Category Archives: Entertainment
In-depth Book Review: Hunger Games
Izzie’s Rating: 3.5-4/5
Characters: 4/5
Story: 4/5
Pacing: 3/5
Ending: 3/5
Spoiler-free review up to the jump.
I ended up with Hunger Games when it was being passed around dinner among my friends. A whole load of them had read it and they all thought it was really, really good. After they described it as Battle Royale meets Battlestar Gallactica with a touch of Lord of the Flies, I decided to give it a go.
The premise is a bit complex; some time in the future, a natural-disaster & post-war ridden North America has fallen into a a new nation called Panem. It’s a totalitarian system of the luxurious, indulgent Capitol, the privileged inner districts, and the impoverished outer districts. A revolution breaks out, but due the the Capitol’s strategic location and superior weaponry, the rebellion fails and the 13th district completely obliterated. As punishment, the remaining 12 districts are forced into a blood-sport each year called the Hunger Games. Each must send two children, one male and one female, from the ages of 12 to 18 to a televised fight to the death. 74 years later the trilogy begins.
Through circumstance our protagonist is sent to the games and we follow her story of survival and defiance, and how it transforms her, the people around her, and the nation as a whole, for better or for worse.
I have to say; I really could not put this series down. I devoured the first half of the first book in one night, and the second half over the course of the next day between reading on the bus and at my desk when I should have been doing work. I ended up buying the set and finishing up the rest by the weekend. Since then my feelings on the series have varied greatly.
A film adaption comes out March 23, 2012.
I’m a sucker for post-apocoypic Orwellian revolutions with a touch of sci-fi, and the Hunger Games delivers on these fronts. I also admit I did get caught up a bit with the love-triangle, perhaps for the wrong reasons, but that enjoyment started to fade quickly with the second book as it became aggravating. The trilogy is targeted for a younger audience… older teens / young adult readers, so the style isn’t up to speed with, say, A Song of Ice and Fire. Collins plays up the romantic melodrama a lot. It’s also written in 1st person from the point of view of protagonist Katniss Evergreen, so our views of the world and events are through the mind of a sixteen-year-old girl. It’s believable to a point. She is mature and cynical due to her circumstances, and she’s certainly no Bella, that’s for sure.
If I had to sum up the series, I’d give it a solid B+/A- rating. Over all, the story is really intriguing and unexpectedly addicting. The characters each carry their own unique personalities and rarely falter from that. For the most part there is a good mix of drama, action, suspense, and yes, even romance. The three books feel solid together but each carries it’s own theme and mood (something I imagine would have been distracting when waiting for the next one to come out, however, in one go it works). Now the ending is.. well, hotly debated among fans. Many people aren’t happy with it, myself included, but the whole adventure is still worthwhile.
I’d still highly recommend it to most, especially those interested and informed on the subjects of social issues and discontent within society. Panem and its situation strikes a little too close to home with the recent surge of demonstrations worldwide and it’s hard not to compare the two. Could this be our future? The sudden burst of popularity for the Hunger Games during these hectic times is something to keep a keen eye on. And despite its target audience, it’s still mature enough to handle for most readers and touches those little guilty pleasures with just the right amount of sway to give us a wonderful world to disappear into and reflect upon.
Spoiler Warning: The rest of the review is going to include some major spoilers, including character deaths. I suggest you stop now if you haven’t read it. Warning: comments may ultimately contain spoilers.
Open Forum: For those of you who’ve read the series, what do you think? What are your views on Katniss as a protagonist? How do you think the film will affect, if at all, the recent uprising of protest? How did you like the ending?
SOPA / PIPA, Fandoms, and the Entertainment Industry
I managed to spend about an hour at the NY/NJ Tech Group emergency meetup / protest yesterday. Listening to the very influential speakers and just the general chatter really got me thinking about what SOPA/PIPA means to me.
I’ve never been an angel. I was a huge pirate during my high-school / college years; at my most ignorant I’d brag at how many thousands of dollars worth of stolen content I owned.
But now, as a functioning adult and someone who’s hoping to break into an industry that is victimized by piracy (gaming, and art to an extent), I am doing my best to rectify those choices by paying for the content I enjoy as much as possible. I can thank Amazon, Pandora, Netflix, Steam and even iTunes for that. Through these websites I have discovered new shows, movies, games, music, books, and the like, all of which I am able to watch and enjoy knowing I paid for it or supported it legally.
Something of note, though: In my many years as a rabid fangirl of many franchises, I can say with upmost confidence that 90% of the time, discovering the series’ and artists that I currently love was through a method that would be considered illegal either by current or future “laws”. I think that stands true for a lot of people in my generation, and likely most in those after me. I can’t even tell you how many songs and artists I discovered from fan-made music videos on youtube or gaming streams. Or how many shows I got into because I saw them at a college meeting or a clip online. How many games I discovered playing on a friend’s account. How many old passions were rekindled because I ran into a great fanart or fanfic or an animated GIF.
Legislation like SOPA and PIPA would do nothing but hinder this process of discovery and the spread of quality entertainment. In fact, I believe it would cause the complete opposite by encouraging a shadier and perhaps more risky internet “black market” by making content harder to discover and enjoy.
The big issue is the entertainment industry’s reluctance to work with new media. They are loath to embrace streaming and other forms of digital distribution out of fear; fear that they can’t monetize a site the way they can profit out of ads. Fear that they can’t easily track or control who and how and what when it comes to their content.
So they go crying to the government. But instead of trying to lobby politicians to block the spread of entertainment, what the industry needs to do is give up the fight on holding onto antiquated formats and get with the times. They can take a cue from the gaming industry here, where monthly subscription games, a model that is losing favor, are slowly being eclipsed by buy or free-to-play titles supported by micro-transactions. This is adaptation. This is working with, not against, your consumers.
By struggling to hold on to “the old ways”, the entertainment industry is perhaps unwittingly causing a huge snowball effect that is damaging everybody, creators and consumers alike. Television as we know it is on its way out. Trying to force people to sit at their TVs and sit through ads isn’t going to work for much longer. Canceling shows because they’re ignoring the much less lucrative views online and through TiVo is only damaging potentially great series. This is why Hollywood is being overrun with unstimulating and unintelligent reality TV and shitty cookie-cutter “blockbuster” movies while good, thought provoking ideas are getting cancelled left and right. But the thing is, those are the series that garner the lasting fandoms that will make the most money in the end.
So here it is. The times, they are a-changing. People are changing. Instead of fighting change, work with it, learn to adapt, and things WILL work themselves out favorable for all parties.
Consider this; already my teenage cousins predominately purchase their music and movies through iTunes. That’s a big deal because when I was 15 I was getting everything off Kazaa.
Tumblr's Andrew McLaughlin speaks at the SOPA protest. Tumblr, a site that thrives on fandoms, would be heavily affected by these bills.
That brings me back to one final point I think the entertainment industry fails to realize; fans and fandoms are a POWERFUL tool, and one that they will slaughter if they have their way with legislation like SOPA/PIPA. I know plenty of great fans who spend a lot of money collecting box sets, comics, and other promotional items for the franchises they love. Many people are willing and able to do so. Yes, you have those who could care less about the work that goes into something and will go ahead and steal it anyway. So be it. That’s life.
Fans are a passionate and rabid bunch. Tap into their potential well enough; treat them with respect, offer them the option to choose when and how to enjoy their entertainment, and watch the magic happen.
Check out my G+ gallery from the protest, as well as a gallery of sites that blacked out yesterday:
Tools of the Artist Part 01: The Canvas
I’m a hoarder. A hoarder of art supplies.
I’m sure you’ve heard all those rumors about how crazy artists tend to be. Well, it’s pretty true. We each have oddities that make us who we are. Call it a different perspective.
We all share a few traits, too, and compulsive hoarding of art supplies is one common habit you’ll find. You see, artists revere their tools as an extension of themselves. If you think of art feudal wars in ancient Japan, and artists as hulking samurai following the code of bushido, than the tools and mediums we use are akin to our katana. That came out way more poetic than I meant it to be, but it’s fairly accurate.
Anyway, putting it that way, you might see why we pretty much never, ever throw out our art supplies. I still have bottles of india ink that I stole from my high school art class, afterall. Dried up and everything, and I can’t seem to throw them away. It’s like blasphemy.
Anyway, today I pooled together my sketchbooks, specialized papers, reference books, and cavases to show the world, and to remind myself next time I get the urge to buy a new one.
If you hear me mention it ever… STOP ME.
Exibit 1) Sketchbooks & Specialized Paper
This is probably the worst of it. In all, I have 11 sketchbooks in the first 2 columns. Eight of those are pairs. The last 4 columns are all specialized paper. I’m in love with the grey graph paper with white lines (newest additions). Green notebooks were given to me in highschool and so they have about six years of random doodles. The progression from terrible to not so terrible is fun to see in one notebook. Not sure where the cat one came from, though.
Exibit 1a) Pairs
I don’t even know what this is all about, but if there’s a baby version, apparently I must have it.
Exibit B) Instruction books
These are my top 9 instruction books. First column is an amazing collection of reference photos!! I swear by those for dynamic images. The second column is basic drawing instruction. Fashion helps me with poses and clothing. Drawing helps me with basic anatomy, and the anatomy is another good source for poses. Last column: Artist’s handbook is an overall reference for different media and technique. Virtual pose has alot of naked people, and style school is a Japanese (backwards!) book on color technique!
Exibit C) Canvas
Once upon a time I used to paint, a lot. And I bought a whole bunch of new acrylics and canvas during a phase. That was about a year ago, and I have 2 finished paintings and about 15 half finished ones XD.
Way back in the days of yore (my freshman year of college) we had to make our on canvases. Which mean, buying a roll of canvas, getting the wood, frakking STAPLING that shit together, AND PAINTING THE GESSO ON DX!!!
Next time I think I’ll go through my supply box (markerssss!!!!) and get some lulz out of how much of those I own, as well.
Photoblog 016: Grand Central Eats! Nomnom.
If people didn’t know any better, you’d think all I do in New York is eat (well.. that’s kind of true.)
Grand Central Terminal (AKA Grand Central Station) is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. It’s a mix of classic architecture and design with modern-day functionality. Which makes it awesome.
I’ve always been a fan of the zodiac and astrology, and the ceiling of Grand Central is a giant painting of the constellations.
On each level, you have tracks (metronorth and the LIRR) leaving for Connecticut and Long Island. I decided to grab lunch today down in the dining concourse, which is in the “basement” so to speak. It’s home to a huge variety of food; pretty much any classic ethnic meal you’d want, you can find (I went with falafel today!) And a few popular chains like Juniors and Hale & Hearty Soups.
The station itself is pretty huge. Several levels and lots of wings, I always end up finding someplace completely new every time I go just to wander. I’ll have to go back and take pictures of the shops you can find (the fresh market is EPIC).
Stuff I have coming up: Port Authority Bust Terminal (ugliest building in NY) and Bryant Park!
Taste of Times Square 2011 Review
The great thing about summer in NY is that there’s room to be whimsical with the never-ending array of things to do. Working in midtown has its perks; sure the place is bogged down by tourists at any given point in time, but, the offset is that there’s always something interesting and/or free around.
Today I ended up passing Times Square as I’m apt to do on my way to the port authority when I came across the Taste of Time Square music & food festival thing. Now, I love food. I certainly look the part, too. I was more than excited to give it a go and it was the perfect warm/cool start of the evening to do so.
The jist is simple; buy tickets each worth a dollar and trade tickets in for food. You can buy traditionally 5-10 although certain booths offer buying one for one. All the vendors set a ticket price for their wares; on average a decent sampling will cost 3 tickets. Some are more, some less.
I ended up trying four delicious dishes; Eggplant parm from Carmine’s, oyster w/ beer-based sauce, conch chowder from Angus McIndoe, and “Hush Puppies” which is some deep fried smörgåsbord of marine delicious from Bubba Shrimp.
There was a total of 34 vendors this year from around Times Square spanning five blocks. Unfortunately, getting there late (after work) basically meant I couldn’t spend enough time as I would have liked. The ticket deal also meant I couldn’t try more than a handful out of them all; I had to really pick and choose wisely and didn’t even get to hit up the last block of restaurants. The atmosphere was pretty good; overcrowded but years of working at anime cons and dealing with rush hour kind of cure you of claustrophobia.
All in all: good times were had. I’ll probably make an effort to go again next year!
So check out the gallery of delicious and be jealous. <3
~Isa
The “I’m Writing a Novel” Phase
So yeah, I’ve been writing a novel… I started it for NaNoWriMo and got about four chapters in before work destroyed any chance at me fishing. I’ve picked up on it lately after reading Hunger Games and being dissatisfied.
Anyway, I decided I wanted to try my hand at actually illustrating my characters so I went ahead and drew about five of them, scanned them in, and I’m hoping to get them all colored.
First one is Kayla, which is technically cheating since I’ve used the same character for RP purposes about a billion times, but whatever. She’s not the main character in the novel, and I might end up changing her name at some point. Who knows?
This is Kayla:
Everybody loves redheads, right?
Other sketches of Jaycee and Evan. They are the main characters. I realized that my fully shaded drawings look like those criminal renderings from shows like COPS. I promise when colored she won’t look like a creepy axe murderer. The other sketches are too embarrassing to post so I’m just gonna wait til they’re completely finished.
I will probably never publicly post my novel cause I’m a complete wuss.
Movie Review: Sucker Punch
IzzieBytes Rating: 3/5 , C+
Characters: 2/5
Story: 3/5
Acting: 4/5
Effects: 5/5
Music: 4/5
Overview:
Sucker Punch is one of those movies you that if you go in expecting nothing but eye-candy, you come out with a little more. But if you had high-hopes for an in-depth, moving film, then you’ll end up pretty disappointed.
Sucker Punch is visually stunning; amazing effects, dramatic fights, and boasts one of the best complimentary soundtracks for an action flick I’ve heard in a long time. Unfortunately, not only does it lack in just about everything else, but we kind of getting tricked into believing this is supposed to be about female empowerment, when it feels far from.
The issue is that it has a really get premise to grow from and just failed at that entirely.
The protagonist, Baby Doll (all the girls are known by their stripper names. seriously) is the target of alluded physical and sexual abuse by a vengeful, evil stepfather. When her attempt to save her little sister from the same fate results in an accidental death and framing, she’s institutionalized. Here, young women who have suffered greatly in life are treated to a unique form of therapy which involves acting out their fears and traumas.
A week after being committed, Baby Doll is lined up for a lobotomy in order to forget everything that’s been done to her, which could result in said stepfather being jailed for abuse.
The story takes place in that week. In order to better cope, the girls involve themselves into deep fantasies. This is where it gets a little confusing and Inception-like. There are 3 realities: the real world where the girls are in an asylum, Sweat Pea’s fantasy of them being in a brothel (where most of the story takes place) and then Baby Doll’s highly anime / video-game influenced action world.
Baby Doll’s super power in the brothel-world is her extremely saucy exotic dancing, which allegedly captivates all the men around her. But every time she dances, we’re taken into her world where she is a kick-ass super hero with guns and swords and dragons and explosions. Although it’s never shown or said, my guess is her “dancing” in the real world would be her therapy sessions of acting out sexual abuse.
During that time, she causes a lot of trouble for the brothel. The girls hatch an intricate escape plan to get out and be free again. There are many sacrifices along the way and it all results in a small “twist” to make you wonder, who’s head am I in anyway? The ending is sad and dramatic; we learn what’s really been going on and when you take the time to think about it, it’s much deeper than the rest of the movie implies.
Tangent begins here; it’s supposed to be empowering to women but that’s a huge joke when the girls are basically strippers and run around fighting crime in high-heels and miniskirts in what could only be described as the ultimate nerdy wet-dream.
The acting, though, was pretty good although it’s difficult to really relate to any of the characters. Emily Browning’s tortured child is disconnected, and the other girls are hard to care about, really. There’s so much action that you never get a chance to give too much of a damn about them. The star of the movie was Oscar Isaac as Blue Jones. He translates through reality and sub-reality wonderfully. He’s a creep and a baddie but extremely complex when you realize the he is just as messed up as the rest of them.
All in all, Sucker Punch is an OK flick. Good to see once to kill time and nerds will love the references and nostalgia. Probably worth the 3D effects, but it doesn’t leave a lasting impression.
Izzie’s Home Menu
Home Menu
• Eggies in a Basket
• Empanadas / Pastelillos
Quick Announcement
I’ve come to realize that chances are I won’t be able to keep reviewing restaurants in NY if i wanna pay my bills. We all know this place is expensive.
The blog will still feature reviews of spots to eat whenever I get to go, but I think it’ll shift towards recipes, which is good content and a lot of potential for fun.
I love making food from around the world, too, so it’ll still keep it’s multi-cultural flair.
I’m gonna work on knocking bits off my home-menu list and then expand into new territory. I have a zillion cookbooks, too, so I won’t run out of stuff to write about for a while as long as I keep eating. 
Feel free to throw in any requests for recipes and maybe even reviews! I can find just about any ingredient so I’m up for a good cooking challenge.
Thanks to everybody for the comments and support, you guys rock.
I’ll get back to the groove tomorrow with a holloween special…
HOMEMADE CARAMEL!!
Omnomnomnom.
Recipe 002: Eggies in a Basket
This is all the rage on the interwebs since Recipes for the Masses posted that video way back when.
I tried this out last weekend to feed the bf and I’ve made it at least twice before work this week.
It’s so easy and delicious, and a great filling way to start the day!
