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Hunger Games Fans Are Cheaters… AKA Kids At Heart
Let’s all stop and admit to something: We are a bunch of big, dirty cheating cheaters!
It’s not our fault! When you’re swimming with sharks or running with wolves or existing alongside some vicious creature (aka other fandoms!), you do what you gotta do to come out on top!
It least it looks cooler than an Oscar!
How did this revelation come about, you ask?
Today was a big day for me on a personal level, as I managed to pull off my sister’s bridal shower without murdering anyone in the process. But even in the middle of playing party hostess extraordinaire, The Hunger Games still worked its way into the day… because everyone knows I’m a huge fandom geek.
This time, it was a cousin who has children in the appropriate Kids Choice Awards age range. To paraphrase…
Her: “We were watching The Kids Choice Awards last night. The Hunger Games won a bunch of stuff! I was kind of surprised, given the age range.”
Me: “Oh, the Internet knows no age range. Maybe 10 percent of the people voting for The Hunger Games were actually age appropriate. When voting is all online, an 80-year-old could vote for the Kids Choice and no one would be the wiser. Kids voted, I’m sure, but I guarantee you there were way more adults. Hell, I bet some cleared their cookies and voted multiple times.”
Her: “Don’t grown adults have better things to do with their time?”
Me: “Sadly, no.”
From there, I tried to point out Alexander Ludwig’s heinous comb-over. She didn’t recall, but SERIOUSLY, WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT?!
Anyhow, clearly there’s a large chunk of cheaters among us! Not to say that there aren’t kids who have read or seen The Hunger Games– we’re under the firm belief that it’s up to parents to decide when their children can watch certain books or read certain books– but we wouldn’t guess that the majority of kids are totally saavy on books and movies heavy on death and political turmoil. Plus, WE KNOW about the cheating because we helped facilitate it through our social networks! Because if The Hunger Games is nominated, WE BETTER WIN, DAMMIT!
Willow’s elbows FTW!
We’re not the only ones, of course! Kristen Stewart won not one but two awards. Plus Johnny Depp took home the award for Best Actor for Dark Shadows, which was a great movie… said no kid ever. They seem a little out of place among the wins for Selena Gomez and One Direction and Spongebob Squarepants. That’s because they are! They were put there for the fandoms and the fandoms ensured the win, regardless of supposed “age restrictions”.
For the record, it was totally worth it, simply for that moment we realized that Willow Shields is both adorable AND double jointed in her elbows!
We All Know We Have the Maturity Level of a Ten Year-Old Anyway,
The Girl With The Pearl
Jennifer Lawrence: ACADEMY AWARD WINNER
Excuse us for a moment, but… OMG OMG OMG JENNIFER LAWRENCE JUST WON AN OSCAR!!1!11! SHE IS OUR KATNISS EVERDEEN AND SHE IS SUPER TALENTED AND NOW SHE IS AN ACADEMY AWARD WINNER!!!!1!1! HOLY FUCKBALLS, THAT. JUST. HAPPENED!!!!
And looked FABULOUS doing it!
*cough* We mean, not that we’re that surprised. We explained our high hopes after seeing Silver Linings Playbook and her steady string of wins beforehand, but nothing is guaranteed until it happens and IT DID. If ever you stumble across this in an alternate universe where you find yourself on Hunger Games humor blogs: CONGRATULATIONS, JENNIFER!
Also, before the fandom snobs come out to say “So what? She didn’t win for The Hunger Games. Why is the fandom making a big deal out of it?” Just leave the party (aka this blog) NOW. You are uninvited, because you clearly don’t get it, man! Jennifer is the core of the films and we support her in all her endeavors because she’s whip smart, grounded, and doing all she can to make great films… We even forgive her for House at the End of the Street!
But before the Oscar was even won, fans were all a-Twitter about what could happen if she did…
DUN DUN DUUNNNNNN! THE DREADED OSCAR CURSE!
Yes, the curse in which talented actors win an Academy Award and then go on to take a professional cliff dive into ridiculously bad film choices that make audiences wince, with the occasional decent but not-very-worthwhile role thrown in there. Halle Berry, Marisa Tomei, Adrien Brody, and Cuba Gooding Jr. are popular examples of the phenomenon at work. Will Jennifer Lawrence be next?
STILL BETTER THAN YOU.
To help riddle this out, we’ve created a list of what could happen to Jen’s career:
1. Catching Fire, Mockingjay: Part 1, and Mockingjay: Part 2 could all bomb critically despite intense popularity, thus truly making it the next Twilight.
2. Beloved Hollywood directing icon in the making, David O. Russell, could turn Jennifer’s other upcoming films, The Ends of the Earth and an untitled Abscam film, into utter disasters.
3. After receiving almost every script she qualifies for a role in, she picks all the most tired, oldest concepts and roles that she can easily phone in.
4. She quits acting to pursue a career in crab fishing or cattle ranching, never to be seen in Hollywood again.
5. She makes her upcoming films. They are released and most likely get good receptions from both audiences and critics. She makes more movies, some of which probably miss the mark, but she tries to make smart film choices and acts the hell out of them either way. She gets plenty more opportunity for recognition over the next several years.
We might be straight up craaaaaaazy, but we’re gonna go with #5!
For every “Oscar curse” recipient, there are others who have won in multiple occasions or even been well-received throughout their careers without a slew of extra nominations. Daniel Day-Lewis won his third Lead Actor award tonight and it’s not coincidence– the man has talent and he took on challenging, risky roles that paid off over the course of a long career. He’s astounding but he’s not superhuman, so why should we expect other winners like Jennifer to fail?
We Trip Every Day! Talk About Us Instead, Media!
The Girl With The Pearl
Oscar Hopes
The Oscars are just hours away now, and as Jennifer Lawrence is up for Best Actress for a second time, I’ve just gotta cross my fingers for her. I’ve been rooting for Jennifer and the film itself since I first saw it last November (I’ve seen it at least 4 times since, the latest was a trip to the movies last night), and a lot has happened since then.
Silver Linings Playbook and Jennifer have since achieved several awards and nominations, Jennifer having most recently won an Independent Spirit Award. Jennifer has also won a Golden Globe, which the acceptance speech for it got her some negative attention from people who didn’t get the joke (still judging you if you took that seriously, just saying), and she appeared on Saturday Night Live to mixed reviews. Toss in bouts of the flu and pneumonia and more Catching Fire filming, and it’s evident it’s been a crazy couple of months for her.
I’ve seen several of the Oscar movies since and have felt that Jennifer’s performance still wins it for me. Do the Oscar voters agree with me? We’ll see Sunday night. And remember, it’s okay if she doesn’t win. Seriously, no need to be sore if it isn’t Jennifer who wins. I mean, we don’t want to see anyone bad-mouthing a 9 year old for winning. I know it’s cliche, but it really is an honor just to be nominated. And remember to ignore those pesky catfight rumors. But hey, we’ve still got high hopes.
High apple-pie-in-the-sky hopes
Twiffidy
Feud-alisms
The other day, I read an article where Jessica Chastain denied on her Facebook page that there was a feud between her and our dear Jennifer Lawrence. To which, I went, Hold up, people actually think they’re feuding?! And it’s a big enough problem where Ms. Chastain actually had to address it?
In fact, this was courtesy of the ever reliable source, ShowBiz Spy. Gross.
Sure, they’re in about every best actress race there is during this prestige season, and they’re always mentioned as the two frontrunners to boot. But so are several nominees in other categories. That actually tends to be the case, the same people, plus or minus an Affleck, tend to get nominated in the same categories for each award. It doesn’t mean everyone is feuding.
In fact, during awards season, the nominees tend to hang out with each other a lot during press events and what not and they always seem to have great camaraderie among them. Didn’t Jennifer say Sally Field joked they should carpool? And one of my favorite best actress moments ever – and let’s face it top 5 for awards show moments just in general at least – was during the 2011 Emmys in the comedy category when the lovely female nominees stood together on stage in support and genuine fondness of each other.
But no, two highly lauded, successful actresses MUST be feuding. If the media were to be believed, every actress must hate Jennifer, from Kristen Stewart to Angelina Jolie and now Jessica Chastain. Each story just seems more ludicrous than the next.
From Jessica’s statement:
“Please don’t allow the media to perpetuate the myth that women aren’t supportive of each other. Every time an actress is celebrated for her great work, I cheer. For the more brilliant their performance, the more the audience demands stories about women. With support and encouragement, we help to inspire this industry to create opportunities for women. And as we all know: a great year for women in film, is just a great year for film.”
So can we please put this one to rest?
The only ‘catfight’ Jennifer should be involved in is with Buttercup
Twiffidy
We Beat Meryl Streep
The First Wives Club isn’t a movie that most people in my generation memorize. We’ve seen it, but it was mostly something that we watched when they played it a lot on basic cable television when we were little. It was appreciated a bit then mostly forgotten by most of us. Then again, Jennifer Lawrence isn’t the same as most of our generation.
Bam!
In her Golden Globes acceptance speech, it became clear that Jennifer Lawrence has memorized The First Wives Club when, despite a 104 degree fever, she spouted out several jokes including a cheeky “I beat Meryl Streep!”
Let’s get say that I haven’t seen the movie in AT LEAST 10 years and I recognized the quote as said by Bette Midler, mainly because Bette Midler has a way of saying things that makes it hard to forget!
Hollywood exploded, because Hollywood is full of oversensitive idiots. The charge has been led by Lindsay Lohan, who– OH, IT’S JUST TOO EASY! Let’s just remind you that we did once suggest her for the female morphling role and we seriously doubt she’s watched enough decent cinema.
Even for those of us who didn’t recognize the quote, Jennifer quotes it in the same tone as Bette Midler, which is clearly not serious. Jennifer is giddy, she’s unpredictable, but she’s also really, really friendly. You think one big award win and she’s going to start spitting on America’s sweethearts? Really?! This was the Best Actress in a Comedy category and we can’t crack jokes?!
Hollywood has a collective stick shoved up an uncomfortable place from which it should be removed. A trophy shaped stick.
One of the only people who hasn’t spoken out about this ridiculous so called “controversy” is Meryl Streep, who was probably smart enough to 1) get the joke and 2) not be an arrogant diva who talks about it all over the media. It’s sad that she’ll probably have to address it some other time. we bet she’s rolling her eyes just thinking about it, sighing at all of the people too silly to take a joke.
Meryl is Rolling in Her Millions and Not Really Worrying About It,
The Girl With The Pearl
Comedy or Error?
There are smiles…
As predicted, awards season nominations have been very good to Jennifer Lawrence and her performance in Silver Linings Playbook. Deservedly so, seeing as fans and critics alike have raved about her intelligent take on Tiffany, an unpredictable widower who joins forces with Bradley Cooper’s character to overcome their fears and illnesses together.
There’s just one thing that has got us worried: The Golden Globes has made the dubious decision to list Silver Linings Playbook as a comedy, thus pinning both Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley’s Coopers performances in the “Comedy or Musical” category.
… But things are dramatic!
Silver Linings Playbook is the type of movie known as a dramedy, in which the story has dark, dramatic undertones but, since the characters in the film are doing everything they can NOT to drown in their own sorrows, there are moments of comedic lightness. It’s a hard film to categorize, but we really, really wish it had gone into the opposite category. Here’s the catch: The Golden Globes, while not directly affiliated with the Academy Awards, is a major precursor to Oscar night. And when Oscar narrows things down into neat little categories like “Best Actress”, it’s the comedic nominees that usually lose their place in the lineup because they’re not taken quite so seriously. (Recently, this is not true of musical side of the category, nor do we think Les Miserables will be shunned, because it’s freaking LES MIZ.)
We’re pretty confident that Jennifer’s amazing performance will be recognized enough to survive the category subsidization shuffle, Hollywood is a bureaucratic beast. It’s hard to imagine why the Hollywood Foreign Press Association would pin her performance as comedic when there was so much pain and depth in her character, even during many of the times she made you laugh. Was there just too many actors or actresses they wanted to include in the dramatic category, so tossing Silver Linings Playbook into comedy worked for everyone? Only time will tell.
Better Make It Up To Jen With A Win, GGs!
The Girl With The Pearl
The Silver Lining
Black Friday this year meant getting a great deal on a TV for myself and taking a trip down to my local AMC to watch Silver Linings Playbook. You don’t understand, guys. I’ve been waiting for this movie since those pap shots of her filming the jogging scenes a year ago that led to me IMDb-ing the movie to find out that she’s playing a character with my name*. As a Tiffany, you don’t really get many great onscreen namesakes. For some reason, the name is usually a punchline for a joke about a ditzy girl, never an actual main character with substance.
And all the Oscar buzz surrounding Jennifer Lawrence and her portrayal of Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook has got me even more excited. She’s already an Academy Award nominee for her role as Rhee in Winter’s Bone, and though nominations don’t get announced until January, it seems like all anyone can talk about for the Best Actress category is Jennifer. And let’s not forget the Golden Globe and SAG awards, nominations for which will be announced in a couple weeks.
If Jennifer wins a major award for Silver Linings Playbook, pre-Catching Fire release, it can mean even more attention and credibility to the film and to the rest of the franchise. Hunger Games fans already like stressing they’ve got an Oscar nominee heading their series, what’s it going to mean if she becomes an Oscar winner? While it’s still beyond me that the teen franchise stigma still plagues us even after the release of The Hunger Games, anything to chip away at it and give more cred to the series is welcome in my book.
Do I think she deserves it? The thing that impressed me the most about Jennifer’s portrayal of Tiffany is while Jennifer seems drawn to female characters with a lot of depth (yes, please Hollywood give us more of those!), she was still a unique character. While the media wants to pin Jennifer as being the “strong female” actress, when you look at it, they’re not all cookie cut-outs of the same role.
So here’s to hoping that the enigma that is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gets it, and let’s all cross our fingers for Jennifer.
This Tiffany approves
Twiffidy
*Jennifer also played “Tiff” in Garden Party
It’s Your Choice
The Hunger Games is up for 7 People’s Choice Award nominations, and that’s huge. I just got done voting, and I tell you, it’s tough. As a pop culture fanatic with such a soft spot for The Hunger Games, there is a dilemma. Do you just vote for The Hunger Games straight across the board?
It’s hard not to have your biases. I mean, obviously I am biased. I write for this blog after all and run yet another Hunger Games fansite (when I have Internet at home, that is – did anyone miss me while I was gone?). But what about my other biases? I hesitated for a few seconds between The Amazing Spider-Man and The Hunger Games and between Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence. I am a little in love with Andrew Garfield, and I’ve liked Emma Stone as an actress longer.
But let’s face it, that little voice in my head won out, the one yelling “You’re a Hunger Games fansite runner, for crying out loud! How are you going to ask others to vote for The Hunger Games when you didn’t?!” Kind of funny to say after The Girl With The Pearl’s post encouraging HG fans to expand their horizons. But hey, there’s nothing wrong with having a favorite. And there’s nothing like that sense of duty to your fandom.
In all actuality, though, would I really vote for anything else? Probably not. In what we call the real world, I’m still that girl who likes The Hunger Games, and you don’t spend the better part of the last two or so years obsessing over a movie and not giving them your support, especially when you do love the movie and the actors in it.
Now vote! For whoever you want, of course.
But remember, you are reading a Hunger Games blog 
Twiffidy
The Feline Has Escaped the Sack
When Monday came around and the news that Jena Malone was officially cast in Catching Fire, I was actually amused.
Why?
Because my initial thought was “Is this because of Josh?”
Let’s back up here. Sunday night, the night before the announcement, after winning his Choice Movie Actor award at the Teen Choice Awards, Josh Hutcherson was interviewed by Access Hollywood about being excited about the Catching Fire cast, and he mentioned Jena Malone. At that point, there had not been confirmation that she was cast to play Johanna Mason. Essentially, he appeared to have let the cat out of the bag.
Never let this cat out of the bag
So I had to wonder, was this casting announcement actually scheduled for Monday? Could it have maybe been scheduled for today, but bumped up to avoid articles the next day full of speculation from the media. Beat them to the punch the next day before it can just be another sensationalized rumor article! Damage control!
Or then again it could’ve just been scheduled for Monday. Contrary to some whisperings I’ve been hearing, not all casting announcements come on Tuesdays. Amanda Plummer’s may have, but Philip Seymour Hoffman’s was on a Monday as well. So there is no way to divine when a casting announcement will happen. We just know they don’t happen on weekends. And there are still many spaces on CatchingFireCasting.com that need to be filled up! So be on alert. When casting for The Hunger Games happened, casting news came every day at one point (thanks to Savanna New for reminding us!).
And Josh, we hope you didn’t get in trouble! And we hope Lionsgate doesn’t make you get rid of your fledgeling sideburns as punishment (actually we do).
Something about Buttercup and the orange backpack
Twiffidy
MTV Movie Awards 2012: The Year of the YA Trio of Trios
Sunday is the MTV Movie Awards, and The Hunger Games is up for 8 of them. It’s a little complicated because this is the only year that the three big young adult franchises, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Twilight, will be included as nominees at the same time. All three are even in 2 categories together: Best Movie and Best Kiss (opposite ends of the credibility spectrum, am I right?). And The Hunger Games is the newbie so it’ll have a lot to prove, Harry Potter is done so it’s the last chance for awards, and Twilight is notorious for winning everything so it’d want to stand its ground.
It’s a trying time for fans of more than one of those because we must decide where our loyalties lie. As of right now, Katniss and Harry are the obvious frontrunners for Best Hero, and neither’s heroism can be shrugged off. So for some, it’s a bit of a philosophical/ethical nightmare. Voting Best Movie makes us weigh which was a better adaptation and which stood well alone as a movie, voting Best Kiss is basically making us choose our OTP, which for some of us is pretty serious.
What does MTV stand for nowadays?
Whatever the outcome, let’s all keep it in perspective. It’s not the bloody Oscars. It’s MTV, and the winners are the result of online voting, the process for which can and is known to be abused. We’ve been gotten good by this before, and even though it’s a tad more than a Magical Internet Pony, please remember: it’s not a big deal if The Hunger Games doesn’t win them all. In fact, as was said before, it’s probably best if they don’t (maybe 2 or 3?). So let’s be a good fandom, and celebrate the fact that YA is ruling this year’s MTV Movie Awards.
Let’s Twitter Party it up, and watch anxiously to see who wins. Let’s not end up like these girls. And it’s ok to be happy if Harry Potter wins Best Cast. You’re not betraying your fandom. We’ll be all right.
This is the same channel that airs The Pauly D Project
Twiffidy
