Happy Hunger Games!

And may the odds be ever in your favor.


Yes ladies and gentlemen it is true. I finally got around to reading The Hunger Games, and though it took me FOREVER to get to reading them, I will have you know it only too me a couple days to devour them once I started because I could not put the damn things down. That trilogy was absolutely amazing, and though I am a little late to realize this, I wanted to share my thoughts on the series.


First I will admit that I saw the film first, which is a bit of a no no in the nerd world, but I had my reasons! Maybe if you are nice I will tell you them some time. Anyway, I saw the film on my birthday and I was absolutely blown away, so much that I was wrenched out of my no reading coma and picked up the first book just a few days later and obviously loved it.


I must say that The Hunger Games trilogy is probably the best young adult series I have read since Harry Potter (I know it's technically a youth series but I don't care). Hunger Games is a beautiful piece of science fiction. Like many classic pieces of the  genre, such as 1984 or Brave New World, it presents an all too possible reality in which a crazed government has taken away the rights and freedoms of the everyman to feign an utopian society. But unlike those books, the story is not told by old men, its told by a 16 year girl. And that girl, Katniss, is kinda completely badass, which is always a plus.


I thought that these books were really clever, and each of the three is very different than the other two in the style, a trait that I loved because it really helps the story evolve and keeps the reader interested. In addition the characters were brilliant. Each of character was very rounded with both flaws and strengths and they were, and all very true to human nature. Despite the fact that it is set in the future and there are all kinds of crazy things that people do with technology, the characters are all still very real, and even though they are in fantastical situations, they still react like any human being would. And the characters are also very likable, even drunken Haymitch (who I thought Woody Harrelson played magnificently) is likable in his own way. Oh and then there are Peeta and Finnick. In the interest of not sounding like a 13 year old fan girl, I will not go on and on about how much I love these two, but I do love them. And as per usual I think like 6 of my top 10 characters ended up dead by the end of the series, which always happens to me. But even with the deaths I still loved this series, and when I got to the last page of the last book I badly wanted more. That is what good books do, make you want more of what the author will probably never give you. But that, my dear friends, is why Fanfiction was invented!


I would have to say that Catching Fire (2nd book) is my favorite, Mockingjay (3rd book) my least favorite just because it was so sad, but it was still a really good book. The story is brilliant, Suzanne Collins is brilliant, and since she also co-wrote the screenplay, it is not hard to see why the film was also brilliant. I thought that it kept very close to the book, and the things that they changed, deleted or added were completely justified in the translation to film, which is not something that I think can be said about a lot of films based on books. If they continue to let the author write the screenplays then I believe that they will continue to be good, especially since they have decided to pull this 2 part final movie thing that Harry Potter started. That and if they keep whatever casting people they are using because I thought that Jennifer Lawerence and Josh Hutcherson were both perfectly cast, and I have no complaints about anyone else in the cast either. Stanley Tucci was amazing as always and hilarious as Ceasar Flickerman and I thought that Lenny Kravits was great as Cinna (another one of my favorite characters). And as I mentioned before Harrelson was great. Now I just wanna see who they get as Finnick, cause if they mess him up I will be very unhappy. Did I mention that I love him?


So that is just a basic rundown of my feelings for the series in general, both the books and the film. I may (and probably will) write again on Hunger Games later, I already have many in depth character analyses going in my brain that I would love to share, but those are for a later time. If you haven't read the books go read them, same goes for the movie! I recommend both unless, like my boyfriend, you are just going for the kid on kid violence, in which case then you may be a bit disappointed. If that is not the case, drop whatever you are doing and GO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Writing on Writing

So a couple of weeks ago I was talking my friend Amber about how I have been feeling lost lately when it comes to my writing. I had to admit to her that as much as I want to write, I am having trouble getting started on anything. This is mostly because I do not know what I want to write about (this is especially true of this damn blog)! But after talking about it for while we both agreed that I need to just keep pushing myself to write, so in the interest of getting a blog done this week, since I haven’t done one in like a month, and with a lack of a better topic at the moment, I am going to write about writing! 

I decided a few years ago that I wanted to write for a living. I have always loved literature and storytelling and I have devoured book after book since I learned to read.  English classes have often been my favorites, and writing and reading have always been my strong points in school. Granted I have my fair share of grammar problems, but for the most part I have always felt really good about my writing, and that is what made me decide that I wanted to pursue writing and what made me think that it was the right choice. 


I still believe that becoming a writer is the right path for me, but lately I am having trouble getting on that path.  I think that my biggest problem is that I really only have decent amounts of experience in academic writing. I have always excelled at academic writing but I do not want to spend the rest of my life writing essays. My real passion is fiction. I love stories, and I really love developing strong characters. But because I have less experience and less practice with fiction, I am also less confident in my ability to write it.  That lack of confidence mixed with extreme writers block has left me with very little of my own fiction. I often feel like my ideas are too cliché, boring or incomplete and almost none of them have ever made it past the outline stage. In fact I think that the last time I actually finished a piece of my own fiction was about four years ago and it was weak at best. So in my pursuit of a writing career I have an awful long way to go.

So right now I am trying very hard to improve my writing and to gain experience in fiction. I have not been able to take any writing classes in college yet but things on that front are looking up. Next semester I will be taking one class on scriptwriting and another on writing for publication so I am really hoping that those will not only help me improve my writing, but will get my creative juices flowing again too! Until then there are several ways that I have been trying to help myself that have been working to an extent. I’d like to share some of the things that do help me so that any of my fellow writers that are reading this can try them out for themselves, and maybe they can gain from them too.

           
First for the inexperienced fiction writer I really think fanfiction can be a good start. It has some great advantages. Writing fanfiction has allowed me to gain experience with story telling, character development, and my writing style. Also, posting my fanfiction on a website like Fanfiction.net allows me to gain feedback from fellow fans that leave me comments. The problem with fanfiction is that you are using characters, settings and plots from established series and just expanding on them. It is a good way to start but you do not get as much experience with creating your own elements. So I suggest that fanfiction is a starter or side project in your writing if you are trying to be a legitimate writer. However you can’t make a career out of writing fanfiction so do not over devote yourself to JUST fanfiction.   

As far as looking for good writing tips I have found a few really good sources for those. My boyfriend Daniel turned me onto a podcast called Writing Excuses. This podcast is made up of several professional writers (including Daniel’s favorite author Brandon Sanderson) who address different aspects of writing and different steps in the writing process every week. The podcasts each have a different topic, but they are not too long and they are very helpful. Basically what I do it listen to the ones that address my biggest problems in writing. I really recommend them. Also one of my favorite authors, John Green, has a vlog on YouTube with his brother (they are called the vlogbrothers). John often talks about his writing in his vlogs but not nearly as often as the writing excuses podcast, so unless you want to devote time to watching a lot of their videos you might not be able to find what you want. Or you could just watch all their vlogs like I did if you have the time since they are all good no matter the topic. Anyway back to writing tips!

           
My last and newest writing trick is a writing playlist. I have started going through my iPod while I am working on a writing piece to then add all the songs that remind me of that piece to a playlist. It really helps the creative juices flow and if you are a person who needs noise to work like I do, it is just the right amount of noise to work with. I also really like to make a playlist of random songs that just make me want to create or that get my imagination going. Music really helps me get creativite and it is the best way I have found to fight the writer’s block.

            
Even with these tricks though I think the most important thing to do when you want to write is make time to do so. Set aside an hour every day or a couple every week or weekend to just write. Something like a blog that you are making yourself post once a week or once every two weeks will help you push yourself to actually make the effort. That is what I am discovering. That is going to be my biggest goal to work towards, making my time to write and making myself write. I need to do that because if I can’t do at least that then I doubt that I can handle the pressures of a writing career. So wish me luck I guess.

            
Thank you all for reading this week! I hope that some of my fellow writers will take some of my suggestions, and please leave me your suggestions as well. I am always open to new ideas as to how I can improve my writing. In the interest of keeping up my writing I am really going to try to update this blog every week, but sometimes I have trouble coming up with topics, so if you have any ideas as to what I can write about please do not hesitate to share. So that is all for now, thanks again for reading!

Thoughts on Harry Potter!

Time is a strange thing. It seems to have two distinctive speeds: too fast and too slow. When the last days of summer vacation are passing by it seems way to fast and when you are patiently waiting for something big to happen, perhaps a big birthday or a holiday like Christmas, it seems like each day is three times longer. There never seems to be much of an in-between. Right now, however, time seems to be doing something strange. It is going both too slow AND too fast. How is this possible? Easy.  The last Harry Potter movie comes out in 8 days. Being the nerd I am, it was inevitable that these blogs would at some point end up on Harry Potter and with Deathly Hallows part 2 coming out in about a week, it seemed appropriate to talk about it now.

Right now I am absolutely dying to see this film. I got my tickets as soon as I could and much of my free time these past weeks has gone towards making plans for the midnight premiere. The anticipation of this event of course makes the days until it comes out go by painstakingly slowly. But all at the same time things are moving far too fast, because this is it. When then credits roll early that Friday morning it will not just mark the end of a film, it will mark the end of one of the greatest series of all time, or at least of my lifetime. It will be the end of an era, and that is what is coming much too quickly.

Like most people that will be attending the midnight showing, I have been a long time Harry Potter fan. I saw the first film and started reading the books in the third grade. I was about 11 years old, the perfect age to start Harry Potter since it was the age of the boy wizard when he began his first year at Hogwarts. Ever since then I have passionately followed the books and the films. When the seventh and final Harry Potter book was published it was very sad to know that there would not be another, but I took comfort in knowing that I had a few more films to look forward to. Now that the last film is coming out it truly feels like the series is done. Yes there will always be Harry Potter merchandise to spend money on. Yes the films and books will always be around to re-experience. And yes, now there is even a theme park, which I am sure will be amazing to see if and when I ever make my way to Florida to visit it. But despite all that, I feel like seeing this last movie is like saying a final goodbye to an old friend.  The morning of July 15^th will be filled with many, many tears.

That being said I am very much looking forward to my final Harry Potter midnight premiere. For those of you who have never been to one of the Harry Potter premieres, they are an event! People dress up in costumes and line up outside the theater hours and hours beforehand. They play games, read, and watch previous films to help pass the time until the moment comes when they finally let us into the theater, (to wait a couple more hours until the film actually starts). It may sound boring to some, but to a Harry Potter nerd, it is heaven. By 10 pm, the hours of waiting prompt sudden wand battles and sing-a-longs of Potter inspired tune while waiting for the film to finally pop up on the screen. And when the movie does finally start the theater breaks out into applause. There are a hundreds other people in that theater with you, people you have probably never met in your life, but you have something in common with every single one of them, and that is your mutual love of the series. Everyone laughs when you laugh, cries when you cry. And then you realize that the same thing is happening in theaters around the United States, maybe around the world. All these strangers have a connection to each other, and to you. It is a strange feeling, but a wonderful one. It is an experience that I have loved in the past and I am so excited that I get to feel once again. I am so excited that I decided I needed to share that experience.

For this midnight premiere, the last one ever for a Harry Potter film, I will be bringing along my 10 year old little sister. She is at the prime Potter age, and over the last year or so, she too has gotten sucked into the wizarding world. We have begun reading the books together, and she loves the movies as much as I do. So when I see this film at midnight my little nerdy sister will be sitting right there watching it with me, loving it as much as I do, and she will be doing it in her own costume with her own little wand. It will be a once in a lifetime experience for her and she is extremely excited about it, probably even more than I am! Being able to share this with her makes me love Harry Potter even more. It gives me a way to connect with her even though she is 8 years younger than me and has grown up a bit differently than I have.        

What I love most about Harry Potter is that it is universal. People all around the world love it for different reasons. I love it, my friends love it, and so do my mother and my little sister. So do all those strangers that sit in that theater to see the movie at midnight, no matter what walk of life they are from, how old they are, or where they are from, they have found something that they connected to and loved in that little fantasy series. These books have impacted them, just like they have impacted me. Harry Potter has inspired so many: musicians, actors, and writers. It has even spawned The Harry Potter Alliance, a charity organization that saw connections between the problems in Harry’s world and our own and have set out to fight those problems. I love that Harry Potter has done this to so many people, and my hope are that it inspires my little sister just as much.

So that is what I have to say about that. I am very excited about the premiere next week and I am looking forward to sharing it with my little sister more than anything. I encourage all my fellow Potter fans to share your love of Harry Potter with a little one that you love, a sibling, a cousin, even your own children if you are of the age. And hey if Potter isn’t your drug, then share whatever story it is that you loved growing up with, because when they see how much you loved it they will open their little hearts to it too and you can share that love. Hope that you are all as excited about the last film as I am, and I can’t wait to see you all at the premiere. This is one series that will go out with a bang. Hope you enjoyed reading. Until next time.

-MK

On a slightly less serious note I leave you all with some random facts about The Harry Potter series (may include spoilers). I have also included some pictures of my adorable little sister Monica in her Harry Potter garb!

Random Facts:

-The first character to appear in the Harry Potter books is Mr. Dursley. This is not true of the films however. The fist character to appear in the films is Dumbledore, most likely meant as a way to establish the importance of his character.

- Both actors that play Dumbledore, Richard Harris and Michael Gambon, are Irish.

-The books and the films were each released over a 10-year period. The books were released between 1997 and 2007 and the films between 2001 and 2011.

-Daniel Radcliffe and Harry Potter were both born in July.

-Harry in the books has green eyes but Radcliffe has blue. The opposite is true of Ron Weasley and his real life counterpart Rupert Grint. Weasley has blue eyes and Grint has green.

-At the beginning of the filming for the movies, actor Alan Rickman was the only other person told the complete story line and ultimate outcome of the series by the author so that he could better portray Snape. 

-American witches are mentioned on page 82 of the Goblet of Fire. So they do indeed exist J

Now for some pics of the kid!

Hello All, I Gots Me A Blog!

Hello and welcome to my blog! After months of deliberating I have finally decided that I wanted to give this a try. I am a writer  and friend of mine whose is a fellow writer (if you are reading this you know who you are) has been blogging for a while now and says that it helps him quite a bit. Lately I feel like I am at a standstill with my writing so I thought I should take his advice and start my own blog. 

This blog will be about lots of different things. It will no doubt include ramblings on my life and observations I have on the world around me. It will also include pieces of my writing so that I can practice my skills and get some helpful feedback. Lastly it will include lots of nerdy discussions and analyses. Otherwise known as nerdy talk! 

 
As of late I have not been writing as much as I want to. Life seems to get in the way a lot and when I actually have the time to write I tend to blow it off. I have several unfinished projects, especially writing projects, and I realize that the main reason I never finish any of them is because I am just too damn lazy. And I have little to no motivation to not be lazy. I need to commit to my writing and this blog will help me do that. I am right now committing to write on this blog at least once a week. So if anyone reading this has any feedback or suggestions of topic I should write about please share! 

 
Well that is about it for the introduction to my blog. I know it is short but I will write again later this week, maybe even later today! Until then, don’t forget to be awesome!

-MK