Today on fLiP iT fRiDaY, we’re chatting with Alea from Pop Culture Junkie, aka @mint910 on Twitter.

And just to prove that Alea is actually not a cartoon (so she says, anyway!)…

Describe a typical day in your life.

I wake up at 6, check my email and a few blogs quickly before I’m out the door and on the bus. Then I READ transfer to another bus and READ!!! Once I get to work I’ll have some breakfast etc and then get to work. Often times I can be found designing things such as ads, postcards, the occasional book cover, and logos and sometimes sumo related things among other stuff! Once the workday is over I do all of that in reverse, get home, have dinner, take a shower, maybe watch some tv, catch up on some blogs and hopefully squeeze in a bit more reading before I go to bed at 10. I tell you, where does the time go! Isn’t my life beyond exciting? HA!

Attention class… Who else would like to see Alea design sumo related things… in reverse?

*Raises hand!*

What is your favorite YA book and why? Or, which YA book has had the most profound effect on you and why?

Wow, I really don’t know. I haven’t read nearly the amount of YA I want to, to be able to make an informed choice. But here are a few of my recent favorites: Willow by Julia Hoban, Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols, and The Season by Sarah MacLean. I really liked these because I think they just unraveled perfectly. Willow was very powerful and made sense for me out of cutting and self destructive behavior. Going Too Far had the best chemistry I had ever seen, and The Season pretty much played out exactly how I had hoped and make me squeal. I loved these books!

Cool! I’m reading Willow for Chelsea’s book club this month and many of you have already heard me gush all up and down this blog about Sarah MacLean’s The Season. Which I love. And Sarah is awesome. I need to check out Going to Far, too. 🙂

What are 5 of your favorite things?

1. Tapirs (Hello – Look at them!)
2. Reading a new favorite book.
3. All Wes Anderson movies.
4. Finishing all the items on a check list sooner than I thought I would.
5. Finding things in common with others (Like you guys and reading!)

This interview totally would have been posted earlier, had I not spent the last hour clicking on all those tapir pictures. I mean, just when I think nothing can be more adorable than a baby hippo… boom! “Hi, I’m a tapir, and I reek of adorableness! You’re welcome!”

How long have you been blogging, and how did you get your book blogging start?

I started my blog in June 2005. I was taking some summer classes at college and had some time to kill. I posted all sorts of weird things like the periodical offerings of my school’s library and my mini-take on an assortment of movies (seriously do not look at those posts). I had a few dear friends that would leave a comment or two and slowly it died off. With me posting maybe once or twice a month (if even) because no one was reading it besides me! I continued to read blogs and then in the Spring of 2008 discovered book blogs! So I figured heck, I’m reading books and sometimes writing reviews on LibraryThing, this could be perfect! Some of my friends enjoy reading, but not like you guys! It was so surprising how quickly I was welcomed into the community!

Are you planning any upcoming new features or special content on your book blog and/or is there anything specific you want potential new visitors to know about your blog?

I’ve been toying around with a new feature for my blog, think another new type of cover post. But I’m not 100% sure yet. But for anyone new to my blog, one of the things I’m known for are my Lookalikes and Hardcovers vs. Paperback posts. Being a graphic designer this is the perfect way for me to combine my love of reading with my love of design. And I’m very thankful that I’m not the only one that finds them interesting! I’m also very thankful for all the emails and suggestions I get from people for these posts, you don’t know how much it means to me!

I love the Lookalikes feature, too. As an author (and also as a former marketing person), it’s interesting for me to watch the trends in YA book covers. And it’s really fun to see how publishers sometimes alter the same photograph or use photos from the same shoot to convey very different meanings for different books.

Check out the Lookalikes post that featured Twenty Boy Summer! From there you can click on the LOOKALIKES label at the end to view the others.

Alea, I think another cover feature would be great. They’re so fun!

In addition to blogging, what other creative pursuits do you enjoy?

Hmmm, no creative writing here. Art, yes lots of art. I have some in progress comics that I haven’t touched in a good year (think, blog banner) that I should really get back to. I was a screen-printing freak in college and would definitely love to have the set-up to do that again and again. I also have a minor in Photography but haven’t been taking many pictures lately, well besides of course my This Week In Books pictures. I really need to start exploring my hobbies more. And I did Dance for 12 years but haven’t since I graduated from high school.

What do you want to be when you “grow up”?

Ummm a better version of myself, more confident and a lot less lazy.

That sounds wonderful! Please let me know if you figure out how, because I’d love to be a better, more confident, less lazy version of myself. I think those are good things to strive for!

What are 3 things you’d like to do or accomplish in your lifetime?

1. I would love to move to New York City, I was born on Long Island and my parents worked in NYC but I’m sort of a chicken, maybe someday!
2. Travel, everywhere.
3. Know more about everything.

Yay! You’re coming with me and Kristi and everyone on our YA writers/bloggers/readers Seven Wonders of the World road trip! Kristi is totally driving. And on the way we’ll try to learn stuff, too. And take pictures.

Tell us something that people who know you in real life would be surprised to learn about you.

That I blog, no seriously. Most people don’t know or I tell them and they forget. I don’t talk about it much, well until recently with the whole Audrey,Wait! thing! I think my mom only found out when she went with me to get Audrey, Wait! Apparently she told my Grandfather about it and he was very impressed. LOL! My grandparents are where I get my reading from, my immediate family, not so much. My grandparents actually went to a $1 Bag Sale last summer at the local library. We walked away with 2 bags!

Sounds like a great investment!

Now, it’s time for Apocalypse Mad Libs!

If I ever had to face a tapir extinction I’d want NOT Katie Alender on my side, because when she found out what a tapir was via me talking about it on Sharon’s blog she said they were “grody looking” *cries*.

If she wasn’t available, I’d take NOT Kasey from the book, Bad Girls Don’t Die, because she sounds kind of scary/dangerous and might help kill off the tapirs and not save them!

In any case, if I only had 1 day to live before the end of the world, I’d eat lots of sugar and chocolate and then I’d tell everyone, “zzzzzzzzzzz.” (because i would already be in a sugar coma).

Okay, with you on the NOT Katie Alender part. How could she not love the tapir?! I just don’t get it. *Sigh*

Thank you, tapir-lovin’ Alea for joining us on fLiP iT fRiDaYs! Visit Alea over at Pop Culture Junkie and follow her @mint910 on Twitter.

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fLiP iT fRiDaY is a weekly feature at SarahOckler.com showcasing the fabulous YA book bloggers and reviewers who share young adult fiction with the world and inspire raves, rants, intelligent discourse, and a whole bunch of book-lovin’ among readers everywhere. If you’d like to be featured on fLiP iT fRiDaY, contact me!