I will regretfully admit that I have only become a Doctor Who fan in the last few months when I started watching on Netflix. But I am a HUGE fan now. I simply cannot wait for September 1st when we get to see “Asylum of The Daleks”.

On a side note Billie Piper and David Tennant will always be my favorite. Just had to throw that in there. =]

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A lot of the pictures really spark a lot of curiosity about what the movie will look like (of course). Some of the concerns I have heard are that Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower) didn’t “bulk up” enough for the role. As far as Clary, I am very excited to see Lily Collins in the role. What are your opinions?

Head over to TMI Source to get more pictures and daily updates from the set!

The post The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Filming appeared first on Sam Cushion.

For those of you who haven’t heard by now, you would have to almost be literally living under a rock to not have heard, Sam Claflin has been cast for the role of Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Check out the official press release from Lionsgate below.

SAM CLAFLIN CAST AS FINNICK IN LIONSGATE’S THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE

Santa Monica, CA, August 22, 2012- Lionsgate® and the filmmakers of THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE are pleased to announce that Sam Claflin has been cast in the role of Finnick in the much anticipated film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ worldwide smash hit novel Catching Fire. Charasmatic and clever, Finnick was a District 4 Hunger Games victor when he was fourteen.

After breaking out in his role as the romantic lead in last year’s PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES, Claflin starred in the box office smash SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN playing Prince William alongside Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth.   He recently finished filming THE QUIET ONES opposite Jarred Harris, and MARY & MARTHA,  in which he co-stars with Hilary Swank.

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark.   Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts.  Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75^th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE will be directed by Francis Lawrence, and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. The novel on which the film is based is the second in a trilogy that has sold more than 50 million books in print and digital in the U.S. alone.

Lionsgate will release THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE on November 22, 2013.

I am personally pretty excited to hear this. I know he wasn’t the first choice of a lot of people but I think he will do a terrific job as Finnick.

For a great video reaction from Cassidy Tucker on the news click the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14YGY1Zcmzc&list=UU-JUIW7wL9yuKZYmEXhfBUw&index=1&feature=plcp

Let me know what you think of this news. Are you excited, nervous, mad, completely and utterly outraged, etc.

Think you know The Hunger Games?

The post Sam Claflin is Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire appeared first on Sam Cushion.

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[blockquote]

When the creator of Harry Potter decides to build an adventure playground for her children, you expect something magical.

But even by JK Rowling’s standards the 40ft high, two-storey tree houses planned for the back garden of her Edinburgh  mansion are something spectacular.

The Hogwarts-style towers – estimated to cost around £150,000 – are so big that they need planning permission.[/blockquote]

[blockquote]Each wooden tree house is to be built on stilts and boasts balconies, carvings and turrets that wouldn’t look out of place in a Potter adventure.
The towers are linked by a rope bridge and can be approached by a secret tunnel hidden underneath a raised wooden walkway.
Plans lodged with the City of Edinburgh Council reveal the houses are intended for Miss Rowling’s two youngest children David, nine, and his sister Mackenzie, seven.[/blockquote]

[blockquote]According to the drawings ‘David’s Tree House’ is closest to the secret tunnel and has a specially designed trap door and fireman’s pole escape into the garden
Meanwhile ‘Kenzie’s Tree House’ has its own spiral staircase and a stainless steel playground slide leading to a double set of swings.
A wooden walkway connected to the giant structure leads to a giant trampoline deck that is shielded from public view by a row of extra tall conifers.[/blockquote]

So let me know. How much cash would you drop on something as awesome as this? Is it overpriced or not priced high enough?

Source: TheFandom.net via The Daily Mail

The post J.K. Rowling’s Incredible $180,000 Hogwarts Playground appeared first on Sam Cushion.

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who are really into YouTube and its modern era celebrities. People like New York Times bestselling author John Green, his brother Hank Green (who organized the whole thing), and the Shaytards (look them up) among many others.

I bought my VidCon 2012 ticket earlier this year and my brother was even able to go with me. Which was such a cool experience in it’s own. This trip was really exciting not only because I got to be surrounded by a group of people who understand what it is like to be completely in love with something like YouTube or Nerdfighteria but because I might get to meet some of these people who I idolize as professionals. I had been counting down the days to VidCon for months.

Me and John Green

My first hour at VidCon was welcomed by meeting my favorite author of all time and one of the founders of Nerdfighteria, John Green. Seriously if you have not read Paper Towns or The Fault in Our Stars you are missing out on some of the greatest things this world has to offer. I was shaking as I nervously asked him if I could take a picture with him. The thing you need to know about John is that he has to deal with extreme anxiety, something I can relate to all too well, so I didn’t really know how approaching him in this hectic environment was going to turn out. Luckily he was beyond nice and when I couldn’t find someone to take the picture he said “Here I can do it. I am good at this.” I didn’t think anything could top that experience. I called my Mom, my Wife, my Friend, and posted it I think 3 times on Twitter.

Thursday and Friday consisted of relatively similar experiences. I got to meet the guys from Epic Meal Time, the Retarted Policeman, Lee Newton (super super super nice), and so many more. It was really great and everything went by so fast I forgot to eat and sleep enough the first two days. So when the last day of VidCon came Saturday morning I found myself hitting snooze on my phone alarm until almost 11a.m. I quickly jumped out of bed and showered in order to make it to see The Shaytards, Shay Carl and his family, who were doing a signing starting at 11. We ran in at the very last minute before they started shutting the doors to new attendees.

Before I go on I would just like to tell you a little about Shay Carl, his wife Collette, and their kids and how they have completely changed my life. For those of you who don’t know I was raised in the LDS (Mormon) church starting when I was 8 years old. My dad grew up in the church and when he married my mom, a non-member, they just never really went to church. I remember going several times before I was 8 but because my mom was raised in the Church of Christ it was a rare thing to go. After 10 years of marriage my mom was baptized and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was later baptized and we all started going to church. Now I can’t say that I enjoyed it much or at all growing up. I listened but never really applied the principles and teachings to my life. I did what I wanted and didn’t think twice about it. When I was 17 I was put in a situation where I could choose to run from it or really step up and do the right thing. For the first time in my 17 years of living I think I made the right decision in a big situation. I married my wife and later that year we had our son. Now 7 years later we are still married and happier than ever with our son and now 3 year old daughter. When people ask me if I regret it I tell them “Never. I love my family more than anything. But I did everything right the wrong way. Getting married at 17 is not a good idea. But I will never say I regret my wife or children.”

After my wife and I were married I completely fell away from the LDS church. I didn’t want anything to do with it. Not that I did anything horrible, besides my desire to have a full sleeve tattoo which was a bad idea. But drinking coffee, the occasional alcohol and pretty much the Word of Wisdom was not something I was concerned about.

Goofy faces are always fun.

For 6 years my family respected who I was and the choices I made, even though it hurt them very much to know how far from Christ I was becoming. They always encouraged me to come to church and I always had it in the back of my mind that I probably should. Two big reasons were my father and brother Pryce. My dad was an incredible example of a father, husband, and man to me and my brothers growing up. I still say if I can become half the man he is my kids will be blessed. My brother left on his mission almost 2 years ago now and has been an incredible example to me. It’s funny how a younger brother can set the example for the older brother. It is very humbling to say the least. I also kept in contact with some members from church and I was lucky enough to live in an amazing ward that loved me and always was looking out for my wife and I. I still don’t think we have had to purchase any furniture in our 7 years of marriage.

So I honestly think I had more support than even the most people, especially me, deserve. But what finally brought me back to church and completely changed my life was a guy named Shay Carl, his awesome wife Collette, and their 4 children. I first found out about Shay when I was just messing around on YouTube and stumbled upon a song about him and his family by a guy named NicePeter. I went to his channel and started watching his videos. He does a daily vlog (video blog) that just follows him and his family through their life. It isn’t scripted, it doesn’t have a production team, it doesn’t have a producer or sound guy. It is literally just this guy from Idaho and his $100 Flip camera. It is like sitting in on home videos with his family every day. He has now uploaded videos every single day for over 3 years. You might be going “Why the heck would someone do that?” But he got into YouTube after working as a granite counter top installer and radio dj. After about a year he was able to turn making YouTube videos into a full time job and is now a founder of the biggest internet production company, Maker Studios.

2008: Me, my wife, our son, my three brothers, and my parents.

Shay’s example on being a father, husband, and man has been so incredibly inspiring to me and who I have become in the past 2 years. When I discovered he was a member of the LDS church it made me want to watch him more. Figure out who this guy really was. I started to realize that a lot of the traits that I wanted from my father this guy had as well, not all of them but a lot. He is an amazing father, he is so nice to everyone he meets, he is financially responsible and does anything he needs to do to provide what his family needs. Shay inspires me to work harder, love more, be proud of who I am and the choices I make.

So now back to VidCon. My brother and I had to sit in a conference center ballroom for 4 hours before getting our opportunity to meet Shay and his family. Which wasn’t bad at all considering they had to sign things and pose for pictures the whole time. I got to just sit there and wait.  Plus it was so much fun getting to watch them in real life. Rocktard yelling into the microphone, this one year old child thinking it was hilarious to control an audience. Their kids running around and just having a fun time. Seeing them interact with each other without a camera was a really awesome thing. At the end of the day they are just a family and their love for each other shows through so much.

As I got closer to meeting them I got more and more nervous and then a crazy idea hit me. “INVITE HIM TO YOUR SEALING!” My first reaction was “hahahaha YEAH RIGHT!” but it kept eating at me. So I got a bookmark for my website and wrote down my Twitter handle, email, phone number, and sealing date/location. Then when I was next his son signed my badge (thanks Sontard!) then I turned and him and his wife were standing right in front of me. It was such a surreal thing I amost forgot the speech I had been going over and over in my head before this. His wife instantly gave me a huge hug and after they both signed my badge as well and after Shay gave me a huge hug I tried my best to thank him for more than I could fit in 4 pages of typing much less 10 seconds.

Here is how it pretty much came out. At least what I can remember, I think I blacked out a little.

Collette: “ Hey!” big hug

Shay after signing my badge: “Hey Sam! No handshakes, only hugs!” (he read my name on my badge)

Me: “Thanks! Um actually I wanted to give you this.”

I hand him the bookmark with the info on it.

Me: “Um… hold on give me a second I cant really think right now.”

Long pause and deep breath

Me: “ I just wanted to thank you. Because of your example I was able to go back to church and even baptize my wife. We are going to be sealed in SLC later this year and would love to invite you. I don’t expect you to actually come. I would just kick myself if I didn’t let you know.”

I think that is what I said at least, like I said it was kind of a blur of extreme anxiety. But the look on his face and his wife’s face was so amazing. I could tell they were genuinely happy for me. They both testified shortly that it is such an amazing thing and that they thought it was so awesome we were doing that. I thanked them again and we took a picture and it was over. I waited 4 hours for the best 30 seconds of my weekend and one of the top moments of my life. This weekend was 24 years in the making and without Shay Carl and his family I would probably never had come back to the church and been able to receive the blessings  I have received for myself, my family, and now my sister in law who I get to baptize later this month.

Thank you for being amazing people, an awesome family, and the type of example that this world needs more of.  You have changed my life, my family’s life, and I know lives around the world.

Thank you Shay.

The post The Gift of Saying Thank You: VidCon 2012 and When I Got To Meet The Shaytards appeared first on Sam Cushion.

If you are familiar with my site and have been around for awhile you know that I am love doing giveaways. This one just happens to be HUGE! Thanks to the ever amazing Shylah Addante, an autographed copy of the December 2011 Vanity Fair has come into my possession. And I am going to give it to one of you lucky Hunger Games fans! Right now you are probably thinking “Great! He is going to make us do some ridiculous feat to enter to win such an awesome prize like this!”. But the answer is no, all you have to do is use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter to win. You can do as many or as little things as you want once a day. That is it!

Also with this contest I am announcing an awesome new site I have started called BookNerdApparel.com! It is going to sell really cool t shirts to show off the fact that you are a book nerd (which is a GOOD thing). The whole idea behind Book Nerd is to get more people to “celebrate literature”. There are going to be a lot of cool things you can do on the site other than just buy shirts. So make sure you like that page for the contest and maybe you could win one of the 5 free shirts!

The contest will end at 12:01a.m. June 8th and the winner will be announced later that day.

Grand Prize: Autographed Magazine and Book Nerd T-Shirt

Five others will win a free Book Nerd shirt 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post Josh Hutcherson Signed Magazine of Awesome Giveaway! appeared first on Sam Cushion.

This is a shorter story, coming in at 236 pages it took only a few hours to read. But being that the story takes place over a single 24 hour period it makes sense that it will be a shorter book. In this book we are introduced to Hadley Sullivan. A 17 year old girl on her way to her father’s, who she hasn’t seen in over a year, second wedding in London. After being stuck in the airport due to missing her flight Hadley meets Oliver. A British boy on his way back to London. 

Now my only reservation about this book is how predictable it is. There are a few moments where the characters can surprise you, but for the most part it seems extremely easy to see what is coming next. There are a lot of lucky coincidences in this book. That said the characters are extremely fun to read about. What I do like about this book is the 24 hour window for the story. We don’t jump from place to place or day to day. We get to experience These two characters fall for each other as it happens on a plane ride. The characters being teenagers falling in love aren’t boring or stereotypical at all. I think that is what most of all makes this book worth reading. It is brilliantly written and the characters are easy to relate to and like.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun afternoon read this summer.

The post The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight: Book Review #4 appeared first on Sam Cushion.

For the past few years dystopian novels have been completely dominating the YA literature area. We went from sparkly vampires to totalitarian governments in the blink of an eye. I had to look more closely at the reasons why this genre has become so popular with not only teens but adults as well. Here is what I came up with.

These books deal with war and rebellion so naturally there will be a degree of violence. But we live in a violent society and are constantly exposed to different forms of violence through entertainment and different media. What good can come from reading about it as well? In the case of The Hunger Games it asks the question, How numb to the reality of violence have we become? Take for instance the scene in Matched where they go to a show and laugh at the scenes of war and people being killed because they have no connection with the reality of what they are seeing. That is an extreme case where they truly believe that people don’t die like that anymore. But again it asks the question, Are we losing our connection with reality as well?

It forces us to ask, What is freedom? And how far are you willing to go and how much are you willing to sacrifice to gain your freedom.We live in a world where we are constantly monitored and must attempt to avoid being controlled by our bosses at work, maybe parents, teachers and most of all the pressure of peer conformity. Most of us feel like in order to make it we have to not stick out. Don’t draw negative attention by being someone or doing something that you aren’t supposed to. Be what society tells you that you need to be. And the thought of rebelling against these preconceived ideals is very intriguing to most people. Whether it is rebelling against a simple curfew or a totalitarian government the feeling of rebelling sparks something inside of all of us that says “No! I will not conform to your idea of life.”

In most dystopian YA novels there is a rebellion of some kind. Whether it is the rebellion in The Hunger Games sparked by Katniss Everdeen or the Rising in Matched that has been fighting for years. In the end generally there is a happy ending. We have witnessed the struggle to overcome which we can all relate to hardships that everyone faces. We read these stories and can tell ourselves, ok if Katniss or Tris, or Cassia or Ky can go through THAT then I can do this no problem.

The post Why is YA Dystopian Literature So Popular? appeared first on Sam Cushion.

I get asked all the time how I make my music. So I finally made this video showing everyone the basics of how I do things.

I use sample libraries. Which are actual recorded instruments that you control the sounds using a keyboard or just through your computer. This way the sound you are getting is a genuine instrument and not an electronic attempt to sound the same. Below I have included a list of the sample libraries I use in case you are curious. I hope this helps those who are curious about composing! =]

My Sample Libraries (most of these can be purchased from www.soundsonline.com or www.projectsam.com):
Symphobia
LA Scoring Strings
LASS Legato Sordino
EWQL Symphonic Orchestra
EWQL Hollywood Strings
EW Stormdrum 2
EWQL Pianos
EW The Dark Side
Voices of Passion
Symphonic Choirs
Zero G Perception

The post How I Make Music appeared first on Sam Cushion.

Dauntless initiation fight: I don’t know if Katniss would be a very good hand to hand fighter in a situation that was just a fight until the other person can’t fight back. Whereas Tris has the upper hand in this kind of combat, I think she would take it. Katniss needs more motivation than Tris in my opinion. Meaning unless the Dauntless had kidnapped Prim and were holding her hostage until Katniss beat Tris to a bloody pulp I don’ think she would be a very good fighter. But then again if Dauntless had kidnapped Prim, Katniss would probably just take down the entire compound until they surrendered Prim back to her, begging for mercy. But I think in this situation where only her safety is at risk she would not do very well.

Hunger Games Arena: I think in this situation Tris would be more of a career tribute. Also who would be her fellow tribute? Maybe Four, Will, what if it was even Peter? There are so many other influences outside of their initial capabilities that it is hard to say who would win in this case. But for the sake of this discussion lets just say they were the only two tributes left in the arena and muttations had trapped them near the cornucopia. This time they could both potentially have weapons as opposed to the Dauntless fight scenario. Katniss would definitely have the upper hand in this situation. But I don’t know if I would completely rule Tris out just yet. There are so many different factors that could play into this situation that I think either one could come out victorious.

What do you think? I have a hard time elaborating on my thoughts so I want you to let me know your opinions and what I might have overlooked. Leave your thoughts in the comments below. =]

The post The Hunger Games’ Katniss and Divergent’s Tris appeared first on Sam Cushion.

**This review might contain slight spoilers but nothing that would completely ruin the book for you. Still, proceed with caution if you haven’t yet read it**

Crossed is the second book in the Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie. Last week I reviewed Matched and the end result being that I thought it was awesome! After I read it I immediately ordered Crossed from Amazon at like 2 in the morning. I couldn’t wait to read it! Now the only bad thing is that I have read Matched and Crossed but Reached doesn’t come out until November 13th! Which when you stumble across a series this good, waiting that long for the next one seems like an eternity!

My last review I failed to really talk about the characters very much. I tend to do that sometimes. So this review I will try and discuss the characters a little more. So lets do a run down of who we have in this book.

Cassia Reyes – she is the main character and narrator in Matched but shares that role with Ky during Crossed. As the story flip flops from Cassia’s POV to Ky’s POV. Something I enjoyed as a guy, being able to see this story told from another guys POV. Nothing against the girls, its just nice every now and then.

Ky Markham – Ky is one point in the Matched series love triangle. I really cannot decide myself if I think he is a better fit for Cassia over Xander. I just guess we will have to see. Ky is an aberration from the outer provinces as a result of his father. 

Xander Carrow – Although Xander is in Crossed very little he manages to make a huge impression in the story. That along with “Xander’s secret” is enough to keep him in your head throughout the whole book.

Eli, Indie, and Vick – These are the supporting characters that help Cassia and Ky accomplish things that would seem daunting to even the bravest of us. Eli is a young kid that runs away from the Society with Ky. Indie is a girl who helps Cassia escape from a work camp in the outer provinces. Vick is a fellow aberration that escapes with Eli and Ky from their roles as decoy villagers in the war for The Society.

So unlike Matched, Crossed takes place almost entirely in the outer provinces of The Society and in the Carving. I like the contrast between The Society in Matched and The Carving in Crossed. We get to see Cassia’s character grow and learn in ways that would not have been possible in The Society. We also get to see more of Ky’s Society forbidden talents.

This whole book is just amazing. If you thought Matched was good just wait until you read Crossed. The search for The Rising and the events and story that unfolds as you read is nothing short of breathtaking. The aspect of people trying to preserve history and art is something that really stands out to me. I love that. There is one scene in particular that I cried like a baby, and it takes a lot to get my to cry. This book is not a fast pace action book but it isn’t a slow moving love story either. It moves along at just the right speed and keeps you intrigued the whole time. I don’t like to say anything is perfect because nothing is but Ally Condie sure has come as close as you can with Crossed.

The post Crossed by Ally Condie: Book Review #3 appeared first on Sam Cushion.

Check back Friday for the spoiler filled vlog and brand new Miss Peregrine inspired song. Then again Sunday when we do the live video chat with everyone at 9pm central.

The post The Club Vlog #1: Miss Peregrine Chapters 1-3 appeared first on Sam Cushion.

I put off reading this book for a long time simply because of one review on the back of the book. “If you like a ton of romance with your totalitarian government, this novel is for you!” – Family Circle. I had Matched sitting on my bookshelf for about 4 months before I decided to pick it up and read about this “superb dystopian romance”. I was simply beaten to death with young love. I didn’t want to read another romantic story if it saved my life. But I am glad I read this! Part of me thinks that the rave reviews for the romance on the back are simply a marketing strategy, but after reading it I don’t really care. This is a great book!

The story opens up and wastes no time at all getting to the point. We find out immediately about the matched ceremony, Xander, and this world that Ally Condie brilliantly describes to us. I have to point out that while this is indeed a love story, again with the love triangle. Not like The Hunger Games where the love story is kind of in the background but you can ignore it if you want. But that is not a bad thing with Matched. It adds to the story and makes you care about the characters.

I read this right before leaving for a 7 day cruise. It was funny how many similarities I came up with between The Society and the cruise.

1) Meals are planned for you (though on a cruise you get more than just one choice. Though compared to being at home it seemed restricted)

2) There are a set number of activities for you to do and a time frame for you to do them

3) The mandatory meetings and constantly feeling like you are being monitored

Maybe that was just me being over imaginative and probably completely irrelevant to this review I just thought it was funny that I drew those similarities. And yes I know a cruise ship is not like a dystopian society, maybe. Now back to business.

One part of the book that I found extremely interesting is how The Society has completely eliminated creativity. People are not even allowed to know how to write or draw. It is a extremely scary idea of not being able to create. I think as human beings one of our basic desires is to create.

This is a great book that I would recommend to anyone. I finished it and immediately ordered Crossed, the second book, from Amazon. Many thanks to Allie Condie for this amazing book!

The post Matched by Ally Condie: Book Review #2 appeared first on Sam Cushion.

I am excited to announce that the first book we are going to be covering for The Club is Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. This is an amazing book that I cannot wait to share with the rest of you. Even if you have already read the book you wont want to miss this months discussions.

Make sure you purchase your copy of the book or you check it out at your library before May 1st! Below is the chapter schedule for May

Week 1 (April 29th-May 5th): Chapters 1-3

Week 2 (May 6th – 12th): Chapters 4-5

Week 3 (May 13th – 19th): Chapters 6-7

Week 4 (May 20th – 26th): Chapters 8-9

Week 5 (May 27th – June 2nd): Chapters 10-11

Every week there will be a vlog and song I release about the book. Every Sunday night at 9pm central there will be a live video chat that you can join with me and other participants to discuss the book and other things as well. I will also be giving away a copy of the next months book each week for people who participate.

Make sure you mark your calendars and get your copy of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children! 

The post The Club – Book 1: Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children appeared first on Sam Cushion.

So here is the deal. I have wanted to do some kind of vlog before. I just never had any idea what to do. The other day I was thinking and I figured, well I write music about books why not make a book club type vlog? Where as a community we all read a book and discuss it live together in pieces every week right here on my website and YouTube channel. I think that would be really cool. But we aren’t going to just be any book club. Every month, whatever book we are reading I will release a song a week specifically about that book.

The goal of this is to promote literature and an appreciation for classical music. Even though my music isn’t necessarily considered classical, more like neoclassical or new age but close enough. There will also be fun giveaways and other things as well. This wont just be a boring “so what did you think” thing. This is going to be a weekly EVENT!

More details are going to come soon and I will let you all know what books are coming up so you will have plenty of time to purchase them or get a copy from your library.

Sign up below to be notified as soon as more information becomes available.

The post The (most awesome book) Club!! appeared first on Sam Cushion.

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1) This guy is WAY too into books

2) This is AWESOME!

I hope most people think the second. However a small number of people sometimes think that I compose all these songs not just for a love of literature and storytelling but because I want to capitalize on what is popular. This statement not only hits me as an intense insult but makes me worry for people’s perception of me as not only a person but a fan of literature. I don’t write music based on what is popular or what has the most hype. And I certainly do not write music for books that I didn’t like or just didn’t feel inspired by. Sometimes I read a good book but just leave it at that. But in the case of books like The Hunger Games, Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, Divergent, etc. I felt insanely inspired to write down my feelings throughout the story the best way I know how, music. I am not a writer so I don’t write fan fiction. I couldn’t draw a decent stick figure to save my life so I certainly cannot draw anything. But since I was around 12 years old I have been writing music. Whether it was in a rock band in high school or my hometown marching band. I love music just as much as I love literature. To me instrumental compositions have the best ability to tell a story. Just like a book the emotion is set right in front of you but there are an almost infinite ways of experiencing it. Plus movies and video games have awesome scores why can’t a book?

The main reason for this post has stemmed from my fear of people thinking I wrote my Hunger Games music as a way to appeal to fans of the movie. When in reality I wrote a majority of my original hunger games songs in 2009 and 2010 (the very first song – Rue’s Lullaby – was written in November of 2009) before the movie was even a blip on the radar. No director had been chosen, no actors cast, and certainly no expectation that it would grow to become what it has today. I got deeply involved with the fandom and fan sites which I spent almost every waking minute I had in 2011 and still do today dedicated to providing a better experience for fans of The Hunger Games. I want the movies to be wildly successful and provide fans around the world with an amazing adaptation to the books we all have come to love so much. I am a fan of all the books I write music about. That will never change.

The post Why I Write Music About Books (Not Movies) appeared first on Sam Cushion.

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Enter to win:

- District 12 Mini Backpack

- HG Socks

- Katniss and Peeta Pens

- Fleece Mockingjay Blanket

The cool thing is you can enter up to four different times!

Here is how:

1) Like my new Sam Cushion Music Facebook Page: Click Here

2) Follow me on Twitter: @Sam_Cushion

3) Subscribe on YouTube: /UnofficialScore

4) Download a FREE copy of The Hanging Tree (feat Rachel Macwhirter): Click Here

If you have done any of these already you are instantly entered to win. I will choose one person at random on one of the sites above and contact you through that site if you have won.

Winner will be announced March 16th. 

May the odds be ever in your favor!

Disclaimer: This giveaway is not endorsed by Lionsgate or the official Hunger Games movie. I provided all prizes for this giveaway.

The post I Love The Hunger Games Giveaway appeared first on Sam Cushion.

I have been writing music inspired by The Hunger Games since 2009. I read the first book that summer and instantly had the urge to put my thoughts to music. The emotion and intensity that this series has was so powerful to me. I have had so much fun over the past two years working with fan sites and other fans in this fandom. I have met some of my best friends in those two years. I have also grown as a musician more than I could have imagined since I started.

Though it has been 2 years already I feel like we have all just begun. So many new people joining the fandom and discovering the books for the first time. It is an awesome thing! I love how these fandoms promote literacy and creativity in such a unique way. That is why I have released a “deluxe edition” of my Hunger Games album Music of Panem. It includes every single song I have released that was inspired by The Hunger Games plus another 7 that have never been released before. Making it a total of 60 songs and two and a half hours of music. I want to share my music with everyone without them having to purchase 3 different albums and a few singles. It is now all in one album for the same price as any other of my albums, $9.99.

I write these songs out of a shared love for the books that the millions of people in this fandom have. We are a unique group of people and it is such an honor to be able to share what I have created with everyone. So I hope you enjoy the music and “may the odds be ever in your favor!”

Available now!: iTunes

The post Music of Panem Deluxe Edition appeared first on Sam Cushion.

Sometimes we forget the simple but beautiful things in life. This was not inspired by any book. It is from my “Life is Beautiful” project, being released June 2012.

Download and support my music? — every sale helps me to be able to keep making music for everyone =]
iTunes: http://www.itunes.com/districttribute
My site: http://www.samcushion.bandcamp.com
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