, Dinklage says, despite being the only dwarf in his family. The chance of being born with achondroplasia, a genetic disorder that causes abnormalities in bone formation, is 1 in 25,000.

Source: Esquire

The Dinklages didn't even have a TV set in the house, or so he thought. In his teens, Peter discovered his parents watching a black-and-white TV they had purchased and hid in the bedroom closet. "It was 'Three's Company' from then on out," he says.

Source: The New York Times

Amal Alamuddin Clooney has landed in New York City, and she's made an even bigger splash than her mega-star husband, George Clooney.

The pair is in the Big Apple while Clooney films a movie, and Alamuddin Clooney has been spotted everywhere from lunch with Anna Wintour to the halls of Columbia Law School, where the noted human rights lawyer will reportedly lecture this spring.

One thing is for sure — Amal Clooney is impeccable. Whether she's outshining her husband on the red carpet or representing Armenia in a human rights court over the Armenian Genocide, she is a complete boss.

Amal Alamuddin Clooney may have made headlines for landing notorious bachelor George Clooney, but she's a true star in her own right. A noted human rights lawyer, she has represented everyone from former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to the country of Armenia in its fight for recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Here, she speaks at a training session for lawyers in Bahrain.

In 2011, she represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during his extradition case against Sweden. That's her on the far right, leaving Britain's High Court with her client.

She recently advised the Greek government in its battle to repatriate the ancient Elgin Marbles statues from Great Britain.

Warning: There are spoilers ahead if you have not watched the "Game of Thrones" season 5 premiere.

The fifth season of "Game of Thrones" kicked off in a huge way Sunday evening. 

Viewers were introduced to many scenes that avid book readers have been anxious to see played out on screen. However, one of the most significant occurred in the episode's first five minutes.

Last chance to head back before spoilers.

Season 5 opens with a bold young Cersei seeking out a fortune teller. While she's not mentioned by name in the episode, fans of the series by George. R.R. Martin recognize the mysterious prophet as Maggy the Frog.

In the books and show, Cersei is told she can ask three questions. For fans of the novels, this seemed like a pretty clean cut scene to adapt. However, there was a big omission from the scene seen on screen Sunday evening. 

The first question and answer were almost word for word from a scene of the books, found in chapter 12 of the fourth installment, "A Feast For Crows." 

Here's how it occurs in the television series:

Cersei: I'm promised to the prince. When will we marry?
Maggy: Never. You will wed the king.
Cersei: But I will be queen?
Maggy: Oh yes. You will be queen, for a time... until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.

Many fans of the books have analyzed the last line from Maggy over and over again.

For a long time, the standing theory was that the "younger, more beautiful" person was another queen. Margaery Tyrell was a clear candidate and the most obvious choice. She is about to marry Tommen and become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, and this means bad news for Cersei. The two have a simmering tension in both the books and the show, and it's sure to boil over. 

Another option to take down Cersei is Sansa Stark, whose schemes with Littlefinger seem to be quite ambitious and may have queenly intentions. But the wording from Maggy is tricky, and it’s never specified that this other figure is another queen or even in fact a woman. 

Back in the show's opening scene, Cersei moves on from this disconcerting answer, and asks her second question: “Will the king and I have children?” Maggy responds with: “The king will have twenty, you will have three.” Cersei tried to interrupt, clearly confused.

Readers and viewers alike now understand that her and the former king, Robert Baratheon, never conceived together; all of his children were bastards and all of hers were born from the incestual relationship she has with her brother, Jamie Lannister. Maggy continues, stating “Gold will be their crowns, and gold their shrouds,” before devolving into hysterical laughter.

This line can be interpreted in a few different ways. The gold crowns could be literal crowns, since Joffrey and Tommen were both crowned king. Perhaps Myrcella will also be Queen soon. But, it could simply refer to their hair color: blonde, like their parents. “Gold their shrouds” is more direct: all of Cersei’s children will die.

In this moment of the show, book fans knew exactly what Maggy was going to say next. Or so they thought.

Instead, the scene quickly ended, cutting to present-day Cersei on her way to her father’s funeral. She’s clearly musing over how recent events seem to be playing out along Maggy’s predictions. And here is where many book readers were left dismayed. The book text has a third, and crucial, line in Maggy’s answer.

“And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

This is huge in the realm of Cersei-centric theories. Not only does the text make it clear that her children are going to die before her, but it also predicts her murder at the hands of “the valonqar.”

What is a valonqar?

In the High Valyrian language of the east, it means “little brother.” Knowing that, all minds may jump to Tyrion, the youngest of the Lannister children. He's currently in hiding after being persecuted unfairly by Cersei for the death of her son Joffrey. But, just as with Maggy’s first prediction, there are alternate interpretations to this line.

Jaime, Cersei’s twin, lover, and father of her children, was born just after her. He is technically another of her “little brothers.” Could he turn on Cersei in the future, and strangle her to death? We've seen how tense their relationship has become since Jaime's return to King's Landing. Cersei loathed the loss of his hand, and therefore fighting skills, and now he blundered with releasing Tyrion and consequentially allowing his father to be murdered. Jaime is also becoming impatient with Cersei's insistence on terrorizing Tyrion and her increasing paranoia. We have seen Jaime grow from the narcissistic "kingslayer" to a more compassionate and nuanced man. 

The dramatic end to the fortune in the episode will make fans wonder why show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss left out such a seemingly important scene? Are they planning on re-visiting the flashback and finishing out the scene at some point? Or is it not as important as book readers thought, and not worth mentioning?

If it wasn't worth mentioning, perhaps that's because it sounded redundant and was already addressed in the first answer, where Cersei learns of “another, younger and more beautiful” who will cast her down. Could that individual be the same as the “valonqar”? As noted earlier, there is no gender associated with this younger and more beautiful enemy. Jaime Lannister, born moments after Cersei, is known for his devilish good looks across the kingdom. Jaime Lannister, whose character arc is leading him further and further away from the hateful and paranoid Cersei, could be her undoing.

Book readers will have to decide: is the show's canon changing so much from it's source material that Cersei's fate is different, or was a huge fan theory just confirmed through deliberate manipulation of the text?

SEE ALSO: How Peter Dinklage became the beloved "Game of Thrones" bad boy

AND: The first four episodes of "Game of Thrones" season 5 leaked online

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NOW WATCH: 'Game of Thrones': The Iron Throne is a terrible investment

The seventh “Fast and Furious” film, “Furious 7,” dominated the box office for the second weekend in a row. 

After a record debut of $147 million Easter weekend, “Furious 7,” brought in another $60.6 million at theaters. 

Only 11 movies have ever had a better second weekend at the domestic box office. 

The last time a movie performed that well was “American Sniper” with $64.6 million in its second week. 

With $800 million worldwide, “Furious 7” is on track to be the first $1 billion movie of the year. Disney’s anticipated “Avengers” and “Star Wars” sequels are expected to be big hits later this year. 

Here are a few moments highlighting how big of a streak “Furious 7” and Universal Studios is having at the box office: 

• The film is currently number one in 67 countries. 
• It had the largest debut in China ever with $68.6 million. (That’s even slightly more than how much the film made its first day domestically.) 
• The film had the largest four-day opening weekend ever in Russia ($15 million). 
• It's the highest-grossing opening weekend in April ($147 million). Previously, that title belonged to "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" ($95 million). 
• “Furious 7” is now the highest-grossing “Fast and Furious” movie in the franchise both domestically and worldwide. Previously, “Fast and Furious 6” held the record earning $788.7 million worldwide. 
• It’s Universal’s second hit movie of the year. On Valentine’s Day, the studio released the highly-anticipated “Fifty Shades of Grey,” which has grossed over $566 million worldwide to date on an estimated $40 million budget. 
• The studio’s not done yet. Expect another big hit in June when the next “Jurassic Park” film is released. Chris Pratt, who became a big star in 2014 for hits “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The LEGO Movie,” will lead the franchise. 

"Furious 7" still has two more weekends to rake in even more money domestically until Disney and Marvel's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" officially kicks off the summer box office May 1. 

SEE ALSO: Here are the car brands that appear the most in "Furious 7"

AND: Why "Furious 7" is dominating the box office

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NOW WATCH: Here's how the stars of 'Fast & Furious' have changed over the years

Warning: If you have not watched the season 2 premiere of "Silicon Valley," there are spoilers ahead.

It was only a matter of time before "Silicon Valley" creator Mike Judge had to figure out how to address Christopher Evan Welch's character Peter Gregory.

The eccentric venture capitalist character on the show quickly became a fan favorite last season thanks to his bizarre antics, like making an investment off the amount of sesame seeds on Burger King buns and the teeny tiny electric car he drives. But sadly, Welch passed away of lung cancer last December in the midst of filming season one.

Gregory played a crucial role in the show’s plot as he was the lead investor of Pied Piper, the compression start-up the show’s main characters are getting off the ground.

The final mention of Gregory on the show was during the season one finale. After Richard (Thomas Middleditch) and the rest of Pied Piper win TechCrunch Disrupt, an annual conference held in San Francisco by website TechCrunch, Richard is told Gregory watched their presentation via a live stream and was “not unpleased.”

The big mystery was whether that would be the last viewers would hear from Gregory, or whether he would continue to be referenced remotely in season two. Judge admits he and the writers avoided the topic until they began writing the new season last summer.

On Sunday’s season premiere, viewers saw what they decided.

While awaiting Gregory's return from safari to have a meeting with him, Richard sees a story on the internet that Gregory is dead.

Gregory’s head of operations, Monica (Amanda Crew), tells Richard and Pied Piper senior minority owner Erlich Bachman (T.J. Miller) that while on safari a hippo wandered into Gregory's tent. When Gregory ran away from it he passed away as he hadn't run in a very long time. Maybe ever, according to Monica.

“We talked about different things,” Judge told Business Insider about writing off Gregory. “We talked about maybe having him in his nuclear submarine and he’s unavailable [the rest of the show]. But we realized the audience knows the actor has passed away so they know the character is never coming back. It was going to seem fake doing it any other way, almost messing with the audience.”

Sunday's episode ends with a large funeral for Gregory — inspired by the Steve Jobs' memorial, according to Judge — that included power point slides, a Twitter wall, white doves, and cameos from stars in the valley like Snapchat CEO/co-founder, Evan Spiegel.

“We had to think if there’s going to be a big Silicon Valley funeral what would be the quintessential one,” the show’s co-producer and lead technical consultant Jonathan Dotan told BI. “If you look closely you’ll see that we kind of recreated a piece of the Oracle campus for the setting of the funeral.”

Judge said he did reach out to Welch’s mom before shooting the episode to get her blessing. “It’s a tough thing,” said Judge looking back. “But we’re a comedy, ultimately, and I know that’s how Chris would have wanted it.”

SEE ALSO: Before He Died, Christopher Evan Welch Gave Us The Perfect Embodiment Of Tech-World Hubris

MORE: HBO's "Silicon Valley" tech uniform is unbelievably accurate

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NOW WATCH: JAMES ALTUCHER: What HBO's show 'Silicon Valley' gets wrong about Silicon Valley

As "Veep" premieres its fourth season Sunday, the show enters new territory as Vice President Selina Meyer prepares for a new job. 

HBO's Washington satire has been a favorite amongst comedy fans, critics, and politicians alike. The show goes to extremes in order to both replicate the experience of working in Washington while maintaining its rapid fire joke pace. 

Here is what goes on behind the scenes of "Veep":

1. The preparation process is intense

It might be a contradiction to say that "Veep" is reliant both on improvisation and heavy preparation.

Yes, "Veep" relies heavily on a script. But during the days leading up to a shoot, the script is tinkered with and new plot lines and jokes are born. 

These preparation periods give birth to some of the show's funniest moments. Like this one:

2. Each episode is well over an hour long before editing

In a panel discussion at the Paley Center, the cast revealed that they shoot an hour and 10 minutes for every episode. Then, that 70 minutes of footage must be whittled down to about 28 minutes to be run on HBO. 

3. The crew only uses handheld cameras

To accommodate all of the walk and talks, the shows only uses handheld cameras.

This enables the loose, free-flowing feeling of the show, but also creates many logistical challenges for the crew. 

4. Julia Louis-Dreyfus uses a visual trick to make Jonah scenes even funnier

White House liason Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons) is the character every "Veep" fan loves to hate. He inspires endless supercuts and mash-ups on YouTube, as some of the most fun parts of the show are both watching how creepy he can be, and seeing what insult somebody will hurl his way. 

According to the Paley Center talk, to make scenes between Jonah and Selina even funnier, Julia Louis-Dreyfus likes to take off her shoes before getting in his face and yelling at him. 

"I will make sure the camera comes in tight so its not full body so I can take my shoes off and I can be my solid 5'3" up against [Timothy Simons]," Louis-Dreyfus said. "Because I think it's really funny to get in someone's face in that direction."

5. A famous New York Times columnist helped bring the show to life

New York Times' columnist Frank Rich serves as an executive producer on "Veep," bringing his experiences with Washington to the show.

Rich had been a creative consultant at HBO since 2008 while the network was looking for a fictional show about D.C.

Rich was a fan of Armando Iannuci's since "In the Loop," and luckily, while Rich was at HBO, Iannuci came in to pitch "Veep" to the network. 

6. There are no plans for cameos from real-life politicians

While other politically-centered shows will often feature cameos from real politicians ("Parks and Recreation" nabbed appearances by Joe Biden and John McCain), "Veep" doesn't plan to pull its farcical bureaucrats into the real world anytime soon.  

"We don't allow it. We want to have our own world, our own reality," Frank Rich explained at a Q&A at 92nd Street Y.

Despite this, Louis-Dreyfus shot a video for the White House Correspondent's Dinner where she played Selina alongside Joe Biden:

7. They make sure guest stars don't take any of the personal insults too ... personally

"Veep" has become well-known for its well-worded and instantly quotable insults. Cast members are comfortable enough to get really vicious with each other, especially involving each other's physical appearances.

Because of this, they need to warn guest stars and newcomers alike to be prepared for some very personal putdowns. 

8. The show can't actually shoot in Washington

Because of logistical issues, the show can't actually shoot in the nation's capital, so the cast and crew had to settle for nearby Baltimore.  

Instead, they were able to build an almost exact replica of the vice president's office, which can be found in a Baltimore warehouse. 

9. There's no glamour to this version of D.C.

Despite comparisons to "The West Wing," "Veep" wants to go for something completely different.  

"I want to show a side of D.C. that people haven't really seen before," Iannuci said in an HBO documentary.

To do this, they give a complete tour of behind the scenes of Washington, and not everybody's office looks as nice as the Oval Office.

"Anyone who's been around D.C. knows a lot of the offices of very powerful people are...they're messy like anyone else's office," Frank Rich added.

SEE ALSO: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Wins Fifth Emmy For 'Veep'

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NOW WATCH: The trailer for 'Veep' Season 4 is out and it's everything you hoped it would be

Paramount and Skydance have released a new trailer for a new "Terminator" movie out this summer.

"Terminator: Genisys," the fifth film in the series, will bring Arnold Schwarzenegger back to the franchise in the role he first made famous in 1984.

If you've been following the "Terminator" series, you know John Connor (Jason Clarke) has always been the force to stop Skynet, a self-aware intelligence program, from taking over the world. However, in the new trailer, it looks like Connor may be the biggest threat to mankind.

Here's the synopsis for the film via Paramount:

When John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline. Now, Sgt. Reese finds himself in a new and unfamiliar version of the past, where he is faced with unlikely allies, including the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger), dangerous new enemies, and an unexpected new mission: To reset the future…

J.K. Simmons and Matt Smith ("Doctor Who") also star. Curiously, we have yet to see Smith in any trailer for the film.

"Terminator: Genisys" is in theaters July 1.

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Kanye's full of surprises.

During a trip to Armenia with wife Kim Kardashian and his in-laws, West decided to give a free concert at midnight Sunday night for fans at Swan Lake (Karapi Lich) in Yerevan, Armenia, MTV reports.

West performed fan favorites like "Stronger," and "All of the Lights" before he concluded the impromptu performance by jumping into a lake.

Kardashian announced the event on Twitter:

YouTube channel "ARAJIN Live" captured the performance. You can watch all of it here.

Here's what the scene looked like:

Kardashian, who said she didn't know the concert would be happening until Kanye woke her up a few hours prior, was live-tweeting along. 

During his performance of "Good Life," Kanye addresses the fans watching from across the link.

"Can y'all see me over there?" he calls to them. 

"I'm gonna do something a little different," he says, then takes a flying leap into the lake.

Here's a freeze frame of that moment:

The crowd went absolutely nuts as West stood up and began stomping around in the lake as he continued to sing "Good Life."

Then, his fans joined him.

People were sprinting through the water to get to him.

MTV reports police shut down the concert pretty quickly after that, but Kardashian seemed pretty happy with the outcome of the late night show:

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NOW WATCH: What the Chinese saying 'The ugly wife is a treasure at home' actually means

Marvel just released a new trailer for "Ant-Man," its most obscure comic-book adaptation since "Guardians of the Galaxy." Some had doubts about the box-office potential of "Guardians," but it went on to become one of the highest-grossing movies of 2014.

"Ant-Man" stars Paul Rudd as a scientist who miniaturizes himself to fight an evil villain played by Corey Stoll ("House of Cards"). The movie was supposed to be directed by fan-favorite Edgar Wright, but Wright dropped out right before production started because of creative differences. Journeyman director Peyton Reed stepped in to deliver what Marvel hopes will be another breakout hit for the studio.

"Ant-Man" comes out on July 17.

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The spring semester for college students is slowly winding down, which means students in their senior year are getting ready to graduate.  

Many colleges around the US have lined up impressive commencement speakers, landing industry leaders in business, entertainment, and politics. 

We've compiled the list of college commencement speakers below and will continue to update this list as more speakers are officially announced:

Dillard University— Actor Denzel Washington

Emory University— Author Salman Rushdie

George Washington University— Apple CEO Tim Cook

University of Georgia— "Good Morning America" Anchor Amy Robach

Georgia Institute of Technology— US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Harvard University— Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick

University of Houston— Actor Matthew McConaughey

Massachusetts Institute of Technology— Chief Technology Officer of the US Megan Smith

University of North Carolina— Founding CEO of Hulu Jason Kilar

Northwestern University— President and CEO of IBM Virginia Rometty 

University of Oklahoma— Founder and Chairwoman of Teach for America Wendy Kopp

University of Pennsylvania— Pulitzer Prize-winning author and US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power 

Pepperdine University— Actor Anthony Hopkins

Princeton University— Director, screenwriter, and producer Christopher Nolan

Southern Methodist University— Former President of the US George W. Bush

Stanford— NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel

Tufts University— Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright 

Tulane— Actor and Comedian Maya Rudolph

University of Virginia— Actor Ed Helms

Wake Forest University— Comedian Stephen Colbert

College of William & Mary — Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

University of Wisconsin— Journalist and author Katie Couric

SEE ALSO: Kid who got into all 8 Ivy League schools is seriously considering one non-Ivy

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NOW WATCH: This is what happens to your brain and body when you check your phone before bed

Kanye West claims that he turned down a chance to work with Apple, according to a profile in The New York Times' T Magazine.

West, who has been a longtime fan of Apple and its late co-founder Steve Jobs, says he passed on "a multimillion-dollar partnership with Apple," though he didn't elaborate on what that partnership would have entailed. The comment came up during a creative meeting between West and his design team while they were visiting Adidas during New York Fashion Week, where West unveiled his new clothing line Yeezy Season 1.

While West is being tight-lipped on Apple's proposed deal, The Verge points out that it seems unlikely that West would turn down any deal with Apple that would allow him to help design limited edition hardware, such as Apple's partnership with Bono and U2 that led to the Product Red iPod.

West has been a vocal supporter of Steve Jobs and Apple's design aesthetic, going so far as to say that "Samsung is not quite Apple," according to AdWeek. As a Father's Day gift, West's wife, the selfie-obsessed reality TV star Kim Kardashian, gave him an Apple mouse signed by Steve Jobs.

The most likely possibility is that Apple approached West about an exclusive music deal to release a single or album exclusively on Apple's Beats music streaming service. After all, Apple's Jimmy Iovine, the co-founder of Beats, has reportedly already been trying to lure musicians and artists away from Jay Z's new Tidal music streaming service, which West recently publically pledged himself to by signing a contract onstage.

And while West has praised Apple's design and hardware in the past, he's been critical of its approach to making deals with musicians, alleging last year that Apple didn't pay musicians to perform at its iTunes festival, offering increased exposure on iTunes instead.

"I know you might have heard about this thing where I was on stage, like calling Tim Cook out and saying why do you have these guys performing at South by Southwest and you don't want to pay them," West said in a Bloomberg interview during the Cannes Lions festival. "You just want to give us extra space on the iTunes page and stuff, you know."

So if West is telling the truth and he really did turn down a multimillion-dollar partnership with Apple, there's a chance it had to do with licensing his music rather than a product or hardware design collaboration.

You can read T Magazine's full profile on West here.

SEE ALSO: Big, beautiful photos of all 22 models of the Apple Watch

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NOW WATCH: I got up at 2:45 in the morning to preorder the Apple Watch and still have to wait over a month to get it