Archive | November, 2009

Rain’s Big Western Debut

25 Nov

Chances are you have never heard of him, but he was one of People Magazine’s most beautiful people, and according to a poll conducted by Time Magazine, he’s more influential than Stephen Colbert, sorry Steve! So who is it? It’s Rain the korean pop icon, and he’s set to break out in a big way today to the western world, staring in the new movie: Ninja Assassin.

Releasing today Wednesday November 25, 2009, Ninja Assassin is the hollywood action film that stars pop icon Rain as a deadly assassin in his biggest debut in the western world. Korea is quickly becoming the new pop culture hub of asia, with Seoul bumping shoulders with the likes of Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore. But although Korean TV, fashion and music are becoming a big hit in the east, it is much more difficult to break into the European and North American market.

According to a recent CNN article:

“I put my heart and soul into this movie,” he said. Rain trained hard for months to get ready for the movie’s slick violence.

“For about a year, I couldn’t eat properly, I was working out from 7 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon,” he said. “I went through a lot of pain in my efforts to get 100 percent close to the character that I was playing.”

It seems Rain is determined to have his name known in the U.S, with 6 albums under his belt, he is still trying to get a foothold in the western market. But maybe Ninja Assassin will do that for him. So if your sitting down to watch it tonight, or your googling his name afterwards, your helping this korean pop star realize his dream; for you to know the name, Rain.

Call of Duty: MW2

24 Nov

So Im not normally much of a gamer. I mean don’t get me wrong, I used to be a Warcraft and Age of Empires junkie back in my junior high days. But when life started kicking in after highschool, I didn’t find enough time to play many games anymore, working out of town all the time didnt help much either.

But lately Ive had some time at home, and what do I find myself doing the odd time? Thats right, playing videogames, but not just any video game. One of the best games to be released in a long time, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, aka COD:MW2. Even for a kid from the Golden Eye days still trying to grasp the dual joystick concept, I definetly find this game highly entertaining. It’s as close as you can get to being in the thick of modern conflicts across the globe apart from actually signing up for boot camp.

So check it out!

Five Puddles Gets its Facebook Fanpage

20 Nov

Thats right, you can now become a fan of Five Puddles Photography via the new facebook page. Keep up to date with recent photo sessions and other news.

So please check it out. Here is the link!

http://www.facebook.com/business/dashboard/?ref=sb#/pages/Five-Puddles-Photography/207511243713

Also, yesterday I went to watch a friend perform at the NAIT Nest, snapped a few photos. If you have not heard of them, well they are the Michael James Band, and they are an up and coming band with a very unique sound.

You can check out their music on their myspace page, which you can find right here.

Twilight New Moon: Cullen House up for Sale

19 Nov

So if your one of the millions lining up to go see Twilight New Moon tonight as it hits theaters nationwide, and even if your not, such as myself, you might be interested in this little bit of real estate to hit the market recently.

Up for sale is the recently renovated, and utlra modern Cullen house featured in the new film. The house is listed for 3.3 million dollars, and is located on a beautiful 1/2 acre treed lot in Vancouver. And since the following Twilight movies are expected to be filmed back in the United States, the house is not expected to be in any future films.

So without further delay, heres the pics, so take a look at how author Stephenie Meyer imagined vampires of the 21st century would live; better than the rest of us, it seems.

Who is your Entourage?

18 Nov

Entourage, if you have not heard of it, you must be living a life without access to a cell phone, flatscreen tv, internet, newspaper or magazine. HBO has come out with some amazing material in it’s day, but this series has to be one of the best of the best. I had always only watched random episodes on TV while up north for work, but never a season of episodes straight through. But lately I have all 5 seasons, and have been on an Entourage kick to say the least.

To summarize, the show is about Vincent Chase, a 20 something from Queens New York, who had suddenly struck it big and was quickly becoming a star in Hollywood working as an actor. He of course didn’t move to LA alone, so he brought his best friends along for the ride, his manager E, his brother Drama, and his driver Turtle; his ‘Entourage’. The show offers a peak into the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but following the down to earth nature of Vincent and his friends. And just to keep you laughing through out, the show would seriously not be the same without Vin’s manager Ari Gold played by Jeremy Piven. Piven has truly found his calling in Entourage, bringing blunt outrageous humor to the show, he makes this series.

But Entourage is so much more than movies, hot girls and luxury cars. Deep down this is a show about friendship, it’s about the respect and support the gang have for eachother. It’s also about loyalty, they never leave anybody behind. Despite the lifestyle they all live together, they keep it real, they know that fame, money, girls, cars, all of that comes after friendship. And I don’t think theres a more entertaining example of that kind of comradery on TV.

After all, life changes, friends don’t. Who is your Entourage?

Update November 17, 2009.

17 Nov

After a busy weekend, I am back to the old blogging block. Friday saw drinks and appetizers on the south side, and some late night Call of Duty MW2 action. Saturday was a busy day, was at west edmonton mall with a few friends, my friend had to pick some essentials up for the coming trip in January, did a little Christmas shopping on the side, said hello to my sister in law, and we even made it through the throngs of tweens screaming at the Twilight Stars at the ice palace. That evening we wandered over to downtown for dinner, moving over to the bar for some sake bombs.

Sunday was road trip day, I slept a mere 2 hours Saturday night, and was in a car bound for a 4 hour drive to Jasper, our destination: the Snow Covered Peaks of Marmot Basin. In total there was about 9 of us, first snowboarding session of the year. It was awesome, except for the fact that during my switch riding attempts I took a good crash right on my ass, and could barely move the rest of the day. We made it home after a long day. And I plan to get some photos and possibly a video up of the events that day.

I’m working on an another post in my head, so for now, take care!

Edmonton in Time Lapse

13 Nov

So over the last 2 weeks, when the sun goes down, I have had a little habit of heading outside with my new Canon T1i. My roomate would ask, where are you going so late? I’d reply to shoot some time lapse of course, and close the door.

Time lapse is something fairly new to me, so I’m experimenting with it. Armed with a backpack, tripod, timer, camera, bottle of water, a book, and an iPod, I venture out into the dark to find interesting, sometimes obscure locations to shoot from. Heres a couple photos from my most recent shoot as well.

I finally got around to putting a bunch of clips together from my shooting, threw some what I thought to be fitting music ontop, and let her rip. So here is my first sample, let me know what you think and rate and comment if your on youtube!

The Pacific, and Avatar

12 Nov

On remembrance day yesterday I caught a glimpse of a commercial showing a new mini series created by Tim Hanks and Steven Spielberg. After some research, I discovered that this new mini series is known as ‘The Pacific’ which will be playing on HBO. Taking place in WW2 focusing on the war effort in pacific ocean, Im looking forward to see if it will be on par with the Band of Brother series HBO did years ago. Check out the trailer:

Another movie Im actually interested in seeing is one called ‘Avatar’. Every 5 years or so James Cameron comes out with an epic movie, Terminator, Aliens, Titanic, ring a bell? Well this newist movie is set to hit the big screen December 18, 2009. So if you like movies about humans exploring new planets and being engaged in epic battles with aliens, it is a must see! Check the trailers:

A Day to Remember

12 Nov

It is 11:52pm November 11, 2009 as I start writing this, its still remembrance day in Canada. And on a day when it seems fewer and fewer people realize why its a national holiday, I thought it was fitting for a post about remembrance day.

This is most importantly a day to remember so many people who have fought for our freedoms in this country, the freedoms we take for granted sometimes. The world wars, and so many others shaped the 20th century, but also shaped our lives. Many young adults in my generation have grandparents who were somehow involved in WW2, this is a legacy that lives on especially on this day. For it was through the efforts of great men and women before us that we are able to live our lives how we choose, in a country full of opportunities.

We must not also forget that the world is not perfect, and there are still battles to be fought, in many forms. There is an increasing threat to our way of life, to your way of life. For there are those that do not believe in democracy, in freedom of speech, or even in the rights of individuals. The threat is real, whether we choose to ignore that fact and go through each day trying to put the thought out of minds, it will still exist.

But just as in the past, today we have heroes as well, those heroes fight not on the beaches of Normandy, in the forests of France or in the streets of Berlin, they fight in places such as Helmand Province, in cities like Kandahar, and Kabul. This is the new battleground for so many in the Canadian Forces, each day as we live our lives, there are young Canadians far away from home, defending our not only our values, but the rights and freedoms of individuals of those unable to protect themselves in those very places.

I read an article today from the Edmonton Journal which was very well written, and I think it deserves a read through on a day like today especially. Take the time to read that article here.

I hope you took a minute to think about all those in the forces past and present today, and maybe spurred some conversation as well. For it is our duty to never forget, and always remember.

 

New Trip Planning 2010

10 Nov

So one of the reasons I have been fairly quiet lately, is secretly I have been planning another trip. Yeah that’s right, I don’t know if it is the smartest thing to do right now, or what will happen when I get back. There are so many question marks floating around my life these days. But when my friend told me he wanted to go somewhere, I couldnt say no. So screw the real world, it can wait, you can work at anytime, and theres plenty of life left for that, you cannnot however say no to too many opportunities in life, especially travel experiences.

So where am I going? When? And how long you ask? Well let me break down the brainstorm phase we had. Both of us had agreed that India would be a new place to check out, I have never been there, but do know many who have. After looking into flights, it was determined that it was a little pricey for round trip flights to India. So knowing that destination across asia were still fairly cheap with many airlines, I looked at Shanghai, one of the cheapest destination across asia for some reason. Then I thought, well, China has a good rail network, you can get as far as Lhasa by train in China, Tibet borders Nepal, and of course Nepal borders India, sucesss, why not goto India via China and Nepal.

So after some more planning, and working out a few situations with visa’s and flights, here is the grand almighty rough itinerary, well basically its the only plan as of yet, the rest will be filled in along the way.

IMG_5156So we fly Edmonton to Vancouver, then Vancouver to Shanghai on January 6, 2009, spend some time in Shanghai, and train to Xian, check out Xian and its terracotta warrior awesomeness, then train to Chengdu, and attempt to get Tibet permits there. If all goes well we’ll be on  the highest railroad in the world climbing our way into the himalayas towards Lhasa. Spend some time in Tibet before pushing onwards towards Nepal, leaving an open amount of time to explore Nepal. Then get ourselves into India from there, after we’ve had our fill of India, our only commitment so far is a flight from Bangalore to Singapore on March 6, 2010. I have some friends I would like to visit in Singapore for a few days, then we have another flight booked to Hong Kong. We plan to visit another friend from home in HK for a few days, then we’ll work our way overland back into mainland China via Shenzen. Then get back up to Shanghau intime for a flight home on March 15, 2010. In total the trip will be just under 2.5 months and we’ll visit 5 countries if all goes well, only 2 of which I havent been to already though. But that’s ok, I need to explore China more, and we might have a friend from HK join us on that leg as well which would be good.

So you can bet I will be taking the new camera, and I plan to take put that T1i to work, and take alot of photos as per usual, provided I can hang onto it the whole trip. It should be an amazing trip, and I am excited to witness my friends first real puddle jumping travel experience! Keep an eye for for blog updates in that time, I’ll try and update as often as I can.

So with that, I’ll leave you with a photo I took of Hong Kong when I was last there, and just so happens to be used in the menu toolbar graphic on my blog.

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