Mashed Thoughts

Today I got to go to an advanced screening of I Am Number Four courtesy of Virgin Mobile!

I Am Number Four is based on a the book of the same name by Pittacus Lore (pen name of James Frey and Jobie Hughes) and follows a special teen "John Smith". Unlike other teens he is actually an alien from the planet Lorien on the run from other aliens called Mogadorians. They destroyed John's home planet but not before he and 8 other children and their guardians escaped. These children are special since each of them possess special powers called Legacies. Now the Mogs are hunting them down one by one in sequence (Don't know why...I guess I'll have to read the book). They've killed three already and John is Number Four. Because of this John and his guardian Henri have to move around a lot. Their latest move takes them to Paradise, Ohio where he falls in love with a girl from school named Sarah, an avid photographer. This makes it all very complicated since his powers have started manifesting themselves and the Mogadorians have picked up his trail...Now John must learn to control his powers to protect the ones he cares about.

I did enjoy it...it kind of reminded me of Smallville and a little bit of Dark Angel where instead of escaped mutants being hunted you have escaped aliens with superpowers. I loved the action and the story is interesting but the movie leaves A LOT of unanswered questions. Like what's in the box? What's the significance of the symbols? Scenes in the trailer don't even make it into the movie! I guess Dreamworks leaves it very open so that more movies can be made. I do want to learn what happens...Time to go to the library!

I Am Number Four is out in theatres on Friday February 18th.

(or Valentines' Day if you prefer to call it that)

I love taking photos of funky store displays. The first one is in Holt Renfrew. The others are from H&M. I know one photo is going to make one of my friends REALLY happy.

Lunarfest was one of the main attractions downtown during the Olympic games. Last year it was lantern trees, this year it is a lantern aquarium! It was a very long line up last week to get in and I saw it was a long line up last Saturday as well. The Vancouver Aquarium was also there with Beebop the Beluga whale and there own display of sea life such as DELICIOUS LOOKING prawns, crabs, seastars and different types of fish. I took a picture of the prawns so you too can see how delicious they look.

We finally got inside, after oh maybe a half hour wait. I was quite pleased with the display. The lanterns were very pretty hanging from nets and I liked the LED light curtain too. It was white the frist time I went. The second time it changed colours! There were also 3D white paper cut outs of sea life on display after the main display. Those were pretty cool. I liked the flying fish the best.

The Public Dreams Society also put on a parade both weekends. Basically they put on magnificent costumes and walked down Granville street to with drummers leading the way. I LOVE the fish head man! So pretty! The jellyfish man reminded me of some one in Alice in Wonderland. He talked in a funny whimsical Wonderland-type way. LOOL

After the Olympic events I met up with some friends to go to see Illuminate Yaletown. (It was a very full day!) Thank goodness it stopped raining! Mother nature did a little illuminating of the sky before the sun set too. It was very beautiful sky after a heavy rain. There were a lot of interesting displays on. This was the second day Illuminate was on and there were ice sculptures that were already melted. =( I really liked the Factory - it gave me a laugh!

I never realized that Vancouver had so much things to do before! I'm flying through my bus passes like crazy!

Wow, a year passed by so fast! Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games! Because of this there was whole lot of celebration downtown! Unfortunately it was POURING RAIN! Typical Vancouver weather I guess! But that didn't stop a lot of people (including me) from making the trek downtown and taking part in the celebration! We unfortunately missed the opening celebration in Robson Square because the buses were full and skipped us. We went to investigate anyways and there were a lot of people lining up to get autographs from the Olympic athletes. We also ran into someone we always seem to bump into at these sorts of events! There was street hockey being played on Granville despite the rain. Many of the indoor events had a long lineups such as the Vancouver Art Gallery which offered free admission. Lunarfest had a relatively short line in the morning and early afternoon but the lineup exploded in the evening! Canadian figure skater, Patrick Chan was also there in front of McDonald's signing autographs. We had to wait in line so long in the freezing rain. My feet all wet but I got a photo with him and he autographed my McDonald waterbottle! Yaaaay!

If you missed out this weekend don't worry there will also be another mini celebration (for the closing ceremony), the TD Bank Winter Carnival, on Sunday, February 27th, 2011 from 12:00pm until 4:00pm at Robson Square.

From Prada to Nada is a romantic comedy about two sisters with vastly different personalities who are left penniless after their rich father dies. Olivia is materialistic one and Nora is the bookworm. They are forced from their home by their half-brother's girlfriend - the brother they never knew they had. The girls end up in East Los Angeles with their aunt. There they try to learn about their Mexican heritage and find love...in an absurdly short amount of time!

Apparently this movie is based on Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility". I haven't read the book yet but I bet I would have gotten more out of it than this movie. The plot was just all over the place it tried to fit in their brother's story but failed miserably and the relationships that formed were very rushed. If you are looking for a light movie with no real sustenance then you don't have to look any further but don't expect to enjoy it that much.

From Prada to Nada opens in theatres in Canada tomorrow, February 11, 2011.

Yay! Welcome the Year of the Rabbit! Chinese New Year was on Feb 3rd this year but the annual parade was held last Sunday. This was the first time I attended (that I remember). I wasn't planning to go but I saw so many articles about it online that I couldn't resist. Plus I LOVE Lion dances as you can probably tell by all my pictures. The parade started at noon at the Millennium Gate on Pender Street and route is about 1.2 Km long. It wasn't just Chinese participating, there was Vietnemese (their new year also is on the same day), Natives, Irish and all sorts of others! It was very cool. The parade lasted about 2 hours but the poor Lion dancers had to keep on going because ALL the stores hung up lettuces for the Lions to eat and they have to do it for luck! So they didn't finish until about 4pm! My sister met up with me after the parade ended and we went to Tinseltown to "walk the flower street". It was very crowded and there were a lot of shows going on but it couldn't beat the parade! I had to wake up super early to go to church first so I was kinda exhausted by the end of the day. But it was absolutely worth it!

Oru at the Fairmont Pacific Rim will be our last DineOut this year. I need to save some for next year! I took my family out yesterday night. My photo taking wasn't that great. It was very dark and I'm still fumbling around with the controls lol. Anyways, my mom loves seafood so when picking a restaurant, there always has to be scallops. And Oru had scallops AND lobster in its main! We ordered everything on the menu except for the Braised Yellow Lentils. I tried the Sake Kasu Sablefish for appitizer (recommended by our waiter) and oh it was so delicious! Pick the sablefish if you are going to go to Oru! Tender, moist and seasoned just right. Lovely appitizer. It seemed we waited for our main course for a while though. I guess they expect many patrons to drink and talk but we were all getting hungry and there was unfortunately no bread basket to snack on because it is a Pan-Asian restaurant. For the main course my dad tried the Tandoor Roasted Lamb Loin and the three of us had the Roasted Scallops & Lobster Dumpling. It was so yummy! My dad didn't like the squash risotto that came with the lamb but I liked it so I helped him finish it. I love risotto. It was slightly on the richer side though. I was going to try the Coconut Cheesecake but I opted to try something different and went for the Vietnamese Coffee Pannacotta. I really enjoyed it! It had a very strong coffee taste which I liked.

We parked in the underground parking lot. It is $6 if you have a meal there. Just visit the concierge in the lobby and pay there. Unfortunately there was something wrong with the machine in the lot and we couldn't get out! It was funny because we saw someone else have the same problem when we were heading inside so my dad was worrying about how we are going to get out. Luckily someone came down to rescue us. Hopefully it is fixed now.

Overall it was a lovely evening. I enjoyed dinner and I would consider revisiting if I was in the area again.

Here is Oru's full menu:

Dine Out Vancouver 2011

Baby Cos Lettuce Salad
orange, spiced almonds, coconut vinaigrette

Crispy Squid & Spicy Sausage
garlic, chili, scallions, ponzu mayo

Sake Kasu Sablefish
gingered tomatoes, sweet miso sauce

_____

Tandoor Roasted Lamb Loin
crispy lamb croquette, squash risotto, sultana raisins, roasted eggplant

Roasted Scallops & Lobster Dumpling
sweet potato and chili, caramelized pineapple, black garlic emulsion

Braised Yellow Lentils
vegetable pakora, tomato chutney, swiss chard

______

Dark Chocolate Pudding
passion fruit, sesame

Vietnamese Coffee Pannacotta
condensed milk, avocado

Coconut Cheesecake
lychee, mango

Room is a story about love, innocence and learning told through the voice of five-year-old Jack who lives with his Ma in Room. Jack was born in Room and has lived there his whole life. It is everything he knows. But to his mom it is a prison that now has grown too small for the both of them.

I finished Room a week ago. It is a very good book. So good that I found myself reading into the wee hours of the night dispite having to work the next day. Donoghue writes a very compelling story through Jack. The story is told in a child's innocent voice which made me feel closer to the characters than I would have if the story was told in Ma's point of view. In the beginning the reader know no more than Jack. As he describes more and more, you piece things together and you realize that this big Room he depicts is not very big at all. There were many things in the beginning you have no idea what Jack is talking about. You discover the world as Jack discovers it. You feel as he feels. When you finish the book you will go "wow, that's deep". That is how I felt.

I went to Dine Out again yesterday night. This time we went to Ebo Restaurant which is in the Delta Hotel in Burnaby. I think hotel restaurants tend to have better menu and service and their Dine Out menu was only $28! The dinner was exceptionally good and our servers were very polite and knowledgeable. Each dish was explained to us when it was brought out (except for the dessert because it was a different person) and that made it much more interesting!

Dinner started off with a bread basket. I love bread and it always pleases me to have a complementary bread basket. Our party tried all the dishes except the Beetroot and Goat Cheese and Cream Spätzle with Butternut Squash. My favourite dish was the Roasted Baja Scallops. They were large and tasted amazing! The presentation of the dishes were very nice too. Each plate was like a work of art. I had the tuna for the main course and it was awesome and filling! It didn't look like much but trust me, everyone was very full by the end. I finished off with the Warm Apple Crumble. It contained a biscuit and cute little (and tasty) peach jelly cubes. We all agreed that we wanted more cubes in our desserts.

I highly recommend Ebo. I enjoyed the dinner very much!

Here is their full Dine Out menu:

Wild Mushroom Soup (V)
Purée of Wild Mushrooms, Feta Cheese, Seasonal Mushroom Sauté,
Truffle Oil

Beetroot and Goat Cheese (V)
Marinated Baby Beets, Molten Marcella Goat Cheese, Organic Lettuce,
Textures of Apples, Pine Nut Granola

Roasted Baja Scallops
Vanilla Scented Cauliflower Puree, Serrano Ham, Capers & Sultana Raisins

˜˜˜˜

Tuna
Rare Rice-Crusted Albacore Tuna Steak, Avocado Purée,
Asparagus with Serrano Ham, Chili Gastrique

Braised Beef Rib “galbijim”,
Crushed Potatoes, Braised Carrots

Cream Spätzle with Butternut Squash (V)
Slow Roasted Hazelnut Crumble, Caramelized Brussel Sprouts,
Chevre Noir

˜˜˜˜

Warm Apple Crumble
Granny Smith Apples, Raisins Coconut Streusel and Vanilla Ice Cream

Baked Marble Cheesecake
Berry Compote

I'm betting that it'll be six more weeks of winter seeing that the cold air that is lingering around Vancouver doesn't seem to want to go away! I'm so cold in the morning that I don't want to get out of bed!

It's not preventing my flowers from starting to bloom though! Yay! Last year I planted a whole bunch of bulbs in the front yard. This spring should turn out to be very colourful. I am eagerly awaiting the spring! Snowdrops are blooming in the garden for a few weeks now and I see that daffodils are starting to come out of the ground! Some of my lilies are also starting to poke out of the soil. I'm so excited! I think I will buy some more snowdrops though. One here and one there doesn't give a lot of impact. I want clumps of snowdrops!
When the weather is warmer I'll have to plant my "rescue" plants as well. They are the ones that I bought for a dollar or less at Canadian Tire when the planting season was over. Hahah I know I shouldn't have bought plants to try to revive but it was so inexpensive and I had a coupon for $5 off so it wasn't that much. I'll have to start weeding too. Those pesky weeds are coming back in again!

Dine Out Vancouver is here again! This is an annual event that happens for two weeks of the year where participating restaurants in Vancouver offer customers a special 3-course menu at set prices ($18, $28, or $38). If you wanted to try a restaurant, now would the time to do so.

I also have a new camera so I apologize for the blurry photos while I'm still learning how to use it.

This year I went to Gramercy Grill with a bunch of friends. Their Dine Out menu was $28 and they had a fair selection dishes and also add-ons if wanted. I thought the food was faily good. I really enjoyed the Seared Ahi Tuna as the appitizer. My friends said they enjoyed the other appitizers as well. We were a table of five and we each ordered different things to try. The Cream of Cauliflower soup looked very good and so did the Triple A Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio which was the other one I wanted to try out. The main course was Braised Australian Lamb Shank. It was very succulent and the meat just slid right off the bone. I tried a little of my friend's Wild Mushroom & Asparagus Risotto and it was delicious! For dessert I tried the Crème Brule. It was cold and the sugar was melted and only crispy in the middle but it did taste very good cold.

The food at Gramercy Grill was good but the portions may be a little small for some people. Customer service was another matter. We had to wait a LONG LONG time between courses. I don't know if it was just us because another table came about when we were just finished the main course and waiting for dessert and they finished around the SAME TIME as us! We had to wait about 15 minutes just to get cold desserts! Yes ALL of the desserts were cold or room temperature! It shouldn't have to had taken that long to bring out. Then after when were paying the bill, we told them what to charge on the individual credit card and they them took away only to return 10 minutes later to ask us the amounts again! Was it because we didn't order any extras or wine or coffee? It shouldn't matter. All patrons should be treated equally!

I don't know if I will be returning. Good food, if not paired with good customer service leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Here was their Dine Out menu if you want to ever try them out:

Appetizer Choices:

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Hearts of Romaine Salad
pancetta lardons, crispy capers, grana padano cheese, roasted shallot & garlic vinaigrette

Triple A Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio
truffle aioli, crispy capers & grana padano

Seared Ahi Tuna
sesame seeds, seaweed flakes & pea shoots orange ginger vinaigrette

Entrée Choices:

Oven Roasted Sablefish Filet
miso, ginger & tamari cream roasted baby carrots & asparagus, vegetable spring roll

Wild Mushroom & Asparagus Risotto
grana padano & mascarpone cheese

Cherry Creek Free Range Chicken Breast
green onion mashed potatoes,roasted baby carrots & asparagus, truffle tapenade

Braised Australian Lamb Shank
merlot jus, butternut squash puree, roasted baby carrots & asparagus, pickled celery & carrot

Butternut Squash Agnolotti
sautéed spinach & tomato sauce, topped with grana padano cheese

Angus Triple A Beef Tenderloin - additional $5
garlic mashed potatoes, roasted baby carrots & asparagus, shiitake mushroom merlot jus

Baby Back Ribs & Blue Cheese Macaroni - additional $5
house made whiskey barbeque sauce

Dessert Choices:

Lemon Tart
local berry coulis & whipped cream

Pecan Pie
cardamom caramel sauce & whipped cream

Warm Flourless Chocolate Torte
caramel sauce & whipped cream

Duo of Cheeses - additional $4

Crème Brule

At tomorrow 10:00 a.m. the largest earthquake drill in Canadian history will be taking place in British Columbia! My work place probably didn't register for this but apparently there are 420,000 people going to be participating.

There is always the threat of the "Big One" looming in BC, ever since more than ten years ago I think. And I had heard we were overdue for one and it was rather anti-climatic when none really did occur. The last earthquake we experienced was the aftershock from Seattle and that was back in high school. It was rather funny at the time because I felt it shaking before everyone else and I was looking around the classroom to see if anyone else felt it but the everyone was acting normally and the teacher kept teaching. I was tempted to raise my hand and ask if it was an earthquake but more tremors started up and my teacher screamed "OMG IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!!!!"

So now everyone can practice drop, cover and hold on after all these years of going soft with no earthquakes. It never hurts to be prepared. Which reminds me that I still need to put together an earthquake kit.
You can find out more about the ShakeOut here at http://www.shakeoutbc.ca/.

The stray is actually quite pretty. She's very photogenic and very affectionate. Toward people anyways. She hates Sunny but she's learned to tolerate him a bit. It did take a long time for her to warm up to us too. It was all hissing and growling in the beginning.

It's been a long time since the last time I have drawn anything...When was it?...My last pic upload was winter of 2008! That's really too long I've been absent from the art world. I'm thinking of starting up again. I have a Tron themed pic floating around in my head. There are a few things a want to buy though. I'm thinking of purchasing Photoshop CS5 and upgrading my Wacom tablet. But I also want to some other electronics like a DSLR! Then there's the Kinect. Decisions, decisions...

Photoshop CS5 - US $199.00 on Adobe.com
Wacom Tablet - CDN $69.01 on Amazon.ca

Maybe I should just not delay and purchase them. I'm still waiting for the Canon T2i to come down in price a bit. Maybe next boxing day...or black friday.

The one-year anniversary of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic games is fast approaching and there are events going to be hosted everywhere in February. One of these events is a film called With Glowing Hearts: A Vancouver 2010 Social Media Story. This documentary will talk about how social media had a huge and positive impact during and after the games for the people living in Vancouver by letting everyone tell their own story. For a limited time, tickets to the screening are free! Request tickets here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1203033305/?ref=estw

Watch the trailer here:

It seems that there are so many Groupon type sites popping up these days. Hmmm I wonder if I should get in this trend.

So this latest site is called The Daily Steal. And to get lots of people to follow them they are hosting a HUGE giveaway which started today! All you have to do is sign up! http://thedailysteal.ca/?utm_source=uu2531
Make sure you use the registration code located in step number 2 because they will credit your account with $10 right away for you to use on their deals!

Here are the list of prizes to be won:
Day 1: $200 Memory Express GiftCard
Day 2: $200 BestBuy GiftCard
Day 3: $200 Metropolis GiftCard
Day 4: $200 Starbucks GiftCard
Day 5: $200 FutureShop GiftCard
Day 6: $200 Holt Renfrew GiftCard
Day 7: 7 Days in Paradise in Orlando Florida. (Value $3000)
Day 8: one Apple iPad every 12 hours
Day 9: one Apple iPad every 12 hours
Day 10: one Apple iPad every 12 hours

Sign up at The Daily Steal today and get in on the giveaway!

Taking pictures of baby kribs is very hard as they don't like the autofocus light and dart all over the place. My babies are so big now! They are about an inch long and their parents already have another batch of fry they are taking care of. Pretty soon they will have to go on to new homes. Watching them grow up makes me so happy!

Incendies begins with the reading of the will of Nawal Marwan (Lubna Azabal) to her twin children Jeanne (Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette). Naval's last requested to her children is to deliver two letters - one to their father, whom they thought was long dead and a letter to a brother they never knew existed. This sets the twins off on a journey to the Middle East where they start to discover their mother's horrific and heartbreaking past and in turn discover theirs as well. The movie shifts back and forth in time following the twins’ journey to find their brother and father and Nawal’s journey to find the son that she was forced to give up. The movie just builds and builds until the shocking revalation at the end.

How to describe this movie? Incendies has me leaving the theatre reeling. Montreal filmmaker Denis Villeneuve draws us into the tangled story of Nawal Marwan and her children with great skill. It is not a feel-good movie but I cannot deny it is very good storytelling.

Incendies has already won a lot of awards and there are rumours that it will be up for an Oscar in February.

So I started contesting after my sister started winning a whole bunch of things and she got me hooked. My prize list isn't as impressive as hers but it is quite a list. My winnings total up to approximately $3446! No trip or home theatre system yet but I did manage to win an XBox and who can forget my EPIC win: floor tickets to Lady Gaga concert! Here's to another year of wins. My goal is to win a Kinect.

I didn't keep track of any wins prior to April but there probably wasn't a lot of wins anyways since I didn't really start seriously contesting.

Apr 1
-Flip Mino from ScotiaBank: $199
-$50 iTunes Gift Card
-$100 Outdoor Gift Card

Aug 17
- Zaggfolio ($69)
- Canucks Poster (never received)

Aug 20
- Lady Gaga floor tickets for Aug23 show from Samsung Mobile (2x $99 + service charge)

Aug 23
- Double Screening Pass to Going The Distance from VIA
- Double movie pass to see THE LAST EXCORCISM from Georgia Straight

Aug 24
- $10 code for Threadless.com
- 2 tickets to PNE and 2 tickets to Playland from London Drugs

Aug 25
- InvisibleShield from ZaggDaily ($39.99)

Aug 26
- Longchamp bag from AirFrance $60

Aug 27
- Pack of Duracell batteries (x2)

Aug 28
- Pair of Vancouver Trolley Passes

Aug 31
- $100 Best Buy Gift Card (+ additional $100)

Sept 2
- Real Player Travel Mug ($5)

Sept 3
- Panasonic ZrO2 Couture Earbuds $59.99 (was supposed to be the $69.99 pair but was stolen)

Sept 8
- Killers Blu-Ray

Sept 9
- $5 Blenz Coffee Gift Card

Sept 13
- $50 PetroCanada Gift Card
- 2 tickets to Train at the Commodore Ballroom on Sept 18th : $40.00 x 2

Sept 16
- Double movie pass to see Buried
- 2 Double movie passes to see LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE
- 2 tickets to see Artemis Rocks! show

Sept 17
-two VIFF tickets to see The Woodmans or Waste Land (includes 2 VIFF membership $2 each)

Sept 20
- 2 tickets to Hanson at the Commodore Ballroom on Sept 25th MSP: $36.50 x 2

Sept 21
- double pass to the advance screening of Never Let Me Go

Sept 22
- advanced screening for two to NOWHERE BOY

Sept 27
- advanced screening for two to The Social Network

Sept 29
- advanced screening for two to Secretariat

Sept 30
- 3x free bread coupon from Nature's Own

Oct 12
- Elixar by Hilary Duff ($17.99)

Oct 13
- advanced screening for two to Hereafter

Oct 14
- How to Make Peace in the Middle East ($28.99)
- 2 double advanced screening passes for Conviction

Oct 15
- XBox 360 Slim 250GB ($299.99)

Oct 19
- Halo Reach ($59.99)

Oct 20
- Grey Kobo eReader from Chapters/Indigo ($149)

Oct 27
- Alan Wake (never received), got Halo Reach instead

Nov 1
- Exclusive Faber Drive Concert by Samsung Mobile Canada
- Millenium Prize pack (Blu-ray/DVD combo of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl who Played with Fire)

Nov 3
- Next Three Days advanced screening pass for two

Nov 4
- I Wear Your Shirt T-shirt, sticky notes, bottle holder and stickers

Nov 5
- 2 "lights on or lights out" stickers
- 30 music downloads

Nov 8
- LG Pop mobile phone from Rogers ($174.99 w/ no contract)

Nov 9
- Tangled advanced screening pass for two

Nov 10
- Rubber Duckie
- Dead Space: Ignition code for XBox $5
- BlackBerry Curve 3G + 6 months of $65 Unlimited Plan + 10$ unlimited data

Nov 12
-127 Hours Prize Pack: screening pass, water bottle, t-shirt

Nov 17
- Tangled advanced screening pass for 4

Nov 18
- Born to Bark book

Nove 19
- House Brawl t-shirt and $10 code from Threadless

Nov 23
- Pink BlackBerry Curve 3G

Nov 26
- The Fighter Advance Screening for two

Dec 15
- 2 tix for deadmau5 in Toronto (no transportation provided unfortunately)

Dec 22
- Shapercise

Dec 23
- Room by Emma Donoghue

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