Half Blood Book Review

September 24, 2013September 24, 20136 Comments

Half Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, information pills and the children of two Hematoi pure bloods have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals–well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she’s crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn’t her biggest problem–staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

My Review:

I absolutely love the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I do. I remember feeling really apprehension about buying it because I didn’t like the cover, and some people had said it was too romantic and mushy but I ended up really liking, and I think a big part of that was the fact that the main character, Katy, was a book blogger, and Daemon was a hot alien who reminded me of Jace Wayland. But I do enjoy the series, and I eagerly await the final installment.

That being said, I’ve had quite a few people bugging me to read her other series, the Covenant series, for awhile now, some of them a little more demanding than others (I’m looking at you, Erin and Eilidh). I read a lot of books os it was on my “to-read” list but I just couldn’t make time for it. Then yesterday, for some reason, even though I have a huge stack of books to read, I decided to pick up the first in the series, Half Blood.

I finished it last night.

I think I’m already way more in love with this series than I am with the Lux series. and I do genuinely love that series. But oh my god, Half Blood absolutely blew me away. There’s something different that Jennifer Armentrout captures in these novels that I just don’t think comes across in Lux, and its just a great book. I immediately went to my friend, and was like “I’m broke, help me find the others” and she lent me the second one on Kindle, which I am EAGERLY waiting to read once I’m done reviewing it all for you.

The main character, Alexandria who goes by Alex, is just a seriously awesome character. She is so, excuse the language, but badass. She’s a fighter, she has a tough attitude and she’s stubborn as all hell. She has to prove that she is worth to stay at the Covenant and she has to work hard to prove that, but her temper and her stubbornness gets in the way of that sometimes and it makes you love her as a character. I hate perfect characters that always tend to do the right thing, and even when they do the wrong thing, its because they were trying to do the right thing. Alex is a very real character, and she has her own doubts and ideas and she gets distracted and she flies off the handle and she doesn’t always do the right thing, and I absolutely love that. I love that you’re so in her head that you feel her confidences and her doubts and her emotions. She feels so real to you.

I love all the other characters as well. Seth is pretty interesting and I’m curious to see how the interactions between him and Alex continue in the future of the books. I can’t say much more than that about him because it would be wicked spoiler like. I adore Aidan, because well, you’re totally supposed because he’s super hot, and a badass fighter and Alex is mad about him, and yeah, now I’m mad about him. Caleb is a fun character, who I wish I had as my best friend. There are so many characters, and even if you only see them for so long, you know them. That’s a mark of Jennifer L. Armentrout. She creates these massive worlds but she builds all the characters to seem real, and she does it so quickly.

I really enjoyed the story, and really whipped through it. Its a very different view of the whole demigod idea, which is a popular choice of story telling in the past few years but its interesting to see the different approaches that you get and I really like this one. I think its interesting how there’s almost a hierarchy based on if you’re a pure blood or a half blood, and even when you’re a half blood, whether you’re a servant or a Sentinel. Its so interesting which makes me believe that there’s going to be way more to this story than just Alex’s struggles but perhaps the struggle between the different classes of demigods. It should be super interesting. Now, I’m going to urge all of you to go read this book, so I can stop writing this review and go read the second one!

Rating:

5 out of 5 stars

YALL Fest Interview: Rainbow Rowell

September 24, 2013Leave a comment

Disclaimer: This was supposed to be posted yesterday and I apologize that it wasn’t. Sometimes school gets in the way of, what is ed like, shop remembering stuff haha.

Don’t forget to check out YALL Fest on their website and their twitter!

Today’s YALL Fest Interview is with none other than Rainbow Rowell.

Rainbow has written adult novels such as Attachments, story and her upcoming novel, Landlines. She has been garnering a lot of attention lately due to her two YA titles, Eleanor and Park and Fangirl, both of which I’ve reviewed on this blog and can be read by clicking on the title.

She is also doing some events in the next few months, besides YALL Fest, so you can check that out here.

Enjoy this short interview :)

Q: What one thing do you need to have when you write?

A: Lip Balm

Q: Describe your book in five words.

A: Fangirl: Earnest, snowy, swoony, minty, bookish

Q: What is the hardest line to write-the first or the last?

A: The first! The whole first page is a nightmare. I want people to just skip it. And I always end up rewriting it.

Q: Best writing tip you ever received?

A: “Just finish your book.”

Q: What one young adult novel do you wish you had when you were a teen? Why?

A: Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. I think it would have made me feel less alone.

Q: Where is your favorite place to write?

A: At coffee shops. In giant overstuffed chairs.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I’m revising my adult novel, Landline, which comes out in Spring 2014, and playing with a romance/political/tragicomic fantasy

Q: What is your favorite genre to write in? To Read?

A: I write mostly contemporary. I read mostly fantasy.

Q: At what point in the development of an idea do you know it will become a full length novel?

A: All my ideas are full length novels. I have a hard time narrowing my scope.

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I hope you enjoyed this interview with the wonderful Rainbow Rowell. Tune in Wednesday for another YALL Fest Interview!

Blogger Spotlight-Me!

September 23, 2013September 23, 20131 Comment

One of the best parts about running this blog is having the ability to meet some really cool people, try and some of the coolest people that I have met have led me to really cool blogs. I’ve said it before, no one’s blog is 100% original but everyone’s voices are different so there are blogs that I love to read because I love the writer, and I love the passion that they show for what they are writing. They are fun and interesting to read and they inspire me to get better and better in my blog.

So I decided to do a feature (inspired by Megan at the Nerdy Girlie’s Geek Girls Gab), where I profile the bloggers that I love. Not only do I get to find out more about them, but I also get to share them with you guys! Most of the bloggers that I follow are like me, nerd girls, fan girls and they enjoy the same things as me, and you! Every blogger that I profile is one that is super important to me and I urge you to check them out!

If you are interested in being featured on the Blogger Spotlight, feel free to contact me, please! I would love to hear from you, to feature you on the blog and to help spread the word about it!

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This week’s blogger is ME!

I realized that the most logical thing for me to do is to feature myself as the first ever Blogger Spotlight but I didn’t do that. Then I realized I didn’t have anyone to feature today because I’ve been busy and I’m sure the bloggers I’ve sent the interview to are busy, and well, now I’m the featured blogger!

My Twitter

My Tumblr

My Facebook

My Instagram

My GoodReads

Me in my Ravenclaw get-up before WonderCon 2013

A Little Bit about Myself

Well, I’m 25 years old, and I am currently going to Cal State University, Fullerton, working on my BA in history. My real passion though is reading and writing, and this blog. My goal is to make a career out of writing, somehow, though I wish to write young adult and new adult fiction. I live at home with my dad, my nana, my uncle, my three brothers and my two sisters. I have two dogs named Scout and Sabet and I’ve been with my boyfriend Jon (who I am sure you alllll know about because I talk about him so much) for nearly six years now. I spend most of my days reading, writing or working on this blog, and watching lots of movies, tv shows and Netflix, and a lot of time with my boyfriend. Some of my favorite things to do besides all that is to go meet authors. I am constantly looking for author events!

About My Blog

Well, if you’re reading this, you know about this blog. This blog is NOT a fansite, its not here to bring you news, though sometimes I do report news. This blog is about fan opinions, fan reviews and fan experiences. Its a place where I can come to share about all the things I’m passionate about. Besides just my Blogger Spotlight, I do Book of the Week posts, as well as other book reviews, movie reviews, I do Tuesday Top Tens where I talk about my favorite things. I do event recaps of the amazing things I get to experience. My life is wrapped around the book and fandom world and I love being able to share how passionate I am and how happy I am with all of you!

Myself with Stephen Chbosky, the author, screenwriter and director of The Perks of Being a Wallflower

My Inspiration for My Blog

There were two different inspirations for my blog. One comes from my friend Jackie who runs the blog, Seeking Bazinga. I had just met her and she was SOOO super awesome and I loved reading her blog. I thought, I could totally do something like that. I never realized that I could write about those sort of things and that people would actually read them!

Then, at the same time, I was taking a children’s literature class (that also had a heavy focus on young adult lit as well), and we had to do all these journals. They were all these kind of opinionated ones, about observing bookstores and what books would you recommended and I just felt like I enjoyed it a lot. I thought, maybe I could write about these sort of things on my blog, and thus What A Nerd GIrl Says was born.

My Favorite Nerd Memories:

I feel like I’ve been so incredibly lucky. I’ve been able to meet some of my favorite authors like Meg Cabot, Cassandra Clare, Sarah Dessen, Morgan Matson, Veronica Roth, and so many, many more.

I think my three favorite memories are: the first time meeting Meg Cabot, because she is one of my biggest influences at an author, meeting Cassandra Clare for the second time and being able to interview her (which you can see here) and the City of Bones Los Angeles premiere. I had been dreaming and hoping for the best when it came to City of Bones and the premiere and it was the most amazing experience that I’ve ever had and it blew my mind away, at how extremely happy I was, meeting all the stars.

Myself and Andrew McMahon from Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin, aka my musical savior

What I am Most Looking Forward To:

As far as books go, I am seriously looking forward to Cassandra Clare’s City of Heavenly Fire, Veronica Roth’s Allegiant, The House of Hades by Rick Riordan, Just One Year by Gayle Forman, Unsouled by Neal Shusterman, The Shadowhunter Codex by Cassie Clare, Champion by Marie Lu, Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith, Unforgotten by Jessica Brody, Just One Year from Gayle Forman and so so so so many more. I’m a book addict.

As far as movies, I can’t wait to see Catching Fire, The Desolation of Smaug, Vampire Academy, Ender’s Game, Divergent, The Maze Runner, and so many more.

I can’t wait for Gallifrey One 2014, WonderCon 2014 and more!

My Favorite Books and Authors:

Myself and Cassandra Clare at the Mission Viejo Meet and Greet, Where I Interviewed Her

I really enjoy reading mostly young adult literature, of the fantasy genre, but I like contemporary, paranormal, sci-fi, and dystopian. I also like adult novels as well. Some of my favorite authors include: J.K. Rowling, Meg Cabot, Cassandra Clare, Cinda Williams Chima, Tamora Pierce, Rick Riordan, Veronica Roth, Morgan Matson, Sarah Dessen, Marie Lu and so so so many more.

My Favorite Blogs To Follow:

I absolutely love Seeking Bazinga, The Nerdy Girlie, FanGirlFeeels, I Am Divergent, Page to Premiere, That One Geek Girl amongst others. I follow a lot of geek girl blogs :)

My Fictional Crushes:

Jace Wayland Morgenstern Herondale Lightwood and Alec Lightwood from TMI, Will Herondale from TID, Han Solo from Star Wars, Sirius Black from Harry Potter, The Doctor from Doctor Who, Han Alister from the Seven Realms Series, Tony Stark from Ironman, Sherlock Holmes from Sherlock, Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind, Michael Moscovitz from Princess Diaries. Since I like girls as well, my girl crushes are Caroline Forbes from The Vampire Diaries, Isabelle Lightwood from TMI, Tessa Gray from TID, and Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy.

Myself and Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Jace Wayland, at the Los Angeles Premiere of City of Bones!

Fan Questions!

What is one book that you can honestly say has changed your life? And why?

Oh that’s hard because it seems like there are many that did so. I would definitely say, easily, Harry Potter. Harry Potter did SO much for me. I discovered the book series when I was 10 years old and followed it all the way until the last book came out when I was 19. It changed my life, and continues to change my life every day. It was an escape for me when my parents fought, when I had to step in almost like a third parent, when I moved away to a new school where no one knew me or liked me, when I was bullied, when I was broken hearted, all of that. Without those books, I’m not sure who I would be. They also taught me to expand my imagination, to be a better writer, so many things.

If you could be a book character, who would you choose to be, and why?

There are three different characters I really wish I could be. One is Hermione Granger, because she is exactly who I sometimes wish I could be. She’s super intelligent, witty, loyal, brave, and pretty. She’s perfect. She’s almost too perfect which is why she’s totally not my favorite character in the series haha but I would totally LOVE to be her. I also wish I could be Clary Fray from The Mortal Instruments. She’s a Shadowhunter, which is equal to be desire to be a wizard or a Jedi, and she gets Jace! And she’s got beautiful red hair, and she’s talented and brave, and yeah. Lastly, I would want to be Princess Leia, because I’ve wanted to be her since I was about five years because she is the toughest female character ever.

My boyfriend and I in front of the Bluth Banana Stand, from Arrested Development!

What’s the most rewarding part of being a blogger and what motivates you to continue what you’re doing?

The most rewarding part is being able to create this community of people who all enjoy the same things. I love being able to meet and talk to you all about books and movies and TV shows and books and books and books. I love knowing that we are there for each other to talk about these things. Its just awesome. That is part of my motivation to continue writing it. But I also continue to write it because I love it. I love writing this blog, and I love making books and my nerd life known to all and showing my passion for it.

If you could marry any fictional character, who would it be and why?

Oh god. Jace Lightwood. Hands down. Han Solo comes in a close second. If I was being entirely realistic though, it would be Michael Moscovitz from Princess Diaries because he reminds me SO much of my boyfriend. He was my first fictional crush and apparently I used that subconsciously to find a boyfriend haha.

What was it like meeting The Mortal Instruments cast?

It was incredible. When I met Jamie, Kevin and Lily back in March, at WonderCon, I think I was a lot more calm because it just didn’t seem real yet. I had just seen the very first full length trailer and I was really excited but I don’t think I really fully grasped that one of my favorite books was coming to the big screen. At the premiere though, I had slept in a chair on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles overnight, and I was exhausted but running on excitement and adrenaline and I was meeting people that I had been dying to meet, like Robbie Sheehan and Aidan Turner and Godfrey Gao. And meeting Kevin, Lily and Jamie again was amazing. It was an experience I definitely will never forget.

Myself at an Angel game last year, 2012. I love my Angels and I adore Mike Trout.

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I hope you all enjoyed getting to know me a little better! It was kind of fun answering those!

Don’t forget you can always check out previous spotlight bloggers here, and that I would love to spotlight YOU as well, so please contact me if you’re interested!

Happy Monday!

Exclusive Interview with Atli Orvarsson, Composer of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones!

September 22, 2013September 22, 2013Leave a comment

I am VERY excited to share today’s interview with you. My good friend, nurse Pamela, side effects over at The Mortal Minute, conducted an interview with Atli Orvarsson, who you may know as the composer for the Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie. Unfortunately, her website is going through some changes, and revisions right now, and so she has been unable to share the interview with all of us TMI fans.

Fortunately, Pamela came to me, and asked me to share it with all of you, which I was MORE than happy to do!

Atli Orvarrson has composed for many familiar titles like Hansel and Gretel, Law and Order, The Fourth Kind, and has contributed to scores for movies like the recent Superman movie, Man of Steel. His most recent work has been with The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and A Single Shot. Enjoy this interview between him and Pamela:

Pamela: What’s the trick? How does one go from Iceland to a Hollywood blockbuster film composer?

Atli: Probably determination and stubbornness! Obviously a good education, great mentors and a bit of luck helps too…

Pamela: How did Mr. Harald Zwart first approach you with the “Mortal Instruments” project?

Atli: I’ve known Harald for some time but then I ran into him at the premiere for another film I wrote the music for, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and he asked if I’d want to work with him on City of Bones

Pamela: Did you find it easier to work with Harald Zwart?

Atli: Harald and I got along great and I think the collaboration was very enjoyable for us both.

Pamela: What drew you to this project?

Atli: I love the fantasy genre and really wanted to work with Harald so it worked out perfectly!

Pamela: What was the first thing that crossed your mind when Harald Zwart approached you with the title ‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones’?

Atli: Well, I didn’t really know what to expect so I went on the internet and did some reserach. So by the time I saw the film, I was quite educated on what it was about.

Pamela: Are you familiar with Cassandra Clare’s first book, “City of Bones”; Have you read it?

Atli: I am now! But I’ll be honest, I haven’t read the whole thing. I came on to the project so late that I didn’t really have time for anything else but writing music!

Pamela: You’ve worked on great movies like ‘Season of the Witch’ and ‘Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters’. Did your previous works prepare you for this score in any way?

Atli: Well, they’re all in the fantasy realm and they all have witches! Beyond that, they all present their unique challenges and requirements.

Pamela: What was your inspiration for this score? Was there a particular scene or character that gave you the inspiration?

Atli: I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen the film but there’s an expected character in the film that provided me with a great deal of inspiration! Then, of course, there are the characters, the plot and the general tone of the film that provide the greatest inspiration.

Pamela: How long did it take you to compose the complete score?

Atli: I basically had about 8 weeks to write and record the whole score which ended up being about two hours of music.

Pamela: Would you describe the process of writing a song?

Atli: I didn’t write any of the songs in the movie but the way I go about writing music for the scenes is that I first start by writing themes for various characters and then you start applying them to the film.

Pamela: How much ‘darkness’ did you want your score to convey, knowing that The Mortal Instruments is not just a teenage tale?

Atli: I wanted it to be quite dark, maybe even darker than some of the producers wanted it to be. Its a bit of a fine line to find the right tone as it covers so many aspects of life, not just the dark side.

Pamela: Could you tell us about the score elements?

Atli: I used a large symphony orchestra, a choir and all kinds of weird solo instruments like bass duduk and viol, in addition to a lot of electronic elements.

Pamela: How did you want your score to help the audience take the film seriously, as more than “another sparkly vampire movie”?

Atli: One of the first things I mentioned to Harald when we started working on the film was that I felt that the music had to have “weight and importance” to underscore the importance of the events in Clary’s life that the film conveys. I also think its important when you’re scoring fantasy movies to have that serious important feel to help the audience suspend belief and become immersed in the film.

Pamela: Without giving away too much, do you have a favorite song in your score, and why?

Atli: I have a few favorites; Clary’s Theme, The New Rune, and the “snow scene” to name some.

Pamela: Who have been your favorite composers in the fantasy-horror genre? And did they inspire you for this score?

Atli: I have learned a lot from the likes of Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer to name a few and I’m sure their influences are in there somewhere.

Pamela: To be honest, The Mortal Instruments fandom is really strong and supportive. What have your experiences with the fandom been like so far?

Atli: Having been to the premiere in Hollywood, its clear that these stories have a very dedicated and fervent fan base, which is great. I love the enthusiasm and I think all of us who worked on the film feel a great deal of responsibility not to let the fans down!

Pamela: The movie is aimed at a young adult audience. Do you think the music you composed drew more attention to the movie?

Atli: I hope so.

Pamela: Do you think fans will be happy with the score?

Atli: Same answer, I really hope so! The feedback I have gotten so far is very encouraging!

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I hope you all enjoyed this interview and I hope that you guys loved the score of the movie just like I did! I hope that Atli will be returning to score City of Ashes, once it makes it back into production.

Thank you Pamela for doing this interview, and letting me be a part of it, and letting me share it with my followers!

Reading and Encouragement

September 21, 2013September 21, 20136 Comments

A couple days ago, recipe I read an article online that threw me into a murderous rage. Well, this web maybe not a murderous rage, cialis 40mg but I was very upset about it.

A New York Librarian by the name of Lita Casey was recently fired from her position as a children’s librarian. While she was not given a reason for this, it is highly speculated that it was due to her support of nine-year-old, Tyler Weaver. Tyler Weaver has won their summer reading contest five years in a row, managing to read 63 books in the six week period. The former library director went on record, saying that Tyler “hogs” the contest and should “step aside” and let other children have a chance. Lita Casey remained supportive of Tyler and refused to comply to the former library director’s opinion. Lita said that it was all about the hard work, and compared it to her granddaughter, a track star, saying ” My granddaughter started working on track in grade school and ended up being a national champ. Should she have backed off and said, ‘No, somebody else should win?'” She worked for the library for 28 years.

There is SO much wrong about this. SO much wrong.

First off, when do we discourage a kid for READING? And reading TOO much? Is that even a thing? Reading is such an essential part of life. You need to be a good reader. You don’t need to actually enjoy reading, and cuddle up with a novel often but you need to have the skill of a good reader to get jobs and to just be a knowledgable person. Its just part of life. And kids more and more are having issues with reading, and it becomes a challenge to make sure that kids gain those skills. Here we have a kid who obviously loves reading and shows a skill with it. 63 books in six weeks? That’s fantastic, and I’m proud of this kid.

So how we can NOT discourage a child to read? How can we not applaud his accomplishments? Is that the sort of world that we live in? I refuse to believe that we are living in a world that applauds mediocrity and doesn’t give credit where credit is due. This nine-year-old worked his BUTT off and he deserves for people to see that! For someone in an authority position to say that he “hogs” the competition is just rude, inconsiderate and cutting, and it is completely unfair to say to a child.

Which leads me to this: the criticism coming toward this child is completely unfair in general. Think about this: its not Tyler’s fault that he reads faster or with better skill and comprehension than other children anymore than its another’s child’s fault that their skills or speed are slower. I’m a fast reader. I’ve already ready 140 books this year. While that’s not the most that I’ve seen on GoodReads, it is definitely higher than most people that I know, especially of those who do really love reading. I read very fast, I have a high comprehension skill and I spend a lot of time reading. There are many times, almost daily, that people ask me, “how do you that? how do you read so fast?”

And you know what my answer is 100% of the time. “I don’t know.” Because I honestly don’t know. I just do. How do you read slow? That’s just the reading skill that you have, that’s how you read. When I read, I read extremely fast. I can’t really explain it, and I’m not going to slow down so that people can keep up with me. If I see friends of mine on their challenges and they are at forty books, I commend them for that, but I am not going to slow down. I’m proud of being a fast reader. Its not really the most useful skill in the world but I am proud of it. Its something that I am good at the way that my brother Robby is a talented athlete, my sister and brother are talented artists. It is a SKILL that some people are going to be good at and others just aren’t.

Tyler is a good reader, a fast one, and he worked hard to get where he wanted, and he won the contest. He won the contest five years in a row. He worked hard for this, and he deserved the awards that he got for it. As a person who has always really fast, and well above my age level, I understand where this kid is coming from. I’ve been doubted SO many times. I’ve gotten in trouble for reading too much, or reading books above my age level, because they don’t believe that I’ve read that much or read that maturely, and it is incredibly frustrating. It is incredibly frustrating for doing all that work, and having the doubt or the disbelief or even just the hate thrown your way.

Which leads me to the librarian, Lita Casey. Why is a woman getting fired for doing her job? As a librarian, especially a children’s librarian, your job is to encourage reading and to do everything you can to facilitate that sort of environment. She is there to assist in all reading needs and in a children’s section, she would be there to instill a love of reading. How can you fire her for doing EXACTLY that? She obviously could see that Tyler had a love of reading and she was doing the right thing by applauding this boy’s accomplishments. I feel like its the same way a coach would applaud his fastest runner, the most skilled quarterback, etc. Lita wasn’t sitting there and telling the other kids that they weren’t good enough. She encouraged the other readers just as much as she did Tyler, she just recognized the accomplishment that he did.

The way I see it is this: I would never sit here and tell my brother, “you know what, you’re hogging the competition. You win too many cross country races, and you should step aside to let someone else have a chance.” That is ridiculous. No one would ever tell an athlete to step aside because they’re winning too much. Kind of a random example but Jimmie Johnson, the NASCAR driver, won five championships in a row. Now while this was kind of annoying, what could I really say to that? Nothing. Jimmie Johnson drove his ass off and he deserved the championship that HE earned, and I would sit here and be like, “stop being such an awesome race car driver, Jimmie, its not fair to the rest.” No, if the other drivers want to win a championship, if other runners want to win a race, if other readers want to win the contest, they are going to do the work needed to accomplish this task.

I’m not going to enter myself into a cross country race, and complain that someone else always wins. I am NEVER going to be a good runner, and that’s okay. I stick to reading. I think that these kids should always be encouraged to love reading, and should always be helped in reading, especially if they show interest in it, but Tyler read the most and he won and that’s that. And Lita Casey did the right thing by encouraging him.

Okay. Rant over.

The Fault in Our Stars Set Visit!

September 20, 2013September 20, 2013Leave a comment

Today, side effects I have a treat for you! A dedicated fan of this page, Kaitlin, was lucky enough to live fairly close to the set of The Fault in Our Stars, the movie adaptation of John Green’s novel of the same name. Kaitlin had an awesome experience and took lots of pictures and was super awesome enough to share her experience with us!

Here is a little bit about Kaitlin herself:

I’m a political young professional who works in Pittsburgh. I love taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities this city offers me, like the filming of movies and other huge events.

I’ve been lucky to be able to set stalk many movie sets, like TFIOS, The Dark Knight, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Les Miserables (Broadway show), etc. I have loved each and every opportunity! Often, I tweet when I am going somewhere, or to the celebs that I meet. You can find me as Kaitb1103 on Twitter.

I am so happy to have Kaitlin as a guest blogger today, to share her experience. Here it is!

Kaitlin’s Awesome The Fault in Our Stars Set Experience!

I’m an avid fan of TFIOS, ever since I read it at the beginning of the year. After that, I became a huge Nerdfighter. You can imagine my excitement when I found out that TFIOS was shooting in PGH!

After spending every waking moment following a thread of TFIOS shooting locations for every week that they’ve been here, I finally found that they’d be at an easily accessible location all the week of September 15-20th. You see, like most people in Pittsburgh, I’m a public transportation rider. And as TFIOS takes place in Indianapolis but is filming in Pittsburgh, they’ve been sticking to outlying Pittsburgh locations that can’t be reached by public transit.

So September 18th, I packed up my books (Divergent, Insurgent and TFIOS), and headed to work downtown. As soon as I could leave, I hopped on a bus toward the ‘rumored’ film site.

After getting off the bus, I ran into a few young high schoolers (I’m nearly 22). They had already wandered about and had been there for nearly an hour. I walked down the public streets taking photos of everything that seemed interesting.

The Code Name they use for The Fault in Our Stars. Who knows how they came up with that name!

This is one of the prop trailers. This photo doesn’t do it justice! It’s HUGE with prop cabinets filled to the brim on BOTH sides

ambulance gus rides in

The ambulance that they take Gus away in.

The star trailers!

I spotted Gus’s crutches, the ambulance he’d be riding in (which the crew was rigging to hold a camera on the back), and the star trailers! The actual set house they were using was closed off.

I went back up to wait with the other girls, and a little later, we saw a tall young gentleman being escorted by security down the street off the set and toward the trailers. It was Ansel! He was wearing tan slacks, and a blue shirt with white tie, and had a cigarette (!!!) hanging from his mouth.

He later tweeted:

One of the girls and I were brave enough to follow him down the sidewalk, but they other girls waited until we ‘called’ for them.

Sadly, all our hollering did nothing and he didn’t turn around, though he did smile.

The girl and I were dejected, and we’re turning to walk up toward the corner again, when Shailene Woodley walked out of the set. “You’re…Shailene Woodley.” “Yeah, yeah, I am.” At this point, the girls had all swooped in, and though I did get my book signed, I didn’t get a photo with her :( Ah, well!

The girls and I went back to our little corner, forced to by the cops that showed up, and then another older girl like myself showed up. She’s been a Nerdfighter for 8 years, and said she only cared about meeting John Green and the others were bonuses if they came out! We all agreed, but then, I had all day to wait with no other plans.

We waited for about another ten minutes, and all of a sudden, John Green comes out from another entrance to say hello! He smiles but he says he only has about five minutes to take photos and sign books. We all takes some “selfies” with John Green controlling the phones! He somehow managed to keep the set out of all the photos so he wouldn’t get yelled at by the producers of the film. He apparently gets yelled at on a daily basis, according to Ansel.

After John Green goes back inside, the other girls all leave right away. I was all by myself! The Franktuary food truck (famous in PGH for amazing hot dogs and fries) had showed up with hot dogs for the crew for a few minutes before the girls left.

The Franktuary truck! this is the Franktuary food truck that, according to John Green himself and his tumblr/twitter, Shailene Woodley catered/bought for the staff to eat from that day!

I waited for another five minutes or so before John Green comes out again (this time out of the entrance we had been watching) and comes right over. He asks me where the others went; my answer was something along the lines of “They all left me :( but I’m prepared to be here all night if need be!” He asked who I was looking to meet (Ansel Elgort) and said he’d see what he could do, but no promises!

Then he offered to “buy” me a hot dog (apparently Shailene Woodley catered Franktuary, so indirectly Shai bought me a hot dog!), and then was ‘fixing’ it for me, at which I said, “John Green…you really don’t have to make my hot dog for me. I’ll totally make it, but I just want to make sure I can go past these cops before coming over there…”

Fast forward to finishing my hot dog, the stand-ins come out and go back in five seconds later, and then boom! A super, tall handsome actor (Ansel Elgort!) comes striding out and walks right over!!!!

Ansel: “You sent John Green into get me? How’d you swing that?”
Me: “Well, he offered, but made no promises! Thank you for coming over to say hi! How’s filming going?”
Ansel: “Well, its going great! We’re in Amsterdam right now!” (They were filming the hotel scenes in Amsterdam at a place called Mansion on 5th)
Me: “That’s awesome. Are you excited for Divergent coming out soon?”
Ansel: “I am! It was a lot of fun to shoot! Are you excited about Carrie coming out?”
Me: “Um, yes! Do you mind if I get a photo with you?”
Ansel: “Sure!”

And que multiple selfies being taken but me not realizing it, so my “OMG I’M SO JUST FREAKING HAPPY” face being the same in each one! And then he signed my book, I wished him luck with the rest of filming, and I left while he got in line for a hot dog.

End to a perfect, fantastic day!

Signed by: Scott Neustadter (screenwriter of TFIOS movie), Michael Weber (second screenwriter for the film), John Green and Ansel Elgort

* * * * *

Thank you SO much Kaitlin for sharing your experience with me and the readers of What A Nerd Girl Says! I know that I am SO jealous of your awesome experience and that others will be too! Such a lucky duck!

I can’t wait to see this movie in theaters, and to see Shailene and Ansel in Divergent in March!

Hope you enjoyed hearing about Kaitlin’s experience!