The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 White Carpet Premiere in Los Angeles!

November 18, 2014November 18, 20145 Comments

Hello everyone!

Sorry that I’ve basically been out of touch the last few days. I’ve been lax on both blogging and writing for NaNo (uh oh!) because I’ve been busy with work AND the premiere for Mockingjay Part 1!

The premiere was yesterday in Los Angeles, order CA at the Nokia Theater at LA Live in Downtown Los Angeles. This is where they’ve had all the premieres for the movies in this trilogy so far and I think its a great place to have it. As soon as the date was announced, I put in the request for the day off and eagerly awaited the premiere.

Now, the plan was this: show up in the morning and take a chill approach to the premiere. I wasn’t down for the stress, though stress is a part of premieres, always, and I had seen pretty much everyone that I had wanted to see last year at the Catching Fire premiere. I knew I’d have to go the night before to get in line but I just didn’t feel like it. Plus, my dad was in the hospital due to some heart issues (he’s okay!) so it was just a bunch of mess.

Well, my good friend, Jade (who you might recognize from Teens React on YouTube) went the night before, and let me know that she could save us a spot in line because she’s awesome and because we’ve helped save her spot at events before :) So I was going to get some sleep and then head to the premiere in the early morning.

I didn’t get ANY sleep at all. I couldn’t sleep. It was way too early for me. Oh well. We packed our things up and headed down to Nokia.

This is me in line at about 5:30 am. Jade was first in line! Even when I don’t try and be first in line, I end up first in line. I have no idea how this happens.

We spent the day hanging out and snacking and talking books and such. I kept trying to nap but it just didn’t happen. I was running on adrenaline basically.

I was really disappointed in SPEC this year. SPEC runs all (well, most) of the red carpet premieres and Charles, the main man, and his guys usually run a really great show but yesterday was just sloppy and disorganized. There was almost NO communication at all and they have this really stupid promotion going on so even if you waited all day in line (like we did), you still had to go in after about 200 people that were part of this promotion. It was ridiculous and frustrating. They were SO disorganized. I couldn’t even believe it. I’m up for a fan camp again, because that was just sloppy as hell.

We finally got let in and headed toward the bleachers where the fans were set up. I ended up in the second row with my friends, which wasn’t a bad spot. The carpet was set up, and it looked cool but honestly? Not nearly as cool as it did last year.

I was helping out debut author, Tonya Kuper, while I was at it though. Her novel, which is published by Entangled Teen, is coming out next week and I helped by passing out postcards to promote it! I thought she’d get a kick out of this!

The Mockingjays on the carpet were super cool though. The carpet was half white carpet and half white tile. I kept waiting for someone to just take an epic spill.

At first, the security wasn’t going to let us stand at the barricade. We stood at once point and they sent us back to our seats. I was VERY VERY frustrated. I wouldn’t wait in line, with no sleep, if I wanted to just wave to them from the bleachers. It made no sense. Some of the stars started coming closer so we all kind of went back up to the barricade and the SPEC guys were like, fine, just behave. Easy cheesy. At least in my opinion.

Getting ready for the stars.

The first person I saw was Joey Graceffa, who is on YouTube. I admit, my knowledge of YouTubers is pretty much nonexistent so I didn’t know who he was BUT my friends Sylvia and Cassie were SO super stoked so I had to take a picture too haha.

This little guy, Emjay Anthony, is going to be playing Hector in the Insurgent movie. I had to get a picture of him because we all know how I feel about the Divergent trilogy <3

We were waiting for more people to come when Jade suddenly said “Is that Mark Hoppus?!” and it was, completely with mohawk (not pictured). I FREAKED out because come on, Blink 182! No one seemed to know who he was, so Jade and I started yelling at him to come over. He just kind of smiled and we were like, agh, no Mark, come back! So he came over and took pictures with us. I’ve already met Travis Barker so I’m SO stoked to have met Mark. I just need Tom!

I had no idea who he was until I googled the premiere and figured it out haha. His name is Cody Johns and he’s a really really small actor, though he was in I Am Number Four as one of John’s friends in the very beginning. I just thought he was SO super cute. I’m terrible haha. Also my friend Sylvia’s face in the background haha.

Me and Erica Bierman, who plays President Snow’s daughter in the films. She was SO sweet and she fangirled HARD over Jade because she watches YouTube. It was actually quite adorable.

So, last year, I was devastated when I could not meet Suzanne Collins. She signed for very few people before leaving. This time, she took her time, took pictures and signed for people and just seriously made my whole day. Its all about her! She created this! I was also in a weird spot that got a ton of weird light. My first picture with her was all LIGHT and she noticed, and put her hand up to block it and we got this beauty!

Me and the beautiful Jena Malone, who plays Johanna Mason in the film, and quite well.

See what I mean about that light haha. Stef Dawson, who plays Annie Cresta. She’s seriously SO fabulous and amazing. SO adorable.

Me and Meta Golding, who plays Enobaria. She also is in the newer version of The Tomorrow People, which I am obsessed with (RIP), so I have to go back and figure out who she is!

Stef and Meta were SO happy to see each other. It was adorable.

Wes Chatham, who plays Castor, part of Katniss’s camera crew. He was SO nice and his wife was adorably pregnant. I wanted to rub her belly, which, you know, is not creepy in the slightest. I had Sylvia’s book and asked him to sign it and Jade is like “because she’s in the bathroom!” so he signed it to her, personally, and asked why she was in the bathroom. All in her book. It was adorable.

Me and the super legend, Donald Sutherland. His voice is even more awesome in person.

AW. Such a sweetheart in Nina Jacobson who is the producer for The Hunger Games movies :)

Then Jennifer Lawrence came by. I loved seeing her this time because I was actually at the barricade this time AND she seemed much happier than at Catching Fire, where she was freezing and SICK. She is awesome because even though she doesn’t take pictures with people, she tries to sign for each and every fan which is just incredible. I did try to some selfies while she was signing my book and I got some blurry, creeper ones haha.

Julianne Moore came in. She’s a new addition to the cast, playing District 13’s president, Alma Coin. She didn’t stop to take pictures BUT she signed my book so that was awesome, and I managed to get some pictures of her as well.

AW. My beautiful and darling Sam Claflin. He’s such a doll, and so good to fans. He plays my favorite character of the whole trilogy, Finnick Odair. I got to meet him last year but I was more than happy to do it again.

Liam was another one that wasn’t taking pictures but I didn’t mind because, like Jen, he wanted to try and sign for as many fans as possible. I got a few pictures of him as he signed for people. A lot of people aren’t much into his new bearded look but I thought it looked fantastic on him.

AGH! Elizabeth Banks! I was SO excited because I wasn’t able to get her at all last year, not her autograph or anything! She stopped to sign my book, and I was going to just take pictures of her signing, like I did with Jen but she saw and leaned in and I got to take a picture with her. Made my whole night. She is SERIOUSLY perfect as Effie.

In consistency with the others, Josh Hutcherson also didn’t take pictures with fans in order to sign for as many as possible. However, I was getting pictures of him anyway, and then Jade asked him for a picture because she had never gotten one, even though she’s been to all three premieres so far. Sylvia and I both saw the opportunity and jumped right in.

I also jumped in for a picture with Jeffrey Wright with Jade.

He also signed my book too but I didn’t get a chance to take a picture and totally jumped into this one haha.

I got to see Lea Thompson again too! I saw her months ago at the Vampire Academy premiere but I was stoked to see her again. She’s from one of my favorite movies of all time, Back to the Future, and now she’s on Switched at Birth (which I’m massively addicted to) and Dancing with the Stars. She is also the mommy of my future girlfriend, Zoey Deutch <3

The last person that went on the carpet was Natalie Dormer, who you probably know from Game of Thrones as Margery, and who is playing Cressida in Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2. I wanted her SOOOO bad, she was my number one goal but she blew past because she had to go into the movie. I’m determined to get her at the Part 2 premiere!

After the carpet was over, we were instructed to sit down and then we would receive our tickets to go in and see the movie!

My friends and I with our tickets!

The movie was ABSOLUTELY fabulous and I can’t wait to share more about it once I write my review (check for that tomorrow!). I had a blast at the premiere. I was tired and hungry for sure. I thought the organization of the event was terrible. Even after the carpet, it was just ridiculous. I could barely get into the theater, and we just made it in as soon as the movie started. Then getting our phones after the movie and everything…it just a wicked mess. I hope they clean that up next year and either come up with a better system OR do a fan camp again (please!).

If you’d like to see all the pictures of the day at the premiere, click this link and you can check them out on the official What a Nerd Girl Says FB page!

Til next year, Mockingjay Part 2!

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EPIC Catching Fire Prize Pack Giveaway!

November 22, 2013November 21, 201361 Comments

Happy Hunger Games!

Today is the day that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire releases in theaters!

How excited are all of you? I hope that you like it, look and for those of you who were able to see it at a premiere, or at a late night showing last night, or you’re in a country that’s hours ahead of me here in California, I hope you liked it!

I know I did :) You can read about Days One, Two and Three of my experiences at the Catching Fire Fan Camp and Red Carpet Premiere, and my spoiler free review of the movie. I had an epic time this weekend, and I sincerely enjoyed this movie, so much.

Now I’m ready to have a giveaway all for YOU lovely people!

I have four prizes for you!

Prizes:

Three winners Will Win:

An Exclusive 2013 Catching Fire Fan Camp Poster, as pictured below.

One Lucky Winner Will Win:

A Catching Fire Wristband

An Exclusive 2013 Catching Fire Fan Camp Poster, signed by:

Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair), Willow Shields (Primrose Everdeen), Jena Malone (Johanna Mason) and Francis Lawrence (Director).

Signed by Sam Claflin, Francis Lawrence, Jena Malone and Willow Shields. Hard to tell but I SWEAR they are there :)

Who wants to win these awesome prizes? I know you do!

It’s so easy to answer, via the Rafflecopter link below, but FIRST, some simple rules!

RULES!

The contest will run from today, November 22nd to December 1st!

The winner will be contacted within 12 hours of contest end, and if the winner does NOT respond within 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

The contest IS International

Make sure to come back every day to tweet about the giveaway and earn extra entries!

Share with your friends!

This contest is in no way endorsed by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, Lionsgate, etc. WhatANerdGirlSays is not responsible for any lost or damaged prizes.

Enter Now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck and May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor!

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Book of the Week-Catching Fire

November 21, 20131 Comment

In spirit of the release of Catching Fire in theaters tomorrow (or for some of us, viagra 100mg today), pharmacy I decided to do an oldie for the Book of the Week.

Okay, I also haven’t read anything new this week. I know. Its awful. I’m trying to catch up, and I’ll have book reviews up soon, I promise! I just gotta get back in the groove!

But until then, let’s talk about Catching Fire, and why I think its the best book in the trilogy. Don’t forget to see the movie this weekend; it is SO amazing. You can read my review of the movie here.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

GoodReads / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Book Depository

Genre:

Young Adult, Dystopian

Part of a Series?:

The second novel of The Hunger Games Trilogy

Age Recommendation:

14+

Plot Summary:

From Good Reads:

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol – a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel in the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before…and surprising readers at every turn.

The Review:

This is the strongest book in the trilogy, easily. We’ve had the world established in the first novel. We know Katniss and Peeta and the world they live. We understand the cruelty of the Capitol and the heads of Panem, and President Snow and the Gamemakers. We know all this. The Hunger Games is a great book, something that grabbed me from the very first page.

But Catching Fire takes it to a whole new level. For one thing, the entirety of Panem grows in this novel, which opens our eyes even more to the cruelty of President Snow and his government. The Victory Tour shows us all the various different districts, and I love that. I think that this is where Katniss really begins to see what effect she had, and that her effect isn’t necessarily a bad thing. All she’s ever known is District 12 and the small amount of time she spent in the Capitol. Seeing the other districts only fires her up more.

I also love that we meet so many new important characters in this novel too like Johanna and Finnick and Plutarch, and people like that. Not only does it open us up to new victors besides Haymitch, but we see how the Games have effected other people as well. Plus its good to meet characters that you can get attached to like Katniss and Peeta. My favorite character in the entire series is Finnick Odair and he’s introduced in this novel.

The Games! The Games in this novel just takes it to a whole new level too. It was scary enough in the first book, but at least Katniss seemed to feel almost at home. She knows woods; she can’t hunt and she can take care of herself. Not only is she in the unfamiliar territory of the jungle but the arena also has that clock twist to it, which is awful! A new horror every hour? No thank you! Crazy killer monkeys, jabberjays that sound like your loved ones being tortured and poisonous fog? Its insanity.

I think the most important part of this book though is Katniss’ transformation. She goes from being focused only on herself, her familiy and her own survival (which is NOT a bad thing at all) to being concerned about so much more. She becomes concerned with Peeta, and Haymitch, and her prep team, and Cinna. She even begins to be concerned about the other tributes, even though they’re trying to kill her. Remember who the real enemy is.

Lastly, I think this book has one of the BEST cliffhangers ever. I remember reading it and wanting to throw the book across the room. How could this possibly be happening? What? What?! WHAT? I couldn’t handle it. Luckily enough for me, Mockingjay was coming out within a month, and I didn’t have to wait too long to find out. But an epic cliffhanger, and they nailed the cliffhanger in the movie, just an FYI.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Recommended or Not?:

Of course. And I recommend seeing the movie too, which is out in theaters tomorrow!

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I hope you enjoyed this impromptu, last minute Book of the Week, and that you’ll head out to see the movie and that you enjoy it just as much as I do!

Happy Hunger Games and May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor!

Catching Fire Fan Camp and Red Carpet Premiere Diary-Day Two

November 18, 2013November 17, 2013Leave a comment

Hey everyone! Guess what? Day #2 of the CF Fan Camp is coming to close and I’m gonna write my fan camp diary for you again! Okay, physician I’m not going to lie. Its actually only 7 pm, adiposity which means I won’t get to bed for another, advice hmmm, at least five hours.

So this will probably eventually be longer as the rest of the night unfolds. But for now, this is my exciting day!

Enjoy!

Day Two

8 am: I woke up, and I felt like I had been hit over the head with a brick. I actually kind of forgot where I was, until I remembered and I was like OHMYGOD.

9 am: Charging my phone. This is not exciting, but this is a huge part of the day haha. I spend a lot of time at fan camp charging things.

10:30 am: Corner Bakery comes to bring us breakfast. It sadly reminds me WAY too much of Panera, and I’m like, NO. LOL. We get in line to get some swag, because, remember, my young padawans, free swag is the best thing ever.

We got TimeWarner Cable iphone cases and bags, and even better, we got Catching Firek shirts. I’m pretty low on the wallet side and haven’t able to spend too much money at Hot Topic, so I was so excited to get a free shirt. No lie.

10:31 am: I molest Katniss Everdeen. Sort of. She kind of enjoys it.

11:30 am: Lining up for the cast signings. We had no idea who was coming but I was banking on my boy, Sam Claflin to show up.

12 pm: Sam Claflin (Finnick), Jena Malone (Johanna) and Jeffrey Wright (Beetee) show up. Pretty much die of happiness because I really wanted to meet Sam. I was close in the front of the line, so I knew I would make it through fairly easily.

12:20 pm: I meet Sam Claflin. This was pretty much the BEST moment of the day. Finnick Odair is easily my favorite character, and its not just because he is hot. He has so much to his character, and there’s depth to him that you don’t normally see because of his looks. I adore Finnick. Plus he’s got his badass tridents, and he saves Peeta’s life.

We totally talked about Disneyland; he went for the first time yesterday. I told him it was my favorite place in the world and he asked me what my favorite ride was, and I say Winnie the Pooh. He was like, “I didn’t go on that!” and I was like, “Oh no! You should have!” and he laughed. We’ll be announcing our engagement any day now ;)

12:21 pm: Met Jena Malone and Jeffrey Wright. Both SO nice, and signed my poster. I wasn’t able to get pictures with them, sadly but they were really awesome, and I’m glad I was able to meet both of them.

1:00 pm: Josh Hutcherson, aka the beautiful Peeta Mellark, shows up. Pretty much die of excitement.

1:15 pm: They start putting up the epic Mockingjay for the red carpet. They eventually lit it up for a bit but I missed it. Because I wasn’t pay attention. That was my bad. But it still looks cool without the flames!

1:40 pm: Josh leaves when there is only ten people in front of me and my friends. Pretty much die of sadness. Resolve that I WILL see him on the red carpet tomorrow, and it’ll be amazing. There are no losers in fan camp!

2:00 pm: Francis Lawrence, director of Catching Fire, hits the signing table! I was happy to meet him, of course, and I can’t wait to see the movie, and to see how he takes the helm. The previews for this movie make it look simply brilliant and he’s the brains behind the operation.

3 pm: We had heard rumors that Jennifer Lawrence was going to show up. Attempt to start a “just-in-case” line. Totally get yelled at. Not really. The security is usually provided by SEM at movie premieres and they are seriously amazing people, like Charles, who is the head.

4 pm: Try to do another “just-in-case” line. It fails again, and so I start playing Pokemon Blue because…well, why not? I should be reading. I have two books that I need to review really soon but this place is so distracting and awesome.

6:00 pm: Dinner. The first real meal I’ve had since eating at iHop yesterday. I had a cheddar cheese cup o’noodles, which was the first time I had had one. It was really weird. No lie. I was like, what IS this? I liked it haha and when you’re hungry, its the best meal ever.

6:30 pm: Practically tackled this lady who was handing pieces of the red carpet that they have already set up. I am a sucker for souvenirs and mementos so I knew I had to have one!

6:45 pm: Realized, as I was writing this post, I keep switching from 1 pm to 1:00 pm. I should keep some consistencies. I’ll blame it on the fact that the only real food I had today was a Cup o’Noodles and let’s face it, that’s probably not considered real food. Sad face.

8:00 pm: We find out what is going to happen tomorrow. This is not exciting. I have no idea why I’m sharing this with you. I mean, do you really want to know the 411 of lining up for a red carpet premiere? Its really boring. Moving on…

8:30 pm: The Laker game finished, and the Lakers won. This is exciting because the Lakers aren’t that good and Kobe Bryant is out, and it kind of sucks. It was kind of funny though to take a bunch of our stuff back to our car, in the middle of the Laker crowd. I’m not sure they knew what to do with that.

830-1030 pm: I have been on my computer for awhile haha. After discovering free wi-fi, I realized I now had unlimited access to facebook, and tumblr and twitter, and well, it was straight up trouble.

Somewhere Between 830 and 11 pm: Uno and too much giggling ensues

10:30 pm: Literally spend two whole minutes of non-stop laughing as Sylvia attempts to take a picture of me in my Hunger Games shirt. This is the fail picture (of many) that was the road to the semi-decent one above.

Bedtime: I go to bed. I’m so exciting, huh? Tomorrow is the premiere!