My Room…Such a Warzone

My mother got me new clothes…and I haven’t bothered to put them away properly. And my school things are just lying around. A lot of books I’ve read that I’ve neglected to put back in their proper shelves over the weeks. Wow.

Hurr…

I finished Mockingjay. Well I’m not going to spoil anything directly but let me just say it wasn’t predictable for sure. I’m not emphasizing the fact that it had any twists. It’s just that what you think usually happens in literature doesn’t happen here, and what you’re hoping to happen – even if what you’re hoping isn’t detrimental to the quality of the book – won’t happen, and there are parts where you really go…Huh?

I’ll explain it like this. If you count plot structures as spoilers then don’t read any of the underlined italics. If you don’t like anything remotely related to spoilers, even by the tiniest hints, then don’t read any of the italics. You’ve been warned.

What I expected to happen: *Beginning* Ooohhh interesting. Zomg I can’t believe I’m reading this. Awesome as usual. I wonder what that means? ZOMG what’s gonna happen next. *Rising action* Ler GASP. ZOMG. WOAH. Aaawwweeesssooome. Wtf? *GASP*. INDEED. What’s happening? I don’t get it? Oh, there we are. Oh no~! *Climax* ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG *GASP* NUUUUUUUUUUUUUU ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG *Falling action* D: Dx Nuuuu…. Woah, wait, there’s more~! *gaaaasp* Ho YEAH~! >8D Awright. AWESOME. *hyperventilate* WOAH. *Ending* Nuuu…I don’t want it to be over. Closure. Sniffles. *Epilogue* Nice. *Sighs of contentment*

What actually happened: *Beginning* Ooohhh interesting. Zomg I can’t believe I’m reading this. Awesome as usual. I wonder what that means? ZOMG what’s gonna happen next. *Rising action* Ler GASP. ZOMG. WOAH. Aaawwweeesssooome. Wtf? *GASP*. INDEED. What’s happening? I don’t get it? Oh, there we are. Oh no~! *Climax* ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG *GASP* NUUUUUUUUUUUUUU ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMGWTF Oh we’re at the *falling action* already. Wait what? Huh? This can’t be the falling action. Oh I get. The character’s in a dream state and will wake up any moment now to find he/she is still in real time. …wtf this really IS happening. WHAT? NO. Wth. This can’t be right. Uhh… oh, well it’s still not over. Oooohhh. Some twist. I wasn’t that surprised but it’s a nice twist. ….okay the twists end there. Uh. *Ending* So..nothing else is really gonna happen huh? Oh great, more deaths. I’m starting to think they’re overkill now. You couldn’t save one person could you? Ho wells. I could’ve gotten worse. Oh what’s this? Oh she really did choose him. Well that was anticlimactic on the whole romance angle. *Epilogue* …..O-kay.

What really sucked is that none of the deaths were awesome. Like no one went out with a bang. And no I’m not playing any puns here (If you’ve read it, you’ll understand). Maybe it’s just me, but I wasn’t given any time to process the fact that this person was going to die, was dying, or had just died. Like this: “Where’s as;lgkhjans?” “Oh he stayed and sacrificed himself.” “But-” “Let’s keep moving.” “Okay.” Well as;lgkhjans was just a minor character anyway. What sucks was that two of the cooler major characters died like this WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

Character one: “The last I saw of him he was taken away….” *Chapters and chapters later* “Do you have any news on s;alsjkdg?” “To the best of my sources, he is probably dead.” You barely get any closure on him.
Character two: “I could just make out mx;si dying. and for a moment it was like I was him and my life was flashing before my eyes.” “leaves* …that’s it.

Maybe Collins was showing what a war really feels like, or what really happens during one, but we’re talking about fictional literature here. The point is to write about something beyond the everyday. Not to the point that the book’s laden with sparkles and goo, but add a little drama, why don’t you? It’s just so annoying that that’s what the whole book culminates into. The tone of the latter part itself was slow, but I kept getting the feeling that the author was in a rush to finish.

Sorry. I needed to rant. The more I think about it the more of a disappointment it seems.

I was…going to write about something else but I think I’ll stop here. The books are still good though, despite what I’ve ranted, so read The Hunger Games. Don’t let my nonsense stop you from appreciating it XD

I was going to Write about the Sad State of My Room

…when I found it quasi-demi-semi-sort-of-clean upon arriving home from school.

So Speechfest Eliminations over.

Call me a pessimist, but after our turn in the eliminations, I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy at the prospect of getting in the finals. Maybe we truly did just do okay (because, I can assure you, we didn’t suck) or I had just kept comparing our presentation with the Speechfest finals presentations from two years ago. Good God, those were brilliant. I watched it as a sophomore and now I’m certain none of the current groups – not even those who got in finals – holds a candle to the previous Speechfest presentations. Here’s a comparison.

Speechfest finals from two years ago:

Speechfest piece: A Tale of Two Cities by Kahlil Gibran (I think that’s the title)

Here’s what I remember in a nonsensical narrative: *miming everyday life at the beginning…building up…right tone…build up some more….someone does a cartwheel….”DESTROY DESTROY DESTROY”….Run around while shouting…Climax shiz…cartwheel some more….Shout…Scream….Run Run run….Run to the center…FREEZE….*slight pause*…”…like puppets.” Complete with arm waves….Falling Action….Intense but less volume….Firm ending…goosebumps…bow….End.”

So I just pooled together everything I remembered from all three participants and exaggerated some parts. I don’t really remember someone doing a cartwheel.

Current Speechfest and What I’ve Seen So Far:

Speechfest piece: An Excerpt (An Effing Q#$%Q#@$ EXCERPT!) from The Motherland by Emilio Jacinto/Translated by Sir Dudenlot Douchefort

Here’s what I’ve seen: *PREDICTABLE tones….some good concepts that should be awesome with good execution….bipolar emotions….bipolar tones….shouting here then becoming withdrawn then shouting again, making the soft but firm ending not as urine-inducing as intended because it doesn’t really make a deviation from the rest of the tone….actions which prioritized convenience for the class rather than artistry….artistry being mediocre…a game of poker (It’s a joke. Poker faces. Get it? )….mediocrity….some obscure but amusing ideas (Sure, sing some lines, why don’t you? xD)….hesitant voices…..effed up timing…….yeah.*

I’m sure there will be one or two groups that will rise up above the others but I highly doubt they will make an impact as strong as the previous previous (it’s the new’ major major’) ones. *Sigh*

And seriously? An excerpt? An edited one at that |:  | <~ this face is not amused. They chopped up some lines, edited out some stanzas. Were they trying to make the poem shorter for our sakes? I don’t know, but it just really sucked the first time I read that poem (“Oh dear Lord. It’s an excerpt.”) and it didn’t get any better the second or third times (“Dude, I’m starting to think Emilio was bipolar. No offense, E~.”) and nothing really changed after the elims. (“I reeeaaaally don’t like this half-a-poem.”). Seriously. The build up was vague and where the climax ended or began was confusing. It didn’t even have that “WOAH” ending. I’m not saying it was horrible, but I have to agree with DJ that it’s a half-a-poem better used for individual presentations rather than having a whole class screw it.

Well, needless to say, we didn’t get in. I, however, am rooting for the group of my friend who did get in. Congrats, Schmoe, wherever be thou (it might be a misuse, but I like using ‘be thou’ so deal with it xD).

In other news, Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins) came out~ 8D I haven’t read the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy, but the first was super special awesome~ 8D I was going to borrow from the library but our cataloging system fails. Whatever particular book I’m looking for is never in its right place.  (“It’s F C39c. …Let’s see… F C39f…F C39e…FC39d….FC39bWhutda.”) I only find it when I’m not looking for it.

Also http://community.sparknotes.com/2010/06/24/blogging-breaking-dawn-part-1 . Only for people who really don’t like the Twilight series or people who do like it but have a sense of humor. This is a blog on Breaking Dawn Chapter 1. Chapter 10 is updated. Blogs on the other books are available. Just search it. …Read…just read it… XD