Why is it this hot in March?

[anonymityblaize]

Scotland appears to have skipped spring entirely and jumped straight into summer. It's very confusing, but quite nice. The sunlight seems to have lifted my mood, but I still haven't got back into the swing of this regular posting malarky.

Saw the Hunger Games this week and thought it was amazing. I totally ugly-sobbed my way through the bit that seems to be making everyone cry. Jennifer Lawrence put in an incredible performance and I'm looking forward to watching her career go from strength to strength. And I am loving Woody Harrelson's career resurgence. I haven't read the books and given the massive pile of stuff I want to read that I haven't got to yet, I don't think I'll manage to get round to them for quite a while. Since that means I can't dive into the Hunger Games fandom without the risk of getting spoiled, can anyone answer a few questions I've got?

Under a cut to protect anyone who's not seen the film yet...

Did I correctly infer that kids can get extra food rations if they allow their name to be entered more times for the tribute lottery? Cos that's creepy, even in a world that's full of disturbingness.

Are people in districts 1 and 2 rich like people in the capitol or are they just better off in comparison to the other districts? And do they have a specific function like other districts being for mining or farming?

Can anyone give me more background on the sponsor stuff? I got that people can send medicine or food to tributes they liked, but is that only allowed from the rich folks in the capitol or could anyone send stuff? And could they send anything they wanted?

I've seen a couple of reviews complaining that the flashbacks wouldn't be enough for non-readers to understand the backstory. What I got from the movie was that Katniss' father died in a mine explosion, her mother went catatonic, and she had to step up to raise her sister, and, presumably around that time, Peeta saw Katniss crying in the rain and threw her some burnt bread. So what am I missing?

My Leslie Knope cross stitch is coming on in leaps and bounds. And I've been pretty disciplined about taking a picture every day which I'm quite chuffed about as I intend to do that with all my projects and never normally manage any better than a pic every few days. So here's how she's looking...

 

Comments

[fangirlsays.livejournal.com]

*Yes, once kids reach age 12, they can sign up for the food. It's just enough basic stuff to keep one person alive for the year. So that's why Gale's name was in the reaping 42 times; he had been getting the food for his mom and siblings for several years. Katniss had been doing the same.

*The background with the bread was unsatisfactory for me. The book explains that after Katniss' father died and her mother went catatonic, they were literally starving to death. Katniss had been out trying to find food and wound up looking in Peeta's parents' trash can (which was empty). Perta's mom caught her rummaging in the trash and yelled at her. Then she was yelling at Peeta inside and hit him and he came out with bread he had intentionally burned, then sneaked and tossed it to Katniss. Katniss believed that saved their lives.

Whoops gotta go...

[anonymityblaize.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that really adds some extra angst to it all. Thanks for filling me in!

[carma-bee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, kids can get extra grain and oil if they put their name in more times. It's really a wonder that Gale never got in, but then there'd be no story I guess.

Districts 1 and 2 are definitely the richest about of all of them, but not as rich as anyone in the Capitol. They do luxury items and masonry/weapons so I think they things they produce just make them the favourite out of the districts and they get more money out of it and the peacekeepers are nicer to them so that lets them train and bulk up more than the other districts.

I think that sponsors can probably only be rich people in the capitol because it's so expensive to do it, especially at the end (don't remember why). I think it's the mentor's choice for what happens with the money, so I'd hate to be someone without a mentor at all.

For the flashbacks, I don't know, I thought they did them really well, I liked them a lot.

[anonymityblaize.livejournal.com]

That totally helps fill in the gaps, thank you!