What are you doing right now?

[EndOfTheEarth]

Besides posting on here and replying to this thread. Original credit for this goes back to Fate and Nathan on MX.

[Contradiction]

I just watched/listened to Nyan Cat for the first time.

I am intensely amused.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Working on a real ARG, I think.

 

Does the following digit string mean anything to you?

044657.04.21.21.34.56

[Contradiction]

Uh, no.

Context?

[EndOfTheEarth]

Halo, the videogame?

[Contradiction]

Nope, definitely can't help you there. Sorry.

[nathan_p]

Hmmm. 

 

For some reason I'm thinking IP address, but that's intensely wrong. 

 

Could it be a date / time?

 

"21:34:56 on 21 April 44657".

[EndOfTheEarth]

I thought IP too, but it's too many numbers, and the wrong coding for IPv6.

 

And, unfortunately, the Halo universe takes place in 2552. Good guess though, I never would have thought of that one.

[Fake Fang]

So long as it doesn't require any basic knowledge of Halo, my sister should be able to crack it. She's good at this sort of stuff.

 

Give me a minute.

[Contradiction]

I really dislike it when people from RL ask me what books they should read.

Especially when they tell me that they should be like The Hunger Games.

And then they tell me that they don't know what dystopian is when I mention it as a genre.

 

I like the literary savviness of the internet. *sigh*

[EndOfTheEarth]

While Hunger Games has a dystopian setting, I'm not sure that I'd count it as a dystopian novel. It's more like Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" on steroids, something that had been repeated in just about every possible genre and cateogry except Young Adult Fiction.

 

But the fact of the matter is that because it's a genetic item, Hunger Games is unique unto itself. Anything 'similar' would be like trying to sell a stage performance about a couple who come from two families who hate each other--instead of seeing something unique, a person would look at that and say "Oh, Romeo and Juliet rehash" or in this case, "So it's Hunger Games round four?"

 

And frankly, most dystopian novels out there don't quite hit the point that a Young Adult Audience might enjoy.

I consider Orwell's 1984 to be one of the two best proper Dystopian novles out there, and when I tried reading it for the first time in middle school I was bored to tears and left it after the first chapter.

Contrarywise, I consider Lowry's Gathering Blue and The Giver to be two of the worst dystopian novles out there, despite the fact that they were easy reads.

The closest I've seen to an enjoyable YA Dystopia was City of Ember, which isn't saying much.

[nathan_p]

"something that had been repeated in just about every possible genre and cateogry except Young Adult Fiction"

 

The "children turn on each other in a closed environment" scenario is present in Battle Royale and The Long Walk. However, the hunting aspect is, I believe, unique to The Hunger Games (and possibly Battle Royale, which I have not read).

 

"I consider Orwell's 1984 to be one of the two best proper Dystopian novles out there, and when I tried reading it for the first time in middle school I was bored to tears and left it after the first chapter."

 

1984 is dense and dull as hell if you're not prepared for it. I still have not read the entire "the book" section.

 

"Contrarywise, I consider Lowry's Gathering Blue and The Giver to be two of the worst dystopian novles out there, despite the fact that they were easy reads."

 

They're interesting enough, but I agree here.

 

Returning to this:

 

"While Hunger Games has a dystopian setting, I'm not sure that I'd count it as a dystopian novel."

 

Can you explain this distinction a little more?

[EndOfTheEarth]

In Battle Roayle do they turn on each other, or is it a scheduled event? If it's the latter, then it's less unique. If it's the former, then HG is still the only main case. I haven't read Battle Royale either.

 

The philosophy book? Skip that part, it's a rant with little importance to the plot.

And while 1984 isn't a beat-em-up action, I wouldn't go as far as to say it's hopelessly dull.

 

 

 

A dystopian novel focuses on the dystopia. A novel in a dystopian setting has dystopia in it, but it is not the focus; instead the focus is the revolution, or the character relations. For instance; the original Star Wars is in a dystopian setting: the galaxy is run by an evil monarchy who controls the populace with shock troops, giant star ships, and a planet-killer weapon. However, this dystopia is not the focus of the story, rather the fight against it is.

On the flip side, the focus of 1984 is Big Brother, and the way doublethink works, and the philosophy behind the whole system, and the character spends their time responding to the dystopia, not necessarily countering it.

So, in reading the original Hunger Games (because I didn't feel compelled to read further after book 1) the focus of the novel is not the dystopia itself, though the mechanics of the dystopia are briefly mentioned. The philosophy and lifestyle isn't the focus; the focus is the game. The character spends her time focusing on the game, not the philosophy.