Update... ish? Half marathons are hard when you're sick

Hi, no one since I know no one reads this. hehe well it's been about a month since I completed my half marathon!... and I procrastinated on doing anything about it... ya, no excuses here, I've just not had the time. I just wanted to share the love and write up that I am not in fact dead, and the half marathon did not kill me, but I did end up running it sick, so it kinda felt like it. I will upload pics on a later date because they are on my camera, and I haven't moved them over to my pc yet. I'll maybe actually write about the run, but I doubt it because
a.) I think it'd end up really boring and no one will care and
b.) I have finals coming up, and they are not lying when they say junior year is hardest.
I will hopefully be able to participate in Project4Awesome this year, but I'm still not sure I can work it into my schedule yet. To be honest, I don't know why I'm keeping up with this blog-thing. I guess I just like writing my thoughts. I will say I'm sorry this blog has gone so far off its original topic of books, but I never intended to do book reviews, just talk about book-related stuff. Well, until next time, salut!
-Jena

Need to be Nerdy

Seeing as I'm basically just using this blog to rant, I'd figure I'd address the while "fake nerd girl" revolution and touch base on the "fake nerd" fad. I honestly didn't get too into the fake nerd fad since the fake nerds I met still to some extent liked a few of the things I liked, which was nice since my school does have many people who like stuff I like anyway; I just knew they weren't a real nerd in their core, but if they wanted to talk about nerdy things, I didn't stop them. I'm a self proclaimed nerd, meaning the fact that I'm a nerd is obviously true and truly obvious, but I feel like I continuously have to redefine my interpretation of what nerd meant because it understandably means different things to different people. Some people see more of a define lines between a geek and a nerd, some people won't hangout with anyone from the other side of the geek-nerd battle since they don't experience the feels the same way, and some people are just glad to have friends whom they can relate to and nerd it up with/geek out with/fangirl with, ect. And any combination thereof. I fall into the last category in that I don't care what part of the nerd spectrum you identify as, so long as I can have a good time with you and decrease world suck(NERDFIGHTERS-DFTBA). It is my theory that because some people draw much more of a distinction between nerd, fake nerd, and geek that there's a sense of prejudice in what is theoretically my utopian society because for me, being a nerd means I don't care what society thinks about me and I'm free to pursue whatever nerdisms I wish, and I have a nerd community to support me in my endeavors. Not only that, I believe being a nerd isn't about the stuff you like, it's about what's in your core that leads you to those things. I do say I am a nerd quite a bit in this post, so bear with me. I do understand I sometimes flip flop from nerd to geek since they are not polar opposites, and I'm cool with that... but what I've been noticing more and more is the need to prove myself as a nerd or at the very least show some sort of identifiable evidence of what "type" of nerd I am. There's an underlying prejudice about girl nerds, or at least that's what I've seen, where there are so many fake nerd girls that it's becoming harder to identify which are real and which aren't. It's gotten to the point where I'll just introduce myself as someone "who likes nerd-type things" and as they get to know me come to their own conclusion, and so far, the only type of nerd I find it safe to call myself without being TOTALLY branded a specific type of nerd is, you guessed it, a book nerd. I  think it's because you can't infiltrate this sector of the nerd division without actually passionately loving the content. I love reading and I'm a book nerd. There is nothing to be gained from here for those who don't like reading. You either like reading or you don't. That's all there is to it here on the book side of my nerdtopia (a Booktopia, if you will, and yes, this kinda explains my blog name). The reason it's hard to fake being a book nerd is the same reason it's hard to fake being  male nerd. For guys, calling one's self a nerd is much more condemning (for lack of a better word) in the eyes of society because that kind of labeling isn't done so lightly. It was either you are a nerd or you aren't, and those who are used to have to very sure because the image expectation of a macho manly man would probably not be an option and society probably didn't make light of it, but for girls, there's less of that specific type of expectation, which sounds kinda backwards considering feminism and body image are pretty big issues, but putting that aside, it's because girls can roam around those types of groups that you get a lot of fake nerd girls,it's because they get their hands on something "nerdy" and don't know the implications of saying "I'm so nerdy". For those of you still reading, thanks so much for staying with me on my tangent, I appreciate it, and if you feel like I missed the mark, please let me know (in a mature way). Thanks!

Run for Courage - 10k

Hey, everyone!
Remember when I said I would keep you posted on my training? And then I didn't... Well this is my redemption! Last weekend I ran the Run for Courage 10K to help stop sex trafficking of minors, and an interesting announcement was made. Run for Courage, which was established by a local family in my community after the daughter of the family was taken and trafficked until she was found 8 days after she found to be missing, has decided to change their name to Break Free, which symbolizes and endorses the idea of taking charge and combating the problem head on and becoming strong together as a whole. I thoroughly support this change and this organization, so if you'd like to learn more, the link is http://runforcourage.org/. I will most likely be going on haitus until after the run because my schedule is pretty packed, but I promise I'm still committed to this blog! (And there will be more stuff about books coming soon since this is first and foremost a book blog) Thanks, everyone! Happy October! I hope I'm not the only one hoping for fall to get here already...

Avengers 1/2 Marathon, anyone?

Hi, everyone! Well, it's official; I'm going to run the 1st Avenger's half marathon!! It's going to be my sweet 16 party since my birthday is November 13th! But before I can run off to Disneyland, I need your help. I am running for Girl Power 2 Cure (GP2C) which is an organization that works to support women and girls with RETT syndrome. RETT syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by a gene mutation and has symptoms similar to those of autism. It affects mainly females since males who have RETT syndrome die shortly after birth. I am by no means an expert on this topic, so you can probably find more information on a different edge of the internet: the productive, educational side. I do, however, need your help. I need sponsors which means donations of any amount are very much appreciated; even $5.00 would be of great help. If you could in any way help donate, the link to my donation page is: 

 http://avengers.teamgp2c.org/goto/nerdfighteria

I will keep my training and the events posted as the occur or when I have time. Thanks everyone!

I'm not so grump! Arin's missing selfies

After 73 strenuous episodes, the Game Grumps Legend of Zelda Wind Waker legacy had ended, and how did Arin decide to celebrate? By taking a selfie in the middle of his fight with Ganendorf. Naturally, I took a screenshot, so here it is.

In color

And here are some that happened right after the picture was taken.

Now, Arin did say he wanted to get a selfie with all three of them in it. Zelda was there, she was just behind Ganendorf's massive sleeves, but if that's not good enough, here's the other selfie Arin missed.

And here's the one Arin did get.

If you don't know who the Grumps are, go check them out. They are hilarious.

The Night Before Our Stars

Okay, so I just watched tfios and to explain how excited I was to be able to see it, when I found out it was playing in a theater near the hotel I was staying at since I was going to be out of the continental USA, it resembled the reaction hazel had when gus started reciting the email he got from peter van houtan, so I was very excited for this. The movie was brilliant, the live feed after was hilarious yet saddening at times, but what I loved most wasn't the movie, it wasn't the cool poster, it wasn't the live feed, it was the atmosphere. I knew that only nerdfighters would be at this event because lets face it, only nerdfighters care, but I wasn't expecting this. Everyone was laughing at the unfunny jokes as much as the funny ones and there were a lot of both, and there would be giggles whenever something significant from the book came up and I was giggling with them. Granted, my mom thought I was slightly insane since she hadn't read it, but that's besides the point. I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time, and that was belonging. There aren't any nerdfighters where I live and I was so happy to feel the awesomeness of nerdfighteria, so thank you everyone who worked on the movie, all 13,000 of you, thank you shaylene and ansel for being apart of this and being such great actors, thank you whoever thought of the night before our stars, and thank you john and hank... for everything, and all you nerdfighters, dftba.

Those of you who didn't get to experience this event, don't let it discourage you from seeing this wonderful movie. Go check it out.
#TFIOSFeels #faultfanatic
(I don't use social media, so I'm "sharing" through my blog.)

2014 - The Rise of the Books

It seems that the film industry has finally realized how beneficial (and not to mention profitable) books are in today's pop culture, and thus, the age of the book movies has been born. There has a sudden rise in movies that were originally books compared to several years ago where these type were scarce, and it has been claimed that 35 books have been or are being turned into movies and will premier this year. To name a few, we had the first Divergent movie, which awed many fans, Vampire Academy (terrible idea, Hollywood. No. More. Vampires.), Noah (does the bible count?), Captain America and the Amazing Spider-man if you count comic books, Heaven is for Real, TFIOS (GO SEE IT WHEN IT COMES OUT! I WILL!), How to Train your Dragon (even if it is nothing like the book, it's still kinda a win, right?), and Maze Runner. How many times have you seen "From the New York Times Best Selling author _____"  or "Based on the Best Selling Novel"? Pretty frequently, right? That is a good thing, a very good thing, indeed because with all the advancements in technology like TV and video games, books kind of get left behind or overlooked because they can't advance the way phones can, and, in a way, having more book movies is for books, in its own way, advancing and adapting to the progress in society, so I would like to share some up-coming book movies for the sake of promoting interest. Enjoy!

Book Nerd Truths

Basically, this is a compilation for book nerds; others may or may not get it, but I felt like doing, so I did it. Here it is.


This is GENIUS!

There are so easy to find because there are so many book nerd jokes that nerds of all types can relate to, but the one I couldn't find a good picture for was how we like the smell of books. It's somewhat fascinating to know I'm not crazy. Either way, I should give credit to nerd girl problems on tumblr, I highly suggest checking them out, and Hank Green for his video about book problems, and everything he says is very true.

Divergent; Book to Movie

The first movie rendition of the Divergent series by Veronica Roth came out a week ago, and there were some notable differences. Anything involving a serum was ruined simply because they cut most of it out. When I first started noticing differences (about 5 minutes in) I originally thought that some of the things they added like the mirror effect were cool until I realized that it meant they would cut the rest out. I realize most of the stuff I got mad about was because of time, but they changed (or left out) so much. I wanted to love it; honestly, I did, but with so much missing and the foundation of the story gone, it was just too hard. in the beginning, when they subliminally showed the faction symbols while showing each faction, I thought that this movie was really going to pan to the fans of the book, but after another 10 minutes, I could tell it wasn't. Don't get me wrong, it was a great movie; I just didn't feel it lived up to the standards the book had set. That's probably because they cut lots of stuff, and I understand that they did it to save time, but it just irks me how much had changed. The dauntless looked more like punk rock anarchists with a fear complex, and their headquarters looked like a blend of a cave and club, but that isn't all. I mean they didn't even mention anything about candor or amity other than what they value. It seemed that Tris looked up to them, and when they started fighting in initiation, they did not show the rivalry between Peter and his gang vs. Tris, which was a big part of the book because it showed how she prevailed because of her spirit and dedication. They simply focused on the love story. They also didn't show how they were going to kill her with her real life version of her fear landscape, they just decided to kill her execution style, but the biggest thing missing was the fact that THEY DID NOT EMPHASIZE ANYTHING ABOUT THE NAME SIX. However, despite these quirks, I still found myself drawn to its vivid screenplay, and overall, I would watch it again.

Scott Pilgrim vs. Gifs

Keep in mind I have only read to books, and have not seen the movie, but I feel they resemble each other fairly well, so I will be sharing the story of Scott Pilgrim's precious little life in the form of gifs. It will probably make more sense if you have read the books and/or seen the movie. Actually, it will make no sense, and I will probably have definitely have left stuff out.

I left out some stuff that would seem kind of out of place or offensive and stuff. So, basically, the Scott Pilgrim series is a bunch of fight scenes, awkward moments, and crumby comebacks rolled into a crazy, hilarious, sarcastic vegan burrito (and for those who have read the books, writing a this blog post does give me a moral high ground). Basically, Scott's life is:




Here is a trailer for the movie, it helps make sense.     This second one is the same trailer but it uses the graphic novel   instead of the movie (just something I thought was cool).