Monday, March 29, 2010

Haven't I Read This Before?

I just finished reading a book called "The Hunger Games," by Suzanne Collins. I can't praise it enough. Even though the writing style seemed a little odd to me (it's written in first person, present tense...I kind of prefer third person, past tense), the story is so captivating that I couldn't put it down.

And to think I nearly didn't buy it because the cover had a stupid shiny sticker with a recommendation from Stephanie Meyer on it! The last book I bought that she recommended was awful. I didn't even finish reading it. Not to mention that Stephanie's own work is pretty brutal itself.

Anyway, The Hunger Games was fantastic, but it occurred to me that this is a story that has been told before. As a matter of fact, Stephen King told it twice before. The first time he published a story like this, it was called The Long Walk. It's not exactly the same as The Hunger Games, but the premise is extraordinarily similar. Then, a few years later old Steve published a book called The Running Man, and that one is nearly identical to The Hunger Games. Both were published under his Richard Bachman pseudonym.

It's odd that I can enjoy a book so much when I know that the idea isn't the least bit original. It's well known that most ideas are reused, reinvented, and reworked, but this is an extreme case. Even Stephen King enjoyed it, and wrote an article recommending it in his EW column. Didn't he recognize it? Was he so drugged up in the 80's that he can't remember what he wrote back then? Or did he enjoy the book so much that he doesn't care about the close similarity?

Regardless, it's a fascinating story and I've enjoyed reading a new version of it. I can't wait to read the second book in the series. Everyone should pick up a copy, and while you're at it, read The Long Walk, and The Running Man too.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Bits of my Life

I've been so busy lately, and I feel like I have nothing to write about. That doesn't make sense. Everything I've been doing is really interesting!

I've been busting my ass to pass the exams for my fight class. One of my partners is...someone who has been very difficult for me to work with, but I've been working extra hard to compensate. Yeah, this is stressful, but it's almost over.

Back to improv this past week, which is super fun. Ohhh, I have a story to tell here. I started taking improv classes at one of the other theatres in town. I did this because they have some advanced stuff that I really want to get into, but they have a policy that everyone involved at their theatre has to start at the very beginning with their 101 class. So, I'm in this class with people who have never done improv before. Let me tell you, this is doing AMAZING things for my ego. I look brilliant next to these people! Saturday we were doing an exercise where we had to establish the "who," "where," and "what" in three sentences. When I delivered my last line the entire class, including the two instructors, all said "Niiiccceeee." It was cool. Not that I'm especially genius or anything, I'm just being compared to people who are inexperienced.

I started the Comedy Writing program too. I was given homework, which was awesome. I had to write a story inspired by a photo I was given in class. It really got me writing again.

Accio Books is still going on! We're half way through now, and the Slytherin team is in second place! This is really more awesome than it sounds, because Slytherin usually holds steady in a distant last place. I've been organizing livestream events to promote the whole thing. I've been talking to awesome people in awesome bands!

Vicky is playing Mario Kart, one of the levels where you pick up the coins, and she's singing "Money, Money, Money," be ABBA. It's hilarious.