A Review: Mockingjay

This is the last instalment of the popular trilogy, the Hunger Games. I read books before catching the movie so I can be sure I get the intent of the author, because movies are generally edited to fit the budget, length or even audience taste. The Walking Dead is the perfect example of the comic and the show having few commonalities other than zombies and Rick Grimes.

I breezed through this one just as fast as the other two and found it easy to get back into the story. Despite being another youth novel, I didn't struggle to get pulled into the story and followed right along. In this book, Katniss' character is changing more and more, and she's questioning her own motives and even behaviours. The fact that she's struggling to maintain her connection with Gale is a pivotal piece, in my opinion, because they both fed off one another throughout their youth. Even her little sister Primrose is no longer the whiny screechy kid sister and learning her own trade. This instalment is a sort of turning point where each characters' coming of age is evident. The story happens in more detail and at a much slower pace than the movies, which I appreciated.

The mockingjay flies free

Darker themes such as war, poverty, effects of war are more prominent in this book; giving it a darker tone than the previous two. The characters are plunged into darker versions of themselves when forced to confront the sadistic retaliation of the Capitol not evident in the first two. Difficult decisions are made and hard consequences are apparent. Our heroine reluctantly faces these new found situations and strives to maintain a sense of dignity and humanity. Reading the book gives you the inner dialogue of the characters that is impossible to gain from watching the movie and this story is best told in the written medium.

A Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've likely seen the visually enchanting trailers for this book turned movie, directed by Tim Burton. The premise of the book is based on the author piecing together a story with the help of a collection of eerie vintage photos that might have been double or triple exposed... or are in fact real images of peculiar children with peculiar abilities.

The book is geared towards a youth audience, with a (logically) teenage protagonist. Jake's life is a sort of perpetual limbo from his birth with all the wealth he'd ever need and no need to do anything but eventually "take over the family business": he's a trust fund baby. But he's bored. He sees his parents and their dull pointless lives and is unhappy and helpless to accept his. That is, until something happened to change everything. I guess everyone can relate to the mundanity of daily life with going to work, interacting with your family and friends in a very normal fashion all the while without real direction, purpose or any idea about what to do with yourself. Adults generally are busy adulting or raising their kids so I don't think they get lost in the same thoughts of boredom as Jake.

The thing is, as an adult who's not currently doing any adulting, I should naturally fall right into the book's story and be excited. I read with determined vigour searching for the hook in the book that would pull me in and sell me on getting the other two books of the series. I think that the years of adulting have left me with little imagination or interest to go off on a fictional journey. I think it's a good read for the target audience because I do believe that there are plenty of kids these days who lead rather dull existences and want to discover that they're special and go on an exciting and risky adventure. I can't speak for the movie as I didn't watch it but as with all movies from books, better to read the book before watching the movie just because the original is always better!

Without giving more of it away, I would say the book is worthy to be picked up by a youth audience and would be a good read for them without getting into subjects that are way over their heads (like adulting). It's a good coming of age story about a boy that many could relate to and see a part of themselves in him and go on an exciting journey to seek out their place in this world.

Two Reviews: The Hunger Games

I'm so far down the rabbit hole on this one I'm not sure I can really get into anything else until I'm "allowed" to get into the second part of this trilogy. Going from deciding this is a lame story for kids, to thinking about the characters and their motives while I'm raking leaves... seriously. So far down. But, despite this, I'm moving right along this month. I picked up the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins more out of curiosity than anything else. It seems like a lot of what I've been reading lately has not been planned! But, that's part of the fun.

The Hunger Games was written several years back but has become a huge hit and was made into a movie. I probably don't need to hype it up much more than that since Jennifer Lawrence has become a household name. This series was written for youth, but, it's surprisingly gruesome and violent (granted, that's up to your imagination) and gained a wide following. I finished reading the book in a work week. As usual, this fictional story took time to pull me in; it didn't take long though. Collins uses a first person present perspective through the eyes of the book's protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. Because of this style, she writes simply and to the point; we are in the mind of Katniss experiencing each moment as she is. This is not a story telling but rather, a live account of a character's life. We're brought into the story through the eyes and thoughts of Katniss.

The story is set in a dystopian future where the people live in Panem--the remnants of North America. The rich and advanced live in the Capitol, enslaving the surrounding districts by exploiting them for specific purposes. This keeps each of the districts in some sort of oppressed state where they live to provide and work for the citizens of the Capitol. We are provided little background about what happened for the world to arrive at this state of opposing wealth and extreme poverty.

I'm not sure if Collins had the intention to talk about specific themes in the book but my take of the primary theme is that it's a satire of reality television. The games themselves are staged and controlled in a way which the gamemakers analyze and create situations to improve ratings in the Capitol. Though all the districts are required to watch, not for entertainment but because they are forced to, in part of the punishment of their Treaty of Treason, the people of the Capitol watch purely for entertainment. They have no connection to the tributes whereas those in the districts are hoping that their tribute won't die. It's a matter of survival for those of the district and for fun, in the Capitol. The lives of those in the districts is hard and real whereas those living in the Capitol are seemingly frivolous and fake. Even in one part of the book, Katniss reflects about the absurd values that those in the Capitol have about appearance.

I couldn't read the book and not watch the movie--especially since it was released on Netflix. The movie was pretty true to the story of the book but as expected, could not capture the first person present perspective and as someone who read the book before watching the movie (never ever read the book AFTER watching the movie!), I found it shallow and lacking depth of character. In addition to this, the camera angles and styles the director chose was making me sick! I suspect it was done to capture the first person perspective of the action but I was eating dinner watching it and had to sit further away during chase scenes so I could keep my meal down.

Nevertheless, I am excited about the second installment of the trilogy and am anticipating my literary palette cleanser before falling back down the rabbit hole ;)

A Review: Austenland

Let me start off by saying, wow. What a whirlwind read: I picked up Austenland because I have been avoiding Blindness for weeks; I started it and just couldn't get fixated enough to read it on my own. So, as Amb did too, I grabbed Austenland and away I went... 2 days ago. I finished reading this in 2 day, folks! I figured this would be one of those smutty "chick lit romances" that throws in this poor woe-is-me heroine who hasn't the foggiest idea of what to do with herself in terms of her love life and readers read as she awkwardly struggles to grow and mature as a character and then coincidentally finds love with a wonderful Darcy-esque man. *swoon*

I generally shun and abhor chick flicks/lit romances. Yuck. But, as Amb promised, I fell right into the rabbit hole on this one. I didn't have high hopes for the literary quality of the prose and I suppose that was the weakest point for me... the conversation style writing. It felt lazy and lacking a solid grasp of quality writing. However, I'm no writer and similar to my perspective on wine, if you like it, then that's good enough.

The story presents us our heroine, Jane Hayes. Similar to the target reader demographic, she is in her 30s and probably read Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice and then was introduced to the impeccable BBC rendition of the same story, in 1995; and like many of Austen's modern female readers, fallen in love with Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy a la Mr. Colin Firth.

(Note: most of you male readers might be completely confused about who this "Mr. Darrrcyyy" is and why us females swoon so much over him. It's ok, you'll never get it; it's a girl thing. We're all in love with Mr. Darcy in some way.)

Oh don't look at me like that, Mr. Darcy!

Jane is down and out on her love life and through a surprise inheritance from a great aunt, finds herself gifted a trip to Pembrooke Park--a fantasy place where the Regency era comes to life and the patrons participate in a staged farce of Regency romance and a life of leisure. The reader follows Jane's story from starting as an awkward, damaged and unsure heroine. She becomes the heroine that we all want her to be: strong, confident and comfortable with who she is and what she wants.

The book makes a great premise for a chick flick movie, and that's exactly what happened--though I have yet to watch the movie that came out earlier this year--but lacks real "meat" as a literary gem and could easily be defined as being a quick and easy read that fits the purpose of being a literary palette cleanser; a break from something heavier. It was fun and thrilling for a P&P fan like myself but it certainly doesn't make you think or react viscerally like The World According to Garp.

If you're looking for a guilty pleasure rush of excitement, girly thrills and a Mr. Darcy fantasy, then this is the perfect read for such a purpose!

Surround Sound

Would you believe it if I told you I've never seen West Side Story? Well, that's only half true; I saw it last night at the TSO. But until then, I hadn't seen it before. Despite this disadvantage and the advantage of pop culture and the media, I had already seen all the best pieces of West Side story stitched together from various sources like Family Guy and the Simpsons.

Tony & Maria in love <3

For those of you who are like me, the story is in essence your modern day Romeo & Juliet. Set in the 1950s, two rival gangs duke it out while two of their respective members fall passionately in love. It's an unlikely story but one that is romanticized beautifully so; to the point that I too am drawn in and believe their instant love for one another.

Now, I got the opportunity to finally get to know one of the greatest classical American love stories through the big screen in a live orchestral audience! That's right folks, not only did I get to watch the movie on a huge screen, I got to listen to an incredible live orchestra (the Toronto Symphony Orchestra) play the entire (including the trailer and credits) soundtrack. It was an incredible experience.

The Roy Thompson Hall is acoustically incredible as it is so you can only guess how amazing the sound was, for the movie! Sometimes when I go to the TSO, I get a little bored watching the orchestra and really, it's not terribly exciting all the time. It's really neat to watch the group play together and each section be responsible for their piece that alone, makes no sense but once put together, the whole thing just transforms into something wonderful. But, sometimes... that's not that interesting. So, it was a welcome change to watch the screen and just be pulled into the story with the incredible soundtrack enveloping you.

There was a great rendition of America on Glee!

The neatest thing was how the conductor was conducting! First, this movie is ~2.5 hours and standing isn't going to happen. Next, how did he know when he was supposed to play? It's not like he and the singers could coordinate by communicating with one another. He was at the mercy of the video as it was. He was seated at the podium with a small screen which simultaneously played the movie but when there was musical score, there were these flashes and bars that would travel across the screen--as if prompting him about where they were, in the score!

Needless to say, not only was the opportunity to watch an American classic while being bathed in music but seeing the coordination of the conductor with the movie and the players was truly an inspiring feat!

Amber and I were chatting about it and we hope that the TSO takes their nearly full house as a sign to do more of these types! Can you imagine if they did Star Trek or Rent?

Be Like Jiro

Who?

Jiro Ono.

He is the owner and head sushi chef of Sukiyabashi Jiro--a Michelin Guide 3-star restaurant in Ginza, Chuo-ko, Tokyo, Japan. He is considered the greatest sushi chef in the world. I went to watch the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" at the TIFF Lightbox and let me tell you: WOW.

If you ever thought about sushi as just being some raw fish slapped ontop of rice and that it's something any schmuck can do, you are dead wrong. It's an art.

The documentary explores Jiro's life and his one true love: making perfect (even he says it's not but really, it's got to be) sushi. He's devoted his entire life to making sushi. On the surface, the movie seems a mere documentary about Jiro's life and his love. But when you really look at it, you see that this one man has committed to something whole-heartedly and for his entire life. He's found something that speaks to him and it has become his soul. He is what they coin a shokunin: The Japanese word shokunin is defined by both Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries as ‘craftsman’ or ‘artisan,’ but such a literal description does not fully express the deeper meaning.  The Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means not only having technical skills, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness. … The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people.  This obligation is both spiritual and material, in that no matter what it is, the shokunin’s responsibility is to fulfill the requirement.” – Tasio Odate

In this day and age, everything is quick quick quick. We're always jumping from one thing to the next without ever thinking about sticking around or in further depth. If this docu-movie doesn't ruin your for mainstream sushi, it will at the very least, make you rethink your life as you know it.

Weekend Break

Everyone always asks where I'm off to, during the long weekend. I went... nowhere. Well, that's not true. I didn't leave the comfort of my home for a fancy vacation that was potentially expensive. I had a STAY-CATION! Yep, I just made up a word. But, it doesn't matter because I had a great long weekend.

On Friday, I started the day by visited the All About Pets Show at the International Center in Mississauga. There were cats, dogs, parrots, monkeys, ponies and several other types of exotic pets there. I took AD to do some research: what does getting a dog involve? Was the mission a success? I'd sure say so!!! No more doggie coming this way. Phew. I thought I had to get up earlier to walk that little critter. I do love dogs and all animals but I really don't love them more than I love my sleep and freedom. And let's face it, dogs are bred for a purpose and without it, they get b-o-r-e-d. Have you ever seen a dog that has way too much energy? It's not exactly a walk in the park (ha ha! get it? walk in the park???)

We saw this war plane memorial in a park that was easily missed. It's interesting when you find little "treasures" like that. And since I didn't take any photos at the show...

No, there isn't someone still up there...

 Dandelions already out in bloom.

 and our beloved little "Sharkie"

Our next stop? Catch up on the Game of Thrones. Waiting a week was already too much! Unfortunately, I felt a little let down from the one episode. It's probably because I have NO clue about what's going on :( Looks like I'm going to have to wizz through the other books on my "list" so I can get to the second book sooner!

I'm going to devote another post about my new found "cultural food" since it does deserve the highlight. Till the next post!

Cinefranco 2012

I'm taking French language courses this year. We live in Canada and it's become more obvious to me when I'm at work (and half of our stuff comes in French) and I understand little of it. Let alone be able to communicate with our Quebecois clients.

I'm taking the lessons at Alliance Francaise which is recommended as one of the best schools, for teaching the French language. I've picked up the French language much faster than I have, at any other point in my life. But, I'm far from being right up to par with native french speakers. So, I want  to check out some French language movies at the Cinefranco movie festival.

It's being held at the TIFF Lightbox where for about a week, there will be French language films from all over the world. I unfortunately missed "Free Men" this evening but intend to find it and watch it because it sounds just so good (I'm referring to the plot). The second is My Little Princess. It's got a dark gothic feel to it and I just love gothic themed movies, books etc.

In Paris during WWII, an Algerian immigrant is inspired to join the resistance by his unexpected friendship with a Jewish man (IMDB). This is a still from Free Men:

My Little Princess is a 2010 French-Romanian drama film directed by Eva Ionesco and inspired by her relationship with her mother, the well-known artistic photographer Irina Ionesco whose pictures of her young daughter aroused discussions when they were published back in the 1970s. The movie illustrates a situation which at first glance seems to be a paradox: Whilst revealing more and more of her daughter to the public the mother seems to get increasingly estranged from her and vice versa. (Wikipedia)

The other film I'm debating to go and see is called "De Bon Matin" and it's about a bank employee who goes to work, brings out his gun, shoots two managers and waits patiently for the police to come take him away. At first, it felt a little too close for comfort but I thought about the psychological aspect of it and I think it could potentially make for an interesting evening.

Can't wait!! Let's get cultured. Whoever said Toronto lacks culture is an idiot.