Tag: Canada

FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada

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I bought last minute tickets to the FIFA Women’s World Cup game that happened yesterday. Literally last minute, as we closed the Craigslist deal an hour before the game. We still had to print out tickets and get there, so we ended up being late for two minutes or so. We had planned on going, but we wanted to wait till someone was desperate to sell them at a lower price. We got center seats in the end for $100 each, which wasn’t the cheapest, but given the prices we were seeing yesterday, it was pretty good.

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Canada was off to a rough start. Englad was aggressive and managed to get two goals in within the first 15 minutes. It was plain to see that the team was a little demoralized, and the crowd was also getting unhappy. Nonetheless, Christine Sinclaire managed to get a goal in at around the 42nd minute. The team livened up again, and smarter plays were made. Sadly, it was the only goal we got and it wasn’t enough to tie us or make us win.
IMG_1132Honestly, I’m still very proud of the team. We came very far— just one game away from the finals 😦 The team did us proud. I’m super happy when I see young girls being inspired by the women’s team, and jumping up and down, trying to get a team member to look their way. The team stayed around after the game, and were very accommodating to fans! We got to snap a few pictures of them, and they even agreed to do selfies!

The turnout was really good and you could see seas of red everywhere. It’s really touching to see everyone congregating to support the girls ❤

IMG_1120One thing I didn’t like was the weather. Sure, there were blue skies and it was summer, but the heat was crazy! On the bus, we sat across from a guy who was literally towel drying himself (not just his face. Anywhere he could reach that could pass as being proper in public) on the bus every 5 minutes, and another guy just sat there dripping sweat. Wearing red also didn’t help cool me down.

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Anyone going to the finals? Anyone got free tickets? I’m broke. But I want to go. Quite sad Canada won’t be fighting for the cup, but hey, we got far. Keep on trooping Canada’s women’s team 🙂 Keep inspiring!

– Karen

Free Comic Book Day 2015!

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Hey all,

Went to my first Free Comic Book Day!

I first heard about this about three years back, but I have always been too intimidated to actually go to comic book stores during the event. I had no idea how it would go. Was it awkward if I just took books and left? Do I just grab free books? How do I know which ones are free? Why are they free? *suspicious glare*

Well, now you can learn from my experience. It was positive, and one word of advice, go early. The earlier the better.

Why are stores giving away free comic books? The aim is to get comics back into the hands of the people. You get an issue to get you started, and hopefully you discover your love for comic books. For me, it mainly gave me new reading material to discover, allowing me to stray from the usual comics I would read. It’s also a great way to get people to visit their local comic book stores. Free Comic Book Day happens every year on the first Saturday of May. Make sure to check the official website to see which North American comic book stores are participating! Don’t show up at a random comic store expecting free comics.

For the actual free comics, let’s look at Golden Age as an example.

The line up was out the door, and when you got in, you loop around the store. It’s nice in that you get to look at their merchandise and books as you lined up (great idea to get people to buy their stuff! I don’t blame them at all!). The whole line took about 40 minutes to get through. At the back, you get to an island of free comic books. Most of these have “Free Comic Book Day” printed on them by the publishing company, so you know they’re safe to take. If not, and the store has extra overstocked comics they don’t think they can sell, and they’re nice enough to give them away as well, it’ll be marked.

At Golden Age, they limit you to 4 comic books per person, and you should be taking different titles so there’s enough to go around. There was a huge selection. You grab your four, and then make your way to the front to get a bag for them.

Again, go early. My friend and I had a whole route mapped out for comics, but we eventually found that stores run out pretty fast.

My haul!

My haul!

If you didn’t go this year, I suggest you go in 2016! You do have to put up with the lineup, but hey! It’s free stuff!

-Karen

The FEAR Lootcrate!

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Hello everyone,

So we all know about monthly subscription boxes. In the past I’ve gotten them for makeup as well as nail polish but I soon came to realize that I don’t actually wear much makeup so all of it goes to waste, and I was over my nail polish phase pretty quickly.

Recently I got a half-year subscription to Lootcrate. How is it? Well, today I got my Halloween themed FEAR crate and it’s AMAZING! Also, it came exactly on Halloween, so that’s pretty amazing too.

Lookie at the cool stuff in it!

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  • A kitty shirt arranged to form a skull. (The shirt is super soft and fits really well!)

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  • Dead Rising… wpid-20141031_100256-1.jpg
    wait for it—
    Yes, that’s a pen!

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  • How to Survive a Sharknado book (haha because we all need to be prepared for those random natural disasters..)
  • The Walking Dead Lootcrate alternate cover.
  • A Smite skin and god!
  • Tattoos that I have no idea when I’ll wear since it doesn’t exactly go with my halloween costume this year.
  • And a SuperEmoFriends art print!!!!

As always, there’s also candy in the box ❤

I was a little meh with last month’s box since it was Galactic themed, and while I did enjoy my Han Solo poster and Tribble plush, I hadn’t watch Firefly yet (gasp!) so half the box was lost to me.

In Canada, Lootcrate is a little more expensive than if our neighbours in the US were to get the same box. They pay $13.37, when we pay almost $30 a month (YOU KNOW. JUST A LITTLE MORE EXPENSIVE. JUST A LITTLE). Wish I could pay the US price 😦 I’m excited to see what else my future crates will contain.. and it’s awesome that Lootcrate crates our loot, so we get to loot our crate 🙂

You can also check out Nerd Block for an alternate nerdy subscription box, but I’ve never used them so can’t comment! They also ship to Canada too!

– Karen

Let the holidays begin?

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Hey guys,

One main issue of ending exams early: no one else is free to hang out because they’re all studying.

Because this term I took quite a few courses that did not require a final exam, it meant that I was let off early during finals season. But don’t get me wrong, I worked my butt off during the term with papers every week!

Anyway, I will be starting my co-op position in May, meaning this latter part of April will be my only summer holiday that I’ll be experiencing! Super excited to start working (some of you seasoned job goers will probably be laughing, but let me enjoy this feeling before it gets old) but at the same time a little torn because it will be the first summer in which I’m not just lounging around. I suppose last year I was also interning in Hong Kong, but being in a different city feels different than doing co-op in your home city. But then again, I’m working in Yaletown! Such a beautiful part of the city that I rarely go to!

I’ve been doing everything that I did not have time for during the term, as well as being on the lookout for events that people can actually go to. This included Fan Expo Vancouver! Tom Felton finally graced us with his presence after cancelling on the convention two years in a row. I also got to see Billy Boyd and Michael Rosenbaum, and although I was never really well acquainted with their work (sure I’ve seen Lord of the Rings, but that doesn’t make me an expert on Billy’s works. Never seen Smallville, but I do know Lollipop Chainsaw in which Michael was the main male voice actor), but they were so witty and good at controlling the audience. Hats off to them! Was a pleasure to be at their panel!

 

I also got to go to EXP Bar for the first time! Always wanted to go, but somehow never found the right group of people to go with. They serve HUGE bowls of popcorn and their food ain’t half bad! Loved the clever names on the menu. If you’re into anything geeky, nerdy, gaming related—go. I personally couldn’t have alcohol that night because I had to drive, but they have a large selection with equally clever game/pop-culture inspired names. They show streams of League of Legends games there, as well as other things (RWBY’s Black trailer was played while I was there, and Jessica Nigri, who happened to be several tables over, requested they play an episode of Reboot). We went on a day that was really busy so our wait for a table was about 1 hour.

I also did archery. That was… harder than expected. Ha. Ha. Ha.

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I wonder what I’ll be blogging about this summer amidst working? I guess we’ll see 🙂

– Karen

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”: A Movie Review

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Hey everyone,

So the advanced screening of the new Hobbit movie was a joy! One of the actors from the movie came to watch the movie with us: Manu Bennett (who plays the leader of the Orcs). He’s from New Zealand and it was pretty cool that he joined us. He talked a bit about how he got cast and how filming was for him.

Manu Bennett: credits to Empireonline.com

Manu Bennett: credits to Empireonline.com

Without further ado, here are my two cents on the movie!

We begin where we left off in the last film, and Thorin and his crew must continue on their way to reclaim the dwarves’ homeland. Early on in the movie, Gandalf leaves the dwarves to go on a short quest of his own. The dwarves brave many obstacles to reach Erebor, and they must also figure out what to do with the dragon that sleeps amidst it.

We get to see Orlando bloom from the original LOTR movies again! Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice is amazing as Smaug. His voice as the necromancer sounds nothing like him, whereas you can really hear his voice in Smaug.

If you’ve read the books (NO SPOILERS SO KEEP READING), I can tell you that that certain plot points were changed. For one, Kili (the hot dwarf) and Tauriel the elf has a romantic subplot. There are others, but I would be spoiling if I said anything more. However, I am super excited for the ending now because I had some issues with how the books ended. Praying to God that things go the way I want with the rest of the movie!

I thought that they cut of the first movie wonderfully. The story arc of escaping from the orcs ended and although we know the movie doesn’t end, we are contented that some sort of conclusion was reached. The Desolation of Smaug’s ending was very unsatisfying. It may have to do with the fact that this movie branched off into a lot of subplots, so there was no good way to sum them up. If that is going to be an issue with you, maybe wait till the last movie comes out?

My final verdict? Great movie, glad they changed stuff from the book, but very unsatisfying in the end.

The movie opens on the 13th of December in Canada! Let me know what you think!

-Karen