A cornucopia of disappointment

I finally had the chance to watch the hugely anticipated Hunger Games on Wednesday and was ready to write something up about it as soon as I got back from the cinema (largely, my disappointment) but I decided to give it a couple of days to let the anger diffuse a little.

It’s now been a couple of days and the disappointment hasn’t diffused once ounce. I haven’t voiced my opinion too loudly on other platforms since I don’t need the whole world reading my opinion and telling me I’m nuts, the movie was amazing, and there’s no way they could have put everything into the movie blah blah blah blah BLAH! Since you’ve actively chosen to read this you’ll just need to suffer the consequences of your actions and put up with my bitching. Because this is my blog and bitch I will.

*SPOILER ALERT* (common courtesy, since you may not have watched it yet…directed at Suse).

Ok so I’m perfectly aware that there’s no way they could have crammed all the good stuff into just a 2.5 hr movie and I didn’t go in with extremely high expectations or anything but there are a few things I would’ve alternatively preferred:

  1.  If they had just made the movie a 2-parter or just made it 4 hrs long…
  2. I had read the book after watching the movie
  3. I never watched the movie at all

A lot of the parts of the book were missing but there were KEY things in the novel that SHOULD NOT have been left out!! I read an article about how people are outraged over some of the races they chose to play the character’s parts (read this if you’re interested: Racist Hunger Games Fans Are Very Disappointed). These people are ignorant and should be banished from the face of the earth. My gripe isn’t with the characters chosen (although I thought Josh Hutcherson’s acting was a little less than stellar), it’s that significant parts of the novel were either altered or taken out altogether!

Let the list of disappointment….BEGIN!

1. “She has no idea. The effect she can have.”- Peeta Mellark. This was one of my favourite lines in the book and was one of the first signs you see of Peeta having real feelings for Katniss. Why was it taken out???

2. Katniss bought the mockingjay pin from the market in the movie, meanwhile Madge gave it to her in the book.  This was also a significant part of the movie…and it’s one thing to leave parts out but to alter a concept of the novel altogether?? Hello, are you nuts!? Why did they take out Madge and the mayor completely when it’s minorly important in the second novel? I wonder how they’ll mess up that scene when the sequel comes out. Grr..

3. They didn’t show Peeta killing one of the tributes when he was siding with the Careers. This was also important in the novel because it was at that point where Collins made you wonder “hmm…is Peeta seriously playing Katniss? I can’t believe he killed someone!”

4. I didn’t connect with any of the characters at all. I didn’t think the acting was that horrible but I definitely didn’t connect with them the way I did while reading the novel. I don’t think anyone knew the names of the stylists and I know they TRIED to portray the spark between Cinna and Katniss but again..didn’t feel it.

5. Everything in general was just so condensed. When they did the initial training you couldn’t tell in the movie how big a deal it was that Peeta requested to be trained on his own. It was just an ‘oh, ok cool’ kind of moment. The audience should’ve had a “WHAT!?!” reaction. And the book’s called the HUNGER GAMES. I didn’t really get a sense that they were really starving for food in the games, while in the novel Katniss was almost at death’s foodsteps because she couldn’t get water. They didn’t show the hovercrafts picking up the dead tributes, the scene in the cave with Peeta and Katniss was supposed to be the defining moment where we get to see Katniss begin to develop real feelings for Peeta. And what happened to her giving him the sleep syrup!? There were so many parts missed that the friends I was with who hadn’t read the book yet were asking me questions because no explanation was given (i.e. the concept of the Reaping wasn’t really explained and people didn’t understand why some people’s names were input more times than others)

6. Another important part that was skipped out was the end when the Gamemakers announced that there would, in fact, only be one winner and Katniss’ first instinct was to point her bow and arrow at Peeta, while he had already tossed his knife to the ground. That was another turning point showing how Katniss only thinks of herself and you see Peeta truly only cares for her. AND ONE OTHER THING to end of this list…Katniss was supposed to declare to Peeta that she had only acted a certain way for the camera. It was all for the Games….poor Peeta L

I think those are the main points…all you really need to know is that I left the theatre feeling empty, dejected, and aggressive. I found myself filling in all the missing parts in my head while I watched the movie. I was told that I have an overactive imagination when I said I was disappointed by Katniss and Peeta’s entrance at the Capitol because I was expecting to be BLOWN away by their fire costume but instead, it was just all very ho-hum.

Anyway, that’s my rant for now. You’re lucky that I have to jet off in 2 minutes to leave for London because trust me…this list could go on, and on, and on, and on…

Signed,

Angry Fan

My growing reputation

So I’ve surpassed a whole new level. One of my co-workers, who has not once read about  my cooking catastrophes has actually coined a new term related to my kitchen disasters.

I was at the office when she came in and said “Hazel, I made cookies yesterday but when they came out of the oven it was completely gooey and a complete disaster! When they came out I thought of you!”.

*Silence*…

Apparently she pulled a “Hazel”

Even though she hasn’t read a word of this blog she has experienced the misfortune of eating one of my cookies (a first and last time experience, I think). It was my first day of work and I wanted to blow everyone away (by everyone I mean the 2 people in the office) by being the lovely suckup who brings in delicious cookies on a Monday morning. Too bad my idea backfired a little…I didn’t taste-test the cookies beforehand (I baked them that morning and may have left them in the oven a tad too long) and they came out ROCK hard. I could hear her teeth breaking as she chomped down on the oatmeal chocolate chip cookie…apparently diamonds are not the toughest substance in the world. She politely said the cookies were very tasty and slyly tucked the 1/4 eaten cookie in a napkin and later slipped it into the garbage bin…she tried to do it without my noticing (bless her heart).

One day I’ll change the meaning of pulling a “Hazel”…one day…

Some people do their part to make this world a better place

Unfortunately, today, I was not one of them.

Something happened today and I will likely mull over it for awhile wishing I could have done something different. Regret- an awful feeling that little sucker is.

M and I spent the afternoon taking advantage of the amazing weather by basking in the sun and taking in a few ciders at Royal Victoria Park today. We weren’t the only ones who came up with this amazing idea, as the park was packed full of people- families, couples, friends…and pricks. Well, there’s one prick in particular who angered me to no end, but I’m even angrier at myself for not having done anything about it and just being one of the many others who watched him be a prick.

What first caught our attention was a dog running around with a long piece of crap flailing behind him. His owner was running after him trying to clean him up a little and everyone watching thought it was pretty entertaining. Our attitudes changed a second later when the man threw the plastic bag containing the dog shit over the park fence. There was probably a garbage bin not even 5 meters away but he just decided to litter the park instead. I actually couldn’t believe what he was doing when all of a sudden I heard someone shout “Throw it in the bin, you lazy git!”. I whipped my head around and, to my delight, I saw a girl doing what I wish I had the guts to do. The man didn’t take too kindly to being yelled at in public and a screaming match ensued. His wife (or whatever female companion who was with him) scurried away (I hope she was embarrassed) while he tried to defend his actions  by saying “that area is for trash!”, which only caused further infuriation since the “trash area” he was speaking of was where the city had put wood chips for compost. Hardly a dumpsite! He walked away and all I could think was how I wish I could have videotaped the whole scenario. Not just tape the scenario, but to have sided with the girl as well instead of being another bystander. As I was grumbling over my “if only” the man came back…only he didn’t come walking back like normal. He came back strutting like he had something important to say. I was waiting for something intellectual to come out of his mouth, but instead he just yelled “And don’t you ever dare to speak to me like that again!”. I thought that was a bit odd, but then he bent down to pick up a jacket on the ground and strutted off again. Turns out he forgot he left his jacket on the ground and the humiliation wasn’t enough to prevent him from coming back to pick it up.

I would have loved to have the video go viral and to start a manhunt…I have a feeling he wouldn’t want to show his face around Bath much once people recognized him as the prick from Royal Victoria Park.

For now, I’ll just have to praise the girl with the long purple skirt and orange scarf for saying something on behalf of everyone else at the park. So…thank you, girl with the orange scarf. I wish there were more people like you out there.

To retain or not to retain…

I’m talking about customer service. As important as acquiring new customers is, retaining them is just or even MORE important. If you have one loyal customer you’ve basically got free PR in terms of spreading the word to others. I know if I like something I’ll stop at nothing to get everyone around me to start liking it too. And if I don’t like something…wow, watch out. Now that I’ve introduced the topic of this post please allow me to continue on with my grumbling.

There’s a stationary store in Bath that I often use to print, photocopy, and scan. I went into Woods The Stationers on Bond St. yesterday to print out some documents. When I handed my USB key to the clerk he slipped downstairs to print off the paperwork and there I was left waiting by the counter. I’m not sure if my glancing around my surroundings caused reason for suspicion but within 30 seconds of the clerk leaving an older lady who also worked at the store came in to “monitor” me. I’m not sure if there was racial profiling…or ageism (clearly I believe I don’t look a day over 18) and feel free to call me overly paranoid. Maybe she would’ve come regardless of who was left at the counter, which is totally fine. I’ve worked retail. I know you have to keep an eye on things but there’s a right way to do it and there’s a wrong way to do it.

Right way:

-Just speak to the customer and have a light chat. I was the only one in the store and I wasn’t doing anything but waiting.

-Look busy. Straighten up products, pretend to do some book-keeping…whatever, I don’t care!

Wrong way:

-Stand by the side of the store and stare at the customer. Talk about an awkward situation for both parties. Well, maybe she didn’t feel awkward, but I certainly did.

As soon as the guy came back with my paperwork she disappeared, confirming my suspicion of being watched. Maybe I’m blowing things out of proportion but it really PISSED ME OFF! I felt like a thief and felt so put on the spot that she may as well have just pulled out a camcorder to start videotaping me or ask me to hand over my bag.

Point is, I did not get any sense of customer satisfaction and I have no plans of visiting that store again unless I’m desperate. And when I say desperate I’m talking about a life or death situation here. So here’s a tip for you, Woods The Stationers: shape up your staff and how they treat customers before you start to lose more. This is the last time I will provide any kind of service to you.

Signed,

Abandoned customer

 

#28 Take two things that do not fit together, and put them together. — Klaus Pichler

I really liked this challenge and wish I could’ve done more with it. It’s a great way to photograph something really creative and controversial. Seeing as I’m not the controversial type I decided to play it a bit safe…

My ideal picture would’ve been a really beautifully shot black and white photograph of a ballerina posing where you could only see a side profile…and then another picture, taken from a different angle of her eating a hamburger.

But instead I decided to buy some beautiful daffodils and corrupt them…