I was one of many who heard about Max Brooks#39; satirical guide book The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead. Being a huge fan of George A. Romero#39;s Dead series of films and just the zombie subgenre in general, I was intrigued by the release of this guidebook. From the first page to the last I was impressed, entertained, and hooked on Brooks#39; serio-comic take on how to survive a zombie outbreak. One section of the book which really caught my interest and has re
This just in from CheapOair , offering travel deals to the Charlotte, NC area that played host to the Hunger Games production. “Visit the DuPont State Recreational Forest (also known as the arena in the movie) where you can find a dramatic landscape of waterfalls, hideaway lakes, streams and pines, as well as the spot where Peeta camouflaged himself in the movie, and traces of the pyrotechnics from the fireball sequence.” While you’re at it, how’s about a lovely spring picnic on the site where children lost their lives fighting to the death in the movie? Sign me up! But wait, there’s more! “Next on your itinerary you can make a night out of Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood which is home to artsy galleries, bars and restaurants, as well as the spots where the Hunger Games cast spent their nights out. Barnardsville also hosts a Navitat Canopy Tour, which is home to one of the many ziplines in Western North Carolina. Close by this stop, pre-game scenes with Katniss and Gale were filmed in Pisgah National Forest.” Ah, yes. For just a few hundred dollars you can sit in the woods where Katniss and Peeta pondered their escape from the living fascist nightmare that is the Capitol on Reaping Day! Unfortunately, the CheapO deals seem to offer hotel and airfare only ($717 for 4 nights from NYC! $561 for 3 nights from LA!) and aren’t a part of a coordinated Hunger Games tour, which of course do exist. Pure Vida Adventures offers a day-long Hunger Games Survival School for just $150 that “focuses primarily on the nonviolent survival skills including fire and shelter building, knot tying, snares, off trail travel, and navigation.” And for a more immersive experience, you can pay $389 to Hunger Games Fan Tours to spend the weekend divided into “districts,” get trained in archery, sling-shots, camouflaging, and sling-shots, and zip line through the trees at night to feel just like Katniss and Rue before testing your skills against the other tributes. (Sans battle royale, I’m assuming.) It’s only a matter of time before some enterprising hotelier in North Carolina gets the idea to open a Hunger Games -themed establishment, a la Twilight . Perhaps decorated in the sparse, coal-mining shanty chic of the Everdeen home?
