Toronto ComiCon 2017 Recap (with guest: Drew’s Movie Reviews)!

Toronto ComiCon 2017 was from March 17 to 19th at Metro Convention Centre. I headed out to meet up with my awesome blogathon co-host, Drew from Drew’s Movie Reviews who met me over there (just like last year). We stayed for a few days and picked up the weekend pass for ComiCon. Call it our little celebration for a successful blogathon, maybe it’ll turn into a tradition of some sort. Who knows, right? Our highlight was the ComiCon so this post will focus on some Q&A panels and cosplay, etc.

Before we start, what type of person would I be if I didn’t bring Drew into recapping Toronto ComiCon with me! When you see K, that’s for myself in normal font and D will be for his italicized part! 🙂

Day 1

K: First part of getting to Toronto ComiCon is to get there. Of course, I always forget that I can just keep Google Maps open so we didn’t get lost. There’s a huge apology somewhere here that I need to tell Drew how I got us lost a few times. I have a horrible sense of direction, something that I’m sure is super apparent, at this point. However, after a little detour, we did make it there! The first mission is coat check and picking up our tickets/weekend bracelet.

K: Next was a few hours to scour the Artist’s Alley and other Exhibitors as we wait for 7:30pm to start lining up for Q&A panel for Ray Park. We chatted with some artists and it was super inspiring and cool.

D: Visiting Artist’s Alley early was kind of an impromptu decision. It ended up working out really well because it allowed us to get a good idea of what prints and items we wanted to purchase, which helped us be more focused in the Alley on day 2.

K: Ray Park’s Q&A panel started a little late because of a delay in the photo ops but they came in with the whole troop (as you can see in the shaky video above). Ray Park was a cool panel. He was pretty insightful and kept it light-hearted as he shared little thoughts on G.I. Joe playing Snake Eyes and Star Wars playing Darth Maul among many questions on the floor. The best part was how he talked about he went into martial arts because he wanted to be in movies.

D: Ray Park’s panel was so much fun! He was such a laid back guy. One of the things he talked about that I really enjoyed was his experience as Darth Maul from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.  Star Wars is a huge passion of mine so getting to listen to his experience on playing one of my favorite characters was exciting.  He also talked about his early experience and how he got involved in martial arts and acting. It was a great start to the convention.

K: Actually, this ended quite in time for us to head back to the hotel, drop off stuff and grab something quick to eat and head out to see Beauty and the Beast for the late showing. Toronto movie viewing experience was definitely eventful. I almost saw a fight break out despite having assigned seating. Anyways, my review of Beauty and the Beast will be out on Thursday. 🙂

Day 2

 K: We started Day 2 with Casa Loma which I’ll share about tomorrow. By noon, we were back at the ComiCon for three panels in a row.

K: The first was the Gotham panel with David Mazouz (playing Bruce Wayne) and Sean Pertwee (playing Alfred Pennyworth).  This panel was pretty packed and we were sitting further back so the picture isn’t great however the talk itself was. I’m personally a fan of Sean Pertwee. He’s done some great roles and I love his take on Alfred. I haven’t quite caught up with Gotham (halfway through Season 1) but seeing how these two get along and respect each other as actors despite the age difference and experience really shows true professional and bond that spills outside of the show.

D: I have a bit of a confession to make, as much of a comic book and Batman fan as I am, I have yet to watch a single episode of Gotham.  Do not fret, it is very high on my to-watch list. This panel was purely Kim’s idea but it was a good one. After seeing these two at the panel, I am even more excited to watch their show now. They spoke with such respect for each other that is hard not to want to watch and see how that translates onto the screen.

K: Maybe I can bring Drew in to do a TV Binge of Season 1 eventually, if he’d like. 😉

K: Next up, immediately after the Gotham panel, was a first look at an upcoming web series called Deep Six. These are the cast and  crew. Its written about a story set 250 years in the future where both military and civilians are sent to scout out a planet to live on. Its focus is on the realistic take on the space aspects. I chose this one out of a whim and well, it turns out Drew knew the producer/director and some of the cast that wasn’t there on this show and it turned out to be a very cool choice to go check this out.

D: It sure was! As Kim mentioned, I knew of the producer/director, Davin Lengyel, from my absolute favorite web series, Space Janitors. I kind of lit up and started raving to Kim about how awesome of a series it is (sorry Kim).  However, the best part was I got to meet Davin after the panel and talked with him for a few minutes! The conversation made my day, which Kim didn’t hear the end of (again, sorry Kim).

K: To be fair, Drew had to endure some stupid moments during the night before watching Beauty and the Beast when I fangirled over “Something There” and then made an odd stupid giggle at my phone when I looked at the picture of the new little Animators’ Collection plushies when we were lining up, plus my amped up caffeine non-stop talking…if we’re talking apologies, I think I need to join in also.

K: After a small 30 minute window to grab a late lunch and take a quick walk, we went to line up for the last panel of the day with Agent of SHIELD’s Brett Dalton who plays Grant Ward. I’m going to be honest that I moved pretty much at the beginning of the series launch of this one and at my new place, I don’t even have bunny ears so no TV and that cuts out a lot if it isn’t even on Netflix so I’m about ten episodes into Season 1 and never had the chance to progress but this panel was Drew’s choice. However, its great that there was a ton of spoilers (in a way) which helped to understand the context but also some fairly entertaining questions like one about which Disney prince Brett Dalton wanted to be and which was his favorite Disney Princess, considering he was wearing a Mickey sweater, I’d say he is a big Disney fan also. Entertaining and fun doesn’t even begin to describe how cool this panel was.

D: Yes, this was my choice.  I am such a huge fan of the show that I couldn’t pass it up. Like Ray Park, Brett Dalton was very chill and easy going.  He answered every question with a mix of humility and humor.  Everything from how he began acting and what he liked best about his character on Agents of SHIELD to whether he was Team Cap or Team Iron Man. I even had the chance to ask a him a question! This was definitely a highlight panel for me.

K: The rest of the day at ComiCon after this was pretty much picking up the stuff we had seen and deciding what we wanted before heading out for dinner. You can check out my haul post HERE. Also, we managed to stop to take some pictures of cosplayers which you can see above. I’m obviously the more knowledgeable Toronto person (although I don’t venture to Downtown Toronto too much) but we ended up going to Asian Legend (which I’ve talked a ton about on the blog before already).

K: My first actual complete meal over the two days. It was really satisfying plus it was a nice chat after we filled our bellies. We managed to get a few hours to relax at the hotel before heading out again for the Toronto ComiCon Cosplay After Dark party at Brassaii Lounge. It was nice to enjoy some nice music, grab a few drinks and converse in a loud voice. 😉

D: I left the dinner decision to Kim and she really came through! It was my first time eating at Asian Legend and everything was absolutely delicious.  I will be sure to look for one around me because it is definitely a place I would eat at again.  Besides my conversation with Davin Lengyel, the afterparty was another highlight of the trip for me.  We drank, we danced a little, and we had some great conversation as bloggers and friends.

D: Our meet-up in Toronto last year was fun but I think this year was even better. I mean, as movie bloggers, we actually went and saw a movie together! The trip was well worth the travel and I thank Kim for being my guide through the city. 🙂

K: Toronto ComiCon was a definite success in my books. It was fun and complete as a blogger meet-up thing. Getting the chance to literally geek out and make friend with the same passions absolutely is one of the best parts of being a blogger over the years . This time was much cooler than last year because we managed to even grab a movie and went to a party other than just going to the main event and doing a touristic attraction.

Hope you enjoyed the recap of Toronto ComiCon. This new take was a cool way to put it together.
Before I wrap this up, I’d like to virtually raise a glass to a successful trip and most importantly, friends!
Okay, I’m getting mushy now…so, remember to drop by tomorrow for the look at our visit to Casa Loma.

Toronto Comicon

Its rare that I head out to Toronto so frequently but I’ve been wanting to go to Toronto Comicon and while my husband and my road trip buddy couldn’t make it, I managed to meet up in Toronto with Drew at Drew’s Movie Reviews (also my Ultimate 80s Blogathon co-host). We’re both not from Toronto so it was double amazing that this was able to happen. Plus, you could even consider this a little celebration for having that absolutely successful collaboration. 😉

After some planning, I booked a train for Friday evening to get there and stayed at Chelsea Hotel who upgraded me to a Club Lounge room which had access to free breakfast. Other than the confusing elevator system, it was a very pleasant stay. We headed to Toronto Comicon on Saturday morning and ended up going to 4 panels and checked out the exhibits and the artist gallery.  It was a ton of fun and lots of amazing stuff to look at.  There was a good bit of fantastic costumes!

Let’s check out our day!

12PM: Celebrity Q&A with Starship Troopers’ Dina Meyer & Casper Van Dien

I haven’t seen Starship Troopers in forever. To say that I actually remember a lot of it would be a huge lie.  But, being at Toronto Comicon took a little bit of planning and I kind of wanted to hear what actors and actresses had to say. Usually, they are fun even if you don’t know much about the movie in reference because it gets more general experience and whatnot.  That is exactly how Starship Troopers turned out.  Dina Meyer and Casper Van Dien were hilarious together as they answered the Q&A and it was a ton of fun listening to their experiences.  It makes me want to go find a copy of Starship Troopers and give it a watch soon 🙂

Game Testing at Reptoid Games

Reptoid Games

In between the two panels, we had a little time to go check out the showroom with exhibits and artist alley.  Its there we met the two guys behind Reptoid Games who had a reveal of their alpha multiplayer game.  We gave it a test run.  I’ll cover more on that over at That Moment In once it goes back to normal operations. 😉 I didn’t expect to get the chance to try out a game so it was really cool.

2PM: Live Improv Show: In a Galaxy Far Far Away

Next panel we checked out was the live improv show called In a Galaxy Far Far Away.  Obviously, it had to do with Star Wars, the one thing I knew so little about.  We started the show with the audience giving them names and colors and objects.  We ended up with Trump Tower, Purple and Shoemaker (in reference to something evil, a color, and first job). This was so much fun and OMG, was it ever hilarious. Plus, it didn’t need a whole lot of knowledge on Star Wars, because they actually made jokes out of what Star Wars would do and the normal tropes it had and whatnot. That was even funnier!

Lunch at Hank Daddy’s Barbecue

Smoked Sausage on a Bun

Pulled Pork Burger

After two panels and some bit of lining up, we went for some lunch.  After some debate (mostly on my part), we ended up giving Hank Daddy’s Barbecue a go.  Their specialty is this Pulled Pork Parfait which we didn’t get.  However, I was having a huge hot dog craving and the Smoked Sausage on a Bun (which had a gluten free sausage but probably not the bun) was the best option.  I’m not usually a fan of onions but it was a good mix with the sauce.

Costumes and Cosplay!

5PM: Celebrity Q&A with The Flash’s Robbie Amell

Robbie Amell’s Q&A was a lot of goodness.  The line-up was intense and immense.  He started us up with teaser trailer of this short that was released yesterday along with the Indiegogo project launch with him and Stephen Amell for a full-length feature called Code 8. I linked it up in case you wanted to check it out. He told us the story about his funny/embarrassing moment on Whose Line Is It Anyways? which I did go check out afterwards.  He talked about working on The Duff and with Mae Whitman and of course, a ton of questions was about The Flash and Firestorm and all that lovely stuff.

6PM: Comics Panel: “Q&A” with Deadpool Creator Rob Liefeld

Rob Liefeld was really the odd one for me mostly because I didn’t see Deadpool yet and well, I know nothing about anything when it comes to source material and superhero origins and whatnot.  However, this man talks a lot and he told us about how he came to create Deadpool and get into the business and being a comic book artist and the film and whatnot.  He talked all the time away and there was really no questions but I think he may have answered everyone’s questions with his speech.  It was still super entertaining.

My Comicon Haul!

Teeturtle –> It glows in the dark!

I love Teeturtle.  The last time I got a shirt was at Montreal Comicon and it was a Miyazaki character themed one that I love so much and wear all the time in the summer.  This one is glow in the dark and actually works.  I tried it out at the hotel. The moon lights up in the dark. Its pretty cool.

A lovely booth with beautiful art but this one matches my den the most!

I believe this booth is called Gillian and Brian.  They  had a ton of really cool takes on pop culture art.  After much debate, this one won because it matched the Chinese theme I had going on in the den where this will go once I get a customized frame for it. 🙂

2nd Book in the ongoing 10 book series called Nemecene

Last thing was a lovely book. The author Kaz Lefave was at the convention. She convinced me to get this second book in her 10 book series.  She is currently working on the third book and had the first book available on digital copy for free.  That is a pretty sweet deal.  She’s also designing a game that goes with it which looks super amazing. I can’t wait to start reading it and enter into the Nemecene world 😉

Toronto Comicon was a ton of fun! A little tiring and whatnot but it was great!
The fun doesn’t end yet! Drew and I met up again on Sunday to go check out Ripley’s Aquarium.  That post is coming up next Wednesday!

Recap: Oscars 2016!

Following tradition of the last two years, here’s a little recap! I wasn’t sure if I’d end up catching Oscars but we changed up our plans and ended up joining my mom for sit down and dinner together to enjoy the ceremony. My conclusion is that I make better guesses when I haven’t seen any of the movies than when I do.  I guess bias comes into play at that point and it affects my judgement.

I am glad that Mad Max: Fury Road did so well because it was well deserved.  I gave a personal standing ovation in my mom’s dining room to Ex Machina for winning Visual Effects.  There was a bit of cringing when I felt like Sam Smith was about to go off-tune and he looked nervous as heck to be up there but his speech was inspiring and he looked genuinely enthused to win it even if probably Lady Gaga’s song would have been the win that was deserved but I don’t care much for the “Original Song” category.  The only one I was genuinely a little angry at was Mad Max winning Costume Design because Cinderella may not have been a great movie but it was all about costumes while I mean how many costumes were there for Mad Max.  On a happier note, I am happy that Mark Rylance won for supporting actor.  Even if I didn’t see The Revenant, I was fairly certain Innaritu would win for Best Director and Leo for Best Actor because just from the trailers, it looked like the sort of movie that had the calibre and achievement to rightfully earn it. However, I did end up catching Spotlight over the weekend right before Oscars and even posted my review for it and I’m telling you that to me, it was a justified Best Picture winner.  I don’t think I’ve agreed much to these winners in the last few years but then I haven’t caught up with the majority of them either but Spotlight really connected with me in presenting their story and the content.  Out of all those movies, as wonderful and fantastic as they were, Brooklyn didn’t stand a chance in my book and even The Revenant probably wouldn’t have the depth of telling a story that reflected an issue that is maybe probably unfortunately still present today. For none of the other movies I saw in the Best Picture did have as much of a discussion at my home than Spotlight either and we finished that movie at 2am on Saturday night or something (just to give you an idea).

This year I decided to do my Oscars recap of the winners in advance and now, let’s check out the Top 5 Best Dresses.

Cate Blanchett

Charlize Theron

Alicia Vikander

Saoirse Ronan

Priyanka Chopra

Elegant, beauty, grace: These ladies all had it.  Not to mention, Cate Blanchett picked the perfect dress for the category she was presenting for: Costume Design. Just look at the intricate flowers on her dress! Its amazing! And kudos for Charlize Theron pulling off that style because normally, I’m not a fan of that cut of the deep V plunge (or whatever you call it) but she accessorized well and made it look very nice.

And then for some great moments that I liked quite a bit.

Jacob Tremblay & Star Wars

Mark Ruffalo Winking for his Nomination

Michael Keaton Fist Pump for Spotlight Win

I was equally as happy as Michael Keaton was when I heard that Spotlight won.  This reaction is just priceless!

Brie Larson in Awe

And her speech thanking everyone including the movie-goers! It warms my heart even if I didn’t see it in theatres and bought it on the Play store 😉

Leonardio diCaprio Winning Speech

Leonardo diCaprio winning was *almost* set in stone.  I was pretty sure he made a solid performance even if I only saw trailers.  However, he didn’t just win an Oscar.  He also delivered a meaningful speech and the best part was his final line about not taking the planet for granted, he wouldn’t take his Oscar win for granted.

I think to wrap it up this year, Lady Gaga’s song deserved more recognition.  I haven’t found the time to watch The Hunting Ground but it does intrigue me. While I can’t find the video for the Oscars performance she made and I only saw a snippet as I left my mom’s at that point and only had snippets online.  The song holds true meaning that deserves to be heard.

That’s it for Oscars 2016! It was a great year with some outstanding movies this year! 🙂
Did you watch the Oscars 2016? What were your fave moments? Did any winners surprise you? Any disappointments?

Podcast: The Random Chat Show Talks About (Almost) Every Single Movie Coming Out in 2016!

How many movies come out in a year? Have you ever thought about that? There are a lot! This year looks amazing at first glance with a ton of blockbusters but its also the year of sequels from animated films to superheroes.  There are live adaptations, YA novels turned into movies, video games also turned into movies and when you take a deeper look, not so many original movies to anticipate. Its a perfect opportunity for David, Melissa and I to get together and chat about the upcoming 2016 movie releases.

Enjoy!

What movies are you anticipating in 2016?

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) (from someone who knows almost nothing about Star Wars prior)

If you are not the millions and billions of “fanboys” of Star Wars, I think you may have just arrived at the good review.  Before we go into this, we’re going spoiler free (as always) for Star Wars and on a completely honest level, I’ve only seen Episode 1 The Phantom Menace and parts of Attack of the Clones and Return of the Jedi.  Its been so long that I don’t even remember much other than Jar Jar Binks, Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Anakin Skywalker, and Darth Vader and that Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor and Harrison Ford is part of this along with a hairy creature called Chewbacca and two robots/droids called C3P0 and R2D2.  The only reason I went to this was for my friends and standing in line for 2 hours was tons of fun catching up and whatnot. But, this review is from an *almost* first timer experience.

I went with actual first time viewers also along with seasoned fans and we did discuss it a little afterwards.  Judge me all you want for my lack of knowledge in Star Wars but I will promise that I will get on watching all the previous episodes and rewatching this to give a more fan-based sort of review eventually. However, I do think that I can be more objective because I’m going in with an almost fresh view of this.

Let’s check this out! 🙂

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Director: J.J. Abrams

Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o, Mark Hamill

Three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new threat arises. The First Order attempts to rule the galaxy and only a rag-tag group of heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance. – IMDB

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is episode 7 of this pretty phenomenal franchise that has a huge fan-base. As you can see, I’m not a fan mostly because my exposure to it has been limited.  I just wasn’t brought up with Star Wars.  This movie is also supposed to be THE blockbuster of the year.  Especially with J.J. Abrams directing it and bringing it back to life. Now, I may have skimmed a few reviews before going into this one and some of them do talk about giving credit that first time viewers will appreciate it as much as the fans.  That statement, I disagree with. The Force Awakens does almost nothing to introduce to the situation.  It throws you into the world that has been built 30 years after the events with a lot of action.  Its with this, I make one statement about the storyline.  I wish it did more to pull in the new generation of viewers of people who don’t know much about it without having to throw down $100 and plus to see the complete 6 movies beforehand. I’m not only saying it because I was confused and it took a lot of effort to understand what was going on and what led to this but because the first time viewers that my two friends were, came out feeling like there was no beginning and no end to what they saw.

Now, does that mean that I discredit the movie completely? No. The Force Awakens is a good effort.  Putting the story aside, which I think is highly rated only because of its hype, the cast is done well.  I also appreciated the action sequences a lot.  There was a lot to love about the characters they put showed and especially with the modern day, we still have a lot of quality effects with a decent story to go alongside it.  I can’t discredit the story because I don’t know what came before.  It seems like it was a solid balance that they tried to put together and for that, I respect this episode of Star Wars. Even with my limited knowledge, I really loved that they brought back the Millenium Falcon and Harrison Ford as Hans Solo along with his pal Chewbacca had some really great scenes together. The new generation also wasn’t bad.  I couldn’t help thinking that Daisy Ridley who plays our new heroine, Rey in The Force Awakens looked a lot like Keira Knightley but I did think that her character was done well.  This also includes the fun interaction and partnership with our new young guy here, Finn, played by John Boyega. When old meets new, if you even have a little of exposure of Star Wars, these iconic characters will resonate even with the relatively newer viewers that aren’t die-hard fans.

I’m not going to go into depth with this.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens had all-time favorite bit and that was the little droid, BB-8.  That little guy is adorable and gave me a ton of laughs.  BB-8 and Chewbacca both have that same sort of making sounds while our cast understands what they are saying. Those are some of the best scenes.  However, my issue with this movie was the length.  It just dragged on and on.  I’m not going to lie.  I was tired when I went into this and I passed out somewhere in the middle where something was supposed to be resolved and they ran off and when I woke up again, it was done and I was at a key finale scene rolling into the final fight and whatnot. At least I didn’t miss any key parts, right? After that first hour was when I started feeling like my focus was wavering a little.  Its a problem I have with long movies (same as with James Bond movies for example), where there’s one plot and then it goes onto another plot line to extend it. One of the girls did ask if one of the action sequences was dragged out so not exactly just a “me” problem apparently.

Here is a good spot to end this little write-up though.  If you have no exposure to the original franchise, I think it may get complicated to start with this one.  Although, in all honestly, why would you do it unless you had another objective (like me for my friend’s birthday gathering).  Although, I do seem to criticize it a little and I’m not hyped up like all of the fans out there, there are a lot of good for The Force Awakens and I do want to do it justice with a more thorough review when I catch up with the previous episodes and come back more knowledgeable and invested so that I can actually connect with the characters more and actually care about their life and death because I only really cared about  Hans Solo, Chewbacca and BB-8. I think I missed the point of Star Wars but like I said, I believe that it does deserve a second viewing to fully appreciate this for what it is and to be more fair for the quality of this one.

Have you seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Are you a fan? Did you like it? 

Unboxing: 1UP Box [July 2015]

I’m sorry that this is a little late.  I received this the same day as the Arcade Block but since I didn’t do a video for this one, it took me longer to put together. Now that Fantasia Festival is officially over and I only have one post left to do (which will be posted soon), I have a few of these backlogged posts to catch up on.  Let’s kick it off with an unboxing!

This month’s theme for 1UP Box is JUSTICE!

Let’s unbox July’s box!!

1) Justice League Wind Ups – Green Lantern

I’m starting to really enjoy these boxed up figures.  Be it wind ups or Pop! vinyl ones.  I think I need a new glass cabinet.  Question is where to put it. I’m not a huge fan of Green Lantern since it brings back bad memories of the movie but Justice League is cool 🙂 I’m down for superheroes.

2) TMNT Turtle Topper

I didn’t even have pencil toppers when I was a kid.  It always felt somewhat useless.  I am a huge fan of TMNT though so this has its nostalgic value 🙂

3) Batman Super Hero Shades

Look, I love Batman.  And its because of this absolutely useless gear that I get a little turned off with 1UP Box.  I guess its because there isn’t a age limit or something.  I’m all for nerdy stuff but unless I want to be Batgirl or Batwoman or something for Halloween, I won’t use this.  Anybody want it? I’d gladly send it to you! 🙂

4) Princess 007 Magnet

I’m not a huge Star Wars fans like a good amount of people out there but I love these mash-ups.  Princess Leia and James Bond! C’mon! That’s so cool! 🙂 Plus, I love magnets.  My fridge doesn’t look so white and sad anymore.

5) Exclusive Justice Tattoos

These are some cute tattoos. I won’t wear it but maybe I’ll pass it on to the nieces and nephews in the family 🙂

6) T-Shirt: Super Rangers

To wrap it all up, we look at the T-Shirt.  Like I said before, mash-ups.  I wasn’t a huge Power Rangers fan, mostly because it didn’t play on TV or at least I didn’t get the channel that it played on.  But I knew enough 😉 Now Super Ranger with a mix of Super Mario Bros which I LOVE LOVE LOVE (!!!) and Power Rangers. So awesome!! 🙂

This is the last 1UP Box for now. My subscription ended and whether I resubscribe down the road is still unknown.  However, I needed to drop one of these subscriptions at least so here we are! Waving my goodbyes to 1UP box.  Its a mixed bag, like I’ve said many times before.  There’s a lot of useless geek gear that I can’t think of what to make use with and its turning into clutter. Its nice to be away sometimes.  Let me organize it all and see what I can give away or alternate uses or whatnot.  I still had a lot of fun opening these boxes.  When it was cool stuff, it was pretty awesome 🙂

What do you think of this month’s 1UP Box? 

Weekly Photo Challenge: My 2012 in Pictures

In the beginning of 2012, I had set myself a few goals which I called New Year’s Resolutions.  I’ve talked about this in a previous post but now, let me show you month by month, what’s worth remembering, also giving me a look at what makes up my 2012 and appreciate it all over again with all of you!

JANUARY

Chinese New Year’s celebration marking the beginning of the Year of the Dragon was the main focus.

We celebrate it with the normal traditions.  Its to wish everyone a prosperous and happy new year with banners of wishes.  We decorate with flowers to signify life.  These yellow ones have the name of “String of Gold” to wish for fortune and Lilies translates to togetherness.  My mom always makes a lot of food and she is the absolute best at it.  Here you see the Turnip Cake , however she also makes Taro Cake, which are both for meals and are not sweet as what you’d expect in a cake.  This year she tried out Sweet Potato cake and it turned out very delicious.

FEBRUARY

One Ottawa trip with friends led me to a small discovery in the most unexpected place: A perfume box for a line called Amazing Grace.  The philosophy quote they had was this: “how you climb up the mountain is just as important as how you get down the mountain, and, so it is with life, which for many of us becomes one big gigantic test followed by one gigantic lesson….  Its how you accept winning and losing, good luck and bad luck, the darkness and the light.”

MARCH

The 4th anniversary with my boyfriend, my 26th birthday celebrated with friends.

APRIL

I went on Toronto road trip during Easter with one of my best travel companions and best high school friend.  We go to explore every time and this year, it was to the Toronto Zoo, where we saw a cute baby polar bear and his mother next door.  We also had awesome Chinese food, to us the best at Asian Legend. At the end of the month, my boyfriend took me to see Beauty and the Beast Broadway and we both had lots of fun however, there were no pictures.

Asian Legend Steamed Dumplings

Asian Legend Fried Green Beans

MAY

My boyfriend and I have a growing love of hiking and exploring new places.  We finally made it on Victoria Day (Canada holiday in May) to go to visit Ausable Chasm in New York.  A quick one day trip that was really fun.  We found amazing scenery, beautiful walk and if you’re into video games, even found an area that was like the one in Uncharted and took funny photos.

JUNE

This marked my friends and I bringing in Summer with crazy amount of activities.  A lot of first time and some long time revisiting activities.  First time experienced doing the Tree Adventure, which I fell in love with.  Although I was screaming at the top of my lungs when I did my first zip-lining.  Note that I am VERY scared of heights.  Also, went to the beach with friends (hadn’t done that since 2007 in Taiwan) so it was super fun.

JULY

Fun times yet again with friends: went to Train Concert, went a water park and did lots of water slides, went to a friend’s wedding, won my first and second Dragonboat medals and the best of all was vacation to Saguenay with my boyfriend and hiking up to sit at the foot of a gigantic waterfalls. Wait one more thing, I had a stare down with a wolverine at the zoo also.

Staring down with a wolverine

AUGUST

The best part was one of my greatest friends who lives in NYC visiting me in Montreal with her friend.  Its always fun to make new friends.  We all merged into a Star Wars Identity at the Star Wars exhibit. We visited the Biodome and saw a baby lynx, a very rare sight as Canadian Lynx are endangered species. I also went with my best friend to celebrate her birthday seeing an awesome broadway show, Wicked! ONE MORE THING: as a Star Wars Identity, Dreams, I rejected the offer to join the Dark Side!

And if you missed my full description of the Star Wars Exhibit and my Star Wars Identity, you can visit it HERE!

 

SEPTEMBER

This year we managed to successfully complete the St-Bruno lakes trail and saw a chipmunk and had a wonderful walk.  Its more of a crowded trail so it was hard to get a moment but I took my boyfriend helped me take my first levitation photo.  Very fun stuff!

OCTOBER

Halloween and this blog got me back into watching horror movies, giving me many many sleepless nights. I also visited Lantern Festival and the Japanese Garden at Botanical Gardens.  Then took another night to drive up to Upper Canada Village to see Pumpkin Inferno.  By the end of the month, I transformed myself into Alice from Resident Evil based on her Apocalypse look for Halloween.

Lantern Festival

Japanese Pavillion Lights

Japanese Pavillion Lights

Headless Horseman

Devil Pumpkins

Glow in the Dark Cupcakes

Alice Resident Evil

NOVEMBER

This was possibly the BIGGEST month of the year.  I spent my two weeks vacation in Hong Kong and met up with lots of fantastic friends and family.  Spent a lot of time with my grandmothers and saw a lot of wonderful things.  I came back and gave a last minute week long effort writing like crazy and won the NaNoWriMo.

Respects to my Dad

Journey to Old Hong Kong

Old Hong Kong Street Cinema

Lamma Island

Jelly Fish

DECEMBER

Christmas with family and friend, the biggest winter storm in Montreal since forever, I have no pictures but helping with surprises always make me happy as well.

Winter storm

Winter Storm

Boyfriend’s brother in law with his mom

Winter Storm

Its been a fantastic year in 2012. I’ve had great moments with family and friends, experienced new things, conquered some fears and had so much fun on the blogosphere.  Some bloggers here I’m happy to call my friends and some have given me the most unexpected gifts on Christmas and New Year’s.  Not to mention all those comments and likes.  All your support has been incredibly important to me and means everything to me.

Lets welcome 2013 and I promise you that I’ll step up my game! I’ll have a few posts coming up within today and tomorrow updating everyone.

Have a awesome weekend everyone!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Merge…into a Star Wars Identity!!

Fusion! The new fad for everything, especially food.  We want to MERGE concepts for eating, for living, for clothes, etc.  Companies merge to become more competitive or to absorb their competition.  We all love to merge to experience better and newer things, fresh ideas, attractive concepts and more.

This weekend, I visited an exhibition with friends, exactly merging a very popular movie saga with the idea of how we became who we are.  Maybe you’ve heard of it.  No? Well, I’m not sure if its touring, but it stops by wherever you are, I highly urge you to go check it out.  This exhibition at the Montreal Science Center is Star Wars Identities: The Exhibition.  It was a really fun experience.

At the beginning of the journey, we were given a bracelet and a headset.  On the wall we had to test our bracelet to make sure it was working.

“STRONG IS THE FORCE”

Our adventure starts by an intro video telling us about how the interactive experience works.  Its pretty much 10 stages that we need to go through to figure out how our Star Wars Identity will be made and shape its personality, career, etc.

The 10 stations! I won’t post up what happens at the stations since I’m not sure if anyone else will be visiting so to not ruin the experience.  I’m missing the 4th station though, to discover where we live and the lifestyle habits of the society.

So in the final panel, I decided to reject the offer by the emperor!

AND TO THE FINAL MERGE AND SENDING MY STAR WARS IDENTITY INTO SPACE BELOW!

What do you think? Nice merge, eh?

In a nutshell, you can see that I’m a female Twi’lek who lives in forest planet Kashyyyk.  I have 3 close friends and my mentor is Qui-Gon Jinn.  My career is a senator.  My past experiences include being a legend because I took down an enemy command station in one shot and after that opened a Rebel academy to train the younger generation.  I’m adventurous, curious, accomodating and I value self-direction, believe that freedom is the right to choose.

Thats my Star Wars identity and its in Star Wars history now!