The Hunger Games

For those of you who don't know, The Hunger Games is the first book of three, written by Suzanne Collins, just recently turned into a movie directed by Gary Ross. It is set in the future where North America, now called Panem, is split into 12 districts and the Capitol selects a boy and a girl from each district to partake in "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death, broadcasted on live television. The rules of the games are that twenty-four participants go in, and only one comes out alive as the victor. The games are part entertainment and part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts. The story follows Katniss, a 16-year-old, who volunteers in place of her young sister, Prim. She becomes the tribute participant for District 12 along with her male counterpart, Peeta.

I went to the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games on Thursday. I'm a huge fan. I've read all of the books and really was beyond ecstatic to see it. There's something to be said about reading a book and then watching it come to life on screen. It's almost magical. You get to compare the characters and scenes that you pictured in your head while reading to the director's version in a movie. Especially seeing it at the premiere at midnight, when only true fans come. We are all covered in Hunger Games shirts and dressed up like the characters. We all have a mutual love for the novel. There was complete silence during it except for the occasional applause and gasps when a scene was done so beautifully. I saw it again on Friday night and it was completely different. Not the movie. The audience. There were boys behind me trying to be funny and calling out things during it. There were people who laughed immaturely during emotional or romantic scenes. There was even a guy snoring loudly enough for the whole theater to hear. That's the difference between going to the premiere and going when everyone else goes. It's the true, diehard fans that make the experience. It was so much more emotional and breathtaking when I was surrounded by people who are in love with it as much as I am and don't talk or laugh during quiet scenes. So word of advice: If you read an amazing book and it gets the privilege to become a film, go to the premiere and I guarantee your experience will be undeniably more enjoyable and memorable.

I would give The Hunger Games five out of five stars. It really is a touching and captivating movie. Even if you haven't read the books, I would definitely suggest it. It's a movie for both guys and girls and it really keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through.

Teachers Matter

I didn't really realize how huge of a difference the teacher makes until just recently.
Let's just say physics isn't my thing. I've never been interested in science at all until this trimester when I got a great physics teacher. He makes such a difference. I don't even mind going to physics and sitting through an hour lecture. He makes the class fun. He makes little jokes to keep it entertaining, shares personal experiences, and does real examples of the things we are learning about in front of us. Today, we were learning about static electricity and he pulled out one of these machines and we actually got to see what static electricity and electron transfer looks like. It's so much more interesting to actually see what you are learning about rather than just being talked at and given long formulas to memorize all class period. I had a different teacher my first trimester for physics and I didn't like the class at all. The teacher wasn't engaged and happy to be there. Good teachers are the reason why kids get interested in certain subjects. They are the reason why kids get better grades. If the class is extremely boring and not interactive at all, students won't be interested in learning. They will do their homework and just try to get through the class to get a decent grade. And that's not learning. That's just memorizing information right before a test and then forgetting it later.


The opposite experience just happened to me too. English has always been my favorite class. I really love reading and writing. Last trimester, I had a wonderful english teacher. She was so nice and happy to see us when we walked in to class everyday. She also had a sense of humor and was very in to discussion-based teaching which it made it so much more stimulating than just doing worksheets and reading a book all hour. We read at home and discussed in class. We had a great time debating about certain topics in the book and learning about each other's views. This new trimester, I got a different english teacher. He isn't a discussion-based teacher at all. We write down vocab words and turn in little one page papers everyday for completion points. There's no class talks. And it's really sad because my love for english has actually diminished from being in that class everyday. It's not interesting anymore. I don't like reading the things he gives us. They are extremely complicated and the vocab words are just dry. I can't wait for the class to be over.


So to all you teachers out there, take pride in what you do. Have fun. Keep it interesting. Make the class laugh once in a while. Make them like your class and you. You won't believe what a difference it makes.

Kony 2012

Please watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
          This is a huge deal. A man named Joseph Kony, from Central Africa, is and has been abducting children and forces them to be in his army. The boys he captures are forced to carry a gun and do terrible things such as kill others, even their own parents. The girls he takes are used as sex slaves. He calls his abducted children the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). He has abducted over 30,000 children and forced them to be soldiers in Central Africa. He remains at large because he is INVISIBLE to the world. FEW know his name and even FEWER know of his crimes. This revolution that has been started is to MAKE HIM FAMOUS. We are trying to convince the United States as well as Canada and other countries to demand his arrest. No child should live in fear of being abducted and killed.
We can help make a change. We can make a difference.
Join the revolution. 
Visit http://www.kony2012.com/ and add your name to the list of people fighting for this important cause and share the video posted at the beginning of this blog entry.