Peeta Will Bake You Pies

Figment highlighted this The Hunger Games parody of Britteny Spear's "I Wanna Go." The video is hilarious if you've read the book to get lines like "I'm on fire." The song is also catchy.

I'm on Part 3 of the first book by the way. It's suspenseful with vague chapter cliff hangers and constant conflict. I want to read more than one chapter at a time now.

"I'll baake you piess~"

Pausing One Dystopia For Another

My younger sister talks about the movie adaptation for The Hunger Games by Susan Collins in March 2011. Even my mom has read the series already. Haha. Thus, I bumped the first book higher on my reading list and have even stopped reading  Nineteen Eighty-Four  by George Orwell.  (I may have spoilers in this post!)

 Nineteen Eighty-Four has been a slow read for me, especially because I note elements of dystopic societies such as systems and rules. Here is my book with color-coded sticky notes (I barely passed the half-point):

I wrote on only a few sticky notes. The rest just mark passages.


The Hunger Games has been a faster read, which makes this book better than Nineteen Eighty-Four  for young adults. Sometimes Nineteen Eighty-Four  has long passages about regulations that are close to a manual.

I'm glad I read past chapter 2 before I wrote this post. I'm on Chapter 6, and I have placed 4 sticky notes (I limit myself because the book is my younger sister's).

At first I noticed how the main character, Katniss, is not as blind as many dystopic protagonists. She disagrees with her society and knows how little the government cares for people in her district. Winston in Nineteen Eighty-Four is the same way, but Katniss' attitude is stronger. Then I felt that she knew too much, especially for an adolescent.  Also twice already a moment was explained instantly instead of letting the read figure it out.

However, when Katniss changes her mind about Peeta's motives, I saw that she is confident in her view of things (The reader gets to interpret!)  This quality makes her seem more dystopic and adolescent to me. She may be blind about some facts after all.

The Hunger Games does differ from other dystopias by starting the story after a rebellion. Society has already stood against the government, and the people now face the consequences of their failure. The oppressed life has become more harsh for all common folk.

In addition, Katniss is in the same position as Julia in Nineteen Eighty-Four but the attitude and situation differ.  Julia represents the generation born into the dystopic world. She has grown up oppressed and cannot imagine a world without the current government. She breaks rules for fun. However, she is shown through Winston's eyes who has memories prior to the dystopic world.

As for Katniss' world, the adults who remember the failed rebellion seem to have broken spirits. The generation of Katniss may be broken as well from the consequences and conditions. However, survival is more at stake. Thee will to survive and refusal to accept imposed ways show potential and hope.

Suzanne Collins does a terrific job of keeping her readers in anticipation. I long for answers to my questions such as, "Once tributes enter the game, are they stuck in there until the game's over?" (I think I know the answer already but I have to see the answer. Haha). I try to read whole chapters at a time to pass the suspense of just that moment.

Who has read or is reading The Hunger Games? Please do not say anything pass the training center though. I long to see my questions answered.

Do you mark passages outside of school?

Recycled Book Covers

How lovely. A librarian saved damaged book covers and made these pieces for a teacher's last day. ^_^ 

(Click here for the blog source.)

Even the pages of a damaged book could be a collage! Imagine a few inspiring lines from a book physically a part of a work of art.

An artist on DeviantArt.com used a small part of a magazine page to create the following piece:

Machine of Death vol 2

Last Fall, a sci-fi anthology  of short stories called Machine of Death came out on Amazon.com. The common theme was a machine that predicted your death in a few words on a slip of paper. However, the interpretation of those words is unknown until the death comes true, which it does. Although the topic is death, the tone of some stories can be ironic and humorous.

Overall, the anthology, which is more than 400 pages, shows different aspects of society affected by the death predictions. For example, school cliques form according to death categories and the insurance company suffers. I recommend the book.  My friend got hooked from the first story. A free PDF file is provided for preview.

For the first volume, anyone could submit a short story with the theme. Volume 2 is now open for submissions until July 15! Artists may submit samples to illustrate selected stories. Please pass the word. I hope to submit a story myself. =)

For more information, click here.

Abed videos

I mention the show Community and the character Abed, played by Danny Pudi, a few times so I wanted to share some videos I just found.

The first one is deep and meta with viewer becoming character: 

There are a few episodes I missed and this was one of them. After watching the scene, I want to see the rest of the episode.

Apparently, the character Abed does appear in the show Cougar Town, but as himself.

The last video is full of bloopers. It shows the funny and geeky pair Abed and Troy, played by Donald Glover.  Together they are cool geeks though. :)

I am also a fan of Batman so I enjoyed the video even more.

Do you watch Community? =)