The Hunger Games; Movie vs the Book

                The popular and fantastic book known as the Hunger Games, has recently come out as a movie and like the book, has topped the selling charts and was sold out in almost every movie theater for three weeks straight. I went to see the Hunger Games two weeks after it came out and was surprised to walk into a crowded theater. I read the book before I went to the movie and to be honest, was expecting to be disappointed. I was actually very pleased with the outcome of the movie compared to the book. I thought that it kept with the book for the majority things but it did leave out a few details.

                One of the biggest differences that I noticed was where Katniss acquired her mocking jay pin. In the book, the mayor’s daughter, her basically only friend besides Gale, came to see her before she left on the train to go to the Hunger Games. When she came, she brought the pin with her and told her to wear it as a sign of disrespect to the capital. It was pretty big thing that she gave it to Katniss though because the pin was pure gold and in the district that they were from it was hard enough to afford bread let alone a gold mocking jay pin.

                Another difference was that they left out the story in the beginning where the man and woman were running away and got caught by the capital. Gale and Katniss were out in the woods and the woman looked at Katniss and wanted them to help but Katniss was afraid and then the girl was captured. Katniss also encounters the girl again when she goes to the capital. The girl had her tongue cut out and was a servant for Katniss and the others.

                Even though I was kind of disappointed about these main differences and the other more subtle things that the movie people left out, the movie did follow the book pretty closely. I also understand with the time crunch why the producers and writers decided to leave these little things out. The movie was absolutely phenomenal though and I would recommend it to anyone that hasn’t seen it yet. (381)

The Lovely Bones Annotation

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. Boston: Little Brown and, 2002. Print. (328 Pages)

                The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold was yet another new reading experience and differed from some the the books I have previously read. My previously read books centered on deep and moving concepts. For instance The Help was about the struggles of African American maids facing discrimination during the 1960s and A Thousand Splendid Suns was centered on a woman’s struggles. I hate to say that The Lovely Bones had a “lighter” theme because there were very deep parts, but the overall theme did not have as great of an impact than some of the other books.

The Lovely Bones was also an entirely new and interesting concept; a murder mystery written by the victim that was trying to help her family discover the killer for themselves. I think that this was a brilliant writing approach taken by the author. It set the book apart from the others and gave readers a fresh perspective on murder mysteries.

The author developed the characters with such depth and different personalities that it elevated the status of the book in my opinion. I felt myself becoming attached to the lives of Susie’s family because she cared so deeply about them. The book obviously included the aftermath of the murder which caused me, as a reader, to feel the emotions of the family and understand their actions.

I think that the book was fantastic. I have never read any “thrilling” books before. I figured that because the author disclosed the facts of the murder in the very beginning of the book there would be no suspense and that it would be a bit boring but I was proved completely wrong. I was on the “edge of my chair” for the majority of this book and found myself reading it for hours on end. (317)

Slutty Brownies - Part 3

            DO NOT stop whisking the ingredients until the brownie mix is finished. I know it sucks, and you may need to recruit other chumps, I mean people, to take over the whisking for you. After the cocoa powder, sugar, and butter is combined and the pan is far away from its heat source, add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. I assume that I don’t need to remind you to keep whisking. After those ingredients are mixed in, add the flour. Alas! Once the flour is added, you can stop whisking. Just go ahead and put the batter somewhere else when you are done.

            Next, you can make the cookie dough for the cookie layer. Luckily for you, there is no need for a whisk and you should obtain an electric mixer. In the mixer, cream the butter and the sugars. Then add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix these ingredients together on a low speed until everything is good and combined. Finally you get to take the mix away from the mixer and fold in the chocolate chips. This type of folding is not what happens for clothes or an assortment of towels. To fold in the chocolate chips, take a spoon, I usually use a wood one, and after the chocolate chips are added on the top, put the spoon on the bottom of the bowl and bring it up and over with the cookie dough until it is completely mixed together and looks delicious. I assume that there is some warning somewhere that says not to eat the dough so I will repeat the same warning: DO NOT eat the raw cookie dough. It is definitely not good, or scrumcious, or delectable, so it would just be a waste to eat it. After you have not eaten a fair portion of the dough, set it next to your brownie batter. (343) 

Slutty Brownies - Part 2

            DO NOT stop whisking the ingredients until the brownie mix is finished. I know it sucks, and you may need to recruit other chumps, I mean people, to take over the whisking for you. After the cocoa powder, sugar, and butter is combined and the pan is far away from its heat source, add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. I assume that I don’t need to remind you to keep whisking. After those ingredients are mixed in, add the flour. Alas! Once the flour is added, you can stop whisking. Just go ahead and put the batter somewhere else when you are done.

            Next, you can make the cookie dough for the cookie layer. Luckily for you, there is no need for a whisk and you should obtain an electric mixer. In the mixer, cream the butter and the sugars. Then add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix these ingredients together on a low speed until everything is good and combined. Finally you get to take the mix away from the mixer and fold in the chocolate chips. This type of folding is not what happens for clothes or an assortment of towels. To fold in the chocolate chips, take a spoon, I usually use a wood one, and after the chocolate chips are added on the top, put the spoon on the bottom of the bowl and bring it up and over with the cookie dough until it is completely mixed together and looks delicious. I assume that there is some warning somewhere that says not to eat the dough so I will repeat the same warning: DO NOT eat the raw cookie dough. It is definitely not good, or scrumcious, or delectable, so it would just be a waste to eat it. After you have not eaten a fair portion of the dough, set it next to your brownie batter. (320) 

Slutty Brownies - Part 1

            Like the name suggests, this brownie is a bit off the wall and crazy BUT they are completely delicious. I found the recipe on http://whatsgabycooking.com and made them with some friends the other night and have decided that they are so delicious that I want to share them with you. First you need to make sure you have all of the ingredients though listed below.

For the Brownie layer:

o10 tbsp unsalted butter

o 1 1/4 cups white sugar

o    3/4 cup cocoa powder

o   1/2 tsp salt

o    2 tsp vanilla extract

o    2 large eggs

o   1/2 cup AP flour

For the Oreo layer:

o    1 package of Oreo (regular stuffed or double stuffed)

For the Cookie Dough layer:

o    1 cup unsalted butter (at room temp)

o    1/2 cup brown sugar

o    1 1/2 cup white sugar

o    2 eggs

o    2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

o    2 1/2 cup AP flour

o    1 tsp salt

o    1 tsp baking soda

o    1 tsp baking powder

o    2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

The first step of baking is to preheat the oven to three hundred and fifty degrees. The first step of preparation is to make the brownie layer. The brownie batter that we made did not taste very good however so we ended up making the brownies from a box. Our fall out was that we used bread flour instead of normal flour and left half of the ingredients all over the kitchen. So, if you find that your brownie layer doesn’t work out, the box brownies taste just as delicious.

            To start the brownies, find a medium sauce pan and melt the butter over medium high heat. Make sure the butter doesn’t burn in the pan by continually moving it around. DO NOT burn the butter. I can tell you from experience that it smells absolutely disgusting. When the butter completely melts, add the cocoa powder and sugar. Whisk the ingredients to combine them and then remove the pan from the heat. (343)

A Thousand Splendid Suns Annotation

Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Riverhead, 2007. (367 pages)

                I have begun to read a lot of interesting and different books this year. Each one is different than the other and there aren’t two books that are alike. This year I have read The Help, The Shack, and many others that are each based in a different time period and in a different setting or country than the last. A Thousand Splendid Suns was definitely not an exception to this trend.

                A Thousand Splendid Suns is basically a book centered on the inner strengths of women and how they deal with their struggles. This is also a first theme in the books I have read. It’s very interesting to read about the strengths of these women because I am a woman and can think from the same point of view. I think it adds to my personal experience of the book because of the female similarity.

                The setting of this book really isn’t completely different from others I have previously read. I should say time period because the location is completely different.  From what I can tell, this book is around present day, maybe later like the 1970s or 1960s or so. This time period isn’t really that different from other books because they were all written about the same approximate time. The location of the book however, is in Afghanistan. Previous books were mostly based closer to home or with the same type of culture. I find it interesting to read a book located in Afghanistan because I am not really familiar with the customs or landscape in Afghanistan.

                I found this book to be very interesting. I think that the setting change contributes to my fascination and the story is actually very moving. There were so many times I found myself awestruck by what Mariam was dealing with and it just made me glad I wasn’t in her position. (331)

ACT versus SAT - Part 2

1)      The ACT also has a bit more advanced math section that covers more math concepts than the SAT does. The SAT only covers algebra and geometry in their questions whereas the ACT add a bit of trigonometry. In my opinion, the trigonometry questions are nice to see because they are the freshest in my mind because my school teaches trigonometry to students when they are juniors and seniors.

2)     There is an essay offered for both of the tests but only the SAT requires one to be written. The ACT has a thirty minute optional writing test but obviously, students do not need to take it. The score is also not included in the final composite score. It is listed separately in student’s scores. The SAT has a required twenty five minute essay in beginning of the test in which the score is included into the writing score. The writing score is also factored in to the composite score so ultimately the writing portion does affect your score on the SAT.

3)     The SAT has more sections than the ACT and is broken up more. There are four tests in the ACT; writing, math, reading, and science. The SAT tests three areas; reading, math, and writing but is broken up into ten different sections. It is a little of everything and switches back and forth. The test taker will take some math, and then some reading, then some writing, and then a little more math, etc.

4)     The final key difference is the way that college boards view each test. The ACT is viewed for the composite score so if someone is weaker in one area than others, they could still get a pretty good score. College boards look at how a student did on each section of the SAT however so there is a possibility that the student might score lower.