On August 19, the Williams YMCA of Avery County (North Carolina) held its Hunger Games Event to show the movie, provide fun and educational opportunities and activities, and raise resources and awareness for very real needs right here in our area, since there is no need to go outside our own District to find folks who need food and opportunities for better health. Join me after the jump for details on our activities and programs, more pictures, and inspiration for those hoping to do their own Hunger Games Night!
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After Action Report on The Hunger Games at the Y
August 28, 2012 by 2 Comments
Hunger Games DVD Release: What Are Your Plans?
August 12, 2012 by 6 Comments
No, it’s not the Reaping, but there will be some pretty intense crowds this weekend as fans anticipate the release of the Hunger Games film adaptation on DVD. There are actually websites devoted to helping a person locate a release party, and Toys R Us is really pushing its line of HG-themed toys and merchandise at its 12:01 event on Saturday morning. If this hullaballoo makes you feel like a shallow Capitol citizen, some events are more educational and meaningful. At our local YMCA (western NC) our Hunger Games event will be on August 19. [Read more…]
Chronicle of Higher Education Finally Notices Harry Potter
August 5, 2012 by 11 Comments
On August 1. The Chronicle of Higher Education published a brief piece about how effectively Rowling satirizes the (American) educational system, particularly in the person of Umbridge, the administrator we all fear and loathe, particularly if we work in an academic setting. Though Rob Jenkins’s article is about nine years late to the party, it does have some merit. In addition, many of the comments posted by readers are even more chortle-producing for their “I just woke up from a decade-long coma” tone (I am really amused by the attorney who wants to be the literature police. What is he even doing reading the Chronicle? Hopefully, he’s not planning to sue a teacher for giving a student the grade the student earned, but that’s another post). So check out the article, and then follow me after the jump for a few thoughts on yes, indeed, why Umbridge is, to some of us, much scarier than Voldy himself. [Read more…]
Breaking Down the New Breaking Dawn 2 Trailer
June 22, 2012 by 5 Comments
Wednesday was the first day of summer (well, technically Thursday was the first full day), and, for those of us who have been to Forks as many times as the young lady in the hilarious Time Warner television commercial, it was also Edward Cullen’s 111th birthday (and he doesn’t even need a magic ring to stay looking 17)! In honor of that auspicious occasion, Summit treated us with the “theatrical trailer” for Breaking Dawn part 2.
Check it out in the first comment box below if you haven’t seen it already. The trailer is widely available online (good thing, too, as the only movie I’ll be seeing in theaters for a while is probably one made by Pixar), and, as promised earlier this week, here are my thoughts, nit-picky and literary as they may be, on what we see, what we don’t see, and what we should be expecting.
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The Standard Rich and Famous Contract: Some Unconventional if Totally Appropriate Catching Fire Casting Suggestions
June 12, 2012 by 14 Comments
It seems like everyone is weighing in on casting suggestions for Catching Fire. The Girl on Fire site has been doing a “Finding Finnick” series; one of our recent posts presented a wonderful possible structure for the film, prompting a commenter to quail in terror at the thought of Harrison Ford as Plutarch Heavensbee. All of this prognosticating and wondering has led me to a very different possible direction for casting the Victors chosen to compete in the Quarter Quell. Why not cast actual celebrities, a la The Celebrity Apprentice and other horrible reality shows? Before you start throwing things at me, follow me after the jump to see my suggestions and to see why having actual athletes and movie and rock stars as the Victors would actually be completely in line with Collins’s story of entertainment as slavery for both its viewers and those it ostensibly glorifies.
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