The Weather Games

Yes, I started out today with dusting and The Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Laurence) is a young huntress living with her little sister and widowed mother in "District 12," one of the most rural outlying areas of a ruined futuristic country. Every year, a teen boy and girl from every district is chosen for "The Hunger Games," a very popular event where the kids are dropped in a controlled forest environment and left to survive on their own, against the elements and other, better-trained competitors. It's supposed to be an honor to be chosen, but Katniss' little sister is too delicate for such bloody sport. When she's chosen, Katniss offers herself in her place. She's joined by the strong baker's son Peeta (Josh Hutchinson), who has admired her from afar for years. The two do their best to come out on top, even when the corrupt president (Donald Sutherland) and the slick Seneca try to manipulate the odds to create false "hope" in the people they're brutally controlling.

No doubt about it, this was a weird one. On one hand, it's a pretty dark movie, and not for everyone. Though the shaky cinematography in the second half tries to hide it, there IS a lot of gore. These kids are quite literally playing for keeps, even tiny, cute little Rue, who briefly befriends Katniss. Some sci-fi fans who have been reading this sort of thing for years may not find it terribly original.

On the other hand, the actors are spot-on. Harrison and Sutherland were particularly good as Katniss' genuinely concerned mentor and the gruff dictator who is determined to keep his impoverished people under control, no matter what. Laurence was fine as the strong-willed hunter who is determined to protect those she loves. And I do love the fact that we have a genuinely tough, proactive heroine here, one not all that far removed from another female archer seen in theaters last year, Merida of Brave.

If nothing else, this should receive plaudits for the sets and costume design alone. The costumes are amazing, from the Kit Kitteredge-esque 30s feed-sack clothes worn by the citizens of the rural districts, to the riot of Technicolor outfits, with wild hair colors that usually can't be seen outside of anime, once the kids arrive at the out-of-touch, wealthy-run Capitol. The sets look like something out of an art deco sci-fi extravaganza of the 30s, with shining halls of curvy-lined, modern furniture.

I have to admit, for all the negatives, I did end up enjoying it. I usually don't go in for teen or sci-fi fandoms. I was largely indifferent to Harry Potter, and have absolutely no interest in Twilight whatsoever. Despite it being a gigantic hit last spring, this one does have its flaws, but intrigued me enough to want to look into the book series and await the next installment with much interest.

Work was a total pain in the rear today. It was just cloudy and relatively warm and windy when I went to work. We were on-and-off busy again for most of the afternoon, to the point where I spent a lot of the time shelving candy.

This ended by the 4PM rush hour. We were really busy, with very long lines. They asked me to stay an extra hour even before the lines got horrible; someone must have called out. It would have been less of a pain if I wasn't already tired. It was still so steady at 8PM, a manager finally came in for me, replacing a college boy who was on break.

I found out why everyone got so crazy when I headed outside. It was raining and snowing at the same time, and doing both heavily. The snow must have just started, since the ground was just wet. It has since stuck to at least my porch. I doubt it'll be around much longer than previous snow storms were. It's supposed to get warmer later in the week.