Hunger Games Movie.

Just got back from seeing the Hunger Games. And, wow. It did not disappoint. I always worry about the translation from book to screen -- that being based on the colossal disappointment I've dealt with so many times in the past in instances where it's been done wrong.

The Hunger Games, though? They did it right. Oh, so right....

Late to the Party. As Always.

I have this penchant for ignoring my friends' (and now my son's) reading recs, until something like the last book in the series (Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling), or an impending movie release (The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins) spurs me into action.

I read all of the first six Harry Potter Books in the six months leading up to the release of Deathly Hollows. Finished Half-Blood Prince a week before DH came out and was standing in line at midnight to buy it. (For the record, my receipt says I purchased the book at 12:07.) Then I did go ahead and read that one in 24 hours.

Cut to last night, when I stayed up until the crack of dawn to read The Hunger Games all in one go. My son has been raving about the series for ages now, and since I want to take both of my boys to the movie next week I decided to get with the program and at least see what the fuss is all about.

And that fuss? Well-warranted. And then some. I've got the Kindle Fire all charged up and am planning to start Catching Fire on my lunch break this afternoon.

Little Red Riding Hood in Four Minutes. Exquisite!

Okay, you know what they say about a picture being worth a thousand words, right? Well, check out this video. Four minutes to tell a story. No dialog, no narration. But it's spectacular. And it hits you right there. Wow.

RED from RED on Vimeo.

Making Words Work.

"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone.
"When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

~ Alice and Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass

Longing for the Sea.

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

~Antoine St. Exupery

And Also...

...am reading Amanda Hocking's Switched...at the same time that I'm plowing through Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.  Must say, the juxtaposition of those two storylines in my mind is a rather odd one.