A Review of The Hunger Games (Spoiler Alert)

The Hunger Games
A Movie Review
By Mira

AWWWWWyYEAH~

Let’s start with a simple question. What would you do if your little sister had been selected to ‘play’ in a ‘game’ where only one person came out alive? Not many people would answer ‘volunteer to go for her.’ Well, that’s drop the question, and get right to the story. Once apon a time, a place called Panem was ruled over by the unfair and tyrannical Capitol. For Seventy-Four years, the Hunger Games had loomed over Panem, each year taking two Tributes, aged twelve to eighteen, from each of the twelve Districts, and dropping them in an Arena, and telling them to kill each other, and letting the last one standing go home. When twelve-year-old Primrose Everdeen is reaped to go to the Games, her older sister, Katniss Everdeen, volunteers to go instead of her. Along with Katniss, Peeta Mellark, the baker’s son, who had saved Katniss and her family’s lives, years ago, was selected to go.

A week later, Katniss had made a fiery entrance to the Capitol, earning the name ‘The Girl on Fire.’  Her partner had admitted he was in love with her on live TV, and made her not only the Girl on Fire, but one of the star-crossed lovers of the Arena. Speaking of the Arena.... Katniss is thrown headfirst into the Arena, nearly dying of dehydration, and of a firestorm in her first week. Then she meets Rue, the twelve-year-old Tribute from District Eleven. As quickly as they become alliances, Rue is killed while Katniss blows the Career’s food stocks up. After that, it is announced that two Tributes from the same District can win. Katniss tracks down Peeta, and nurses him back to health, then together, they win the Games, and return home.

And that is the Hunger Games. I, myself, enjoyed the movie, although I prefer the book. The movie didn’t really capture the essence of the characters, and didn’t include some plot points that became rather crucial in the second two books. The movie also didn’t really capture what I thought the author was trying to portray in the Capitol, and in the Districts. But, compared to most movies, the movie was rather close to the book, so kudos to the creators for that. All in all, The Hunger Games was a good, movie, but could have been better.

My Opinion of Christian Fundamentalist Homeschooling.

Christian Fundamentalist Homeschooling.
A guide to why, and mostly, why not, by Brenda.

A response to
Barely Literate published by Alternet.

(Author’s note: If you are Christian, please do not be insulted by this. I have no problem with Christianity if you are giving your child a proper education. Thanks!)

Okay, so. Since we learned that presidential candidate Rick Santorum homeschools his children, homeschooling has gotten a lot of press time.  Which may or may not be good, because a lot of this press, is very, very, bad.  Honestly, if you can’t write more than a paragraph at age eighteen, there is something wrong.  Very, very, wrong.

Today my mum and I read a story on Alternet about homeschooling, and homeschooling neglect.  It’s actually a little chilling.  These people aren’t being raised to live in a world like the one that exists today. If you aren’t raised to live in a world like this, you’re guaranteed to have some problems.

Life isn’t a case of God vs Devil, good vs. evil.  You gotta live in it, and what is being taught to many Christian children is that much of the world is evil, and that the ‘Devil’ is everywhere.  People shouldn’t be scared of the world, not like that.  If you choose not to send your child to school, fine (I don’t go to school either!).  But at least teach them properly, let them go to college.

If there is a God, I think he would want you to teach your child to use his or her ‘gifts’.  The mind, and education, is not something to be wasted.

Thanks for reading.

Brenda's Book Report Number One

Books, amazing books. The splendorous and wondrous books, with inviting covers and soft pages.

Dream filled stories and heart wrenching endings. Smiles, tears. All can be found within a book, you

just have to choose the right one. This particular book was quite a good choice. Wild Magic, by Tamora

Pierce, the first book of the Immortals quartet. Returning to familiar, loved characters, and the magical

realm of Tortall that is the home of the lovable Daine, brilliant Numair, and magical Allana. I read this

book a few years ago, after a friend gave them to me. I have to say, I'm very glad I did.

Verilidaine Sarrasri, named Sarrasri because she never knew her father, and also known as Daine, has

always had a 'knack' with animals. A little more then a knack, it turns out, when the knack turns to wild

magic. In the first book in the quartet, after her village was destroyed by bandits, Daine finds herself

without a home, and alone except for her pony, Cloud. In a fair, she meets Onua Chamtong, a K'miri,

and the horsemistress for the Queen's Riders in Tortall. After making an enemy of a the queen of a the

queen of a tribe of monsters called Stormwings, Daine meets Numair, Allana, and the rest of the riders.

In the summer trip, she goes to Allana's fief, Pirate's Swoop, and ends up fighting off a siege of

Stormwings, and Carthaki raiders. After, she meets, and adopts, a baby dragon called Skysong,

nicknamed Kitten. In the end of it all, Daine goes from having no home, to a few more then she needs,

with even more friends.

The main character, Daine, is a delightful and adorable person, thoroughly confused by Tortall and all

it's strangeness, and different customs, and, most of all, by the ready acceptance that awaited her there,

after she had been cast out of the village she had grown up in.

All in all, I think it's an amazing book, with delightfully charming characters, a tantalizing plot, and

delectably horrible monsters. Just as breathtaking, and enjoyable, as any other of the other books that

Tamora Pierce writes.

Question: Was Spartacus right?

Spartacus

Spartacus was foolish, but that doesn't mean he was a fool. Spartacus was wise, but that does not mean he was victorious. Spartacus was clever, but his enemies were tougher. But the real question is, was he right? We should look at that question a few ways, as there are many answers to that question, many opinions. Let's take a chance, guess what his soldiers, his enemies, thought of him. There are many ways to think about who was right in Spartacus' situation, I myself am in the opinion that Spartacus was right. But let's start with what happened.

Before Spartacus rebelled, he was a gladiator. Many believe that he would have risen to freedom, but that was not the case. Armed only with kitchen knives, Spartacus and seventy-five other gladiators broke out of their jail, and disappeared into the country, recruiting slaves with the help of Spartacus' lover, a Dionysian priestess. Spartacus led his ever-growing army to victory on Vesuvius, Thruii, and many other places, eventually leading them to the Alps. But there, the rebels decided they did not want to go with Spartacus across the Alps and to Thrace, Gaul, and the lands beyond. They went back into Italy, and continued fighting until a Roman general named Crassus wiped them out, killing Spartacus The rebels continued with gorilla warfare, until all the survivors were crucified.

Spartacus' story ended sadly for the rebels, but let's imagine if they had won. Let's imagine a Rome without slavery. Hard to think of it, right? Slavery was so ingrained into Roman culture, you just can't picture a Rome without it. If Spartacus had taken over Rome, he probably wouldn't have been able to abolish slavery. So, even if he had won the war, in Spartacus' eyes, he would have failed. Maybe it's a good thing that he lost, then. But all the death, the pain. Was that the right thing, too?

Let's see. I'm going to assume that you, the reader, thinks that slavery is wrong, and say the following: Spartacus was fighting for freedom, fighting to get his men to safety. Fighting for what I believe was right, but back then he would have been viewed very differently. In Rome, slavery was part of daily life, just like pets to us now. Back then, by the free citizens of Rome, Spartacus would be viewed as something close to a heretic, a maniac.

So let us all look back at the days of Spartacus with pity, and reminisce on the lost lives, feel sad for all the suffering Crassus caused to the rebels, and be thankful that we live in a more peaceful time like this. Spartacus was right, but only to us, and the people of our time.