Happy Mockingjay Release Day! A Playlist

At this moment in time my friend and I should be in the process of getting our copies of Mockingjay at the Children's Book World midnight party (if you're near the area, it'd be really cool to run into you there!). We will then proceed to drive home and stay up all night reading it. (It's even funnier, and more impressive, when you consider the fact that he only read the series for the first time a week ago.) For everyone else...

HAPPY MOCKINGJAY RELEASE DAY!

I hope you've gotten your own copies or will be getting them soon. I intend to stay offline until Mockingjay is finished--won't be too hard. In the meantime, I'm sure there are plenty of Mockingjay-related celebrations both on- and off-line. I want to highlight something that Lenore is doing: playlists for each of the main characters of The Hunger Games. She asked for my contributions for one of the playlists, and I rummaged through my iTunes and came up with... a playlist of my own. I welcome you to check it out if you like to find new music, or just to have something playing in the background as you do other stuff.

Rationale for playlist content: For The Hunger Games, I wanted to look for music with lyrics that spoke of discontent, rebellion, action, oppression, and similar topics. I looked for music in mostly minor keys, with a driving beat that was strong and insistent but not frenetic (okay, Khy, I'm waiting for your comment now). And I especially wanted songs sung by females. The songs below aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination--if I were compiling the soundtrack for the actual movie I'd search a lot more--but it makes for a pretty decent playlist, at least for me, I think.

Youtube Playlist embedded at bottom.

Part 1 - Book 1: The Hunger Games

1. Carolina Liar - "Something to Die For"

Won't you see it in your heart, you should
Know you always played your part real good, oh yeah
That's something to die for

Scene: post-reaping, the train ride from District 12 to the Capitol

Rationale: The singer's voice is high, almost plaintive, with just the right hint of desperation, denial, and rebellion. I felt like this was appropriate for Katniss' mindset at this point: she's just left her family behind, for what she believes is forever, and she is dreading what will come next.

2. Muse - "Resistance"

Is our secret safe tonight
And are we out of sight
Or will our world come tumbling down?
Will they find our hiding place
Is this our last embrace
Or will the walls start caving in?

Scene: the chariot ride

Rationale: I feel like this would add the right note of darkness and grimness to what the Capitol believes is a happy scene, the scene where Katniss and Peeta ride through the streets with their dazzling costumes. While everything looks like it's fine--everyone's smiling, waving, cheering--the dark energy of this song brings the needed anger to the surface.

3. Hard-Fi - "Stronger"

You dish it out, I'll take it in
I can only grow from the lies you spin
If you're not scared then you should be
Nothin' in the world will keep you from me

Scene: group training

Rationale: A more upbeat, still minor-key song with determined vocals for the days that Katniss & Co. spend learning skills at the various stations in the training room. This song says, "Work and perseverance" to me.

4. Hard-Fi - "I Shall Overcome"

I look around, nothing seems to have changed,
This dirty town, it hasn't somehow rearranged


But you say "Hold on, hold on... believe me,
All the plans against you one by one, will come undone."
I shall overcome.

Scene: private training session with the Gamemakers

Rationale: Playing as Katniss shoots The Arrow and gets the Gamemakers' attention. Also has a strong beat, but the melody is more serious, more determined than #3. Just like how Katniss gets the Gamemakers' attention here, so the song brings attention to the fact that Katniss just might have what it takes to defeat the Capitol and their manipulative Games.

5. Liz Phair - "Firewalker"

Me, I'm like a wild flame that catches on whatever's near but
Your mind is a firewalker, it sets its course and never veers but
I can grow in spite of all you know
You might not recognize me tomorrow

Scene: Katniss, the girl on fire at the interview

Rationale: Because, um, did you see that song title? This slower, melancholic melody evokes for me a girl with her head held high in spite of all obstacles. She's an object of desire--the lyrics and the wanderings of the melody do that for me--slightly enigmatic and detached from the rest of the world. Very influential.

6. Muse - "Falling Away With You"

so I'll love whatever you become
and forget the reckless things we've done
I think our lives have just begun


and I'll feel my world crumbling
I'll feel my life crumbling

Scene: rising up to the arena

Rationale: This song starts out quietly, almost contemplatively, but then evolves into a rich and plaintive cry. The ascending notes in the chorus remind me of the way the tributes rise up to the arena via the metal plates. And the lyrics mention what Peeta is concerned about, and what Katniss is only beginning to understand: the possible loss of humanity, loss of self-identity, out there in the arena.

7. The Perishers - "Let There Be Morning"

I don't know how
I made it till now
Let there be light
Let there be morning


Hello future goodbye past
Now each breath can be my last
Will I see another dawn?
Will I be reborn?

Scene: nights in trees

Rationale: This song is sad and slow, resigned in a way. As a tribute, how do you know if you're going to make it through the night, make it through another day? I can hear this as montage music as Katniss straps herself into a tree at night, watches the faces of her fellow tributes pass overhead, and falls into a restless, worried sleep.

8. Cavo - "We All Fall Down"

Everything is random, everyone is fake
Everything we built will just disintegrate
No one will remember, would anybody care
If everything around us just disappeared?

Scene: running away from the wall of fire

Rationale: The fast rock beat reminds me of the running, but the singer's resonant voice and the motion of the melody focuses the terror of that situation into determination to evade the fire, instead of the scene just dissolving into a quivering mass of fear.

9. Something Corporate - "Only Ashes"

I can tell as you turn, I smell the sulfur so clear
and fire's a beautiful sound-
and the wings that you burn, turn to ashes my dear
and ashes just fall to the ground.

Scene: tracker jackers

Rationale: The lyrics talk about fire, but the repetitive strumming of the bass and guitar remind me more of the chaos that follows after Katniss drops the tracker jackers on the Careers.

10. Mute Math - "Chaos"

It’s hard to trust anyone again
after all the let downs I’ve been through,
haunted by what I’ve been through.


I know you stay true when my world is false
everything around’s breaking down to chaos

Scene: running with Rue

Rationale: I can hear this playing as Katniss and Rue meet up, move through the forest together (in the trees, maybe?), and make their plans to destroy the Careers' food and supplies. The bass line wanders but has lots of energy, suggesting a playful or young attitude, and the singer's voice, always bordering on cracking as he slams into his words, evoke a young person's vocalization of their frustrations.

11. Thriving Ivory - "Angels on the Moon"

I wanna sunburn, just to know that I'm alive
Don't tell me if I'm dying
'Cause I don't wanna know

Scene: after Rue's death

Rationale: The singer of this power ballad has a plaintive, tortured voice. That, combined with the lyrics, has me finding this song appropriate for Katniss' unvoiceable grief over Rue's death. The best way she can mourn her little friend's death is by ploughing forward and giving the Games her all.

12. Thriving Ivory - "Where We Belong"

See I have to believe that there's more than this seems
More than a soul in a boat in a sea of sinking dreams
And I have to be sure that there's gonna be a cure
'cause somewhere down the line, I lost that part of me that's pure.


Hold on we're gonna make it if takes all night
Hearts racing like a rocket at the speed of light
Don't fight it we've been running for far too long
We're going back to where we belong

Scene: finding Peeta

Rationale: I needed a solid, not quite hopeful but not entirely hopeless song for a search montage. I like how the lyrics reflect Katniss' disbelief over her own survival, coupled with her newfound hope now that the Gamemakers have changed the rules.

13. The Perishers - "Still Here"

When you’ve fired your last shot
You’ll come back for me


When you’ve gone I’m still here
I know you’ll come around
I’m waiting patiently
When you’ve tried all other ways
You’ll come back for me

Scene: Peeta and Katniss in the cave

Rationale: I think of this as Peeta's song for Katniss. Did you read the lyrics? It's a love song, but the singer's throatiness lends a bit of sarcasm and frustration to the song that I think illustrates the conflicted feelings going on between and within Katniss and Peeta in that cave.

14. New Pornographers - "Challengers"

On the walls of the day
In the shade of the sun
We wrote down
Another vision of us
We were the challengers of
The unknown

Scene: the final hovercraft ride

Rationale: I see this playing in the crazy scene within the hovercraft, as Katniss screams for Peeta as he is taken away from her. This song has few instrumentation and an almost whimsical feel... in a sad way. I think it really brings out the horror of the whole Hunger Games, of all the emotional and physical stress that these teens had to endure, for such a horrifying reason.

15. Arcade Fire - "Rebellion (Lies)"

Sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is
Sleeping is giving in, so lift those heavy eyelids.
people say that you'll die faster than without water
but we know it's just a lie, scare your son and scare your daughter

Scene: end credits

Rationale: It's a song with a lot of energy and power behind it, without getting too crazy. For me, this wraps up the mental/emotional state that I feel at the end of the book: interested, hooked, pro-revolution.

Book 2: Catching Fire

16. Brandi Carlile - "I Will"

I don't think you ever learned a thing from me
But I'm sure that you want me to learn from you

You can't break a heart that wasn't even yours to break

You can never be there for me in the end

But I will do the right thing

Scene: Katniss and Peeta in the Victor's Village

Rationale: Thwarted love, man! Who knows what is real and what was put on as a show for the Capitol? Can a love still be true if it's documented for millions to see? Brandi Carlile's voice captures the angst and hurt between these two people, as they struggle to figure out their feelings for one another after the Hunger Games.

17. Muse - "Unnatural Selection"

They'll laugh as they watch us fall
The lucky don't care at all


I'm hungry for some unrest
I want to push this beyond a peaceful protest
I wanna speak in a language that they'll understand

Scene: the Victory Tour

Rationale: Something that the Capitol intends to be a celebration turns out to incite rebellion. It's clear that the front Peeta and Katniss are forced to put up does not convince everyone, that the dissatisfaction and cries for revolution are already in place.

18. Missy Higgins - "Nightminds"

And in our honesty, together we will rise,
Out of our nightminds, and into the light

Scene: Gale and Katniss at the lake

Rationale: Missy Higgins has a full, honest voice. This ballad is full of unfulfilled longing, which I think really reflects the impossibility of Katniss and Gale's plans at this moment.

19. Michelle Branch - "It's You"

If tomorrow never comes
I would want just one thing
I would tell it to the stars and the sun
I would write it for the world to see
And it's you

Scene: watching over Gale's whipped body

Rationale: Similar to the "Nightminds" song. Once again, Katniss realizes too late how she might feel about Gale. Now she's already caught up in the Capitol's games, Gale's hurt and threatened, and she has all this suppressed frustration, fear, and dispair within her.

20. Train - "Calling All Angels"

I need a sign to let me know you're here
All of these lines are being crossed over the atmosphere
I need to know that things are gonna look up
'Cause I feel us drowning in a sea spilled from a cup

Scene: District 12 takeover

Rationale: A great song to express the frustration, simmering rebellion, hatred, and determination brewing within Katniss' mind as she is forced to witness Romulus Thread's takeover of District 12. A very deliberate beat, in a hopeful major key, and the singer's voice is a great blend of strength and pleading.

21. Lesley Roy - "I'm Gone, I'm Going"

I'm like a rat in a cage about to lose it all
And I ain't gonna give up until I'm standing tall
I'm gonna throw it all in
Just get it over with
Watch me, watch me


So sick of falling apart and crawling back again
So sick of playing the games that I can never win

Scene/Rationale: I forget--it's too close to midnight, I'm losing my ability to think coherently within going into fangirl zone. Suffice it to say that this might be the most upbeat, most "poppish" of the songs on this playlist. But I love how this just shouts female empowerment, and the lyrics are also about overcoming adversity and constraints. This says "Katniss taking a stand" to me.

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That's where I stopped in Catching Fire cuz I found all these songs in one go and never went back to it when I realized the songs could be spread out over the two books. Here is the playlist:



You can also go to its Youtube page here. This has been basically what I've been playing nonstop for the past week (again, like all my other Mockingjay posts, this was not influenced by anyone else, except by Lenore asking me to help her out: all of these songs came out of my head alone). If you're in the mood to experience new music while reading, say, a dystopian novel or something, give this a try and let me know what you think! I'd also LOVE for you to give me some songs that remind YOU of The Hunger Games!

Happy reading; may the odds be ever in your favor!

How Might Mockingjay End?

I generally don't spend a lot of time speculating beyond what the author has provided for us. Spin-offs, companion novels, "guide to's", fanfiction... I generally don't do any of that. But with talks of Mockingjay around EVERYWHERE, I couldn't help but think, you know? I've been thinking about this more or less for the past year or so, and with less than a week to go before Mockingjay's release, I figured I might as well talk about my theories a little.

If that's totally not the type of conversations you like to engage in, you're better off not reading this post. And this post assumes that you've read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Okay! So.

When I think about how Mockingjay might end, I don't even try to think about the revolution part, except for generalized HEAs. I have no doubt that Suzanne Collins will astound and impress me with the complexity of the resolution, and I can't wait to find out how it's going to happen. But there is something we all like to speculate on: how in the world will the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale end? A truly important question, folks.

Right. Well, maybe not important, but definitely fun to talk and speculate about.

The way I see it, there are five possible endings to the love triangle:

1. The Romantic - The Capitol is overthrown and a new era of peace and cooperation among the Districts begins. Gale and Katniss get together. And Peeta survives to become the new voice and leader of the next generation, acquiescing that it was only due to unnatural circumstances (i.e. the Hunger Games) that Katniss had feelings for him. That way, Gale and Katniss' years' worth of unresolved not-quite-as-platonic-as-they'd-like-to-think relationship evolves, AND Peeta doesn't have a death wish and can find a satisfying future as well.

2. The Pragmatic - Gale dies in the midst of rebellion, or is in some way or other removed from the triangle, and while Katniss is devastated with grief, she realizes that, by Peeta's side, the two of them can help to transform the post-revolutionary nation, and Gale's death will not have been in vain. Depressing for both Team Gale fans and Katniss (I still maintain she has had deep feelings for Gale), and decidedly unromantic... but still livable and even hopeful.

3. The Tragic - Peeta dies, perhaps in some horribly shocking, Sirius Black- or Albus Dumbledore-esque way, perhaps right in front of Katniss, at the hands of President Snow in the despicable man's last jab to devastate Katniss. Gale and Katniss naturally get together, of course. But poor Peeta. He suffers through the entire series and nothing EVER works out in his favor. God, I'm getting depressed. I need to go eat something happy-making now.

4. The Heroic - Katniss dies in a powerful symbolic death at the very end of Mockingjay, effectively ending the narration, of course, but the story is already in a position where we can see how Katniss' sacrifice will pave the way to a better and brighter tomorrow.

5. The Insane - Both Peeta and Gale die. Katniss is forced to have a clean slate. WHY, GOD, WHY? *depressed*

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Which of these would you prefer as the ending to Mockingjay? Which do you think will most likely occur? Do you have other ideas?

And now, just for fun, some images that come up when you GoogleImage "Team Peeta/Gale":

yahighway.com

So much win. So much. In a, y'know, endearing way.

hungergamestrilogy.net

Yo, who's the Peeta on the left? I could totally see him as Peeta. (And if that's Alex Pettyfer then I change my mind. Alex has gotten too...manly. I picture Peeta as having almost a baby face: very kind features.) That's not how I picture Gale though.

Or how about this "Peeta vs. Gale: How's a Girl to Choose?" t-shirts from Zazzle.ca? Maybe Mockingjay will be the first YA book to condone multiple-person marriage?

foreveryoungadult.com

LOL. The greatest debate. Haha. That is debatable. Although understandable why people (including me) would think or say that.

community.scholastic.com

THREE DAYS.

[ETA] Some bloggers have brought to my attention that Twitter conversations and other blog posts regarding Mockingjay predictions have occurred within the last few weeks. I wanted to clarify that I was not involved in any Twitter conversations discussing possible Mockingjay endings, and have not read others' posts regarding the subject. I was not aware that these things have been happening. These theories in this post have spouted completely from my mind, and I do my best to ALWAYS give credit to inspirations or thought provokers if my writing about something was sparked by their writing. If you'd like me to link to your Mockingjay prediction post, I'd be happy to do so. Please email me at stephxsu at gmail dot com.

You Guys, I Think I've Switched Teams

Approximately a week's worth of Mockingjay-related posts on my blog continues today, in which I proclaim something shockingly horrifying to half of The Hunger Games' readership and eye-rollingly "we're glad you've finally come around" obvious to the other half:

*gasp* I'M TEAM GALE NOW??? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!? I specifically remember writing a post a few months back when I listed the pros and cons of each guy/team and then declared that I leaned more towards Team Peeta. What changed between then and now?

Well, what changed is that I reread the books.

It was inevitable, the rereading. Every day I go on Twitter and read that someone else I know has been rereading The Hunger Games and Catching Fire in preparation for Mockingjay. While I felt I had a pretty good impression of what happened in the first two books, I decided to reread them in order to make sure I was remembering everything accurately.

Boy, it was even better the second time around.

The complexity! The layers! The tension! The writing! The action! Qualities of a beyond-words amazing series that I will reread for decades to come. I reread to inform my predictions for Mockingjay, but in the meantime I started noticing things about the love triangle, things that kind of made me sad (in that I was switching teams) but that also made me feel certain this is right).

Note: as always, if you haven't read the first two books and don't want spoilers, don't read on!

Katniss realized that, in a perfect world, one where the Hunger Games doesn't exist and she doesn't have to worry about her kids being reaped, she and Gale would've gotten together eventually. Not just because everyone assumes it of them, but because the two of them really understand one another. Katniss is rarely comfortable around people, but is astoundingly loyal to those she loves, like her mother, Prim, and Gale. For a girl who finds it hard to be herself around most people (and I can relate to her on this), establishing a comfortable-enough relationship with a guy is so rare that, when that happens, you want to hold onto it for as long as you can. It's unfortunate that it takes the Hunger Games and Peeta for Katniss to realize just how important Gale is to her, but that's what she does realize over the course of the two books.

This may be a reference that some Hunger Games fans might find appalling, but in rereading and informing my Team Gale position, I kept on thinking about Bella's realization regarding Jacob in Eclipse. All along Bella is very certain that she loves Edward inexplicably and unconditionally, but in Eclipse, she does realize that, had she lived in a normal world, one where vampires and werewolves didn't exist, Edward would not exist, but Jacob still would (only he would not be a werewolf), and then she and Jacob would've fallen in love and had a future together. I don't have direct quotes with me, but there's that line in Eclipse when she says she can see the entirety of their future mapped out before her: marrying him, raising their children, growing old together. In a normal world, Bella and Jacob would've been perfect for one another (and the Renesmee deus ex machina wouldn't have had to be invented, friggin' cop-out).

In a normal world, Peeta and Katniss might've crossed paths, but he, like everyone else in District 12, would've assumed that Gale was her boyfriend, and thus would not have approached her with his love for her. Katniss would've eventually realized that she thinks of Gale as more than just a friend, and then they would've gotten together, perhaps raised a family, grown old together.

But this is not a normal world.

The verdict? Katniss is Team Gale. As I am, in the very end, Team Katniss, so I am Team Whichever-Guy-She-Loves-More. And since I think she realizes Gale is the guy for her, thus I am Team Gale.

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What do you guys think? What are your reasons for Team Gale or Team Peeta? Will you embrace my switch lovingly, or will you banish me from your Google Reader into the realm of cyber-Pluto?

Like I said, I'm really Team Katniss, and I can see the numerous ways in which the love triangle might resolve. Tomorrow I'll share with you some of my theories regarding the outcomes of Katniss, Peeta, and Gale.... Read if you dare!

Do You Have Mockingjay Fever?

Mockingjay is coming out in five--count 'em, FIVE!--days. All you need for that number is one hand. ONE HAND! After some people waiting over a year for this last book, it's almost here, and it's been really hard for me to think of much else.

Over the next few days I will be posting a number of Mockingjay-related posts, from predictions to playlists to post-trilogy gloom (and look at that alliteration right there). Feel free to come help me geek out over its upcoming release!

Today's Mockingjay-related question is...

How will you celebrate Mockingjay's release?

I have several types of things planned for the rest of this week and the next, of course:

1. These posts. It's been fun, thinking of all these different aspects of this trilogy in a way I've never thought about books before.

2. Wearing my mockingjay pin. I really wish I had one of those all-good, legit pins, that looks like I imagine the pin Madge gave Katniss looks like. But! I have one that looks like this instead:

It's the image, printed on a black plastic/metal background, received from helping Big Honcho Media and Scholastic out with a Catching Fire promotion last year. I'm going to wear it all next week, see how many people on my campus tours will note its significance and approach me about it. Secret bookworms unite.

3. Attending a midnight release party. Specifically, at Children's Book World nearby. I was going to wait until the book arrived via Amazon, but I've decided I really cannot wait. So I'm going to get Mockingjay at midnight, and then read throughout the night. (To prep, I will, of course, try to take naps during the daytime, so I can finish reading the book.)

4. Wearing my Hunger Games t-shirt on release day. The bookworm nerdiness continues. I also received this Catching Fire promo shirt last year. It's more subtle than the mockingjay pin t-shirt that I've seen being sold in Borders, but, again, I'll have my pin, and the shirt as well, and with any luck, people will realize its significance when I wear it on Tuesday. I like my devotion to show itself subtly. I'm so excited. It's, like, the best excuse to wear this size extra-large shirt that I otherwise don't get to wear.

5. Talking up the Hunger Games trilogy to everyone! I've just about convinced my postman, a fellow bookworm, to read it, particularly when I pitched it as "a story set in the future where, each year, teens are selected to fight to the death on live TV." His eyes totally lit up with astonishment when I told him that was the premise for this young adult book, lol. And earlier this week, I let my friend borrow The Hunger Games. The next day, he asked to borrow Catching Fire. He finished both books in two days, and then reread them on the third night. I love sharing my love for The Hunger Games with others because it is a book that will genuinely interest a large range of readers (unlike Twilight, for example).

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So tell me, how are YOU planning to celebrate the release of Mockingjay? Leave a comment with your answer and email address, and at the end of next week (Friday, August 27)--the last day of my week of mockingjay-pin-wearing--I'll pick someone and send a whole bunch of swag to you. Come party with me!