If you haven't already heard, Apple Canada is offering 12 days of free downloads for the holidays starting fom December 23 (tomorrow) through January 3! The download could be either free music, TV episodes, movies, apps, or books from iTunes and each will be available for 24 hours only. Check out the details on their site: http://www.apple.com/ca/itunes/12days/

Other companies offering an avent calendar type promotion include Gameloft. You are going to have to follow Gameloft on Twitter though to find out what the daily offer is. Sometimes they offer free downloads of their games on different platforms. Other times it is just a trailer or trial version or desktop wallpaper.

I got the chance to watch an advanced screening of Tron: Legacy on Wednesday. I have never watched the original Tron from 1982 but with all the hype generated around this new sequel, I was really looking forward to watching it. Plus I like glowy things and Tron: Legacy has so many mesmerizingly glowy things. It certainly has benefited much from the advance in technology.

Turns out you don't need to watch the original at all to enjoy this movie. It did a very good job of providing backstory and stands very well on its own. Garrett Hedlund stars as Sam, Kevin Flynn's son (the protagonist from the previous film). Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Kevin Flynn and also plays Clu.

Kevin Flynn is a genius programmer and the CEO of Encom. A sudden and mysterious disappearance of Kevin Flynn leaves his young son Sam orphaned. Years later, Sam recieves a message from his dad's friend Alan Bradley regarding a page he received originating from the office of the abandoned Flynn's Arcade. Sam investigates and discover's his dad's secret office and is somehow whisked away into the Grid - a digital world of his dad's creation. There he meets Clu, a program his father create years ago to handle things in the Grid but apparently he has turned bad and gained control of all the Grid. Sam manages to escape from Clu with the help of Quorra (Olivia Wilde from House), a fearless and mysterious program of the Grid who knows where his father is. Together they must race against time to make it out of the Grid alive.

The movie had awesome special effects - did I mention cool glowing costumes and set? An amazing musical score by Daft Punk carried the atmosphere of the movie very well. The actors did an amazing job but the only thing I didn't like was how fake the younger Kevin Flynn seemed. Disney had to digitalize Jeff Bridges' face to turn back the clock but everytime younger Kevin or Clu spoke it was rather uncanny. But that is a small detail. This move is full of eye candy and you will love it. I would recommend the movie to everyone whether or not you are a Tron fan! But if you are a Tron fan, I am told that there are many references to the original movie. It is not likely to disappoint. However if you can watch in non-3D choose that option. The movie had practically no 3D effects!

Tron: Legacy is in theatres today! Go see it! I highly recommend it. I want to go back and watch the original Tron now. And I hope they will make another one!

In other news, I am currently in a contest that BestBuy is hosting on Facebook. It's the Unboxing Day contest and I'm currently in the top 3 and need a lot of help to stay there. I need people to vote for me and you can vote every day until Dec 31. Everytime you vote, you get entered into a weekly draw for a $150 BestBuy giftcard! So the more you vote, the better the chance you will have! Please vote for Jenny Lee (Xbox Unboxing). Thank you very much! http://apps.facebook.com/unboxingday/gallery.php?sort=2

Best Buy had the midnight launch of World of Warcraft:Cataclysm on monday. There are two versions available. The regular game goes for $39.99 and Collector's Edition is $84.99. For $45 more you get exclusive in-game content, trading cards, art book, soundtrack, behind the scenes DVD and a mouse pad.

It was fairly quiet at the Cambie location. They also hosted a costume contest again. This time two winners got an HP AMD Quad Core and Triple Core respectively. I heard that downtown Futureshop also hosted their own contest. There were a lot of good costumes. In my mind I thought that the person who paints themselves blue would win. And I was right. A girl showed up late with her boyfriend. They both had awesome costumes and but she was all blue. She won the quad core laptop and a guy that dressed up like some kind of mage won second. There were also incentives to line up early. The first 50 people at the Cambie store would get a Steelseries Original WoW MMO mouse! More than 50 people were sitting outside by 9pm already waiting in anticipation.

In addition to the costume contest, there was a draw for the WoW:Cataclysm Collector's Edition...And guess who won it! Blue girl's boyfriend! They are so lucky! What are the odds?! They left shortly after receiving their prizes. A lucky person also won a large vinyl WoW poster.

It was also the midnight launch of Inception and Shrek 4...not that anybody cared.

In other news, I am currently in a contest that BestBuy is hosting on Facebook. It's the Unboxing Day contest and I'm currently in the top 2 and need a lot of help to stay there. I need people to vote for me and you can vote every day until Dec 31. Everytime you vote, you get entered into a weekly draw for a $150 BestBuy giftcard! So the more you vote, the better the chance you will have! Please vote for Jenny Lee. Thank you very much! http://apps.facebook.com/unboxingday/gallery.php?sort=2

Hi all,

I really need some help with a contest I am in. This is a daily vote and I need all the votes I can get. If you can, please take the time to vote for Jenny Lee.

You will need facebook to vote. But if you do you get entered into a draw for a weekly $150 BestBuy giftcard! Each vote is an entry ballot so vote for me daily! 

http://apps.facebook.com/unboxingday/gallery.php?sort=2

Thanks in advance!

The developer of Angry Birds confirmed on Twitter that they are updating the Angry Birds Halloween edition - free for currently owners! This update will probably happen sometime in December. I think the Halloween edition is $1.99 in the Apple App store. And is you don't already know yet, if you own an Android phone, the regular version of the full game is completely free for download, albiet with ads. But it is a small price to pay for one of the most addictive games out there!

Angry Birds is also approaching their one year anniversary and apparently Saturday, December 11th is Angry Birds Day! There are meetups every around the world! It'll be like a flash mob type thing. You can either join a group or create your own. I think the closest one to Vancouver is in Delta right now. Not sure if I'm addicted enough to attend though. lol

I've also discovered that Rovio made Angry Birds plush toys! So cute! I want them all to throw at people. Hahaha! If only they weren't $14.99 plus shipping and handling! =/ http://shop.angrybirds.com/

The Fighter is a movie based on a true story about the early years of famous boxer "Irish" Micky Ward, starring Mark Wahlberg, and his life leading up to the World Championship. His older brother Dick "Dicky" Eklund, played by Christian Bale, was also a boxer and taught Micky everything he knows. Dicky becomes Micky's trainer and their mother Alice (Melissa Leo) manages his career. Sadly Dicky is an unreliable trainer since he is a drug addict. After one too many loses and Dicky ends up in jail, Micky quits boxing until his girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams) convinces him to go back - this time without his mother and bother. His family was plagued with anger and feelings of betrayal but suddenly Micky is actually winning and has a chance at the World Championship.

This movie is actually pretty good! For someone who knows absolutely nothing about boxing, this movie was very entertaining. It was about family and rising up to meet all the challenges life throws at you. It was humourous, heartwarming and will have you cheering for Micky until the end. This inspirational movie is about never giving up and how important family is - just when you think someone is going to lose, they come back and surprise you.

The Fighter opens in theatres Dec 17, 2010.

I went to the Sara Bareilles Concert at the Commodore Ballroom on Monday. Holly Conlan and Cary Brothers opened. During one of Cary Brother's songs, Bareilles actually come out and sang with him!. And there would be more of this later on when she performs her own songs. She would invited Holly Conlan and Cary Brothers and their band members to participate in her songs and even asked the crowd to sing along! In her famous "Love Song", she let the crowd sing first chorus. "It's all about interactivity" she said. Her performance was spectacular. Bareilles was very funny and down-to-earth. I loved her stories about her songs. There were times where she did the unexpected though - like climbing on top of the piano to sing! Crazy!

Bareilles and her openers liked to close their eyes when they sing so most of the pictures I took are with closed eyes. LOL

This weekend, new cell service provider, Mobilicity opened up multiple stores in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal! They have very low rates and when they say unlimited it is actually unlimited. The cheapest plan is $25 with unlimited talk and text with caller ID! And for $10 more you can add a unlimited data plan! This is awesome deal compared to other service providers! Too bad I'm still in a contract that doesn't end until March. Otherwise I'd be all over this! Mobilicity is also currently offering two grand opening specials ($30 or $40 unlimited plan with data) that are valid until the end of the November.
Virgin Radio was on site at some of the stores promoting the grand opening. Guess who was at the Kingsway location! KIAH! He's so cool. Got a picture with him too! Eeee! Too bad Tara Jean wasn't there. Kiah said Evil Kiah gave her a nervous breakdown so she had to leave early. LOL I hope I can meet them together one day. =)

Rapunzel is voiced by Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi (from TV series Chuck) voices Flynn Ryder. They did a very good job of making their characters come alive. One of my favourite non-voice characters is Rapunzel's pet chameleon, Pascal. He didn't need to utter a single word but he made the audience laugh all the time. As with all Disney movies, there is singing. Alan Menken does it again with an awesome set of songs and score. I loved all the songs and I might even purchase the soundtrack!

Tangled is shown in 3D but I thought that it wasn't necessary. There weren't many places where Disney took advantage of the 3D effect. The movie would be enjoyed the same if watching on regular screen. If you are planning to bring your kids to watch a movie, you can't go wrong with Tangled. Disney delivers a very entertaining, humerous and unique spin to a story that kids and even adults will love.

Tangled is in theatres Wednesday, November 24, 2010.

Quaaatichi!!!!

He was only $4.99 at the Olympic warehouse sale!
They have lots of stuff still in stock and this week they are giving away a free 9.5" Miga with Red Mittens no purchase necessary!

http://www.17hours.ca/index.php

Best Buy had the midnight launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops today. I was expecting more people than the number that showed up. There seemed to be more Halo fans than Call of Duty. Maybe they were offering better free stuff with purchase also. They were only giving away free toques to the first 90 people to purchase the game. There are three versions available: normal ($59.99), the 'Hardened Edition' ($79.99) and the 'Prestige Edition' ($149.99). The Prestige edition offers a remote control car with in-built camera with addition maps and the Hardened edition includes the extra maps and a tin case. 

Best Buy also held a costume contest. They gave away two Prestige Editions to runner ups to their costume contest and XBox and game bundle to the winner. They also gave away one Prestige edition to a random person in line. I dressed up as well as I could but in the end the Best Buy manager choose another girl (the one in the blue uniform) to be runner up. There were 3 girls that participated in the costume contest. Everyone had their paintball or airsoft gear and I had my homemade costume. T_T It was fun though! Everyone complemented me on my costume. =) I also was filmed for the news! I might be on TV! LOL Two of the sound developers of the game were there too and I took a photo with them and got their autographs on a bandanna!


I tried playing it. There are Zombie Nazis! Aaaaah! I didn't last very long...

 



Hahaha. Mum doesn't like me taking pictures of them.

I went to the midnight launch at Best Buy on Wednesday night to check out the new Kinect. There was a crowd but not in the numbers as the launch party for Halo Reach or Starcraft. About 200 or so people showed up. Diamonds in the Rough and Blueprint Cru (runner up in America's Best Dance Crew) were there and gave awesome performances. They also played with Kinect, especially with the Dance Central game. Not surprisingly they all got high scores! Kinect is very fun to play. I can see how this might have the potential to overtake the Wii or PS3 someday, but better games have to come out first.

I tried out the Joy Ride game but the sensor had trouble detecting me so I ended up driving in circles. Everyone laughed. T_T I thought the sensor might use heat to detect where someone is and I was very cold and my fake leather jacket didn't help either. Turns out I was right! One of the sensors on the bar is a infrared red sensor! Still very fun and people probably won't play outside in the cold anyways.

I had a good time and got a Kinect hat signed by the Blueprint Cru and also a picture taken with them! Yay!

If you want to leave the theatre feeling happy, this is definitely the wrong movie to see. Buried left a bad taste in my mouth. It is about a US supply truck driver who was attacked by Iraqis and buried alive. Ryan Reynolds plays Paul Conroy trapped in a coffin with only a cell phone an a lighter (at first) and his time running out. Don't get me wrong Reynolds performance was spectacular but he is also the only one we ever see. Everyone else in the movie are only voices coming from the cellphone, Paul's only link to the outside world. Even though the entire 94 minutes is spent within a box, it was at times thrilling and the ending will shock you. Buried that leaves you feeling very uneasy and thinking about real current situation in Iraq is and how it might not be too far off from fiction. Not a movie to take your date to.

Buried opens in theatres tomorrow Friday October 8.

I love horse racing movies. Secretariat was no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was very exciting to watch even though you know that he wins. Secretariat is about the legendary racehorse who won the Triple Crown in 1973. It revolves around Penny Tweedy and her horse Big Red known as Secretariat in the races. After her parents passes away, she is faced with a 6 million dollar debt in inheritance taxes for her parents farm. Hope springs the colt Big Red who quickly demostrates his amazing ability to win races. Even then Mrs Tweedy is faced with skeptics and pompous opponents in a male dominated sport of horse racing but she never loses faith in Secretariat or herself. This movie tells us that sometimes you have to stick with what you believe in.

Secretariat opens in theatres Friday October 8.