"The Hunger Games" Did your kids/family catch the hype?

[Pug-butter]

I spied a hibben throwing axe and some kind of falcatta. Katniss seemed to be using some kind of Tops survival knife. Anybody ID'd other blades?

In the book the knife was a long fixed blade, with half the blade covered with serrations, and it was balanced for throwing. There may have been some details on a rubberized grip or some kind of coating, since I remember it being described as a knife in which I would have absolutely no interest, but who cares? Serrations on a throwing knife.

 

[James Y]

I liked it except for the obnoxious camera work used in several parts of the movie, it was hand held so shaky (which isn't too bad by itself think like Cloverfield or Blair Witch) but they also combined it with switching cameras every 2-3 seconds it gets annoying, luckily it only does that for a small part of the movie. Besides that good overall. Also if you liked the books, I'd recommend Battle Royale, It's an extremely simliar storyline, a little grittier/violent with the love story/triangle removed which came out 12 years before Hunger Games, I actually like it better than Hunger Games.

Good call on Battle Royale. I also like it a LOT better than Hunger Games. I suspect the woman who wrote The Hunger Games books was influenced by it, to some degree or other, even though she has denied it.

Jim

 

[crazyengineer]

just saw the movie tonight. I was surprised at how well it followed the books.

 

[elkins45]

I liked it except for the obnoxious camera work used in several parts of the movie, it was hand held so shaky (which isn't too bad by itself think like Cloverfield or Blair Witch) but they also combined it with switching cameras every 2-3 seconds it gets annoying, luckily it only does that for a small part of the movie.

Yes, I HATED that at the beginning. For all the huge budget you would have thought they could have rented a tripod.

I liked it but it is not going to teach you a lot about hunting or survival. The thing that was good was how it gives value to learning traditional skills such as hunting, crafting and using plants for food, medicine or other darker uses. If kids today would put some time in paying attention to the things outdoors they would have some real world life skills to build on in addition to all the tech skills they pick up as the normal way of learning today.

Teaching hunting and crafting wasn't even remotely the purpose of the book/movie, and those tech skills ARE the real world life skills in their world. Knowing how to track changes in MS Word has contributed to my survival in this society far more than knowing how to catch fish or build a shelter ever has.

 

[BPrepared304]

Went 2 weeks ago and saw the movie. Liked it so much I read all three books. Liked the movie, really like the hunger games book, but didn't like the other two books as well as the first....but I had to read them because after reading the first book I had to see what happened next. The book (as usual)went into much more of the survival aspect. So, yes I got some Hunger Games Hype.

 

[willseeyalater]

Teaching hunting and crafting wasn't even remotely the purpose of the book/movie, and those tech skills ARE the real world life skills in their world. Knowing how to track changes in MS Word has contributed to my survival in this society far more than knowing how to catch fish or build a shelter ever has.

Not sure how you could read into what I wrote that Hunger Games was a book with real lessons for hunting or that being technology proficient is of a low value. I think having a balance of virtual and natural world skills is what I as a parent hope my boys add to their skills in life. Some of the earlier posts were commenting on the hunting and gathering skills that Katniss used. Do you have kids? If they were to spend a week in real wilderness would they have any idea what to do to not only get by but to take care of basic needs? I am glad you and MS Word are making it work. I use it to, lots of good changes to it. Keeping a job in this day and age is not a small thing. Best to you and yours.