The Rider Chronicle » A&E

Adult reviewers misunderstand major plot points of popular young adult trilogy

EmmaWhite — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:25:48 +0000

For the past three years The Hunger Games trilogy has been the victim of several misinformed reviewers. There are so many reviews that have been published, and that have completely missed the point of the books.
The Hunger Games was published in September 2008.
One review by Stephen King, published six days before the release, described the book as “fairly standard teen-read stuff.” He retorted about the “love triangle: what 16-year-old girl wouldn’t like to have two interesting guys to choose from?”
This was the first mistake made by this trilogy’s reviewers. Almost every single one after King seemed to follow suit, focusing on the romance in the novel. To those who haven’t read The Hunger Games: The romance is such a minor part of the first book, that it’s sad King even feels compelled to mention it. Sure it creates appeal, but it isn’t what the books are about.
These books are about the fight against the injustice, the poverty, the desperate inhumanity of the future world. They are about kids seeing through the monopolizing world of politics and about a youth doing everything in her power to escape the death game, trying to overcome something so out of her grasp that the adults begin to fear her.
“Once inside the death match arena, she must get down and dirty to outlive her competitors, but there’s one slight problem. Her hot friend Peeta gets cast into the games, too. In the midst of all the slaying, Katniss finds herself embroiled in a love triangle with her longtime pal Gale, who is watching the games from his home, and Peeta, who confesses his love for her inside the arena.” That’s the view of a tabloid reviewer for CNN who probably didn’t even read the book.
Peeta and Katniss weren’t friends. Peeta is never described as “hot” or even good-looking for that matter. The only thing attracting Katniss to Peeta in the end is that they can make it out of the arena as a team for their district. Peeta confesses his love as a ploy, BEFORE they enter the arena, to gain sponsorship from someone who could send supplies during the games.
Catching Fire was published in September 2009, a sequel to The Hunger Games.
Entertainment Weekly, a company apparently known and reputed for their entertainment coverage may have written the worst review mankind has ever read…and then wept.
Katniss, previously described as a brave and tragic girl fighting against a giant, is thrown down to the status of an “adolescent girl who crushed on a sexy hunter. In between romantic daydreams, [she] shot strange beasts, dodged force fields, and battled murderous zombie werewolves usually while wearing fabulous glitzy outfits.”
As ironic as it is, this reviewer is looking at this story in the EXACT way that the Capitol saw the annual Hunger Games event.
The author of this review went on to say “Katniss pretends to be in love with her sweet-natured Games teammate Peeta Mellark, but she secretly pines for brooding Gale, a childhood friend. Except why? There’s little distinction between the two thinly imagined guys, other than the fact that Peeta has a dopier name. Collins conjures none of the erotic energy that makes Twilight, for instance, so creepily alluring.”
First, Katniss is not pining for Gale, she is trying to repair a faded friendship. However, it really makes sense that this reviewer had a hard time finding distinction between Gale and Peeta, since there is no way she both wrote this review and read the book. And “the erotic energy that makes Twilight…so creepily alluring” is missing? Catching Fire is not a romance novel. Catching Fire is nothing like Twilight. Catching Fire is not supposed to be alluring. Catching Fire is not meant to be erotic. This review was a disgrace to Entertainment Weekly.
Mockingjay was published in August 2010, the final book in the trilogy.
Entertainment Weekly (thankfully) wrote an incredibly short review with little opinion and nothing specific about the book. The angry comments on their first two reviews must have taught their staff to read the books and understand the concepts before writing about them. Apparently, the YA reviewers were either unwilling or incapable.
The one semi-successful review of the Hunger Games trilogy out there (from NY Times) at least got one thing right. “That just goes to show how much adults forget about what it’s like to be a child. Kids are physical creatures, and they’re not stupid. They know all about violence and power and raw emotions. What’s really scary is when adults pretend that such things don’t exist.”

She’s met more than her fair share of stars

adviser — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:57:57 +0000

Sophomore Kayli Myracle is an expert on meeting celebrities. To name a few: Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Bruno Mars, Nick Jonas, Ariana Grande, Iyaz, Sean Kingston, Mario Lopez, Perez Hilton, Demi Lovato, Jasmine Villegas, Cody Simpson and plenty more.
She’s definitely not a stalker. Most of the celebrities she met at concerts, movie premieres and other different events. Kayli has been to L.A. three times, and during those times she took some chances and got lucky.
“I met a few just by running into them at random places in L.A.,” she said. “Nothing planned, just random encounters.”
Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
Kayli’s favorite celebrities she met were Jasmine Villegas and Ariana Grande “because they’re both so down to earth and such sweethearts.”
The first celebrity she met though was the teen idol Justin Bieber.
“I also loved meeting Justin Bieber because he was really sweet and funny,” she said.
Kayli enjoys singing and acting and aspires to be like them one day.
“I look up to a lot of them,” she said. “It’s such a high for me to see what they’re like in person and how they treat people around them.”
She has already made her “debut” in the Justin Bieber Movie, “Never Say Never.” One of Kayli’s close friends owns a popular Bieber fan site. Paramount contacted her, asked her to find a few girls who would be good that they could email, and Kayli was one of them.
“Paramount Pictures contacted me,” she said. “I signed the legal waivers and recorded my part to the audio clip that they sent to me, and sent in my video.”
Upon meeting these celebrities, she realized that some weren’t who she thought they were.
“A few were really rude, and I don’t support them anymore,” she said. “My thoughts have completely changed for a few celebrities because of how they treated me and my friends or my sister who was with me.”
Other encounters that were more pleasant helped her realize first hand that celebrities are every day people just world renowned.
“I learned that they’re normal,” she said. “I know that sounds dumb, because of course they’re normal, but some can get really materialistic and act like a diva and act like they’re better, but most don’t. It’s nice to know that you’re supporting someone who deserves it.”

Family helped save sophomore from life of technology crime

adviser — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:56:52 +0000

The media have you to believe that if you have all the right software, you’re safe, antivirus, antispyware, and other anti-whatevers.
You are safe, they say.
Tell me another one. Not a month ago, I was deeper than quicksand into these hacking and criminal activities. It felt amazing, being able to be behind a modem, a screen and a keyboard, and to be able to look into any file I wanted. I would use simple methods that would take me minutes to get people’s private information. I even saw sites where other hackers had dozens of pages full of private information such as phone numbers, social security numbers, email log-ons, and other information that hackers use to steal money and information. Even though I wasn’t deep enough to steal information and post it all over a website, that didn’t mean I was innocent. I was involved in a largely organized hacking group, and I worked myself up to a pretty big and well known name on the internet. It was exhilarating, and it was fun. The rush of feeling like a secret agent behind the wheel felt amazing. It felt powerful to know you had the ability to get someone’s info and post it on the web and rule their internet life. But it was wrong, and after a while, it became an addiction, an easy trap to fall into. There was no way out it seemed. However, with the help of my family I was able to pull myself out.
Hackers use websites and their own methods to make false links sending you to their IP addresses (the electronic address of your computer, e.g. 123.45.67.890). When you click them, they use your IP address to remotely connect to your computer using something called telnet, or other such methods, to connect, where finding out a password isn’t hard. They can then decrypt the file it’s hidden in, and bypass your firewall like it’s a sheet of wet paper.
It’s no Joke.
Is your PC running slower than usual? Odds are you’re on someone’s botnet, a server that gives a hacker complete access to your computer. They can hack into your webcam and watch you, keylog you, and record every word that you have typed. If you are on something like that. Run a spyware scan, and if it tests positive, quarantine all programs that you don’t remember putting on your computer (kill them, or delete them). And start saving your pennies, because you are going to have to call programmers to come in and fix it.
Are there ways to prevent getting hacked? Yes! Read your email. If you have any spam, clear it, because hackers send spam e-mails to get access to your computer using botnets. Don’t click on any links that you don’t one hundred percent trust. Foil them. Check your files for any unauthorized changes, and if it is not a necessary program, remove the program or file immediately.
Go online and look up other ways to foil hackers. They are dangerous, they are out there, and they are watching you. You need to be afraid; they are often malicious. Occasionally you may come across a whitehat hacker, looking only to help you foil other malicious hackers. I would suggest chatting with one if you ever happen to come across one.
Be smart, be safe, and be cautious. The hacker subculture is increasing at an enormous rate due to several large groups of hackers attempting to lure more teens and adults to the myth that knowing how to hack will give you the ability to have power and rule over the internet. Don’t follow. If someone offers to hack something for you…say no. How do you know they won’t hack you at a later time?
The internet is a fun way of being able to connect to places all over the world, but watch out for those dark alleys, lurking beneath the mask of the internet, there may be a hacker hiding nearby.

You can hate him, but he’s still getting paper

Ashleigh Robinson — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:55:47 +0000

Feb. 9, 2009. A text message from my cousin comes in. In it, she asks me if I’ve heard the latest news on Chris Brown and Rihanna. I was fresh out of a long day at school, feeling exhausted as I sat on the couch. I had no clue what she was talking about while I stared at the phone curiously, so I asked her. When she sent a text back, I nearly dropped my phone in horror. Chris had hit Rihanna and the damage was bad. My face froze as I stared at the message. Was this real? She had to be kidding. The Chris I had loved since 2005 couldn’t have possibly laid his hands on Rihanna violently. I refused to believe it.
My cousin said it was all over the news, and when I turned on the TV and pulled up the Internet, it was. There were terrible images of Rihanna floating around with a face bruised red, as well as a harsh looking busted lip. My eyes watered upon seeing her face.
Coincidentally, I was a huge Rihanna fan. When the two of them began to date, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Two of my favorite artists were a pair. Together they could make amazing music and become a powerful musical super couple.
The media began to paint Chris as a monster as the days droned on, and if I saw anything related to the situation, I ignored it.
Chris and Rihanna both grew up in abusive homes. No one knows what happened in that car besides those two. Even before that fateful night, the two of them could have battled before.
I didn’t overlook the fact that what happened was wrong, but my opinion on Chris and Rihanna didn’t change. I didn’t stop listening to their music. I didn’t stop being a fan.
Chris and Rihanna are both human, but society and the media place them on a pedestal that almost takes their humanity away from them.
Domestic violence against men is just as likely to occur with men as it is with women. Rihanna’s injuries were visible, but who’s to say Chris also wasn’t hurt physically?
After the incident, Chris released his third album Graffiti in which he lyrically expressed his sorrows regarding the situation.
In the remorseful song “Fallin Down” Chris sings, “Can you imagine the weight of a world placed on your shoulders, trapped in this world.” Later he sings, “Why is it so easy for you to blame? I’m only human, we’re all the same. I’ve given up everything in exchange for being alone.”
Chris also released a video to his song “Crawl”, where he is haunted by a famous ex-girlfriend, believed to model Rihanna, that always appears on TV and the red carpet. The video also shows how after the incident, the public turned away from Chris.
Two years after the incident, some people still aren’t willing to forgive Chris for his actions.
Negative outside opinions on what happened between the two are completely irrelevant and will remain that way. Those who can’t let themselves forgive Chris are simply wasting their time.
Chris is still selling albums, pushing out platinum singles, and succeeding at everything he does. It’s a waste of time to focus hate on someone who could care less about a hater’s opinion.
There aren’t too many people out there who care about someone’s negative views of Chris because his fans have forgiven him and as long as he has their support, as well as his family’s, no one else matters. The people that still care for some odd reason that Chris hit Rihanna are senseless.
Those people should put themselves in Chris’s shoes and see if they could handle all the negativity that has been thrown his way. Unlike Chris, I’m sure these people would crack under pressure.
For the people who can’t let the past stay in the past, why does it matter? What does the situation between the two of them have to do with you? Were you there? Did Chris hit you? Were you immediately affected by the incident?
I’ll never forget what happened, and I’ll never let it slide, but I will also never stop supporting Chris. In October, I’ll be going to the FAME Tour, which is Chris’s fourth headline tour. There are some people out there who think it’s ridiculous to support Chris and pay $100 to see him live, but to that I say it’s ridiculous to dwell on something that happened in the past, especially when it didn’t concern you.
Chris has paid his dues. He’s been under the scrutiny of the public eye, and sometimes he still is, but it’s time to let it go. While people sit around hating on Chris, there are 300,000 children at risk of dying in Somalia. There are people dying every day from deadly cancers. Someone right now at this very moment was just gunned down. And yet, the focus is still something that happened with Chris Brown two years ago.
It’s undeniable that Chris is one of the best artists out there, and he’s already a living legend. People can hate as much as they wish to, but it’s not going to stop the fact that Chris is an amazing artist, dancer, and all around person. Regardless of what anyone thinks, Chris is still sitting at the top of the game right now, and his reign will only grow from here.

The Bounty Hunter Delivers

ShelbyRoss — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:07:01 +0000

Gerard Butler? Um, hot Scottish actor? I’d watch any movie with him in it. From The Phantom of the Opera to The Ugly Truth. And Jennifer Aniston? She is sassy and sexy and determined in all her movies. What a genius idea to put these two hot people together in a movie.

The Bounty Hunter is an action-romantic comedy directed by Andy Tennant, starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston.

The two play a couple who have previously been married and divorced. Milo Boyd, played by Butler, is a bounty hunter, and Nicole Hurley, played by Aniston, is a reporter who assaulted a cop. When Nicole skips a court date to meet a contact on a suspicious suicide case, Milo is hired to retrieve her and bring her to jail. Right off, I could tell this would be interesting because Milo was overjoyed to hear that Nicole was his next assignment. There is no doubt Butler enjoys locking Aniston is his car trunk, chaining her to a bed, or ragging on her for no reasoning. But Aniston, being the feisty, sassy woman she is does not put up with it. She gives him a run for his money. Milo realizes nothing is ever simple between him and Nicole. I certainly believe these two hated each other most of the movie, but in some twisted way you can tell they are madly in love with each other. Throughout the movie, the exes continually try to one-up each other. They are no longer running after each other– they are running for their lives now. The couple get one fun scene together in Atlantic City, but that is not what brings them back together– it is solving a crime. The Bounty Hunter is all around good. Great actors, great plot, great theme.

Dragons Rock

Branden Robinson — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:06:08 +0000

How to Train Your Dragon is a classic story of a coming of age boy vying for the acceptance of his peers and father; Hiccup is a teenager growing up in a colony of Vikings, but unlike all of the other teens in this colony, Hiccup is skinny, weak, and amazingly clumsy. The Vikings see him as a burden to his father, the Viking leader and the best dragon slayer in the entire village.

The story truly begins when Hiccup shoots down a Night Fury, a dragon that “never misses”. This dragon has never been seen before, but leaves devastation in its wake. When he find the dragon in the forest tangled up in his net Hiccup finds that he cannot bear to kill the creature. After hundreds of years of war between Vikings and dragons, he is the first Viking that will not, or could not kill a dragon. After befriending the dragon, he realizes that they are not as frightening as the Vikings make them, they are just as afraid of humans, as humans are afraid of their kind.

A main theme of this movie is understanding others and that not everything that seems scary is deserving of that harsh emotion.

The voicing is perfect, and the animation will easily capture the attention of the audience. Each character has been well thought out and blends together to make a wonderful story; although the critters in this movie aren’t as cute and cuddly as in other films, they each provide an important aspect to the reoccurring theme of understanding the thoughts and feelings of others, even if those others are frightening.

Many people say that animals are just as afraid of humans as humans are of them, and that is another important concept in this film.

With so many themes, this movie provides learning to the younger audience and insight to the older audience,and the ideas implied through the script are universal. Children as well as parents and even teens will be able to enjoy this movie. With a score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and high ratings on many other sites, it is clear that this film is worth the hour and a half taken out of your day.

New “Alice in Wonderland” film is audience pleaser

SeanUnderwood — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:08:11 +0000

Disney has for a second time re-done Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” but rather than paying attention to the book’s whimsical attributes like the studio’s original film in the 50′s, the Disney team let Tim Burton bring out the book’s dark side with this new incarnation.

First off, Tim Burton’s rendition of Lewis Carroll’s classic is not essentially just one of the two books in the series, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” or “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.” This time the film fuses them both, adding a little Burton twist. Neither of the books had a real story arc, rather just lists of events, so Tim Burton basically created a story that was influenced by the two books and poems by Carroll that existed in the “Wonderland universe.”

This film follows up more from the first movie, not the book; Alice Kingsley played by Mia Wasikowska, is now 19 years old and is betrothed to a young bureaucrat named Hamish. A white rabbit in a waist coat distracts Alice, and she eventually escapes falling into yet another rabbit hole which takes her back into the realm of “Wonderland,” which happens to be a false name that Alice gave to the strange world–this time the land is called “Underland.” Alice re-meets old friends from the original Disney movie who are attempting figure out if she is “The right Alice.” As the new plot unfolds Alice is informed that she must slay the Red Queens Guardian, the “Jabberwocky” on Frabjous Day. Incidentally the only way Alice can slay the Jabberwocky is to use the “Vorpal sword” which is hidden away inside the Red Queen’s castle.

The trailers for the new “Alice in Wonderland” film led the audience to believe that Tim Burton was going to completely base the story around Johnny Depp’s character The Mad Hatter since the two have a good friendship and Depp has been in more then a few of Burton’s movies. However Depp was very seldom seen. In fact, the Red Queen who is the main antagonist was much more frequent than the Hatter. All in all the trailers gave the film a bad image, including the worst acted out scenes, only including two or three of the central characters, and not clearly explaining anything about the story.

But don’t let that fool you, “Alice in Wonderland” is a fantastic film. It may not be the next Disney classic but it is definitely worth the ten bucks.

Unlike many other 3D movies, this one won’t make the viewer want to keel over or hurl. The 3D actually contributed to quality of the film. The new Real3D doesn’t feel in your face or over-dramatic, but blends with the movie. There aren’t just a few scenes that really need the glasses that feel absolutely ridiculous, the whole film is in 3D and fits together seamlessly.

Tim Burton pulls “Alice in Wonderland” completely out of nowhere, and what may have looked like a complete disaster turned into a good two hours of entertainment. The movie is great, not perfect by any means, but the bang is definitely worth the buck.

Flowers in the Attic Still Rings True

JordanCampagna — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:30:11 +0000

For a book written in 1979, Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews has spent a considerable amount of time on various bestseller lists. In Flowers in the Attic, a picture perfect 1950′s family is suddenly torn apart in a terrible accident which kills the father, and the mother, Corrine, is forced to resort to last measures– taking her four children and going to live with her parents. Years before, Corrine had married a man her parents, and society, strongly disapproved of which caused her parents to disinherit her. Now, she must convince her father she is once again his perfect little angel in hopes that he would write her back into his will. Since she married a man they disapproved of, allowing her father to know about her children would make it even more difficult for her to regain his love. So with the help of the grandmother, the children are hidden on the top floor, constrained to the one room and the attic. The grandmother refuses to feel anything other than hatred for the children. She repeatedly tells them that after her husband dies, things will change. But when he does die, the children don’t discover it until a year later, and things only get worse. The children have numerous rules they must follow, such as “never look at the opposite sex,” and “no girls and boys in the bathroom at the same time.” As time passed, Chris, the oldest son, and Cathy, the oldest daughter, assume the roles of the parents while the twins, Cory and Carrie, are the children. After many months of being locked in the attic, a new relationship begins to bloom, while their relationship with their mother dwindles away. At first, Corrine visited her children every night, but as the months passed, she visited more seldom. Then children make her feel guilty for not coming, so she lavishes expensive gifts on them to convince them that she still loves them. She begins to lose the motherly feeling toward her children and starts seeing them as her mother saw them, unwholesome children who don’t deserve to live. One of them doesn’t live. After the death of one of the twins, the children realize they need to get out, so they begin to concoct an escape plan. After finding a way out of the room, Chris began to steal things to sell when their escape plan succeeded. Three and a half years after the beginning of their imprisonment, they finally escape. The other books in the series, Petals on the Wind, If There be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows are also written with the same expert skill. Though the storyline is somewhat disturbing, it’s an addicting book that you won’t want to put down once you start it.

The Road Shows Human Strength

SeanUnderwood — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:06:12 +0000

Finally, after many attempts, Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road has been made into an independent feature film. This action thriller will keep you at the edge of your seat until the very last scene. With a constant moving story line and realistic visuals, the film keeps the crowd’s attention without being predictable.

An unnamed father played by Viggo Mortensen, and his son played by the equally talented Kodi Smit-McPhee venture through the treacherous plains of the life ridden plains of eastern America after an unnamed apocalyptic event lays waste to the country. Together the father and son duo endure countless trials while attempting to reach Florida before the winter. While doing so, the two encounter crazed cannibals, masked thieves, malnutrition, and even the forces of nature.

The main beauty of this movie was the idea that even when our world is broken, there will always be a sense of morality. And that no matter what happens, the love of a father and son can not be shattered, even in the most horrific situations. The father has his faith in God constantly tested yet carries on placing trust in his religion. By doing so the father surpasses obstacles that would cripple an ordinary man.

Love, faith and patience keep a physically weak man psychologically strong in order to keep his child safe. The moral is that perseverance and hope makes us, as humanity, stronger.

Netflix and Warner Bros Ink Movie Deal

DylanHillard — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:34:24 +0000

Netflix’s instant movie streaming feature, which allows the user to instantly stream newly released movies directly to your TV via WIFI has been taking a toll on Warner Bros movie sales. Why buy the movie when you can stream it instantly to your TV as many times as you want?

In a groundbreaking deal on Jan. 6 Netlfix and Warner Brothers settled disputes over movie licensing issues. The compromise allows Netflix streaming acces to more of Warner Bros movies including old favorites such as “All the Presidents Men” and “Caddyshack”. In return, Netflix must wait 28 days before they allow new releases to be streamed. This hopefully will boost Warner Bros new release sales as well as Netflix memberships. This deal may in fact set a benchmark for future digital media rights as the medium for entertainment begins to shift away from hardcopies and towards digital files.