As part of teaching at the Alpha Teen Workshop, I’ll be appearing in Greensburg, PA. Justine will be there with me! Here are the details:
Sunday, July 14
2:00-4:30PM
Barnes & Noble Greensburg
5155 Route 30
Greensburg, Pa. 15601
Click here for the store locator.
For those of you not in western PA, here’s another cool Uglies trailer (or really, a title sequence) by Kate Warinsky. It’s not the real thing, even though it looks like it.
Click here for bigger.
Enjoy!
Aw… I can’t go. Why can’t Scott do anything where I live? And I saw the title sequence already ;D Great job! It’s awesome…
That was so cool!!! And you really need to come to Boston or New Hampshire!!!
Kate did such an awesome job!!
Please-please bring some Uglies movie news :$
If I can get a ride to Pittsburgh, I am coming! ;D
//is only 20 miles away
Aaand they got your name wrong. In an educated way though; “Feld” does indeed mean “field” in German.
This is miles better than the book trailer. Scott-la, you should just let your fans run everything, and we’ll make our own movie.
cool video.
@7 yes yes yes fan made everything! but the funding, where to get such boatloads of money? movies cost SO much to make.
If money doesn’t exist, I can never suffer from lacking what is provided by the Earth.
“If the guy I dreamed up doesn’t exist, then I can never die of a broken heart.” -Practical Magic, Sally
I will definitely be there! Glad it’s on a Sunday!! It it were a weekday, I’d have to miss work.
Whoa, that was so cool! I can’t believe that was fan made!
(And EVENT I might just die I’m so nervous. Because ALPHA and I’M DYING. Someone help….)
But, just some notes for previous discussions on the last post because I’ve been away forever, but I am finally out of school!!!!
Okay, several people answered this question, but I’m just going to say it again: Legolas is not in the book. He’s there because he is the prince of Mirkwood, which is a pretty good reason to be there. The Hobbit is only 60 years prior to LOTR and he’s an Elf, so he’s thousands of years old. Logical assumption: he was there. Technically, though, none of the elves were ever named in the book, so even saying ‘King Thranduil’ is deviating. Anyway, how badass is Tauriel?? SHE’S SO AWESOME!!!! I love her already. (She is neither sister nor girlfriend to Legolas, by the way.)
And somebody said the wood elves are the bad guys??? Um, no…. The story is told from a Dwarf-influenced Hobbit’s perspective (with an omniscient narrator). The wood elves of Mirkwood are untrusting of anyone who is not their kin because of the Necromancer (Sauron), who tried to take over Mirkwood. This plot comes up in The Hobbit. It’s a remnant from the first War of the Ring, another reason why Mirkwood is so full of dark things and how it got its name. It used to be Greenwood the Great. Also, the Elves did end up fighting against the same enemy as the Men and Dwarves. Not strictly “allied”, but still. They are not the bad guys.
Roxanne: INTO DARKNESS. AHHHHH. DON/T EVEN *cries*
Also, I keep being weirded out because everyone is everywhere. Let me explain: Into Darkness had Sherlock/Smaug/Necromancer and Micky (from Doctor Who). Then I find the fifth season of Merlin. At the same time, I start watching Doctor Who. And suddenly everyone from Merlin is on Doctor Who!!! I’ve seen Uther and Gwen and I know Merlin is coming and why is everyone everywhere all of a sudden???
And this was sort of weird, too:
Christine:
First of all, this had nothing to do about the movie The Hobbit so leave your comments about that crap off of here.
Second, did everyone forget that this is a saga NOT a trilogy? Extras was book number four making it a saga!
Finally, this makes me want to read it all again
So….Hi, Christine. I guess you don’t come around here a lot? We have random conversations all the time! 😀 I’d invite you to join in, but I guess you don’t want to….
(Just please don’t call The Hobbit crap.)
(Please.)
Okay, now I feel all caught up. I missed this place….Ah, summer….
Midshipman K@ woah, your knowledge of Middle Earth is awesome 😛
About Tauriel, IKR?! Anyone used to watch LOST? Tauriel is Kate from LOST! She’s such an amazing actress and very elven looking 🙂 although no one will ever be able to beat Liv Tyler as Arwen! She looks so much like an elf! Speaking of which, how awesome does King Thranduil (spelling???) look? His eyebrows are amazing on their own 😛
And again Midshipman K@ thank you for saying that! What was up with people thinking Uglies was a trilogy? I always feel like Extras gets excluded (and it’s probably my favourite out of them!) 🙁
@Zac-la: I haven’t watched LOST, but I was wondering why so many people were calling her Kate…. And Ahh Liv. I love her. I especially love that Peter Jackson has enough sense to bring in the female characters more (like with Arwen and Galadriel and Eowyn) because the books are really male-centric. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but a lot of people wouldn’t go to a movie with just guys these days (sorry). That’s why Tauriel exists, because she’s a badass female Elven warrior. (Plus, she’s Silvan. Thus far we have only seen Noldor (like Elrond) and Sindarin (like Legolas).) I hate that so many people didn’t like her purely because she wasn’t canon….I mean, they changed some stuff in LOTR, too. Eomer was never banished and Aragorn never fell off a cliff. And the elves didn’t come to Helms Deep. (Why were all those examples from TTT? XD)
You spelled Thranduil right. Unless I’m spelling it wrong. I’ve been spelling it this way for years so I hope I’m not wrong….lol. His eyebrows ARE amazing. I nearly died when I realized it was him in the voice over in the beginning.
Me: Huh, I don’t recognize the voice….OHMYGOD IT’S THRANDUIL!! OHMYGOD IT’S HIM! IT’S HIM!
….XD
And, um, you’re welcome? 🙂
@11~:
Reading your post made me smile! n_n
I never read The Hobbit but now I **REALLY** want to! =D
@Mid K- really, I agree with Zac-la, you know A LOT about Middle Earth. I really had no idea about anything that you said, but of course that could also be because I didn’t really finish the trilogy. I have to read them again!
@Zac-la – Wow! She looked kind of familiar but I never realized it was Kate! That’s pretty cool, she’s a really good actress. I watched LOST too. Weird series, but awesome too. I thought I was doing pretty well understanding the plot and then I watched the last episode and everything fell apart… 😛
Alpha…*sob*
No, Turiel is the love interest of Kili…apparently.
And the reason everybody says Uglies is a trilogy is because Extras isn’t about Tally. It’s its own little story, set in the same dystopian world, but still separate. More like a companion novel than a fourth installment.
It’s like if Suzanne Collins wrote another HG book from Gale’s perspective, about life in District 2. No one would call that the fourth book in the HG, even if Katniss does make an appearance.
@14: Aw, thanks. 🙂
@15: Thanks, too. I just love learning Middle-earth’s history. That’s really what the books are. The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion. I’ve heard Tolkien’s work described as being centered mainly around one character, Middle-earth, and I thought that was cool. Plus, I love the Elves….:D
@16: OHMYGOD THAT’S RIGHT!!!!! Kili falls in love with Tauriel!!!! I can’t believe I forgot….I can’t wait. 😀 Ahahahahahahaha
I said that thing about her relationship with Legolas because I know that when her character was first announced there were a lot of misconceptions about her role….
Oh, by the way, I don’t think I made it clear that I copy-pasted Christine’s comment from the last thread because I was surprised by her negativity….Just in case anyone was confused, I don’t actually think The Hobbit is crap. (That should be fairly obvious….? ^^)
@11: Yeah, I guess “bad guys” is the wrong word. From the dwarves’ and Bilbo’s perspective, though, the wood elves put them in jail, then threatened to go to war with them over the treasure won from Smaug. So I’m not sure how Legolas could be presented as being on their side, unless he only shows up for the Battle of Five Armies (which I’m hoping doesn’t become the Battle of Four Armies).
@11&12: I call it a trilogy-plus-one, because Extras didn’t really follow Tally’s story.
@13: randomly almost killing Thorin toward the end of An Unexpected Journey…
@14: DO
@16: AARGH, now I want an Exras-esque Hunger Games book…
@17: Kili falls in love with an elf…? Is that like… can’t remember what it’s called now, but when someone starts thinking that someone who kidnapped or tortured them is the good guy (or falls in love with them). Falling in love with attractive elf: makes sense. Elf who stuck you in jail: not so much. Also: Aaargh! I want to read the Silmarillion so bad…
@18: Stockholm syndrome. 🙂
The creators went: “Now that the non-nerdy female fans of the franchise know there’s such a thing as a hot dwarf, they’ve popularized him due to the lack of other attractive males in the film…I guess we better make him more important in future films…and throw in an equally hot love interest???”
Midshipman K@ 13@ What roles do Arwen, Eowyn etc have in the books? See, I love the movies and have watched them millions of times but I don’t actually know much about Middle Earth outside of the events in the films! Silvan? Nodor? Are those elf clans? o.O
Middy Me@ 15@ Hahaha why did everything get so confusing after season 3? The first 3 seasons were my favourite probably just because everything was so creepy and unknown! After that (and with all the time travel and everything) it got kind of crazy! (SPOLIDER ALERT) so the whole Island was just a game between two brothers?
Tauriel and Kili??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O
We all know what happens to Kili though… 🙁
And Midshipman K, what was Christines comment?
What’s everyone reading atm? If you are reading anything…
I finished Jane Eyre a week or two ago (it was actually awesome! READ IT) then I read Looking for Alaska by John Green (meeeeh, TFIOS was better) and now I’m reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo 😀 anyone heard of it? It’s pretty heavy but the plot and characters are amazing!
Oh and anyone else read The Perks Of Being a Wallflower? I hated the book but I watched the movie lasted night and really liked it! Emma Watson is just… sigh… perfect! :’)
Is it just me or has my comment gone weird? XD
I did about 50 ‘:O’ faces after I said “Tauriel and Kili???” and none of them have showed up :O
@20- the time travel was the most confusing part for me, because there was no way to tell what was happening when at first. After a while you sort of get the hang of it, but it’s still complicated. I don’t think it really was a game, at least not for the brothers in the beggining, because they grew up together believing everything, but perhaps when they got older they did start playing around with the island….Dunno. Maybe it was all just an illusion or something…???
@20: Eowyn had basically the same role she had in the movie, except she nearly died after facing the Witch King (actually, I don’t remember if that happened in the movie). Arwen was… mentioned… two or three times. They blew her up crazily. They put everything that happened over 180-odd years (mentioned in one of the appendices) with her and Aragorn and compressed it into the one year of the events of LotR. The Lady of Lorien (can’t remember how to spell her name just now) had the exact same role, basically. Anyone else I’m forgetting?
also @ 20: Totally agree with your reaction to Kili/Tauriel. Also, who’s Tauriel? She wasn’t in the books, so is she an elf I’m forgetting from the movies?
Forgot to mention above: I think the female elf (Tauriel?) is only there because the movie people realized that literally the only female character in The Hobbit is Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, and her only role is to take Bilbo’s furniture, silver spoons, attempt to take his house, and just generally be a jerk.
I haven’t read the Hobbit, and actually JUST found out what happens to Fili and Kili…I’m so depressed now. I kind of hope they change it in the movie. But, as people might have surmised, I’m kinda in love with Kili (and everything Aidan Turner), so I’m probably being biased. 😛
I’m actually reading three books at the moment: “The Book of Lost Things” by John Connelly, “Warm Bodies” by Isaac Marion (because of the movie which I love), and the comic “Fables” by Bill Willingham. Anyone heard of/read any of those?
As for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” I’ve heard of both, read neither, and watched the movie of the latter.
@25 If (SPOILER ALERT) Fili or Kili had lived, the one who survived would’ve been made king, though. Unless Thorin also survived. Because they were his nephews, remember? So they were the next in the bloodline.
@26: But, but, but…*depression* 🙁
@27: Yes, still very sad…
OMBS THAT’S ME. I AM GOING TO ALPHA. And I’m kind of freaking out because I am so excited. I just… agh.
And hi, Mr. Westerfeld. I am stoked that I get to meet you and Justine, and I hope that you don’t think that I’m too strange. And I kind of want you to have seen me on your blog and be like “oh, yeah, I know you”. Then my life would be complete. (Because, deep down, I am strange and a little obsessed. But not in a bad way.)
@29: I am very, very obsessed. I have been grinning constantly for the past day at the prospect of a forum meet-up… you’re so lucky you can go. I’m jealous…
I started watching Sherlock the other day…now 221B Baker Street is my world. No, my universe. ;w;
Ah, okay, I avoided my computer. Sorry.
You guys figured out the female roles, so I don’t really have to say anything about that. I do like that they gave them bigger-ish roles. I love Arwen. But did Eowyn really die? Did I space out that much? Sorry, it’s been a while since I read the book. I’ve started rereading it, but I’m still on The Fellowship of the Ring.
And wait–180 years? But Estel is 87 in LOTR, unless the creators and I (who double-checked) counted wrong…. Oh, and I mean Aragorn is 87. Old habits die hard and I prefer to think of him as Elrond’s son anyway. Adopted son. But actually his nephew….Like 64 grands nephew anyway. I love that Elrond had a twin (Elros) then had twins himself (his sons Elladan and Elrohir). Possibly because I’m a twin….?
Noldor, Sindar, and Silvan are like Elf races, like we have Spanish, Chinese, Hungarian–whatever. There’s a lot that depends on if they followed the call back to Valinor (by something that starts with a A but I don’t quite know because I haven’t actually read the Silmarillion, my sister has). The Noldor are also sometimes known as the Exiles or High Elves, but I won’t go into that. The Silvan didn’t go back to Valinor and ‘Silvan’ just generally describes a whole bunch of Elven minorities. Physically, Noldor and Silvan are usually dark haired. Actually, I’m not sure if it’s Silvan too, but I think it is. Sindar usually have fair hair. They’re also called the Grey Elves, which is why Sindarin is sometimes the Grey Tongue. (Sorry for British spelling. Tolkien habits die hard.)
(And I may or may not be signing up for a Sindarin class at the end of the summer….If I do….On of my life’s dreams will be complete :D)
I have read The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I absolutely loved it, so I’m sorry you don’t like it, Zac-la. However, I have yet to actually meet someone who has read it ANd liked it, so I guess that’s saying something. I started crying about twenty minutes into the movie. I remember seeing a preview for it once and hearing Emma’s laugh before I actually saw her and being like, “I’D KNOW THAT LAUGH ANYWHERE” and getting really worked up. She’s one of the main reasons I saw it, but I do love the book.
Right now I am reading Les Miserables, The Lord of the Rings, The Ask and the Answer, and King of Thorns. I am known for trying to read several things at once. There are actually about 500 books on my to-read list, but those are the ones I have read recently. However, I am also quite caught up in Doctor Who (second season) and Supernatural (first season).
(How I joined the Supernatural fandom is a bit weird. I followed a lot of people that liked what I liked on tumblr, but there’s a huge Superwholock and Merlin crossover so I had a lot of Supernatural shoved at me and I fell in love with it before seeing a single episode and it’s kind of stupid but there you go. I just started watching it a few days ago. And I also finished Merlin. Like, the fifth season. Like the end forever. I know some people on here watch it so….Anyone to cry with?)
Oh, Cristine’s comment was the one where she said to get The Hobbit and all that crap off here. I was more than a little shocked by her rudeness, which is why I brought it up. She also said something about UPSE being a saga, not a trilogy. (I did know that already. I’m not completely daft….But I do sort of think of Extras as an (oh God pun) extra book, because it wasn’t part of the original storyline….right? Don’t kill me, but I haven’t finished UPSE yet….)
Middy Miles: We can be strange together! (I’m dying I’m so nervous.)
@31 Middy Joe: YES! YES! WHAT EPISODE ARE YOU ON????? SEASON THREE IN NOVEMBER!!!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!! I’M DYING….
(Sorry if I came on a bit strong. XD)
(Sherlock….*dies*)
@32- you’re reading The Ask and the Answer??? Where are you? I’ve read Chaos Walking twice now, and I absolutely loved it. Patrick Ness is awesome. Anybody here read A Monster Calls?
Oh, and where are you in Doctor Who as well? I’m totally caught up in that, and I’m currently in season 5 I think. A friend of mine started watching it and wouldn’t shut up about it so I started watching it too and well…..
@32: Eyowyn didn’t die, but she nearly did and everyone thought she was dead. For that matter, Merry almost died too, which they skipped in the movie…
Yes, 180. Aragorn/Estel/whichever of his other names you want to call him met Arwen when he was twenty, and then their story went all the way until he died, when he was about two hundred. This was in one of the appendices. Also, has anyone else noticed that Arwen would be Aragorn’s adopted half sister?
Middy Miles @22 well that’s the thing! Wait, did Jacob appear to the Survivors at all? Like in modern time? Because his brother (can’t remember his name) inherited the body of John Locke so he was still floating around OH WAIT Jacob’s brother WAS the smoke monster! I need to re-watch all the seasons 😛 one more thing, remember in one of the episodes this giant statue was shown briefly? It looked like an Egyptian god or something, where had that come from?!?
@Roxanne and whoever else was up there, in the book their/his death is mentioned on literally one page then forgotten… so they’ll probably make a bigger deal of it in the movie.
@Midshipman haha okay again, YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF LOTR IS AMAZING! And Elvish classes??????? :O I have always wanted to speak elvish!
I really liked the Perks movie, Emma Watson is awesome! The cast was really accurate and the adaption was pretty faithful to the book. I just hated Charlie too much in the book and constantly hearing his thoughts was draining -_-
The Ask and the Answer :O :O finish reading that!!!
Does anyone watch Game of Thrones on here? I’m thinking of starting to watch it but I’m not sure whether I should read the books first? Any thoughts? The show looks awesome although I’ve heard there’s a lot of unnecessary violence and nudity?
@Midshipman you haven’t finished Uglies yet?!?!?! I think, though, nobody would call Extras an (these puns are good eh 😉 ) extra book if Scott had always intended to write a 4th?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is honestly one of the best books I’ve read in forever! In Sweden apparently people drink a crazy amount of coffee 😛 any Swedish people here? Can you verify that? Anyway if you’re looking for a good book choice this one!!
Does anyone else think the ‘: P’ face ends up looking like a kissing face on this forum? -_-
@35 Zac-la – well I need to rewatch it too! What I could figure out about the brothers was just that the bad one (smoke monster) couldn’t leave the island, so Jacob was kind of asking the survivors for help or something. Then his brother got Locke’s body, so that perhaps no one recognized him anymore. After that I don’t really remember what happened.
But still, in my opinion it was an illusion because if both the brothers were so powerful, they would not need the survivors’ help……or perhaps as the bad one got a human body then Jacob needed help from humans?????……I don’t know.
I’m probably wrong, I don’t really remember much but still that’s kinda what I can piece together right now 🙂 😛
Oh, and the statue? I never figured put what it was exactly. Wasn’t it there that Jacob appeared in some episodes?
@Lost: Ugh, the think the series got really weird. I haven’t actually watched it consistently, but my dad watched it all and I saw some of it, and it just got really weird with the smoke monster and then TIME TRAVEL??? Plus they kept killing people off. 🙁 I just don’t like the head writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis. Once again I haven’t seen it, but according to everyone who did the series finale was AWFUL. And that show I may haven’t ranted about on here a while back Once Upon A Time? They’re the creators and head writers on that too, and BOY DID THEY MESS. IT. UP! Such a great premise, but TERRIBLE execution after the first season (and even the first season had some if-y things in it).
OH MY GOD I WANT/NEED TO READ/WATCH GAME OF THRONES SO BADLY!!!!!!!!!!!! :O
Also, has anyone else noticed the itty-bitty smiley face at the very bottom of this website?
@39: I noticed it because you said so! That’s so funny! Ahhh….
@33: The Ask and the Answer….well. Okay, Viola just got to where the Answer is hiding, but….the book is overdue by about two months. (I am so super bad at borrowing books, even from the library.) In my defense, I was still in school and had a huge amount of projects thrown at me when I got it, which is I why I managed to read probably a grand total of five pages a week. But yeah….I’ve been reading it, but I’m getting emails from the library with scary late fees, so I’ll have to take care of that soon. I would not have this problem if Overdrive had worked. I would have borrowed it, yes, but it would be an ebook on my phone and thus would disappear in three weeks automatically….
(Or I could’ve rechecked it out….If I only had a brain….)
In Doctor Who, I’m on Season 2. Just finished the one where they end up on a planet that’s in orbit around a blackhole. (I’m really quite wonderful at remembering names.)
@35: I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I have book troubles….There are books in piles around my room (I recently found a new place for a pile so I could clear off my beanbag! That made me happy.), but it would take a proper tour (by me) to find out that….most of the books are a) not mine and b) not read. Sophomore year made me feel like a failed book nerd.
@34: Aragorn died when he was 207. That I know for sure. Legolas left for Valinor when he died, in Fourth Age 120. Subtracting 120 from 207, you get 87. The Fourth Age began when Aragorn became king, so it would make sense for him to be 87 at the time of LotR. He even tells Eowyn that in the extended edition of The Two Towers (otherwise known as the only one I watch anymore). Unless there’s a weird time lapse not covered in the movie (like the seventeen years between Frodo receiving the Ring and setting out for Rivendell), then he was 87. But your surety is making me seriously doubt my own knowledge, so I’m going to check the Appendices….be right back….
3051: Aragorn met Arwen when he was 20. Good so far….
December 25, 3018: The Company of the Ring leaves Rivendell at dusk.
This is in Appendix B in The Tale of Years. Given Aragorn’s birthdate, March 1, 2931, this would make him 87. Of course, this would make him actually 88 when he meets Eowyn because his birthday in 3019 is the day the three hunters meet Gandalf the White in Fangorn. (I like the idea that he could’ve missed his own birthday. He wouldn’t be thinking about it, right? Oh, Estel….) (So the Fellowship’s journey starts 67 years after Aragorn meets Arwen. [Their meeting is adorable, by the way. “Tinuviel! Tinuviel!” <3].)
Aragorn and Arwen were married on "Mid-year's Day", 3019. So, the Fourth Age doesn't actually start when Aragorn becomes king. I was wrong there, because this claims to be until the ending of the Third Age, and includes the years 3020 and 3021, making Aragorn 209 when he died. Then it's just other important events concerning the Fellowship until Aragorn dies and Legolas and Gimli leave for Valinor, but in Shire Reckoning, so different years.
Do you use a different source? I've always used the Tale of Years….
(But it doesn't give when Eldarion was born, though, and that makes me sad….)
And yes I have noticed that they're like adoptive brother and sister, but, as proved, he didn't meet her until he was 20. I think they're good….And I don't really care….Marrying her made him an official son of Elrond (Elrondion! I love that I can say that in Sindarin.), but technically he was already part of the family, being Elrond's distant nephew. Part of the reason I think Elrond was so negative concerning Aragorn and Arwen, stressing how he would die and she would live on, is because of Elrond's brother Elros. Elros chose to be mortal, and Elrond had to watch his twin die. He doesn't want that for his daughter.
I'm checking the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, too, but it doesn't really use straight years. However, it does say that after they were married they were together for "six-score years", a score being 20 years. So, 120. That doesn't really take into account 3020-21, the two years I didn't know existed in the Third Age, after Aragorn and Arwen were married of course. So his death at age 207-9 (since that's uncertain with the 120/122 years of marriage controversy) wouldn't make sense if he was 180 at the time of LotR.
I'm done now….That was fun. I just rewatched all of the movies and part one of The Hobbit (in three days, so roughly 13 hours of film, some of it at 4:30 a.m. on our account of making lembas (yum!) at midnight). We (my sister and I; I'm not Gollum XD) were showing them to a friend of ours. And I just saw this, so I've also recently died laughing and came back to write this….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NGguk8VXYc
And I saw a three video series of two girls reacting to The Desolation of Smaug trailer, then Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Lee Pace (Thranduil) and Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel) reacting to the girls' reactions, then the girls' reacting to the actors' reactions of them. It was awesome.
I cannot get over Legolas in a jacket. IN A JACKET.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V-JvKs6HRY
And is it just me, or are my comments always hideously long?
Ahhh! Guys! I checked, but I still made a mistake! Aragorn and Arwen meet in 2951! 2951! If I only had a brain….
How did all this discussion of LoTR come up? I’m just wondering.
@41: No, it’s just evident that you put a ton of effort and work into your comments.
@43: Aw, thanks. I just love talking to everyone here. You guys are great.
I think the LotR discussion started here because I was replying to something on the last thread….and it started on the last thread because I asked if anyone had seen the teaser trailer for The Desolation of Smaug. I’m pretty sure that’s how it started. But we’ve had other brief LotR discussions before…. I think….
@Mid. K – well you still have quite a lot to go on Todd and Viola’s story. Hope you don’t get in trouble with the library 😛
And yeah, the LOTR discussion started with the Desolation Of Smaug trailer, but I think it’s gone a bit far from that. Man, just reading your comments made me feel dizzy. That’s far too much knowledge for one person. It’s so cool you know so much! I seriously need to reread those books…..after I finish Ender’s Game, anybody here read it??
@45: Oh, I have it, and I need to read it!!! Just another of the thousand and one books I need to read…a girl just never has enough time.
@For anyone wondering (which you probably weren’t): I finished the three books I was reading, and I thought all of them were really good! Except the ending of Warm Bodies was…weird. It didn’t make much sense and was random and confusing, and honestly it felt like a dues ex machina. Which totally could have been avoided in at least two ways I can think of. I personally like the movie better just for that (and the kickin’ 80’s soundtrack, lol). I’m now reading The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller. Don’t ask me about it: I kinda forgot what the blurb said, and I’m only 11 pages in, so I don’t know much about it! 😛
@Also, for anyone who was discussing writing with me (I think it might have just been MidK, but I’m not sure): My book, which is now a whole eight chapters long, has hit the 40,000-word mark!!! I’m so excited! According to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, that’s the official “novel-length” (at least for a Nebula Award). So yay! 😀
Oh, and fellow Alphans: have you guys come up with some ideas for your Alpha stories yet?
@45: Ah, I know. I think the librarians sort of hate me.
And thanks. 😀 I did used to seriously consider becoming a Tolkienologist, just because it sounds like so much fun. I have heard of Ender’s Game, too, and people keep telling me to read it, but I haven’t yet. Someone said it was a lot like The Hunger Games. What do you say to that?
@Roxanne: Yaaay! I’m so happy for you! I myself have not written anything in ages, despite the end of school. I finally have time, and now I’m petrified! I annoy myself….especially with Alpha coming. Alpha story? Haha, no….
(I hate writer’s block.)
@48: Haha, that’s cool. I didn’t have much of an idea when I went. You get separated into groups and discuss ideas though, so it’ll get the creative juices flowing.
I ended up writing a story about a centaur who’d been “unbound” at birth, which is to say, divided into a human and a horse.
Also, WRITE! Just write something! It’s so easy to procrastinate. Don’t! Be strong!
@49: I shall try! I will force myself, even if it’s awful…. Deep breaths…. ^^
EVERYONE
Have you seen what Scott’s been saying about the Uglies movie on Twitter?! Apparently he’s going to Los Angles in a few weeks to discuss the film!
@51: WHAT OH MY GOD WHAT NOW I WISH I HAD A TWITTER OH MY GOD
@40: Yup! I used the appendices… I checked again and that’s what I got. Also, him thinking she was Tauriel was very sweet… the whole thing was, really. All 120-122 years of it.
@48: I just finished Ender’s Game. The only way it’s like Hunger Games is kids fighting other kids, I wouldn’t really say they’re similar. But, people have said Uglies is like Hunger Games, so I’m not sure where the line is.
@39: I never saw that before. That’s awesome…
@43: Um… I don’t know… I looked back in the comments and it looks like a response to nothing…
@51: GHA! I don’t have Twitter…
There! Now I’m all caught up!
You don’t need Twitter to be able to see what Scott posts! Just click on the link on the side up there… I don’t have Twitter either.
I think the only reason these reviewers say Uglies is like Hunger Games is because of the dystopian theme… which is complete crap. Why can’t these books just be applauded for being plain awesome instead of being continually compared to other books of a similar genre? Ayway…
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/660033639 <— this is my review on one of Scott's older books, So Yesterday. The format/style is kind of strange because it was for an English project but anyway hopefully you enjoy it 🙂 (if you even read it haha)
OH AND I LOVE THAT FACE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS SITE
@48 – well I would have to agree with 53, Ender’s Game is not at all like HG except for the kids fighting, but in this book they’re not really fighting to kill and survive. The comparison might also have something to do with the theme of rebelling against authority, but other than that I don’t really see any connection.
For some reason everyone’s comparing books to Hunger Games, no matter what book it is. I really don’t see the point of that, cuz every book is different. I guess for many people who don’t like to read, what they read was HG so now they love it and say it’s better than any other book. That has happened to me with some of my friends (which I’m trying to convince to read something else) 🙂
I read Hunger Games before they started making the movie, loved it, recommended it to several people, and then when the movie came out, most of those same people asked me if I had read Hunger Games. Pretty annoying…
@54: Great review! I love how you started out saying that you would give the book The Nod 🙂
@53: Aragorn thought Arwen was Luthien Tinuviel….
@HGvsOtherBooks: I agree that books shouldn’t be compared. For the publishers and reviewers, creating similarities helps to market the books or portray genre, I think, but not much more. The reason I asked about Ender’s Game vs The Hunger Games is because even my own mom said it. (She reades a lot of the books I do for her book group.) In Ender’s Game, if they’re not fighting for survival, what are they fighting for?
@54: I’ll read your review after I post this. I’m doing this on my phone and it’s all very tedious….
@54: That IS a really good review. I can tell what you mean when you say you wrote it as an English project. ^^ But, just wondering, do you not use MLA format in New Zealand? When you were quoting the book, you put it in italics. Is that a personal choice or specifically for formating? I’m just wondering because I think it’s interesting. See, if I’d done that for English class, I’d have had to make separate paragraphs for quotes that long, justified, like the excerpts of Eddie Malone’s articles in LBG, only double-spaced and in Times New Roman font. Maybe it’s Goodreads format? Sorry, I’m asking such a weird question….
And I applaud you for not writing a scalding, venom-filled review! Not that I thought you would, then post the link here, but I see so many of those on Goodreads….
(That little smiley face makes me so happy.)
Ack! It’s gone! Sacre bleu, za smiley iz gone! :O At least for me it is. Anyone else experiencing this problem?
Goodbye, little smiley, I shall miss you. 🙁
(Scott, did you remove it now that it’s not a little Easter egg? I’M SORRY FOR BLABBING!)
@57: Yeah, that’s what I meant. Wrong name… Also: training to be soldiers in a war.
@58: What does LBG stand for?
@60: It’s still there for me… hmm… very strange…
@61: Yeah, it is…I miss it. 🙁
And LBG stands for Leviathan Behemoth Goliath, of course!
@Roxanne, it’s still there for me.. 😛 (the face I mean) (Would Scott be that mean to remove it?!)
I can’t really join in that discussion because I haven’t even read Ender’s Game! I think I’ll watch the film when it comes out but I doubt I’ll read it…
@56 Thank you!
@57 Haha I wish my mum read the same books I do.. She read a book once that I’d read and found it too “scary”… hahaha trust me I wasn’t at all scary! So I don’t think she’d handle anything like the Hunger Games (which isn’t scary….)
@58 Thank you! 🙂 no that’s a good question, well I just did it in Italics and my teacher never made an issue of it? So I just left it like that but it probably would have looked better in a separate paragraph.
Reviews are hard to write on Goodreads! You have to do stuff like test to make the paragraph in italics, for instance. If this has changed to italics accidentally then I mean <—– that
Yes a lot of reviews on Goodreads are fuelled with pure hatred, mine included 😛 if you see some of the other books I've reviewed (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Looking for Alaska) they're a lot more negative. Tbh I find it easier to write a angry, negative review rather than a happy one.. anyone else agree?
OH WOW I did change it to Italics!!!!!!!!! :O
test
Woah, a thing just flashed up on the screen and said “you are posting comments too quickly, slow down” :O
Anyway I didn’t mean for half of my other message to be in italics :O
One more thing, I’m gonna force myself NOT to read for a whole week :'(
This is our last week of school before the holidays so I’m going to try and work really hard. But mainly it’s because I’ve just got the last Girl with Dragon Tattoo book and I want to enjoy it… undisturbed! so i’ll wait for a week before i start it
@57 ( and anybody else interested in Ender’s Game) – the story is set in the future, when we humans have learned to build starships and go light speed and explore space and all that. Thing is, aliens (called “buggers”) have found Earth and attacked it twice, leaving thousands of people dead. So years after the Second Invasion was driven back, the military are preparing for a Third invasion, convinced the buggers won’t back down, and are working on finding a new, special genius commander to lead their fleets.
The book rotates around Andrew (Ender) Wiggin, a six year old kid who gets sent to the Battle School, were kids are trained to fight in space and to command armies. He’s a genius, so he’s really good at everything, and te teachers think he might be “the one”. So the book is Ender’s story, and everything he goes through to find if he can be the one to destroy the buggers for good.
Ok, now I’ve gone and written a review! I hope I didn’t spoil anything 😛
Anyway it’s a really good book, I really loved it.
@63- that happened to me too! My mom said she wanted to see what I was reading an ended up saying the authors were crazy and the books were really scary. It was actually kind of funny, she hasn’t read another of my books since I lent her The Maze Runner.
@60: I still have the little smiley face….
@63: Oh, okay, then. I’m not actually sure if I’m allowed to use italics in MLA….I don’t think so, but I do anyway. Or maybe I can. I don’t care! Ah! But we’re not actually allowed to use contractions…. :'(
Wait, how did you do that? I know how to do that on DeviantART….I’m gonna try what I do on there and if it doesn’t work, I demand to know the secrets to your magic!
test
Did that work?
@66: lol That’s funny.
@67: It will be worth it!
@68: Hmm, okay. But he’s SIX???? WHAT?????
I have a friend whose mom can’t read Harry Potter….But my mom is anxiously awaiting for me to give her King of Thorns, if that says anything. The Broken Empire books…well. King of Thorns is the second after Prince of Thorns and, well, it was weird when Jorg DIDN’T kill someone withing the first 80 pages. 80 pages!!!! I was really weirded out…. (Jorg is an antihero and you love him despite everything. I have no idea why this works, but I have an extreme fondness for antiheroes….especially Jorg. And it was his 14th birthday when they first book started and you were just like “WHAAAAT???? HE’S FOURTEEN????”)
AHHHH! I’m so excited! My test worked!
Now look it’s in italics!!!!
“We save each other,” Deryn whispered. “That’s how it works.”
“If you’re texting Magnus to say ‘i think u r kewl’, I’ll kill you.”
I leaped from from my horse. Or, as close as one can get to a leap in full plate armor, which is to say I chose where I fell.
I hope that all worked….
It did!!! It worked, precious!!!!
(Ignore me while I have a minor freak-out….)
@63: You should read it. It’s an amazing book.
@68: You forgot the sub-plot with Peter and Valentine! 😉
@69: Yeah, at he beginning he’s six. But mentally, he’s really mature for his age, so it’s not weird. It actually makes is better, how young he is.
@italics: How do you do italics? [i]Is it like this, like how it is on the forum?[/i]
Nope…
@72&23: It’s with these things
so
and
without the spaces
😀
Wait but I put spaces! And it italicized anyway…. But yeah. The same thing you did but with these
And it erased it!
THESE THINGS!!!!!:
If this goes away, so help me….
It went away! What is going on???? The arrow thingies we use for doing this!
–>
and
<–
Thank God. It didn’t disappear.
@72- Oh, right! I completely forgot that. Dummkopf me 🙂
You know, sometimes I forgot he was so young in the book, he sounds so grown up. But still you’re right, it sort of makes it better.
@70 – where’s that last quote from? It sound familiar, but I’m not sure where I’ve read it.
Will this work?
Yay!
>Please let this work so I don’t look like an idiot…<
@79: The last quote was from Prince of Thorns. I’m not sure if it’s totally right….
@82: You have to put an i in between, like [i] and [/i] when you want it to stop. @72: Thanks for that. I hope it won’t disappear if I’m not using the arrow things. Usually putting spaces makes it just a bunch of random characters, but not this time it seems….
What? Like this?
YAY!!! I DID IT!!!!! 😀
It’s like orange but with the letter i instead of the word apple ^-^
Now I can be EMPHATIC!
It went away… that’s not helpful >-< It's the letter i between the arrow things, and the arrows are pointing out from the i. I don't know if I'm being helpful…
@89: You’re being helpful. ^^
AHHHH I JUST FINISHED PACKING FOR ALPHA SOMEONE SAVE ME I’M FREAKING OUT SO BADLY
Well you guys are all still on italics I’m on bold 😉
ugh I’m have non-reading withdrawls I’m having a good day…
I couldn’t read a book about a six year old… I wasn’t even sure about reading Chaos Walking because the protagonist was 12 (actually he’s like 15?). Asa Butterfield is much older than six though… are they having big differences in the film compared to the book?
:O :O
I didn’t work! In that second sentence half the words were meant to be crossed out… :'(
@91 – actually you kinda don’t even notice he’s six, I went like “wha…??” every time it mentioned his age, cause he’s a kid, but the way he thinks and acts and talks is very mature and all. It still is a very good story, you should really read it 🙂
And in Chaos Walking he is supposed to be 12 but is actually older, about 14 I think. They had weird years or something, I can’t really remember.
I think Todd WAS 12 in their years but since they were further away (or closer) to the sun it meant they were different? Longer or something? So then according to our way of time keeping he would have been 14 like Viola.
@93: Exactly. They mentioned that he was only six and I was like whaaaa…? But it’s a great book that everyone should read 🙂
@91: Judging by the trailer, Ender is much older than he should be. There’s a thread on the forum about the movie called ‘Ender’s Game movie?’…
I loved the midnighters series also if you wouldnt mind taking a look at this site http://www.etsy.com/shop/LatherTime?ref=si_shop it would be much apprectated.
Don’t mind me.
I’m just trying something out…
So bold and italics work but underlines don’t? That makes zero sense. And apparently crossed-out doesn’t either?
More testing…
TO BE CONTINUED…
😀 I’m such a dork.^
COMMENT 100!!! I RULE!
@94- they measured the years different, I think they added days to them so they were longer. But yeah, he’s really 14 at the beginning, like Viola
Yeah, in Chaos Walking the year has thirteen months instead of twelve on Todd’s planet. In our years he’s fourteen, but really where he’s from he is thirteen. Or, he turned thirteen. But he’s fourteen to us. But since he’s on a different planet, on that planet he’s not. Ahhhhhhh It’s confusing, but yeah let’s just say fourteen. Or age ambiguous.
Now, I am going to sleep. Why am I always on here at like midnight, even in a different time zone??? Sigh….
I think we’ve agreed Todd was 14 😉 haha
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! It was the last day of school today so that means I can start reading again 😀 😀 😀
Why couldn’t you read during the school year?
@103: Yeah, I agree about Todd. 🙂
And yay for you! Go read! School is such a reading blocker….
Guys….
Tomorrow….
A certain guest author is going to come….
If you don’t hear from me ever again, I’ll have died. Just letting you know. ^^
@104 (sorry I have no idea how to pronounce your name..)
I can read during the school term but I forced myself not to read for the last week so I’d get heaps of work finished up. And we’re only halfway through the school year, the holidays are only for two weeks :/ can’t wait until summer!
@Midshipman are you at Alpha?! Please bombard Scott-la with every single question you can think of!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You’re so lucky! You have to tell us EVERYTHING! So please don’t die 😛
@106: Yes. Yes I am. Today is day three. And he’s supposed to be here….nowish. I had to borrow a copy of Goliath from Middy Miles to calm myelf down because I left mine in the dorm because I thought it would be weird to calm myself down using, well, Goliath. But then I just got too….ack. Yeah. Chapter 123 calms me down. Don’t ask me why. (It’s that chapter where they’re in Alek’s cabin arguing about things.) And I don’t know why I’m here instead of working on my story. And if he does come in like right now, that would be sort of weird because I’m on his blog. And I’m dying. I don’t think I’ve ever been this nervous. I literally had to force myself to eat this morning. And things. And bye. And my mind is fraying. And ahhh.
@44: Thanks. (Sorry, I’m way behind. :/ )
@107: I’d probably be even worse than that! 😛
@106: I’m not totally sure either. It’s fom Bogus to Bubbly. Panzercrappitastica Bonechomper was too long 😉
Everyone, I am much more calm now. It’s just sort of surreal to see both Scott and Justine together….and teaching together….and they’re amazing. I haven’t really talked to either of them yet (I am calm, but I still probably shouldn’t be trusted to speak coherently) but I have more time. Also, they each chose a table at lunch to sit at (but we were the third table…. :()And the first presentation Scott did was mostly concerning Leviathan and how visuals can influence writing and when he and Justine were talking about POV, he also talked about how he alternated third person limited with Deryn and Alek, and how he used POV to show these two different characters’ view of the same thing (the Leviathan). BUT when he first started and he had pictures of the books and the portraits of Deryn and Alek, it must be confessed that I was chewing on my own hands to keep from making an rather embarrassing noises. Plus, he used fanart, too, talking about how fanart illustrates books that would otherwise have no pictures, etc. And I’m shutting up now. I really have to go write.
@109 I haven’t read Bogus to Bubbly :O 🙁
@Midshipman K WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW *gasp* :O 😀 😀 😀 I can feel your excitement/nerves! Sounds so awesome!!!!!!
That’s really interesting about the POV and illustrations! And fan art?! Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151570155866849&set=a.310280146848.146439.203832086848&type=1&theater Does anyone think that the guy on the RIGHT photo looks exactly like a CGI Alek?!
@111: I also sort of feel guilty for telling you guys all this because you aren’t experiencing it with me…. But I don’t really know where else to go to nervous word vomit. Yeah. I’ll check out that link in a second because once again I’m on my phone and this is difficult to do. I’m in one of the dorms so we don’t have wifi except on phones if we have the right kind. So though my computer is right in front of me, my phone it is.
@111: I guess Hiccup looks like Alek, but that is also Hiccup to me so….yeah. But he does look rather like Alek when he’s older.
@111: There’s a How to Train Your Dragon 2? MUST SEE. But yeah, he does look like Alek. And now, I’ll keep thinking this while I see the movie.
Guys, I think I just scared Scott-la because I asked him about a short story he wrote in 2009 as a dialog spine and put in a NaNo Tip…. I asked him if he’d ever finished it and….yeah. After he left our table (we were eating lunch), the other people with me told me my fangirl was showing….oops. I honestly didn’t think anything of it, but…..yeah. At first when I saw that he’d sat down at our table, I was making tea, and I came backed and freaked internally. And tried to hide behind the coffee I had (the tea was in a thermos for later). But then he started asked what everyone’s short stories were about and GUYS. wow ah ajskrrocntoweksdjagjjeksanskd
@Mid K – you are so lucky to be there!!!!!!! Ask Scott about his blog, see if he remembers you 😛
@115: Jealous. So very jealous…
Good to meet you and your wife. Justine was hilarious – I had no idea you were married to an author.
@116-117: Actually, Scott and Justine did a interview-each-other/book signing at Barnes and Noble In Greensburg and afterwards a group of us were talking to Scott and maybe I’d been loud earlier like yesterday or today because he actually asked me to confirm I commented here…. So I had to say yes, I’m Midshipman K, and it was insane and I also really embarrassingly mentioned my dogtags that say it, too, because I was wearing them and how it was my username everywhere, so yeah. And yeah. And I’m being really incoherent but it was awesome and Middy Miles wasn’t with me at the time but I am going to drag her over to him when he gets back because he wanted to know who she was too and yeah. Ahhh. And he and Justine are adorable, by the way. And I’m sort of worried that he’ll see this, but that’s okay. Just embarrassing. But that is character building.
Midshipman K you are insanely lucky to be meeting and talking to Scott!!!!! What kind of stuff does he say? Have you been asking him anything e.g. Uglies/Leviathan movies, up coming books ??
Hahaha that’s so awesome that he actually remembered you!! I wonder if he thinks it’s strange that we’re talking about him like this… sorry Scott 😛
@Midshipman K: Still jealous -__-
@111: The nose isn’t quite right… but otherwise it does look like Alek!
@Midshipman K: I agree with Panzercrappitastica. 😉 But I have no idea what I’d do if I met him. Probably say something incoherent. 😛
Above: “Him” as in Scott-la.
@122: I’d babble incoherently for like thirty seconds about how I love his books and am so excited to meet him and he’s my role model etc. Then I’d make myself for, coherent sentences.
@120-124: I’m sorry…. I know if I was in your place, I’d be dying. But I didn’t know who else to freak out at. I did nearly hyperventilate before he and Justine arrived (She’s lovely by the way), but they don’t need to know that….which is why I’m commenting about it on his website…. But yeah. I did have several word vomit moments. I babbled my favorite quote from The Bonus Chapter at him, and something about me hording The Manual of Aeronautics for a year from my sister because she kept Goliath a whole day after she finished it and would’t let me read it. On August 21st, it will have been a year. And, speaking of The Bonis Chapter, if he does see this, put the French translation on here! I want to see it!
(And I know what the mysterious novel is, but I won’t say. He hasn’t put it on here yet so I don’t think he wants everyone to know yet? Or he just hasn’t updated in a while….)
But he and Justine did leave today. :'(
@125: That’s okay 🙂 I would probably do the same thing.
MidshipmanK: It was lovely meeting you and your sister. I would never ever have guessed you were nervous. Teaching at Alpha was one of the best teaching/talking about writing/hanging out with cool people experiences of my life.
(Your fangirl never showed too much! Not that there’s anything such thing.)
It’s totally impossible to show too much fangirl/boy. Inconceivable! And that word does mean what I think it means 😉
MIDSHIPMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUSTINE JUST REPLIED TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
@129: I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST NOTICED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAATTTT!!!!
@127: Hi. ^^ Middy Miles says hi, too. (The awesome person. [Her words, not mine. :D])
Yes, yes I do say “Hi.” And it doesn’t matter who says it because it’s true 🙂 )
There hasn’t been a new post in a month! 🙁