I must say, I agree. I did not call the world original, what I meant was the structure: the perspectives, the lack of black&white, the importance of individual characters and their relationships, the setting in a quite realistic kingdom, well, things you mentioned. I believe the fact that everyone's faffing about is what makes the plot strong. However... Martin does neglect everything but politics, characters and history (of politics ). The fact that the series is still great without the ordinary fantasy themes or focuses improves its orginality, methinks, and as such it improves the series. For me, that is. There need not be more to it as long as the author proves that what he writes is sufficient on its own.
Oh, and piss on the length of the seasons. That only matters when it's winter

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He who hurries through his life hurries to his grave.

Martin is the king of gritty-grey-political fantasy. But if that's not your thing the series loses much of its value. Just look at the majority of the GoT-fanbase: many claim they would stop watching the series if Tyrion were to die. It's Peter Dinklage's amazing portrail of the Imp that keeps the HBO-version popular, with his cleverness and snappy lines. Those fans won't recall GoT as one of their favorite series in 10 years because they'll only remember the actions of characters they deemed interesting enough, not the politics that envelloped it.

And that puts aSoIaF in a completely different corner than, say, the Lord of the Rings. Middle-Earth is a place where you'd actually want to live. A place where happiness exists and that is worth defending against some dark lord. It's more... epic. Epic's the word.

Y'know what we need? We need a book where Tolkien created the world and cultures and Martin filled it with history and characters. Now we only need an author with exceptional plotting capabilities and we're set.

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Valar Morghulis.

Alas, you're right once more. The TV series is quite OK, I guess, but it should have contained less naked women and more fighting. They try their best to skip the real fighting (al least they do in series 1), which can be as annoying as the sudden almost-porn scenes they just made up for fapping couchpotatoes. Had I not read the books, I think I would still watch the series for its plot twists though. I love Martin for those, and I'm ashamed to confess that I probably wouldn't have got past the second book had he not used them. Minor twists, major twists (like all those dead people ): It's what keeps the story running for most readers, I guess. And yeah, I do love Tyrion...
Lotr is more epic because it's all black-and-white, heroism, mosters etc. I like it, it's simple but appealing, which is what most fantasy aims for. Martin's more like appalling, which is partly why I like his works. Tolkien may have set the standard for modern fantasy books, Martin sets another standard. And that is why I think Martin's works are the best running fantasy series.
BTW. How did we get this fast from "Welcome J.J." to an aSoIaF discussion?!

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He who hurries through his life hurries to his grave.

Welcome JJ!

I hope you like it here!
Oh and btw, here is a picture of a cow

Just a list of things I wanted you to know

1. Thank you, Asger. I much appreciate cows.

2. Why Martin Could Do Better (Or At Least Be More Fun To Read): he does not create an emotional bond with the characters. I just realised this today

3. Yeah, I know, it was Wubbles who brought me here. Wubbles, Wubbles, Wubbles. I believe he asked me to mention that...

Thank y'all for your attention.

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He who hurries through his life hurries to his grave.