Almost home!(Ish)

I'll be home for leave in just about a month, which is way exciting, even though I have almost nothing planned and have no idea how I'll fill my time. We'll figure it out though.

So, I've been exploring a lot of new music and I decided I like Mat Kearney and I re-realized how much I love Jack's Mannequin. Holiday for Real is one of my favorite albums of all time.

I read The Hunger Games since I kept hearing other people say how awesome it was and how they couldn't wait for the movie to come out. I LOVED the book but I don't like the movie idea. Lately the more I read books the more I see them as a movie in my head and the idea of someone else doing the movie annoys me because I'm afraid they'll mess it up*coughHarryPottercough*. Usually I can see how the book would work as a movie, but I don't see it with The Hunger Games. The next paragraph contains spoilers, so skip it if you plan on reading the book, which you should.


I think one of the biggest problems with making it into a movie is that in the book she is always thinking to herself about what Haymitch wants her to do and interprets things in her head and acts accordingly so that she survives and doesn't act because of how she feels often. Granted she does have feelings for Peeta, but she doesn't know how much those feelings are actually her feelings and how much of it is her just trying to survive, even after the games when the Capitol is angry at her. Also, there are too many names in the cast to make me happy. With the cast of characters from the book where the only REAL character you need is Katniss with Peeta and Rue playing the biggest supporting roles and other people like Haymitch and Gayle being important, but only in her head then you need to cast a group of nobodys to keep them off the screen. I just feel like with people like Woody Harelson as Haymitch then he won't be happy being out of the last 2/3 of the movie, so the camera will keep having to snap to some sort of "war room" with the mentors and him talking under his breath to Katniss about how she needs to act and such. It will help to project some of her inner monologue but it takes from the moment and I HATE that. I do like the cast of Foxface, and she was my favorite minor character, she was just crafty and awesome. Another problem I have is who they cast as Peeta and as Katniss. Its not that I dislike the actors, but when looking at their resumes then all I see is "rising stars" who have never done anything THAT good. Jennifer Lawrence was Raven in X Men First Class and I've already been citing as sayiing "I loved the movie, but didn't like Raven that much." Not a good sign. Also she had The Winter's Bone, which was good with critics, but not with fans and not a powerful performance, particualarly with such a complex and hard and singular role. Josh Hutcherson on the other hand I think is even worse off. First off, I dislike his look already. Not at all what I want in the role. Blech. Now to discect his resume. Where to start...He has been in plenty of movies, so good for the experience, but he hasn't had a single decent role, and I'm not saying he can't act, I'm saying he's never had to do anything hard. He was Robin Williams' kid in RV, he was in Zathura and that movie did not do well, he was in Bridge to Terabithia which is the only passable role but they really messed up that movie as well which could be signs for a bad showing in this movie. More recently he was in Journey to the Center of the Earth and that was nothing but a gimic movie for the growing 3D audience at the time and nothing good as far as acting goes, then he was in The Kids Are All Right which was yet another crappy comedy. Here's the REAL thing that scares me about him:He's in the new Red Dawn which will come out a few months before this movie is set to come out. This seems SOOO much like Hollywood politics for casting him because his status will be good if Red Dawn does good, which it will because everyone knows about the old one and will watch this one. Ugh, this is a waste of a cast spot to me. It really upsets me. Also, I think Rue needed to be cast VERY carefully because she is such a young girl and such a pivitol part of the book and Amandla Stenberg has almost literally NO acting experience at all. I like the look, but that's it. On to other prey:Liam Hemsworth as Gale. No, just no, please. No acting experience, which I like so we can hopefully push his character to memories and see him almost not at all, BUT he was considered for Thor and his brother IS Thor. Not good at all, I cannot have his character messing up the movie for me by flashbacks to him or showing him in District 12 while he cheers Katniss on. I don't have a problem with the case for Prim, but as with everyone else, stay out of the last 2/3 of the movie. The main case I'm making here is that once the games start then I think it is of critical importance to NEVER leave from Katniss, not to show concerned family, not to show Peeta, not to do ANYTHING. The only thing you can get away from is showing something that she can see, like Foxface stealing the supplies or Rue hiding in the tree, ect. I feel like my dream will not be realized, because the filmmakers will realize that they have all these great stars and will be trying to put them in more than they are in the book and that they have weak core actors and can't have the camera on them for 2 solid hours like they should. I do like that it was written by Gary Ross, I don't have any complaints with him, except that I don't think he's done anything at all in this scale as far as cast and action go, not to mention the subtlety that needs to be done to get the small things right and he also hasn't done an adaptation to my knowledge. Anyway, I'm done ranting, but I want response on this.

Ugh, after that rant I realized that I need to stop before I kill myself. My constant debating, even with myself, will kill me eventually. I think I did this blog mostly because I just finished the first book(I'm upset that there is more than one, I think the plot it only good for one book and after that it starts detracting from the awesomness of the original(Die Hard and Lethal Weapon ring a bell?)and I don't have anyone here to talk(argue) about it with and if you know me than you know how much that kills me.
Now that I'm done with that, how are all you? I'm good, just surviving, waiting on leave. I got blown up last week again and so I haven't been on many missions since, I don't know how long I'll be off mission, but its nice to know that I have almost no chance of dying till I go on leave as long as I stay off. I haven't been able to sleep since I got blown up(which is why I'm writing this at 230 AM) but they're going to give me some sleeping drugs that should help. Here's to hoping. As much as I like the idea of getting home safe, I feel better when I'm out there in the suck with my buddies, you know? Life isn't worth living without the risks right? That's why everyone has midlife crises and buy sports cars and date bimbos when they're in the 40's right?