Little Free Library.....at my house ^_^

I've been thinking about ways that I can donate books to people without ACTUALLY handing them to people. I've left them in public places, I've donated to Salvation Army, Goodwill and Battered Women's shelters around town. I've wanted to do World Book Night but it's on my husband's birthday so I haven't actually been able to do it. Then I got an email from KickStarter. How would I like to back a project called Little Free Library? (Here's the link so you can view/back it too)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1106918453/little-free-library-project-winston-salem-nc

So I followed the link and BAM! THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR! 

So I reach out to Sarah Maxey and ask her "How can I start my own Little Free Library?" She was very sweet to respond to me right away and direct me to http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/. I went there and got a WEALTH of information including tips on how to collect donations and spur interest in my project. 

So far, I've made a Facebook plea to my frienzies for book and money donations. Thinking of making my own Kickstarter but I'm not sure I want it to grow that big. I'm just a humble princess ;)

Let me know if you'd like to help! Thank you in advance!!

(photo courtesy of littlefreelibrary.org) 

Giveaway Winner!!

Thank you to everyone that entered the giveaway!! I always have so much fun doing these. According to the random number generator of awesome, the winner is......

#4 Munnaza!! So if that's you, send me your name and mailing address to theycallmescarlett@yahoo.com

Thank you all for being awesome, for being nerdy, for being YOU!!

The Fault in Our Stars Giveaway!!

The AWESOMEST giveaway prize EVER!!

As all of us Nerdfighters know, yesterday John Green's new book The Fault in our Stars came out. And we ALL rushed to EVERY book retailer in town to go Hanklerfishing and Yeti hunting. But I know some of us were not able to buy it. So I am having an awesome giveaway and the prize is a SIGNED copy of The Fault in our Stars!!! *cue the applause*

To enter, all you have to do is comment on this blog post and tell me ONE awesomely nerdy thing you've done in your life! THAT'S IT!! Cuz we all know Nerdfighters fight suck and pretty much EVERYTHING we do is awesome and I just want to know one.

Now, you don't HAVE to be a Nerdfighter to enter. You don't even have to be on Blogger to enter. You can comment as Anonymous but you HAVE to put your name on there so I know who you are.

Good luck, people!!!! And DFTBA!! (Don't forget to be awesome)

Ooh ya, the giveaway ends Monday Jan 16th

2012 is almost here ( My Fun Picture Bloggy)

Most days, I hear a majority of the people saying that they can't WAIT to end 2011. This makes me have a bit of a sadness becuz I actually ENJOYED 2011.

In 2011, I had some of the best times in my life!!! And, it made me realize, that if I'm going to think back on 2011 fondly, I might as well do it out loud :)

In early 2011, I bought the FULL version of World of Warcraft and started my long and arduous journey to Level 85 which I ACCOMPLISHED recently!! Score 1 for me :)

Me and my Monkey Man (seen here) celebrated ANOTHER year (Lucky 13) of our crazy ass marriage. If you've ever been married or know any married people, you know it takes a lot of work and a bit of your sanity to make a marriage last THIS damn long :P

In May of 2011, me and my Monkey Man took the boys to Free Comic Book Day and they had a GREAT time and I got LOTS of great stuff!!! Next year, we're gonna score bigger! (We have high hopes LoL)

This summer, in preparation for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, I got my mommy (seen here in her Hufflepuff garb) to not only READ Harry Potter but fall in love with it and agree to have Harry Potter movie viewing parties with me. :) We even had a Sorting Ceremony. It was so much fun!!

This summer, me and my Monkey Man decided we'd introduce our monkey babies (shown here) to some new and enjoyable things. We introduced them to frozen yogurt, took them to the Drive-In, took them to Chuck E Cheese and didn't make them eat pizza (We learned it's cheaper and more tiresome for them if we buy only tokens and let them play until they run out), took them to the Farmer's Market, took them to the comic book store for $1 comics, and basically spent so much time with them that when me and him went on vacation withOUT them, they were glad to be rid of us! :D Mission Accomplished!!

AND THEN THERE WAS LEAKYCON 2011!!! One of the most AMAZINGLY dorky things I've ever enjoyed!! I had  a couple of really awesome things happen to me while I was in Orlando so I'll share those with you now:

#1 awesome thing:

Meeting one of my besties, Cissy (seen here) in REAL LIFE. She's as awesome and beautiful in person as she is online :) I also met my friend Daniel (not seen here) in real life and the 4 of us (including my Monkey Man) had the BEST time talking about EVERYTHING!!

#2 awesome thing:

I got to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter while I was in Orlando and it was so awesome!! But the BEST part was, while in Ollivander's, I got chosen to get the experience!!!!! I kinda made of fool of myself cuz when he asked me what my name was, I kinda looked around and then said "Me?" and everybody laughed. Yup. Story of my life >.<

In 2011, I attended a BUNCH of book signings cuz I love books and I love authors and I love book stores. So YAY!!

My little-ist Monkey baby, Devyn, broke his arm in October. Minus 1 for me LoL

BUT, October also marked another birthday for me and an awesome zombeh birthday party courtesy of my Monkey Man. YAY for birthdays close to Halloween!!

In November, my sissy (seen here) and her hubby came down and we went to ComicCon together!! We were dressed not as those nerds from Paul ( <-- linky) but as Hogwarts school girls which isn't nerdy AT ALL!

Then we had Happy JoJo Day and that was fun LoL

Then we had Christmas and got all kinds of great stuff and made it really awesome for the kids and had lots of food!! YAY!!

Now, I'm not saying that this year didn't have any DOWNs cuz it did but it just made the UPs that much better. I met some truly great new friends and lost some as well. But, don't we all? I just thought if I shared all of the great things that happened to me this year then, maybe, you could see the great things that happened to you this year. I am actually a bit sad to see this year go but I have many things to look forward to this coming year.

Happy New Year, my lovlies!! I hope it's BETTER than this year!!

Book to Movie....Sometimes We Cringe (May Contain Spoilers)

EVERYONE who's ever had their favorite book made into a movie knows that sometimes the movie DOESN'T deliver. And we as human beings know it isn't HUMANLY possible to put EVERY element into a movie that comes from the book. (Let's face it, America. Our attention spans aren't what they used to be) And, sometimes, the filmmakers feel the need to give the movie some extra visuals that weren't in the book to make it, I don't know, more entertaining. There are so many things that could make a great book into a crappy movie. But there's always 2 sides to every story and there are times when the movie is just as good if not BETTER than the book. And I'll give you some examples of what I feel is the best and the worst.

1. ALL the Harry Potter films
Now, I am somewhat biased because I have loved Harry Potter for a long time but, let's face it. The movies were totally AWESOME!! And there's a couple reasons why. #1 When Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone hit theaters, we were in AWE of seeing Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, Hermoine, Dumbledore, our WORLD come to life on screen. When you read a book, it's all about using your imagination to visualize what you are reading. And when I saw the movie, I was SO happy to see the images in my head before my eyes. And #2 not only did Chris Columbus make the world of Harry Potter REAL, he stayed true to the book. Now, as the story moves forward, the books got longer and the directors could no longer keep EVERYTHING intact. So some sacrifices had to be made. And there will ALWAYS be elements of the books that we did not get to see in the movies. For ME, the biggest cut was Voldemort's memories of the Gaunts and the Riddles. HP and the Half-Blood Prince was my FAVORITE book of all of them and I was SOOOOO excited for that movie, yet was a bit disappointed at this part being cut or not even filmed. Some will say they wanted the Maurauder's back story or more of Snape and Lily's childhood but I think mine was a tragedy.

2. The Last Airbender
Ok, I know a LOT of you hated The Last Airbender movie but I liked it. I liked it because I LOVE Avatar:The Last Airbender and I liked it for the same reason I loved the Harry Potter movies. Because I saw the cartoon come to real life. Now, I was happy that M. Night Shyamalan stayed true to the storyline and that Sokka was just as dreamy in real life as he is in the cartoon. Zuko..not so much. At least for me. For one thing, he isn't even Asian which I would have preferred. And Uncle Iroh was not fat and jolly and drinking tea. Instead he was tall and thin and not as gray. Another tragedy.

3. Stand by Me
A movie version of a freaking SHORT STORY written by Stephen King and starring Will "He's our Nerd King" Wheaton, River Pheonix, and Keifer Sutherland. TOTAL WIN!! *dreamy eyes*

4. The Help
Great book. I laughed and I laughed and I guessed and I laughed some more. The movie: totally on par. It was long at over 2 hours but it was so good. I was disappointed that they left out the part where Minnie gets attacked by the naked guy. That would have made me laugh more :)

5. My Sister's Keeper
Here's what I LOVE about this book so beautifully written by Jodi Piccoult. EVERYTHING! The plot twists, the differents POVs, the tragic ending. Here's what I HATED about the movie. It stars Cameron Diaz. I don't like her. She's really annoying to me. Tragic ending, not so tragic. (Spoiler Alert)
 In the book version, Anna (played in the movie by Abigail Breslin) leaves the trial with Julia (her guardian ad litem) and Campbell (her lawyer) after winning the trial to have control of her own body so she doesn't have to undergo any more surgery to save her sister who has cancer.
(It was announced during the trial that Kate (the sister with cancer) put her up to the lawsuit so that she can die in peace.)
 In a very beautiful twist, Anna, Cambell, and Julia are in an auto accident after leaving the courthouse and Anna is killed and her kidneys are given to Kate and this puts Kate into remission. If you read the book, your jaw will have dropped at several moments during the course of your reading sessions and if you saw this movie, you will have been seriously disappointed. In the end of the movie, there was NO twist. Anna didn't even die!! Not in auto accident, not  a plane crash, nothing. Kate dies due to her cancer. Ask ANYONE who's read this book what they remember about it and they will tell you THE TWIST ENDING!!! If you're going to adapt a book into a movie, don't change the BEST part!!! Thumbs down!

Everyone has there best and worst book to movie adaptations. What are some of yours?

Addendum to my previous blog re: nerd girls

After I posted my previous blog about the unfortunate situation regarding nerd girls being portrayed by models in glasses, it has come to my attention by a FEW people that this isn’t the ONLY problem we face. It’s the COMMERCIALISM as well! My bestie, Cissy, said “Now geek girls are hot and popular and every girl who’s ever watched a single episode of Star Trek thinks she’s one of my kind”. And I agree. Now I LOVE going into the Sanrio store and seeing Hello Kitty with her glasses on saying how she loves nerds but this whole scenario goes both ways. Girls want to say they love nerd boys when, in reality, they don’t ALL look like Clark Kent (and I mean Christopher Reeve cuz that was one HOT nerd boy) and all of us nerd girls don’t look like Victoria Secret models.

Being a nerd girl means:

1. We have a love for some kind of nerd-afilliated hobby such as reading, writing, being in a school band, playing certain video games, playing certain computer games, watching SciFi shows,studying, reading comic books etc.

2. We fangirl over above said items and do it to the best of our ability

3. We wear the proper attire when fangirling such as t-shirts representing said love of nerd girl-affilliated hobby

4. We swoon over nerd boys that are totally worth it in terms of HOTNESS and BRAINY-NESS such as Will Wheaton, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Alex Carpenter, Luke Conard, Jimmy Wong, Rupert Grint (ok these are some of MY faves but you get the point)

5. We tell anyone that will listen of our nerd girl hobbies and watch as they retreat into their minds. But, still, we carry on because to US, THAT’S listening :)

Being a nerd girl does NOT mean:

1. We look like models (well, not 99% of us)

2. We say it just to be cool because, in our experience, being a nerd girl has NEVER been cool.

3. We don’t crave your approval. We have lived our WHOLE lives wishing to be accepted but not on these terms.

4. We are not awesome. We are MADE of awesome and we have other nerd girls and nerdfighters that help us to remember that because sometimes we forget

5. We stand out like a sore thumb. We have kind of made it our life’s mission to fit in amongst the beautiful people so sometimes you might not recognize us so easily.

6. We are commercial. We are not. We have a love of all things nerd and we have done so since birth. So stop PRETENDING you have too!!

And, most of all, STOP putting us on this pretend pedestal. As much as we like the attention, you’re watering us down and making us mainstream. And, frankly, we’re just not comfortable with that.

Well, most of us aren’t. We’re a bit socially-akward at times. And kinda clumsy. And we don’t like crowds. Or the outdoors. OK, I’m done…DFTBA!! <3