I SAW THE HUNGER GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My thoughts?

I was wondering how they would handle all the violence in the book, but it was okay. I liked Haymitch better in the movie than in the book. I really liked the movie. Katniss's outfit from the opening ceremonies is sooooooo cool!!!!



And her interview dresses are so beautiful. I wish I could find a picture of her twirling in it... ah, well, just go watch the movie! I think my jaw actually dropped a few times when I saw her girl on fire outfits, particularly the one where she started twirling.




And her last interview dress is pretty... so fairytale... so innocent... just like Cinna wanted. Wish I could find a better picture. Again, watch the movie to see it!


However, as much I hate to say it, as I was so looking forward to this movie... I was a bit disappointed. Just a little. The book was better. I really enjoyed the movie and all, and I want to get the DVD when it comes out. But the book had certain advantages over the movie, because the book could tell us what she was thinking and little things like that. And being able to know what she was thinking definitely helps the book.

Who is my favorite character in the Hunger Games? Actually, I like Clove, the career tribute. I'm not exactly sure why.


The girl who played her, Isabella, Fuhrman, learned to throw knives. She says, "I will say I do know how to throw a knife properly now, which is kind of creepy and a skill I probably won't use, but it's just fun to say, you know? 'What'd you learn this summer?' 'Oh, I learned to throw knives.' Just casually." (Myself, I think it would be fun to learn knife throwing.)

I really liked the bit in the movie, after Katniss shoots an arrow at the Gamemaker's pig, where Haymitch comes in and gives her a thumbs up for it. I liked Haymitch more in the movie than in the books. I also liked the bit where, at the training center, Cato's knife goes missing and he throws a fit. Then we see little Rue in the ceiling, holding it and smiling.

And the bit where Katniss is up a tree and the careers are shooting arrows at her, and none of them quite know how to shoot a bow. They can fight with swords and throw knives, yet their trainers completely forgot to teach them to use a bow. Oops.

And now, quotes!

Katniss Everdeen: Don't cry. Don't.

Effie Trinket: Two hundred miles per hour and you can barely feel a thing. I think it's one of the wonderful things about this opportunity, that even though you're here and even though it's just for a little while, you get to enjoy all of this.

Peeta Mellark: Okay. So, uh....so when do we start?
Haymitch Abernathy:Woh. Woh. You're so eager. Most of you aren't in such a hurry.
Peeta Mellark: Yeah, I wanna know what the plan is. You're our mentor, you're supposed to...
Haymitch Abernathy: Mentor?
Peeta Mellark: Yeah. Our mentor, you're supposed to tell us how to get sponsors and give us advice.
Haymitch Abernathy: Oh. Okay. Um...embrace the probability of your imminent death. And know, in your heart, that there's nothing I can do to save you.

Haymitch Abernathy: No, that's a good way to get killed.
[Katniss comes up behind them]
Katniss Everdeen: What's a good way to get killed?
Haymitch Abernathy: Oh, joy! Why don't you join us? I was just giving some life saving advice.
Katniss Everdeen: Like what?
Peeta Mellark: Oh, I was just asking about how to find shelter.
Haymitch Abernathy: Which would come in handy if in fact you were still alive.

Cinna: That was one of the bravest things I've ever seen, for your sister. My name is Cinna.
Katniss Everdeen: Katniss.
Cinna: I'm sorry that this happened to you and I'm here to help you in any way that I can. Katniss Everdeen: Most people just congratulate me.

Caesar Flickerman: Now see that! I love that! Two young people, holding their hands up, saying; 'I'm proud I come from district 12. We will not be overlooked.' Now I love that!

Katniss Everdeen: Thank you for your consideration.

Guess who is absolutely ECSTATIC????

I am. Guess why.

Two reasons? Number one. (Drumroll please...)

THE HUNGER GAMES IS GOING TO COME OUT AT TWELVE O'CLOCK THIS MORNING!

Of course, I won't be there at midnight. I wish.

And guess what number two is?

I'VE FOUND MY PICTURE OF AMBER!

The best picture of her is during the interview, but you'll have to see it for yourselves in the movie!

QUOTES!!!!

Cheshire Cat: What do you call yourself?
Alice Kingsley: Alice.
Cheshire Cat: *The* Alice?
Alice Kingsley: There's been some debate about that.

Cheshire Cat: I never get involved in politics.

The Mad Hatter: Have you any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?

Alice Kingsley: This is impossible.

Lady Ascot: Imbeciles! The garden is planted with white roses when I've specifically asked the red.
Alice Kingsley: You can always paint the roses red.

Lady Ascot: Do you know what I fear most?
Alice Kingsley: The decline of the aristocracy?
Lady Ascot: Ugly grandchildren.

Alice Kingsley: Hatter, why *is* a raven like a writing desk?
The Mad Hatter: I haven't the slightest idea.

Stayne - Knave of Hearts: You're all mad.
The March Hare: Thanks very much.

Blue Caterpillar: You're almost Alice.

Alice Kingsley: I love you, Margaret, but this is my life. I'll decide what to do with it.

The Mad Hatter: I've been considering words that start with the letter M. Moron. Mutiny. Murder. Mmm-malice.
The Red Queen: Well, we're looking for an A word right now. Where is Alice?

- from Alice in Wonderland

“Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!”
-Effie Trinket

“Here’s some advice. Stay alive.”
-Haymitch Abernathy

“Panic begins to set in. I can’t stay here. Flight is essential.”…”But I can’t let my fear show”.
-Katniss Everdeen

"You’ve got about as much charm as a dead slug."
-Haymitch Abernathy

"There are much worse games to play."
— Katniss Everdeen

"Fire is catching! And if we burn, you will burn with us!"
-Katniss Everdeen

- from The Hunger Games (I am so excited about the movie coming out next year!!!!!!!)

Violet Baudelaire: We are very concerned.

[about the orphans who would love to take the Baudelaires' place] Count Olaf: But I don't care about them. I chose to open my heart to you two lovely children and your hideous primate.

Count Olaf: Hello, I'm going on a perfectly innocent ride in the country with my kids... whom I love.

Count Olaf: I'm gonna get you kids. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, I'll *find* you! Oh, you are so deceased!

Klaus Baudelaire: You know, Curdled Cave is for sale. Aunt Josephine: So? Klaus Baudelaire: So, pretty soon people are going to come to look at it. And some of those people will be... realtors.

Count Olaf: ...And I realized I have been a bit standoffish, Shall we say. Which in this case is a big, big word meaning... Violet Baudelaire: [interrupting] Pure evil.

Lemony Snicket: [the Littlest Elf has just come to an abrupt halt] I'm sorry to say that this is not the movie you will be watching. The movie you are about to see is extremely unpleasant. If you wish to see a film about a happy little elf, I'm sure there is still plenty of seating in theatre number two. However, if you like stories about clever and reasonably attractive orphans, suspicious fires, carnivorous leeches, Italian food and secret organizations, then stay, as I retrace each and every one of the Baudelaire children's woeful steps. My name is Lemony Snicket, and it is my sad duty to document this tale.

Count Olaf: Oh really... says who?

Mockingjay

I have at last read the final book in Hunger Games - Mockingjay.

Katniss has been relocated to District 13, which was thought to have been obliterated. The symbol of the mockingjay has become the rebel's symbol - and the symbol they want her to become. Katniss doesn't know whether or not she wants to be the mockingjay, but when she realizes what she could gain by it, she agrees to do her part. The conditions include her being allowed to kill President Snow, who has been threatening her and responsible for the death of many people she loves, her little sister Prim being allowed to keep her cat Buttercup, and tributes being pardoned for their crimes. There's just one little hitch - she puts one toe out of line and President Coin of District 13 will kill her and her friends.

Mockingjay was amazing, but also sad. Peeta, who she's been pretending to love, has been brainwashed to make him hate her. Other people get killed. The ending was sad, too.

Katniss is the same as ever, disobeying orders and causing trouble. At the end, she makes several choices, both of which involve people's lives. One of her choices is understandable, although rather unkind to President Coin. But she votes to have a final Hunger Games to take revenge on the Capitol! I can't believe she did that. She was in the Hunger Games twice and she was willing to put other kids into it just because they were related to various politicians. I was so disappointed.

Favorites

Okay, I have decided to list my favorite antagonists and protagonists today. No special reason.

Favorite protagonists:

Percy Jackson (from Percy Jackson and the Olympians)

He's got a serious gift for ticking people off. And when it comes to girls, he's stuck in the middle between Rachel and Annabeth.

Auralia (from Auralia's Colors)

She's wild. Plays with animals that people are scared of. She has a talent for colors that astonishes everyone around her - and also alarms them because it's illegal.

Katniss (from The Hunger Games)

She's willing to do whatever to takes to protect her family and friends - even if it means she'll get killed in the process. She hunts illegally for what her family needs, knowing that if she ever gets caught, she'll be executed. However, when she shows up at the market with a turkey, everyone, even the people who are supposed to punish her for what she does, follows the standard protocol - bid on the drumsticks.

Favorite antagonists:

Mother Gothel (from Tangled)

She's rotten enough to kidnap a little girl, but treats the girl nicely. She keeps her in a tower, yes, but the tower is big and the girl has plenty to do. Mother Gothel is even willing to take a trip to the beach to get shells to make the girl paint - a three day trip.

Alexei Sarov (from Skeleton Key)

He's attempting to reinstate communism, but he's not willing to kill the spy they sent to find out what he was doing. He's even willing to adopt him, mostly because the spy reminds him of his son.

Catching Fire

I have at last read Catching Fire!!!!!!

After waiting weeks for it to come to the library, it finally came! And did it fulfill my expectations?


Katniss, after winning the Hunger Games and defying the capital in the process, is home at last. She's worried that the capital will punish her for a little stunt she pulled in the arena during the Games. Her worst fears come true when President Snow comes for a little chat. He's warning her - if she doesn't convince everyone she's hopelessly in love with Peeta (who she has little interest in) he'll kill her family and her friend's family. So, during a tour of districts 1-11 (she lives in district 12) she attempts to convince the world that she wasn't defying the Capitol during the Games. Unfortunately, she fails. In a desperate last ditch attempt to save the lives of everyone she loves, she agrees to marry Peeta when she's old enough. Peeta's fine with the arrangement (since his feelings are the complete opposite of Katniss's - he's hopelessly in love with her) and the two begin to make plans for their wedding. However, the Capitol isn't fooled. Katniss - and her pin with the mockingjay on it - have become a symbol of defiance. And they want both destroyed.


I loved this book. The end of the book can be a bit confusing if you don't read it carefully. Also, Peeta lies, telling everyone he and Katniss are already married. He also claims Katniss is going to have a baby. I thought that was a totally unnecessary lie and was rather disappointed. Still, the book was pretty good. I can't wait to find out what happened next.

Adios!

Hunger Games

Got Hunger Games out from the library this afternoon. I just finished it about half an hour ago. (I am what is commonly referred to as a fast reader.) Anyhow, I LOVED it. So does Stephen King. (I have never read his books.) Stephanie Meyer (or is it Meyers? I can't remember) has a quote on the front page. She also enjoys it. (I do NOT read the Twilight Saga - my feelings about it are this - blood is not something any human should legally be allowed to drink - and there are plenty of people who consider themselves vampires nowadays, because Twilight inspired them to become one. I'm not making this up.)

In any case, for those of you who have not yet read Hunger Games... READ IT!!!!! (I also read the first book in A Series of Unfortunate Events this afternoon. Like I said, I'm a fast reader.) Hunger Games is set in the future. What was once North America has become twelve districts, along with the Capitol. Once, there was a rebellion, and to punish everyone for it, the government decided to invent The Hunger Games. The Games are a modern gladiator sport, in which two children from each district are forced to fight to the death.

This year, Katniss's sister is old enough to enter the drawing. She only has one slip, while Katniss has twenty. There's no way Prim will be picked... right? The odds, however, are not in her favor, and she is drawn. In desperation, Katniss volunteers to go in her place. There's no chance she'll survive this, but Prim would have ever less chance. The other person from her district is Peeta, who once helped her when her family was starving. She doesn't know how she's going to kill anyone, but she knows she'll have to. Besides, she'll probably be weeded out and killed at the beginning... or will she?

I love this book!!!!!! The only disappointing bit is the end. I mean, I know it's part of a trilogy and all, but we could have at least found out what happens to them. I mean, they're headed for a life of fame and fortune... hopefully.