Category Archives: Montreal Events!

Montreal Comiccon 2019 Haul

Posted in Montreal Events!, My Weekly Adventures by

Montreal Comiccon is come to an end! As our final wrap-up piece after all the coverage, its going to be the fun shopping haul!

There was quite a few really nice vendors this year. They may have been there previous years but I just missed it because if anyone has been to any Comiccon, you know that its just a world of everything and information overload. I went back to the Artist Alley every single day and I kid you not that I always noticed something different that I didn’t in the previous day. Lots of creativity going on which is something that I love to see. It took quite a bit to restrain myself from buying everything that I liked (just take a look at my Day 1 on all the Artist Alley that I liked HERE).

Regardless, here is the shopping haul! If you follow my Instagram, then you probably have already seen it.

Ruin World by Derek Laufman

Derek Laufman

One of the things I’ve loved to find during Montreal Comiccon is the books and comics/graphic novels from indie artists and authors, because they are really interesting to see plus its always nice to discover something new. I’ve been into cute things lately (well, always have) so not only did the art attract me over to Derek Laufman’s booth in the first place but then I saw the colorful cover for Ruin World and just loved it. I’m really looking forward to reading it soon (and then I’ll have a review for it go up as well).

Fairy Bell/Fairy Glow Necklace by The Emerald Cauldron

fairy Bell Necklace The Emerald Cauldron

The Emerald Cauldron first caught my eye because of its pixie light necklace, which they call Fairy Glow on their site so I’ll use that. Of course, the debate behind that is battery power and when would I want to wear a necklace that glows in public. In the end, after a chat with them, I decided to get a smaller size pendant (sadly did not have a rose gold or titanium finish, which I would have preferred) so went with a silver finish and then chose the sacred heart shape along with Fairy Bells instead which just ring a little instead of glow. This option at $30 came with a replacement Fairy Glow LED light, which I honestly didn’t want so I asked to change it to another replacement fairy bell (which she asked for $5, which was fine since practicality mattered more than getting something I wouldn’t use). Still, she was great and still threw in a blue LED fairy glow. Service and patience here was fantastic. Not to mention, they had a good choice of colors both for the chimes (and some glow in the dark options) as well as LED light colors (and one that changes colors slowly). Anyways, I got the blue chime and the mint green chime with a sacred heart cage with a silver finish.

Pins by Art by DaDa

Pins at Art by DaDa

Seeing as I already have a lot of art and we are running out of wall space for any more prints to hang up and I wanted to support a college friend and her business, I went to Art by DaDa and got two pins. I’m a big fan of Lilo and Stitch and Fox and the Hound so these worked fine for me. I like them a ton. Plus, I think that her Disney art concept is brilliant and so creative. I always look forward to see what else she comes up with. Those pins went right onto my bag (which I use for work and going to cover events).

Tea by Sense and SensibiliTea

Sense and SensibiliTea

I honestly think its the first year we’re seeing tea booths at Montreal Comiccon. Being an Austen fan, the store name caught my attention right away. While I didn’t get any Austen themed tea, I did end up getting an Absinthe-flavored Green Tea, which is derived with ingredients from the vintage Absinthe mix which turned into this blend. The tea smells really good and I love green tea so it seemed like a good choice. When I was drafting up the Artist Alley highlights for Day 1, I landed on their Facebook page which talked about their new modern tea called Demogorgon’s Bane. I also happen to be a fan of Stranger Things so it was a decision between this one and their Princess Peach Tea (which smells like a fruit garden tisane). I’m not going to lie that I wanted to buy both but then I’m not a huge fan of tisane and who can resist the raspberry chocolate flavored Ceylon black tea, which is what Demogorgan’s Bane is. I have yet to try either of them but fun fact, all the teas are vegan which is nice for myself who has lactose intolerance.

That’s it for this shopping haul!
Definitely toned down from previous years but I think I made some pretty awesome purchases!

Montreal Comiccon 2019 – Day 3: The Masquerade Awards Ceremony, Paige O’Hara & Cosplay

Posted in Montreal Events!, Movies by

Montreal Comiccon 2019

Day 3 wrapped up at Montreal Comiccon 2019. Sunday is the shorter day and with an array of appearances from James and Oliver Phelps (the Weasley twins), Watchdogs 2, Christopher Lambert (Mortal Kombat/Highlander), William Shatner, Paige O’Hara among many others. The Masquerade Award Ceremony took place as well following the previous event’s The Masquerade event. Sunday still had a lot of panels and workshops to check out.

Our schedule included a lot of wrap-up for the Indie Game Zone (which will be talked about over at Game Warp Blog) and capturing some more cosplay and catching The Masquerade Awards Ceremony and finally, the panel for Paige O’Hara.

THE MASQUERADE AWARDS CEREMONY

Following the previous day’s The Masquerade at the end of Day 2 (which I didn’t make it to), Day 3 had the Awards Ceremony separated into 4 categories: Novice, Journeyman, Artisan and Master. In each category, there are honorable mention prizes to armory design, wig and other elements of the cosplay costume itself. Its a pity to not have gone to the actual Masquerade yesterday as most winners didn’t go in their previous day costumes or just retained one element of it, however, here are the winners in each category.

Montreal Comiccon 2019

The Masquerade Awards Ceremony – Novice Winners

Montreal Comiccon 2019

The Masquerade Awards Ceremony – Journeyman Winners

Montreal Comiccon 2019

The Masquerade Awards Ceremony – Artisan Winners

Montreal Comiccon 2019

The Masquerade Awards Ceremony – Master Winners

Montreal Comiccon 2019

The Masquerade Awards Ceremony – Other Winners

Q&A Panel: Paige O’Hara

pagie o'hara

Paige O’Hara, known for her role as the voice actress for Belle, was the last panel that I attended. Disney movies are very close to my heart as with the majority of the audience who are big fans of Beauty and the Beast. During the panel, Paige O’Hara talks about her experiences when she started out in Broadway and her experiences working with different voice actors over the span of the Beauty and the Beast movies. She talks about her talents not only as the well-known voice actress but also as a Disney Fine Art artist where you can find her work HERE.

Montreal Comiccon 2019

At the same time, fans also asked her to sing different songs and she accommodated to it all, at one point singing a snippet of the song “Belle” and asking the audience to do the chorus while also being asked to sing “Something There” where she asked some of the fans to go up with her to sing it. If there was one word to describe this panel, especially for Beauty and the Beast fans, it was magical.

COSPLAY

Cosplay is a huge part of Montreal Comiccon. While not exactly just Day 3 cosplay, this is the cosplay from over the entire weekend.

Resident Evil
Beauty and the Beast
Pirates
Beetlejuice
Winter Soldier
Michael Myers
Vikings
Aquaman
Horizon Zero Dawn Robot Machine
Thor: Ragnarok
Bumblebee
Mercy
Spider-Man & Deadpool
Tony Stark
Disney
Overwatch
Ghostbusters

Some of them I know and some of them I don’t. If there’s any that I didn’t label that you know where its from. You can leave it in the comments below! Some really cool cosplay this year but it really was just a small portion since Saturday I had less time due to the amount of panels lined up. Next year, I’ll have to definitely make it to The Masquerade.

Day 3 & Cosplay all done for Montreal Comiccon 2019!
Next up tomorrow is the Shopping Haul post to wrap things up!

Montreal Comiccon 2019 – Day 2 Recap: Lana Parilla, The 100, Umbrella Academy & Elijah Wood

Posted in Montreal Events!, Movies, TV Binge by

Montreal Comiccon 2019

Day 2 of Montreal Comiccon 2019 is behind us now. Saturday is always the big day of the event. Not only is it the day with the most visitors at the event and its an obvious change from the first day, but its also the day where most of the guest of honors and a lot of Q&A panels take place. With a line-up of Lana Parilla, The 100, The Umbrella Academy, Lindsay Seidel, Georges St-Pierre, Elijah Wood, Tom Felton, Ray Park, and Michael Madsen appearing in Q&A panels throughout the day, it is going to be a huge run around to try to catch a portion of these.

Q&A Panel: Lana Parilla

Lana Parilla Montreal Comiccon 2019

The first big panel to start the day was Lana Parilla, most popular known for her role in Once Upon A Time as Regina/The Evil Queen. She also had smaller roles in Lost and 24. Lana Parilla talks about her different experiences on Once Upon A Time as well as some memorable scenes. She shares about working with the green screen room in the first season as well as the first time directing an episode in Season 7. Suffice to say that Lana Parilla’s roles in Once Upon A Time, because its had so many variations, has been one that has been both inspiring and conflicting for fans of the show.

Q&A Panel: The 100

The 100 Montreal Comiccon 2019

The 100 panel featured three main characters from the series, Bob Morley who plays Bellamy, Eliza Taylor who plays Clarke and Tasya Teles who plays Echo. After a surprise wedding announcement for Bob Morley and Eliza Taylor earlier this year, possibly fulfilling the ship between their characters on the show, the three are relaxed and fun at the panel as the fans praise the show on its gender equality and LGBT relationships and how the characters are defined by their talents and not these more personal attributes of race, gender, etc. Bob Morley and Eliza Taylor talk about the difference between filming in Australia versus USA. A lot of what are their favorite scenes and favorite things were asked. Due to the pure Q&A session format and no general questions with the moderator, the questions were very fan-based. However, if the excitement in the room was reflective for everywhere else, The 100 still has maintained a lot of its hype (which is great because I also love it a ton).

Q&A Panel: The Umbrella Academy

Umbrella Academy Montreal Comiccon 2019

The Umbrella Academy is one of the newer shows to have a panel at this year’s Comiccon. Bringing in Cameron Brodeur who plays young Luther and Robert Sheehan who plays the conflicted yet flamboyant Klaus, the panel was vibrant to say the least. Cameron Brodeur steps up on his first panel which is very exciting as he shares his love for Spider-Man and superheroes in general. As young Luther had relatively less roles, Robert Sheehan had a lot more questions about his roles from his favorite aspects of the character to the show. They were asked about working with Mary J. Blige as well as the weird and embarassing filming moments. With The Umbrella Academy having a second season greenlit, it probably will be just the beginning of panels for this Netflix Original series.

Q&A Panel: Elijah Wood

Elijah Wood Montreal Comiccon 2019

At this point, Elijah Wood has surpassed his Lord of the Rings trilogy days especially as that is 20 years old already since its start. He has gone on to be involved in TV and indie horror as well as video games. On his IMDB page, he has over a hundred credits over his 30 years of being involved in the entertainment business. The normal questions of favorites and inspiration came up however, what stood out the most the genuine reactions to all the questions as well as his gratitude for still thriving in the business after so many years. He addresses also his project choices which rely on his gut and finding roles that vary from the previous ones as well. A fun panel to say the least even if the majority of the questions still remain very Lord of the Rings oriented or more on his younger projects and (not so) surprisingly not about his newer projects especially in indie films. Talking about newer projects, he has a film premiering at Fantasia called Come to Daddy.

OVERALL…

Its been a panel heavy day running non-stop between line-ups and wait times from late morning to middle of the afternoon. However, the star studded panels definitely were a lot of fun and gave us a look at some of the different experiences of these TV and movie icons that has gained quite a bit of popularity and love.

Thats it for Day 2 recap!

Other parts for gaming wrap-up and cosplay will be over on the Game Warp Blog shortly, if that interests you.

Also, audio of these panels, once I find time to listen back and see what is usable or not will be posted later on my channel. I will be sure to share it one place or another, when it happens.

Montreal Comiccon – Day 1 Recap: 16 Booths at Artist Alley & Exhibition Hall

Posted in Montreal Events! by

Montreal Comiccon 2019

The first day of Montreal Comiccon ended. While today wasn’t heavy on panels and too many activities, it gave time to go around to explore the Artist Alley and the Exhibition Hall which covers a great many square feet. While some vendors were the same, there were quite a few unique booths that stood out.

20190705_195501.jpg

Here’s 17 of the booths that I’d like to share as well as some of their info so that those interested can check out their stuff further! I split them into categories of interest.

Prime 1 Studio

Just scraping the tip here with these four, Prime 1 Studio showcased almost an entire exhibit of a lot these huge collectibles of pop culture characters from anime, comic books and movies. Its pretty amazing because of its large scale and just how delicate the detail is.

BOOKS

Derek Laufman

Derek Laufman

Derek Laufman is at the comic book areas showcasing both art and his graphic novels. RuinWorld: Eye For An Eye is one of his works which really stood out with his cute little heroes on  the cover and the vibrant colors.

Mathieu Bellemare

Mathieu Bellemare

Mathieu Bellemare shows a French CD-Book called Chants des Marais et des Morts which is a French illustration book paired up with a CD which has a full song for each story where the lyrics match the story on each page. At the booth, you can hear a snippet of the concept and its actually pretty cool especially.  It has a bit of the Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart sort of feeling except instead of a movie, its a book and CD.

TEA

20190705_200041.jpg

Sense and Sensibilitea

Full of both modern themed teas and vintage varieties, Sense and SensibiliTea is quite the discovery for tea-lovers and pop culture lovers alike. Not only are there Austen theme teas but also some planet theme ones as well as a lot of more modern ones like the one in the Instagram post above for Stranger Things.

Thesaurus Tea

I’m not going to lie that the reason this one caught my eye was its very catchy dinosaur logo. However, at a closer look at Thesaurus Tea, they have quite a few nice varieties. Some are blends in various bases while there are also some classic tea choices.

PLANTERS

20190705_195916.jpg

Beton Neotek

Creation Beton Neotek is all about making pop culture themed concrete planters. With anime themes like DragonballZ or Star Wars theme like Darth Vader or Star Trooper. There are also other ones for younger audience like Pokemon while it also has some for Power Rangers as well as superheroes, both Marvel and DC Universe.

Mille Nuages

With the Pokemon craze going on right now, its hard to miss out on Mille Nuages booth. It is full of Pokeball designs which looks like little terrariums but with all kinds of little unique packages. Its very pretty and looks incredibly delicate.

ART

20190705_195940.jpg

Lea Matte Illustration

Lea Matte Illustration is always a wonderful highlight. Who can miss pop culture turned into adorable cats in disguise, right? Its also so adorable to see and very interesting to see all the creativity gone into each of them.

Geek at Heart

While having seen Geek at Heart previously at Toronto ComiCon a year or two ago, her work always is one that is really cool. It has beautiful drawings, a lot of it based on Disney characters on both sheet music and storybook pages. Its a very unique idea which works on so many levels.

Monsieur Pooky Design

https://www.instagram.com/p/BziyIX3nfxq/

While most of the art so far has been fairly colorful, whats catchy about Monsieur Pooky Design’s artwork is the dark back palette and how the characters pop out. Disney villains, Alice in Wonderland and How to Train My Dragon along with so many other beautiful drawings.

Pixelam

Pixelam is all about handcrafted 2 layer art pieces. To be more accurate, the concept is a drawing on the bottom while the clear layer on the top layers some other objects or characters on top to complete the look. It has this 3D pop-up look to the whole frame.

Xanworx

Remember all those fantasy worlds that we’ve seen in movies, books, anime, TV series and games, Xanworx Studios is all about bringing them into legit size maps. It has a very classic navigational feel to it. Some nice examples are the Marauder’s Map from Harry Potter or Narnia from The Chronicles of Narnia and even Hyrule from The Legend of Zelda among some of the many choices.

Art by Dada

Art by Dada is by one of my college friends and she is incredibly talented. She makes this beautiful combination of two characters from the same stories. Its super creative and talented. She’s already launched a few successful Kickstarter campaigns and has expanded her line from art to other items as well.

JEWELRY

20190705_200021.jpg

Fox & Feather Creations

Glass drop necklaces filled with preserved flowers is the concept behind Fox and Feather Creations’ jewelry.  With all kinds of flowers and the little creative designs, there aren’t only pieces with one type of flower but also whole garden designs in some of the larger pendants. Its so beautiful.

The Emerald Cauldron

The Emerald Cauldron

The Emerald Cauldron is probably one of the most fantastical booths in terms of jewelry. There are many elf ear designs with the most notable being Sailormoon themed and Alice in Wonderland theme. On the other side, there are some beautiful pocket watch designs. While they also have some beautiful Pixie Lights necklaces and Fairy Bells necklaces also.

Boutique 1906

Boutique 1906 is a very classical jewelry design. It has little hair accessories. One that caught our eyes was the Oriental designs to put into your hair and has a little origami crane hanging from it. There are also an assortment of other jewelry which are very classy and many Victorian designs as well as steampunk, gothic and whimisical ones as well.

That’s it for the rundown of the Artist Alley and Exhibit Hall booths that caught our eyes.

I’m at DreamHack Montreal!!

Posted in Game Warp, Montreal Events! by

Hey everyone!

I’m just popping in before I head out again this morning to DreamHack to tell you that I’m aware of the lack of posts this week. Call it a little break or just taking it easy a little as I was getting a few personal issues (my mom’s home is doing some renovations) and some work stuff done (both my real life paying job and Game Warp and other stuff done). DreamHack preparation is included in that mix.

If you are interested, I’ve been updating over on the Game Warp Instagram of say some Day 1 stuff. We had some other personal stuff related to the husband’s health stuff I talked about in the last Weekly Adventures so he had the day off and came along with his nephew to DreamHack in the evening. Its great to go with people to these events because of the multiplayer focus. Here’s are two posts (while I sort out some other pictures to wrap up Day 1 coverage before I head out for Day 2 and also my final day but the event ends on Sunday).

Its been a new venue at Olympic Stadium and a whole new setup which I think works for the most part. Its pretty much bigger than previous year’s at the other venue or at least feels that way, plus I think for the venue itself, it has its practicalities and better security I would assume.

I’ll have a coverage post here tomorrow. Game-related posts will be over at That Moment In soon(ish) when I wrap up one more part for the first part of coverage. Well second since I did a pre-coverage. You can find what to see and do at DreamHack Montreal 2018 HERE.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!
I’m going solo today so if anyone happens to be at DreamHack Montreal, give me a shout!

Montreal Comiccon 2018

Posted in Game Warp, Montreal Events!, Movies, My Weekly Adventures by

This past weekend was Montreal Comiccon 2018, its 10th anniversary. The events were pretty awesome and there was so much to see in terms of cosplayers, Q&A, gaming panels and gaming zones of all kinds in general. I was about to get a media pass representing Game Warp/That Moment In which is always cool! With that said, its also the first year that I went for all three days!

If you missed the Montreal Comiccon 2018 Haul post yesterday, you can check it out HERE.

Sit tight because here is the complete 3 day recap so it might take a little while! I’m going to have a mosaic gallery for the cosplay at the end of the post if that is what you are interested.

Day 1

Monrtreal Comiccon 2018

Fridays are the short days at the conference and also the day that I tend to catch up with a lot of the stuff that needs to be done. More time consuming bits. This year’s Friday was extremely relaxed. Only one panel to catch so the first thing I always do is to scout out the layout of the exhibition floor, you know where the Indie Game Zone and Playstation, Nintendo, Artist Gallery, Comics and other Vendors, etc. I am horrible at reading maps so forget about the map to find where I was, I’m much better of doing landmarks and remembering where to maneuver from there. Hence, that strategy.

With that said, the first order of business for the media is of course, the Indie Game Zone! There was over 30 games. Some booths, or maybe a good majority of it was stuff I’ve seen before. I don’t cover it all here but I do over at That Moment In for Game Warp so I do head out to almost all the gaming events in Montreal. However, there were some cool new titles to see and whatever I didn’t finish, I left for Saturday.

You can find the full Indie Game Zone Recap HERE.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider Montreal Comiccon

After that was heading off to the panel that wrapped up the day on Shadow of the Tomb Raider! There was a demo and new info and whatnot to get a good idea of what to expect. I was excited for it before the panel and lets just say, I’m feeling so much more confident and even more enthusiastic about it now.

You can see the panel recap HERE!

If you do speak French, I’m editing the panel audio that I recorded so people can listen to it. I have to cut out a part of it mostly because I’m not sure the restrictions so going to keep it safe and not put it up at all. Its going to be on Game Warp so you can check us out or subscribe if you’d like to make sure to not miss that or any other content there. Our channel is right HERE.

Day 2

Montreal Comiccon 2018

Day 2 had a lovely twist of event as my husband who originally planned on going on Sunday went on Saturday instead. We went to check out the remaining Indie Game Zone games that I had to cover and showed him some games to try that I thought that he would enjoy. After really just walking around the Artist Alley and showing him some art I thought would be lovely for our house and his opinion on the whole thing, we went off to the only panel for the day, Gotham Q&A with guests David Mazouz, Ben McKenzie and Morena Baccarin. I’ll have a recap linked at the bottom of the post after Sunday’s bulk of Q&A panels.

Dreamhack Gaming Zone

We also went to browse the Playstation, Nintendo and Dreamhack Gaming Zone booths. You can find the recap of that HERE.

Day 3

Moving onto the final day of Montreal Comiccon, it was all about panels. I had 3 back to back panels.

Montreal Comiccon 2018

Danny Trejo Q&A

The panel was Danny Trejo who is an icon in his own genre and pretty much has crossed all kinds of different movies in the many years he has been in the busy. It was a fantastic panel with so much fun and entertaining moments.

Montreal Comiccon

Pom Klementieff Q&A

Next up was the panel for Pom Klementieff who has gained a lot of fame for her role as Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 and Avengers: Infinity War. The panel was mostly questions regarding those roles except for a few in her performances in French or independent films.

Montreal Comiccon 2018

Jennifer Morrison Q&A

Finally, the last panel of the day was the one I was looking forward to the most because I’m such a huge fan of Once Upon a Time and it was Jennifer Morrison’s Q&A. Her fans of quite diverse as there were also there for How I Met Your Mother and of course, House. It was a lot of great moments here.

For the recaps of all the Q&A panels listed up, all four are recapped right HERE.

COSPLAY

Here you go! Can you figure out all the cosplays here?

This wraps up the Montreal Comiccon 2018 recap!

Montreal Comiccon 2018 Haul

Posted in Books, Montreal Events!, My Weekly Adventures by

Welcome to a beautiful Tuesday! After an intense 3 day weekend at the Montreal Comiccon, I finally got all recuperated and caught up with everything, well, mostly. Yay to vacation time!  While I still have a ton of cosplay pictures to go through and event stuff to work on before sharing it tomorrow along with all the coverage links and such which I have over at That Moment In.

So, we’ll start with something light as always. I’m on quite a tight budget lately but I did manage to get a few things over at Montreal Comiccon.

Without further ado, here is the haul!

Books

I’m starting to feel like I buy a lot of books during the year at these Comiccon events. Oddly, its something that I tend to enjoy doing because I get to meet these independent authors. There was quite a few new names there (unless of course, I just didn’t realize they were there last year, which is also highly probable).

Afterdeath – Benoit Chartier

AfterDeath

One of those really memorable moments of meeting someone at Montreal Comiccon definitely goes to Benoit Chartier who has an incredible way of sharing a brief summary of his stories. While its easy to sell me on a YA fantasy paranormal novel of sorts like Afterdeath, when he started telling the summary of Red Nexus which is a sci-fi story and that is not exactly my top reading genre, he also got me curious and it sounded like a fun concept also. While I had a hard time deciding, I did ask for a suggestion on which he recommends, a hard decision I know but he ended up suggesting Afterdeath. There’s a high chance I’ll check out Red Nexus one day since its still on my mind.

The Violet Fox – Clare C. Marshall
Within – Clare C. Marshall

Clare C. Marshall

A final walk through of the exhibition led me to finding this booth. I’m a sucker for a nice book cover and after chatting with the author, she managed to convince me to give her books a shot. The stories sound really fun. Within is a horror book while The Violet Fox is the first book of a four book series (if I remember correctly).

Art

My Guardian Playlist by Johnni Kok

Johnni Kok

I have A LOT of Johnni Kok art at our house. If you look at my past few years of Montreal and Toronto Comiccon, you will see that it is quite the popular thing in our house. It probably has to do with his drawing style that fits what I love and well, the amount of Chinese painting hanging on my walls. Honestly, I was going for some fan art initially but his original pieces are on point! When he told the story of the inspiration behind this one called My Guardian Playlist, it was just something that I loved because I have a strong connection to music.

Don Rosa

Don Rosa

Check out our new Christmas art after we frame it of course. Its nice to switch things up and its been something I’ve been thinking about a long time. If you see Don Rosa at any conference, you should know that he has an incredible amount of knowledge and a passionate love for the origins of DuckTales which are comics form Carl Barks who is the creator of Scrooge McDuck. While I’m one of those people who have never read the source material, I love these characters a lot so this fits perfectly to what I love and Don Rosa draws beautiful. Just for the passion I saw, I’m definitely going to try and find these original comics.

This wraps up the Montreal Comiccon 2018 haul!
The event recap is coming up tomorrow!

Signé Local: Vitrine du Fait au Québec Haul & Recap

Posted in Montreal Events! by

signe local

From the last weekend of November till December 17th held on weekends at the Quartier Dix30 shopping area was this fair that featured different local products in rotation over the weeks. It was a good place to see a lot of Quebec products that I have never seen before in the Salon des Metiers d’arts which is very cool. However, this one was not free. It had an entry fee of $5 which bought a pass for every week of the fair. Before we move forward, I feel that I need to address this. While I did pay for the pass, I did also feel a little surprised to have to pay an entry fee. While I can get why they would need to charge it, it also seems a turnoff to charge for a fair that you’d go in and have to spend more money on buying whatever interests you. Most of the local products are good quality which means they are priced higher than what you’d get at big box stores. With that said, its solely based on principle, it has nothing to do with the price because $5 for 5 weekends is not expensive. It really depends on how much you value seeing local products and treating it as more of an expo where you get to learn, see and taste the local products.

With that said, the experience was pretty good. We only caught the last 3 weekends but there was a lot of cool products to learn about. Even if we couldn’t get everything (limited resources and such), I’ll share what we did buy and also some stores that I will keep an eye out for and maybe see if I can order stuff online later on (if its available).

Haul

Signe local

The first weekend ended up with 2 different purchases.

The first was Oomph which is a 100% natural popcorn seasoning. There are some allergen free option with this company which is very awesome. We ended up buying a Maple BBQ flavor and the Apple Pie flavor (which I’m seriously looking forward to baking with). We’ve been addicted to the Maple BBQ popcorn seasoning and its just a whole new world of amazing flavors.

The second purchase was at La Pincée. There have a variety of seasoning for vegetables and different kinds of meats including curry mixes and mild, herb, spicy, etc. This one is sold at some supermarkets from what they told us. We chose the Plumée seasoning which is good for poultry which is a huge part of what we eat since we love cooking chicken and turkey a lot.

Signe Local

The week after that, I picked up this scarf sort of thing from Léonce. I hesitated a little because it was like $45 dollars however, I really love this type of scarf that encircles your neck like how I like eternity scarf (but those seem to be out of style this year). This one is supposed to be incredibly warm and feel really comfortable. While I do have a scarf right now, the fabric on it is soft but also irritates my skin. I’m hoping this one will be much better. From what I’ve tried so far, it does the job. They have super cute mittens too which I’m hoping to purchase after my current mittens aren’t good anymore. But then, I love my current mitts so I hope they’ll keep up their effectiveness.

In the final weekend, we ended up picking up from two stalls as well.

Signe Local

The first was at La Lichée which had caramel spreads. My husband loved it so much that he really insisted on getting the caramel fleur de sel type. I couldn’t taste it since it has lactose however I’m sure that he’ll make good use out of it.

signe local

The final thing we got was at Chocolaterie Mathilde Fays. My husband bought the Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Bar and I went for the 70% Dark Chocolate bar and the Dark Chocolate Ball. The dark chocolate is lactose free so I’m extremely  happy about that. They had a lot of really good variety along with some nice smaller packaging with some fancier designed bite-sized pieces as well.

Now that we’re done with our haul, lets take a look at some places that we really liked and have their card in case we save up some money and get a chance to pick up something from their stores online:

Signe local

  • Lecavalier Petrone – Confections Gourmandes: These are some fancy looking chocolates. I like it for the unique look and I’m sure that they would taste great. Luckily, looking at their locations, they seem to have a location nearby to this show so maybe we’ll go check it out. It would be a nice gift to give.
  • Chali: This is an interesting piece of jewelry which acts as a durable clasp that can be moved from one sort of jewelry to the next whether as a closing an earring or bracelet. Its a really neat idea that stemmed out of a need from the designer.
  • MB Alpha Wear: Its pretty hard to find clothes particularly for men. This place designs men’s apparel and adds a touch of wilderness design to mix it up. It caught my eye right away at the show. Why do men get all the nice looking clothes?  I’ve always wondered that. But then, what would stop me from getting one of the sweaters for myself, right?
  • Pression: This is a cute little backpack shop with some really beautiful colors and designs. It also has this little hook at the top to hang your keys for those people like myself who spend 5 minutes digging out keys when I get home. Not so fun when its like -30C.
  • Les CocoNuts: Coconut oil based products all the way. I think one of them that caught my eye the most is their chapstick which you actually refill. A pretty nifty idea as most of you who use coconut oil knows that they have a melting point and then solidify making it pretty easy to see how they could be used as a refillable sort of item. Very intrigued and they have a store accessible to myself so I’m looking to check it out sometime soon.

Thats it for the recap of this event!
Anything catch your eye from the haul or the honorable mention?

Salon des Metiers d’Arts de Montreal Haul & Recap

Posted in Montreal Events! by

smaq

And its the final weekend for Salon des Metiers d’Arts de Montreal. If you didn’t get a chance to check out the show this year, well, there’s probably next year since its been going for quite a few years already. Granted the structure has changed quite a bit in their vendors and such, its always a fun tradition to go every year and just see whats there and look around. This year, I was holding back on spending too heavily and particularly the food and wine area had much less choices so it helped a lot.

SMAQ 2017

Unfortunately, I didn’t end up picking anything too different from previous years. I will however highlight some cool vendors that I saw to change things up a bit. Just because I can’t afford it right now, doesn’t mean that I can’t share some unique ideas and products that I would have totally picked up something if I had the chance in the future. I’ve been really into highlighting local art and food and all that sort of stuff lately. Just goes to show that you don’t need to speak perfect French or be hardcore Quebecois all for separation to support the things you love about the beautiful city and province.

Let’s check it out!

Haul

SMAQ Montreal

The first visit to the Salon was all about the food. I picked up:

  • Cidrerie du Minot – Des Glaces: Winter Harvest (Limited Edition)
  • Coach House Shortbread: Ginger
  • Coach House Shortbread: Almond & Sugared Rose
  • La Nougaterie: Christmas
  • La Nougaterie: Lavender
  • La Nougaterie: Classic
  • La Nougaterie: Dark Chocolate

Everything here is really very typical. I actually skipped out on Cidrerie du Minot last year however I did remember liking their ice ciders a lot the year before so I ended up picking the Winter Harvest (Recolte Hivernale) up which is something of a reserve product and it has some delicious flavors. We’re a big fan of the La Nougaterie nougats and this year, they brought back the Christmas and had the Dark Chocolate which I totally love. As for the Coach House Shortbread, its a big favorite for the holidays as it is smaller cookies and work really well to share with friends and just take little bites that melt. Its so awesome. Ginger is my normal fave flavor but I remember trying out almond and sugared rose last year (and this year) and it was really good as well.

The second visit to the Salon happened yesterday with my co-worker (as we usually do go together) and we check out the art and craft area instead of the food part. I ended up picking up a few things:

Pottery Hazama

Pottery Hazama

I’ve put off buying from Pottery Hazama for a few years and finally this year, I decided to buy one. There are a few different designs like hearts, cats and christmas trees. This year, they had a star design. The designer told me that it represents good fortune (or something along the line). It looks beautiful and I just couldn’t resist and its hung on the Christmas tree now.

Ana Maria Dessin

Ana Maria Dessin

I’ve been searching for a wallet for a long time. My wallet is actually falling apart but to find one that fit everything I had in there as well was always a challenge. Then I saw Ana Maria Dessin at the show and originally I was captured by the hot air balloon print originally but then I turned around to take a second look and saw the floral collection which leads to me finding this wallet which is exactly what I want. After thinking for it long and hard, since it is $68CAD for it, I went back to get it especially because its made with leather and print canvas and the design said that its very durable. I’m sure hoping it will be because I love it.

Places I Love
(but put on the backburner)

SMAQ

  • De Tete et De Bois: This stall has been one that catches my eye every single year that I go except I never can figure out where to put the little canvas if I end up picking one up. We still have art and puzzles to put on the walls so I can’t justify buying one yet. Hopefully next year I’ll sort it out and pick one up.
  • Sol Designs: I believe this one is new to the show this year and they had these really cool wood-looking purses. Its a very unique product.
  • Ju et les imparfaits: This store makes little lamps with wood bases and it looks absolutely adorable.
  • Fil de Fee: If you love hanging designs and cute fairies, this one is absolutely recommended. I saw them and fell in love with it.
  • Baltic Club: Stationery and gifts with some great design
  • Ana N Jay: Geometrical jewellery which looks so very cool.
  • Christophe Poly: Handmade Crono Design jewellery. I actually have a few of these but they designed some new bangles that are absolutely beautiful.
  • Lolipop: Blown Glass jewellery is what this place offered and has some nice designs and especially catchy colors.

That’s it for recap and haul for Salon des Metiers D’art!
I’m really happy with the stuff I got and wishing that I had more money so I could pick up some of the stuff I mentioned at the end one day.

MEGA Expo Mtl #MEGAexpomtl #gaming #montreal #expo

Posted in Game Warp, Montreal Events! by

Today’s post was on delay. I guess I should’ve talked about it before since it always is the case when I have to do event coverage over the weekend for Game Warp.

With that said, this weekend was MEGA expo in Montreal which collaborated with the Montreal Independent Games Festival and had a whole bunch of games  to try out. I went out with the husband to check out the event and spent a ton of time putting together a thorough recap on That Moment In.

Here’s a few photos of the games we tried and caught out eyes. There was probably around 40ish games there, so its impossible to have taken the pictures. I probably should have taken a vlog or video or something but I never think about it. Still figuring out the best way for event coverage especially on the first time heading to certain events.

MEGA MTL

Wall Mounted Level

MEGA MTL

0000 by Alvaro Salvagno

MEGA MTL

Mercenary Kings by Tribute Games

MEGA MTL

Wolf Gang by Nylon Blonde

MEGA MTL

N.U.T.Z. by Pandemonium Interactive

MEGA MTL

MEGA MTL

The Inner Friend by Playmind

MEGA MTL

Spectrum Break

MEGA MTL

Just Shapes n Beats by Berzerk Studio

There’s a ton more games there and you can check out my recap coverage on That Moment In HERE!

There was even a mini concert for Ultimate Chicken Horse by  Clever Endeavor Games. I recorded a bit of it via the Game Warp Instagram. Check it out!

Montreal Expo Gaming Arcade was an awesome event. It actually made the Montreal Independent Games Festival even better than last year’s experience because there was a bigger venue and probably even more games. There was diverse selection and a lot of games from just prototypes to pre-alphas to fleshed out already shipped games that are already available. We had some guests that were showing their games and we got to chat with them again as well. Overall, a really fun experience. I can’t wait for the next gaming event to check out, although I’m not sure how soon it will be.

Sorry for the short post today! I’m working on this week’s posts as you are reading this! 🙂

Finally, if you  haven’t followed Game Warp, here’s some places to follow us for news and gameplays and videos and podcasts:
For gaming news and updates, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
For gaming obsessions and other random gaming thoughts, follow us on Instagram
For gameplays, interviews and podcasts, subscribe to the Youtube channel