Sorry for the abnormally long post, but we had to fit all the awesome in. Brought to you by Erika. (With comments by Lorena in red), (Brigitte in yellow) (And Julie in green)
There’s only one word to describe last night: AWESOME! I protest, no words can describe last night.
Meeting John Green was just about everything we hoped it to be. (and more)
I’ll fast-forward the day to when we arrived at Books & Books. Lorena and Brigitte were already there and so were some Nerdfighters! (This was about 5:30; the event started at 7.) People kept pointing us in the direction of the event room and we kept pretty much yelling that we were working there. Then, we ran into Jeanne (the lady in the Children's room) and she mentioned that she had been on the site a couple of times (yaaaaay!).Yup and some of the Nerdfighters have been on this site -happy dance-. We all changed into our t-shirts and jeans in our typical hog the bathroom fashion. Yeah except there was someone in the bathroom so we had to wait a little unlike it usually is.
Then, we signed the card I made John (in a gold pen), after my failed attempt to draw evil baby Hitler, picked a charity for our swear jar (so totally my idea) (not just if you swore, just to donate money to decrease world suck). We ended up picking The Children’s Home Society. During this we were running back and forth between the children's room and the register because apparently we just had to buy more and more copies of Paper Towns. We just couldn't stop buying. Oh, and we played "In my Pants" with the children's books. Which I can proudly say I started AND won.
Time went on and we attempted to figure out what to say for our introduction… Lorenathen realized that she hadn’t taught Julie and I the time warp yet. So, we went to the children’s section next to the table and began learning. Once we did it once, the door to the staff room opened and who stood there in the middle of putting our hands on our hips… Emily… and John Green! I'm being completly honest here is was like one of those time stopped moments, it may have been the awkward stance we were in (I mean it literally looked like we were waiting out there for him (which we weren't)) but everyone was just dead silent in an unannounced staring contest.
Lorena casually tried turning the hands on hips motion into a wave and said hello. You have to admit that was completely and utterly the most slick thing I've ever pulled.Because Lorena is never slick. He was wearing the same color green shirt as us with jeans! It was an awesome coincidence! Although, it may have looked like we were really stalking him. (I’ll take this opportunity to describe the shirts… Each of us on the back had a letter spelling DFTBA, Emily, me, Julie, Lorena, and Brigitte respectively. Though the B was backwards because of my horrible ironing skills and there also was need for sharpie to make the F black again since I turned it brown... The fronts were all different Nerdfighter/John Green references.) It was insaaaane!-swoon-
Emily introduced us, and then they went to go figure out the Internet in the event room (we followed). We walked into the event room and everyone stared cheering but John was saying things like "Not part of the show, this never happened." But Nerdfighters took pictures anyway.Afterwards, we all, John included, went to the café, sat down, and began randomly talking. Well, they did. I could barely string two words together the entire conversation. Yes, John Green is just that awesome. Amazing no? Usually I can never get her to shut up.
I can’t even remember all that we talked about… But it was very entertaining and we (well, I) were definitely nervous. For the most part we started discussing the authors that we had helped at their events before, John pointed out we've met pretty much most of his author friends. Then it went into self publication, when it seems like a nice thing, and when it's just unnecessary. Mitchell came in a few minutes later and joined in our conversation; John just kept complimenting the store. Apparently we were the reason he came to Florida. YAY INDIES!No, YAY BOOKS & BOOKS!
Soon it was 7, so we went out to begin the show. We were in a single file line in letter order and John following at the end into a packed room. (It probably did look like we planned the matching shirts.) (Or stalked him)
The four of us gave a horrible introduction, thank goodness for Lorena or it would have been a thousand times worse… Okay more like, the four of us minus Lorena stayed quiet while Lorena had to try and make up an awesome speech that revolved around the words "awesome" and "jokes" which she failed miserably at doing.Well, I laughed so it wasn't that bad. And I did help; I got John Green to laugh along with several knowledgeable Nerdfighters. We turned around to reveal our DFTBA, which made it slightly better, and then John then took the podium and turned it into awesome.
He went on at first just talking (which included the first public announcement that he's a New York Times bestseller! We're honored that it was at our event! Congrats John!), then read the famous page 23 (you can watch these ten minutes on Alan’s recorded BlogTV show), then it went into a Q&A question Tuesday style.
This included his happy dance! [Thanks to: Teresa (ImperfectlyPerfect2)]
When there was no more time for questions, Emily went up and then said, we had one more question for him. Lorena asked him if he would do the time warp with us. (When we sent him a short Q&A posted here, he had said he could), but he said he didn’t know how. Disappointment ya know?Kind of like being promised presents on Christmas and then ending up with a bag of coal sort of disappointment.
Here’s how that played out (Thanks to : Epiphany131)
We then did the time warp ourselves and Lorena and Brigitte argued over which way to turn… See basically everyone went left, and I went right on instinct. That caused quite an eruption of laughter from the audience (though I think the arguing just made it worse) (If someone recorded that, please send it to us, though Lorena and Brigitte may not be too happy. It was hilarious.) Yeah, yeah I'm sure it was. I would be happy, it just supports me being right.I didn't even get to see the collision due to the fact I was on the end and turned the right way.
John then began to sign books. We went on post–it duty. Once that was done we just basically stood in the center of the room watching the long line slowly shrink.
Since our poor swear jar was getting no attention, Brigitte took it upon herself to go down the line and beg. I do not beg. I ask prettily.Basically all the money in it so far was hers since well lets face it, she puts sailors to shame. I'm so lucky I'm here to defend my honor. And since Nerdfighters are awesome, they donated! (We collected a grand total of $29.62) GO NERDFIGHTERS!!!
After a while, we went and brought all out stuff to the center of the room, sat on the floor and post-ited our own books. (Most of them said "Erika")
Eventually there was only one group of people left. We waited and then once they left, we got our own books signed. I myself had 6 books… Paper Towns ARC, Let it Snow, Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns (Happy Margo), and 21 Proms [Which John thinks I may have the copy with the most authors signatures (5) and that he likes me better than the others do lol :) ] Stupid Melissa De La Cruz signature -grumble-.
We then made him take multiple pictures with us…
He thanked us repeatedly for making the shirts and he offered all those in the room the candy left over from the bag he was given of the towards-the-end-of-Paper Towns-gas-station-shopping-spree. I got the Nerds! (Which may possibly be the same ones John is holding in this video.) I got Snickers! I got Grandma's cookies! You can never go wrong with Grandma's cookies.I got to share Erika's Nerds!
Michael (the manager of the Books & Books in Bal Harbor) asked John to sign his manual typewriter. John was spazzing out from the authors that had previously signed it, repeatedly stated he couldn’t ruin it (he wouldn't ruin it but simply add to its majesty), but then gave in when Michael continued to insist.
We then all had to leave. Though we didn’t want to leave John we had to (I had a ton of homework to finish… ended up going to bed at 1:30am, but it was worth it).
Thanks so much John for making the night possible! And to all those who came that made it even more awesome! If anyone has any pictures or videos they’d like us to share, feel free to e-mail us the link and we’ll add them in! Well Erika's nice, but I'm not, so I'm demanding you send them. Just kidding :), but please do send them. Brigitte demands pictures! Pictures would be awesome!
The National Book Award has just announced the finalists for this year’s Award for Young People’s Literature. They really picked some winners! Check ‘em out.
The first of a weekly post discussing anything YA that happened or is happening.
Blogs, vlogs, and random things:
John Green and his brother, Hank, after their pwning of Oprah on youtube, were punished to do brotherhood 2.0 style vlogging for a month. [Don't know what this was? In 2007, they decided to stop textual communication for a year and make a video every day to each other (one one day, the other the next, etc.) except weekends] Visit their youtube page to watch.
Lauren Myracle is having a contest to come up with a contest... Sounds confusing, it isn't. She wants a contest idea that's spooky, promotes her new book (Bliss), and deals with All Hallow's Eve. Start brainstorming and you may win a really cool Bliss shirt! More info here.
Justine Larbalestier's publisher is having a contest for her new book, How to Ditch Your Fairy, basically to write about what type of personal fairy would you want to have. All the information is here.
This upcoming week (October 12-18, 2008) is YALSA's Teen Read Week! Go here to vote for the year's top ten young adult books, as well as next year's slogan!
Movie news:
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist based on the book by Rachel Cohn and David Levithanopened last week (Oct. 3). It debuted at #3 with $11.3 million and received 3.5 stars.
Libba Bray stated in her blog that though the A Great and Terrible Beauty movie has progressed, no one has been cast. She'll post on her blog as soon as she finds out anything.
Books that came out recently:
Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
The Way We Work by David Macaulay
Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Books that are coming out in the next week:
October 14: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson
October 14: Two to the Fifth by Piers Anthony
October 15: The Twilight Saga Box Set by Stephenie Meyer
October 16: Paper Towns by John Green
October 16: Doomwyte: A Novel of Redwall by Brian Jacques
We're exactly 4 weeks away from what is being called "the most important election in American History." (Tuesday, November 4, 2008, folks... mark your calendars)
So, yeah, it's a pretty big deal.
Here's a book and some websites that might help you sort out the issues and candidates for yourself:
Declare Yourself:
Speak. Connect. Act. Vote. More Than 50 Celebrated Americans Tell You Why Fifty famous figures, including authors, actors, athletes, and pop stars, each deliver the same message: young people need to vote! The varied efforts include earnest lectures, funny personal stories, and thought-provoking essays. Many of the contributors are not far past 18 themselves, so their stories may resonate particularly strongly with readers who are at or approaching voting age. Gr. 9 and UpBUY
Created to encourage 18-year-old voter registration, this nonpartisan site includes links to current election resources, voting FAQs, and strategies for encouraging others to register, along with a collection of persuasive (and often funny) celebrity videos promoting youth participation.
An innovative non-partisan “voter’s self-defense system,” this organization collects data about candidates and office holders in areas such as voting records, interest group ratings, public statements, and campaign financing. The information is gathered and updated by team of thousands of mostly volunteer researchers.
Books that come out this week:
