The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins is comprised of three books: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  I devoured these books while on vacation last winter.  Very entertaining YA fiction.  In a post-apocalyptic North America, the nation of Panem has a shining Capitol surrounded by 12 outlying districts.  The Capitol forces all of the Districts to send one boy and one girl to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.  The books tell the story of Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl from District 12 who volunteers to take her younger sister's place in the Games.

These bestselling books have become so popular they are being made into a movie franchise (surprise, surprise!)  I am looking forward to rereading the trilogy in anticipation of the release of the first movie at the end of March.  I have high hopes for the movie.  The action packed storyline seems like it would be easily adapted to the silver screen, and the trailers look very promising.

 

Speaking of excellent YA fiction, a friend forwarded me a link to this essay "The Kids' Books Are All Right" by Pamela Paul.  The essay reflects upon the young adult reading habits of older adults.  Basically, the message is that we need not be embarrassed about still reading kids' books because we are not alone!  Many of the fans of YA fiction (The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The Dark is Rising, The Mortal Instruments, Percy Jackson and the Olympians ... dare I say it? Twilight!) are highly educated, full-fledged adults.  I particularly like one of the quotes from the article: "... good Y.A. is like good television. There’s a freshness there; it’s engaging. Y.A. authors aren’t writing about middle-aged anomie or ­disappointed people."  Exactly.  I often find the more socially acceptable adult reading material (Governor General Literary Award, English lit type material) to be exceedingly dry and depressing.  Or, to quote again from the article, "all art and no heart."  Luckily there is a wealth of excellent YA fiction out there offering a welcome alternative for readers of all ages who are looking for some fun, fast-paced mental escapism in their recreational reading material.

Alberta Ballet

I went to see the opening night of Cinderella put on by the Alberta Ballet at the Northern Jubilee Auditorium. Ballet is not my favourite form of entertainment. I prefer words - whether singing, poetry or prose - to tell a story. But I was surprised how much I enjoyed Cinderella! Maybe because I know the Cinderella story so well, I could appreciate the story told through dance even without any words to accompany it. The dancers were incredible, as always. I wish I had half as much grace, flexibility, strength and poise! The choreography was beautifully done - the ugly step-sisters provided excellent comedic relief, the first dance of Cinderella and Prince Charming was enchanting and the little ballerina fairies that formed part of Cinderella's entourage were adorable! I loved the costumes too, especially the colourful, swirly dresses the ladies wore to the ball. I liked the musical score well enough, although I forgot it as soon as I heard it. Overall, I enjoyed Cinderella much more than I thought I would! I think I might even want to see another ballet. As it turns out, the Alberta Ballet is putting on Tchaikovsk's Swan Lake at the end of March. I have never seen that ballet, although I love the musical score, so I might be tempted to look for tickets!

Oh, my other favourite part of the ballet? Watching all the little girls that are invariably in the audience. They are always all dressed up with fancy dresses and pretty hair styles. And they are always so excited to be at the ballet! It's adorable. I know it's expensive to take your child to the ballet, but what a magical experience for a little girl!

Settlers of Catan

The epic board game Settlers of Catan has finally become so mainstream as to make an appearance on the prime-time TV show "The Big Bang Theory."  I was first introduced to the game 10 years ago during my second year of undergrad and it has been a favourite ever since.  It is a strategy game somewhat similar to Risk, without the element of war, bitterness and lost friendship that results when one player completely obliterates another player's armies in her quest for total world domination.  Settlers is slightly more civilized, with natural resources being collected and traded for the roads, settlements and cities used to settle the Island of Catan.  (It is more fun than it may sound in print, and once you have mastered the original Settlers the expansion packs - such as Cities and Knights - are great fun!)  Considering that Settlers is a very nerdy game, with lots of readily available adolescent humour surrounding the natural resource cards "wood" and "sheep", I am actually surprised that it has taken so long for the game to have its own comedy sketch on such a very nerdy show.

Soul Surfer

I love being pleasantly surprised by a random (free!) movie selection. The other night I was browsing the free movies on Shaw On Demand and came across this gem. What a great movie! There were no Oscar winning performances, and there were a few cheesy moments and slightly more religion that I was expecting, but this was a very solid, very emotional film based on the true story of Bethany Hamilton. Bethany is a competitive surfer from Kauai who had her entire left arm bitten off by a shark when she was 13 years old. Shortly after recovering from her injury, she went back into the water to learn to swim and surf with only one arm. With the support of her family, friends and community, and with her own inspirational perseverance and positive attitude, Bethany placed 5th in the first regional competition she entered after the attack. She is now in her early twenties and is a professional surfer.

I very much enjoyed this movie, and the resulting good long cathartic cry. Sometimes you need a heart wrenching story - especially a true story such as this - to put your own problems in perspective and to remind you that even when facing what may feel like an insurmountable obstacle in your life, there are still many things to be thankful for. One of my favourite scenes in the movie was when Bethany had her "epiphany moment" during a trip to Thailand with her church group to provide humanitarian aid following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. She may have lost her arm, but she still had much to be thankful for - her life, her friends, her family. Sometimes the key to happiness is not to dwell on the perceived unfairness of your personal situation, but instead to maintain a positive outlook and expend your energy on the good things in life. I especially like Bethany's line at the end of the movie. When asked by a reporter at a surfing competition what she would do if given the chance to go back and change the day when the shark bit off her arm, Bethany replied that she wouldn't change anything because "surfing isn't the most important thing in life. Love is. I've had the chance to embrace more people with one arm than I ever could with two."