Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Mockingjay release party! (no spoilers)

You guys are very lucky that I am a determined blogger, because I would much, much rather be reading my copy of Mockingjay right now than typing this up.

I went to the release party at quaint little bookshop in Kayley's town last night. The party started at 11, and I would guess there were only 20-30 of us there. I was alright with that though, it made the experience less of a "get out of my way I need this book now, b*tch*" and more just fun.

I'm not sure if Mockingjay release parties across the globe were similar to ours, but the bookstore we went to had a very creative way of entertaining us while we waited for the clock to count down to midnight. They gave us each a scorecard and we had to go to each of the stations, practicing our area skills and getting scored.

First we went to the Archery station, where Eia managed to hit the pig with her dart twice, Kayley hit nothing, and in an attempt to defy the Capitol and shoot the apple, I accidentally hit a Gamekeeper in the face. So no points on that one for Kristina. Haha.

Next was poisonous plants. We had to correctly identify which plants (out of a collection of about eight placed in jars) were edible. The only one I recognized was the blackberry branch so I scored rather low in that one as well.

We headed back to the Cornucopia station next, where we were instructed to choose three items on slips of paper out of a bag and then convince the person running the station that we'd be able to kill someone with those items. I drew a brick, a pocketknife, and a kleenex. While first asserting that I'd gotten totally screwed, I then insisted I could drown someone by tying the brick to their ankle (with the kleenex) and throwing them in the lake. Let's just hope I don't actually get chosen as a tribute because that method is shaky at best.

The last station was rope-tying, and lucky for me, I just went sailing with Eia where she taught me all sort of crazy knots. So she and I swept that category, while Kayley stood confuses and frustrated with her un-tied rope.

With my final score of 7 (embarrassing) we we split into groups for the final event. Four tributes were chosen and the rest of us were now stylists for the Capitol. We were each given a box of random items to use to dress them for the chariot parade thing. We decided we were from District 4 and used this white netting to fashion a dress, used our rope-tying skills to make a lovely belt and scarf combo, made fish and seaweed out of old garden gloves and made the most elaborate looking boots I have ever seen out of a length of silver twine and some handkerchiefs.

Needless to say, our tribute (who was Eia) won the fashion show.

The activities were silly but we had a ton of fun; mostly because we always have fun with Kayley but moreso because it brought back all the nostalgia and joy of Harry Potter book release parties. Eia and I both won "survival handbooks" in the raffle (in case we need to know how to survive the Games) and Kayley won two mockingjay keychains. Then at 12:01 we got our books and headed home.

Now I am scrambling to read as much as I can before I have to leave for the airport around noon. I am so excited to read this book; I only got to page 15 last night before falling asleep.

As always, the race to read it before anyone spoils anything commences! May the odds be ever in your favor!

Last google search: "chrono trigger"
Chipotle burritos: 17

20 comments:

HanPlans said...

It comes out here in the UK tomorrow - I've not seen any release parties advertised - then again when my brother went into Waterstones to ask for Book 2 on my behalf the girl behind the counter had no idea what he was on about. Mine is on a 1 day delivery so I should have it by the weekend fingers X-ed

Rebekah said...

KRISTINA! Why did you search Chrono Trigger? That is for reals my FAVORITE VIDEO GAME OF ALL TIME!

The Vagabond said...

Damn Eia sounds like she was rather good at archery. Did you know that girls are supposed to be better than boys at archery? That's what Zoe Saldana (Neytiri from Avatar) said in an interview with Ellen. Pretty awesome. I think perslaps I'll get my uncle to teach me. He has a lot of really cool bows so maybe I'll be as epic as Katniss someday.

I am waiting for the book RIGHT NOW!! I keep refreshing Amazon's Track Your Purchase thing and it says it got to my city over an hour ago. *Refreshes*. DAMN! Still in transit! This is frustrating but at least I got to read your spoiler free blog. : ) Thank you for taking the time to post it even though I know you must be dying to read more. That alone shows how awesome and dedicated you are.

Happy Reading!! :D

Elisabeth said...

That release party sounds like loads of fun!

Rosanna said...

That party sounds sooo much fun! Sadly there are no release parties where I live, in fact the only other person I know who reads the Hunger Games is my sister and that is because I introduced her to them :)

Molly said...

The part about the fashion show remindes me of the time I was at this homeschool gathering and we had to split into teams and make outfits out of wallpaper also for a fashion show.
It was amazing.

Kai said...

I'm going to get my copy soon!
And no midnight release parties that I heard of, but my borders is having a reaction party or something on Saturday, I believe. Not sure if I'll end up going, but it could be fun :).
I lost the flier though, guess I'll have to grab one with my copy! I cannot wait to read it! Even though I Still have summer reading to do, I think I'll put it off a little longer!

Callidora said...

I also went to a release party last night. It was rather small as only about 10 people showed up. I brought my friend, Liz, with me and she has never read the books so hearing her guesses for the trivia contest was fun. We also had stations that we had to participate in to get our sheet marked off. I hit the target at the archery station 3 out of my five tries. We had to identify some vegetables which wasn't hard. Liz tied me up at the knot tying station but I escaped. We also camouflaged our hands and decorated cookies. We won a couple little prizes after completing a scavenger hunt. All of the station sheets were put in a bag to draw for Suzanne Collins’ signature and I won so I was very excited. The party was a lot of fun even though not many people showed up.

TheGingerHermione said...

It comes out in Canada today, but I don't know when it'll get to my mailbox :/

Unknown said...

"May the odds be ever in your favor." Hahaha. That was a nice touch. The release party sounds like it was a blast! I wish they did something like that around here, but I don't think we have a ton of Hunger Games fans in my area. My copy of Mockingjay should be arriving on my doorstep any moment now. I can't wait!

Alex Dahlberry said...

Ah, that release party sounds awesome. I went to one too, and there were only about 30 people there. We got a little scorecard things too and we had to go around answering trivia questions at different stations in order to win stickers on our card. They also had a lot of lizards (AND A TARANTULA. I had nightmares.) and plants and stuffs. And face paint. :)
It was nice.

And yeah, I'm pretty terrified at being spoiled now. :S

Unknown said...

Ditto Rebekah's comment. What's the story?

Anonymous said...

That is so cool! I wish the bookstore I worked at did stuff like this! I would probably enjoy myself so much more.

Just bought myself the book as I was leaving work and am about to start reading...

Hope it is a good as we hope!

Brooke said...

At the release party I went to there, a bunch of the staff came around to use while we were standing in line all in ridiclous outfits and makeup (there was this one woman who looked like a peacock, it was awesome) and we tried tying knots, idetifying paw prints, deciding if plants were edible, medicnal, or poisounous, and answering trivia about the books. It was fun times. I won a temporary tatoo and two Mockingjay pins. When we got our books, they stamped the title page so it says "Powell's Mockingjay Midnight Relase Party 8.24.10" with a mockingjay, so that was super cool.

Haley said...

so, im getting it specially delivered to my house with a special mockingjap pin like katniss's... JEALOUS?! IM SO EXCITED, ive been waiting for this since the day after catching fire came out

Ariel said...

I couldn't find any release parties near me. Plus I'm still waiting for my preordered copy to arrive, so your day was much more awesome in the Mockingjay department than mine was
But anyway, Chrono Trigger! That game is so awesome! If you were at all inclined to get it, I say go for it. =]

Caitlin said...

I've never been to a release party at a bookstore. I believe I've been to a Harry Potter themed birthday party which happened around the release of Book 5 or 6, but it does sound like my kind of fun.

Is the series anything like Battle Royale? I just saw that film the other night and someone mentioned that it's about survival. Very excited to one day get into the series.

TheGreatandMightyMe said...

I didn't get my copy until after work on Tuesday, because despite living in a major US city, I couldn't find anyplace doing a midnight release. I did finish it though and now I'm just waiting for other people to finish it so I can hear some other people's thoughts as well.

momo said...

right now, i'm really mad, that i get my copy only on august the 30th, so five lng days more... sometimes i really hate living in germany...

VTBurninator said...

Sooo jealous! There were no Mockingjay release parties anywhere near where I live...and I was willing to drive an hour+...oh well I'm still finishing my re-read of Catching Fire. Hope you're enjoying! :)

Also, check out Guster and Mae for some musical variation...two of my favs you might like :)