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The Road to Victory Tour
Hold on to your hats, kiddos! This upcoming weekend is when lovers of The Hunger Games and YA other favorites come together to take it to a new level!
It’s Victory Tour 2013, June 22 – 23!
Yup, Victory Tour was originally a Hunger Games only convention, but it had to be shifted for legal purposes. Thus it became an awesome YA book convention! (Sadly, some people can’t read between the lines on the for legal purposes bit, as if the people behind Victory Tour randomly chose to switch up the theme and upset a bunch of fans just for the hell of it, so they’re still sourpusses. Really?!) To us, this makes the convention EVEN BETTER, as we’re fans of books in general.
Salute your fandom!
We know what you usually think of with conventions: Location, location, location! This is different! Victory Tour is an online convention, so you can participate no matter where you live, assuming you can stream stuff on your computer without it exploding!
For instance, both V. Arrow, author of the research-based book The Panem Companion will be there, juxtaposed by the hilarity of Mark Oshiro from Mark Reads The Hunger Games. And if that doesn’t fill your appetite for dystopia, how about some interviews with Lauren Oliver, author of the Delirium trilogy, and Ally Condie, author of the Matched trilogy? There’s also programming based around all of these books, as well as Divergent, soon to be a major motion picture featuring this guy. *swoon* All are very popular dystopians and if fans of The Hunger Games have branched out in the genre, they’re likely to know and love these books too!
Victory Tour will also be talking to fans who participate in their love for The Hunger Games a little differently, like “Rockingjays” Alex Boyd, Alex Carpenter, Sam Cushion, Steph Anderson, and Hello the Future! Of course, each of them will be playing their original songs based on the books!
If that isn’t musical enough for you, check out From Nightmares to Nightlock, a hilarious musical parody which will premiere during the convention. That’s right, you can find funny things about The Hunger Games SOMEWHERE ELSE too! We ain’t even mad!
Oh, and did we mention that THE COOLEST CATS IN TOWN will be there?! That’s right: FANSITE REPS (INCLUDING ME!) will be on hand to discuss how to be badass via Internet and other such things on Sunday at 4pm!
It’s Not Too Late To Register Here!
The Girl With The Pearl
The Hunger Games Fans Speak!
The new book trailer for Catching Fire launched earlier this week. It is– dare I steal a word learned from Lydia on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries?– ADORBS!
In addition to Kimmy from Mockingjay.net and Aldrin from Down With The Capitol, who were part of the original fan trailer video, this one features Courtney, aka Twiffidy’s partner-in-crime over at Welcome to District 12! Along with many other totally worthy fans who submitted great videos!
Observe.
What we love about this is that it’s NOT some professional thesis on why we should love the books. With a few exceptions (here’s lookin’ at you, Katniss cosplayer and hi-def camera green screen gal!), it’s quick and blurry and shaky. It’s geekily over-excited, despite the guy who says “It’s the perfect blend of everything you want in a novel” as if he’s reciting a meatloaf recipe.
Why do we enjoy the chaos of it so much? When we tell people about the books, IT’S LIKE THAT. We’re throwing our arms around and squeaking. A special “all over the place” version of the plot is described in ten seconds flat and we’re pretty positive that the person we’re speaking to didn’t understand a thing. And then we let out a little cough and say something like “Really, though. You should check it out. It’s great.”
By spotlighting fans for giving their simple, honest opinions on the series, you allow the book to sell itself much better than an expensive campaign quoting authors and critics. There’s a critic out there who LOVED the worst book ever written, we’re sure. The books are already pretty high on the credibility scale, so just let the existing audience tell it like it is!
The video is only oart of PHASE ONE of a great summer-long promotion from Scholastic! Get the details on all the fun UNDER THE CUT!
Read the rest of this entry
Guest Postapalooza Contest!
Every once in a while, we take this glorious thing called “vacation”. Sometimes one right after the other, sometimes overlapping! On the site, chaos ensues!
We accept guest posts any time of year and LOVE posting them. Half the time, we sit there reading them and saying “Why didn’t I ever think to write about this?! It’s great!” There are also some occasions in which we straight up need guest posts to keep the site from being a barren wasteland of nothingness. This is one of those times!
WIN IT!
So to encourage you lovely readers to share your insightful, hilarious, original perspectives on ANYTHING Hunger Games related– movies, books, characters, actors, merchandise, advertising, the crew… the sky is the limit!– we’re running a little contest!
Send a guest post to thevictorsvillage@gmail.com no later than June 17th (though the sooner, the better!) and you’ll be entered for a chance to win One [1] of two [2] mini theatrical posters from The Hunger Games!**
Rules and Guidelines:
- All posts must be submitted by 11:59pm PST on June 17, 2013.
- Multiple guest posts are allowed.
- The post must be at least 3-4 paragraphs, not just a few sentences, and it must make sense. It’s not that we don’t trust you… You just wouldn’t believe some “guest posts” we’ve received in the past!
- After the final guest post submitted within the allotted time frame has been posted, readers will vote on their favorite guest post via online poll.
- ** If you submitted a guest post in May to help cover The Girl With The Pearl’s vacation, you are automatically entered into this competition!
Though not mandatory, we encourage you to BRING THE FUNNY as much as possible!
May the odds be ever in your favor! …More importantly, we will love you LIKE WHOA!
A Little Hunger Games Movie Love, For Once
As a fandom, there’s a lot of complaining about The Hunger Games. We don’t like actors or hair color or certain lines in the movie. We especially don’t like the people who don’t like the things that we DO like. We’re an uppity crowd, more so than many of us would like to admit. We’ve learned that this is true of EVERY fandom, not just The Hunger Games fandom.
What we sometimes don’t realize is this: We are so freaking lucky to have a successful film adaptation of the series happening right now, even if it can’t please every person under the sun.
Just look at the cover!
Believe it or not, the admins are Victor’s Village also have our OTHER fandom addictions. Perhaps an unhealthy number of them, but we don’t mind one bit! One of mine is Delirium by Lauren Oliver, which has gained a lot of steam over the past couple years but tends to be a love/hate kid of fandom (Lauren doesn’t deal in happy endings or neatly tied bows at the end of her books, ever!) Delirium was set to be made into a television show and then… it wasn’t.
The rights were optioned and the script was written. The actors were cast and the great debate began. The hair naysayers went NUTS because Hana was a brunette instead of a blonde. The pilot was shot and the tide began to turn. Pictures found their way online. Actors openly expressed their excitement for the project. Delirium trended worldwide on Twitter TWICE. Admittedly, we felt a little invincible.
… And then Fox decided to pick up an iRobot rip-off, a House-plays-lawyer drama, a show that sounds suspiciously like Southland, and a Sleepy Hollow remake (to compete against Once Upon a Time, we assume) over Delirium.
Do I sound bitter? I am. I ain’t even gonna hide it. ARRRRRGHHHHHH!
All of our fandom glory came to a screeching halt for a day as we realized nothing may come of the story we love. That doesn’t mean that all hopes have been dashed (Shameless plug for the Don’t Stop the Deliria campaign!), but we’ve become a little jaded and deflated. We know we’re not the only fandom who has suffered when amazing books are sold and placed neatly on the shelves, possibly to never be seen on a screen ever. Lionsgate is currently doing that with John Green’s Looking For Alaska, which is freaking criminal.
Now, imagine if that was The Hunger Games. Imagine if Lionsgate bought the rights to The Hunger Games and decided NOT to make the movie. At the time, the dystopian genre hadn’t been tested onscreen and teen movies often left a bad taste in peoples’ mouths, so they did take a risk there. What if they gave the movie a much smaller budget and ended up halting production? What if the first movie didn’t impress execs and they decided not to release it?
As a fandom, we may not love every single detail of The Hunger Games movies, but we should feel damn lucky that we have them.
I Need to Incorporate More Charlie Brown Screams,
The Girl With The Pearl
Reppin’ The Fandom, Catching Fire Style
If there’s anything we love about being a part of The Hunger Games fandom, it’s the interactivity. Sure, you can love pretty much anything and thus be part of its fandom, but actually being given the ability to get involved is kinda glorious.
A lot of book and/or movie franchises got into the interactivity pretty late in the game, but The Hunger Games team has been introducing interactive components since the release of TheCapitol.PN and while they don’t always go over as spectacularly as we’d hoped, we give them ten points for trying!
Now they’ve got a new campaign to help spread the Catching Fire book love:
First off… AHHHHHH! THAT’S KIMMY FROM MOCKINGJAY.NET AND ALDRIN FROM DOWN WITH THE CAPITOL! They’re so good in front of the camera, they even make hanging sentences look cool! We’re kind of, sort of super jealous.
“So why not send in a video and try to be part of the new Catching Fire book trailer?” You ask. Because we are decidedly less cool in front of the camera and in front of the world in general! We’d be replying with a low quality iMovie video in which I have too much product in my hair as I try to quell the static electricity that is still all over the place, gesturing wildly and never quite looking into the camera.
Not the mention our “answers”…
THE HUNGER GAMES: WE ALL HAVE OUR REASONS. MINE IS… I have an addictive personality when it comes to books! Especially Young Adult dystopian and fantasy novels. Stop judging me, okay? It’s not like I’m doing crack! GAWD!
I LOVE THE HUNGER GAMES BECAUSE… The world has gone apeshit and there’s all these conspiracies and everyone is dropping like flies in these freaking arenas! My anxiety level goes through the roof but I’m also really excited, so I guess I’m some sort of twisted masochist!
THE BEST PART ABOUT CATCHING FIRE IS… The huge plot twist in the end when Plutarch and Haymitch and all the cool tributes are part of the rebellion and they actually set up the games to help Katniss escape to District 13 WHICH IS REAL. Also, that Katniss/ Peeta moment on the beach where you think “If this weren’t a fairly innocent series when it comes to teen sexuality, they would totally get it on right now, cameras and all.” What do you mean, I’m not supposed to give away the plot?
EVERYONE SHOULD READ CATCHING FIRE BECAUSE… HELLO! It’s only my favorite book in the trilogy! It’s our Empire Strikes Back and if you can’t appreciate that, well, you know where you can shove it!
Hopefully, some of you people can express your book feels a little more eloquently!
Reppin’ The Fandom RIGHT Since 2011,
The Girl With The Pearl
The Hunger Games Don’ts of Etsy, Part 2
People think fans of The Hunger Games will buy ANYTHING. No, seriously! It’s not just the book publishers or film studios trying to do it these days! If you thought some of the products they’ve put out for production were a little over the mark, just spend a little time on Etsy and you’ll be running back to the comfort of NECA’s lanyards and pencil sharpeners.
We highlighted some of the outrageous things Etsy sellers have the cojones to sell to Hunger Games fans in an earlier post, but there’s just so much more out there that we had to write up Part 2!
The Hunger Games Movie Scene Print Art, Drawn Left Handed
Once upon a time, some dude took 5 minutes to draw and color the chariot scene with his non-dominant hand and the result was… somewhere between Beavis & Butthead and The Muppets. Put that on high quality paper and it’s totally worth $15, right? …Or just have some 8-year-old recreate the scene for you sometime.
BOOBS Real or Not Real Embroidery
The *cough* artist behind these babies claims it’s a Hunger Games item because it uses the book quote in a way that mocks the series by using the “real” meaning of the question “Real or Not Real?” Also, NOT REAL given how hideously uneven they are, even from a side view!
Sexy Hot Team Peeta Flame Sparkle Totebag
Step 1: Take a promotional still, photoshop on fake cuts and make Josh Hutcherson’s eyes look demonic. Add text that is EXTRA PIXELY.
Step 2: Print image, iron on to bag.
Step 3: Add rhinestones and MOAR FLAME, this time in a bow.
Step 4: List product under every word that might excite an 8-year-old girl!
Hunger Games Crazy Lady Novelty Pin
You mean you’ve NEVER wanted to show your fandom love with a pin in which some deranged looking character with coils for hair and beads for limbs is wearing a cut up Hunger Games poster as a dress?! That’s got a lot of charm and sentimental value, right there!
Katniss and Peeta Couple Earrings
For those of us who have decided it’s not enough to dangle Katniss and Peeta on either side of their face! We must frame them against bright red bows, like a tacky old Christmas portrait! That will show the world how much we love the series!
Jennifer Lawrence Devotional Candle
MOTHER OF GOD! Most of us like Jennifer Lawrence, but not this much! You can now praise her (or one of many other celebs photoshopped into a biblical scene) with this image on an 8-inch candle. We’re not sure if we should laugh or cry.
We’re Laughing and Probably Going To Hell,
The Girl With The Pearl
Many thanks to Savanna from Hunger Games Fireside Chat for finding a couple of these, including that last kicker!
Hunger Games Fandom Alert System
We are the mother hens of The Hunger Games fandom. See, we aren’t just geeks. We are defenders and protectors of geeks. And we’re wary… Vewwy, vewwy wary.
You remember the palpitations we had when we heard about the CW reality TV show based on The Hunger Games, The Hunt? We kind of lost faith in humanity and freaked out. That was probably the worst of it, but that doesn’t keep us from being suspicious of other things.
The producers of The Lord of the Rings trilogy are working on a new reality TV show called The Quest, which promises an epic journey for the lucky fantasy lovers who are cast. They’re looking specifically for people who dream of being a hero and enjoy extra-cirriculars like Live Action Role Play. And they’re reaching out to The Hunger Games community.
Did we mention this was for a major cable network? It seems like a really cool, fun concept if the participants were your average fantasy enthusiasts portrayed in a positive light, which is what you’d hope for given the producers. But this is network television. You know what that usually means? Nerd shaming.
See, networks usually go for *cough* unique personalities. Aka the weirdest, most messed up people they can find. The type who “make for good television”. Then they air these people’s most embarrassing, awkward moments and edit out every moment that’s relatively normal. Instead of being fun and knowledgeable, they’ll probably be portrayed like Augie from Role Models.
Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe they want to spread the good word that uncool is cool. Buuuuut… prolly not.
It’s not that we shouldn’t enjoy being fans nor should we stop showing our fandom pride. Things like conventions and premieres are safe zones for utter and complete nerdom. But let’s not totally set ourselves up in the public sphere, capice?
We’re Basically Just A Mouthy Neighborhood Watch,
The Girl With The Pearl
Hunger Games Fireside Chat Appreciation Post!
We’ve been planning on posting the same article for about a week now, but we’re holding off again because Hunger Games Fireside Chat just celebrated its 100th episode and WE FEEL ALL THE FEELS!
We’ve talked about our love of Hunger Games Fireside Chat before, even created a way for you to booze along, but it’s one of those things that’s worth multiple mentions. Also, tonight the show gave me my newest, dearest fictional friend, Harry Candlestickmaker. Listen to the episode and you’ll understand!
Thank you, James Franco!
This may sound geeky, but we were kind of starsturck when we were first asked to be on the show. It was like Cady Heron being asked to sit with The Plastics at lunch, though we assure you that Savanna and Adam are not Mean Girls! We were outwardly cool and collected, but only because on the inside we were shouting “BE COOL, DAMMIT! BE COOL!”
My first episode was in July of 2011, about a week after Victor’s Village opened, and I’m fairly certain I said about two words. Could you imagine any of us being too shy to say much?! As you can see, it was an occasion to be remembered!
For some reason, they asked me (and Them There Eyes and Twiffidy, once they joined up!) to continue to come on board after that. It got us way more involved in The Hunger Games fandom than we already were– more analysis, more games, more charity and more talking in general. In a roundabout way, the podcast is hugely responsible for the continued existence of Victor’s Village. Writing out these posts can be work sometimes, y’all! Without completely immersing ourselves in the fandom and knowing we have some awesome fandom friends who are just as crazy as we are, this ship would have sunk like a million years ago. For reals!
So I guess what we want to say is… Thanks. To the hosts. To the fans who listen in and give feedback. To the other panelists who are way funnier than us. We love the silly moments, the live on-air antics, the occasional monologue and the more than occasional debate that eats up half a show but lives in infamy for ages afterward.
We Get By With A Little Help from Our Friends,
The Girl With The Pearl
Hunger Games Fans Are Cheaters… AKA Kids At Heart
Let’s all stop and admit to something: We are a bunch of big, dirty cheating cheaters!
It’s not our fault! When you’re swimming with sharks or running with wolves or existing alongside some vicious creature (aka other fandoms!), you do what you gotta do to come out on top!
It least it looks cooler than an Oscar!
How did this revelation come about, you ask?
Today was a big day for me on a personal level, as I managed to pull off my sister’s bridal shower without murdering anyone in the process. But even in the middle of playing party hostess extraordinaire, The Hunger Games still worked its way into the day… because everyone knows I’m a huge fandom geek.
This time, it was a cousin who has children in the appropriate Kids Choice Awards age range. To paraphrase…
Her: “We were watching The Kids Choice Awards last night. The Hunger Games won a bunch of stuff! I was kind of surprised, given the age range.”
Me: “Oh, the Internet knows no age range. Maybe 10 percent of the people voting for The Hunger Games were actually age appropriate. When voting is all online, an 80-year-old could vote for the Kids Choice and no one would be the wiser. Kids voted, I’m sure, but I guarantee you there were way more adults. Hell, I bet some cleared their cookies and voted multiple times.”
Her: “Don’t grown adults have better things to do with their time?”
Me: “Sadly, no.”
From there, I tried to point out Alexander Ludwig’s heinous comb-over. She didn’t recall, but SERIOUSLY, WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT?!
Anyhow, clearly there’s a large chunk of cheaters among us! Not to say that there aren’t kids who have read or seen The Hunger Games– we’re under the firm belief that it’s up to parents to decide when their children can watch certain books or read certain books– but we wouldn’t guess that the majority of kids are totally saavy on books and movies heavy on death and political turmoil. Plus, WE KNOW about the cheating because we helped facilitate it through our social networks! Because if The Hunger Games is nominated, WE BETTER WIN, DAMMIT!
Willow’s elbows FTW!
We’re not the only ones, of course! Kristen Stewart won not one but two awards. Plus Johnny Depp took home the award for Best Actor for Dark Shadows, which was a great movie… said no kid ever. They seem a little out of place among the wins for Selena Gomez and One Direction and Spongebob Squarepants. That’s because they are! They were put there for the fandoms and the fandoms ensured the win, regardless of supposed “age restrictions”.
For the record, it was totally worth it, simply for that moment we realized that Willow Shields is both adorable AND double jointed in her elbows!
We All Know We Have the Maturity Level of a Ten Year-Old Anyway,
The Girl With The Pearl
One Year
The film adaptation of The Hunger Games is one year old. I know to everyone in the US its anniversary is the 23rd of March, but it’s world premiere actually happened on the 12th of March, and then it slowly rolled out to the masses on the 21st, the 22nd, the 23rd, the 28th, the 30th, and on, and on, and on it was released all over the world, ending in Japan on the 28th of September, 2012. I was one of the lucky few who saw The Hunger Games at its world premiere, so to me it had its birthday last week, but a year ago tonight I was sitting in a movie theatre twenty minutes away from where I sit now, with my former room-mate, her boyfriend, and a smattering of friends of theirs. I’d already seen the film the week before, and I was both anticipating experiencing my friend’s reaction, the audience’s reaction, who I was hoping would react differently to the Hollywood one, and my own reaction, because I made the mistake of wearing these extreme faux lashes to the world premiere, and spent the whole night with my eyes set in a permanent look of surprise, so they wouldn’t constantly brush against my glasses (it’s more annoying than you might think). So, I was simply looking forward to seeing the film again.
I don’t think I like teenage audiences. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t experienced a teenage audience since I was a teenager myself. No, wait– I hated teenage audiences when I was a teen as well. I have distinct memories of thinking the screamers at concerts were inappropriate, and I experienced some of the worst screamers of the 90s– Hanson fans, and they were insane, I tell ya’. What’s possibly more annoying than screamers though, are the boys and girls who collectively go “ooooooh” when ever an intimate moment
happened/ happens in a film, or even a play. It ruins the moment, the mood, the lull, and it rips you right out of the fantasy world you’re immersed in, and then are confronted with, well– a room full of giggles, snickers, and hormones. Yeah, these kinds of behaviors were witnessed on the 23rd of March, 2012– and it made me hope the DVD would be released sooner rather than later, perhaps so I could get a better look at the costumes, or Josh’s roots. Anyway, memories are fading thankfully– and I do have that DVD copy I craved so much. I also have had in-depth looks at the costumes, and possibly Josh’s roots.
242 days until Catching Fire.
Them There Eyes
