Movie Review: Catching Fire

 

A blast from the past. Last fall, I started writing a review of the movie Catching Fire, but I never finished it. Well, here it is...

Catching Fire, the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy, finally came to theaters. I went to see it with the hopes of comparing it to the book. While I remember the gist of the story, I can't say I remember all the small details worth comparing. Honestly, I don't remember too much from the book since I read it all the way back in November 2011.

When I wrote my book review for Catching Fire, I tried not to give too much away. Nowadays, I tell people what it's about. The 75th edition of the Hunger Games is different than the traditional Hunger Games. All past winners are forced to compete in the games. But there is a lot more to it, and it really provides a lot of momentum to the third book.

The movie was solid. It followed the book from what I remember. If you liked the book, you'll like the movie. Jennifer Lawrence was obviously great in it. My only annoyance with the movies is how far they are spaced apart. The Hunger Games came out in March 2012. Catching Fire doesn't come out for 20 months? Give me a break.

I've actually seen the movie a few more times at home. One thing I wanted to add was I thought the movie was pretty dark, like a lot of the scenes are darker and can be hard to see on the television. And the movie is kind of long. But it was still enjoyable and I'm looking forward to the third one.

My rating for Catching Fire, the movie: 3 stars out of 5.

P.S. Possibly my worst review ever? I felt obligated to post this since I started it a while back but it's pretty pathetic.

The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan

I saw an article online publicizing the release of The Opposite of Loneliness last month. After reading the story and her essay in the Yale Daily News, I immediately ordered the book. Why? Because Marina's story is heart-breaking and I loved her writing style. Needless to say, I devoured this book.

Marina wrote an essay titled The Opposite of Loneliness shortly before Yale's commencement in 2012. A few days after graduation, she died in a car accident. Her boyfriend had fallen asleep at the wheel (he survived). Marina was starting to make a name for herself in the writing world, as she had published essays in the New York Times and was about to start a job at the New Yorker.

It took a little while, but one of her professors and her parents put together a collection of essays and short stories she wrote. They aptly named the book The Opposite of Loneliness. The first nine are fiction and the last eight are non-fiction. There are a wide range of stories - a boyfriend passing away, a man in Afghanistan, a blind person, saving whales, saving the world, business cards. You are sure to get goosebumps and have the hair on your arms stick up multiple times.

Sometimes you can tell Marina was only 22 (or younger) when she wrote these essays and stories. Other times you feel like you are reading an experienced author. I feel like nobody writes short stories anymore. With a good writing style and concise plot, they can be wonderful to read. If Marina was still alive, her work might not have been published in a book so soon. But eventually, it would have been. Her death makes the essays and stories that much more meaningful.

My rating for The Opposite of Loneliness: 5 stars out of 5. Get it here!

Quotes from The Opposite of Loneliness:
"Do you wanna leave soon? No, I want enough time to be in love with everything... And I cry because everything is so beautiful and so short." ~ Bygones

"It became clear very quickly that I'd underestimated how much I liked him. Not him, perhaps, but the fact that I had someone on the other end of an invisible line. Someone to update and get updates from, to inform of a comic discovery, to imagine while dancing in a lonely basement, and to return to, finally, when the music stopped." ~ Cold Pastoral

"Once, when Sam was at school, he'd texted me that he couldn't talk because his roommates were sleeping. Smiling to myself, I'd called him anyway - speaking one-way for a while eight minutes. This is what happened today. This is how I'm feeling. This is why I love you." ~ Winter Break

"I miss dreaming forwards. I dream backwards now. You won't believe how backwards you'll dream someday. I dream of the past, of things that could have happened, or should have happened or never happened. You dream of the future. You're so young." ~ Anna (a woman in her 60s, speaking to a man in his 20s) in Reading Aloud

"I read somewhere that radio waves just keep traveling outward, flying into the universe with eternal vibrations. Sometime before I die I think I'll find a microphone and climb to the top of a radio tower. I'll take a deep breath and close my eyes because it will start to rain right when I reach the top. Hello, I'll say to outer space, this is my card." ~ Song for the Special

Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich by Mark Kriegel

How did I get back in the groove of reading? I went away and left everything behind - phone, computer, friends, everything. I was studying for my actuarial exam and all I had was my study materials. At the place I was staying, there was a pile of random books. The first one I picked up was Pistol.

This is a biography of Pete Maravich, the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history. His record will likely never be broken. The book starts by going through Pete's dad's upbringing. Press (Pete's dad) fell in love with basketball, becoming a very good player and a great coach. He was the inventor of the fast break and many other now-common basketball tactics. In fact, John Wooden consulted Press consistently when UCLA won 10 titles in 12 years.

From a very young age, Press wanted to make Pete the best basketball player ever. Pete would do drills for hours on end, until his fingers started to bleed. Press wanted Pete to be a showman because he saw the desire for professional basketball to be a form of entertainment. It wasn't enough to win - if you had flash, you could make money. Press was known for saying Pete would be the first professional millionaire.

Pete was phenomenal. He scored a ton in high school. Pete and his dad went to LSU - Pete to play, Press to coach. Pete scored a ton of points, but the team was average. Press's coaching ability went awry as he focused on having Pete score as many points as possible. Pete goes onto the NBA, but I don't want to give away the entire story.

The ending caught me off guard, mainly because I didn't know the history of Pete Maravich. The book is a great read, revealing the family dynamics and dysfunctions. By the end, you will feel sorry for Pete, but you'll also be impressed by what he was able to do with a basketball.

My rating for Pistol: 4 stars out of 5. Get it here!

I'm Back - Personal Update

I have so much to say. Where to begin...

• I haven't been reading. At all. As in zero books read since September.
• I dated a girl...but ultimately things didn't work out.
• My friend was on a television show.
• I coached through another successful high school basketball season.
• I've accumulated books that I've been meaning to read...9 to be precise.
• I got in a car accident (I was fine but my car wasn't).
• I passed and failed actuarial exams.
• I traveled to New York and Chicago.
• I shot my lowest career score playing golf.
• I missed reading.

I failed on many fronts with the whole "Nick's Library". I stopped reading. Which means I stopped blogging. Which means I didn't do an annual review. Which means I didn't send out books as Christmas gifts to all my friends. Fail fail fail.

I've started reading again. I'm on my third book since the beginning of May. Reviews will start back up next week. I actually have a lot planned for the next few months but I have every intention of getting back to once-a-week reviews.

It feels good to read and write again. Really looking forward to it.

P.S. I'm currently reading The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan. Thirty pages in, it has a solid chance to be the best book of 2014. I'm not going to post a review for it until the end of the month (a few other reviews are already in line)...but I wanted to share a quote each week in the postscript until the review gets posted. Here's the first one:

"But it became clear very quickly that I'd underestimated how much I liked him. Not him, perhaps, but the fact that I had someone on the other end of an invisible line. Someone to update and get updates from, to inform of a comic discovery, to imagine while dancing in a lonely basement, and to return to, finally, when the music stopped."

Isn't that what we all want?