I begin with that because if you’re reading this for the purpose of being educated in the novels, I highly recommend that you go ahead and purchase them (or borrow them, if you’re so fortunate) because I can almost guarantee that you will find them worth the money and more. If you’re not big on fiction or just don’t have the time for it, then this list is for you.

Either way, there’s far too much content in book 1 to cram into 2.5 hours, so you may find that some things make more sense after reading what you may have missed:

• The Hunger Games are all about control. Though the Hunger Games began as a result of a past rebellion referred to in the film, it’s not so much about punishment as it is about control. The idea is: Remember that we are in control, we can take your children while you watch helplessly. You are at our mercy.

• The Capitol citizens are ignorant, not necessarily evil. Despite the Capitol government’s agenda, the citizen’s themselves are not as sinister. In the movie, you see a huge contrast between the extravagance in the Capitol and the grim poverty in District 12. You also see the folks of the Capitol in their flamboyant outfits cheering the tributes on, as if excited to see these children die. But if you recall the intro video played at the Reaping, you’ll see how the Capitol citizens could have easily believed that this is not as evil as we see it now. They’re thinking: The districts rebelled, they all would have been wiped out. But the Capitol is forgiving, and now the districts are being sustained and provided for. Now, we celebrate our peace through this honorable battle fought by brave young warriors from the districts.

• Haymitch stays drunk for a reason. There’s the obvious reason of trauma from his past victory. But Haymitch Abernathy, the mentor played by Woody Harrelson, also stays drunk because he has been a mentor for many years. Mentors are victors from previous games in that district, but he’s alone with the duty. Yup, district 12 has never seen any other victor aside from Haymitch, so year after year he watches these kids get picked and get killed. “Embrace the probability of your imminent death, and know deep down in your heart that there is nothing I can do to save you.”

• Peeta’s sole agenda in the Games was to save Katniss. From when he joined the “Careers” with Cato and the rest of the mean clique, Peeta did everything to save Katniss. He had come to terms with the fact that he couldn’t win (recall the line about his mother saying Katniss might win, not him), and all he wanted to do was keep the Careers away from Katniss for as long as possible. He got the cut in his leg from keeping Cato away when Katniss was hallucinating from the trackerjacker venom.

• Peeta was dying. From the leg wound, he wasn’t simply in pain, if you noticed the shivering and the fever in the movie. He was suffering from blood poisoning which would soon kill him if untreated, so it was very important for Katniss to risk her life and get the medicine while he was sleeping.

• The “funeral” for Rue was both to honor her, and an act of defiance. Katniss was angry and wanted to shame the Capitol, to hold them accountable for Rue’s death. At that moment, the speech Peeta gave before the games really makes sense for her: “I keep wishing I could think of a way to show them that they don’t own me.” This is part of the reason she became very dangerous in the eyes of President Snow.

• Their victory will set off a chain of events that is bigger than the Games. I won’t give too much about this, but I feel it’s important to drive this point home. With the head gamemaker Seneca’s death, Haymitch’s warning that the Capitol won’t take this lightly, and Snow storming off at the very last scene: these are all signs of bigger consequences to Katniss and Peeta’s actions. This is the question: If a poor girl from District 12 can stand up to the government and live, what else could be done?

That’s my contribution to the fandom after this first movie, so all that’s left now for fans like me is to wait for Catching Fire in November 2013… erk. Anyway, these are the ones I can think of that have an impact on the weight of this story and its sequels, but if I missed anything important, do let me know.

View from Mt. Seymour, overlooking Vancouver, BC.

And I love it here. It’s a beautiful place and I have quite a few old and new friends here, too. But why am I here exactly? Well, I have two reasons: first, to be with my boyfriend who moved back to BC (d’awww?). Second, to get some formal education in Marketing and PR from a fairly well-known institution. Yup, that’s right. It’s been five years since I graduated from University, but I’m back in school and having… well, let’s just say it’s been a familiar challenge.

After two and a half months of being here, I think I’m pretty settled in and pretty used to the place. I have a ton of stories, but I’ll save those for future updates. Until then!

Two places to mention: Lan Kwai Fong and Wan Chai, both in Hong Kong island. No, this is not the off-the-beaten-path guide to Hong Kong’s Halloween, if that can even exist.

Lan Kwai Fong

In Lan Kwai Fong (a.k.a. LKF), there are two things you must expect on Halloween. First, a queue. I’m not talking about a queue to get into the clubs, I’m talking about a queue to get into the area.

You see that big mounted wall of light in the distance? That’s the mouth of LKF, but not where the bars and clubs start. And this, where the picture was taken, was where my friends were in the line to get in. Yes, it’s that crazy. Which brings me to the second thing you should expect. Once you get in, this is what you see:

Wigs in your face, faces in your face, and just endless sea of people as you squirm your way through to get to the next club, which I guarantee will be full. But it has an upside if you’re crowd-tolerant (and non-claustrophobic) — that you get to show off your expensive, tough-to-make, or otherwise creative costume to more people at once.

Even if you have no costume, there are definitely a lot of interesting sights and events here. Get tickets early to any of their many themed parties, or just walk around and wing it — just don’t expect a leisurely strut.

Wan Chai

And then there’s Wan Chai, which is always more laid-back than LKF (except on certain sports days, when you can hear the roar of zealous fans from two blocks down). If you want more legroom, this is where you should go.

Legroom enough to take a picture of these guys. You’ll see that there are no crazy crowds, but there’s no shortage of costumes here either. It kind of turns into what LKF is on normal days, which is fine by me. When in Wan Chai, we usually end up staying around Typhoon, Swindlers, Carnegie’s and of course, Club 7-11, where all the cool, rich kids hang out (ha ha). I’m not much of a party person, but I love hanging out with friends as much as the next guy, and seeing weird costumes is a definite plus!

So what did I wear? Well, see for yourself!

I, of course, am the one on the left. How do I look?

I have to say that despite the exceptionally large number of party-goers, police officers and hooligans out in the streets, Halloween in Hong Kong is definitely a sight worth seeing and an experience worth having.

–

Disclaimer: I, as a Christian, don’t subscribe to most Halloween traditions that celebrate all things spooky. But legalism isn’t really my thing, so let’s just say I’m happy to have an opportunity to go out in costume and have fun!

I grew up in a small town in Manila — simple, quiet and generally slow. Sundays were always lazy, there was nothing but trees to block your view of the sky, nights were dark and buzzing with the sound of cicadas. We were always in the suburbs, and it was lovely.

But I suppose I got my wish. Hong Kong, especially the places where I’ve lived, is the definition of a busy city. Sunday is probably the busiest day of the week, the average view is more building than sky, and nights are filled with the sound of construction, party music, or the army of vehicles driving by right in front of your apartment.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the city, but I realized why I liked it so much. It wasn’t about comfort or convenience per se. It’s about what it symbolized for me — independence, a faster lifestyle that hopefully meant I was taking charge of my life and career. Was it all in my head?

I still love the city, but oh do I miss the suburbs. Like they say, you don’t know what you have till it’s gone.

This was how much medicine I had to take. And this isn’t even all of it:

Two things I’ve learned about doctors in Hong Kong: One, they don’t normally give you enough medicine for a full course of treatment, just enough so you have to go back for more (I hear it’s so they make more money, but I dunno!). Two, as you can see from the picture, they give a lot of medicine here. Each visit, I was given 4-5 different types!

So what exactly did I have?

I was diagnosed with UTI, then Gastritis, Gastroenteritis, and another digestive problem which wasn’t exactly named for me. For 3 weeks, I grew very familiar with the cold tiles of the bathroom, and had a diet consisting of mostly soft and flavorless food. Being the food-lover that I am, you can imagine how grueling this was for me — if it was tasty, chances are, I couldn’t eat it! What’s more, I had to give up tea and coffee.

I gave up coffee. For three weeks. Let’s take a moment here to just think about that.

…

So anyway, while I’m feeling much better now and I’m almost off the meds completely, it seems I now have a weakened constitution — I get tired more easily, and certain things can make me feel a bit ill, but not the same way as before.

On the bright side, I can now drink coffee and eat a Double Cheeseburger without spending the next 3-4 hours writhing in pain. Yay for me!

People quit their jobs, dropped out of school, used up all their life savings for this belief. Over US$3 million were reportedly spent by those who believed on spreading the message about the rapture. But before you call them ‘idiots’, let’s think about that info for a minute.

When people heard of the prediction, I imagine that there were 3 major reactions: Acceptance, curosity (which may lead to one of the other two), or rejection. Considering their actions, the people who accepted it obviously had their reasons for doing so, or they wouldn’t have risked it all like that. I never followed Family Radio, but after doing some research it does look like Camping made some very strong arguments.

Those who were curious most likely did their homework and eventually decided whether to accept or reject it, either that or they just decided not to care. We who rejected it also have our many different reasons — some educated, some not. But what we have in common is that we all made a stand, we picked a side.

My point is, we all have our beliefs. Whether it’s about rapture, doomsday or what brand of ketchup is best, we all make our choice based on what makes sense to us. This isn’t to say that I think all beliefs are correct (this is just not possible), but my point is, I don’t think anyone should be ridiculed for their beliefs. This world isn’t simply divided into ‘smart’ and ‘stupid’.

Now that the prediction has failed, I think we should just move on. No gloating, no mocking, especially since some people lost so much over it.

If you ask me what I believe in, it’s that no one knows when the end is. But no one knows when their death will come either, so either way, I think we should all have a stand on afterlife, and a reason to truly, truly believe it. If we don’t, it’s time to start looking.

After poking around and signing up for a few flatshare-ad services, I got an email from a someone who introduces herself as a Chinese lady, married to a British man, living in Hong Kong for work. This is one of the rooms she’s offering:

The price she set wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t a bad deal at all. So I ask for more information, and ask when I can go in person to check it out. And this is her reply:

Click it, and weep. Of course just with this, I knew it was off. I read up a bit and apparently this is how it goes: They tell you that they’re away, but the keys are in [your country] and you can get it by using a Fedex code that they’ll provide. Basically, you wire them the money first and then they give you the code.

But if they can’t get your money, they’ll at least try to get more information from you, for instance, a scanned copy of your ID. Why? So they can use it to scam some other poor victim. They’ll use your info to “prove” that they’re a real and trustworthy — after all, they gave you their personal information!

So I just stopped replying. Anyway, I’m sharing this to spread the word. I read that quite a few people still fall for it, sadly.

This is Ginataan (literally “made with coconut milk”) a very Filipino dessert with sweet potato, yam, taro, plantains, tapioca pearls, jackfruit and glutinous rice balls. Probably sounds weird to you now, but unless you don’t like sweets, this is satisfaction guaranteed.

Just last week I was trying to explain the dish to my BF. I knew I wasn’t doing it justice with my explanation, but I remember wishing more than anything that I could have some.

And now I’m home for the weekend! Yesterday, eating this, I felt an overwhelming sense of joy. As awesome as Hong Kong is, the lifestyle and the experience, it’s never gonna beat the sheer bliss of being at home with family, eating good food like this.

Man, if only I could go home every weekend!

Reason #1: We got 2 HK$1250 tickets a day before the event, and 4 more tickets on the day itself. All of them, we got for free. I don’t know about you but free stuff is always good, and getting free stuff for your friends is even better! Did the free tickets really make the night more enjoyable? You bet your crusty keyboard they did!

Reason #2: For me and I’m sure many others, it wasn’t really just about the rugby. Sure, 99% of the people there were watching the game. I’d say at least two-thirds of the crowd actually knew what was going on. But the best part about being there that night was…

… the guy in the Gumby outfit.

But kidding aside, that picture shows just why it was so great just being there, whether or not you were a rugby fan. Drinks, costumes, cheering, a healthy degree of rowdiness, and just the general atmosphere of having a great time. You could almost feel it, you could almost shake its hand and offer it a drink. It pretty much forces you to have fun.

Reason #3: There was barely room to walk along the aisles, let alone find a seat. And then we saw it: an entire row — right in front beside the coveted South Stand seats — unoccupied. We dared to ask if they were taken, and miraculously, they weren’t! So we were right by one end of the field, catching all the action.

And let  me tell you, you don’t have to know all the rules to appreciate the sport, especially when  you’re that close.

One thing worth noting is that this doesn’t seem to be an event for the locals. None of the locals in the office seemed interested — not even in the idea of getting free tickets to watch it. And the stadium itself that night was mostly foreigners, expats and tourists, exchange students, and locals who had foreigner friends. Is it the rowdiness? Is it the sport itself? I wonder.

Soon, the Friday night games were over. Even after walking out of the stadium that night, you could clearly see from the costumes, laughter and singing in the streets and trains that people were carrying the Sevens atmosphere with them. Unfortunately we didn’t have tickets for the next two days (not terrible, since it ended up raining that weekend), but I’d say that very interesting night was memorable enough for me.

Note: All pictures taken and owned by Brian Chong.