Go, Team Muggle!!!

It looks like fantasy books are far more influential than I thought. The fun, but extremely dangerous looking, fictional sport Quidditch, from the Harry Potter series, has come to life in the U.S. and Europe, with varsity teams and an official association. The International Quidditch Association (IQA) provides the rules to which the Quidditch teams from Leicester and Keele Universities will abiding as they face off on Saturday, March 10.

Quidditch takes off: Turning a fictional game into a real sport

Since, this is the first time I am hearing of this (yes, I must be so very sheltered) I decided to do some digging and here is what I have found:

• This thing is all over the place!
• It was created by Xander Manshel and his buddy Alex Benepe at Middlebury College, in Vermont
• You can do Summer Internships with the International Quidditch Association
• There are over 100 official teams, many of them Quite active university teams
• There are tons of game coverage clips on YouTube, AND
• People seem really into it.

Question: Am I the only one who hasn't heard of this 'til now?

What would you see if you won a Space Contest?

Just a follow-up from my previous post regarding the Metro newspaper "Race for Space" Contest. I found the following time-lapse video of the Earth as seen from above.  It is quite beautiful. You can see thunderstorms and Aurora-Australis, absolutely stunning. It's quite possible that this is something you would see if you did win a Contest to go up into space! Enjoy!

Ever dream of being an astronaut?

Here's your chance. If you live in Canada, you may be eligible to enter "The Metro Race for Space 2012"

Click on the link below!

Metro - Metro contest sends reader to space

For readers in other countries, I'll let you know if I hear of any contests!

In the mean time, watch Another Earth, a film about a young woman, recently jailed for killing two people in a hit-and-run, enters a contest to fly to a second earth that has just been discovered orbiting the sun.

The Hunger Games - Movie Trailer and Book Club invitation

Though it is Young Adult fiction, many adults have become big fans of The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. In fact, the series was recommended to me by a colleague that just celebrated her 50th.


 I have, so far, read the first two books of the trilogy, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Collins has done a great job of illustrating the post-apocalyptic dystopian future where North American society has been reduced to the Capitol and it's 12 subservient and impoverished districts that each produce or mine a specific resource or commodity, such as diamonds or coal. Each year the Capitol holds a draw in each district, choosing one male child and one female child, to compete to the death in the Hunger Games. The winner, is rewarded with a life time of wealth. 


In her district, Katniss is chosen and makes her mark by winning the games and inadvertantly inciting a growing rebellion, represented by the Mockingay (hybrid bird) against the Capitol. 


Collin's, herself, has written and produced the movie version that will come out on March 23, 2012. Hopefully, it will avoid the mistakes that many film adaptations tend to make and stay true to the original story. Katniss is played by Jennifer Lawrence, who you will recognize as the young Mystique in Xmen: First Class. From the previews, she looks like a pretty accurate Katniss, though, I never imaged the protagonist as having permanent superpout.


I recommend the books first, then the movie, but the decision is yours!

Other fight-to-the-death/survival-games type films and stories come to mind: Death Race 2000, The Running Man, and Gamer. Help me complete the list by posting other related movies or books in the comments section below.


As for Mockingjay, it is waiting on my shelf. As soon as I get a chance I'll dive into it. In the meantime, I'm going to list it on the Book Club page to, hopefully, get a discussion going in the comments section below!!! 


Some discussion questions to start us off (assuming that you have read the first two books of the series):

1. How well do you feel the title of this book fits with the content?
2. District 13 is revealed in this book. How is it different from what you expected?
3. Do you believe that Katniss was exploited as the figurehead of the war?
4. How do you feel about Katniss' decision to end the war?
5. Who were the ultimate victims of the story?
6. What was the underlying message?
7. Your thoughts on the upcoming movie version of the Hunger Games?

Back to "Being Human", U.K. Edition

One of the downsides of not having cable T.V. is that I don't know when new seasons of my favourite shows come on the air. Case in point: I had no idea that the fourth season of the original Being Human had began playing several weeks ago! On top of that, I had no idea that there would even be a fourth season. I'm a bad fan.


I do know now, however, and watched the first episode today. 


For those who are not familiar with Being Human, it's basically about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who are the best of friends, live under the same roof and try to fit into to human society (and not kill people), despite having to continuously dodge or fight the evil vampires that have infiltrated London society.


I love this show. I was very annoyed to hear that there was an American version coming out. After watching a few clips of this American Being Human, I determined it unwatchable and, even after three seasons, I still refuse to give it a chance. The American characters just don't have it, sorry. 


Back to the GOOD version, the first episode has left me little puzzled. In the last episode of the third season, Mitchell the vampire, was killed mercifully by his best friend George the werewolf, to prevent the evil vampires from using him to take over the world. In between that episode and the first of season four, we find that George's girlfriend and baby mama, Nina, has been brutally murdered by the vampires as a message, and that they are still out to get him. 


It's only the first episode of the season and George dies (what the heck?) saving his baby daughter from the vamps! Now she can go ahead save the world in the future according to a prophecy written on human skin over two thousand years ago (huh?). Annie is stuck with the baby and an adolescent (and perpetually mopey-faced) vampire-killing werewolf they picked up in season three. On top of all this, a concurrent situation is playing out with another vampire-werewolf-ghost trinity. According to the previews for episode two, this group moves in with Annie and the remains of her crew.


All these new characters are nice and all, but are they just a jumbled bunch of replacements for Mitchell and George? The last three episodes revolved around the woes of Annie, Mitchell and George. This new season is going in a completely new direction, though the threat of evil vampires taking over the world remains. It's almost as if George and Mitchell ducked out before the real war started. 


I'm still eager to watch the show. I hope it remains on my favourites list, but we shall see!

Watch "Being Human-U.K." on Space