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Movie review: The Hunger Games

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By Denise Wong

Yet another addition to the list of big budget disappointments rolling out this year 

As one of the most anticipated movie releases of the year, The Hunger Games doesn’t quite exploit its potential. Director Gary Ross was gifted with an all-star cast, including Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence as the tough-as-nails Katniss Everdeen, and chemistry between the actors brought the character relationships of the book to life, but the film storyline left much to be desired, with key scenes glided over (sure to enrage fans of the novel).

The Hunger Games is set in a futuristic North America that has been divided into 13 districts, and governed by the Capitol. In order to punish the districts for their past rebellion and keep the populace under control, the Capitol holds the Hunger Games every year. Each district is required to send a male and female tribute between the ages of 12 to 18 into a televised battle to the death.

While the novel is labelled as being for young adults, there is nothing juvenile about the content. It highlights the dangers of today’s reality television culture and the brutalities of war in a way that engages the audience. This is likely due to the more iconic nature of film for a story with a large base of teenage fans, but all instances of gore and violence was eliminated, going straight from stabbing gestures to people lying on the ground. None of the life-threatening injuries that made Katniss’ struggle in the arena so believable are included. Neither were there pools of blood, nor Peeta’s amputation.

Lawrence makes for a mature Katniss, but perhaps just a touch too much so, coming off far more strong and composed than she is in the book. Josh Hutcherson was every bit as charismatic and gentle as Peeta required him to be, but the script gave no chance for him to explore the emotional depths of his feelings for Katniss. The duplicity of Katniss’ feelings towards Peeta was left out entirely as well.

The Hunger Games is a movie about a bloodbath, but without much blood. Despite sitting at a lengthy 143 minutes, the film is heavily simplified from the book, and frankly, without those complexities, it is no longer a story worth telling.

Point//Counterpoint: March 26th

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EIC
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By Gary Lim

Point: Boy, I can’t remember the last time it was so nice outside.

Murray Adams, Septaugenerian

By gum, when I got up this morning, I just knew that today was going to be a great day.

After months and months of that cold, wet mess of a winter it’s finally nice to see a little sunshine poke its head through the clouds. Talk about a silver lining! I literally cannot remember the last time it wasn’t miserable, blustery day. Or what I had for dinner last night.

Let me tell you, the moment I saw the rays of dawn from my bedroom window, I just knew today was going to be special. No more spending my afternoons playing Parcheesi with that cheating Herman Fenton in the rec room, I’m going to go out today.  Maybe pick up a loaf of bread from Gunderson’s Bakery and head to the park and feed the, feed the… uh, feed…

Nevermind, it’s not important. What is important is that I’ll finally be able to start work on my garden.

I’ve been stuck in that lousy nursing home all winter, and I’ve spent an hour every day consulting  with my farmer’s almanac. This year, we’re looking at an early summer and a cool July, a perfect planting season for tomatoes. Ain’t no better eating than a juicy slice of tomato between a couple slices of buttered bread. Speaking of bread, I should swing by Gundersons and pick up a loaf.

Anyways, with such a humdinger of a spring, 1994 is looking out to be one heckuva year.

 

 

 

Counterpoint: Dad, it’s me Jeff. Jeffery, your son. I’m visiting you today.

Jeffery Adams, Devastated Son

Hi Dad.

So how have you been? Have the nurses been taking good care of you? Yes, I know I don’t visit enough. I’m sorry. But have I got a treat for you— Why am I dressed like this? Well, you need all this junk if you’re planning on going fishing!

We’re going fishing today. Remember? We talked about it last week when I visited. Yep, it’ll be just you, me, and Timmy on the open waters of majestic Lake Tagaboe. Timmy? He’s your grandson. No, I’m not pulling your leg; he’s my son. You came with us to his school play, last Thursday. That’s right! Peter Pan, he was one of the lost boys. See, now you’re getting it.

Hey Dad, do you remember the trips we took when I was a kid? We’d be up at six, scrounging for worms in mom’s garden. Then we’d pack into the rust bucket and drive clear across — No, dad, that woman is nurse Lopez. She’s helping you get dressed for fishing. We’re going fishing, yes it does sound nice.

Actually, hold on for just one second, I need to go into the hall and grab the tackle box. Nurse Lopez will help you get ready.  I’ll be back in a minute.

All right! So who’s ready for some flyfishing! What? Oh, it’s nice seeing you too, Dad. Yes, it is a nice surprise that I’ve decided to drop in unexpectedly. Yes, I know I don’t visit enough. I’m sorry.

No, nothing’s the matter Dad. It’s just allergies.

Photo-Chopped: Balding for Dollars

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EIC
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Steven James, emcee for the Balding for Dollars event, ensures students their shorn locks will be going to a very good cause.

By Gary Lim

Campus Updates: March 26th

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EIC
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Mysterious ball of light appears over SFU

Panicked and frightened students ran amok across the Burnaby campus last Wednesday, as what was described by several onlookers as “ a mysterious ball of light” rose from the horizon and suspended itself in the sky for over than 10 hours, before descending in the west.

Fifth-year women studies major Theresa Jackon describes the situation. “It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. One minute I’m changing into my third pair of fresh socks, and then all of a sudden  the sky cleared and it came. It wasn’t rain or snow or hail. What was it? What was it?!?”

University officials told The Peak that a human sacrifice will be made atop the AQ pyramid as in the olden times.

—Gary Lim

 

Veggie Lunch is people. It’s people!

Crowds gathered in Convocation Mall last Thursday, as a battered and disoriented student burst out from Higher Grounds entrance and repeatedly screamed, “Veggie Lunch is people” before collapsing in a heap, dead.

The student was identified as Darren Thorn, an international studies student, who had gone missing several weeks prior.

As a follow-up, samples of the food-stuffs served by the Krishna group were sent to the RCMP for forensic analysis. The results were horrifying. An anonymous source sent the  test results to The Peak.

“My god he was right. People. It was in everything, the rice, the salad, the curries, even the punch. Especially the punch.”

—Graham Ruxenberg

 

Girl goes out with guy, after he ‘likes’ all her Facebook photos.

Following several nervous months in which he did not have the courage to ask Danielle Li out on a date, SFU student Seth Cook has finally secured a date with her after ‘liking’ all of her Facebook profile pictures. Unsure of how to verbally express his feelings, Cook resorted to passively liking Li’s photos, a strategy that has left observers baffled.

“She is just a random girl in his chem tutorial that once asked him what was on the midterm. The whole thing is creepy and weird,” said his roommate Craig Wallace.

The date is scheduled for next Thursday, after their shared class at Renaissance Coffee. Cook has reportedly been telling anyone that will listen about his upcoming hot date, while Li is under the impression that all she’s doing is borrowing his lecture notes.

—Colin Sharp

Listless: Rejected Rick Santorum Memoir Titles

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EIC
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By Robert Lutener

  • Against Reason
  • In Defense of Hatred
  • Different: Bad. Same: Good.
  • You Know There are Ways to Find Out About Me, Without Using Google
  • Abort all the Gays: My Life in the Making
  • I snuggle with the Corpses of Children: Rick Santorum, A Life
  • Small Government, Small Pecker
  • My Struggle
  • I Hate Women, and Other Lessons from a Life in Politics
  • The Froth and the Surge: The 2012 Republican Nomination
  • America in Ashes: Dreams Averted
  • Speak English, Puerto Rico!

 

 


Petter Watch: March 26th

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EIC
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Theatre review: The Importance of Being Earnest

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EIC
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By Larissa Albuquerque

Wilde wit comes alive with a contemporary twist on the dialogue that makes it more accessible to the average sense of humour

Energy runs high in the Arts Club production of what is considered by many to be Oscar Wilde’s funniest play. Oversized props and set decoration popping with colour creates a surreal aesthetic in the late 19th century setting.

The Importance of Being Earnest is a clever satire on Victorian high society, marriage, class, and wealth. Two wealthy young men, Jack Worthing of the countryside, and city boy Algernon Moncrieff, both assume the alias of Ernest in order to behave as they please without ruining their important reputation. Both with very different personalities and outlooks on life find themselves in a rather sticky situation when they run into each other pretending to be the same person, with their respective love interests by their side. Confusion arises and tension builds as the two conjure up ways around this mess.

Ryan Beil, who has a long history as an improv comedian and goofy trainee in A&W commercials, lived up to his quirky persona as Jack. As Algernon, Charlie Gallant’s delivery of Wilde’s language is pitch perfect and his comic timing is flawless.  The chemistry amongst them all is superb as they feed off of each other’s energy from line to line, gesture to gesture.

Those more attached to Oscar Wilde’s raw version of Earnest might be critical of director David Mackay’s liberties with Wilde’s humour, throwing in vulgar jokes here and there, adding in shouting and food fights where there was none in the original script. While it does allow the dialogue to be more relatable to everyone, regardless of whether they own a monocle, and most will be laughing from start to end, one has to wonder whether Mackay’s addition of his own subtly vulgar puns was written specifically to broaden its appeal with a contemporary audience. Judged apart from its context as a play written for 1895, stellar comic performance, creative direction, and production value gives Earnest an ubiquitous appeal for the young and hip, as was evident in the demographics of the opening night audience.

 

The Importance of Being Earnest runs at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage until April 15.

 

SFU students to participate in Mongol Rally 2012

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EIC
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By David Dyck

The expedition will take them from Eastern Europe, down into the Middle East, and back up into Russia, before arriving at Mongolia

This summer, four SFU international studies students will embark on a trek that will take them from Prague to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This is a distance of approximately 16,000 kilometers on the most direct route, but these students will be taking the road less travelled, through 13 countries in the Middle East including Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.

The students are taking part in the annual Mongol Rally, in which teams depart from cities in Europe to journey across Europe and Asia. The teams have few entrance requirements, and almost no outside help as they navigate their way across deserts, forests, and mountain ranges.

The team is made up of Alli Cano, Kaisa Hartikainen, Reid Standish, and Jacob Lennheden. They’ll be leaving on July 15 on the trip that they expect will take them about six weeks.

The idea came to them while eating Mongolian barbecue at a monthly International Studies Student Association dinner. Originally there were more than four IS students interested, but “once they realized we were actually serious about it, they either said ‘you’re crazy’, or ‘I wish we could do it’,” laughed Hartikainen.

One of the few rules that exists is that registered teams must use a vehicle with an engine size of approximately one litre. Other than that, the teams all leave from Prague, and have no official help in reaching their destination in Mongolia.

The teams are also required to raise £1,000, half of which goes towards the official Mongol Rally charity, which changes annually. This year, the money will go towards the Lotus Childrens’ Centre, a Mongolian charity that helps care for orphaned or abandoned children. The other half will go towards a charity of the team’s own choosing: Schools Building Schools.

None of these funds count towards the money they will need for travel expenses or a vehicle. In order to pay for the car, the group is putting on a pub night this Thursday. With a prize raffle and ticket sales of five dollars, the group hopes to raise the $2,000 to $3,000 they’ll need.

Although some of their parents are concerned that they’re going to be going through politically volatile countries such as Iran, the group said that they’re not worried about that aspect of the trip. “One, I don’t think there’s going to be a war. I think it’s a lot of political tough talking. Iran, Israel, and America are all doing it. Two, I think there’s a lot of misconceptions. People think that the ayatollah is in charge, Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map, and everyone in Iran is crazy,” said Standish.

The group argued that any route they took would take them through some part of the world that is going through some degree of political upheaval. “The more you travel the more you figure out that there are things to worry about and there are things that you read about in the Western media that people get scared about that doesn’t really reflect the situation on the ground . . . Terrorist attacks and robberies? I’m more worried about us breaking down in the middle of the Karakum and not being able to fix the car,” said Lennheden.

Lennheden’s worldview, which the rest of the group agreed with, is simply that if you just be nice to people, they’re usually nice to you. But the group has the travel experience to back it up, and Cano has lived in Turkey before. “Everyone I met in the Middle East was falling all over themselves trying to help you,” she said.

Yet there’s no question that the trip isn’t a safe one. In 2010 a British participant died in a car accident while travelling through Iran. The group also said that they applied for SFU’s international mobility award, but were turned down on grounds that the endeavor was too dangerous.

The group sees the experience as an adventure, and look forward to going off the beaten path. “We’re going to pass five mountain ranges, three deserts, some of the scenery there is going to be absolutely stunning, and we’re going to be going places where very few westerners go,” said Lennheden.

Hartikainen said that she was looking forward to getting some experience seeing the places that they’ve spent their time studying at SFU. “I’m doing my honours thesis on Kyrgyzstan, and it feels really funny. I’m doing all this academic work, but now I actually get to go there and see what it is like.”

Word on the Street: March 26th

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EIC
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By Gary Lim

Clan softball falters against Saints

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EIC
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By Adam Ovenell-Carter

Just when it looked like the Clan were going to keep their strong play going, they began to falter. Coming into their four-game series against Saint Martin’s University, the Clan were hot, winning four straight against Northwest Nazarene and outscoring the Crusaders 24–3 in the process. The team crushed the SMU Saints in their first matchup 9–0, but the bats quickly dried up. Three consecutive losses dropped the team into third in the conference.

Last week, Clan ace Cara Lukawesky pitched her first career no-hitter and was named GNAC pitcher of the week for the second time this season. She continued her impressive run by pitching six shutout innings in the first match, helping the Clan mercy the Saints.

However, the Clan could do no right in game two of the first doubleheader, as the Saints rebounded with an 8–0, five-inning victory. Textbook double plays went awry, the team couldn’t hit the ball — it was an all around write-off for the Clan. Knowing that, Lukawesky and the Clan were ready to put it behind them and move on.

“We weren’t focused in the second game,” she said. “We need to rebound quickly and come back with a vengeance.” Unfortunately, they didn’t.

Looking to bounce back, they instead struggled in two straight losses. Just as they had in game two, the Clan struggled to put their bats to the ball in games three and four, losing the two by a combined 12–4 score. Lukawesky, normally a rock on the mound, also struggled, allowing seven runs (four earned) en route to an 8–2 loss.  While it was only her third loss of the season — compared to nine wins — it was nonetheless an uncharacteristic performance from one of the best pitchers in the conference. However, if her performance from the week prior is any indication, she has a knack for bouncing back in a big way, and that will be key as the Clan figure out their batting problem.

The final game of the series started the same way game three ended, with the Saints’ bats hitting hard. They scored two runs in the opening inning, and while the Clan bounced back in the second, it took just until the third inning for the Saints to go up for good. Much like Lukawesky in the previous game, Hawkins struggled in the matchup, allowing three runs (all of which were earned), and lasted just three innings. The main concern, however, remains the batting issues.

“We had a lot of opportunities, but we couldn’t capitalize,” said junior infielder Lauren Mew. “We’re just not stringing together hits right now.” However, it’s not lost on the team that they need to play better in all facets of the game.

“We need to be good in all parts of the game to really be successful,” added Mew.

For the second time this season, the Clan dropped three out of four matchups in a single series. However, the last time they did, they rebounded with five straight victories. They have the experienced personnel and coaching staff to turn the ship around before it starts to sink. The team is still in third in the GNAC, so the iceberg is pretty far away, but it doesn’t hurt to change course before it hits.

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us:
[email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024