A Night at the Real Dal Riata

Do you remember the first episode of Lost Girl? Do you remember the bar? Do you remember the Fae day? The La Shoshain?

Well, the infaemous @faenonymous decided to celebrate it at the REAL Dal Riata. Yes, the real one. No, I am not kidding. The Dal Riata is actually base on a REAL Irish pub.

The Real Dal Riata is Slainte Irish Pub located in Hamilton

I got there later... damn traffic! But I won't ramble about it...

So, here is what the Dal looked like at the studio

The bar

Here's what it looks like at Slainte!

And what it looks like on screen...

The fireplace in the studio

What it looks like at Slainte...

This is what it looks like on screen

And as a bonus... here is the "door entrance"
From the studio (courtesy of the Mind Reel site)

At the Slainte

And on screen (unfortunately, I don't have time to scene cap a a better scene but hey, Lauren wins!)

So, there you go. The REAL Dal Riata!

Dragon Age 2

I had just finished Dragon Age 2. It was $12. You can't complain about a $12 game!

To see what I said about Dragon Age Origin... click here.

Let's start with graphics again:
It was nice. I really liked the Sundermount because when you are up the mountain and look back down, you can actually SEE the village below. I think with graphics, while the big picture (the background, the houses etc) are nice, it is the smaller details that makes the graphics good. I had my mother asked "why are their face so dirty?"
"No mom... it's blood."

For me, music in Dragon Age 2 felt almost invisible. I couldn't hear the awesomely epicness like it did in DAO. The music is very subtle and somewhat disappointing. During fight scene, the music comes on but it missed the oomph that it had in DAO.

The story of DA2 is not that bad. Personally, I am slightly confused. You're able to import your save file. Since I sacrificed myself in DAO, the story somewhat continues on. So in Dragon Age 2, it really had NOTHING to do with the dark spawn, they show up a little in the game but it takes a more political route which I have no problems with. However, I am just not sure how it connects to DAO, just the fact that Hawke is a refugee from Ferelden.

I thought it was interesting how the game is done through Varric's story telling. What I do love is the small talks and characters. No one can replace Morrigan. She is likely one of my favourite evil good guy.

On a side tangent, Kate Mulgrew was in Toronto end of August for the Fan Expo. During Q & A, she saw a fan and screamed "Are you Flemeth?!" The fan responded that she was her daughter Morrigan. Mulgrew then proceeded to speak in Flemeth's voice

In DA2, the character bickering is still there. My favourite companion is Isabela. The conversation between her and Aveline and Merrill is hilarious. Of course, Isabela being Isabela, she makes some... interesting comments. At times, I had to stop and think "did Isabela just say THAT?" Yes, she did.

I like the new dialogue dial and gameplay. There was just one thing that annoyed me to no end. I felt like the graphics engineer and level designer got LAZY. A lot of the caves and dungeons were the SAME map, the only difference between cave 1 and cave 2 was the door that doesn't open.

To put it in simple turn, they created ONE dungeon. They used doors to differentiate cave 1 and cave 2 even though when you look at your mini-map, there is a path that you THINK you should be able to go to.

I would be in a new area and head to the cave, my first thought "hey, I've been here." I proceeded to where I should go and "why can't I get through?! Why won't this door open?" It is just some half-ass lazy game design.

I also enjoyed how they brought some characters back from DAO. Only Anders is playable but to see Alistair mope in the Hanged Man (I didn't make him King) is funny. But it felt like they decided to just throw in the DAO characters and went "look, people from the first game! Yes, this game is still in the same region."

There is 3 DLC content which I am sure would have made the game enjoyable. But no, I am not spending another $30 to play them. Imagine if you had pay $50 for the game and realized you need to pay another $30 for extra content? That just screams GREED.

I enjoyed playing it still. I mean I did pay $12 for it. If I had paid anymore, I might be screaming as a horrible game.

Fan Expo 2012

It's another year of the Fan Expo! I am going to just call it the Unofficial Fae Con :P because 1) I wasn't planning to go this year even with Gillian Anderson (not a fan of X-Files... SORRY!), 2) it's $45 + $5 service charge (really? service charge?) and 3) I would only be interested in Kate Mulgrew, Captain Kathryn Janeway.
BUUUUTTT... lo and behold, they announced the cast of Lost Girl will be making a repeat appearance. Really? Fan Expo decided to repeat the awesomeness of Lost Girl from 2011? Ok, you win. I cannot say no to Lost Girl.

Let me split this blog into 3 sections, so if you want to skip my non-Lost Girl and swag rambling, feel free to click on "Lost Girl" and move onto the important part.

• Fan Expo
• Swags
• Lost Girl

Lots of happening at Fan Expo like they do every year. So, I woke up early and drove down and what do I see on the highway? A police car... but not JUST any ordinary police car... It's...

A Chamberlain County Sheriff cop car? Where is Chamberlain County? It's definitely NOT in Canada since I've never heard people use "Sheriff" here. It must be a movie set car! And the tow truck did say something about Film Tow...

A little advice for you, if you plan to visit Toronto for the Fan Expo. Buy your ticket in advance and either have them mailed to you (there was an extra charge) or pick it up advanced! I had purchased my tickets a few weeks before (once Lost Girl was confirmed) and had picked it up at the advance booth earlier in the week. Why? See this:

This was the lineup for already purchased ticket. Now, there was a TOTALLY different line for buying tickets... this picture courtesy of @ri_docculus. Having said that though, the line up to get in was smooth. It moved along at a pace that it took only 15min to go through the snake line. Have to give credit to the Fan Expo organizer for quickness and organization. It could have been disaster like a few years ago. Here's another image from the top of the massive amount of people who had pre-purchased tickets.

And as a bonus picture, I saw Chainsaw Lollipop (the video game) line up...

As usual, there are LOTS of things to see... lots of vendors, previews and samples. If you collect comic books or action figure, this is the place to be since most vendors do have back issues or special editions. I didn't even bother looking at the stuff... I could spend hundreds of dollars trying to find Xena collectibles. As I said, LOTS of things to see... I guess this is the reason why they called this the Comic-Con North! There's this...

and then Lego Hulk... just look at the size of that kid!!

And... DarthMaus?

And my favourite SHE-RA!!!!! Oh and the Batman guy...

And Back to the Future car!

Other notables that I seriously can't take all the pictures of includes: Sailor Moon, Star Wars Troopers, Star Trek, Princess Leia, Steampunk, Doctor Who, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Spartacus, Megaman, Portal (video game) and a host of other anime stuff.

End of the Fan Expo rambling! Now for some SWAAAAGS!

Another thing I love about going to Fan Expo is to see new things and to get freebies. Who doesn't love swag? No, please do not call the swag police (Rizzoli & Isles reference. lol)

There were plenty of things available. CTV were giving out t-shirts to promote their tv shows but I missed out on them. But I did pick up other stuff. A bag from EBGames (no picture, it's just a bag...), these "ROXX" thingies which reminds me of a lot of Pogs back in the days...

Then there's this Marvel spintop beans thing and a Michael Jackson Experience disco ball keychain and free itune movie/comic/music (1 time use) but I don't have an itune. I just wanted the card.

Of course, you can't forget the comic books (I only picked up 1 and a Lego one)

Also picked up 7 buttons for the main characters of Once Upon a Time

And I must toss in a game related stuff. Picked up an Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Assassin's Creed card for the voice actors to sign but I just wanted them cause I like the games and it's neat! lol

So, are you still with me? Or did you just skip everything above and just clicked on Lost Girl? I know it's long, I don't blame you.

And now, I present the most important and the reason to be Fan Expo...

At Hall G at 12 noon!

The Q&A officially started at 12 noon but I got there around 10:30am. 1) I'm over excited, 2) beat the crowd and 3) I want a better seat then I had last year! And I did meet up with Lost Girl tweeps! @Faenonymous, Tim and Sue of @MindReel, @jorjafoxluvr, @Byflutterby, @QuickLookBusy, @mpleaf67, @NellyFFan, and I have to mention these 2

@smellycat1304 and @rocarangi for coming ALL the way from France to be here! I hope you gals had an awesome time!

I probably left out a few people... sorry!!

One thing the Lost Girl fan reminds me is the Xenaverse. The fans are just fantastic people and great people the be with. The cast themselves are just very humble, very friendly and faetastic people. I love Lost Girl for the show, the cast, the fans and the story. I am forever a Xenite and a Faefan!

Oh right... the actual Q&A

And the wonderful @thetelevixen moderating the panel

The cast of Lost Girl

Ksenia Solo and Anna Silk... Is Ksenia tweeting?

Rick Howland, KC Collins, Zoie Palmer and Kris Holden-Reid

They were asked about the triangle... soKmReIoSne mentioned a threesome...

KC decided to take a picture of the fans

This image from Rick Howland's point of view.

We really doubled the number of people who came last year. I recall, Anna last year said she was surprised by the size of the crowd because the show was only in Canada at the time and that Lost Girl were at the Fan Expo in 2010 with a booth and asking people to watch it. Anna, your wish came true! Rick's comment from 2011 was "It's the number 2 show being downloaded online." Oh yes, he meant that.

But the success of the show has risen so much that that I'm sure we can do a Fae Con, even fan run and be successful... It's a work in progress. Just look at the crowd!

Back to the Q&A

Lots of things were said... but no secrets were given away. However, we were treated to Season 2 bloopers before the cast game out! Courtesy of underwolrd6667

The Q&A Panel (courtesy of @Kedrie)

Different angle from @faenonymous

Full length version:
Lost Girl Panel @ Fan Expo 2012 by bassistaddict

Text highlights of the Q&A:

• Rick also served water to Ksenia and Anna... oh Rick, the Trickster came out, didn't he?
• KC Collins getting picked on but that's because he loves spooning with Kris Holden-Reid and with Zoie Palmer.
• Zoie wants to have Lauren wear nothing but Labcoat...
• Kris considers himself as the hunk of the show
• Zoie being Zoie... making the perfect timing comments
• Kris and his "French Canadian" accent
• KC keeps digging himself into a deeper hole and the cast just jump on it
• Ksenia living tweeting while in Q&A

I did ask a question... I was the 1st but due to time constraint, I can only ask ONE! I know I'm so greedy... So I asked a question in reference to this:

Hopefully I will get to ask other questions. They are good ones. Trust me! But it will be for another convention.

After the Q&A is OFF to the autographs! It was a long line up. It was great just chatting with random people and I did bump into someone that I didn't expect. He said he watches the show for Kenzi. Sure, Doug... SURE.

Also met Sam, the wonderful Kenzi look-a-like and performing the "Kicking it! I'm the wolfman!" I totally missed filming it and I was going to do it. I can tell you Kris and Ksenia loved it so much... Ksenia wanted a picture with Sam! She titled Kenzi meets Kenzi

Apparently, some fans didn't get the chance for the up close. It is not really the cast fault. If they could, they WOULD sit through how ever many hours needed to meet everyone. It was due to time constraint for the next person to sign (seriously, what can be more awesome then Lost Girl?) I hope that those who missed the chance to meet the case were able to get the signed picture at least.

OH WAIT: Those who missed it... You MUST click this

So what happened when I got my stuff signed?

When it did get to my turn, Rick looked at me and said, "Hi JOANNE" like I did something wrong. A two questions into my mind, 1) why does he remember my name when he meets hundreds if not thousands of fans, 2) what did I do that made him remember me? Was it good? Bad? Nope either, he remembers me from season 2 finale viewing.

Kris remembered me as "the girl who had too many questions." lol

Ksenia, Zoie and Anna signed my photos and asked where they were from. One was from last Fan Expo and the other was from the pre-show taping. I just love Zoie and Anna. If I could, I'd take you home with me!

And of course, I can't forgot KC Collins, he asked how I was doing. I told him "ah... I'm alive?" and I think he laughed - still love his smile. I seriously don't know how to answer that question. I usually give unexpected answers...

The ONLY people missing was Paul and Emmanuelle. I know Paul is funny and Emmanuelle would fit right in! We may request Emmanuelle to do the "Dancing Morrigan." If these 2 were at the panel, I think the roof would have exploded from too much laughter.

So what did I get signed?

8x10 photo signed!

A a bunch of personal pictures! They're from either Fan Expo 2011 or from the Pre-Show taping.

So, let's make this Fae Con happen, give the account a follow. Yes, shameless self promotion. I know we filled out the room... and with hundreds more that couldn't attend. And trust me, if 2 girls would visit from France... just imagine how BUSY and INSANE it would be if it's just Lost Girl ONLY CON at an ideal date!

And for ALL the pictures at the Q&A and Autograph Session, click here. I have 50 photos up (that's not a lot) but if you have photo and want to share, let me know, we'll find a way to group all the pictures and have one ginormous Lost Girl album...




PS: Sorry, some photos aren't in their proper angle cause Blogger is stupid and decided to auto rotate them inappropriately.
PPS: Wow, that was long... hope you enjoyed it though! UPDATE: adding new video from different angles previous video links: Courtesy of msckaren

Another day at the ball park!

I must say, it is really sad and disappointing that the Toronto Blue Jays are just spiraling and just can't win now. The team is now made up of mostly Triple-A players. They might as well go ahead and temporary rename the Toronto Blue Jays to the Toronto Las Vegas 51s.

The game wasn't fun for the Jays fan. But when you have a team that lost 3 starting picture, your All-Star Home Run champ and a energy spark plug, it is really hard to still compete.

But that's not the point of this blog.

The Blue Jays had a bobblehead doll promotions. I had 2 and of course must complete set. I had a spare ticket and offered it to a twitter friend from Australia. It was actually her second game but who doesn't love getting swag? I asked if she wanted to go to the bobblehead game and she said "what the heck is a bobblehead game?" I should have said "do you want to go to a game where they give out bobblehead."

Yes, I love swags... I am a sucker for freebies...

What's not to love?

You may remember this post from last year...

If not... you just need to see this picture

So, this year's bobblehead promotions were:
Brandon Morrow, Yunel Escobar and Ricky Romero.

First nicely inside their boxes...

Now out of the box

And of course, the back view.

They really made fun of Ricky and his flat brim hat and even Little Ricky Ro had the flat cap and his squinty eyes!

Now I wait for next year's promotion!

UPDATE: I was also reminded of the foul ball we got during the game. It is the first time that I got a foul ball after going to so many games!

Sad Truth of Canadian Olympians

Globe and Mail has an interesting article titled "With eyes of 2016, Canadian Olympic officials weigh price of gold"

The sad truth of Canadian Olympians is they can't get enough fundings. Now amount of government help will help them. There are just too many disciplines that needs the money and there is only so much to spread around.

Canada finished 1 Gold 5 Silver 12 Bronze
a total of 18 medals.

I am not knocking at our athletes. How can you not be proud of our Canadian Women's Soccer team winning the Bronze after a heartbreaking and TERRIBLE refereeing? They deserved an opportunity at Gold. It didn't happen. They said what they wanted and moved on and concentrate on a change a medal.

Or the heartbreak of the Canadian 4x100 men's relay team? DQ only because the tippy-toe of his foot stepped on the line. And have a read of this story. It really gives the meaning to be Canadian.

Why can't we get more corporate support? Is it always get something in return if I do something for you?

The only truly Canadian corporate sponsors for Olympic athletes are; Bell, RBC, Petro-Canada and Rona. Their advertisement were very prominent during the Olympics (I especially love the Rona one - across Canada relay of a screwdriver).

Other sponsors include P&G, Wal-mart but they're not Canadian companies. It's true there aren't that many Canadian own company but what has been a common theme is we, as viewers, aren't exposed to certain events in non-olympic year; gymnastics, triathlets, decathletes etc.. What we do see is the "popular" sports; tennis, soccer, golf, baseball, hockey, etc..

Although sponsorship is one of those interesting things, it's about business. I think there are lots of resource in Canada that can help but because of the politics of business, vast possibility of funds kind of just slip away.

Canadian companies that could sponsor athletes? Telus, Rogers, Home Hardware (but they already sponsor Special Olympics), Huskies, McCain Foods, Maple Leaf Food, Molson (even though it's now owned by Coors Brewery and it's probably not the best sponsor for athletes...), and all 5 major Canadian Banks (TD, CIBC, Scotia, BMO). These companies listed could be tapped for multi-billion dollars resource. But here's the issue; RBC is an official sponsor and in the world of business (as my limited business classes would have me understand is) when one major company has pour money in, it is almost always true other companies will not do anything due to the exclusive rights that they enjoy. The best example will be Scotiabank and the NHL. Scotiabank owns exclusive rights as sponsors of NHL and it is also a reason why you can get custom NHL logo on cheques that other banks cannot provide.

With that being said though, the past few Olympics broadcasts were actually a joint venture between Bell Media and Rogers. This is why you were able to view A LOT of Olympic events on CTV, TSN that are owned by Bell and on Rogers Sportsnet. Were it not for the Olympics, they would be completing for certain rights.

Getting back to my point is that exclusive rights sometimes messes up the untapped funding for athletes. BMO sponsors both the Toronto FC AND Montreal Impact soccer teams of MLS, and Canadian Soccer Association but because they're primary sponsor.

We really need more corporate sponsors on the amateur athletes of sports we don't hear about. How can we expect them to achieve in winning medal when the athletes themselves have to work for their own trainer, nutritionist and etc? Should we be satisfied with just 18 medals and a disappointing ONE gold medal finish? No. And this shouldn't be just about the athletes, the paralympic athletes are OFTEN overlooked.

I hope the Canadian Women's soccer team will be the inspiration that can help capture more corporate fundings for other Olympic sports because A LOT of us will never have an opportunity to experience the Olympic dream. It is through these athletes that we live our imaginations. They're the ones that inspires and brings a nation together.

Beauty and the Beast, the Broadway Musical

Tale as old as time. Timely classic and romance (I know, cheesy, I can't think of anything else). So I actually finally went around and saw the Broadway musical. It was a second run in Toronto at the Four Seasons Centre.

I was just reading the The Toronto Star online and this article came up. It's always interesting to read a review before going to see a play or movie. While I did agree to some of the points but to give it a 1.5 out of 4? And called the 2.5hr show a life sentence? Give me a break! How do people hire these "critics" and give these terrible reviews?

Here's my honest opinion on the show itself:

As I said, I have not seen the original Broadway/Toronto production so I don't know of the "extravagant" settings. For what it's worth, the stage is only so big and I think they did a wonderful job of using what they had to change scenes by rolling different sets, turning it around and placing them in a different area on stage. It's hardly worth complaining the "fact that it’s a touring production is reflected in sets and costumes." For people who are did not grow up in the Broadway stage settings or understand how it should be lay out on stage. This is a terrible reason to put down a show.

Costumes were fine. You can only do so much with Beast's mane. Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Babette, and Madame de la Grande Bouche, their costume did reflect their animation counter parts. I can't imagine really putting Madame de la Grande Bouche in a real closet costume and what they did I thought was ingenious. Oh and the way Chip was presented - brilliant.

The story itself is near identical of the Disney animation, extra songs were added and humour is a large part of the show. Gaston, in particular, is the funniest character on the play. He really emphasized the ego, playboy and as thestar article stated narcissistic personality. You actually enjoyed the Broadway Gaston more the animation Gaston.

Music is my expertise and I can tell you, I really enjoyed the music, from the overture to the songs themselves were memorable. I was surprise about the fact that the cast of Beauty and the Beast had a near identical voice to the Disney movie. I certainly think that is a plus. Because when you are reproducing something, people have certain expectations and wants to hear familiarity.

Emily Behny played Belle and her voice was absolutely beautiful. She carried the Belle tune exactly the way you would remember it in the movie. And when she hit the high note, it was a thing of beauty.

Matt Farcher played Gaston and I believe he really stole the show. He had the powerful tenor voice and his personality brought Gaston to life that made Gaston an enjoyable character and not the jerk that's in the movie.

Michael Haller as Lumiere was also likeable but I wonder if that's because it's Lumiere. Afterall, he is the French candle romantic guy.

Jessica Lorion played Babette and I loved the character. It's pretty funny that everytime she's on stage, she has to "shake it." I mean, she is the brush...

James May as Cogsworth was also likeable. He was very close to the movie character as well but wasn't my favourite.

Julia Louise Hosack as Mrs. Potts. Who doesn't love Mrs. Potts? Of course Julia is no Angela Lansbury and while she didn't sound like her, Julia brought a different character voice to Mrs. Potts that was pleasantly good. I sort of feel bad for her to have to keep her left arm up as the stout of the tea pot.

Leaving the last important character to review but unfortunately not the good is Beast played by Dane Agostinis. This is where I agreed the the thestar article. The original Beast in the movie is voiced by Robby Benson. While his voice was altered for the movie, it was kind of disappointed to hear Beast's voice and missing that depth. I don't think it helped that he was a tenor. One voice that is very distinct is that of David Keith of Disney's Gargoyle fame. He has the perfect tone and deepness in his voice that was needed for Beast. Unfortunately, Dane Agostinis didn't have it. It really took away the sad, tortured soul persona.

All in all though, it is still a good show. I definitely rate the show a lot better then what thestar gave. It is not a perfect show but it is definitely worth going to watch with friends.

The Help (A Movie Review)

I have finally gotten around to watching The Help.

What made me wanted to watch this movie was the story itself taking places during America's segregation in the 60s. I am glad that I am not born in that era and to have to go through the discrimination. However, being of ethnic minority, these same prejudice and discrimination are still happening in the 21st Century.

Over the last 50 years, human civilization itself has changed SO much (computers, cellphones, cars, medicine, etc) and yet, we, as people, are still trying kill one another or deny people's basic rights.

I know the movie was based on the book. Since I have not read it, I will solely based it on the movie.

I wanted to watch this movie and have an understanding of that particular era. The movie really emphasized the segregation of the 60s. And watching it now in 2012, some of these discrimination just blew my mind.

One thing that jumped out is really how discrimination is taught. We don't go out and make a decision to say "so today, I'm going to hate *insert group* because they're *insert stereotype*."

This quote shows exactly what I'm talking about:
Skeeter: These colored women raise white children, and in twenty years those children become the boss.

Somehow, somewhere, in the 20 years raised by these colour women, the white children learned to discriminate against someone who was essentially their mother, just not biologically.
Another scene that made me ponder about the discrimination was the use of toilets. I remember reading and watching some videos of how coloured and whites were not allowed to used the same water fountain or same bus. In the movie, toilets should not be shared because white people will get "the disease." When I saw the scene where they proposed a law to build a separate toilet for coloured people, I went "say what? You can't get disease from sharing a toilet." It is one of those things that we do not understand today.

Going back to the roles of these coloured women, they were to cook, clean, and take care of babies. Did you know that this actually STILL exist today? In Hong Kong, I would estimate that about 60-70% of family has a live-in maid of Filipino background. I can't be certain of the pay rate (certain would be decent enough) but to have a live-in maid to do EVERYTHING. And I have seen children being spoiled by it. And then it's things like these that you realized, we have not really evolved into better people. We still treat some people of other race a lower class because of where they're from. End of Rant.

I really liked how some of the character's were developed. Celia was awkward but funny and was more modern then her housewife counterparts. While Hilly was the type of bitch you dislike because of her backward points of views.

After all my rant and complain, I really did enjoy the movie. Although, their Southern accent sometimes meant "what did they just say?" it was still worth watching. I actually plan on watching it again eventually.

Best line of the movie: "Eat My Shit!"

Disney Pixar's Brave (a Movie Review)

This past week I went to see Brave. How does Pixar keep producing these timeless stories? Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc, Wall-E, Up and so on. You can now add Brave to the list. I think it might be my favourite Pixar movie.

Here's the recap and info from IMDB.com

I really enjoyed the movie. And who doesn't love the Scottish accent??

It is visually stunning. I have not been to Scotland but the animation of the landscape is simply beautiful. I found myself drawn into the beauty of the land... even though it was computerized. I thought they did a great job in Up! with South America but the Scottish Highland... WOW! Also stunning was capturing the human emotions onto a bear.

One thing you learn in a music class is how music drives the story. And it was amazing (and I might use this word one too many times). Patrick Doyle created the story with just the music. It was beautiful and amazing (yes, see? I said it again). When you think Scottish music, you will automatically think bagpipes. Yes, bagpipe music was in the movie because you can't have Scottish music without bagpipe but it was done in moderation. Like any other animation, music is very important in driving the story and it definitely did its job. If I come out of the theatre with "I need to go buy the original soundtrack!" It means I really LOVED the music! And the last time that I actually bought an original soundtrack was back in 2000, Gladiator and that was EPIC soundtrack!

I would talk about the story but I might ruin it for you. What I will talk about is the theme of the movie or my interpretations at least. The obvious thing is that the protagonist is Merida, a girl, a young princess. I read someone's comment or opinion somewhere and I have to agree; Merida will obvious be part of the "Disney Princess Collection" along with Belle, Jasmine, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. The difference here is though, Merida is a strong, independent little girl and which my friend pointed out, "she didn't need to be paired up with a guy," which is great for girls watching the movie. Having said that, there were also things about the movies boys will love. The most obvious part is Merdia's triplet brothers. They were just adorable trouble makers. You can't help but love them. However, if they were your kids, they will definitely drive you mad.

I didn't watch the movie in 3D so I'm not sure what I missed but this is definitely a must see movie.

If my rating for movie counts, it's a definite 4 out of 5.

Oh and to make it ALL worth it... there is a teaser preview for next Pixar movie... Monsters University. Oh yes, a pre-quel to the 2001 movie Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo is returning to theatre for 3D - that might actually intriguing.

If Bo is a descendant of Xena, then Jane Rizzoli must be her reincarnation...

I've started watching Rizzoli & Isles and I am loving every moments of this show. I previously came to a conclusion that Bo is a descendant of Xena, because they both have similar themes and people around them. But then after watching Rizzoli & Isles, I'm starting to think, "wait, if Bo is the descendant of Xena... that makes Jane... her reincarnation?" The similarity between Xena, the Warrior Princess and Detective Jane Rizzoli is kinda so similar that I can only conclude that Jane Rizzoli is either her reincarnation or Jane has Xena's spirit trapped in her body (think Xena, Season 2, Episode 10, The Xena Scrolls)

Let's start with the basic...

Both Xena and Jane Rizzoli are tall... as in 5'10" tall and capable of handling weapons.

Both have long dark hair.
vs

Both have a loyal companion (the smarter one)

Gabrielle, Bard of Poteidaia
vs

Dr. Maura Isles, the Medical Examiner
Hey, did you notice that they're blonds?

Both have men in their lives that well, they are just there...
Xena has Joxer and Autolycus...
Ok, if you want to bring up the subject of love interest instead then you get
Marcus
Julius Caesar

And who can forget the God of War himself, Ares?

and Gabrielle had
Perdicus who is... dead...

Now Jane has
Agent Dean, who has been called back to Washington.
Or the army guy, Casey... still stuck on the other side of the world.

and Maura had

Ian who is actually wanted by Interpol

Oh and please don't forget this guy... the creepy, psycho Dennis who, thankfully, is dead.

So, that's pretty convincing evidence that the men aren't meant to be. Girls, you've got each other. It's better that way.

Both of them have 2 brothers...
Xena's got
Toris
and Lyceus

Jane's got
Frankie
and Tommy

Now, let's not forget that they're protective of each other...


Oh yes, when you threaten their friend, you will feel the wrath!

Am I missing anything else?