Star Wars Celebration...

So last Thursday and Friday, I drove down to the Anaheim Convention Center to attend the latest Star Wars Celebration. The main event (which I missed since I didn't pick my badge up early enough to join the line on Wednesday evening; instead, I watched the panel via simulcast in a separate showroom at the convention center) was the morning panel devoted to The Force Awakens on Thursday. During this presentation, director J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy unveiled the newest trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII...plus introduced the film's three main stars, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, onto the stage to divulge details about their characters for the very first time. Several minutes later, the cast of the Original Trilogy—Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew (Harrison Ford couldn't make it since he was still recovering from that plane crash last month)—appeared on stage to thank the fans for their 35-plus-year devotion to the science fantasy franchise.



Originally, I was only going to attend the Celebration on Thursday, but I went back on Friday to visit the costume and prop exhibit devoted to The Force Awakens. I spent much of Thursday looking for this exhibit (it was on the 2nd floor of the convention center), and by the time I found it later that evening, the line to get into the showroom was cut off since the exhibit was closing for the day. But that's okay... It was another $65 (plus $10 for parking at Angel Stadium; I had to take a shuttle to the convention center on both days) well-spent. Here are several photos from my two days in Star Wars nerdvana.

Photos of the Day... A few hours ago, I drove down to Costa Mesa in Orange County to attend a cooking demo by Whitney Miller...who won Season 1 of the FOX TV show MasterChef back in 2010. The last time I saw Ms. Miller in person was almost three years ago, when she did a previous cooking demo at the Anaheim Convention Center...also in Orange County (right across the street from Disneyland). Unlike that presentation however, I actually got to taste samples of the desserts that Miller taught the audience today. She showed us how to prepare two delicious pastries: the crispy coconut bites with chocolate sauce as well as molten lava cakes—the latter shown at the very bottom of this Blog entry. FYI, this is probably the first time I took a picture of my own food. I'm like a typical Asian. The only difference is, I didn't post this image on Instagram. Of course, it's because I don't have an iPhone.

SpoCom 2011... Last night, I attended the annual car show at the Anaheim Convention Center. Unlike the two previous years, SpoCom obviously wasn’t held in Long Beach...which is too bad, considering the fact that the Long Beach Convention Center is a much bigger venue than its Orange County counterpart and is also at a better location (overlooking the Pacific Ocean, as opposed to being across the street from Disneyland...not that I have anything against the Happiest Place on Earth). Also, there were a lot more models at the SpoCom events of 2009 and ’10—though if you click on the red link below (and obviously check out the two pics posted with this entry), I managed to get pictures with some gorgeous ladies yesterday.

LINK: Photos I took at the 2011 Anaheim SpoCom event

Another reason why the Anaheim SpoCom didn’t seem as exciting to me as the past SpoComs I attended was probably due to the timing of the event. The 2009 SpoCom took place on the same day that Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol helped the Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Orlando Magic to win the NBA Finals that year...while the 2010 SpoCom took place about a month after the Lakers beat the Boston Celtics to clinch the 2010 NBA Championship. So leave it to the Lake Show to be part of the reason why SpoCom (up until this year...thanks a lot, Anaheim, the Dallas Mavericks and the NBA lockout) is one of my favorite import shows that I’ve been to. I’ve been going to these things since 1999...when the first car event I attended—the Import Showoff—was, ironically, held at the Anaheim Convention Center. Carry on.

YESTERDAY, I attended The Celebrity Food and Gift Show at the Anaheim Convention Center in California...where I got to meet Whitney Miller—the Season 1 winner of FOX’s MasterChef TV show last September. Ms. Miller was totally awesome in person! She was very nice...and as shown on television, a really talented cook. Below is obviously the photo that I took with Ms. Miller, while my autographed ticket and a pic I took during her hour-long cooking demo are also shown in this entry.



If there’s one thing that I initially took issue with during her presentation, it was her comment that Michael Bay filmed Transformers at Camp Pendleton (near San Diego, California)...which was the site of one of the cooking challenges on MasterChef last season. Upon further research online, however, I think Ms. Miller was referring to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, obviously not the first film. In Revenge of the Fallen, there’s a shot during that final battle sequence in Egypt where U.S. Naval hovercraft (officially called Landing Craft Air Cushion vehicles, or LCAC) and Marine Corps Cobra attack helicopters arrive on a beach to provide reinforcement for the Autobots and company. That definitely must’ve been filmed at Camp Pendleton... Just because.



So I retract my earlier comment and have absolutely no issue with Ms. Miller’s presentation. You rock, Whitney!