I started school today...

"Just so we're clear, if I am knocked unconscious you all are free to go."

~my American Lit. teacher

The Hunger Games post

Ladies and gentlemen, let it be known that I, Katie Saba, have *finally* finished the last book in the Hunger Games series.

-Thusly noted on this day, the eleventh of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twelve-

It only took me like, a year and a half to complete the whole series from start to finish. It wasn't that I didn't like them. Just....I let other stuff get in the way. But I am officially DONE, son.

I've been hinting at a Hunger Games post for a while now, ever since the movie came out in March, but I wanted to wait until after I finished the last book in order to give a thorough evaluation of the series as a whole, and not just the first book which the movie was based on.
Okay, so I finished Mockingjay (the third and final book of the series) at about 1 AM last night. I stayed up thinking about it for at least an hour, mulling over all of my intense feelings that had just arisen after reading the last lines on page 398. I expected to turn another page, but instead I was greeted with two big, ugly bold words: THE END.

Let me get one thing straight with you here...I thoroughly enjoyed the first book. I thoroughly enjoyed the second book, up until the last page. I did NOT thoroughly enjoy the last book. Actually, I didn't like the last book. At all. But I had to see how it all ended, so I kept reading until the end in the hope that something awesome would happen to the characters that would resolve all of the unhappiness and despair that is found on pretty much every single page of Mockingjay.

Then all hopes were dashed. DASHED I TELL YOU.

There was one tiny little glimmer of something that might have been happy in the end, but that was it. There was a very uneven balance of despair and happiness in the whole story itself, actually. Very disturbing. And unsatisfying.

Maybe what really annoyed me was the whole love triangle resolution. For those who aren't familiar with the story, there is a love triangle between Katniss (the main character) and two guys, Gale and Peeta. I had been rooting for one guy since book one. The other guy started to grow on me in book 2, and I ended up liking him in book 3.
Without giving too much away, Katniss ended up with the guy that I had been rooting for, which is great...right?
The thing is, I just don't like Katniss. I really don't. I decided somewhere in the middle of Mockingjay that the guy I wanted Katniss to end up with was actually too good for her. And when he did actually end up with her, I didn't feel great. I felt terrible. And then the book ended.
It's hard to like a story in which the main character/hero of the story is not likable and/or doesn't learn anything by the end of the story. It just doesn't work. And I guess that was my problem. Katniss didn't learn anything. At least, not to the point where she was made into a more likable character. You get a small tiny hint of something in the last two lines of Mockingjay that indicate a slight change in Katniss' thinking, but nothing more.

It's just annoying.

And since I'm on a roll, another thing that annoyed me was how fast everything happened in the end. It was like Suzanne Collins decided she'd had enough and just wanted to end it quickly. There was no closure with any characters (besides Katniss and the guys she ends up with) and there was no explanation about what happens to anyone or anything after the big battle at the end, not even a mention. Did anyone stop to think that maybe we liked other characters besides Katniss and wanted to see their endings too? Apparently not. Grr.

It's just annoying. But I already said that.

So, if you want my recommendation, I would say read the first book. Then stop. It only gets worse from there. Oh yeah, and watch the movie.
And since we're on the topic, I thought the movie portrayed the first book really well!! With what they could do with the story, I thought they did an excellent job. The whole story is written from Katniss' perspective, so the moviemakers only had Katniss' views on everything to work with. But they did awesome. It was great. Go see it if you haven't yet. But remember, THE BOOK IS BETTER. The book is always better.

That is all.


P.S. If you really want to read a great series which follows a character who you will actually like, read Harry Potter. But I think I'll be saving that for another post at another time... :)

an interesting thought...

P.S. ^one more reason to praise God, right?

This Week's Playlist

Lately, I've been listening to the radio...which is weird because normally I just plug my ipod in and listen to that in the car. But anyways, I apparently need to listen to the radio more often because I keep getting behind on all the new music that comes out...so I end up going to people saying, "Oh my gosh, this song is so awesome!" and then they look at me and say "Yeah Katie, that song has been out for like two months...."
So I'm here today to tell you about some awesome songs that came out very RECENTLY.....I think.

Let's start with an awesome verse: 2 Corinthians 4:16
"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day."

which leads nicely into this song....

"Beautiful Things" by Gungor. I heard it once a few days ago and I had to go look it up immediately. It's been on repeat in my house all day today, and I just bought it on itunes. :D (Also fitting because I JUST finished going through 1 and 2 Corinthians in my Bible readings....God always has such perfect timing.)

Second song....

"When the Stars Burn Down" by Phillips, Craig, and Dean. First of all, what an awesome title for a song, right? It just sounds cool...

Secondly, I love how WORSHIPFUL this song is!! Just sit down and close your eyes and LISTEN to this song...then listen to it again and sing along! :)

And next....

"The Proof of Your Love" by King & Country. I just heard this song for the first time the other day, but I LIKE it. The music is beautiful, and I really like these guys' voices. I've never heard of the band before, but I'm pretty sure they're new. Anyways, this song really encourages me because I've been praying and asking God to help me be a reflection of Christ. More of Christ, less of me. It's something I really need to work on. I guess this song also came at a perfect time. :)

One last song...

This one's just for fun. I know it's kind of a change from all the other songs up there...spiritual, spiritual, spiritual, NOT SPIRITUAL. But I confess this song grew on me...and I ended up buying it. If you haven't heard of One Direction yet, they're basically like if the lost boys from Peter Pan got together and decided to make a band. This particular song is their most popular one called "What Makes You Beautiful." I know the lyrics aren't exactly the DEEPEST ones around....but I think this one will be a fun one to play in the car with the windows down this summer. ;)

What's on your summer playlist? Please share any awesome songs you've discovered. I would love to hear them!

P.S. We're almost at 300 reasons so far!!! If we keep this pace up every week, we'll be at 10,000 by....*opening calculator on laptop...10,000/300=33.33333333...*
Okay, so 33 weeks. Maaaybe we should step it up a little to get this done a little earlier. The reasons are out there!! We just need to think of them. Invite your friends to the facebook group I made! Get them listing reasons! If you're not on facebook, shoot me an email with your list! Or comment below. Whatever works. :)

10,000 Reasons

I've had a new favorite song ever since the Passion conference. It's called 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman. I strongly encourage you to look it up because it's awesome. And I don't use that word flippantly here. When I say awesome, I mean AWE. SOME. So worshipful and beautiful...it's the perfect song to listen to when you first wake up in the morning. :)
Anyways, this song has inspired me. Not only has it inspired new, glorious thoughts about God that I can meditate on, but it's given me an idea and I've decided that I want to try out. The line in the song which the title comes from goes like this: "For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find."

So that's what we're gonna do.

I'm not sure exactly how long it will take, but I want to list 10,000 reasons to praise God. Now you're probably thinking, "Now Katie, 10,000 is just a really big number that they use to stress the point....we can't possibly come up with that many." And to that I'm saying No, we are actually going to come up with 10,000 reasons and list them one by one because our God is so great and so unsearchable and so much more amazing than our tiny human brains can comprehend, that there is probably an infinite number of praiseworthy aspects of our God that we don't even know about yet. But for now, let's list the ones He has chosen to reveal to us. Only 10,000. Pretty small compared to infinity if you ask me. (And if you think about it, the Bible is FULL of reasons!! I mean, just look at the book of Psalms!!)

Your thought process is now probably going like this: "Katie, that's great and very true. But come on, be real. Coming up with 10,000 reasons is going to take FOREVER. It's just too huge a number."

And that's why I'm going to need your help. :) This Summer, I need you to think EVERY DAY. Come up with at least 5 new reasons to praise God. You may end up with 5. You may come up with over 100 in one day. But WRITE THEM DOWN. Don't forget them!!!! We need to keep track so we can reach our goal in a reasonable amount of time. :P So go get yourself a clean notebook and start listing!!

Let's try to keep each other accountable and keep this going through the summer. Spread the word. Recruit more friends to start listing their reasons too! We can use all the help we can get!

I'll be compiling all of the reasons, so you can update me on your list as often as you like. Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, even daily. Just don't forget about it!! You can contact me via email (ktsaba10@gmail.com) or through the ol' FB (if we're friends, of course).
One last thing: These don't have to be long reasons.One sentence or even just a phrase will be perfect. :)

If you're willing to help out, let me know! The more the merrier, always.

P.S. The actual song contains quite a few reasons, if you would like to start there...

Favorites: Movies

Probably one of the worst questions to ask someone you've just met is "What's your favorite movie?" I mean, come on...really??? Who on earth can mentally scroll through every movie they've ever seen in their life and determine which one(s) is their favorite and still be able to give you an adequate answer within a reasonable amount of time? Nope. Nobody.

So having said that, I thought I'd let you know that I've put some careful thought into compiling a list of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. Now I know that certain movies are more appealing to me depending on my mood or the current popularity of the movie (for example, I've seen The Avengers twice already, and it has frequently come up in conversation recently, so I'm apt to say that it's one of my favorite movies right now...). HOWEVER, trying to put all of that aside and really getting down to what makes a movie great overall (in my humble opinion), here are my top 10:

#10

Little Women

A movie I grew up with. You can't help but love a classic story of four young girls growing up and discovering the world one step at a time. :)

#9

Sense and Sensibility

A Jane Austen classic. The acting and the screenplay of this film are what make it truly fantastic.

#8

The Prestige

One of Christopher Nolan's genius films. This one kept me guessing until the very end , then  I was completely blown away by the ending....

#7

Remember the Titans

Absolutely wonderful family film. It'll make you laugh, cry, and everything in between.  Such a great movie.

#6

The King and I

Another one I grew up with. The story is so good, and the setting (a Siam palace) is so beautiful.  Lots of classic, memorable scenes in this one.

#5

Inception

Another product of Christopher Nolan's genius mind.  I was blown away when I saw this in theaters with my sister a few summers ago. It immediately went on my top favorites list of movies.

#4

The Sound of Music

Anyone who has not seen this movie was deprived in their childhood.  Absolutely classic film, brilliant score....every scene in this movie is memorable.

#3

The Lord of the Rings

I was one of those late comers to the fandom of the movie trilogy. I didn't see the movies until a few years after they came out, but when I did, I thought they were the most perfect films ever created. Everything was dramatic and epic, but it wasn't cheesy or unnecessary. The acting was incredible and the music brought the fantasy world to life.
So. Awesome.

#2

Life Is Beautiful

A surprisingly large amount of people have never heard of this movie.  I didn't see it until we bought it  randomly one day and watched it. I cried my eyes out. It is very sad, but very good all the same. It's set during WWII (the Holocaust, mainly), so naturally there's an inevitable tragic element, but it really is very good. The story is so beautiful and touching, and the ending always brings a smile to your face, no matter how many times you watch it.

And finally...

#1

It's A Wonderful Life

If you have never seen this before, I pity you. You have not LIVED until you've seen this movie!!!  This was another one I grew up watching. My family has watched it every Christmas Eve for 18 years. Every time I watch it, I just love it more and more. I love a lot of movies and I'll probably claim a lot of them to be my favorites, but no film has ever made me feel the way that this one does. It made me so excited about LIFE, and I just wanted to jump out of my chair and do something GREAT with my life....no other movie has ever had that sort of effect on me. Ever.
It's a good movie to watch around Christmas time (it's always on TV around that time), but you don't have to wait that long (especially if you've never seen it before). I'm serious. Go find a copy of it and watch it and have a wonderful life. :)

So there we have it. Not sure if anyone really cares, but there is my list.

It makes me feel better, anyways.

P.S. So I just finished editing this post and it's 1:15 AM...and I have to be up at 7:30 to go to Atlanta. This was all for you, my blog readers. That's what I call dedication (or the result of procrastination of blog posting...whichever way you choose to look at it).

May: The Month of Nerdiness

Well, I'm pretty nerdy. Don't know if I've told you that before or maybe you've already gotten that impression...but I'll just flat out say it. I'm a true nerd. And THIS month, there are a few things going on that will make my nerdy self quite happy.

NUMBER ONE:

Nancy Drew: Tomb of the Lost Queen

Yeah, I'm pretty excited. These computer games have been a part of my life for about 9 years. I pretty much left the Cluefinders and Carmen Sandiego in the dust after I discovered these. They are so. much. fun. The whole point of the game is solving a mystery. You play as Nancy Drew and find clues, question suspects, snoop in people's rooms when they're gone...the whole shebang. They release a couple of new ones every year, and I've bought every single one of them (seriously, I have games 1-25 all lined up in a row on my closet shelf upstairs). This one comes out on May 8, and it promises to be a very nice addition to my collection. You will find my overly excited nerd self at the nearest Target on that day, I guarantee you.

NUMBER TWO:

 Avatar: The Promise-Part 2

So, if you have never seen or heard of this TV show before, I suggest you get right on that. Immediately.
I will most likely be devoting an entire post to the awesomeness of this show sometime in the near future (after my Hunger Games post...still working on that). The show is by Nickelodeon (obviously), so it's geared toward younger teens....but it's AMAZING. But I can't start ranting now...but it's AMAZING....

Okay, so the above picture is the second part of the graphic novel series that continues the story after the last season ended. I have yet to read the entire first part (still looking for it in stores around my area), but I plan on buying it ASAP. Apparently, the first one left off with a cliffhanger (no surprise there), so I am reeeaaaallllly eager to see what happens in this one. It comes out on May 20.


NUMBER THREE:

 Season Finale of Once Upon a Time

I'll be honest with you. I really wasn't that excited for this show when it first aired on ABC last year. But let me tell YOU. I am officially HOOKED. It's from the creators of Lost, if that tells you anything (lots of twists and turns, unanswered questions, ambiguous events and characters...the list goes on). The first season finale airs on May 13th, and I cannot wait. Apparently, someone HUGE is going to die...like, a main character we never would have thought the show could go on without. I'm scared.

So this summer, you can expect to find me playing Nancy Drew with the Avatar novel in my hand and crying my eyes out while I watch the epic finale of Once Upon a Time.

And so my inner nerd shines through.

Have a happy May everyone.

P.S. Oh yeah, and school is over for the summer by the way....for me at least. So we all know what this means, right??? MORE BLOGGING! If I don't forget.... :D