The Best Feelings in the World

Here's a list of my favourite feelings (with the other senses somewhat included) in the world (in no specific order):

Laughing (like a real laugh, when you forget about everything else)
Making it through a really tough workout after which you feel so tired you're about to pass out
Taking a shower after such a workout
Being on the receiving end of a sustainable hug (aka being hugged from behind - for the muggles that don't understand what a sustainable hug is)
Reading your favourite book or watching your favourite movie and drinking Whittard's Instant Tea (or even better a big cup of coffee)
Drinking a huge cup of coffee which has the perfect temperature and just the right amount of milk (I'm a deprived coffee-addict...)
Not worrying about anything, if just for a few minutes (best achieved when you're with friends)
Sleeping for however long you want and not having to worry about what time it is and just lie in until you want to get up
Listening to one of your favourite songs, maybe singing along, dancing and just not caring (because no one can see or here you)
Doing the aforementioned in your underwear/PJs in your bedroom, like a crazy lunatic (not necessarily a favourite song, but a great one nonetheless)
Watching a movie or reading a book that you've looked forward to for like ever, and it being better than your expectations
Discovering a new favourite thing (e.g. a book)
Bathing in crashing waves (during sunset), preferably with your best friend

Anything you feel like I've left out, feel free to comment! Might think of something to add later too :)

xoxo
Frida

Up to date with Pretty Little Liars

Yesterday I caught up with the last episode of Pretty Little Liars, and I'm now anxiously awaiting the next episode (only five days to go!). I really like it, but it's very creepy (I don't think I can ever view a doll the same way ever again). Anyways, in my last post about PLL I said that Emily was my favourite, but I am no longer sure about that, as I've taken a liking to all four of them in different ways. I think I'm most like Spencer (academic, and striving to be the best and blahblah), even though my family is nowhere like hers. 

Also, boys. Pretty Little Liars have some of the hottest actors ever mashed together in one single TV-series. Wren's accent makes anything sound hot, Ezra is hot no matter how much you squint (I'm a bit worried about the money-situation though), Toby's abs, Caleb (enough said, I LOVE that character). Seriously?! Send at least one of them my way!! ;) Preferably Wren, 'cause of that accent and his not as enourmous emotional bagage as the others (and the fact that he's a doctor, which put him miles ahead in my opinion). 

So, bring on the next episode!!

xoxo

Frida

Breathe

Kind of obsessed with this song right now! I don't now why either, but I just love it! I know there are a lot of songs called Breathe, but the one I'm referring to is the one sung by Chyler Leigh (Lexie Grey) in the Musical Episode of Grey's Anatomy (original by Anna Nalick).

Breathe (Chyler Leigh)
Breathe (original by Anna Nalick)

The latter has a good video from Grey's Anatomy that I liked :) Enjoy!

xoxo
Frida

Forrest Gump

Yesterday I read Forrest Gump by Winston Groom. Well, technically I guess you could say I started it a week ago, but then I only read the first couple of pages. We went back home yesterday and for the ferry I had to pick something to read (it's a three hour trip) and I didn't want to read what I'm currently working my way through: The Fry Chronicles. No ofense, Stephen Fry, but I wanted a made up world to live in for a while, not this thing called reality. So anyways, I read almost all of Forrest Gump yesterday, and finished it around 1.30 am this "morning".

I can't quite make up my mind on whether I like the movie or novel better. I think it depends on if you saw the movie before reading the book or vice versa, becuase in the few cases where I like the movie better, I've always read the book after seeing it. So yes, I think I like the movie better (I definitely like that ending better, without spoiling anything). They've boiled a few of the novel's characters together but I don't find that to be something negative at all. On the other hand, the movie is missing a lot of events, such as Forrest going into space, and then barely getting away from cannibals..

The movie is more realistic, and I think that's why I'm leaning more towards it, but as I said; I don't really know. However, a really nice detail about the book is how it is written. It is written in first person, as if Forrest himself had written it, and to make that authentic the writer ignored every possible grammar rule there is, and messed up the spellin A LOT. As I said, it's a nice detail, and I did really like it, but some times it took a few seconds extra to figure out what he meant (for instance axe instead of ask). And being the besserwisser that I am I often corrected the grammar in the beginning (but then realised it took too much time and gave up).

I really recommend that you read it, and it probably gets a 3 or 3,5 out of 5 from me. :)

xoxo
Frida

The Man In The High Castle

I've just finished reading The Man In The High Castle, written by Philip K. Dick. I got the book from my mentor after “winning” it in a lottery during our last basegroup of the year. Apparently it’s one of his favourite authors, Dick, and it is what is considered to be Dick’s best work. Now, I haven’t read anything else by this Dick person, and sci-fi isn’t generally the genre that I turn to. I have taken a certain liking to dystopian novels though, and this definitely makes the cut. The book is not futuristic per say, but takes place in “an alternate universe” (AU in fanfic lingo) where the Axis won the Second World War and the world is split between the Germans and the Japanese. In this unsettling scenery the reader gets to know several characters of different origins, occupations and thus positions in the power play of a split U.S.

There is some sort of amusing irony in the fact that the story centres around a fictional book which pictures a different ending to the war. That is a, for us, almost historically correct  book about how the Second World War ended. The author of this book is “The Man In The High Castle”, and thus gives the novel its title. It is somewhat confusing to explain about a book in a book, what with both being books and all. Anyways, the book in itself is also quite confusing, so I guess it's appropriate that the explaining of it is so. 

I think I recommend it, though I'm not sure of it. It is a very odd book, and the ending - without giving away too much - is even more so. There is a fair bit of German, and some Japanese in there, and there is reference to the culture of both ruling nations. I know German pretty well, so that wasn't a problem for me, but Chinese and Japanese culture and language are both very foreign to me. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the book, and I guess if you have nothing (or as in my case, too much) to read, you could end up with a lot worse. 

xoxo

Frida

Othello

After my completely failed visit to "Summerland" yesterday, me and my dad went to see Shakespeare's Othello on the Roma Theater here at Gotland. The Roma Theater is a stage in the ruins of an old convent, and the audience sits beneath the open summer night's sky. On a day like yesterday it is very beautiful, even if it gets very cold as the night progresses (the play ended around 11 pm). 

I hadn't seen or read Othello before last night, so for me it was an unexplored play by Shakespeare, and I really enjoyed it. It might be hard to really relate to any of the characters, but I think the subject of jealousy never gets outdated. Having seen or read other plays by Shakespeare, such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, A Midsummernight's Dream and Twelfth Night, I must say it is the most morose ending of his that I've experienced. Romeo and Juliet is sad, but at the same time bittersweet. They love each other. Two of the aforementioned plays have happy endings, and Hamlet, well he gets his revenge.. I do recommend you see, or at least read, Othello though. I want to read/see as many of Shakespeare's plays as possible, and we have his collected works at home, so hopefully I'll get around to it soon (I just have another ten-or-twenty-something books to read before I start Uni).

xoxo

Frida

Would you like a side of EPIC with that FAIL?

I made one of those completely epic fails yesterday.. I went to "Summerland" (an amusement park for little kids with Pippi Longstocking) with my baby brother (he's eight) yesterday, and in the middle of the park is a big pond  with boats and kajaks to borrow. After a lot of nagging on my brother's part we took one of the tiny rowing boats and I started "rowing" around. Well, my rowing resembled ugly flailing without any "flail-cause", and we got quite an amount of water over us, especially when I managed to row under the huge metallic flowers which splashed water.. And I haven't even come to the part with the epic fail yet....

Anyways, when we were about to park the boat I had some trouble and a nice man asked if we needed help. I turned around to give him the tiny string that held the boat, and guess what? I fell in. Into the pond, that is. It was about one and a half metre deep, so with bended legs all of me got completely soaked! I dragged myself out of the water, and everyone just stared at me. I was wearing sweats so my clothes became what felt like four times as heavy! After that my brother was terrified of leaving the boat, but I managed to coax him out of there. Then I stripped out of my wet clothes and shoes (except for my T-shirt and underwear) in plain view of everyone walking by, just because i wanted to get out of the clothes.. After that I spent maybe half an hour walking around in a raincoat and underwear, waiting for my dad to arrive with dry clothes. Talk about embarrasing!!!

xoxo
Frida

The Dry Spell

I would apologize for not posting in a while, but that would imply that I'm sorry and frankly I'm not sorry at all. You see, the reason I haven't posted anything is that I've spent the last whatever-amount-of-days with my twiin. She came and stayed with me here at Gotland, and we just had a lot of fun, doing lots of stuff. She stayed here from Thursday last week until yesterday, and I think it was definitely one of the best parts of this summer. We ate stuff I certainly shouldn't, and finished off with a huge banana split yesterday, just before she left. It was just great! We also bathed in the ocean a lot, and the waves were completely awesome!

Another thing we did was watch movies. I think we saw four movies, or something. The ones I can remember, however, are:
The Ugly Truth - Second time I saw it, and I think it's kind of funny, a nice romantic comedy, even if it is really predictable
Alex & Emma - First time I saw it, and really didn't care for it. I mean, it was not good. At all.
P.S. I Love You - Second time, still a great movie, I cried.
The Prince & Me - First time, nice romantic comedy. Some corny moments, but overall I liked it a lot. Like Julia Stiles, and the med school part.

On the subject of med school: I got in to the Uni I wanted!!!!! KI here I come!! :D

xoxo
Frida

The Beach at Sunset

Recently came back from the beach were we watched the sunset. It was beautiful, even though we couldn't see the sun set completely because of the clouds by the horizon. It was super cold though with a lot of wind. If you've never done it, please put "Watch the sun set in to the ocean" on your list of things to do before you die.

xoxo
Frida

Motherhood according to my eight-year-old brother

Walking home from the restaurant tonight me and my brother "discussed" what makes you a mom, and what, according to him, I need to do to get there.

How To Be A Mom:
1. Have A Boyfriend (and marry him)
2. Move Into A House
3. Have A Kid
4. Take Care Of The Kid
5. Get A Job

Also: You need a car, toys for the kids, and you need to mow the lawn.

Well, he obviously has some things to learn.. I mean poor single or stay-at-home-moms, or those living in appartments without a lawn, or don't own a car! Why not just have a baby, love and cherish it, and take care of the child so that they can succeed in this world, and live their dreams? I think that's all it takes.

xoxo
Frida

Pretty Litlle Liars

A while back a friend of mine recommended that I'd see Pretty Little Liars, and I haven't really gotten 'round to it until now. I started earlier this week, and am now on episode 12 (still season one though). It is really good! And thrilling! If it was a book, I guess you would call it a real page turner.. Anyways, I love Emily (I always seem to like the gay characters the best for some strange reason), and haven't really made my mind up about the others. I like them, but don't know just how much.. It seems as if they do more stupid stuff, but we'll see. Also; Ezra and Wren - yum!

xoxo
Frida

Physics dreams

I thought I was done with Physics, especially the boring electricity parts, forever. But what do I dream of? Physics. And not just any kind of normal Physics lesson or whatever (yeah, I know Physics is all around us, but I'm talking about the subject), but a presentation about electricity, where we have to use water to determine how fast it travels or something, which makes no sense. My Physics teacher was there, as was Erika, who was my partner (as usual) and Mads, because she did her presentation before us, and my dream self just had to understand how she did it. Well, she gave herself electric shocks, counted the time between them, and explained in some way that I don't remember now that I'm awake (woke up about ten minutes ago). And after her presentation me and Erika did something on how sound travels in water, with cans. Very confusing. Maybe the assignment was how anything travels in water? I woke up before I got an explanation..

Has anyone else had weird dreams about school now that summer is here, or am I the only one?

xoxo
Frida

I want to be 17 forever..

Honestly, I do.

After you turn 18, no matter what anyone says, things change. I don't drink, so basically there're no perks to me being an adult, just more stupid responsibility. Admittedly, I've always been a responsible person, but when you're 18, you have no one to turn to, and no one to take the hit for you. It's completely rotten!

In two weeks, my entire life can change (the parts of it that haven't changed already that is). Because, when you're an adult you have to make decisions about your life, and what you want to do with it. I want to study medicine, more than anything, and that's a decision I've made. However, if I don't get in here, in Stockholm, I need to move, leave my family and friends and live by myself in a tiny appartment somewhere else in Sweden. On the other hand, I could take half a year sabbatical, maybe work or something and apply again for next semester, but that would just set my life back a few months.. I just don't know what to do, and I really, really hope I get in here.

Another sucky part about turning 18 is how darn expensive it is. Seriously. You can't really turn to your parents for allowance, and you have to do your own shopping, so you have to get by on the money you get from the state for going to school (which you don't get in July and August). I went shopping today, or rather I needed a bikini, a pair of sandals and new knee supports, since mine are starting to break, but everything is so incredibly expensive. And that's just when it comes to regular shopping, things you can live without. When/If I move out soon I'm going to have to buy my own food and stuff too, and good food is more expensive than you would think. I'll have to resign myself to a few years of noodles, if I need to move out this year..

Lastly (or the last thing that I have the energy to complain about today): driver's license. Sure, it's my own fault for failing the two first tests but lessons, and new tests costs a fortune! And it's not even as if I really want a license anyways! It's just expected of me.. I had the unfortune of being stuck with a completely crappy instructor for a year, who can't even do his job right, and now, because of stupid rules, I can't retake the test until August, ande then I'll have to use the instructor's car, and with it comes the stupid instructor. It's all very frustrating.

The sum of it all, however, is that it would have been a whole lot better if I could have just stayed seventeen. Forever.

xoxo
Frida

Ice Age 4 - Continental Drift

Went to the movies with my baby brother today (despite it being such a warm summer day) and we saw Ice Age 4 - Continental Drift in 3D. It was actually quite good, and I prefer the fourth over the third movie, and it might even be better than the second (since I barely remember that one).

The world (as it was) is "falling apart" to form the continents as they are today (not exactly in a scientific manner, which annoyed me a bit, but whatever it's a kid's movie..). Manfred, Diego, Sid and Sid's Grandma (I saw it in Swedish, but I guess they call her Mamaw - you know, like Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory?) drifts around at sea after being separated from Ellie, and Manfred's now teenage daughter Kiwi (whom I like as a teenager, just sayin') and "run" into some pirates. Hilarity ensues, with a healthy dash of adventure and action to keep the kids interested. Meanwhile, Ellie and Kiwi, and all the other animals "back home" try to escape the moving mountains, and Kiwi has some teenage problems (friends, boys, you know the drill).

There were some great lines that had me laughing, and it might be even funnier in English (since all the jokes don't translate). One of my favourite parts however was the song in the end;
We Are (Ice Age 4 Theme Song) - Full Song
Ice Age 4: Continental Drift 'We Are Family' Music Video

In my opinion the music video version of the song is better but I couldn't find the full version of it. I do recommend you watch this movie though, but you could wait until you can rent the DVD (or download/stream it, if you'd rather do that).

xoxo
Frida

A part of my project: Sexuality in Media

This is a part of my senior year project. It's an article I wrote about how media portrays sexuality. I should add a part on Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty, but I don't have the energy, so I might do that tomorrow.

Sexuality Today: What do media tell us?

By: Frida Hellström

Today’s society, at least in the western world, is very technological, and this creates an entire new way of receiving information. From the TV we get impressions from all over the world, via the news but also through TV-series and movies. Listening to music has been available for centuries, but thanks to the Internet it is done fast and easily and everything can be found with just the stroke of a few keys. All these sources of information create places for influence. This mostly pertains to youths in today’s society but adults are affected too. This article deals with how sexuality is portrayed in a few media outlets today.

Starting off with movies it is easy to see that heterosexuality is still the focus of the majority of all movies, and few movies even feature any other kind of sexuality. However, homo- and bisexuality is making its way into the movie industry. Three Swedish movies in particular have received a lot of attention for this; Patrik 1,5, Kyss Mig and Fucking Åmål, the latter being close to 15 years old, was one of the first – if not the first – of its kind. Another movie in this category is the world-renowned Brokeback Mountain. Homosexuality has also been portrayed as a side-story in movies like Easy A, Valentine’s Day and Mamma Mia!. Even though the movies may be in minority, they are rising in numbers and they all make some kind of influence on their audiences.

As TV-series are much better at illustrating characters, and letting them grow, they are also better in portraying relationships than movies. TV-series are therefore thought by many to be a great influence on today’s society, and a great way to convey messages. There is a great deal of TV-series out there, but this article will deal with those of best knowledge to the author. Thinking of sexuality and TV-series an immediate leap to Glee is probably made. With it being a drama/comedy series about teenagers in high school, it contains a lot of relationship issues, and deals with really important issues surrounding coming to terms with one’s sexuality. In season one, the viewer got to know Kurt, who was then in his sophomore year and coming to terms with his sexuality, struggling with sharing his feelings with the world. A strong portrayal of the relationship between a homosexual boy and his father was made, with the work of Chris Colfer and Mike O’Malley. A brief mention of the character Rachel’s gay fathers was also made during this season. In the second season, however, a lot more focus was put on the issues with sexual orientation, and other relationships in the series. Some seem to think that Glee is only about gay kids – which it is not – but homosexuality, and bisexuality, was a major topic of the second season where Kurt found a boyfriend in Blaine, played by Darren Criss, and the bully Karofsky (Max Adler) came out of the closet. Another story line was that of Santana (Naya Rivera), falling in love with her best friend Brittany (Heather Morris) and realizing that she was lesbian. Another issue was raised at this point, when Brittany was in love with a boy in their show-choir, but in love with Santana as well, claiming to be “bi-curious”, portraying the difficulties of bisexuality. Glee does not only deal with coming to terms with one’s sexuality, but also with what it means to be different in today’s society. Kurt is bullied to the point of transferring schools – another reason that Santana wishes to stay in the closet – showing that it can be tough, but it gets better if you do not let yourself be pushed down.

Even though Glee is one of the leading stars in the area of TV-series portraying different sexualities there are several other well known series out there that deal with similar issues in one way or another. In the genre of medical-series the most known considering this subject is probably Grey’s Anatomy, which is a relationship drama series in every sense of the word. In it Sara Ramirez plays the bisexual surgeon Callie Torres, who falls in love with Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw). Callie also had an on-again-off-again with Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), marries George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) and has a brief relationship with Dr. Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith).  Robbins claims to be lesbian, or ‘exclusively homosexual’, showing two different sides of the topic, with both bisexuality and homosexuality. The series has not, as of yet, had any displays of a homosexual relationship between two men. A series in a similar category is Bones, where most relationships admittedly are heterosexual, though one of the characters, Angela (Michaela Conlin) had a brief relationship with a woman named Roxie (Nichole Hiltz) in season 4, before marrying Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne).

In the comedy genre we find a plethora of TV-series, two of which some people would call particularly brilliant; The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.  Admittedly, no exact portrayal of same-sex relationships occur in The Big Bang Theory as the extent of relationship drama is between the heterosexual couples (and Raj’s (Kunal Nayyar) attempts to talk to women). Nonetheless, Amy (Mayim Bialik) seems to have some kind of sexual attraction to Penny (Kaley Cuoco). Additionally, Raj and Howard (Simon Helberg) are frequently assumed to be in a relationship with each other. In How I Met Your Mother it is also true that most relationships are heterosexual. However, the womanizer Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) has a brother (Wayne Brady) who is gay, and there is one episode where he gets married and adopts a kid.

Among more recent series one can find, for example, Revenge. Here, too, are heterosexual relationships the norm, even though the relationships are not the focus of the series. However, some plot is created around the character Nolan (Gabriel Mann) trying to blackmail and consequently ending up in bed with Tyler (Ashton Holmes). The actual sexualities of both of these characters are questionable, but thought to be heterosexual until aforementioned event. Without revealing too much of the plot it is latter revealed to be a plot from Tyler’s side and the entire thing is rather fishy.

One could definitely argue that it is not important that homo- or bisexuality to be the main issue in TV-series or movies. In all actuality, highlighting the fact that someone is of a different sexuality than the norm could backfire. Having an entire series focusing on the fact that some character is gay implies that they are different because they love someone of their own gender. To show that homosexuality is not wrong, homo- and bisexual characters should be included but not exclude all other characters in a series. Sure, they have to deal with issues other couples may not have to deal with, such as being accepted by society, but they are also normal. What sets them apart from the masses should not be who they love, but rather who they are as people, and therefore series such as Glee and Grey’s Anatomy, where only a few characters have other sexualities, and they are not always the centre of attention, are great in giving the message that “it does not matter who you love, what matters is who you are”.

Another influential part of media today is music, being an important part of many youths lives, as well as one can assume it is important for adults. Music is a great way of letting out emotions and all the great songs come from a place of pain, something that everyone can relate to. However, issues such as sexuality are much less obvious in songs, as they, if they concern love, often can be sung by both genders to both genders, one example being Songbird by Eva Cassidy. However, there is one song in particular that rather obviously concerns this issue and that is I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry. The song is mostly just a catchy pop song but also deals with at least bi-curious feelings for the same gender, expressing an interesting view-point.

The song Born This Way by Lady Gaga has also been mentioned in similar contexts and has been referred to as the “gay community’s anthem”. It deals with accepting yourself for who you are, and is probably aimed towards minorities in general. Another song that comes to mind when writing about music in this context is the song My Best Friend by Hello Saferide. Like Katy Perry’s I Kissed a Girl it is very much just a catchy song but also deals with bi-curious feelings in some ways. A part of the lyrics is “I wish I was a lesbian and that you were too” actually rising the point on this issue of Gay Today’s front page. Why am I not gay? The song implies that is not a choice; she was born and there is nothing she can do about it. That is actually a popular message in today’s society, and a common belief; there is nothing we can do about who we love. We will find out if this is true later.

Looking western media today, and especially TV-series, one can see that our society is becoming more and more accepting of sexualities that do not necessarily belong to the norm. Hopefully this also helps with invoking better rights for the LGBT-community (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans-community) as well as showing youths that “Gay is Okay” – and thus lessening bullying etc. for such reasons. One likes to think that we are moving forward with our level of acceptance and that the media world is helping us do so.

Handle With Care

Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult took me approx. one week to read. It's about a girl with osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bones disease, called Willow and her family. The entire book is written as if it's for Willow to read, with different character's being in first person. Mostly, it deals with Willow's mom Charlotte suing her best friend Piper (who was her OB) because Willow's disease could have been diagnosed in utero, and given Charlotte the opportunity to terminate the pregnancy.

The book was ok. I mean, it wasn't bad, but I didn't really like it either. I guess the concept got a bit old after a while, and the only parts I really enjoyed reading where those of Willow's sister, Amelia, and sometimes those of the lawyer, Marin. I really like Jodi Picoult as an author, but out of the six of her novels I've read, I think I rank this the lowest. But some of the others (like My Sister's Keeper) are among my favourite books, meaning that Handle With Care still gets a decent grade. Maybe a 3 out of 5. (5 or 6 out of 10) 


I do recomend that you give it a read though. It's good to learn about things like OI, and other issues that are discussed in this book. I think you should always try to broaden your horizon and try to be more understanding, even though I barely try to do that myself.

Glee - Season 3 (and Goodbye)

Yesterday I finally saw the last episode of the third season of Glee - Goodbye. I know a lot of people complained about it, and were really mad about how everything ended, but I don't have too many issues with the final epsiode. I mean it wasn't my favourite, but it wasn't bad either. It was ok, and parts of it even great (Burt Hummel - how I adore thee). Several tear-alerts throughout the episode and a little too much focus on Rachel, but otherwise good. I'm nervous about season 4 though.. How do they keep this going in a good way? And, my constant worry; what about Klaine? And throughout the season I've also grown almost as attached to Tike. And I think I ship Brittana as strongly as I ship Klaine. There are just too many worries, and the ever present threat of a new cast (that I might not like) for me not to be worried.

Few things in general about the season before I go to bed:

Favourite episode(s): Nationals, On My Way, Hold On To Sixteen, and The First Time (in that order I think). I need to rewatch all episodes to be sure, so I might get back to you on this one.

Least favourite episode (or worst/most worthless episode): The Spanish Teacher

My favourite songs from this season (though I haven't processed the ones from yesterday):
We Are Young
What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)
Here's To Us
Cough Syrup
Fly/I Believe I Can Fly
Edge Of Glory
Rumour Has It/Someone Like You
Perfect
Last Friday Night
I Kissed A Girl

Hunger Games - The Movie

Yesterday was a great day indeed. I went with my twiin to the movies and we saw Hunger Games, after which we made dinner for her parents (with garlic bread - yum!), and before we went to bed we watched the last Glee episode (finally! And more on that later, this is a Hunger Games centred post).

The movie (based on the first of the three Hunger Games novels) was really good! I know movies based on books never can be exactly the way we imagine them, and all the details can't be there and blahblahblah, and with a very few exceptions I always like the book version better, it was a great movie. Josh Hutcherson (whom I've liked since I saw that movie where his character's name was Laser or whatever, and liked even more after finally getting around to watching Bridge to Terabithia) is absolutely fantastic as Peeta (nothing but love for this character). Even though Gale is not very present in the first story, Liam Hemsworth portrays him really well, and I love that they had little sequences of his reactions after everything between Peeta and Katniss. And without any previous opinions of Jennifer Lawrence, I really loved her as Katniss. Truly a great cast! One thing that surprised me was Cinna. In a complete non-racist way I did not expect him to be black. On the other hand, it took me some time to realise that he was a man too when reading the book.


Three things disturbed me, two of which were really irritating, but otherwise I really cannot complain about their accuracy. It probably helped a lot that Suzanne Collins helped in the script-writing and stuff. Okay, first thing (that wasn't too major): Katniss is supposed to answer "No" when Peeta asks her if she gets that he wants to die without changing, without being a part of their Game, and not "Yes, but I can't afford to think like that". Second thing: The Cornucopia. I always imagined it to be golden, and not iron/silver/metallic. Talk about disturbing! And third: The muttations were not nearly as terrifying as in the book. The entire thing about them "being the dead players" ws not even there and that was the part that was the most freaky in the book. Oh, and a fourth thing! The Mockingjay pin! I kind of liked Madge, but her entire character is removed from the movie..


A thing that I really appreciated though was how they solved things for those in the audience that hadn't read the book by showing the gamemakers' thoughts/ideas etc, and showing how the Districts and the Capitol see the Games. I don't know what more to write about it, except that I really liked it, and truly recommend that you see it (read the books too though).

xoxo
Frida