Pop culture

[hudebnik]

With "The Hunger Games" coming out in theaters this weekend, shalmestere and I got a copy of the book and read it. It's a good read, with characters one cares about, and it looks as though it would lend itself reasonably well to movie treatment (handling the internal monologue with a combination of voice-over narration and flashbacks).

[VERY MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW]

But I have to wonder: has author Suzanne Collins ever shot an arrow from a bow? Significant parts of the plot involve the protagonist's acquisition and use of a bow and arrows. I don't object to the shooting -- everything Katniss does in that realm could be done by a very good archer, which she is. There is no mention of ever stringing or un-stringing the bow, but that may not be a problem: I've never hunted with a bow, and I don't know how long it's practical to carry a strung bow before the constant tension starts damaging the bow. What bothered me was the references to putting down and picking up a "loaded bow". First, that's strange terminology... but more importantly, in my experience, if you put down a "loaded bow", the arrow falls off the string and it is no longer a "loaded bow". As shalmestere points out, those passages might make sense if it were a cross bow, but a crossbow would be more complicated to build in the wilds (as Katniss's father has evidently done a number of times, and as it is suggested early on that Katniss might need to do).

The wilderness-survival parts are no "My Side of the Mountain", but (as a not-particularly-experienced wilderness-survival type myself) I didn't see any howlers.

Anyway, I think it'll probably be a decent movie.


Then last night, wandering around the satellite-dish menu at random, we decided on a lark to watch "The Big Bang Theory", which several people we know have raved about. I don't know: maybe this was a particularly bad episode, but neither of us felt any need to ever see it again.

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I *suppose* "loaded" could mean that the bow is under load, ie, strung already, but that is a rather odd construction, based on hanging around archers a few times a year. Maybe modern sport archers have different definitions than recreation archers, and she got the terminology from them?

[minstrlmummr.livejournal.com]

I have watched "BBT" several times, and some of the geek-culture stirs up warm fuzzy memories. I get a kick out of the roommates' names. The episodes I've seen have occasionally made me laugh quite loudly.

Enough characters do enough flinch-worthy things often enough to keep me from really becoming a fan. I had the same problem warming up to "Frasier" (and "Cheers"), for similar reasons.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

"Loaded bow"? ??????

As for The Big Bang Theory, I haven't seen many episodes but one had a villain who was eerily close to my former husband. That alone made it worth watching :)

[melaniesuzanne.livejournal.com]

I loved the first book. The quality of the writing goes south in the second and third books, but I still devoured them because I needed to know the final resolution.

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

I remember wondering, "How could a show about nerds/Trekkies/science geeks possibly gain an audience?" Now I know: the show isn't laughing with them, it's laughing at them.

It was painful to watch--once was enough for me....

[la-peregrina.livejournal.com]

Brian loved that show, particularly because whenever there were equations on a whiteboard somewhere, he would examine those and exclaim, "They got it right!"

I think that the show has an audience among those who laugh with as much as those who laugh at the characters. I can't get good enough reception for that show now, but I would want to see it again just so I can remember sitting next to someone.

I can't speak to the quality of the writing or the decline thereof, since I have not been able to follow it consistently since the summer of 2010.

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

Well, I thought it was dreadful. (If this is what network TV has to offer, I'll stick with the Food Network :-P)

[ichseke.livejournal.com]

FWIW, several knowledgeable remarkers have remarked that Jennifer Lawrence is apparently a very skilled archer, or at least a very well-trained one.

We had exactly the same reaction to TBBT.

[siderea]

Jennifer Lawrence was trained for the film by four-time Olympian Khatuna Lorig. She was apparently quite a quick student: professional archery coach and blogger "Geek Dad" at Wired spoke highly of her form in the recently released clip of Katniss demonstrating her skill for the judges.

[hudebnik.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links!

[hrj.livejournal.com]

I've come to the conclusion that BBT is one of those weird cultural shibboleth things. The "like" and "dislike" groups appear to be significantly polarized and yet have no other clearly identifiable group characteristics. Which is to say: lots of people with whom I otherwise share pop-culture tastes assure me I should love it. And yet, I hate it. (I have a fair amount of passive exposure to the show because my tv always boots up to that channel and the show is on at the time I normally turn it on.)

[cellio]

Loaded bow???

I suppose a modern bow (perhaps compound) plus clip-on nocks could do that, but that doesn't sound like something one would hand-make without benefit of a shop.

I enjoy BBT most of the time, but they've produced some terrible episodes and it seems to me that the quality has declined significantly this season. It's gotten more juvenile, which I find disappointing.

[jjaynes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I dunno WTF is up with a loaded bow. But it was the only thing in the books that made me go "what?" and I loved the books, so I had almost forgotten about it.

Movie is a good movie. Without having read the books, it would be a pretty superficial experience, I think, since so much had to be left out. But they do a good job of leaving people who read them space to fill in the stuff they left out.

[la-peregrina.livejournal.com]

I just saw the movie with my aunt this afternoon. I have not read the book, but have read a review that stated the book Katniss is far grittier than the movie Katniss, and that the movie character was more maternal/caring to make her more palatable to mass moviegoers. That said, now I want to read the books to see for myself.

The movie is fast-paced and brutal, but very well done.