Why Two Winners Lost: Tales of Bad Judgement at The X Games.

I’m not strong. I’m not fast either. I can’t lift a nearly two hundred pound bike the way these guys can. But I can tell when someone gets cheated. And that’s exactly what happened. Twice. The two who got cheated tonight are Anthony Neapolitan and Bilco (Blake Williams).

First, we take it to the Mega Ramp in the Staples center. The name of the game is Moto X Big Air. The stage is set. The lights are dimmed. He drops in. Goes off the ramp. Pulls a never before seen trick. Double front flip. The crows goes absolutely insane. He sticks the air as well, landing at 10′5″ the first, and nearly 11′ the second. Yet, both times, the judges call foul, and he lands in fifth place. The most innovative BMX trick of the entire competition, and he gets fifth? The boos were justified in my opinion. I know that 11′ doesn’t compare to the 18′ flair with the no handed back flip that the winner (Kevin Robinson) completely stuck. I’m not saying give the guy a gold medal, but at least give him a medal. He stuck a ridiculous trick on a ridiculous ramp, and the judges should want to give him the accolades he deserves. Doing a trick like that, getting it nailed twice, and getting the score booed both times. Doesn’t that say something? They better rethink what they call innovation.

Speaking of innovation, I also have a problem with the even that just wrapped up. Moto X Best Trick, by far my favorite. I’ve watched it with rapt attention all of the past three or four years, and I never really took a fondness to Kyle Loza. I was stoked for Travis Pastrana to come back to the event, thinking he was going to blow us away with his so-called “toilet paper flip”. Last time, Kyle Loza demolished the competition with his ridiculous “Electric Doom/Death”. That was amazing. In 2008. This is 2009. The reason why Moto X Trick is my favorite is because of that reason exactly. Each year brings a barrage of new tricks, something that you don’t expect will blow your mind. This year, sadly, this wasn’t the case.

So after some people randomly going off the jumps, the main topic of this section comes into play. Blake Williams sticks a huge 360 with a little extra. The most original trick of the competition. But. Mr. Loza comes out and busts another “Electric Doom”. Of course, he goes on to win. How could you let this happen? Really? The whole point of Moto X Trick is to put something out there that’s creative and original and new. I’m not saying an Electric Dooms are easy or anything, but man. You don’t win two years in a row with the same trick! That’s not the point. I’m thoroughly dissapointed in Moto X this year. X Games 15 better step itself up, or this won’t be the only reason why I might not tune in next year.

Anticipation: An Essay

The problem with any moment is not the moment itself, but the anticipation of the moment. Alfred Hitchcock once said “There is no terror in the bang, just the anticipation of it.” Never have I realized how true that is up until this point. One could spend the entire day, the whole night, and another full day thinking about the moment, and when it finally comes, you forget every preconceived notion that you had. Every thought, every dream, it vanishes from your mind.

I just hope that when I finally lose myself in a moment, that the beast that lurks in the night, who is known only by Anticipation, doesn’t strike me down with a swift movement. He has caught me before, but I will not let him tear me to bits again, leaving me like a torn paper in an updraft. I must remain strong, if not for myself, there would be no anticipation. I shall draw my pen form it’s scabbard like a sword, my own movements like slashes against the paper, illuminating the shadow that becomes the beast’s hiding spot. I shall not fail. And when I slay the beast, the mighty Anticipation, let it’s hide become my defense, wearing it like a proud display of my ability to remain strong. Let me accomplish this, let me slay this last beast. If not for me, for her.

Thank you,

Andrew

Andrew Reviews: The Hunger Games.

A great summer read, though light on action and heavy on precursors.

Obviously, there will be plot spoilers. If you don’t want to know how it ends, and just see what I thought, scroll down to the bottom, where my grade is.

Before I begin, I must dismiss Battle Royale claims. Having previously read Battle Royale, and the two having nearly identical plots, I was worried that I might hate this book. Really worried. Battle Royale was excellent, though not quite recommended for the same age group as the Hunger Games. But basically, if you’re not squeamish, read Battle Royale, it’s by Japanese author Koshun Takami. So some people have given both books low ratings due to the claim that they are based off of one another. I know that this is probably not true, so I’m not going to do that either. I’m just going to rate this book the way an editor who hasn’t read Battle Royale would. Then I’ll give you the lowdown on having read Battle Royale, whether or not this is worth your time. So let’s crack this book open, ’cause this is another edition of Andrew Reviews.

If you bothered to read the first paragraph all the way through, you’ll know that this plot is quite similar to that of Battle Royale. Those who haven’t read Battle Royale, here’s the rundown. Kids are taken away from their homes, thrown into an arena with limited rules, and forced to kill each other until one is left standing. Pretty simple eh? The Hunger Games tries to add onto this by throwing in a mild backstory, that to some extent works, but sometimes just lacks. It takes about a hundred pages before the games even begin, and by then even the readers, enthralled by the promise of the actual games, are crying for some blood to be spilt. As for the backstory, it is fairly decent. The formation of the Hunger Games was due to a rebellion that occurred against the Capitol, the rules of Panem, the only remaining evidence of North America. With the Capitol at it’s center, there were thirteen districts, with an industry at the heart of each. Eventually, the districts rebelled in an attempt to overthrow the Capitol and failed, leading to the destruction of District 13, graphite manufacturers. As a punishment, the Hunger Games were formed. There is a raffle each “reaping day” where the contestants are picked. Another thing that separates this book from Battle Royale is the tesserae. You can add your name multiple times into the raffle in exchange for tesserae, consisting of grain and oil, what one might need to survive, at least for a little while. The whole dystopian thing is a little overplayed at times, because parents don’t even make any attempt to save their children, they just watch and cry. Sure, it can mildly be explained by the destruction of District 13, which becomes a looming threat over the parents if they disobey, but still, it’s a little ridiculous. At least parents in Battle Royale tried to protest, though they received a bullet in the head for their efforts. We follow Katniss Everdeen, a wilderness expert, particularly at hunting food, and then selling it on the black market, as going into the woods is illegal. The funny thing is, most of the politicians are corrupt enough to buy her food and are her best costumers, therefore she doesn’t get punished for what she does. We pick up on reaping day, and she’s getting food with her friend Gale. He sort of vanishes and makes reappearances throughout the book, mostly during the semi-fake romance scenes. They aren’t dating, but Katniss does have thoughts about persuing a romance with him. Throwing Gale aside, they go to the reaping, and one would expect Katniss to get picked. No. Her sister, Prim does. There is a little rule that allow for substitutions for contestants (or “tributes” (brutish eh?) as they are called), so she takes up on the deal, thus becoming the girl tribute from District 12. She is accompanied by Peeta Mellark, who becomes her friend throughout the process.

After jumping through hoops for the Capitol, shooting arrows at the judges, getting lit on fire to make a fashion statement, eating lavish food for the first time in her life, and all sorts of wonderful things, they get thrown in the arena. You saw it coming right? If you had half a brain, you would have figured out that they’d win, lose a friend or two, and eventually face the big bad wolf at the end. Even if you haven’t read Battle Royale, you can almost see through the plot a mile away. That’s probably the one downside of this book, this genre in general. The plots are so transparent that even someone recently introduced to the genre could tell you how it ends. And basically that’s how it does end, for those curious. They end up defeating the kid raised all his life to be a contestant in the Hunger Games, Cato, who gets killed by rabid dogs who look exactly like the murdered contestants from earlier. Then the plot seeds are sown for a probably unnecessary sequel. Throughout the book, Katniss makes friends with a girl from District 11, Rue. Eventually, Rue gets killed by a Career (someone raised their entire life to fight in the Hunger Games), and Katniss lays flowers around her, and sings to her. The Captiol somehow finds this rebellious, and gets angry at Katniss. Then a rule change comes where two contestants as long as they are from the same district can win. That’s where the fake seeds of romance are thrown in. Throughout her small hoop jumping time at the Capitol, in an effort to make the two contestants more likeable in order to win sponsors to give them an edge in the games, Peeta confesses that he loves Katniss. The rule change was clearly added so both “star-crossed lovers” can win. She finds him, they end up living in a cave, then the games end, but right before they do, something crucial happens. Another rule change takes place, removing the rule where two contestants can win. They decide to eat poision berries at the same time, so no one person can win. Naturally, the Captiol is pissed at that too, but they add the rule where the two contestants can win again, and then happily ever after.

So it was corny, kind of. The plot was invisible, the character development was thin, but the violence was sort of fun, all twenty pages of it. I actually liked this book, the whole dystopian, let’s kill each other thing. The actual Hunger Games were quite heavily enjoyable, and the romance was another facet to the story that was okay, but all of the preparations just were unnecessary. I also was on Wikipedia, and I saw that 2010 third book was in the making. Will she really start another plot at the end of the already lacking second book? Really? Suzanne Collins has written a wonderful book, and I’ll definitely check out the sequel. I’m just a touch disappointed with the beginning. Okay, it’s time for the rundown.

Pros:

• A great entry into the Dystopian “Kill the kids” genre.
• The rebellion was great, sort of.
• The “romance” was interesting to watch.
• Though I didn’t mention it in the actual summary, the Cornucopia, containing all the supplies, adds more to the story than Battle Royale’s “pack system”.

Cons:

• Plot is invisible, the only twist or turn was the murder of Rue.
• The rebellion might not be enough to pump out the sequel to be of higher caliber than this.
• She should have written more about the other contestants, not just what is projected off of the big screen in the sky.
• Too much introduction to the actual games.
• Not enough bloodshed.

The Hunger Games can’t hold up to Battle Royale, but it was a phenomenal book nonetheless. Wether or not it was worth all the hype I’ll leave up to you. I’d say check it out. And once you have, check out Battle Royale, by Koshun Takami.

My overall rating: B+. Sequel worthy, and definitely a rent at your local library.

Some people rated this as one of the best, if not the best book of 2008. False. The best book of 2008 was Paper Towns by John Green. If you haven’t read any of Green’s works, do so now. Please. So those upset with my B+, drop a comment.

Signing off,

Andrew.

In The Warehouse (13 that is).

A great “bag it, tag it” show for summer Syfy.

So on Tuesday of this week I got around to actually turning on the television instead of watching Hulu, and I watched the premiere of Warehouse 13. Now, having seen all three Librarian movies (great stuff. A&E TV movies, but great nonetheless) I was worried if this would fall in to the same find it, bag it, tag it cliche. And of course, in a sense, I was right. Except, instead of some random guy that is chosen to be the “Librarian”, it’s two Secret Service agents, Myka Bering and Peter Lattimer. It starts out at a pretty fast pace, with an museum getting his finger pricked by an Aztec bloodstone, leading him to be possessed, and then attempting to own some noobs with a jagged knife, only to get drop kicked by Myka. Then we first meet Artie (sort of indirectly, we don’t know who he is, but we can pretty much figure it out if you’ve seen any sort of promo), who himself owns a secret service agent with what we later find out to be a “Tesla gun”, basically his alternative to bullets. He bags and tags the bloodstone, and everyone is dazed and confused as to what happened.

After that, they are assigned to a mysterious location (*cough Warehouse 13 cough), and they naturally get the “WTF iz dis shit?” expression when they see the Warehouse. One thing I did think was kind of cool was the Boomerang ball, a neat little concept. Basically it’s a football, that if you throw it, travels all the way around the world and back to that same spot. We are first introduced to said ball when Peter nearly gets decapitated by it, and eventually we meet Artie again, and the two reluctantly go into the warehouse, lured by Artie’s promise of cookies. Seriously.

They get briefed on what they have to do, and as I correctly predicted, the episodes would rely on them bagging and tagging strange items for the warehouse (which Artie calls “America’s attic”). Naturally, we find something funny in the warehouse on our first visit. In this case it was the teakettle. This ancient teakettle grants wishes. Except, when you wish for something imposssible, it makes a ferret. Naturally Myka wishes for a reassignment, and is granted with a ferret. Artie then proceeds to tell the two that the warehouse is flooded with ferrets. Wonderful. I wonder how many have eaten priceless artifacts.

Today’s bounty is based on a boyfriend, a normal kid, who goes bezerk and abuses his girlfriend. I mean, it’s pretty obvious he’s possesed, given the description that Artie gives. Then they interrogate him, asking him really wierd questions, and eventually he goes nuts again, and then tries to kill the agents, and is retrained by the sherrifs.

I’m not going to spoil what happens after that, because some people might still watch it, if they are still intreged by the concept. It comes down to a pretty interesting conclusion, with some very harsh consequences.

So at the core, this has been done before, but the Secret Service agents add a different twist to this explored topic. The Librarian was probably my favorite TV movie, even though I know that’s a weird genre, check out the Librarian films. Once you see the first one, you’ll realize how similar the two are. I’m definitely going to add this show to my Hulu queue, because I’m not going to stay up till ten to watch it, but it has definitely caught my eye. A great summer effort for Scifi (excuse me, Syfy). I still don’t get quite why they changed the name.

Basically, if you saw the Librarian, and loved it, watch this. If you’re knew to the bagging mystical artifacts genre, check this out. It’s a great show, at least what I’ve seen of it.

Going to bed,

Andrew.

I’ve lost track of days: The Once and Future King, No More BEDS.

Okay, so today, I actually broke into The Once and Future King, and I actually liked it. I was surprised. Very surprised. Sure, Arthurian legend seems like a shoe-in to be one of my favorite genres, as I love fantasy and science fiction, but I had my doubts with this one. I’m currently on chapter six, and I love it. The first two chapters were a little slow, but as soon as he met King Pellinore, I knew that the book was going to break out, and become really interesting. That’s when I met Merlin (or Merlyn as they call him). I was instantly spellbound, fascinated by the amazing description of the cottage that he inhabits. Archimedes, the owl, I particularly took a liking to. I don’t know what it is about this book, but I love it. Sure,  I really should be reading and taking notes on A Distant Mirror instead, but let me bury my head in the easy book for now.

I’m almost done with The Hunger Games. I am absolutely loving it, and can’t put that down as well. I’m about maybe a eighth way through the games, and I was particularly excited about the Cornucopia, and what it adds to the “kill your classmates” vibe. Before I read Hunger Games, I actually read Battle Royale, by Koshun Takami, I don’t know if I mentioned it, but it’s basically the same concept. Take kids, randomly drawn, make them kill each other. Observe the psychological effects and the physical deterioration of the winners. It’s a great concept, but I was speculative when I entered Hunger Games. I’ll have a full review when I’m done.

Oh yeah. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I have a last.fm. I know most people wouldn’t care about this, but if you really want to completely know what I listen to, check out last.fm. I even iPod scrobble. Hyperlink. Check it out, maybe I’ll rub some of my music tastes off on you.

And one more thing. I’ve ditched BEDS, at least for now. Sure, I’ll post every other day, every two days or something, but I just can’t write one every day. Sure, you’ll get all the reviews, and rants you love, just… less frequently. And in better quality. This post itself is pretty rushed due to the fact my parents are just about to throw the computer out the window because I need to get off it. Probably a good thing, considering I should probably finish The Hunger Games tonight. I think she wins, I mean, how could she not? I heard there’s a sequel, but I’m interested to see what happens to some other characters too. So, I guess I’m off.

(Oh I just checked my last.fm account, and I’ve listened to DMB 117 times today )

Going to read, like I should,

Andrew.

Day Twenty One Part 1: The DMB Bait and Switch.

Basically, normal readership of my blog, this will matter to oh about…. 0.0001% of you. If you aren’t a huge Dave Matthews Band nerd, this probably won’t matter to you, but it’s something that infuriates me.

Let’s get it out there. I love Dave Matthews, and I love his band. I fell head over heels into DMB during the winter when I downloaded Piedmont Park, and then Live Trax 6, and it just progressed from there. He remains in such heavy rotation on my iPod, my parents could hear what I’m listening to through the buds, and tell you it’s DMB. It’s become a significant part of my life for some reason, and now I’ve signed up for the community website antsmarching.org. But, every silver lining has it’s touch of gray (Yes I am also a huge deadhead as I mentioned a couple posts ago.)

They make great music, have a great sound, a great aesthetic to the carefree way that they play. I just have one complaint. One of the things that makes me so impossibly made is the way they pull fakes live. Basically they’ll play into one song and then fake an intro to another, and play an entirely different song. It’s a great concept, and most of the time DMB execute it perfectly. But, a recurring trend has caused me to know exactly what they’re going to do every single time they play it. The fake is Anyone Seen The Bridge (a great song that’s totally underrated, calls for musicianship on all counts in the band) > Too Much (faked) > *Insert song here. Most of the time though, it goes something like this ASTB>TM>Ants Marching. It’s too predictable. I don’t exactly know the date they first did it (I think it was the show at the beacon 06.01.09 (That’s when I first saw it, at least fake to ants). When I saw it on TV, I thought that it was such a great little fake, and that something like that would never happen. Well, it did, and it did again. I looked at the setlists coming in from the summer tour, and all over them they have ASTB>TM fakes. When are we actually going to get Too Much? It’s a great song.

Although, there are exceptions to everything. The ASTB>TM fake is good for one thing that I have seen as of yet. The only possible good ASTB>TM fake that I’ve heard, and then again, compared to some other people, I’m a DMB noob, is ASTB>TM>Halloween. Basically, if I saw that live, I’d probably crap my pants. I was first introduced to it about the time when people were voting for LT16, which I currently own. I saw the setlist on dmbalmanac, and I saw the fake, and I thought “Holy crap, that’s the best fake ever!” It probably is, and I don’t think I’ll be seeing that live any time soon (My home venue is Hartford, and if you are a DMB nerd, you know about the riots). But I plead with you Dave, go back to older fakes. Everyday>Halloween, or any Everyday fake was cool. Just, no more ASTB fakes, at least not for a while. SMTS>ASTB>TM is it’s own little coupling. Don’t ruin that. Please. I mean, by all means, next time you come to Hartford rip a SMTS>ASTB>Halloween. I just might need to bring a change of underwear.

Signing off for now,

Andrew.

Day Twenty: First Thoughts, First Meet.

So today I finally began to really get into The Strain, and am loving every page. It’s great so far, and even though I know that the disease is a virus that basically causes people to turn into vampires, it’s great writing, and is really creepy. I’d say that it’s basically Cell+The Andromeda Strain (two greats books by the way, if you haven’t read them, highly recommended). I also read a little more of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, and can’t help but love the writing, but hate the work that I have to do for it. Taking notes on every chapter seems tedious, especially considering that I have a mammoth volume, A Distant Mirror, three hundred pages of the 14th Century, still knocking on my door.

And as for JulNoWriMo? Don’t get me started. I’m ten thousand words behind as of tonight, and I’m supposed to sleep in early tonight, because of swim team in the morning. Speaking of swim team, our first swim meet was today. And of course, the first race of the year, our medley relay team gets owned horribly. Because somehow at thirteen, I’m the oldest kid on the team, I have to swim the fly, which no other kid apparently knows how to do, and the fly is my worst stroke. Naturally my goggles end up around my neck after the first dive, and we end up in last, because one of the swimmers couldn’t turn around. I’m not complaining or anything, I’ve seen this sort of thing happen a lot, I’ve been competitively swimming since I was seven, when we lived in Singapore, and I swam for the Fighting Fish. I went on to swim 50 free, coming in first place with a horrible 30.48 time, my goal this summer being to break thirty seconds. I came horribly close. I swam the 50 back, and I was grouped with the sixteen year old age group and still won, can’t remember the other times. Also swam fifty breast, also was grouped with sixteens, also won. It’s pretty satisfying when you swim up and win, even if the swimmers aren’t the best in the world.

So now, I’m probably going to cram what little I can of JulNoWriMo in before I positively get demolished this weekend trying to write the pain away. My goal is to hit fifty thousand by the end of this weekend, sister permitting (plug wars…). My next post is probably going to come sometime late, so be prepared to stay up

Going to type faster than humanly possible,

Andrew.

Nineteen: Tender Love and Care (Or in this case, lack thereof)

So as faithful readers know, I haven’t updated. I’m sorry, but this project feels like it’s slowly falling apart. I must remain strong through the hard month of July. August will be like June again, because all my activities fall around the month of July. Between swim team and tennis, and throwing in the occasional round of golf, it’s hard to even want to try and write a post every day, in addition to the number of words that I have to write to stay on top of JulNoWriMo.

I finished Hunger, as you probably read, and I loved that book, and now I’ve started The Strain, the latest vampire/virus/apocalypse novel by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I haven’t really cracked the binding on this one yet, I took a chunk out of it on the way to swim team. This is just another book in a genre that’s becoming one of my favorites, the apocalypse virus, like Scott Sigler’s Infected series, which I raced through Contagious, the sequel throughout the winter months this year. I’m truly fascinated by the gory horror scenes, they’re great fun to read, even for someone like me.  I do have some sort of expectation for this to be a little more True Blood, a little less Twilight. In addition, I saw two more posts from the whole “Rob obsessed fangirl” websites, and they’re infatuation probably supersedes their intellect. It’s horrid to watch such time and effort go to waste. Seriously.

I’ve also (wait, I hear a Billy Mays commercial on my mom’s TV, so this is my chance to say RIP Billy. As annoying as the Mighty Putty commercials were, you were a great man.) been starting The Hunger Games. I’m not one of those people that goes one book at a time. I read them all at once, right now I really have ten books (pretty much) that I’m supposed to read. Lit. Like Professor notes are slowly coming along (okay who am I kidding, I’m only on chapter four and it’s the middle of July (I’ll do more tonight…)).

Another weird thing has been happening to me lately. I’ve been struck by these weird twinges of headaches, accompanied by sinus pressure. It’s been pretty much never ending for the past two weeks, and I have no idea what it is. It could just be a virus like my mom says, but no virus that I’ve ever encountered in my days of being sick produces a really low grade fever with horrible headaches. I just want the pain to go away really.

Another thing I’m upset about today: Concerts. Today, in New York, two of my favorite bands are playing live shows, and I can’t go to either. Reel Big Fish is playing the Nokia Theater, and Umphrey’s McGee is playing Central Park’s SoundStage. It’s a downright shame I can’t go to either show, when either band plays in the city, it’s supposed to be a riot. Unfortunately, we don’t have the money. It sucks. Whatever, I’ll find a bootleg of the UM show, and I’ll get over the RBF show.

Signing off to go take an Advil and go to tennis,

This is Andrew.

Seventeen: Hunger by Michael Grant. A Review.

NOTE: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR GONE. IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT YET, READ IT.

A phenomenal sequel to a great book. Action lacking, character development makes up.

Today, finally, I finished Hunger. The monster five hundred page book loomed over my reading list for weeks, and I finally tackled it. Having read Gone, the first book in the series, I had high hopes for a better sequel. And my expectations were surpassed. I loved Hunger, and enjoyed every thrilling minute, flipping pages as fast as I could.

Let’s review this sucker.

Plot: (I didn’t like Amazon’s synopsis, so I’ll write some of my own) Basically the book picks up right where Gone left off, in the town of Perdido Beach, California. Perdido Beach is now vacant except for children under fifteen and those who have managed to escape the fifteenth birthday “poof”. Unfortunately, food in running low in the FAYZ, or Fallout Alley Youth Zone, as it has come to be known, and kids are starting to get really hungry, hence the title. (though it does come around in more ways that one) Throughout the novel, how characters act is often dependent upon how much they have had to eat, or lack thereof. Times get so desperate that kids eat unusual things, such as two boys killing and cooking a cat, to one of the mutants, Brianna, or the Breeze, grabbing and killing a pidgeon with her bare hands due to her super speed. Now I’m not going to spoil much about the plot, but I will say this. It surpassed Gone in terms of character development, but lacked a touch in action. You begin to see the darker side of the Coates Academy kids, often driven by an outside force, and the stress that Sam gets put under, being the “father” of five hundred kids. There is action, believe me. There is no match for the Thanksgiving battle at the end of book one, but this book does come pretty close. There are scattered fights here and there, and a stakeout at the power plant, but none matches the Thanksgiving battle. The power plant battle is great, and I think that the way that you see some of the psychotic sides of the characters, or just the raw action that comes out in these scenes is great, but it is clearly topped by the final battle. The end battle is phenomenal, and shows major character from one child who you never would have though to be an integral part of the story. It answers some questions, but leaves many more hanging around to be answered. There are deaths, yes. Because I’m trying to introduce people to the book rather than spoil it all for newcomers, I will say this, some main characters die. I’m not going to tell you who, but when it happened I was shocked, I didn’t see it coming at all. This book is definitely darker than Gone, but it serves it’s purpose well. Things can’t always be happy in the FAYZ. The plot was stellar, and it makes me want to read the third book immediately.

Characters: The character development in Hunger beings to make you show who the kids inside the FAYZ really are. From the leader of Perdido Beach, Sam, to the antagonist Caine, the characters really show their colors in this book, be it good or bad. Sam cracks down, Caine goes insane, and Mary, leader of the daycare, gets her eating disorder revealed. It is a true tapestry of what life without parents would really be like. Surpassing the first book, and my expectations, the raw display of what human nature really is like in Hunger, quite akin to Lord of The Flies, but more modern, and with genetic mutations.

Anything Bad: Not much to complain about in this novel. Seriously. I don’t often have to say this, but I thoroughly enjoyed Hunger, and was disappointed when it came to an end. It really did leave me begging for more. I plead with you Mr. Grant, continue, elaborate. It’s phenomenal writing. Okay so maybe there is one thing. And I know this is just me being really analytical about fiction, but where did they get all the gas from? About half the time they are riding in cars everywhere, from Perdido Beach to the power plant, from Coates, including the boat (possible spoiler), and the truck near the mine shaft. You’d figure they’d conserve it. I didn’t really let this get to me, but with everything else being portrayed realistically, It did become an itch which I couldn’t scratch. And the lack of action, which is knocking my grade down to an A. It just didn’t have as much action as Gone, but that does get made up for.

My final verdict: Buy it, read it, read it again. I was so surprised when I read Gone at how stellar it was. Sure, it was a little Lord of The Flies-esque, but it just adds to the tone. I loved this novel, and am going to tell all my friends. Probably the best book I’ve read so far this year.

Grade: A. Seriously. I honestly don’t do this much, but this was a great book. I love thrillers

Sixteen: JulNo Scrapped Again, Punish Me.

So yesterday I was procrastinating, and forgot completely about my blog. I decided to scrap my JulNoWriMo again. I changed it to another plot about laser tag. But it’s intense, at least I hope. I figure that maybe I’ll actually be able to win if I write at a pace of seven thousand words a day, but I’ll probably just need to catch up every Tuesday and Saturday, as those are the only real days I’m not doing stuff in the afternoon, the only time I really don’t have to do anything. So now you really have to pick a punishment for me. Just because I stopped to go to the fireworks doesn’t mean I don’t deserve one. So, I know that it’s unlikely that anyone will read this enough to vote, so I’ll just make one up myself. Tell me wether or not you like it.

Challenge: Write ten thousand words on one given Saturday.

Good? No? Doesn’t matter, I’m probably going to do it next Saturday anyway.

Anyway to round it out. Here’s some of todays JulNo.

The lights all around me flashed to green. My heads up display changed colors from a dull red to a bright neon shade of green. I leaped forward, dodging among the crowd in order to get a look at the course around me. I inhale deeply as I jump onto a quickly rising block and catapult into the air. It’s a simple course this time. A game of capture. I see the enemy in the distance, one of their players spots me and fires a shot. I jump off the rising block, tuck and roll away, and hide behind an L-shaped formation of blocks, hoping one doesn’t move and give away my location. I aim forward, slowly moving around the formation, looking ahead. An opposing team member is right in front of me. He hadn’t spotted me yet, but he was looking around. He probably saw me on his radar. I’d be right on top of him. I held my breath. If he saw me it’d be game over, and my one chance at a capture would be cut off. I slowly cup my hand over my mouth, and raise my pistol at his head, an instant knockout. He moves forward slowly, and so do I, so that I still stay in the same place on his radar. I look behind me, more of his team’s cronies approaching.
“Behind you!” One of them shouts, referring to me.
“Shit.” I mutter under my breath.
Before he whips around, I fire my instant knockout burst, and the block underneath his feet vanishes, and another takes it’s place. I look around for an escape route. A window on the first story of a building like structure is to my left. Glancing at my radar, I see only one member of the opposition on the first story. I fire a fade away shot, hitting him square between the eyes, another knockout. It’s capture, but less enemies means less of a defense, and more offense.
There is a second enemy behind me, but I don’t have enough time to hit him before I send myself hurtling through the empty hole in the wall, and scrambling to hide behind a block. I jump on top of the block, in an attempt to find the enemy. The room is pitch black, the only light is emanating from outside, where the blocks changed to white when the game started. I can’t waste time. I call up the map on my heads up display, looking around the room. With the radar built into only what I can see, I didn’t see the enemy, but my intuition told me he was there. Looking at the schematic for how the blocks were formed, I saw that there was a staircase leading to the second floor about a few paces behind me. I closed out of the schematic, looking behind me. Light flooded in through the doorway. It would be suicide, revealing myself. It was my only option. I dashed towards the staircase, into the light, and felt a shot hit me between the back. I didn’t get knocked out. The block didn’t move beneath my feet. I felt a little dizzy from the impact of the bolt, but I turned back around and fired a quick burst behind me, as I walked up the stairs. I hoped the defense was playing well enough, there was a couple bogeys coming through the stairwell. I chimed the order to them over the intercom.
“Watch out, you’ve got a striker through the stairwell, and a mid through the left alleys.”
“Copy that.”
I surveyed the next room, looking to see if there were any opposition. I couldn’t tell, my radar didn’t stretch to the end of the room, and my eyesight was to weak with the only light in the room coming from the stairwells at either end. There were no lights in this hallway. It was more a stealth choice for the computer, rather than an firing battle. See how well you can sneak past the enemy. I kept crawling, and heard a blip, focusing on my real world vision rather than that of the helmet. Sure enough, I looked up to the right corner of the display. I was being hailed over com link. Not exactly the perfect time for that, but nothing ever ended well. Ignoring it, eventually the computer patched him through to my ear buds.
“Get down there! The enemy is playing more offense than defense! The cap is wide open. Just make sure to avoid the left alley. They’ve got tons of guys there. It’s walking into a fender-bender. Trust me. From what I can see on my screen, you’re in the top building on the left side. The reason why you didn’t answer is because you think there’s a bogey in there. Guess what, you were right. He’s right in front of you. See that shadow flickering? That’s him, not the enemy below. He’s their striker, and fortunately, he used his camo right after I saw him on the radar. He’s bound to be walking down the hallway right now. The guy must be completely blind, not being able to see you. Hold on.”
I hear some minor static as he turned off the mic for a second. Probably exchanging fire.
“I need to to wait for a little while. It doesn’t look like they’re going to be playing defense any time soon. They’ve got only one guy, and he’s positioned at the bottom of the stairwell, right in the light. Focus though. Watch the light at the end of the alley to your right. In a little while, if he makes a dash, or in a minute or two, you’ll see a sliver of light. It will just be a little slip of gray, appearing randomly. It’s his camo. There’s no telling when it will run out. Just have your blaster raised, and open fire as soon as you see it. Get to work, I know you can’t respond.”
I did as my captain told me. My eyes were locked on the end of the tunnel. He was right about the camo blinding him. He didn’t even once look at his radar. I estimated he was somewhere to the right, trying to come down the stairs with an open look at the room below him. It would have been the logical thing to do anyway. I raised the blaster. My trigger finger was itching horribly, but one blast, just one, would cause him to look down on his radar and see me. Patience was key.
It was there and then it was gone. I almost missed. I stood up and pulled the trigger as fast as I could. I saw the gray sliver slump and disappear. The block slid away, carrying him away. I sighed a heavy relief. I rand down the rest of the corridor, my blaster raised. I saw him on my radar, the guy the captain was talking about it. He was right. He’s always right.
I look down over the railing, and the enemy fired his own burst of rounds. I dived back towards the darkness, trying to find something to hide behind. I saw him run up the stairs, looking down at the ground, most likely examining his radar.
Moving slowly, He flicked his blaster up towards me. I dived toward the railing, and down onto the the first floor. It was a eight foot drop, and even my tuck and roll after the landing didn’t prevent me from injuring my ankle. I felt like it twisted backwards in the wrong direction. Regardless, he was chasing down the stairs after me, probably yelling to the other two defenders over intercom.
Somehow, I had earned myself a shot at a capture. I could actually end the game. Miraculously, a player with a record like mine, one who would walk into a mine field and get riddled with lasers. I saw it from the stairwell. The defender from the stairs was still behind me, rushing towards me, the momentum building as he ran down the stairs. If he knocked into me, I would be sent twelve feet  right out into the open. So I went for it. No thought preparation whatsoever, I just went for it.
I ran right out through the dark hallway into the center of the coliseum. The defender behind me had given up on the comlink, and had decided to just start yelling until he got the attention of both defenders who had totally decided to ignore the capture box.
Unlike a flag in older versions of the same game, this item was a small box, about two feet by two feet, which you could strap onto your front, run and fire at the same time. It was quite effective. When you got shot, and the cube below your feet vanish to take you back to the base, The computer would recognize you had the capture box, and it would strip it from your body, and replace it on the cube where you where. I had never actually felt the locking mechanism tightening around my body. It was an interesting feeling, like a girdle sucking the fat from your torso. By the time it had attached to me, the defenders were chasing after me, and I was dodging bullets. I kept running, because I didn’t really have any other option.
I did have one problem. The team were playing was mainly offensive, so the majority of their squad would be barraging our base, trying to get our box. Unlike in regular capture the flag, you need to have your box in order to score. There is another mechanism which the box attaches to, on one unmoving square in the field. It will automatically vanish once the winning team scores, ending the match. I was about thirty yards from this device, and of course, twelve linebacker sized attackers stood in my way.
I had no way of judging what to do. The defenders were closing in behind me, and my number of back shots in order to survive was dwindling, around three. If that hit zero, my one chance of capturing would be over, and same probably my history with this team.
There would be no way to get over them, they were just too big. It wasn’t exactly like I was going to ram into the defenders head on. I looked around for other options. I could go into the hallway again, but then I would get shut off by the attackers waiting on the stairwell. I may have knocked out one, but there were two more there now, according to my radar. Then I saw it. A cube moving up and down, about ten cubes in front of me. I really only had one shot at doing this.
I ran forward, launching myself at the L-shaped barrier under which I had hidden only minutes ago. I kicked my feet of the ground, my momentum giving me the push I needed to reach my target. I had landed on the bottom side of the L, meaning I had even less of a push off than I had expected. I went for it anyway. I hid behind a protruding pillar that formed the corner where the long and short side met up, and waited. I couldn’t catch it too early, otherwise one of the attackers could drag me down. I couldn’t jump too late, otherwise I’d miss my target. The brick started to move down, and then the defender cried out.
“He’s behind the pillar!” The cry echoed off the walls, giving away my location.
I couldn’t wait any longer. I wound up like a coil, took my one step of preparation, and went for it. I coasted through the air for what seemed like ten or twenty seconds, praying that I would hit the cube. My foot felt heavy as it smashed into the material that formed the smooth sides of the cube. I couldn’t wait any amount of time standing there. I would have been smashed into the ceiling. I heaved myself forward, back behind the U-shaped barrier of the small base that served as our only blocking method. I was about eight feet off the ground.
This flight didn’t as last as long though. I felt a sharp pain in my arm as I hit the ground. I was maybe three feet away from the docking station. I army crawled as fast as I could. I took two shots to the back. They saw me. I jumped, landing with my chest on the docking cube. The lights flashed to red, our team’s color. I did it. I got a capture.
No escort team, no fancy decoy method, on a map I had never seen. Ten years of playing, and I finally captured a case. Of course, this was only a recreational game, but I wouldn’t let it get to me. Cubes slid away, leaving only the floor remaining. It was jaw-dropping, watching what the computers could do. Eventually, doors formed at either end, and teams left through their respective exits.