Just got back from seeing The Hunger Games a la silver screen. And you know what? It was better than the books. Yup, I just said that. Now, caveat time: I say this as someone who read the books then saw the movie; if you saw the movie and then read the books, I'd see how the books would be better. They engage the reader more, pull you in more, make ( Read more... )

Okay so today I decided to be a good little student and do some studying on the outdoor patio outside Free Speech Movement cafe. Only when I got there at about 11 am, I found out that Moffit, and by extesnion FSM, doesn't open until 1 pm on Sundays. Awesome. So there I was, two hours early, so I decide to go to Yogurtland, as any sane, rational ( Read more... )

"Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen."

Of course it's The Golden Compass. Yeah, the Most Awesome Book in the Universe makes a bit of a lackluster first impression. But who cares? Lyra goes on to ride polar bears and blow up buildings and shit. This sentence just makes ( Read more... )

[Spoiler alert: major spoilers for The Hunger Games and His Dark Materials trilogies, minor spoilers for The Gemma Doyle trilogy, The Mortal Instruments and A Song of Ice and Fire series.]

So a note on 'shipping. I was lurking browsing The Hunger Games tag on tumblr, and of course there was the usual smattering of stupid 'shipping fanart. But there ( Read more... )

So I've been reading The Hunger Games, and I was curious about what the futuristic country of Panem would look like. She mentioned early on something about global warming and the continent being "misshapen" due to the encroaching shorelines, so I'm pretty sure mos tof California's underwater. But, I do believe that some small part of the most ( Read more... )

so i know i keep my lj as a private journal, but f there are any errant readers observing this post, please read these essential books:

jessica valenti's the purity myth (plus, if that piques your interest, her full frontal feminism and her he's a stud she's a slut, and 49 other double standards that every woman should know), michael kimmel's ( Read more... )

4 books everyone should read, period:

Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (SuperFreakonomics, too...so 5 books)
The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
The Culrute of Fear - Barry Glassner
Full Frontal Feminism - Jessica Valenti (and you know what, everything by Jessica Valenti...so a few more than 5 books)

and oh my god, i just found ( Read more... )