How good is this?

In which I talk about some things I've really liked lately.

1. The Hunger Games
How good is this book? Suzanne Collins' dystopian YA novel is conceptually nothing more than The Running Man meets Battle Royale (a movie where the concept far outshines the execution, incidentally). What it lacks in originally it makes up for in worldbuilding, characterization, and pacing. Collins zips through the story with breakneck speed; sometimes the novel seems to go by too fast, but by the time the Hunger Games start I was too busy reading to see what happens next to care. The first-person perspective prevents all characters but protagonist Katniss from getting the fleshing-out they deserve, but even then there are a few character deaths that I felt remorse over. And while the plot by necessity requires Katniss to be occasionally submissive and passive, she's thankfully no Bella Swan (in my dreams, Katniss treats Bella like a pincushion). Even a forced love interest, which caused me to initially roll my eyes, eventually makes sense within the narrative. Collins' prose is appropriately spartan for the audience and the tone, all the better to make me want to mainline the other two books in the series.

And since the film adaptation is currently being casted, let me play armchair director for a second. I get why Jennifer Lawrence was chosen to be Katniss after her role in Winter's Bone, but there's no reason Hailee Steinfeld shouldn't have been cast (okay, there is, but not from an artistic standpoint). Ironically, Lawrence would make a great Glimmer. Several fans have claimed that Amy Poehler would make a great Effie Trinket and I have to agree. As for Haymitch, there's a whole laundry list of old tough bastard character actors to choose from: Ray Winstone, Ray Stevenson, Ron Perlman, etc. For some reason, I'm picturing Matthew Morrison as Cinna. And there has to be room for Chloe Moretz somewhere, for God's sakes - Foxface, perhaps?

(On even more of a tangent, my all-time unrequited bit of fantasy casting was Ludivine Sagnier as Fleur Delacour for the Harry Potter series, but did Hollywood listen? Nooooooo.)

2. Sons of Anarchy: "Balm"
How good was this episode? I've been burning through the second season of Sons now that it's newly on Netflix Instant Viewing, and it hasn't disappointed. But "Balm" takes the series to a whole new level. The scene at the end with Jax, Clay, Tara, and Gemma made me a little misty eyed - something The Wire never even accomplished. In fact, the entire ending montage is powerful, which is saying something for a series that specializes in ending montages. The moment with Tig flipped out on shrooms and crying his eyes out is hilarious until you realize why he's crying, and then it crashes into poignancy. Brilliant.

3. SyFy's decision to re-air Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
How good is this decision? I'll go to the mat for T:SCC; it was one of the most underrated shows of the past few years. I doubt I'll be re-watching most of it, since it is airing during the highly competitive Thursday night slot, but hopefully sci-fi geeks who missed it the first time will find it.

4. The current season of Archer
How good has this season been? "Placebo Effect" was one of the funniest episodes of any show this year, and "El Secuestro" had me oddly attracted to Pam (more importantly, it was an outstanding showcase for voice actress Amber Nash). Giving Krieger and Gillette more to do this season has also paid extraordinary dividends. And all of this praise takes for granted H Jon Benjamin's work as Sterling Archer, the funniest douchebag on television.

Top Chef All-Stars final power rankings

How do all 18 cheftestants compare now that the season is over?

1. Richard
Win the competition, get crowned #1. It's not rocket science. And besides, Blais deserves it.

2. Antonia
Was screwed out of a Quickfire win on a technicality and could've picked up another Elimination Challenge win if her teammates hadn't been terrible. Otherwise she measures up equally to the season's runner-up...

3. Mike
Too bad nobody likes Mike (albeit for good reason) because he could've been named Top Chef. He's certainly improved since his season - I had him pegged as one of the first to go. Sure, he never sparkled, and only started winning Elimination Challenges once stronger chefs had been kicked out, but he made it to the final episode. That's an achievement.

4. Dale T.
Amassed a lot of wins, and showed maturity since being his season's resident hot-head.

5. Carla
Still maddeningly flighty.

6. Angelo
Peaked too early by winning the first two Elimination Challenges but none after that.

7. Tiffany
Like Mike, she had the luck of outlasting more talented cheftestants. Unlike Mike, she didn't have the chops to back it up. She didn't win a single Elimination Challenge. Even Marcel had an Elimination Challenge win.

8. Fabio
Fabio ran red hot or ice cold, placing in either the top or the bottom of every Elimination Challenge.

9. Tre
Solid middle-of-the-pack contestant.

10. Marcel
Got an Elimination Challenge win, but shared it with teammates Richard and Angelo. One of these chefs is not like the other.

11. Spike
Managed to not be a total asshat, which was accomplishment enough, and somehow proved to be Richard's ideal sous chef. Who knew?

12. Tiffani

13. Casey

14. Dale L.

15. Stephen

16. Jamie

17. Jennifer

18. Elia
The bottom three are two who clearly didn't want to be there, and one who self-destructed. I had Jennifer as #5 in my preseason rankings, but even then I knew that she didn't perform well under pressure.

Disconnected thoughts on The Killing: "Pilot" and "The Cage"

- Maybe crime dramas set in the Pacific Northwest aren't for me. The pilot to Twin Peaks didn't rope me in, and the first two episodes of The Killing I stuck with based on critical opinion and the fact that AMC does no wrong. (I bailed on Rubicon after the first episode and it apparently got better so what do I know)

- Rain should get first billing in the cast.

- I seem to be the only one who doesn't like Mireille Enos as the lead. She looks like she's 25 and should be working on her MFA in poetry, not a homicide detective. Joel Kinnaman as her shifty partner, though? Brilliant. If I keep watching the series, it will be because of him. Case in point: the scene with the two soccer players.

- I immediately recognized Jasper's house as Daniel Greystone's from Caprica (both series were shot in Vancouver). And yet I don't remember half of what I learned in college.

- Better know a character actor: Eric Laden, who plays the douchey assistant to Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell), also plays Betty Draper's douchey brother on Mad Men.

- Seriously, enough with the goddamn rain already.