Movie Review: Katniss Everdeen and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

It seems that no matter what website you go to these days, you'll see someone posting something about how amazing Catching Fire was, how it was so perfect, how Jennifer Lawrence is the most amazing actress to ever grace the big screen.

Did I see the same movie as everyone else?

Don't get me wrong, it was a good movie. Especially compared to the first Hunger Games, which I wasn't a huge fan of. Who thought the shaky cam was a good idea? And does anyone else just see Mystique from X-Men when they see Lawrence? Honestly, that's all I can see when I look at her. I keep thinking to myself, "Why is Mystique in the Hunger Games?" But I digress. The fact is, I don't consider Catching Fire to be an earth shattering movie. Let's get to the details.

The Good

I thought it could never happen, but it did. A movie was better than the book it was based on. My hats off to everyone involved on this accomplishment. Now to be completely fair, the book it was based on wasn't anything great and was easily the weakest of The Hunger Games trilogy in my opinion. Still, it's always impressive to see a movie surpass its source material.

The movie also stayed very loyal to the book, and many of the scenes played out exactly as I pictured them in my head. Notably, the District 11 scene on the Victory Tour and Joanna's strip scene in the elevator were both very true to form and very powerful. Powerful in different ways, but powerful none the less. Also, the actual arena itself was exactly how I pictured it from the novel, unlike the arena in the original movie. 

Of course, the acting in this movie was spot on. We knew from the previous installment that Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Effie, Haymitch and President Snow were all perfectly portrayed by their respective actors.  And the new additions didn't disappoint. Finnick and Joanna were especially on point. Also how hilarious was the Caesar Flickerman segment? That might have been the highlight of the movie for me. 

And there was no shaky cam!

The Bad

I understand that Madge isn't a character in the movies and she doesn't necessarily need to be. But in order to make up for her absence, they needed to come up with a way for Katniss to find out about the uprisings in the districts. So what they decide to do is have the peacekeepers constantly leave the door of their security room open just enough for Katniss to peak into and see what's going on.

Why do the peacekeepers always keep that door open one inch? Do they just keep forgetting to close it? Do they need fresh air? Are they actually on Katniss's side and want her to see what's going on? Is there something wrong with the door? 

Also, I don't like how Katniss appeared to completely forget about Cinna once the games started. I know she needed to focus on the task at hand and not worry about Cinna getting his head bashed in, but the fact that she didn't mention it the rest of the movie seemed a little heartless. At least in the book, Katniss had a couple random thoughts about him during the games so we knew she hadn't completely forgotten about him.

The Ugly

Okay, so here's my biggest issue with not only Catching Fire, but the entire movie franchise in general. 

So much of the book happens inside Katniss's head, especially when she struggles with her feeling for Peeta and Gale. And despite the writers and producers best efforts, this just doesn't come across on the big screen. It's hard to see what her feelings are for both Gale and Peeta. In the movie, it seems like she just randomly goes from pretending to have feelings for Peeta in order to play for the cameras to actually deeply caring about him. It was very random and sudden. The love triangle just doesn't translate well to the big screen in my opinion. Without getting the gritty details that are only available in Katniss's head, it appears she is merely choosing between a moody, brooding miner or a whining bread baker. Not very compelling, in my opinion.

Overall though, Catching Fire is a good movie that accurately draws on, and even surpasses its source material. The only problem is that the source material wasn't anything special to begin with.

Verdict: 7.5 out of 10

Mr. RHS 2.0

I honestly don't have much to say here.

Mr. RHS last night was just awesome, in my opinion. But most importantly, it was a ton of fun.  The contestants were amazing, my fellow emcees were great, and the stage crew did a great job making sure things went smoothly.

There was a lot of effort put in in order to make Mr. RHS occur, and I think it was completely worth it. A big thanks goes out to Mrs. Barr, Ms. Perun, Chelsea, Jess, Leah, Jenna, and all of our judges who volunteered their time in order for Mr. RHS to happen. And of course, congratulations to the winner, Pat Purcell!

It's kind of amazing, though, to finally be done with something I had been looking forward to for four years. I feel like it was just last week I was a freshman, watching Mr. RHS for the first time. It makes me feel old.

Mr. RHS

Alright, everyone…the big night is tomorrow! Don't miss it. The contestants are great, the hosts are extremely good looking, and it's going to be hilarious. 

I know firsthand how hard everyone is working to make this show happen; from the Class Government to the stage hands to the escorts to the hosts to the contestants. It's going to be a great show and you don't want to miss it. 

The annual pageant is scheduled for 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Rockville High School auditorium.

The nine contestants are Quentin Ellis, Brendan Shannon, Patrick Purcell, Patrick Breslin, Abe Khade, Adam Barselau, Erik Reid, Brendan Kennedy, and Cameron Neal.

The hosts will be Sean O'Gara, Tim Lyons, and of course, myself!

Don't miss this always spectacular event!

Book Review: Monsters

Oh man. Do you know that feeling you get when you finish something really good? Like an amazing piece of steak? You know, kind of like "Wow, I can't believe it's over." That's the feeling I have right now after finishing Monsters by Ilsa J. Bick, the final book in The Ashes Trilogy.

Don't get me wrong, this series is by no means the next Hunger Games or Harry Potter. It definitely has some significant faults which we'll get to in a minute. But if a book or series gives me that feeling, it definitely did something right.

First, let me give a little background on the novel. I'll preface this by saying that this will essentially also be a review of the first two books in the series, as it's hard to review the third book in a trilogy all by itself. Also, I'll do my best to keep it spoiler free in case one of you wants to read the book after seeing this review.

Background

The Ashes Trilogy is set in a post apocalyptic world (surprise!) after someone or something lets of a series of Electro Magnetic Pulses, or EMPs, that causes almost everyone to die or turn into zombies (surprise!) leaving only a small amount of lucky survivors.

The central character of the series is Alex, a teenage girl who lost her parents in a crash a few years previously and was then diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. The original novel follows her and her struggle to survive in this sad sad world, while the final two novels also branch out and follow the characters she encounters along the way.

This book is technically Young Adult Fiction, but the material is definitely not suitable for anyone under the age of 14. These are some intense books which deal with a lot of mature subject matters. Also there is a lot, and I mean A LOT of gore. Imagine going to a butcher's and then rolling around a cow's intestines (my apologies to any vegetarians or vegans reading this). That's how you feel after reading these books. But if you're one of those people who refuses to read certain books just because they're classified as YA, please don't let that stop you from reading this one.

Alright, let's get to the real stuff.

The Good

I'll just come out and say it. Characters. The characters in this book are absolutely amazing. Bick does an incredible job painting her characters as real people with real problems, ones you can connect to. And the best thing is, there are so many characters, that if you don't like one of them, you're guaranteed to find one you do. It actually gets to the point that there may be too many characters (we'll get to that later) but Bick really does an amazing job of giving life to so many different people. You actually grow to care about the characters and are invested in their fate. 

The plot is also extremely stellar. For such a contrived and cliched concept, Bick really hits it out of the park. She takes the series in a completely different direction from what one would expect, and it really helps her stand out among the sea of post apocalyptic YA fiction writers that seem to be taking over the Earth. There are very few things I would change when it comes to the plot; it almost plays out like a movie in your head. Every character's decision stays true to who they are, and it pays off in some incredible drama. 

Also, the suspense in this novel is amazing. Some people don't like when authors end every other chapter with a cliffhanger; they say it's lazy writing and it loses its effectiveness when over done. Well, maybe I'm just a sucker, but I fell for it every time. When I picked the book up and really started to read, I just couldn't put it down. 

Perhaps most importantly, the ending of the book is satisfying. It wraps up all of the lose ends it needs to wrap up, and has a satisfying, albeit not necessarily happy, conclusion for all of the main characters. There is very little controversy or ambiguity. Sure, a few questions are left open-ended, but the novel and the series is better off for that. 

The Bad

Let's start with the obvious; it's a Young Adult Fiction series that is based in a post-apocalyptic world. Sound familiar? At this point, it's a cliched, and overdone concept that might turn readers off before they even pick up the book. And on top of that, it's a trilogy. I mean, come on! Can't authors just write one book anymore and leave it alone?

Speaking of leaving things alone, let's talk about the characters. While I did say above that Bick's characters were probably the strongest points of the series, she might have tried to outdo herself. She creates just a few too many characters, that she can't quite reach them all and make all of them meaningful. So there are a few uninteresting characters floating around. This isn't a huge problem, but it is when there are several chapters in a row focused on said characters. 

Also, Bick gets a little too cute with the whole idea of telepathy/mind control/dreams/out of body experience thing. It wasn't an issue at all in the first two novels, but it's really at the forefront of this one, especially at the big climax of the novel which kind of irritated me. In general, I get the idea, but Bick makes it way more complicated than it should be. I found myself scratching my head at more than one point trying to figure out what exactly was going on. In addition, as a rule, I despise dream sequences in books, even when the author tries to tell me that they're "real" dreams, and this one had a little too much of that.

The Ugly

Alright, time to get to the biggest issue of not only Monsters, but the entire trilogy. And that is Bick's writing style. 

I'm not saying she's a bad writer, in fact, it's completely the opposite. Bick is a very talented wordsmith. But I don't have to know every single detail. Oh my goodness. Unless you've read the book, I really cannot explain to you how much detail Bick includes. It's over the top. She describes every move of every fight scene, of which there are several, as well as the intricate details behind the guns and other weapons used. There is also way too much of the characters thinking to themselves and struggling to battle their own personal demons. As a result, there can be pages at a time when nothing interesting is happening and there is absolutely no dialogue. Honestly, this book, and both other books in the trilogy, could have been about 200 pages shorter. 

I think Bick's biggest mistake is that she tried to make The Ashes Trilogy bigger than it was. She tried to make it some fantasy epic, when it simply wasn't. The nearest thing I can compare it to is George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Martin's books also suffer from one too many characters and an overabundance of description. But, I find myself more forgiving when it comes to Martin's novels, if only for the reason that A Song of Ice and Fire is truly a fantasy epic. But even then, it's hard to overlook those faults. So how am I supposed to do so here? Martin's books involve battle and intrigue on a grand scale with so many interesting pieces fitting themselves together. Monsters is nothing like that, no matter how hard Bick wants it to be.

But she does such a good job of pretending it is an epic, I almost believed it myself.

Verdict: 7.5 out of 10

So, where are you looking to go to school?

This might be a case of too little, too late. But I'm at that stage of my life where evveerrryooonnnne I talk to wants to know where I'm applying for school. And not only do they want to know where I'm applying, they want to know why I'm applying there.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice to know that people have an interest in my future (more likely they're just trying to make conversation, but anyways) and I have absolutely no problem answering. But it just gets so repetitive answering the same question dozens and dozens of times.

I can't imagine there's someone I know who I haven't talked to about where I'm applying. But just in case there is, or I meet someone knew who's curious, I'll just say "read my blog!"

Before I go into detail about specific schools, here is just a general overview:

• All of these schools are in a somewhat urban environment (except UConn) which was a major factor in my decision making process. 
• All of these schools are very large and thus offer a wide range of majors and opportunities that a smaller school might not.
• These schools are all on the east coast. I considered applying elsewhere, but decided that I didn't want to put up with a change in time zones. 

All right, let's get to the highlights about specific schools!

Drexel University

• It's in The City of Brotherly Love! I stayed in Philadelphia for a week when I was at a fencing camp a few years ago and I loved it. 
• Drexel's Westphal College of Media Arts and Design has a very good reputation and it includes three majors I am very interested in; Film and Video, TV Production & Media Management, as well as Screenwriting and Playwriting.
• They have a co-op program!

North Carolina State University

• Raleigh seems like a really great city.
• I've heard great things about the school from someone who went there.
• Their scholars program looks like a lot of fun!
• The CHASS has plenty of different majors to choose from. 
• I feel like moving down south would be a great change of pace for me. 

Northeastern University

• I love Boston! Definitely my favorite city that I've visited. It would be amazing to go to school there.
• Northeastern is the perfect blend of campus and city. 
• Their co-op program also looks amazing. 
  

Pace University

• It has two campuses; one in Westchester and one in NYC.
• I'm very interested in their Film major. 
• I think going to school in New York would be a great experience and open a lot of opportunities for me!
  

University of Connecticut

• It's one of the top twenty public universities in the country!
• I'd get a pretty nice discount if I went there. 
• Their Digital Media program looks fantastic! I had an opportunity to meet with the head of the department, and it seems like the perfect program for me. 
  

University of South Carolina

• Similar reasons to NCSU; Columbia looks like a great place to live and I think going to school down south would be a nice change of pace.
• I've heard really good things about the school from my mom's friend who went there.
• Their Media Arts program looks really similar to the UConn Digital Media program!
  

Well, there you have it! No, nobody needs to ask me where I'm looking at for school anymore. And if they do, I'll just direct them here. Just kidding, that's kind of pompous. I'll probably tell them anyway. 

Movie Review: Why Mr. Incredible is a Jerk

Today, I watched The Incredibles for the first time in six or seven years.

Needless to say, that's been way too long.

I went through this phase in middle school and most of high school when I decided that animated films weren't "cool." They were for little kids, I thought, not big strong men like me! Of course, that was completely ridiculous. Unfortunately, I only realized it this past summer. As a camp counselor, there were several rainy days where the only thing to do to pass large chunks of time was watch movies. However, we were only allowed to show the kids movies that were rated "G." As a result, I was reintroduced to movies that I hadn't watched in ages; Toy Story, Aladdin, and The Emperor's New Groove, just to name a few. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed these movies, much more so than I had recent blockbusters such as Elysium and Man of Steel.

So, when I was scrolling through my DVR earlier today, and I saw that The Incredibles was on it, I made the excellent decision to watch it. I'm not going to summarize it here, because I assume you've all seen it. But there were a few things that jumped out to me.

First, I was a little startled at the violence in this children's movie. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with violence in film and television at all. But still, the amount of it in this movie was surprising. What was most surprising was how the two kids, Violet and Dash, seem to have no problem whatsoever killing, or watching their parents kill, the enemy soldiers. I get that they're just acting in self defense, but you'd think that a middle schooler and elementary schooler would have some sort of emotional response to killing. 

Another thing I noticed: Mr. Incredible is a real jerk! I mean, come on. The dude was born with super strength, which while cliche, is one of the coolest powers out there. He also has a hot wife, three kids, and a best friend who sounds just like Samuel L. Jackson. On top of that, he's got the government watching his back, picking up the pieces every time he screws up. He doesn't even get arrested for throwing his annoying boss through several office cubicles! Yet despite all of this, Mr. Incredible is incredibly ungrateful. He lives his whole life not caring about his family or his wife, just reminiscing about his days as a super hero. I get it, man. You had an awesome job and everyone loved you! But you have it pretty damn good anyways. Yeah, your job sucks. But you're not stuck there, go apply for a new one. Alas, all Mr. Incredible does is search for adventure, for an opportunity to return to the glory days. And he finds it all right. But in the end, he almost gets his entirely family killed for it. Don't worry though! At some point during the move, he'll offer a half assed apology. 

One final thing I noticed; the voice actor for Mr. Incredible's boss was also the voice actor for Rex in Toy Story. And he was also the actor who played Vizzini in The Princess Bride! I love that guy. 

Anyway, despite the fact that the main character is kind of unlikable, The Incredibles is still a fantastic movie, and has deservedly gone down as one of the best animated films of all time.

Verdict: 8 out of 10