No Volturi Approved site for June :(

As you should have noticed, it is no longer June and I have not posted a Volturi Approved site for June. This is not going to happen. I can't deal with 2 awards in one month when I have a big vacation coming up this month as well and another blog to take care of. Plain and simple.

I apologize to all the broken-hearted blogs waiting to be chosen. I will have a July award and maybe we can do some sort of special "Summer Awards" type things to make up for this loss. 

'Kay? 'Kay.

Peace. Love. Twilight!'s Twilight Clue Contest

My *other* blog, Peace. Love. Twilight! is holding a massive Twilight Clue Contest with TONS of prizes. TVA will be involved in that a clue(s) will be hidden on the blog.

Rules: 

*Bella Swan has been found dead. It is your job to figure out who killed her, where they did it, and what they used to kill her!*

There are 45 "clues" you will be given. There are 15 Twilight characters as suspect perpetrators of the crime, or possible "murderers". There's 15 Twilight places as possible "scenes-of-the-crime" where the murderer may have committed the crime. There are also 15 Twilight-related possible "weapons" that the murderer may have used to kill Bella.
I will give you NINE clues each day for five days. Every clue will be hidden somewhere on one of the participating sites. (See below) However, out the 45 total clues, there will be 3 you will not be able to find on any site: one person, one place, and one weapon. These are your guilty three. On the fifth day (tomorrow, June 21 is Day One and Thursday, June 25 is Day Five) I will put up a form. You will submit the guilty person, scene-of-the-crime, and weapon.

Prizes:
1st place:
-one ticket to Bobby Long's concert in Dallas (courtesy of the Twilight Examiner)
-a Bella charm bracelet (courtesy of Robsten Lovers)
-a Betti Gefecht maxi CD (two songs, including her popular "One Wolf/Jacob's Song" (courtesy of Betti Gefecht)
-a Twilight necklace (courtesy of Robsten Lovers)
-Your opportunity to star in the popular fan fiction, "Edge of Night" (courtesy of Twilight Continues)
-a Twilight keychain (courtesy of Robsten Lovers)
-a $25 Cafe Press gift card (courtesy of Twitarded)
-a clock or mug of your choice from the Twilight Lexicon shop (courtesy of the Lexicon)

2nd place:
-a bracelet based on Bella's gift bracelet in the series, with wolf and heart charms (courtesy of The Danger Magnet)
-a Twilight poster (courtesy of Super Secret Twilight Blog)
-a Twilight keychain (courtesy of Robsten Lovers)
-a Betti Gefecht maxi CD (courtesy of Betti Gefecht)
-Twilight sweethearts (courtesy of Eyes of Amber)

3 runners up:
-a Twilight keychain (courtesy of Robsten Lovers)

Participating Sites:

The Twilight Lexicon
Simply Twilight
Super Secret Twilight Blog
Twilight is Coool
The Danger Magnet
Twitarded
The Twilight Moonlighter
Bitten By Twilight
BuddyTV: Twilight
Touched By Twilight
The Twilight Examiner
Robsten Lovers
Twifans
Twilight Mania
OMG Celebrity News
Twilight Continues
Confessions of a Twicrack Addict
TwiCanCon
Eyes of Amber
Cullen Boys Anonymous
Betti. Music. Twilight.
Peace. Love. Twilight!
The Volturi Approves
My Twilife

Go check it out here!

Twitarded

You guessed it! The Volturi-Approved site of May is Twitarded (twitarded.blogspot.com)!

Ever since I have discovered Twitarded, I have been in love with it. The authors (AKA Twi Partners in Crime), Jenny Jerkface and Snarkier Than You--and now Office Snarky--are nearly as addicting to read as Twilight was. They're both clever writers and have (almost) no scruples about disclosing details of their own personal lives and poking fun at themselves (or at other people). Although the blog may sometimes be slightly vulgar, explicit, and/or offensive *wink wink*, it is always hilarious and *very* Twilight-y.

And now...you said it! The interview!

The Volturi Approves: What is the main purpose of Twitarded and what distinguishes it from every other Twilight blog or website?

Jenny Jerkface: The main purpose of the blog is simply to have fun. When we started out with this we really had no intention of it ever becoming big. It was merely there for STY and I to amuse ourselves and anyone else who happens to stumble upon Twitarded. We wanted people to know that it’s perfectly acceptable to step outside of the ‘age appropriate box’ and just enjoy yourself.

Our posts differ from other Twilight blogs because we tend to be more anecdotal. Plus, our content is… more mature. We don’t necessarily focus on any particular aspect of the Twilight world; instead, we concentrate on how Twilight affects our lives and how much fun we have
being silly adult women who happen to be in love with a teen story.


Snarkier Than You: We were so giddy when we discovered Twilight that I think we
needed someplace "safe" to express how we felt about it. Constantly.
And to basically poke fun at ourselves while also saying that it's ok
to be this ga-ga even though we are well out of the targeted age
demographic for this book/series. From the perspective of a younger
audience, I don't think we have all that much appeal. But finding
humor in the absurdity of being smitten with all things Twilight at
our age hasn't been that difficult - lol!

TVA: What does the title of Twitarded have to do with the subject matter of the blog and how did you choose it? Was it a unanimous decision by both of you or were there battles between you on the title?

JJ: The name Twitarded is all STY. I have to admit, I thought Twitarded was kind of a silly name and I used to joke and tell her we’d probably get hate mail. In the beginning I didn’t really give much thought about the name at the time because I honestly didn’t think anyone would really be reading it.

Now, I can’t imagine a more suitable name for our blog. It’s just crass enough to warn people what they’re getting into if they come visit us but tame enough to pass under the ‘offensive’ radar.

STY: Twitarded came to be mostly because JJ was starting a different blog and had asked me if I wanted to contribute. I'd never blogged before but figured why not? Unfortunately (for the other blog, anyway) this happened to be at about the time she had introduced me to Twilight. Since Twilight essentially erased all other cognizant thought from my head, naturally the only thing I was interested in blogging about was Twilight. In the middle of a string of emails (which I wish I had kept) where I was pestering her about exactly how frequently she would allow me to write about Twilight on her non-Twilight blog, I took matters into my own hands and spent two minutes setting up Twitarded (and had JJ on board about 30 seconds later).

I think I tried "Twiblog" first but it was taken, and since we were still at the "extremely mortified" stage of our Twilight obsession, I thought "Twitarded" fit. We discussed--briefly--changing the name early on since it's generally used to slander all of us crazed fans,
but then we decided it kinda fit our vaguely offensive [um, if you don't offend easily, anyway] style. No battles! Although I do threaten to revoke her administrator rights on a weekly basis (just because it's fun and never fails to get a rise out of her).

TVA: So how did you two meet?

JJ: I met STY about six years ago when I crashed a party of hers. She had really good cocktails and even nicer mod furniture and we just started chatting. I guess that was the winning combo because we’ve been silently judging our friends at parties ever since.

In all seriousness, we probably had been running into each other at bars or parties for many years before we hit it off on that one fateful day – most of our friends are musicians, ML and DH included, and it was just inevitable that we become BFFs.


STY: Here's how I remember it: it was maybe six years ago... Someone had a box, propped up with a stick, and there was a bottle of wine under there. JJ and I both happened to see it and of course we both lunged for it and then they pulled the stick out and the box fell on us and we were trapped for a while but we figured wtf - I mean we had the booze, right? So we hung out and got drunk and we've been besties ever since.

Honestly, I feel like the luckiest person I know to have found a BFF at my age. Considering the slim percentage of people in the world who I genuinely like, the odd were definitely against me. It might even top the feeling of falling in love with Twilight at my age. It's a close call, anyway.

P.S. While it would be swell to say we are "silently judging," it's more like we're speaking in high-pitched semi-hysterical squeaks that only we can understand. I swear it's like we've developed our own secret twin language. Our other friends do a lot of eye-rolling in our presence.

TVA: Your hits have gone up a lot in the past month. What do you account for this new level of readership?

JJ: Right off the bat I have to say our readership went up because ofother bloggers. If it weren’t for TwiCrack, Pillow Biter, Peace. Love. TWILIGHT! etc., linking to our site I think we probably would have wallowed in the lower numbers for quite awhile. They gave us a push into the public, so to speak.

Our numbers have stayed consistently high because we give our readers what they are looking for. At first we tested the shallow waters, poked around to see how much we could get away with, content-wise. Our early posts were fairly tame and more politically correct. That’s certainly not the case now. Which is good, since that’s not really us and we’re pleased that our readers not only accept that but cheer us on. I think we’ll always be ‘stepping over the line,’ in both writing styles and content.

Oh, and we also talk about sex in a very unapologetic (and often dirty) way. And everyone loves talking about getting diggity with it…


STY: I second JJ on this one: without the likes of TwiCrack Addict, Pillow Biter, Cullen Boys Anonymous, Letters To Twilight (and LTR), 86 Rabbit, Danger Magnet and of course Peace. Love. TWILIGHT! (plus a bunch of other great blogs that I can't think of off the top of my head...), it would have taken a lot more time for us to build up a following. We owe a lot to our fellow Twi-bloggers! Oh and the recent addition of the Twilight Widower to the scene has helped us as well. I may have been his first follower, but his blog has since taken off faster than R-Patts fleeing crazed fan-girls.

And I have learned something very important in the last month or so: if you write smut and put it on the internet, people will find it. Some of them will even like it! There have been a few times when I have said to JJ "you CANNOT say that!!" but of course she does anyway (maybe even making it a little dirtier beforehand to spite me) and people end up enjoying it, sooo...

TVA: Would you ever consider expanding into a full-fledged site, or are you going to stay in your bloggy comfort zone with Twitarded?

JJ: I would definitely love to take this as far as we can. I'm ecstatic that we've grown as much as we have. I have written for other blogs before Twitarded but this certainly my best work and the most fun I've ever had. A lot of that has to do not only with the content, but also because I'm lucky enough that my bff also happens to be the most amazing writing partner.


STY: It's funny you should ask... I have been thinking about that on and off for a while now. Honestly, I have no idea how I would set up/run/format a website since even Blogger seems beyond me some says, but never say never. I know where the "For Dummies" section is in the bookstore, and JJ's a good reader, so who knows?

Breaking news: I figured that your question was a sign of some sort [I am a masterful rationalizer...], so I am happy to report that JJ and I are now the proud owners of Twitarded.com! Just don't expect us to do anything with it anytime soon.

TVA: So who's this new Office Snarky character on the block? Is she a Twi-partner-in-crime to stay?

STY: Ah yes--The Curious Case of Office Snarky (and my aren't you the observant one, PLT [AKA TVA]? Putting Woodward and Bernstein to shame imho...). Where to begin?


I have worked at the same place for over ten years. For better or for worse (mostly the latter), a lot has changed over the years. But one thing has [thankfully] remained the same: Office Snarky.

To name a few of her more publishable accomplishments over the years:

• Getting our team a refrigerator to keep our booze in so that we wouldn't have to drink warm beer or cocktails on "Take Your Bottle to Work Day" (which she also organized).
  
• Removing any food or lunch-related items from said refrigerator should you have the gall to sully the booze fridge with your salad dressing or yogurt.
  
• Throwing me a movie-worthy bachelorette party, complete with a stripper. Remember, this is my work friend. I didn't have a stripper at my non-work bachelorette party. Hell, Mr. Snarky didn't have a stripper at his bachelor party (note to Mr. Snarky: your friends are lame). Two words stand out when I think of that stripper: chest stubble. {{{shudder}}} But that was not her fault.
  
• Filling a coworker's entire cubicle with wadded balls of paper because they went on vacation and didn't take us with them. [I have photos.]
  
  
  Office Snarky Hijinks: circa 2002.  Courtesy of STY
  
  
  
  
• Having a team Christmas/holiday party at her house. Where we did a dirty Yankee Swap gift exchange. I think I came home with an economy-sized tube of anal lube (cherry flavor!) and a trucker hat that says "SHOW ME YOUR BOOBS!"
  

You get the idea. I am in awe of her coolness. And you will be, too. She'll probably post here occasionally. She belongs here. And maybe this will even motivate her to finish Twilight one of these days.

TVA: What is the #1 quality you think a blog (similar to yours in terms of subject matter) should have to be successful? Do you believe your blog has this quality?

JJ: There are so many different facets that make a successful blog it's kind of difficult to pick just one. In terms of our blog, I think creativity is the most important thing. It's what keeps our readers coming back to us and, obviously, without the readers we wouldn't be all that successful, though I imagine STY and I would probably still be posting whatever ridiculousness pops into our heads.

We aren't a blog that relies heavily on facts or keeping up to date in terms of news. We rely on humor, and the ability to laugh at ourselves (and, ahem, all of you - but in a loving way) while just having a great time.

STY: Honestly, I don't have a clue. But I guess when I boil it all down, I think it should be entertaining on some level. At first Twitarded was only providing entertainment for me and JJ (nobody else was reading it...), and now more people are sharing in on our fun. I realize we are not everyone's cup of tea, nor are we trying to be. JJ's spot-on when she said that we'd probably be doing this even if it was still just us reading it.

It's been a blast for us and I like to think that fact comes through in our writing. So maybe that's the take-away here: it should be something that you really love doing and that makes you happy, because that kind of enthusiasm is contagious.

--

A fabulous ending to a fabulous interview! Hope you enjoyed it. Soon to come: the Volturi-Approved site for the month of June!