Hunger Games Review

Well,  yesterday a couple of friends text me and suggested I should join them at the movies to see the Hunger Games.   I have not heard anything about the movie being out of the country, but said yes and afterwards I asked my friend Craig about the film.  I understand that expectations for this new release are high as it opens today.  He tells me the movie is based on the book by Suzanne Collins and also shares the basic story of film.  Since killing and gore are not necessarily my theme of choice in movies,  I begin to get ready to join my friends with expectations that the movie may no be terribly enjoyable for me.
The movie is set in a post-apocalyptic world where civilization is broken up into 12 districts.  Every year in remembrance of an uprising, the government holds "Hunger Games"  where two youth from each district are randomly chosen to compete in an wilderness arena where only one victor emerges and all the others die.
The story begins with district 12 preparing for their selection process where Jennifer Lawrence's character Katniss Everdeen volunteers to participate in the games when her younger sister Primerose is the random chose as this years female participant (tributes) from the district.  She is joined by the male tribute from district 12 Peeta played by Josh Hutchenson.   They are soon taken away from the poverty stricken district to the capital city where they are given guidance and all the luxuries that they had not seen or fathomed prior.  Soon the games begin with the 24 youth standing on platforms in a large meadow surrounded by forest.  In the middle of the meadow is a pile of supplies and weapons available to the youth when the game begins.  If they can manage collecting them and not getting killed by the others.  The game begins and the first blood is shed.  My fears of a gore fest were put to easy as the killing was done with most of it left to the imagination.  Signified by a canon shot,  each of the 24 young people are killed by either each other or the elements.  Manipulated by the adults in the control room, each move is monitored and if something is moving in a direction that is not favorable,  the adults add an element to the arena to change the course of direction.  Katniss,  something of the American frontiersman, finds her way to survive several near death experiences with the help her abilities and some of the other youth.
The movie definitely has it's evil group of teens who band together to eliminate the others and this is where Peeta ends up first.  For me there seemed to be a lapse in event sequences where I am not sure how Peeta gets away from this group who are using him to find Katniss before they plan to kill him too.  Somehow he gets away and meets up with Katniss and the "love story" begins as he shares his long time crush on his co-tribute.  After a while the adults realize the power of a love story and the rules of the game are changed.  They have decided that a pair of tributes from the same district can win the game together.  The two district 12 tributes team up and are the final two remaining alive.  As they stand there waiting for the end of the game,  the adults once again change the rules and make it so that there can only be one winner.  Peeta tells Katniss to kill him and in a Romeo and Juliette  moment,  Katniss suggest that they both eat poison berries together.  This is unacceptable for the adults so they change the rules again and both tributes are winners but the adults are not happy with this.   They story ends with the two tributes returning to district 12 and their families and friends.
I would have to say the movie met and exceeded my expectations.  I was expecting more killing and gore and it was more of a killing game in the mind.  I left the theater telling my friends that I liked it.   I would not tell everyone it was a must see because for me a lot of it was predictable and typical but then again it was a nice story.  I will give it 4 stars out of five (****0)

Fall At The Garden

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year at the Atlanta Botanical Garden because of their annual Scarecrows in the Garden exhibit.  This year was no exception and I was happy to be in town a couple of days so I could swing by for a visit.  Every year the Atlanta Botanical Garden invites local companies, groups and individuals to bring their creative juices and add crazy and wild characters to lurch in corners and along the walkways throughout the garden.   This year was the 11th annual event which attracted over 100 entries. Participants are encouraged to come up with a theme for their human like figures which ranged from witty and whimsical to bold and bizarre.  Their final creations are displayed throughout the garden for visitors to admire and imagine.

As I walked through the garden,  I wonder what the story of the scarecrow is. Where and how these creatures came about? Today they are primarily cosmetic but traditionally,  these characters where employed (of course without pay) by farmers to guard their fields and keep birds such as crows and sparrows away.  The human like figures date back to 712 where a scarecrow who sees all and knows all shows up in the oldest Japanese book known to be in existence Kojiki.  At that time,  Japanese farmers created kakashi (meaning smells badly) by hanging clothes, bones and even meat on bamboo poles to protect their rice crops.  These kakashi were a distant relative of today's more ornamental version.

In Egypt along the Nile,  farmers acted like living scarecrows to keep quail and other birds from eating their fields.  Waiving their arms as they ran towards any birds that dare invade their crops.  Greek farmers would carve a frightening figure based on the mythological figure Priapus to put in their fields and ward off both the seen and unseen pests.  In Britain and Europe scarecrows were lives boys who would patrol fields carrying stones ready to toss them at any crow or other bird that landed in the field.  After the Great Plague of 1666,  many farmers had to stuff sacks with straw, carve faces on turnips or gourds, and make scarecrows that stood against poles as there were not enough children to protect the fields since a large number of them had perished due to disease.   Shortly after this time, the industrial revolution all but ended this occupation as children were attracted to higher paying jobs in factories and farmers had to rely on these hand crafted scarecrows to take over the roll of crop protector.

 Native Americans in both South and North America would spend hours and take turns protecting their crops from the birds. Often dressing up as human scarecrows and finding other creative ways to keep these birds from devastating their harvest.  When the pilgrims came to the America's they brought their version of the scarecrow with them to protect their fields.  Each region of European immigrant brought their customs to the new world and it blended with those of other regions.  Scarecrows commonly protected fields until just after World War II when farmers replaced them with chemicals to control pests.

Over the years scarecrows have graced the silver screen in movies such as "Wizard of Oz" and "Children of the Corn". They have inspired music, comics and festivals such as Scarecrows in the Garden with their wobbly arms and life like figures.  The journey through the exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Garden this day was sure filled with a ton of creativity celebrating this craft of historic proportion.  Hope you enjoy the photos below and if you are in the area during October or November, I suggest you swing in for a visit.

This post is in memory of my good friend Patti Thomas who passed away November 16, 2011.  Patti had a passion for plants and gardening and I am blessed to have shared a few years with her. I loved to spend time at the Atlanta Botanical Garden with her where her love of plants naturally shined through.  

Patti, you will be missed! 

Please let me know if you would like a personal tour of Atlanta-I would be happy to share this beautiful city with you! All inclusive packages available--

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(( thanks again wikipedia for the information))