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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
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
LyKe OMG, Have U Heard?!
OMG prepare to weep bc sources say there is some hardcore dramz going down! There’s like… a total celebrity relationship meltdown going on right under our noses!
Look! A snarky photo representing a split! WE ARE SO CLEVAR!
ICYMI, Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus are TOTES on the road to Splitsville!
It’s a fact, bc every gossip site has the dish and we all know they are 110% TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.
How do they know? Well, Hemsy went to Australia to visit his family without Miley! Who cares if it was a nice opportunity to see his loved ones before a contractually obligated event in the Philippines? It doesn’t matter if Miley is smack up against the deadline to finish her new record, she should have ignored her career and GONE! Any couple that doesn’t go on every. single. trip. together IS DOOMED.
While he was in Australia, Liam also bought a house. It MUST be a bachelor pad bought in preparation for the breakup, because celebrity couples NEVER own more than one house, especially not a house in each of their home nations!
And then and then and then Liam got in a car with January Jones after the Oscars. So what if they’re friends according to some sources? Other sources say it was clearly a CHEATING SCANDAL and OMG we luv scandalzzz! And he let fans hug him at the Bench event in the Philippines and Perez seyz that means he’s soooo over Miley! God, that Perez guy is practically Freud!
She was all like “I was spotted without my engagement ring because it went in for repairs and yeah, the marriage is still on”, but we all see through that! She took it off when they first broke up and now she wears it again ‘cuz she’s desperately trying to save the ‘ship.
So start dreaming that pathetic dream when you meet Hemsy and make him fall in love with you, folks! Now may be your chance!
OMG WTF TBH IDK IDC LOL LMS!
The Girl With The Pearl
*Sites that actually write articles about things like this, in this style, pop up on our Hunger Games alerts constantly. We would rather be subjected to hours of nails on a chalkboard.
Feud-alisms
The other day, I read an article where Jessica Chastain denied on her Facebook page that there was a feud between her and our dear Jennifer Lawrence. To which, I went, Hold up, people actually think they’re feuding?! And it’s a big enough problem where Ms. Chastain actually had to address it?
In fact, this was courtesy of the ever reliable source, ShowBiz Spy. Gross.
Sure, they’re in about every best actress race there is during this prestige season, and they’re always mentioned as the two frontrunners to boot. But so are several nominees in other categories. That actually tends to be the case, the same people, plus or minus an Affleck, tend to get nominated in the same categories for each award. It doesn’t mean everyone is feuding.
In fact, during awards season, the nominees tend to hang out with each other a lot during press events and what not and they always seem to have great camaraderie among them. Didn’t Jennifer say Sally Field joked they should carpool? And one of my favorite best actress moments ever – and let’s face it top 5 for awards show moments just in general at least – was during the 2011 Emmys in the comedy category when the lovely female nominees stood together on stage in support and genuine fondness of each other.
But no, two highly lauded, successful actresses MUST be feuding. If the media were to be believed, every actress must hate Jennifer, from Kristen Stewart to Angelina Jolie and now Jessica Chastain. Each story just seems more ludicrous than the next.
From Jessica’s statement:
“Please don’t allow the media to perpetuate the myth that women aren’t supportive of each other. Every time an actress is celebrated for her great work, I cheer. For the more brilliant their performance, the more the audience demands stories about women. With support and encouragement, we help to inspire this industry to create opportunities for women. And as we all know: a great year for women in film, is just a great year for film.”
So can we please put this one to rest?
The only ‘catfight’ Jennifer should be involved in is with Buttercup
Twiffidy
Josh Hutcherson, P.I.M.P.
We know you were all expecting the big SNL breakdown tonight, but it’s not going down! … Mainly because my DVR glitched and I haven’t seen much passed the opening monologue.
Instead, we’re going to talk about actors at The Golden Globes. No, not Jennifer Lawrence or Phillip Seymour Hoffman! Josh Hutcherson, DUH.
Did you know that Josh Hutcherson is totally pimp? Because gossip columnists sure did after The Golden Globes! He showed up at an after party with not one, but FOUR young actresses, mostly of the teen queen / family television variety.
Observe!
And one of them was his (rumored!) ex-grilfriend, Vanessa Hudgens! And another, Selena Gomez, just broke up with a pop star! And they were seen HOLDING HANDS (in one paparazzi shot in which Selena is holding Vanessa’s hand on her other side!) *gasps wildly*
SCANDAL, WE SAY!
After all, friends never hold hands! Especially while walking out of a party where they’ve probably been drinking, surrounded by security with multiple camera flashes blinding their every step! They’re totes a new Hollywood item. Common sense? What common sense, says we the gossip media? Clearly, if they’re holding hands, it means Josh Hutcherson and Selena Gomez are having hot, dirty sexytimes.
To make it worse, Josh even gave another actress a ride on his motorcycle the day before! Ladies, if you ride on a motorcycle with a guy— You will get pregnant and YOU WILL DIE. What a player Josh Hutcherson is! He was seen publicly speaking to six females in two days! What indecency!
Just a couple days ago, Sophia Bush shot down rumors that she and Josh were dating after a photo of them hugging appeared in the ‘netz. It must’ve been a statement made to repent for the awful way they led the media to believe it was true love. Again… Physical contact with friends: Crazy shit!
We know that some people just have a lot of friends, some of which may be of the opposite gender. But not famous people! They don’t have friends, just loads of makeout buddies, at the very least! Right? RIGHT?
I Kind Of Want To Be Josh In That Photo (With Different Actors),
The Girl With The Pearl
Jen and That Other Josh
Happy Guest Post MONDAY!
Yup, you read that right! We like to do some bobbing and weaving of schedules every now and again, just to keep you on your toes!
Today, we’ve got a great guest post from Hunger Games Book Bookclub! It’s all about one of our journo crushes, who brings out the best in a certain actress and doesn’t see much credit for creating hilarity!
___________________________________________________
I may not BE very funny, but I am a FAN of someone who is: the Hunger Games fandom’s very own Jennifer Lawrence. (OK, folks, we don’t actually own her… it’s just an expression.) If you’ve been around the Hunger Games fan block, you’ve probably seen a few humorous interviews with Jennifer and Josh. No, not Josh Hutcherson. I’m talking about Josh Horowitz, the interviewer from MTV.
Josh Horowitz is a lovable, quirky, nerdy guy that interviews Hollywood celebrities. If this were a “Pretty in Pink” scenario, Josh would be the Duckie character. He tries to ask different questions from same old, same old. A great example would be his MTV “Yes or No” show. He asks the questions and the answer from the celebrity must be a “Yes” or a “No”. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, yes… and no.
Jennifer, do you know where your Stockholm Film Festival award is? Ummm…
In the course of Hunger Games events, Josh Horowitz has had plenty of opportunities to interview Jennifer Lawrence, sometimes by herself and sometimes with her Hunger Games leading man, Josh Hutcherson. All of their interviews have some funny moments! Here are a few of my personal favorites:
- When Josh Horowitz asks how Jen and Josh Hutcherson met. Hutch can’t quite remember, but Jen is very insistent that they were dancing and that she was wearing a white dress, not a pink one! (Girls remember that sort of thing.)
- When Jen says that Josh Hutcherson is so charming, it is like a dog licking her face.
- When Jen tells Josh Hutcherson that he is sexier than Robert Pattison because of his accent: “You sound like a hick sometimes!”
- When Jen keeps saying to Josh Hutcherson about Katniss and Peeta’s eventual nuptials, “We’re getting married, AACK!”
- When Jen says, “I sound so annoying when I talk about myself in the past!”
Glasses off!
There are other funny Jen/Josh moments, but if you really want to get a laugh, then you need to see the comedy sketch that Jen and Josh (Horowitz) did together when Jennifer tries to improve Josh’s interview skills. It includes her yelling at him, spraying him with bronzing spray, breaking off his glasses, etc. Doesn’t sound as funny on paper, but this is physical comedy, folks. You’ve gotta see it at MTV’s After Hours at the Movie Awards.
And for our Word Power exercise for the day, if you remember the interview where Jen uses the word “COPIOUSLY”, find a way to include it in your comments below!
Hunger Games Bookclub
2012: A Year in Ridiculousness
Happy January 3rd! Three days into the New Year seems like a good time to finally stop and look back on the year that was, right? GOOD. Because we’re gonna do it anyway!
WordPress has given us a handy stats review of Victor’s Village in 2012… one that could have easily been converted into blog form or made public to everyone in its original form, but NAY! We have broken some of it down into little graphics instead!
We’ve always been amused by key search words, as evidenced by our “Why You’re REALLY Here” posts (Part 1 | Part 2) that we do periodically. Then we got the top 5 for the year…
AND HERE WE THOUGHT YOU LOVED US FOR OUR BRAINS.
Turns out that most of you are just filthy, dirty boys and girls looking for your next naughty Hunger Games fix! Maybe Victor’s Village seems like a place where that would be go down! …Okay, not all of you. Just roughly 3/5 of the people who accidentally stumble on our site using popular search terms in 2012.
Regarding “Hunger Games Hovercraft”– our most popular day of the whole year was August 9, in which this keyword randomly skyrocketed and directed everyone to this post, in which we only mention hovercrafts briefly. I remember being thoroughly confused but also not caring because ZOMG all the hits!
We were also given a world map displaying our readership! The darker the blue, the more of you:
Whoaaaaaa! There are the obvious mainly English-speaking nations where we have amazing readers in convenient timezones that correlate with our posts and we can’t believe they read our posts. Then there are countries in remote locations where people are also looking at our posts and we’re completely chuffed, as the Brits would say (we were going to say “humbled”, but it doesn’t sound as fun)! We freaking love you all!
Goal for 2013? Make lots of those light blues darker!
Speaking of users, here are the busiest users on Victor’s Village in 2012, the comment crowd:
A special thanks to you for keeping the conversation interesting, especially if you’ve kept it civil enough that we’ve not yet considered blocking you from the comments! :-p As for our most commented post? No surprise! Everybody loves a giveaway! Then again, about half the entries didn’t count because people didn’t add our keyword from the rules into their comment! Details, people!
What the WordPress round-up doesn’t tell you is even better!
We attended the world premiere, where we made lifelong friends!
We finally saw The Hunger Games movie!
We interviewed Dayo Okeniyi and Jack Quaid!
We made our way onto video coverage on Celebuzz (twice!) as well as primetime coverage of The Hunger Games fandom on ABC! Also, lots of fun Hunger Games countdown articles on Movies.com!
We celebrated one year of crazy writing antics!
We shared our favorites when we opened up our recommendations pages!
We did tons of fun contests and giveaways!
In all the important ways, we’ve grown as a site. We have brought the funny, though we have also busted out the tough subjects this year. My personal goal is to get BACK into the funny more often (admittedly, it’s harder to write than straight commentary) and continue to make this site crazy enjoyable for one and all! Thanks for a lovely 2012, y’all!
2013… IT’S ON, BITCH!
The Girl With The Pearl
JLaw’s Photoshop Fiasco
Obvious fact stating time! Jennifer Lawrence is insanely beautiful. Like… beautiful features, beautiful bod, but also a really beautiful personality. She wins.
Sadder fact: Some people want to give her all sorts of trouble about her weight. There were lots of idiotic complaints that she didn’t look starving enough in The Hunger Games, as well as many general assholian comments that she was fat, even though she’s skinnier than pretty much everyone we know. Jennifer has addressed these comments, to point out how ridiculous they are, and to assure the world that she’s comfortable with her body. We love her even more for it.
One of the most recent sources she shared it with was Marie Claire South Africa, on which her cover quote is “I’d rather look chubby on screen and like a person in real life.”
In a stunning act of hypocrisy, Marie Claire then photoshopped the bejeezus out of her cover photo:
At first, we thought we didn’t immediately recognize Jen because of the heavy eye makeup or the sexy stare. But then we noticed that her cheekbones suddenly grew implants. Her jawline thinned and her chin reconstructed into a V-shape. Her bust almost disappeared and her waist along with it. Though we haven’t heard many other people complain (maybe most of the world is just used to magazines doing this by now, as sad as that is), it is really, really obvious to us.
For comparison, here’s Jennifer at the Silver Linings Playbook premiere in September:
This photo is gorgeous. She’s made up but not photoshopped and she looks fantastic!
It’s supremely disheartening that magazines will share Jennifer’s message about being comfortable with her image while simultaneously changing it to suit their own preferences. She’s gorgeous anyway, but when they pair an image of her airbrushed to their ideal of perfection with a quote about how she thinks she looks chubby on screen (which she doesn’t!), it creates a whole world of image issues.
Imagine already having image issues and seeing this. If this magazine quotes Jennifer Lawrence saying she looks like a “normal person” then photoshops her into an unattainable mega-babe (which again, she’s already pretty damn close without photoshopping) which you then perceive as simply being “normal”, it only confirms that there’s something wrong with you in your mind.
We truly wish that no one thought that way, that everyone recognized the manipulative tricks used to sell magazines and make stars look good despite many celebrities objecting to it, and that magazine covers had no affect on people. But none of that is the case.
In short: Can we just let the beautiful girl’s beautiful features be naturally beautiful instead of being total scumbags about it? PLZKTHX.
Said “Beautiful” Seven Times in This Post. You’re Welcome.
The Girl With The Pearl
Liam Gone Wild… and Mythical
We had a really classy post planned for today. Not to toot our own horns, but carefully planned and insightful and made of brilliance.
… But then we saw the video for Borgore and Miley Cyrus’ new song.
In case you missed that lovely piece of American entertainment history, it features Hemsy making out with his lady love while dressed as a unicorn. He probably could have gotten away with anonymity since his face is covered, were it not for the fact that Miley wants everyone to know it was Liam behind the unicorn mask.
Oh, Liam! You’re young, you want to have some fun, maybe get a little wild to prove you’re irreverent but still sexy without actually getting yourself into trouble. We get it! But please, PLEASE try not to make an asshat out of yourself in the process.
We wish this was a Photoshop hoax
As with every career decision, a little adventure is cool, but there’s a limit. Being in your fiancee’s music video? Cool! Getting snuggly with her? Whatevs! But when someone asks you to do all this while dressed up in ridiculous costume, what makes an adult in his twenties think “This is a smart move for me, both personally and careerwise!”? *facepalm*
You’ve got really good things going on right now, even outside of our dear Hunger Games. But you were a convenient plot point in Expendables 2 and we don’t think your roles in Love and Honor or Empire State, even if the films do well, will guarantee you a glorious career. Your one big namesake is a franchise, which means the scrutiny will be piled on extra thick. Molasses tar gravy THICK. Don’t give them an excuse to call you “That guy from that young adult franchise who once dressed up like a mythical creature in a Miley Cyrus video”. You deserve better than that.
We’re not saying this for our sake, Liam! Frankly, we could laugh at the silly decisions of actors all day, every day if given the chance. It breaks up the misery of being underemployed from 9 to 5, you know? But you’re Hemsy (until the day that you tell us you hate that nickname)! We like you and we want to see you succeed!
We’ll admit what this is really about: We worry about you a little more than Jen and Josh. She’s wowed the socks off of everyone in sight with a couple excellent roles. He’s earned his share of accolades from a young age and even has producers credits to his name already. You’re kind of the wild card, but everyone loves a wild card! What’s done is done. We won’t keep beating a dead unicorn! *snicker* Your public appearance is yours to navigate. Just try not to steer it straight into the ground.
Good Thing MTV Doesn’t Air Music Videos Anymore,
The Girl With The Pearl
I Think I’m Getting The Black Lung, Boss *Cough Cough*
Today, The Daily Mail posted an article about how a survey from CareerBuilder found that 30% of Americans fake sick days. “What does that have to do with The Hunger Games?” you ask. Well, apparently two excuses shared in this survey were “being sick from reading too much” and “upset after watching The Hunger Games”.
Now, before we all scoff at this, I’ve got some points to make.
About the first, that could kind of be true. It all depends on where you are when you’re doing this reading. For me, if I’m in the car, then it’s no bueno.
And about the second, all I have to say is… WAIT FOR MOCKINGJAY!
Dear employers,
Your employees should be upset after watching The Hunger Games. It is very upsetting to watch the injustice of it all. But look out for the next few Novembers after this upcoming one - because, let’s face it, Catching Fire is pretty upsetting too. Your employees will be dropping like flies. I swear, emotional hangovers do exist. Don’t be surprised if people are out for weeks. And man, when the series ends, I won’t know what to do with myself so I hope you’d be kind enough to send me home when I stare blankly at my computer.
TOO… MANY… BOOKS
In all seriousness, folks, please do not bring The Hunger Games in this. Psh, no one actually calls in sick because of Hunger Games reasons, right?
If you’re going to do it, at least don’t say it’s because of The Hunger Games
Twiffidy
