Direction, Direction.

Here's where I'll go from here.

I was thinking it over these past few weeks I've been absent and I figured it'd be best if I stop writing all these angsty posts about being lost. Of course, then I'd have to write about something else, but I'm sure I can figure out what to write soon enough.

I mean, I talk so much, there must be something I can write about.

On a completely unrelated tangent, I've been writing fanfictions again. Yep. After that ridiculous half-a-decade hiatus. Consider it an extended AFK period.

The recent stories I've written are on Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy, which I found quite interesting. Not as interesting as the insane hype that surrounds it though; I've never seen so many people in State College's movie theater. I've only recently read the three books, and only because two of my good friends fervently recommended it with an exact same list of why they like the books. I found it creepy that they didn't know each other.

First of all, I'll have to warn you all that I WILL spoil the story.

When I started to read the first book, I thought I wouldn't like it. And true, there was little description and the overall style was a bit too simple, but I quite liked the plot. I wasn't too fond of the overly perfect main character, but I like the idea of people fighting to death in an arena. Suzanne Collins' writing style also got better over the course of the three books, I found the third book much more visually rich (and poetic) than the first book had been. I liked the mentally-disturbed Peeta of the third book too, I thought that was a good change of pace in Peeta and Katniss' romance.

Although the love triangle slightly reminded me of Twilight, I have to say Gale and Peeta made a much better impression on me. Peeta as a baker was a lovely character, and Gale as a hunter sounded handsome. I thought Collins did a great job giving them both opposing characters and talents and I love how they both acknowledge their imperfection. I particularly love the conversation between Peeta and Gale in the Mockingjay, when they both somewhat acknowledge each other as a rival but laugh it off. I thought that was a very cute moment.

I wasn't too fond of the scene where President Snow told Katniss that he "[knows] about the kiss" between her and Gale. I thought it was too overdramatized. He's a president, not a middle-schooler. Not that I dislike drama. In fact I liked Collins' dramatic tones in the many battle scenes. Like the scene where Bogg's legs were blown off, the way she wrote it made me stop breathing in anticipation and flinch when I read the next sentence.

I was quite upset that Finnick died, too. I always like rooting for the good looking contestants. Hehe.

I liked the repetition of the Hanging tree song throughout the third book. I thought the use of repetition and symbolism in that one really tied the story together. All in all quite a charming plot, worth reading for a light read.

The movie, which came out last week, was also quite good. Director Gary Ross did a great job portraying the confusion and the panic of the first few sequences of the movie through the rapidly panning cameras, which gave me a bit of a headache (for all the good reasons). I felt that the movie somewhat decreased the depth of Katniss', Peeta's and Haymitch's characters because you couldn't really voice out what they were thinking in a movie. But the filmography was great, you got a lot of great shots that really portrayed the panic in Katniss' viewpoint. Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson wasn't overly dramatic about their character, I think overall they did a good job.

In truth, the first book wasn't much of a wealth of descriptions, so I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of costumes and settings, but I think the film did pretty well in depicting the book. I wasn't quite satisfied with the effect of the flames on her robe when she was on the chariot though, I think it could've been doctored better. I don't know if it was meant to look like that though, so maybe it was just me. I was glad to finally know what the Cornucopia looks like, though. I always thought it was a giant, golden horn protruding from the ground. I'm quite pleased to know I was wrong.

Now switching to a more superficial stance, Lenny Kravitz was a very good-looking Cinna. And I think Liam Hemsworth should get more air time to please fangirls.

I think Woody Harrelson should be given a fake beer belly in his role as Haymitch, but as usual, he plays the comical, annoying middle-aged man very well.

All in all, I'm quite excited for the second movie. They are making it, right?

Also, watching The Hunger Games on the big screen made me curious about Battle Royale. I heard it's quite similar, though Battle Royale is said to be much more violent and grotesque. Of course, The Hunger Games was also aimed at the young-reader audience.

On a side note, all that scenes of Peeta decorating cake made me hungry for cake. I've been getting fatter munching on marshmallows 24/7...which I will continue to do, bringing us to the end of this blogpost!

See you all soon.