Divergent, Insurgent, and the upcoming Allegiant

I started reading the Divergent series while poolside in Vegas. Vegas is another post or maybe a never post since it is Vegas. So why Divergent? A month ago, I finally got my The Hunger Games series back from my godbrother. I immediately re-read them, again, and again. So yes, I re-read them 3X. Obviously, the series is a fast read and I can be obsessive about knowing every single detail. After the third re-reading, I wished I could go back and start The Hunger Games trilogy without knowing anything. It is rare that I want to re-read books. The only other time it has happened to me is with the Harry Potter series. This of course says a lot about me. I like simplistic books whose deeper meanings are to be discovered. In lieu of reading Harry Potter over again, I researched some new book series. I had very narrow criteria: there will be no years long waiting for the book series' end (learned my lesson from Harry Potter), no love triangles (there is a reason why I don't read chick lit), and finally, most importantly, it must be well-reviewed. I vaguely remembered something about a movie named Divergent. I learned Divergent was based on a book also named Divergent. Within an hour, I had ordered Divergent and its sequel Insurgent from Amazon. The final book Allegiant will be published in October.

Divergent revolves around a  strong-willed 16 year old female living in a post-apocalyptic world. Sounds familiar? The world is divided into 5 factions: Abnegation, Dauntless, Erudite, Candor, and Amity. I will withhold describing each faction for the simple reason the author Veronica Roth also does not explicitly describe the factions: reading the books gives a better idea on the faction purpose/ideal than the definition of the word. Roth has stated she picked unfamiliar words for the faction names so that people would not be predisposed to think of a faction a certain way. The protagonist, Tris, is divergent suggesting she could belong to multiple factions. This uniqueness makes her death a certainty until a few people sacrifice their lives for her. Some die because of Tris's desire to live. To say more would require a lot of explanation and make this blog post way tooo long. There is a male, Four, whose fighting skills and love for Tris save her repeatedly. Insurgent brings the series long mystery out into the open. Allegiant is anxiously awaited by many and will probably not disappoint.

I feel confident Allegiant will be good because of the strength of Divergent and Insurgent. Unlike The Hunger Games series, whose bleakest book is the last book MockingJay, Divergent will probably be harshest book of the series. The deaths (yes, plural) experienced in Divergent are heart-breaking and the guilt destroys Tris for most of Insurgent. However, the big mystery reveal of Insurgent sets Allegiant up to be chaotic. Roth stated in ComicCon that Allegient will have points of view from Tris and Four (Divergent and Insurgent were from Tris's point of view) which is intriguing. Does Tris die? Does Four die? Why does everyone need to die????

In many ways, Divergent is subpar to The Hunger Games. There are some inconsistencies within the series and the editing could be sharper. However, I would say Divergent is more ambitious. This is Roth's first book series and it shows. A veteran writer would never attempt something with this magnitude. I'm excited to see what happens and will admit to being optimistic for a happy-ish ending. October can't come soon enough.

PEDs are everywhere, the age of denial is ending

I'm fairly obsessed with sports. That is probably an understatement. I relate to things in my life according to sporting events. Fall is football, summer is baseball, and the period between the two is known as dead time. Though hockey has become part of my sports watching schedule since the 2010 Olympics. The 2014 Olympics will only entrench hockey into my sports watching. I digress since this post is about the worst part of sports: PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs).

Yesterday, Ryan Braun accepted an MLB suspension for the rest of the season. He is in the prime of his career and has sort of/basically admitted to using PEDs to enhance his baseball performance. Other MLB suspensions are imminent. Braun is definitely not the first person to use PEDs and most certainly not the last. Recently, The Tour de France concluded to little fanfare. Cycling  has taken a hit in popularity due to the PEDs admission of Lance Armstrong. It is a sad thing because cyclists are athletes who abuse their bodies the most. The fact that most of them felt they needed to go a step further to even compete is really what this PEDs situation is all about.

I cannot even begin to comprehend how it must feel to be innately good at one thing. Then to watch your superiority pale in comparison to others. To decide what to do next rests on the strength of your character. I'm not saying if I was a supreme athlete, I wouldn't take PEDs. I'm simply just acknowledging it is an unfathomable decision. There is nothing brave about admitting the truth with your back against a wall. There is nothing admirable about accepting consequences while previously accepting millions of $$$. Obviously this does not only apply to sports.

It seems like the age of denial regarding PEDs is coming to an end. As a sports fan with wide open eyes, it is something I've been waiting for since the Sammy Sosa/Mark McGwire era. Though I have spent the time between that baseball season and now cheering on various sports games, I have always felt uneasy being obsessed with something where cheaters prospered. Maybe now, I will be able to fully enjoy watching sports. At least, that is my hope.

The ComicCon of it all

Since I grew up in San Diego, I basically grew up alongside ComicCon. I've gone only once, ~11 years ago. I bought tickets from a friend who has a booth every year. Mmm, I just realized he probably sells his extra tickets for huge profit these days. I used to be able to enter any "geek" conversation seamlessly. Now there is Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, and a bunch of other things that completely elude me.

I have no idea when TV became a huge deal at the Con (which is what people who go to ComicCon call it). It must have started with Smallville (does anyone else remember the Superman TV series with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher?) But it seems like every TV show has a panel at the Con. There is also a huge movie presence at the Con which I assume started with comic book movies. Spiderman 2 remains one of my favorite movies ever. Of course it is, Peter Parker underwent a genetic mutation! Since the Con has a huge following, it makes sense for everything entertainment wise to preview there since so people are in one place. Then that begets even more people to attend Con which leads to more things being showcased there. It is almost impossible to get tickets for Con these days unless you attended the previous year and are willing to buy the 5 day pass. The Con is soooo huge, they debate whether or not they should move it to a different city. Even though I don't go to ComicCon (even getting into downtown San Diego the weekend of ComicCon is a huge hassle), I can't imagine ComicCon not in San Diego. Some things just go with the other.

Now onto the most important ComicCon stuff: the costumes. Even though it is in the middle of summer, the weather in San Diego is in the mid-70s. This allows people to be comfortable and imaginative with costuming. The best costumes are always group costumes. And that is what ComicCon is really about: where friends get together and talk/obsess about their favorite things.

4th of July in San Diego

It came to my attention this past weekend, I've actually been out of the country at least 3X for 4th of July. The reasoning behind this fact is super simple: it is an extra vacation day. Also I can't remember when was the last time I spent 4th of July in San Diego. Although the war of independence was fought on the East Coast, San Diego is a military town. Independence Day is deeply felt throughout the city.

My family decided we would have a family reunion this 4th of July. This was super exciting for various reasons. We were going to rent a beach house in Mission Beach, San Diego. Family from NYC, Texas, and Hawaii would travel to San Diego. There would be bbq-ing, alcohol consumption, working on tans, and just hanging out. Since I don't see most of my family even at Christmas, I was looking forward to this.

And it was so much fun!! Too much food, mostly meat. Though if you surf fish, there was alot of good fishing to be done. The house came with two kitchens which turned out to be necessary. Mostly to store all the caught fish (freezer) and beer (fridge). My cousin from NYC bought Patron to make margaritas. We laughed at him and decided to do shots with the Patron. We talked about growing up in San Diego. A truly wonderful place to be young but the time frame was also idyllic. My family truly appreciated the effort everyone made to make this happen. Then we talked about doing the beach house again next year.

We watched about three different sets of fireworks on 4th of July. The best were from Sea World. The weather was perfect which I only mention because there was a scorching heat wave the previous week (some of us spent the entire week at the beach house...). The no alcohol law on the beach does make a difference. Everyone was just chill. I never really hung out in Mission Beach when I was younger (I was more of Pacific Beach gal), but from now I will always prefer Mission over PB. It will always remind me of family.