#hungrygames

20/11/2025

While I’m on my way to buy a gym membership, a thought hit me, and now you’ll have to endure my longread.

Have zoomers completely forgotten what porridge at home smells like? I mean, back in 2014 we were all dying over The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Divergent, and now we passionately read modern dark romances, dark academia, and other not-exactly-high-quality literature?

Dystopias are the most brilliant genre in the entire literary world: you get sci-fi, a love line, the emotional “glass,” political context, and, in the end, something to actually think about. And dystopias aren’t limited to Zamyatin, Huxley, or Orwell. There are many truly good dystopias: Fatherland, Julia, Kallocain, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Running Man (King managed to succeed even here), and so on and so forth.

And if you say they all look the same, I’ll smack you, because each author puts their own issues and their own thoughts about society, politics, and the world as a whole into their work. You just need to think, read carefully, and apply a minimal amount of analysis.

Thursday, July 11th:

(exclusive): Sausage Party: Foodtopia (APrime, animated series, all 8 eps), Vikings: Valhalla (netflix, season 3 available, all 8 eps, series finale), Another Self (netflix, Turkish romance, season 2 available, all 8 eps), "Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer" (hulu, docuseries, all 3 parts), The Hungry Games: Alaska's Big Bear Challenge (Peacock, nature's competitive reality, all 3 eps)

(movies): Tyler Perry's "Divorce in the Black" (APrime, thriller drama, 2hrs), "Vanished Into the Night" (netflix, Italian mystery thriller, ~90mins)

(streaming weekly): The Boys (APrime, penultimate), MILF of Norway (MAX, comedy series premiere), The Responder (BritBox, season 2 opener, first 2 eps), Land of Tanabata (hulu), Suicide Squad ISEKAI (hulu), Evil (Para+), Criminal Minds: Evolution (Para+), Domino Day: Lone Witch (SundanceNow|AMC+), Carl Weber's "The Family Business" (BET+), College Hill: Celebrity Edition (BET+), Makeup x Breakup (AllBlk), Hart to Heart (Peacock, next 2 eps)

(Shark Week): "Monster of Oz" (DSC|Max), "Caught! When Sharks Attack" (DSC|Max), "Great White Danger Zone" (DSC|Max)

(also new): 2024 ESPY Awards (ABC, 32nd annual ceremony, 3hrs), "Deadly Wives Club" (LMN original movie, 2hrs)

(hour 1): Don't Forget the Lyrics! (FOX, 2hrs in some markets)

(hour 2): Masters of Illusion (theCW) / . / World's Funniest Animals (theCW)