Happy Hunger Games! And May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!

It has been quite a long time since I have posted anything on this blog, so I guess I will write a little something. Let's see.. I have begun the potty training process. Although, with very little progress. All I hear is "I don't want to sit on the potty, Mommy! I don't want to! Leave my pants on! I don't want to take them off! I don't want to pee in the potty! You pee in my potty Mommy. You do it." How is it a 2 year old can be so vocal? I really don't know what to do. I've tried bribing him with stickers, and candy, and big boy underwear (a big hit, but he didn't want to pee on the potty to get it). I'm really not sure what to do. The first day he actually sat on the potty and tried to pee, but he couldn't do it. He really was trying to. I could see it in his face, but after a while he said "I can't pee, Mommy." So I put his diaper and pants back on. It's been days now since that happened. Now he won't even think about sitting on the potty. How am I supposed to train him if he refuses to sit?

In other new, I guess I should say, he absolutely loves the movie Tangled, even though it's a Disney Princess movie and is more for girls than boys. It is a cute, fun, absolutely adorable movie, so I have ordered it and should arrive at my house in the next few days. I'm uber excited about this.

Also, I read the Hunger Games trilogy recently, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I quite enjoyed it. There were a few issues I had with the ending though. And here I will say that if you are reading this and you haven't read the books, you should stop reading because I am going to ruin the ending for you with SPOILERS! so please do not continue reading. Or just skip this part. Here's the problem that I had with it: the author (Suzanne Collins) left a lot, and when I say a lot I mean A LOT of questions unanswered.What happened to the pearl? What happened to Annie and her son with Finnick? What was his name? What happened to Gale? And Katniss's mother? Or the country of Panem? We know there are no more Hunger Games but what's going on in the country now? How is it holding up? What were Coin's true intentions becoming president and sending Katniss into the line of fire and also sending Peeta to the Capitol knowing his condition? Does Peeta have flashbacks often? Does he stop having "shiny memories"? Does Katniss's mother see her grandchildren? Is Paylor a just and fair president? Did she go through with the last Hunger Games after Coin's assassination? And why was Prim in the Capitol? Did she sneak there? Was she assigned, etc? What were Katniss and Peeta's childrens' names? What happened to Johanna? Is she still in District 13? Is she still having trouble with water and getting over her torturing? Or is she living elsewhere now and doing better? And are her and Katniss in touch? What happened to District 13? Are they still underground, or have they moved above ground now that Paylor is president? Are they more lenient with the food and scheduling now? And those are only the ones I can remember. That's way too many questions left unanswered for a book series! Why have so many characters and questions when you aren't going to answer them all for the reader? I mean, I suppose that since it is from the view point of Katniss and she probably never learned the answers to most of these questions herself (although a lot of them she did), it might would seem appropriate, but I just can't shake the feeling of needing these questions to be answered. The Epilogue could've been written in 3rd person instead of 1st so she could cover all of the characters and the questions that were left to be answered. It just doesn't make sense to me to leave so many people wondering what happened.

Now that the SPOILERS! are over,

And I have ranted about my problems with the book, I will continue on to talk about how the books are being turned into movies. The first Hunger Games movie will arrive in theaters in March of 2012. And the actors who will be playing the three main characters, Katniss, Peeta and Gale, are Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss), Josh Hutcherson (Peeta) and Liam Hemsworth (Gale). I was actually very pleased with Jennifer Lawrence being cast as Katniss. I've never seen her acting, but she has gotten some very high praises for her performance in Winter's Bone, and I've seen photos from the film and she just looks like Katniss in them, or at least what I had pictured her to be. But during the wait for the casting news of Peeta and Gale, I had grown close to the idea of Hunter Parrish playing Peeta Mellark, and I still very strongly believe he would have been the better choice, especially on looks. However, Josh Hutcherson was chosen, and I will just have to trust Lionsgate and Suzanne Collins that they chose the right man for the job. I will say that I was very disappointed in the choosing of Josh and Liam for the roles of Peeta and Gale because out of all the guys who were in the running, they looked the least like the characters described in the book. But after the initial shock of the news, I'm slowly warming up to the idea of them, and I'll just have to see the movie to find out if the right choice was made. And if you were wondering who these people are and some of the movies they're in: Jennifer Lawrence was in Winter's Bone (that's the only movie I know of for her), Josh Hutcherson was in Bridge to Terabithia (which I have seen but can't remember his performance) and The Kids Are All Right (I have not seen), and Liam Hemsworth was in The Last Song along side Miley Cyrus, and if I'm remembering correctly, he wasn't too bad.

Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss Everdeen)

Josh Hutcherson (Peeta Mellark)

Liam Hemsworth (Gale Hawthorne)

Hunter Parrish (my pick for Peeta)

And now I guess we wait for the rest of the casting. My personal opinion for the casting of Effie Trinket and Haymitch Abernathy is:

Kristin Chenoweth (Effie Trinket)

Robert Downey Jr (Haymitch Abernathy)

I just think they would be so perfect for the cast. I haven't quite yet decided on who I want for the rest of the cast but those are my picks for Effie and Haymitch. As of now there is no news on who will be chosen or who has even auditioned for those roles. I will keep you updated as I find out more information.

And now that I have written an incredibly long post that probably no one will read or take the time to read the whole thing, I will stop writing. haha