Mockingjay

I recently went to the theaters and saw Catching Fire. It was amazing. I thought that this was better than the first movie. It also resembled the book a lot. I talked to a bunch of people and they all agreed. I was very fond of the way it ended and right away I wanted to know what was going to happen next. So I got the next book and got started. This next book is Mocking jay. I have heard that this book was good but not as good as the other two. But hopefully it turns out to be better. This book starts off right where the second one ended. In the beginning it talks about how they destroyed her hometown of district 12 and that she was going to district 13. I think that was messed up to destroy the city. So it also says that Peeta was MIA. Katniss sees what has happened to her home and is devastated. She thinks that all of this was her fault and begins to blame herself for this destruction especially because she had been warned by President Snow that her actions could cause the world chaos. She also misses Peeta and wishes he was there when she passes by his family’s bakery. At this point the mood is sad and upsetting. But anyways Katniss is brought to district 13 to lead the revolution. I was shocked by this when it happened because in the books previous it did give clues that this would happen and I guess I did not pick this up right away. But I think it is great and needed to happen. Katniss is the perfect leader for a revolution because people have already started to gain hope and believe again that they can make a difference and change things. I have gotten about a quarter of the book done and I can’t wait to read more of it.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? By Joyce Carol Oates was an ok story.  I personally did not really like this story all that much. I thought that this was an extremely creepy story. Not like creepy scary but like creepy weird. I thought that something seriously bad and wrong was going to happen to Connie. I think Arnold wanted to kidnap her. He was really convincing to her too even though he let Connie be in control. He let Connie call all the shots. He said you can come with me or you can wait until your family comes home and they will suffer. He also did not let her get a phone or he was coming in. So he let Connie make the decision. I think it is really weird when he said he knew all that stuff about her. Right from that point on it gets really creepy. I did not like this story mainly because of the creepiness. I think if it was a little less stalkerish and crazy it would have been good. But that was the authors intention I suppose. I think the author picked a really good name for the story. This title has a lot of meaning behind it and gets you thinking about the story. I think that the title is saying that Connie cannot go anywhere anymore and that she is stuck with him. Arnold says in the end, “The place where you came from ain't there any  more, and where you had in mind is canceled out.” This is saying that you can’t go anywhere anymore and that Connie is stuck with him. He also mentions that she is the one that he has been looking for and that could be the meaning behind the second part of the title. I would only recommend reading this story if you are into the creepy weird things.

The Scary Truth

                My favorite genre of movie is horror. I love a good scary movie. I thought that this was appropriate to type about seeing how I just saw the movie The Conjuring. I know it came out a couple months ago but I was able to get it on demand and I have to say that it was one of the scarier movies that I have seen in my time. My friends that had seen it in the theatres had all told me that everybody in the theatre was scared and screaming. I think that makes it scarier when there are people screaming around you. But that is beside the point. This movie got some really good reviews and I believe it topped the box office charts when it first came out. It was not like some of the movies I have seen where there is one or two scary parts where somebody pops out of nowhere. But the whole movie was scary. The best is when the hands pop out and scare the mom. I think that is one of the scariest parts of the movie. I would recommend this movie to watch especially if you are into watching scary movies or are just going on a date. Another movie that I saw that was supposed to be scary was The Purge. In my opinion this movie was a complete disappointment. This movie was not scary at all. I think that the reason it was not that scary because it was too predictable most of the time. There were a couple of times in the movie when a man popped out and scared you but it was very disappointing. And I think part of the disappointment was from the commercials. During the commercials they showed all the scary parts and made it seem like a really scary movie but really they show you the 3 scary scenes in the movie and you do not get scared the rest of the movie. I thought that the idea behind the movie was great, but it could and should have been better executed as a whole movie. I want to get out and see Insidious 2. I saw the first one and that was not bad and I heard that the second one is better so hopefully I can get out and see that soon.

The Body Snatchers

The third and final tale is “The Body Snatcher,” by Robert Louis Stevenson. This is also the first time that I have read anything about this author at least that is what I remember. He has written many horror stories in his time. This short story that Stevenson wrote is very good. He uses a great use of imagery and really gets you to feel as if you are part of the novel. This tale is actually a tale within a tale. The tale that I just read was very suspenseful. Throughout the whole book I was wondering what was going to happen next. Now I will admit that I was not really too sure where this story was going to go at first but then it started to pick up when Fettes meets the doctor. But here is a plot twist; the doctor went to the same medical school as he did. They were actually both assistants to the anatomy professor. So when Fettes saw doctor MacFarlane he was stunned that he was there. The tale then talks about how the class was always full so they needed lots of bodies that they would be able to dissect. The two boys found themselves finding the bodies in the most unsavory ways. But Fettes thought that something fishy was going on. He thought that these bodies that he was obtaining were people who did not get a natural death. He thought they were being put to death. MacFarlane tells Fettes that he should not worry at all and do not have any suspicions. Towards the end of the story MacFarlane begins to describe to us this body that the two were about to exhume. Unlike the other bodies that they had exhumed, MacFarlane talks about the farmer’s wife. He goes into detail about her death and her life. In this part of the story he also first mentions them as body snatchers. And body snatching is exactly what they did. The two men traveled to the place where the farmer’s wife was buried. After nightfall the two men went to work and dug out the wife. They placed her on the carriage and she should have just been placed so she would not roll around, but she was rolling around on the floor. Here comes a huge surprise. The two men got a better look at the person lying on the floor of the carriage and find out that the person they dug up was not the farmer’s wife but was in fact a reminder of their very first unconscionable act. I think that tale was good and should be put into this book. I also think that it is cruel, sick and twisted that they unbury bodies when they are at peace. But I definitely get the horror feel from reading this tale.

The Boarded Window

The second of the three tales is “ The Boarded Window”, by Ambros Bierce. This is the first time I have ever read anything by Ambros. I must say that I was surprised that this was a good tale. It was much more of a horror tale then the first one was. This story had much more of a spooky, scary feeling to it throughout the tale. Ambros really gets his audience to picture where and what is going on. He displays lots of imagery in this tale making you feel and understand what is going on. This tale has a lot of imagery about dark and horrifying things. This tale tends to be darker and show more tone to a horror tale then the first one did. He gives his readers a sense of dreary sadness like something bad is going to happen on the very first page. This tale is sad and upsetting but at the same time it is horrifying. This tale is broken down into a man telling a story about an older gentleman in his fifties who ends up passing away. His name was Murlock. Murlock seemed like you typical old person who just is living life. Ambros starts the novel by introducing this man and then jumps right into his death. This was the only true part of the story and then the rest is made up. This story goes back in time to an earlier chapter of Murlock’s life. The narrator’s grandfather tells this part of his life. Right before he tells the past life of Murlock he tells us that there was a ghost in the house that he died in to make it scarier. But there is not to much detail on that. This new chapter as the tale says begins by talking about how he was married. Nobody knew what this woman name was. One day Murlock returned home and found his wife sick. She ended up dying sand murlock was not as upset as he should have been seeing how his wife just died. He prepared her for burial as he was supposed to do. Then after he wakes up there is darkness around the body and in the house. The man gets his shotgun and fires it after being frightened by noises. The flash was so bright that he saw that it was a panther carrying his wife out the winder. But the flash scared the panther and the wife was lying by the window. This tale was scarier than the other one because it was a more frightening case. I thought that this book was very good and I would definitely read this tale again.

HOP-FROG

The Three Tales of Horror is broken down into three separate tales written by three different authors. The first tale of the three is “Hop-Frog”, by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe is a great writer. Most of his work is about things that are dark and evil. So he being in this book makes perfect sense. Poe is a considered part of the Romantic Movement. He usually writes about mysteries and spooky things. This book as the title says is about horror tales. The tale “Hop-Frog” should not be considered a horror tale. It is not like it is not scary, but it is more about revenge. The revenge that happens is not scary either. Maybe back when this was written this would be scary. But to a modern day reader this is not the type of story that will scare somebody. The king in this tale is a stuck up guy. He finds humor in the way his jester looks and acts. He makes Hop-Frog drink wine when he knows that he dislikes it. The king finds humor in his pain. So he makes Hop-Frog drink more wine so he will be in pain drinking the wine and so the king can get amusement out of the pain he suffers.  Hop-Frog is a dwarf. But he is not your typical dwarf because Hop-Frog is crippled. He got his name by the way he walks. The way that Hop-Frog moved along was something between a leap and a wriggle. So just by the way he walks the king finds amusement. Hop- Frog and Tripeta(also a jester) are always called to as a last resource at parties. They were to help awaken the party when it was going dull. But anyways after the drinking incident Hop-Frog wanted revenge. So he told the king he had a plan for the masquerade and got them all in on the plan. Really the plan was revenge on the king for what he had done to Hop-Frog.  Hop-Frog was able to embarrass the king, which is what he wanted all along.  The first of the three tales was about the revenge on a stubborn and ignorant king. He was revenged by a crippled dwarf because of how the king treated him. The first tale was good and hopefully the next one is just as good as this one.