'Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1' A Review

Mockingjay Part 1 is the penultimate installment of the Hunger Games series adapted from the trilogy of the same name. In the wake of Katniss Everdeen's second appearance in the Hunger Games a revolution has begun. Katniss was saved by the underground militant district 13 but Peta was left in the custody of the capitol. A good portion of the movie is taken up with district 13's recruitment and use of Katniss as a propaganda tool to foster the burgeoning revolution.

The is the first adaptation in the series that exceeds the source material. The book Mockingjay is meandering and confused, this incarnation is slick and handles the ideas of revolution, subversion, torture, greater good vs. individuality, propaganda, and image with much more deftness and surety than did the novel. It strikes a great balance of action and thrill with political and social commentary.

All the returning actors have done most of their work in the previous movies, all the exposition is taken care of so they are free to give life to the narrative without constraint, which they do. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss with significantly more confidence in this installment which provides the character with a more gripping range. The movie culminates in a cliff-hanger action-heavy rescue mission. Just enough information is revealed that we are not disappointed. The first adaptation of this type that seems to actually warrant being broken into two parts.

A good installment in a good series. Leaves you eager for part 2 but not impatiently so.

See It.

Gluten Free

Earlier this week Phil asked me to be part of his one-off show at CIC Freak Supreme. A couple of us got together and brainstormed a little one act today in about three hours. Some folks opened with an improv set then we did our play followed by a faux talkback.

The title of our play was Gluten Free although Felske introduced it as Gluten which in hindsight may have been more apt. It was a pretty stupid premise, five variations on essentially the same scene. Each one was at a bakery of some sort catering a specific bread product. Each place had a corresponding accent and the boss of each place had a specific hat. Pretty fun and very dumb. The fake talkback at the end was also very silly, it always feels naughty to thumb your nose at theatre while engaging in it.

It was a satisfying little process. I've found in the wake of a lot of my friends moving its a lot easier to branch out, get involved with things I normally wouldn't have, collaborate and get to know people I only previously knew tangentially. I miss all my friends, Tisher especially, but its forced me to put myself out there a bit more, creatively and socially, and it's surprisingly enriching.

Graffiti 145

"A man who is not afraid is not aggressive, a man who has no sense of fear of any kind is really a free, a peaceful man." -Jiddu Krishnamurti

"Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict - alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence." -Dorothy Thompson

"There are worlds of experience beyond the world of the aggressive man, beyond history, and beyond science. The moods and qualities of nature and the revelations of great art are equally difficult to define; we can grasp them only in the depths of our perceptive spirit." -Ansel Adams

Giving Thanks

I'm back in Rockford with my family celebrating the holiday. Today my folks and I had my aunt, uncle, grandma, and my little cousins over. It was relatively low key and uneventful but comfortable. The kind of comfort that only comes with years and through blood. My extended family is large and the Nelson clan has all stayed in relatively close proximity and contact. We see each other most every holiday and there is a great satisfaction in that closeness.

I talked poetry and death with my grandma and played some card games with my little cousins. My dad and uncle watched football and we all ate too much pie. Tomorrow we'll get together with the whole family over at my Aunt Anne's. Nothing terribly exciting but when we all get together it is very intimate and supportive.

I'm thankful for my loving family, their care and consideration.

For my incredible girlfriend Nicole and her love.

For inspiration, stage time, and audiences both receptive and apathetic.

For friends new and old, faraway and close to home.

And today, most of all, for Dave's miraculous recovery.

The Gods continue to smile upon their soldiers of mirth.

No Longer Home

It seems so small.
Hometown, parents' house
The past.

Quite a distance
from that chubby youth
I use to be.

It is bittersweet
to discover childhood
long-ago and faraway.

Ownership

Right now I have two projects percolating that I'm really excited about. The first is my podcast Hindsight Hour, Tim and I have done four recording sessions and have one more planned before we  delve into the editing. The idea is that each episode will have a theme like family/work/relationships, there will be a series of improvised scenes addressing the theme from different angles. The hope is to not only make some discoveries about the expressed theme but also about where people find their inspiration, shed some light on the elusive creative process. I don't know how I'll set it up, format each episode in order to accomplish those goals but its a stimulating challenge.

Had rehearsal tonight for my other project. A play called Contention, I got the idea a couple months back from an improv show. It's a dark comedy about a failing relationship told in non-chronological order. It starts with the break-up, the second scene is the couple's first date, then it jumps back and forth through time ending in the middle.

I submitted the proposal for it to The Annoyance almost on a whim, not really expecting to get a slot. Much to my surprise and gratitude we'll start previews January 2nd. The cast is Cowdery and I with Phil directing. We're four rehearsals in and have the bones of a script. Working on it has been incredibly fulfilling. It's what I've been looking for- a show with a narrative, a show with a cut and dry script, a show that could(potentially) get reviewed, and most importantly a show over which we have creative control.

I fell in love with improv because it was a mode of performance that allowed me more creative ownership than the straight theatre I had been doing. After doing improv for years I found myself wanting more. Improv, although wonderful, is ethereal. Ultimately it has no product, it is all process. Those rare perfect shows only last in memory.

The past couple months I've been looking for more tangible projects, more active ways to express myself creatively, finite processes with concrete goals. The podcast and the play are the result. Working on them is very gratifying and I look forward to putting both projects out into the world.

Night On The Mountain

The fog has risen from the sea and crowned
The dark, untrod­den sum­mits of the coast,
Where roams a voice, in canyons utter­most,
From mid­night waters vibrant and pro­found.
High on each gran­ite altar dies the sound,
Deep as the tram­pling of an armored host,
Lone as the lamen­ta­tion of a ghost,
Sad as the dia­pa­son of the drowned.

The moun­tain seems no more a soul­less thing,
But rather as a shape of ancient fear,
In dark­ness and the winds of Chaos born
Amid the lord­less heav­ens’ thun­der­ing–
A Pres­ence crouched, enor­mous and aus­tere,
Before whose feet the mighty waters mourn.

-George Sterling