Hunger Games - S. Collins

[Heather]

They're filming already? Do you know where they're shooting at?

[Darcy]

I just can't see Harrelson as Haymitch. The others I think will do good.

[Heather]

I don't see it either, but Harrelson has been known to surprise me so I'm still hopefull.

[Samantha]

I think they're actually filming somewhere in NC.

[Samantha]

Oh, and it looks like now they're making the trilogy into four movies....
http://www.usmagazine.com/moviestvmus...

[Darcy]

Samantha wrote: "Oh, and it looks like now they're making the trilogy into four movies....
http://www.usmagazine.com/moviestvmus..."

That seems to be the thing now. Dragging out that last film to milk things for every cent.

[Melodie]

Samantha wrote: "I think they're actually filming somewhere in NC."

yes, filming is NC. there was a big article about it in EW a couple of weeks ago. it was the cover story.

[Tya]

So, I haven't read any of y'alls comments so that I wouldn't spoil myself (I've spoiled myself anyway) and I've got to say I don't like Gale. Like, not at all. I'm in the middle of Mockingjay. Katniss is training to be allowed to go to the Capital. I don't know what it is about him, but I really do think he's something of a douche.

[Mairead]

Yeah, not a big gale fan myself either

[Carrie (Care)]

*gasp*! I love Gale! I couldn't stand Peeta, he annoyed the hell out of me.

[Tya]

Ok, I finished. (I may have shed a tear or two...) I think the reason why I don't like Gale is the same reason Katniss ultimately winds up with Peeta, and why she says that she would have wound up with him regardless of the games. Gale was so full of rage and anger and fire (and he had every right to be) but Katniss has more than enough of that on her own. I think that if Katniss and Gale ever had hooked up, they never would have been happy together. They both brought too much anger to the table for that. And Gale was just so single-minded in his hatred. Before Katniss ever even volunteers he spends all of his time ranting and raving. He would have tried to make a stand at one point in time or another, whether Katniss ever went into the games or not. And thats not to say that thats a bad thing. Babbling. Anyway, I think that because he seemed so consumed with his anger, I don't think that they would have ever been truly happy together. I don't think I ever really had a problem with Gale until Mockingjay. Something about the way he's presented in that book makes him seem a little...power mad? That's not the right phrase. But, something about how eager he was to be on the ground during the war (even what he said to Katniss before she left for the first Hunger Games, about how easy it would be to kill people since she had all of that experience hunting. He tried to backtrack when she looked at him like he was a sociopath but thats basically what he said) how easy it seemed to be for him to completely forget that the people that they were at war with were indeed people? It all rubbed me the wrong way. And while I don't necessarily begrudge him getting a good job after the war was over and moving on with his life, something about the benefit of a good job after how eager he was to kill seemed...wrong? Anyway. That's why I don't particularly like Gale, and find him all sorts of douchey.

Peeta I don't really have an opinion on. I can only think of him in relation to other people. Do I like Peeta in relation to Katniss? Haymmitch? As competition for Katniss' love interest? I think since the books were so solidly from Katniss POV and she spent most of the series confused as to what her feelings for him actually were I didn't think we really got the chance to know him as a character in his own right. We know that Katniss and Haymnitch both find him charming and all, and from the good qualities that Katniss sees in him its easy to see why she ultimately fell for him, I just don't think that I know him as a character very well.

Katniss mom on the other hand. I do not dig. Not at all. That lady seriously dropped the ball. Maybe this is one of those things that I won't fully understand until I fall in love and I guess she did a better job with Prim than she did with Katniss. But seriously! First she emotionally abandons them, leaving a young Katniss in charge? I know she didn't do it on purpose, she was mourning but Katniss was a child! It seems like the only time Katniss ever got to actually be a child was before her father died. After that it was Katniss in charge of everything. And maybe a Mockingjay with a a mommy wouldn't have been quite as compelling a figure for the districts to rally behind, but you would think that her mom would have been there SOMEWHERE when these people are sending her daughter who is 17! into friggin' combat zones! Yeah, I know that theres nothing she could have done about it, but did she even ever try? We saw Prim reaching out to her sister but where the hell was her mom? And sure, District 12 is too haunted and full of ghosts for Mrs. Everdeen to go back to? Thats totally understandable, it really really is. But if thats where they are sending your practically comatose daughter don't you think you could maybe pull yourself away from whatever you're doing to go give a girl a hug? Especially, ESPECIALLY when said daughter hasn't bothered to answer the phone or respond to your letter after how much time has passed? Yeah, sure, building a hospital where ever. But wouldn't they need a hospital in 12? Wouldn't they need someone to tell them how to make this medicine they'll be manufacturing in 12? Seriously, if going down to 12 is too hard for you emotionally or what have you, do you not think that you can pull yourself away from the sick you've been caring for to go pick your, again, practically comatose/dead inside, daughter and then keep your ass on the train and not get off?! She is just such an epic fail.


AND! I'm glad that its Peeta in the end because I do not think that Gale would have had the patience to put up with Katniss as she was mourning. And I certainly don't think he would have helped her to remember the dead the way that Peeta did. I think that Gale would have had her get angry and use that anger. In conclusion! I really, really liked this series. I don't understand why people don't like Mockinjay as much as they liked the other two. Maybe its because I was able to listen to them all within days of each other and didn't have to wait at all, but I think that I loved each book equally. All freaking three of them made me cry.

[Carrie (Care)]

I don't think Gale and Katniss should have ended up together, I just don't like Peeta's character. He bores me and he doesn't seem to have much personality. You could be right about it being because it is from Katniss's POV, but I don't think that's the case since we get great personalities from other characters.

I actually liked the ending of Mockingjay, I just didn't care for the rest of the book. Katniss annoyed me, and because I was waiting so long for this final book I was expecting lots of intense action. Sometimes I think the wait and the hype is bad for final books.

[Heather]

Is it sad that I didn't care who she ended up with?

[Tya]

I have *officially* entered my ohmygoodness-I-loved-this and will obsess-over-this-obsessively! stage. If anyone were to ask my how I spent my evening I'd say, "oh, you know, reading, tv, music." What I'd really be doing? Youtube videos of various versions of The Hanging Tree. Yep.

[Shera (Book Whispers)]

Wow!! I've been savoring The Hunger Game. It's so nice to finally LOVE a popular title!!

(view spoiler)[It's driving me crazy wether Peeta is really trying to help Katniss or not. He clearly loves her.

Plus I just read the bit were Rue gets speared. OMG. I thought she'd at least make it into the second book. It's break time. (hide spoiler)]

[Tya]

I'm sure I've mentioned this before but (view spoiler)[every.single.time anyone anywhere says Rue, I clasp my heart and say "Rue!" because Oh.My.Goll. I watch a lot of foodnetwork and really, it just hurts my heart. Rue... (hide spoiler)]
Sorry everyone!

[Heather]

The rue stuff might be considered a spoiler. I think most have read it and no one says what exactly happens, but the sense of good or bad seems to come through.

[Shera (Book Whispers)]

Oh, I finally finished the first book and I loved it.

(view spoiler)[ The whole wolf thing where all the dead gamers were brought to life was so wrong. *shivers* (hide spoiler)]

I will say this has to be one of the best love triangles I've read. (We all know how picky I am about those!) It's just so nice and sublte and I like the build up.

[Tya]

I'm re-reading Catching Fire so I can be even more nitpicky when I go and see the movie again and I just really don't like Gale. I just finished the scene where Katniss asks Gale to run with her and at first he's all sure good plan lets go but the second Katniss says that she wants to bring Haymitch and Peeta with her he backs out. It would be one thing if he wanted to back out because leaving with such a big group would be hard to keep alive but thats not it. He doesn't want them along because he wants to be the only person Katniss cares about. Contrast that with Peeta. He asks Katniss who all she envisions running with them--same as Gale but when Katniss tells him he doesn't throw a hissy fit and stomp his feet and pout and say I'm not going if he goes. It makes me so mad that later on in the book Katniss is carrying on about how selfish she is for wanting to leave and how great Gale is for wanting stay. Gale didn't want to stay because of the uprising. He wanted to stay because Haymitch and Peeta were going--the uprising was something that just happened to be happening at the same time.
And you know that just really shows what a selfish jerk Gale is. It would be one thing for him not to want to go because of Peeta--love triangle (although Peeta, the better man, had no problem with Gale coming along) but Gale started to get an attitude when Katniss told him that Haymitch was coming and she mentioned Haymitch first. What a douche.