Lucky 7 and the VB award

So because these two have been making the rounds quite a bit, I've decided to combine them into the one post. Lack of time may be an issue as well but I'm sure those two uni assignments will writes themselves. Eventually.

So, to start off, the other day I was given the Versatile Blogger award by the wonderful LoopyLoo! AND AGAIN by Marisa. Check out these girlies blogs if you like all things fun and interesting!

So here are the rules (of course):

1. Thank and link the blogger who awarded you 

2. Share 7 random facts about yourself

3. Spread the love by passing the award to five other bloggers, and be sure to let them know

Seven Random Facts:

This is hard because there is a fair bit of randomness going on up in here. But I'll try to narrow it down.

1. I never finish my entire drink. Doesn't matter what it is, how yum and/or expensive it is, I can never finish that last mouthful. I've tried. It didn't go well.

2. I have a lot of different personalities. I'm a clean-freak oddball at work and the ultimate extrovert. At home, I'm lazy and introverted and GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM! Around my close friends, I'm pretty relaxed and consist mostly on coffee. And on my blog, I can let all the pent-up psychosis run free.

3. I buy books based on their covers. A LOT of the time. I've read less than 40% of the books on my bookshelf because the other 60% I buy with no intention to ever read. EVER.

4. Sarcasm is my default mode. When it comes to any situation that has the potential to be emotional, or too DEEP for my liking, I revert back into the sarcastic swamp monkey and scare those mothers away. Then, I hide in a book.

5. I seriously think someone should consider making a procrastination award with my face on it.

6. I'm surprisingly unafraid of death. But the things I really fear - as in, freeze my chest, forget to breath, fear - are; failure, never getting a book published, drowning, zombies, and not being happy with my life. Now do you see why death is way down on my list?

7. I don't believe in soul mates but I do believe in two personalities complementing each other perfectly. And I'm pretty sure I've the one that brings me alive.

The five people I've chosen to nominate are:

Bec @ http://worklovelifewrite.blogspot.com.au/

Catherine @ http://thebookparade.blogspot.com.au/

Laura @ http://strangerthanwriting.blogspot.com.au/

Carole @ http://www.thelifeoffiction.blogspot.com.au/

Jennifer @ http://readingandwritingurbanfantasy.blogspot.com.au/

Next for the Lucky 7 meme.  I was tagged by LoopyLoo.

The RULES (again):

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS (Or a fave book)
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they're written.

4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know.

From my current WIP. Between Jenna and her sister Vivien. Just so it makes a little sense, Jenna is pretty OCD when it comes to her room and paranoid about a lot of things. I was surprised when I realised my seven lines were mostly dialog but you get that.

“No!” I launched myself across the room and slammed the bolt back into place.

“What the hell? It reeks in here.”

“I don’t care.”

“What is that?”

“Bleach.” 

“Bleach? Are you crazy? Just open the window.” 

I leant against it. “No.”

She stared at me, eyes wide, for a whole five seconds. “Whatever. But next time you want to get high, I hear metho works better.”

She snatched my ribbon off the desk, tied it around her bun and left.

Only then did it occur to me I may have overreacted. *

*I may have cheated and included an extra line. But the dialogue is short so I figure this was allowed :P

Now, my seven people you pass this on to are as follows:

Bec @ http://worklovelifewrite.blogspot.com.au/ (hopefully this will get you to open them again lol)

Jennifer @ http://readingandwritingurbanfantasy.blogspot.com.au/

Laura @ http://strangerthanwriting.blogspot.com.au/

Catherine @ http://thebookparade.blogspot.com.au/

Sonia @ http://thestoryqueen.blogspot.com.au/

Nikki @ http://abscondituscreations.blogspot.com.au/

Carole @ http://www.thelifeoffiction.blogspot.com.au/

I'm looking forward to reading what you guys come up with!!!

Let the Reaping begin!

Welcome, welcome. It’s going to be a big, big, big week! The 74^th Hunger Games is upon us and in the spirit of the Games, I am going to offer up four tributes for dissection. Today, will be the original Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Tomorrow, Catching Fire. Wednesday, Mockingjay. And Thursday I will come to you fresh (and tired) from the midnight release with a WHOLE LOT OF SPOILER-IFIC info on the movie and its potential awesomeness.

So, without further ado, let the Games begin!

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

It was years ago. The buzz had already started and suddenly, everyone was talking about something called the Hunger Games. I checked out a wikipedia synopsis, joined a few Team Gale/Peeta chats and took off to Borders to buy the book. At this time, the cover was super lame and very MG/Sci Fi looking. I almost didn’t pick it up, but then I remembered the forums, the synopsis, and headed to the registers with the book face down.

I already had a vague idea of what would happen and how it’d end. I had no idea how great it would be.

I should probably note here that I have read the Hunger Games once, years ago, and my review is based on what I remember. I don’t want to reread it before the movie because I did that before six of the eight Harry Potter movies and with the comparison in my mind, the movies were seriously sucky.

I think this will turn out to be an awesome movie so I don’t want to pick on the specifics.

Now moving on.

My Review:

At face value: Lame; seriously, wickedly lame. I was too embarrassed to carry that cover anywhere and I’d seen it on the shelf before I’d heard of what it was. The newer ones are okay, but if I wasn’t already into the series I doubt I would have picked those up either.

Immediate Reaction: From memory, I wanted Catching Fire like, yesterday.

High Five: Only a four. There are reasons. Promise.

I’m not going to include a ‘favourite quote’ section because I can’t remember any that really stood out to me. I did have two favourite parts, though so I’ll talk about them. First, predictably, is ‘Rue’s scene’. That broke my heart into a thousand, million pieces. The second part that I remember loving was the chariot ride. Cinna changed Games history then and there and I could feel it with every word Collins wrote.

I’m not going to bore any one with a recap on the book because by now, EVERYONE IN THE FRIGGEN STRATOSPHERE has heard of, and is bombarded by, the Hunger Games.

Katniss is awesome. Gale is a schmexy beast. Peeta is… I don’t want to say for fear of death. But I should clearly state that I was a Gale-gal from the start and that hasn’t changed. I’ll reread Catching Fire and Mockingjay with a much more open mind but I doubt that will make a difference. I’m really hoping Joshie Hutchinson can change my mind and be all swoonworthy and shiz but I’m yet to see any evidence of this.

The premise is the ultimate awesomeness. It’s a cross between ‘The Condemned’ and ‘Survivor’ but is ACTUALLY INTERESTING, you guys. This is a book that focuses on real characters and their emotions, the way they deal with the guinea-pig experiment that is their lives. It’s the first story in a long time that has smacked me in the face and made me PAY ATTENTION to the things going on around me. It made me question things; it made me look at the world around me in a different way. It made me look at the world around me, period.

Out of the tributes, there were a few that caught my attention. Rue, obviously, but Foxface was probably the main one I remembered. She was smart and cunning and probably could have outlasted the others if she hadn’t been tricked with those damn berries. The others formed a big, ambiguous blob. I forgot about Thresh completely until the end.

Then there were the really cool aspects. The tracker-jacker attack, the mutts, the sadistic Careers, and the fire. The cornucopia was also imbedded in my memory and I know exactly what I expect it to look like. Considering the movie has made it a completely different colour to the book can’t be a good sign. But we’ll see.

Now for the not-so-awesome. The main one was the lack of emotion in Katniss and Peeta’s relationship. I didn’t buy it. Peeta seemed like a creep. Katniss was forced into a relationship through the manipulation by Peeta, Haymitch, and the Capitol, and from the very beginning it was a relationship she didn’t want. She resented it because of the Games but even when they were over she didn’t immediately rush to Peeta’s side. And yeah I get it, Peeta is a massive babe, right? He was just so sweet WHAT HE DID WITH THAT BREAD. How he WATCHED KATNISS FROM AFAR AND NEVER EVEN BOTHERED TO SPEAK A WORD TO HER. That he seemed to know so much about her but NEVER ASKED HER A THING ABOUT HERSELF. How he teamed up with the Careers to protect her.

SPEW. BLAH. GROSS.

But that’s purely just my close-minded side of things. There are legions of Peeta fans EVERY WHERE I GO. I’ll bet a 90% of the people who read this will be Peeta fans. And that’s cool. I promise I am trying to like him but he just makes it so damn hard.

Coming tomorrow: Catching Fire. Let’s see if Peeta brightens in my eyes…

Two Months' old

My blog has officially reached the mark (yesterday, actually) and when I started out with this blog I didn't know if it would actually go anywhere. I thought it would be one of those things I would start and then let patter off into nothingness. Maybe with the occasional blog here or there because I felt guilty.

The really funny thing is though - I FREEEEKIN LOVE IT!

There are random times through the day when I actually find myself wondering what my next blog will be. Or buying books specifically to review. There are times when I REALLY want to blog but can't because of uni/work/life and those times make me sad.

In short, I love my blog. I love the people who follow me, and the comments you guys leave always light up my day. I wish I had time to make my blog look a little fancier but I'll get to it one day. For now, I focus on the words and the 'virtual friendships' I have on here.

I think one of the other reasons I love it so much is because it's another way for me to hone my writing, and I get to be me. Not a character in their story. Not someone putting on a face and being who the people around me want me to be. I don't have to be funny or professional or even appropriate. I can make up words and scribble shit and be entirely honest about anything and everything. I CAN USE CAPS LOCK FOR CHRIST'S SACK! (And who doesn't love to use caps lock?!)

And so, I just want to leave this cute picture I stumbled upon today. One, as a thanks to you awesome people who follow me, and two, because I totally think it belongs here. Lolcats + zombie reference = winning!

I do not own this image. It is borrowed. The end. Haters.

Next week, will be a Hunger Games special on the blog. Umm... surprise? A review of the three books and the movie. With maybe some other stuff thrown in. That said, BRING ON THE REAPING, KIDS!