Twilight, Travel, and Treats

For the second time this year I'm working with Nina from Fandom Gives Back. The last time was for Autism Speaks where FGB raised over $3600.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Fandom Gives Back it is an initiative created to unite Twilight fans to raise money for charity, mainly Alex's Lemonade Stand (ALSF). ALSF is a children's cancer research foundation, borne from the vision of Alex Scott (1996-2004).

So far they've raised almost $250,000 towards fighting childhood cancer through past events.

This year the goal is to raise just $15k. There will be a fanfic compilation available for a flat donation. So far there are over 60 authors but the more authors we have the more donations we will get.

Authors: I know some of you dabble in writing fanfic (you know who you are!), please consider submitting a story - more info here. For those just starting out it's a great way to get your name out there and for those who are well known it helps get donations to fight cancer!

Readers: If you are a fanfic reader (like myself) please consider donating - flat donation gets you the fanfic compilation. Here's the list of authors so far but there's still another few weeks to the deadline so there will definitely be more coming.

My role in this? I'm the compiler eg. the down and dirty of putting all the stories together in a nice book. The best part? I get to read everything first :) Love it when there's a great outtake I've been waiting for or a new author I hadn't heard of that is fabulous.

Before I fell in love with Twilight I was a Pride & Prejudice fan. I've come out of blogging hiatus to tell you about the latest iPad app I like.

Want a good way to introduce Shakespeare or Austen to your little one?



Enter new BabyLit books - available in board book and iPad/iPhone enhanced versions.

I bought the board books first at my local Indigo store and thought it was super cute. It prompted my 8 year old son to spend half an hour asking me about Pride & Prejudice. You know when your child is enraptured by your explanation of why Lizzie won't marry Mr. Collins that this new book has done its job.



The iPad enhanced version is even better. This is a counting book so it's like any other baby iPad book that counts objects except this time they are marriage proposals and ballgowns. Bonuses - you can dress Lizzie in different ballgowns and that the whole first chapter of P&P is narrated at the end for you.

My son has yet to listen to the narrated first chapter of P&P that is on the iPad but it's nice that one day he may stumble upon it.

More titles coming up? Romeo & Juliet is already available but it looks like Jane Eyre and Alice in Wonderland are coming soon.

I received an interesting email a while back from Money.co.uk. Apparently they did a comparison of two of my favourite things - Twilight and Harry Potter. I'd normally avoid a financial site of any sort but this caught my attention. It was lovely of Sophie from Money.co.uk to let me know about this since I love facts!

It's a very interesting article and an easy read. Do you know how much Rob Pattinson is worth? What about Emma Watson? How about how much money the Twilight movies have earned versus Harry Potters?
There's no point in me summarizing for you - just go check it out here!

By the way I find the wealth figures they mention there absolutely staggering. For example, J.K. Rowling is the first billionaire author. The total cost of making all the Harry Potter films is over $1.28 billion dollars USD.

It comes as no surprise that Harry Potter brings in more money than Twilight. All the Rob crazed female fans in the world can't make up for the young male population who are in love with the World of Harry Potter. Since Twilight appeals to only one gender it really isn't a fair fight. But still fun to think about :)

By the way, my hubby and I are heading to London in a few days. I am thrilled to try and see some Harry Potter filming sites. This is one trip that won't be Twilight related - unless there is an unexpected Pattinson family sighting!