Willow Shields Signs Catching Fire at Midnight Release Party!

March 7, 20142 Comments

Happy Catching Fire Release Day everyone!

I hope that you’re all about to go out and purchase your copy of Catching Fire, approved or that you download it on iTunes or Amazon Video, viagra or any of those. Its an amazing movie, one of the BEST YA adapts I’ve ever seen and I’m so excited to finally have my hands on my copy. In fact, I’m watching it while writing this post.

Last night, Sylvia, Cassandra and I (I’m starting to think of us as a Golden Trio) made our way to Orange, to the Walmart there, for a midnight release party of the movie. Our darling Willow Shields, who plays Primrose Everdeen, came out to celebrate and sign copies of the DVD/Blu-Rays for us.

We arrived fairly early (about 7:30 pm) and were about 20 in line, which made us VERY happy. The first 50 people were able to get a limited edition poster of Catching Fire artwork. I knew I had to get my hands on that poster and being there early made it possible. YES!

I love waiting in line. Maybe people think that’s the weirdest thing in the world but its totally true. We hang out, meet other fans, and talk LOTS of books. And its really fun.

We’re about to meet Willow soon! They handed out Mockingjay pin necklaces, and here we are posing with them. I’d watch out for a giveaway, if I were you ;)

Then a guy from Down with the Capitol came by and took a picture of us, which ended up being a really awesome picture. Thanks!

Then it was time to meet Willow. I had met her at Catching Fire fan camp but I was excited to have a little more time since fan camp can get kind of chaotic and rushed.

She was really super sweet, and it was awesome that we were able to stop and take pictures with her. Most events don’t let you do that so that was nice. We got our free posters AFTER meeting her so what did we do? We got RIGHT back in line, and decided to go through again, of course. Come on. That was an easy choice haha.

My beautifully signed copy of Catching Fire.

My equally beautiful signed poster :)

So then I went on adventure. After the event, I had to drive to take Sylvia home and then drive myself home. No big deal. I go to get my movie out of my bag and guess what? Totally NOT there. I’m, like, searching every where, and I’m texting Sylvia and Cassandra and its no where.

Keep in mind, at this point, its about 2 am.

So what do I do? I hop BACK into my car, drive alllll the way back to the store (which, thankfully, was a twenty four hour store), and try and find someone to find my movie, which they did. By the time I got home, it was 3 am, and I didn’t fall asleep til 4 am. So I’m a bit tired. But it was a FUN time, and now I’m watching the movie and getting all choked up and stuff.

Have you picked up your copy of the movie today? Take a picture of you and your DVD on Instagram and tag @whatanerdgirlsays to show me!

May the odds be ever in your favor :)

Fictional Crush of the Week-Katniss Everdeen

January 18, 2014January 18, 20141 Comment

Character Name:

Katniss Everdeen

Jennifer Lawrence, <a href= viagra Entertainment Weekly, May 27, 2011″ src=”https://whatanerdgirlsays.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Jennifer-Lawrence-OUttake-4.jpg” width=”317″ height=”475″ />

Book or Series They Appear In:

The Hunger Games Series

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay

Author/Creator:

Suzanne Collins

Played By:

Jennifer Lawrence

Who They Are:

Katniss Everdeen is the main character of the incredibly popular, standout novel series, The Hunger Games. She is a sixteen year old girl from the futuristic United States, called Panem, where the country is divided into Districts. She lives in the poorest: District 12, in charge of coal. She illegally hunts for food and trades on the black market in order to ensure the survival of her family. When she is reaped into the Hunger Games, a tournament that pits children from all districts against each other in a race against their own death, she finds unlikely allies and realizes the Games are more than just what they seem. When her controversial win in the Games (there are two winners!) strikes a note of rebellion in the country, she soon becomes the symbol, the Mockingjay. She’s quiet, sometimes thought of as mean, but cares deeply about the people around her.

Why I Am Crushing On Them:

Part of it does have to do with the character that Jennifer Lawrence has brought to life. Katniss really isn’t supposed be this super likable character. She’s mean, standoffish, not easily able to trust someone or open up to someone, and you really fall in love with her as a character because you’re in her head, and you see her side of the story. If we were in Peeta’s head, say, we would maybe like her a bit less.

Or maybe not, Peeta loves Katniss.

But Jennifer Lawrence captures everything that is Katniss but gives her a humanity, a likability that I think the book sometimes lacks. She captures Katniss’ uncertainty, her toughness but also her care and love for the people around her. And Jennifer Lawrence is absolutely beautiful and I enjoy every moment that she is on a screen. She works amazingly as a brunette, and even though she wasn’t what I had originally pictured as Katniss, I can’t imagine anyone else playing her.

But I think there is a fierceness to Katniss that attracts everyone to her. She doesn’t always realize it but she’s so full of genuineness and life. There is never anything fake about her, and when she has to do that during The Hunger Games, she absolutely hates it. She’s no bullshit. Katniss will tell you how she feels, and she will do what she pleases, how she pleases, and while that pisses a lot of people, I think it also attracts people to her, as well. She has the kind of attitude that I think a lot more people wish that they had.

I think the thing that really makes Katniss an attractive and awesome character is that she envelopes all the sides of a strong female character. She is physical strong, able to wield a bow and arrow, hunt and trap for survival and she is survival smart. She is also just a smart girl in general. She is clever and intelligent and has a knack for strategy. She does stupid things too, though, which makes her human, especially since she is a teenager. She is also beautiful, though she doesn’t always know it, and she feels very much for her family, her friends and others. She loves Gale and Peeta, in different ways, and it makes her incredibly likable and human. She has her perfections and her flaws.

Notable Quotes:

“As long as you can find yourself, you’ll never starve.”

“But I feel as if I did know Rue, and she’ll always be with me. Everything beautiful brings her to mind. I see her in the yellow flowers that grow in the Meadow by my house. I see her in the Mockingjays that sing in the trees. But most of all, I see her in my sister, Prim.”

“Great. Now I have to go back and tell Haymitch I want an eighty-year-old and Nuts and Volts for my allies. He’ll love that.”

“You will hold yourself and your government responsible for their safety, or you’ll find yourself another Mockingjay!”

“You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that? Fire is catching! Fire is catching, and if we burn, you burn with is!”

* * * * *

Fictional Crush of the Week-Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games Trilogy

November 23, 2013November 21, 20137 Comments

In spirit with the rest of my posts this week, check I’m keeping The Hunger Games and Catching Fire trend going by featuring one of my favorite fictional crushes, this Peeta Mellark. By the time this posts, I’ll have seen it twice, and I know I’ll go to see it more times than that. It was a brilliant movie, Peeta is amazing and Josh captures Peeta SO perfectly.

As always, all Fictional Crushes of the Week will have spoilers. Sorry :(

Character Name:

Peeta Mellark

Book or Series They Appear In:

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay

Author/Creator:

Suzanne Collins

Played By:

Josh Hutcherson

Who They Are:

Peeta Mellark is the secondary main character of The Hunger Games Trilogy, the counterpart to Katniss Everdeen. He is a boy from District 12, the son of the baker, and is reaped into the 74th Hunger Games with Katniss. He has a very open and genuine attitude, and we find out in book one, that he is in love with Katniss and has been for years. He doesn’t have the survival and hunting skills that Katniss has but is incredibly intelligent, and clever, and has a way of being so genuine and sneaky at the same time. He’s caring, and sweet, and the most loving, most deserving character of all the characters in this trilogy.

Why I Am Crushing On Them:

Why would anyone crush on Peeta Mellark? Peeta is the PERFECT boyfriend in that there is literally no boy in the entire world who will ever be even close to what Peeta is to Katniss. There’s just now way. He’s kind and gentle and incredibly intelligent and he’s so loving and genuine and he is so sacrificing and real. He’s the best person in the books, which people recognize over and over again. He knows how to handle every person that comes his way. He knows Katniss and his parents and Haymitch and Effie and his prep team, and the other tributes, and everyone. He knows how to open himself up to all of them, and to gain their trust, but in such a real way. He’s not sneaky. He makes clever moves but they’re never to harm, only to help.

Plus does anyone love anyone else the way Peeta loves Katniss? Honestly? I think not. He genuinely loves her and it takes more than being hijacked by tracker jacker venom to keep him from loving her. Sure, it makes it quite difficult but eventually his love for her survives, and they survive together. Its beautiful. He’s perfection in the form of a male lead character, and I think that’s why Katniss has a hard time with him, because he’s so GOOD, and she doesn’t feel like she deserves him. Hell, no one deserves him. But it doesn’t stop him from being this week’s crush :)

Notable Quotes:

“If you die, and I live, there’s no life for me at all back in District Twelve. You’re my whole life. I would never be happy again.”“It’s not necessary. My nightmares are usually about losing you,” he says. “I’m okay once I realize you’re here.”

“I’m more than just a piece in their Games.”

“So after, when he whispers,” You love me. Real or not real?”
I tell him, “Real.”

“I just don’t want them to change me, if I’m going to die I still want to be me.”

“She has no idea. The effect she can have.”

“I remember everything about you. You’re the one who wasn’t paying attention.”

“I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you.”

“I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever.”

“So that day, in music assembly, the teacher asked who knew the valley song. Your hand shot right up in the air. She stood you up on a stool and had you sing it for us. And I swear, every bird outside the windows fell silent…and right when your song ended, I knew – just like your mother – I was a goner.”

“Actually I painted a picture of Rue. How she looked after Katniss has covered her in flowers. I just wanted to hold them accountable, if only for a moment. For killing that little girl.”

* * * * *

Hope you enjoyed this week’s Fictional Crush and that you’ll be back next week for more!

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!

* * * * *

Catching Fire Fan Camp and Red Carpet Premiere-Day 3!

November 19, 20135 Comments

Finally! The day I’ve been waiting for!

It was an absolutely EPIC day and I am so excited to share it with you guys.

Day #3:

5 am: My friend Jade wakes me up. Its time to put all the stuff away, link and get packed up to leave. 5 am is incredibly too early to think about this sort of thing, but somehow I manage to get it done!

6 am: The security guys come around to give us our numbers for the red carpet. I was number 104, which wasn’t too bad actually! We were instructed to come back at 3:30, which was great, because we were all so tired!

I love that you can see my ticket (the yellow one) from the City of Bones red carpet. I was #2 for that one and was proud of that, and I like keeping it in my phone!

7 am to 2 pm: Sleeping. Eating. Showering. The basic needs of a human being that were ignored in the last two days.

2:40 pm: Arrive in line for the red carpet. Getting really excited because its finally almost time!

3 pm: Get a call about a job interview for Barnes and Noble. This is completely unrelated to anything to do with Catching Fire, but I was insanely excited, and it put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

3:30 pm: Head into the fan section. Second row behind the barricade which honestly isn’t that bad. Sure, I would have liked to have been right up against it, but beggars can’t be choosers. And usually the people in the front row are nice. Its a little bit of a give and take. Fandom love

4 pm: Realize the people in front of us are NOT fandom love people, and are kind of rude. Whatever. Time to do some awesome work, and get my poster signed.

5:30 pm to 8 pm: RED CARPET!!!!!

I saw SO many people.

It was nearly impossible to get pictures with anyone, mostly because the people in front of me, were not really nice. BUT I got my poster signed by SO many people on the carpet, including: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Donald Sutherland, Bruce Bundy, Stanley Tucci, Stef Dawson, Bruno Gunn, Maria Howell, Amanda Plummer, Megan Hayes and Trish Summerville.

Don’t ask me which signature belongs to who. I know some of them but most of them, I have NO idea. It was chaos on the red carpet, haha, but the good kind of chaos!

I also, sadly, didn’t take a lot of pictures either because it was SO hard to! But I was glad to get my poster signed. I did get a few pictures! I think I was too busy trying to get autographs and ogling celebrities to actually take pictures with them!

The back of Liam Hemsworth’s head. I couldn’t get one of him turned around!

Bruno Gunn who plays tribute/victor Brutus

I also saw other celebrities like Sarah Hyland, Joe Jonas, and even some Laker players, like Xavier Henry and Steve Blake!

Laker player Xavier Henry!

There were also some past tributes from the first movie that hit the red carpet too, like Dayo Okeniyi (Thresh), Isabelle Fuhrman (Clove), and Jacqueline Emerson (Foxface). Even though they all die in the first movie, they’re part of the family, and they’re part of the beginning of this beautiful movie experience.

Oh and I got an extra poster signed by Francis Lawrence, the director, and Jena Malone, Sam Claflin and Stephanie Leigh Schlund. I think a giveaway may be in order *wink wink*

8:30 pm: MOVIE TIME!!!!!!!!!! We get free popcorn and drinks and head into the most ginormous theater in the history of all theaters. Seriously. Its huge. Not really in a good way. I like small theaters, for sure. This place was…uncomfortably big haha. BUT I was lucky to see the movie early so its all good.

11 pm: Get out of the movie. I have literally cried from happiness, from heartbreak, from laughter. This movie is absolutely brilliant. I won’t say more than that because I’m doing a review but ohmygod, the movie was SO good. So happy and satisfied, I can barely handle it.

12:30 am: Finally make it home. Am so happy to see my house, to see my own bed, and especially to see my boyfriend. I am so excited for all of this, I literally fall asleep without even trying.

* * * * * *

Thank you for following me all weekend, in the journey of the Catching Fire Fan Camp and Red Carpet Premiere.

If you’d like to see ALLLLLLL the pictures from this weekend (all 114 of them), please check them out on the official blog Facebook here.

Watch out for my spoiler free review soon!

Happy Hunger Games!

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!

* * * * * *

I hope you enjoyed this recap of Day #2. Tomorrow is Day #3, which is movie premiere day! Its going to be amazing!

Happy Hunger Games!

What A Nerd Girl Says

Nerd Life is Just So Much Better Than Regular Life

Tag: the hunger games

Willow Shields Signs Catching Fire at Midnight Release Party!

Fictional Crush of the Week-Katniss Everdeen

Character Name:

Book or Series They Appear In:

Author/Creator:

Played By:

Who They Are:

Why I Am Crushing On Them:

Notable Quotes:

Fictional Crush of the Week-Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games Trilogy

Character Name:

Book or Series They Appear In:

Author/Creator:

Played By:

Who They Are:

Why I Am Crushing On Them:

Notable Quotes:

EPIC Catching Fire Prize Pack Giveaway!

Prizes:

Three winners Will Win:

One Lucky Winner Will Win:

RULES!

Enter Now!

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

Catching Fire Fan Camp and Red Carpet Premiere-Day 3!

Day #3:

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

Day Two