My music contest is still running. Where are all my gentle readers? Or do you all hate Jonathon Coulton?
From today’s Daily Kos, front-pager Laurence Lewis has me pegged to a tee on the question of why I’ll be voting in November:
Recent polls show more and more Democrats coming home, but it is not because they are suddenly much happier with the way Democratic leaders have handled the issues, it’s because they recognize the danger of an increasingly extremist Republican Party. It’s because they won’t be dissuaded from fighting for their own values and principles, even when they believe their own party’s leaders aren’t always joining them in the fight. In some cases, they will vote for more Democrats not because of the Democratic leadership, they will vote for more Democrats despite the Democratic leadership. In short, this is a moment for the Democratic base to prove that it is above the pettiness and the political games, a moment for the Democratic base to make its collective voice heard by saving the Democratic leadership from the political fallout of its own shortcomings.
Read the whole thing, it’s worth your time.
D.
I don’t often go for the top 100 stuff, but Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games trilogy intrigued me. I don’t think I’ve ever read such a dark story from the YA genre. On the one hand, it’s surprisingly chaste (enough soulful kissing and hand-holding to make a Twilight fan happy, but not even a hint of anything warm and slippery). On the other, the trilogy often wallows in depression and despair.
Premise: post-apocalyptic Earth, not much left in the world except for a relatively tiny group of Americans. SF readers won’t like this bit because Collins doesn’t bother with set-up or detailed explanations. Who knows what trashed 99% of the world’s population or why only Americans have survived. Anyway, here they are, the fascistic, oppressive Capital and its 12 liege states, the Districts. And since the Districts are heir to a failed rebellion nearly 75 years earlier, they must forever be punished in the annual Hunger Games, in which a male and female teen (12 to 18 years old, to be precise) from each District are obliged to hunt one another to the death until only one of the 24 remain.
Classic crucible-type novel, heavy inspiration from Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” a certain old Star Trek episode (if he has the time . . . if he has the time), and Roman gladiatorial bloodsports. Collins may not get points for originality, but she does run with the premise and squeeze quite a lot of good drama (some would say melodrama) with a minimum of deus ex machina saves. Think Survivor Man with kids, many of them ill-equipped for the challenge. Kids with nasty sharp weapons.
And it’s all televised. The humiliation of the Districts requires that the citizenry including family and friends of the players are obliged to watch the Games play out to their bloody end. The Capital’s rich, privileged class eat up the Games, of course. It’s great entertainment for them.
The trilogy follows its protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, through her first Games, and of course it would be telling to give you much insight into books two and three. I will say that with regard to who lives and who dies, the conclusion of book three didn’t surprise me, but the way Collins arrived at that conclusion was a bit startling. But do I recommend it? I’m not sure. The first two books were a hoot, and I was impressed that book two didn’t fall prey to the usual middle-book sophomoritis. But the third book was tedious. Look, I understand that the protagonist is being stage-managed, but should the novel feel stage-managed too? Does the author’s heavy hand need to appear on the page again and again?
But it’s YA, I tell myself, and the author’s craft needn’t be at its peak for the book to be successful. Otherwise J. K. Rowling would still be living out of her car.
D.
We’ve neglected Jake’s education, deprived him of so many Great Movies. True, we’ve made him watch Godfather I and II and Sunset Boulevard, but he hasn’t seen Lawrence of Arabia, or The Sting, or Little Big Man.
Or The Man With Two Brains . . . until tonight.
We have to make up for his knowledge deficit, and soon. Less than three years before he goes away to college. Hopefully we have the time. Next up on our Netflix queue: Young Frankenstein. He’s seen clips, but he’s never seen the whole thing.
What’s your Must See movie? And oh, don’t forget the contest.
D.