Merry Christmas!

Yes its Christmas today, and I just want to say Merry Christmas to my family and anyone who reads this crap.

Kings vs Warriors game and “UP” dvd/blu-ray release party

My friend Osman called me and said he got some free tickets to the Sacramento Kings game vs the Golden State Warriors. It was Osman, Mai, and his little brother and myself. We got some decent seats, so I checked the tickets and they were worth $90 each. CRAZY! but it was all good. We were seated with a bunch of Warriors fans and so we all rooted for the Warriors but they lost anyways. Here are some pics I took:

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This past Tuesday was the release date for Pixar’s new movie UP. To celebrate, they had an official release party at Fenton’s Creamery (Russel’s favorite ice cream shop). It was held at Fenton’s in Oakland. Joanna and myself went a little early. we were hungry so we went to IKEA for some food that was really good and REALLY cheap.
All this food for $15!

The party didn’t start till 5pm but we got there at 3:45pm and we were lucky enough to get a parking spot in their lot (which had only like 14 spaces).  Since we were there so early, I felt we needed to buy something to at least show that we’re customers. So we got some Mozzarella sticks. While we were waiting, they had this crew put balloons on all the seats and This radio station came too.

This was before everyone showed up…

And this was after the line to get in was going out the door…

After the party started we ordered a special sundae called “The Spirit of Adventure Sundae” which was only available that night. Here is a pic of the Menu for it…

My mom, brother, little sister, Joston and Anna showed up later on. Some of them ordered the same thing. We were the first ones there and nobody told us anything. Apparently some Pixar people were in the backroom and the line for that was crazy long. So once we were done we got in line for about 30 minutes. There were two guys, The one we met was  the Production Designer Randy Nierva. He asked us what we wanted him to draw and we got some cool stuff. Here are the pictures…

Awesome right?!

After that we left and the line to get in was really long. We went back home and that was it. Here are some more pictures

Before everyone showed up…

After everyone showed up…

I thought this was going to be bigger…

Halloween ‘09 and Katrina’s Baby

This Halloween Me an Joanna dressed up as Toy Story 2 characters. I dressed up as Buzz Lightyear and Joanna dressed up as Jessie. By the way everyone asks why I didn’t dress up as woody. Well; Woody and Jessie aren’t dating, Woody has Bo-Peep and Buzz has Jessie (End of Toy Story 2)

Here are some pics:

Left to right (name-character)
Jake-Grumpy, Erwin-Diego, Dustin-Mad Hatter, Jaime-Rock person?, Joston-Dancing with the stars contestant, and Me

Joanna-Jessie, Sam-Queen of Hearts, Jacqueline-Snow White, Anna-Dancing with the stars contestant, Beth-White Rabbit, Leslee-Dora, and the little kids
Right before Halloween my cousin had a baby. His name is Luke Aaron Roses Berry. Born 10/25/09, 8lbs 15.5oz, 22.4 inches, 14.5 head diameter. Here is a pic of him and me goofing around in the waiting room.

Disney Symphony

Last month I went to San Francisco with Joanna to see the S.F. Symphony play some Disney songs. This concert was to celebrate the opening of the Walt Disney Museum (Which I haven’t been to yet   damn).  We took BART there and it was cool. Walked around before the symphony started and took some pictures.

We met up with Jacqueline and Jake and then we took our seats with one minute to spare.

The orchestra was great. this is the set list they played:

- Overture to William Tell – Rossini
- Waltz from The Sleeping Beauty, Opus 66 – Tchaikovsky
- A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes from Cinderella – Hoffman/Livingston
- Some Day My Prince Will Come from Snow White – Churchill/Morey arr. Bishop
- Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Opus 68 Pastoral - Beethoven (From Fantasia)

Intermission

A Night on Bald Mountain – Mussorgsky
March of the Dwarfs from Lyric Suite – Grieg
Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag) from Mary Poppins – Sherman
When You Wish Upon A Star from Pinocchio -  Harline/Washington
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Dukas

They had this Singer who was a Soprano.  She is a good singer, but not when it comes to Disney songs. I really had a problem with it. During Intermission, we all went to the bathroom and took some pictures on the balcony outside. After the concert was over we all went to McCovey’s in Walnut Creek to mee up with Jasmine and Brian. The Kitchen was closed so Jasmine and Brian went home while we went to Denny’s. Then went home after that

WordPress iPhone app

After a long time of waiting, I finally got an iPhone! This is so cool and I already got tons of apps. One of the apps I got was this WordPress app. So far this feels very user friendly. I’m using the app to write this blog while I’m waiting for cupcakes at Sprinkles cupcakes in Palo Alto

Star Wars In Concert – Sacramento

AWESOME! The concert was really awesome. I went with my friend Osman and his cousin Mai. Osman and I were wearing Star Wars shirts of course. He bought his Yoda backpack and I was going to bring one of my six Lightsabers but decided not too. I just wasn’t sure if they’ll let it in. Anyways, after and hour of traffic we arrive at the Arco Arena. We get there around 40 minutes to showtime. We located the exhibits and it was awesome! I couldn’t get any pictures of my own so here are some pictures that other people took.

If your one of the few people who read this and want to see more go to the Star Wars Blog’s Flicr page here :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/starwarsblog/sets/72157622495816280/

The show was fantastic and the narration by C3-P0 himself Anthony Daniels was breath taking. You can tell he was really into it and the fans loved it. The show was divided into two halves.

The First Halve was music from the Prequel Trilogy (Episodes 1-3). Started off; of course, with the Lucasfilm logo music followed by the main theme. I thought a nice touch was when you first see Anthony Daniels in a black suit jacket with a gold vest. They played songs like “Duel of the Fates”, “Anakin and Padme”, and “Anakin vs. Obi Wan”. For this song especially was pretty cool. What I did not expect was the fire cannons, which added a lot of atmosphere. After an amazing first halve. They let everyone ave a 20 minute intermission. Next they played music from the Original Trilogy (Episodes 4-6). They played some songs like: ” Leia’s Theme”, “The Moisture Farm”, “Cantina Band”, “Imperial March”, and of course they ended with “The Throne Room and End Credits”. It was spectacular. After a long round of applause, they honored us with an encore of the “Imperial March”. This was probably one of my all time favorite concerts I’ve been too. I wanted to buy a shirt but they were $35, so I bought a cool 3D Lenticular Poster instead. Here is a picture of it:

The only thing that sorta bothered me, was the lady sitting next to me. When we sat down, I was expecting a skinny teen or something. The last thing I was expecting was a female Jabba the Hutt. I was kinda dissapointed that I had to sit next to someone like this, but I knew that this is supposed to be a good experience. I gave her as much room as I can and I just wanted the both of us to enjoy the show and at lest be comfortable. I just hope she didn’t think of this as being rude to her. After the concert was over, we wanted to try and take pictures of the exhibits but it was closed off so that was kinda lame. On the way out we saw a lot of nerds with lightsabers fighting in the parking lot so that was kinda cool

Stuff That Happened In LA.

Ok So about two weeks ago, I went to “The Ellen Degeneres Show” and it was pretty cool. The show is shot on the Warner Bros Studios Lot. This was one of the main reasons why I went to this, just to go on the lot without paying anything, plus I guess being on TV for 10 seconds wasn’t that bad

We got there SUPER early. We were like the 4th people there that were not the “Stand By” ticket holders. It was cool to be near the Warner Bros Studios. On the way there, we saw this awesome mural on a side of their buildings that had a bunch of DC Comics Superheros, like Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman etc.

After a long time of waiting, we finally were on our way inside the studio. Once we got checked by security, he had to wait for 20 more minutes. Then after that, we were seated and waited again. By the way, It was really cold but I liked it but not everyone did. On the email that my sister got, it said no T-Shirts so I wore a nice blue dress shirt, but they let in like four guys with t-shirts so that got me a little mad. Anyways, while we were waiting on the set, I guess it was the floor manager and he was keeping us entertained and telling us stuff that we’re supposed to do during the show. Throughout the whole show, we were clapping… ALOT! We were only halfway and my hands started to hurt from everything.

After the show was over everyone got their free CD from Brad Paisley who performed on the show. We all went to the Employee Store which was pretty cool. It had it’s own Jamba Juice and Starbucks inside. My brother bought “Band of Brothers” on Blu-ray for $40 which isn’t bad at all. Then we left the store. We took a ride on a big golf cart to and from the store and the driver took us on a mini tour and telling us stuff on the way. We passed by a couple of sets for “ER”, “The Mentalist”, and “Chuck” which was pretty cool because we actually saw them. Chuck was messing around the the golf cart and the main lady was off on the side. Actually I was more interested about the car I saw. It was the new Nissan GT-R that they used on the show. I was pretty sure they used it on the show because the license plate said “NRD HERD”

Other stuff happened that weekend but not that important. WAIT! There was something! My sister found a glitch online and we got two nights at a Hilton Garden Inn for $20 instead of the usual $130 a night! Yeah I know right?!  Anyways, one night most of us were sleeping and then we hear high pitch tones and emergency lights from in the room. We all reluctantly woke up around 4am and we smell smoke. So we sorta get dressed to see what was going on. Apparently Mostly all of the double doors were closed and so I wander around to see whats up (Our room is on the first floor). Strong smells of smoke in the hallway but not outside. We were told that the smoke was actually coming from a microwave that someone wasn’t keeping an eye one and it caught fire. After telling other people passing by what happened we all tried to go back asleep again, but Jasmine was super pissed, even the next day. So that was LA  I guess.

Going to LA

Hey 4 people who read this blog, I’m going to LA to be on “The Ellen Degeneres Show”.

My sister got tickets, so My sister, brother, my brother in laws sister, and myself are going to be in the audience for the Tuesday taping of the show which airs on Wednesday. So i guess check back later for my update

Going to some Concerts…..

Ok, first off  I just want to say that I am super excited to be going to “Star Wars: In Concert” on October 9, 2009! So freaking happy.

I’ve known about since it debuted in London earlier this year via “The Force Cast” (the best Star Wars Podcast).  The cool thing about this concert as that there is a whole lot more than just the music. Before the concert begins, there will be a plethora of Lucasfilm and Star Wars props and memorabilia. Not to mention that this wonderful gala will be hosted and narrted by C3P0 himself, Anthony Daniels! (Click the picture to learn more)

I’m going with Osman and his cousin Mai. She’s the one who bought me a ticket because I was saying how much I wanted to go and didn’t have the money. But all is well and i’m super excited! But there is something before that I am really hoping to see..

If you know there are five levels of Fatness, then you know who i’m talking about. Gabriel Iglesias is one of the most funniest comedians I have ever seen. (Click the picture to Gabriel’s website)

Osman, Mai, Gabriel Iglesias, Me and Joanna

He will be performing at the San Jose Improv this month on the 24th, 25, and 27th. I posted a video of him on a previous post but here is one of his classics

There is one more concert that me and Joanna would like to go to. It’s in San Francisco at the Davies Symphony Hall on October 16th. The event of the night will be called “The San Francisco Symphony Celebrates the Opening of The Walt Disney Family Museum”. So far it’s Joanna and I and maybe my friends Christine and Robin. In honor of the opening of the Walt Disney Family Museum, we can relieve the magic of our childhood favorites.
Click the picture to learn more.

I only wish the Star Wars concert will be like this…

Disney’s The Princess and the Frog

I’m sure many of us remember the days when Disney Studios released a new movie. When it was either “Alice in Wonderland”, “Aladdin”, or “Hercules”. When PIXAR came onto the scene, it was a game-changer. Suddenly CG (computer graphic) films was going to be the future. Dreamworks Pictures followed this trend and eventually the Disney Animation Studios did this too. After pictures with less than worthy grosses like “Home on the Range” and “Meet the Robinsons” Disney has gone back to its roots with hand-drawn animation with their new film “The Princess and the Frog”. Check out the trailer below.

Also check out this short featurette about the movie’s villain.

The only bad thing that I can think of is if “‘The Princess and the Frog” will treat black people the same way that “Pocahontas” treated Native Americans.