Wondercon & Podcasting

Last night while talking to my buddy Will I found out that he got his professional passes for Wondercon. He also sent in verification last year and didn't have to show it again. So this morning I emailed them asking why I had to prove I was a professional last and and then again this year as it's suppose to last for 3 years.  And this was the response I got: "Kenny,  It appears that my predecessor approved your application and sent you the email, but failed to change your actual Member Class. I have rectified this error and you should be able to register for WonderCon (and Comic-Con) as normal.  If you have any further issues, let me know."

So guess what I did.. I registered for Wondercon and got two guest pass for my friends Chris and Jes. I still don't know if I'm going all three days (Friday - Sunday) as I don't know if I can get Friday off but I'm defiantly going for the weekend. Chris is also still up in the air, since he had to fly in from Montana but hopefully will know more about his situation soon. Really the only reason I go to Wondercon is to cosplay.. it's kind of an addiction. Will have to see if I can tweak my Hobbit outfit a bit so it's not the same as last year.

After work I went over to Teal's place to record a quick podcast for My Gimpy Life podcast #10. It's going to be my final podcast for this series, at least for the time being. It was a quick 20 minutes and I was on my way home.. will have it edited up and posted at the beginning of February.

Was going to spend the rest of the day just chilling and catching up on some TV (I haven't done that in a long while) but of course for the last hour or so I jumped on LOTRO to mine and gather goodies.

Longdan Express Oriental Supermarket - London Elephant and Castle

Anybody living in South East London (along the lines of Elephant and Castle)? If you do, you may have noticed an Asian store that was being renovated for a few months, and you may have been thinking when will this place be opened. Well, the store opened two days ago (January 21st) underneath a block of student flats that has replaced a gas station which once had a drive-in Burger King. Ah, no more Burger King. (I only went in there once!).

Longdan is a Vietnamese run chain store. From their UK website it looks as if this is one out of four stores running in the South East area of the UK so far. I think this might also be smaller than the other stores, but it's bigger than some of the other Asian stores around the area.

Longdan Express Oriental Supermarket

Opened on 21st Jan 2013

The Entrance and there's a cafe called "aobaba" - not set up yet I think...

A look from the outside

The hot food section - doesn't look ready yet

Well on the outside it doesn't look big, but when you go inside, it feels big!! 

There are a few long aisles... 

This is what you see when you go in!

The cookery utensil section at the back of the store

A look from the other end

A lot of frozen sections...

Ready meals and desserts!

Lots of stuff ^^

More frozen stuff

There are some chilled sections (I forgot to take pictures of them!). They have some Japanese sushi, Korean kimbap, Korean pancakes and a lot of other stuff! And here's the drink section...

A Japanese / Korean frozen food section (there's also a dry food section that sells other stuff like miso paste, sushi rice wine etc, etc)...

Japanese and Korean frozen foods

Vegetable section

Cookery utensils...

Wow!!

Awesome cookery stuff ^^

Other stuff...

Cute sweets!

Vietnamese bread

And the most important section for me is the BENTO BOX section!! (I think Japan Centre have met their competition here in London!!).

Yeeeeah!!! Bento Boxes (lunch boxes)!!! 

Ordinary lunch boxes

Loads of Bento Boxes and utensils!!!!!!!

Here's my purchases from yesterday. It was £9.35 for everything. The bento box cost £3.90. The pot noodle pho is 70p. The dried shrimp cost £2.45, and the fishballs cost £2.30.

My first purchase

I went in there again today to purchase some more things, and also to have a proper look at their frozen section. They have one of my favourite Japanese foods - takoyaki (fried octopus balls), which I tried out last year! (It was buy one get one free, but I didn't get the free one because I bought the last bag). They even have Korean dumplings (I have always wanted to try them)!!! Here I spent over £22 (because I bought a couple more lunchboxes for a friend in Canada)!!

My second purchase

A closer look of the other bento boxes that I will be sending to Canada! ^_^ (sorry for the flash bit - too lazy to take another pic!)

Longdan is a little expensive compared to other Asian stores in the area and of course in comparison to London China Town. So I guess you should compare prices before buying. They don't sell some of the Chinese foods that I like, and they don't sell Nissin noodles, :( (they do now) but I don't mind the bento box section - as it's in my price range! ^_^.

So overall, I will still be going to other local Asian stores but I will definitely go to Longdan for some of the frozen foods!

Address: 128-132 Walworth Road, London SE17 1JL
Telephone: 020 7701 2566

Opening times: Monday - Saturday 10am -10pm, and Sunday + Bank Holidays: 11am - 8pm

Other stores are located in: Leyton, Kingston and Shoreditch

Website: www.longdan.co.uk

View Larger Map

Update 25/01/2013
There's more stuff! More bakery stuff! More chilled foods! And I found beef flavoured mandu!! ^_^

Update 02/02/2013
Well I finally got some more pictures of the chilled section... 

They sell tofu dessert too!! ^^

Big selection of chilled foods!!

And some of the food I bought...

Korean "sushi" called maki

Korean savoury pancakes - pajeon

Japanese Takoyaki balls (Octopus balls)

Update 01/04/2013 (not an April Fools joke!)
The cafe is now open!!! Passed it on Saturday, and they're already in business!! ^_^

Some other Asian stores you may be interested in which are also in the area...
http://asimplegeekylife.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/little-orient-elephant-and-castle.html
http://asimplegeekylife.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/other-asian-supermarket-stores.html

Work, Lunch, Work, Dinner

Well the work day started off a bit rocky when I somehow got on the wrong freeway when coming to work. I normally take the 14 to the 5 to the 170 and then get off at Victory and take the streets to the office. Well I took the 14 to the 5 and then got on the 405 (in my defense that was the way I went to work my past two previous jobs) what is scary is that I was on that freeway all the way to the Victory exit when I realized that this didn't look right, this doesn't look like the exit I normally get off. All of a sudden I realized I was all the way across town on the wrong freeway. You would think the bad traffic would have been a dead giveaway that I was on the 405 but I figured oh well it's the day after a holiday and traffic is really bad. Anyways I got off the 405 and drove an extra 20 minutes on the streets to get back to the point where I normally get off the 170. Lucky for me my job start time is very flexible and I was only a half hour later then I normally would have been.

For lunch I was in for a treat. My friend Steve (from Canada) was having lunch with the lovely Teal Sherer and America Young. He was kind enough to ask if I wanted to join them. They were meeting up at the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Citywalk and I just happen to work right at the bottom of one of the streets that goes up to Citywalk.  It was great seeing Steve again as well as Teal and America who I don't think I had seen in a few months. We talked, shared stories and laughed alot. It was a very nice lunch and something I hope Steve remembers for a long time.

Afterwards I went back to the craziness that is my job. I had made plans to have dinner with my buddy Will tonight. He texted me if we were still on and I said of course. He mentioned that he got a new car... a Honda CR-Z, that's the car that I want to get... and in fact he didn't know about the car until we went car shopping a few weeks back and I introduced it to him.... I was so jealous. Anyways he asked if I mind if Jes and Dallas could join us for dinner. Of course I love our one on one time but I also enjoy hanging with even more friends so I said I didn't mind. We agreed to go to... yep you guessed it.. Universal Citywalk. They actually came to my job and we all walked up to Citywalk together.

Jes had never been there so we walked from end to end. And since it was Jes' first time there we asked if she would pick a place to eat and she chose Tony Roma's. I've never been to a Tony Roma's as I'm not a huge rib lover. But I got some very tasty shrimp and rice. By the end of the meal I was very happy that she chose this place. It was a great evening of food, friends and plenty of laughs.

Said goodbye to Jes and Dallas and I drove Will back to his place where we took his new car out for a spin... it was a nice way to end the evening.

Days like today remind me that though times can be crazy (at work) the in between times (hanging with friends) are what we live for.

We have a winner!

Amazed this morning when I got into the office and saw we have 53 followers. Thank you everyone for supporting this blog. We really do enjoy your feedback.

Now for what you all have been waiting for. I put all the names in a spreadsheet with a random number generator. Our winner for this contest is:
Enkiel

You have two weeks to contact us with your address and starter box choice.

We have a few big hobby things lined up for the next couple months and also some ideas for when we hit 100 followers.
Thanks again for your support.

So I Start My Third Week

Well today starts my third week at Hud:sun Media.  It MLK day which of course we don't have off but coming to work was a breeze as most of the other people out there did have it off so there was hardly any traffic. I wish everyday was a holiday.

President Obama was sworn in today for his second tern as President of the United States of America. I didn't watch it but got tweets all morning quoting his speech. The big thing for me, being a gay man, is his inclusion of equality for all people including gay people. This is the first time that a sitting president mention us gays in an inaugural speech.. it's pretty awesome.

It was another crazy day here at work, which I'm sure if just the beginning of my crazy days here at this new job.

Django Unchained review

When you hear the name Quentin Tarantino, the chances are that images of bloody carnage, long scenes of slick dialogue and some of the most stylish shots in cinema are among the first things that your brain associates with the legendary director. His latest offering, 'Django Unchained' doesn't disappoint, nor does it shy away from blood and gore, with which the director essentially drowns the audience with.

The protagonist, Django (still a slave when the audience are first introduced to him) is soon rescued by eccentric bounty hunter Dr Schultz, who offers Django his freedom in exchange for his assistance on finding three wanted men. The pair form a sort of alliance, and Dr Schultz eventually helps Django try to free his wife from 'CandieLand', a ruthless plantation run by Calvin Candie. 

Jamie Foxx did a great job playing Django, particularly in the scene where Broomhilda is being dragged out of the hot box and you can see his eyes welling up. Djangois portrayed as a heroic cowboy of a character, which can be deemed as ironic. His character comes across as such an American hero, even though the people who surround him don't even consider him to be part of the same species as them. 

Christopher Waltz fully deserved the Oscar nomination he received for his performance. He stole every scene he was in as Dr Schultz, giving the audience a fascinating portrayal of a character who was well ahead of his time. Once again, the academy have snubbed Leonardo DiCaprio, and I couldn't be more heart-broken for him. He handled the complex character of Calvin Candie with finesse, and it was hard to take your eyes off of the actor whenever he appeared on screen.

Directing wise, Tarantino does what he does best... provide the audience with scenes upon scenes of ruthless violence, all of which are beautifully framed and shot with a certain type of flare that few other directors can manage to pull off. One of the most stylish deaths I have seen in a long time came when a wanted man got shot whilst riding on horseback through a cotton field, his blood staining the cotton red. It was literally on screen for a second, perhaps two, but that ingenious shot has stuck with me. As for the man's writing... I never thought that I would say this, but the Ku Klux Klan scene was absolutely hilarious. Tarantino's use of dialogue may be long winded at times, but it's certainly never boring. The spiel that Candie gave about the difference between black and white people's skulls for instance had me gripped from start to finish, as did the fight he and Schultz has about hand-shaking. It's amazing how Tarantino can build tensions so effortlessly using only a conversation and clever use of editing. 

I have seen some amazing films this year already, but I've got to admit, 'Django Unchained' has been my favourite thus far. In Tarantino we trust.

My Friend From The North

Today I got to hang out with my buddy Steve, he is down from Canada visiting. Steven and I are online friends. We've been chatting via Twitter and Facebook for a few years and only have talk on skype a few times. He's a big fan of The Guild and then become a loyal fan of my Guild podcast Knights of the Guild. We've been friends every since so when he told me he was coming down to visit I was very excited to finally met him in person so I set aside an entire day to hang out with him.

He was staying down in Long Beach with his family so I got up early and made my way down there. It's about an hour and a half drive. Once there I picked him up and we drove over to the Long Beach convention center, I wanted to show him where we shot The Guild season five. We then headed to LA. I was taking him to Whimsic Alley, it's one of the coolest Harry Potter stores around. It's been a few months since I had gone last and they changed things around. I love that this place is always changing and getting bigger. Steve didn't purchase anything but I manage to buy some Butter Beer (Butterscotch Beer). Not sure what it will taste like but I'm looking forward to it.. I mean if it's anywhere close to what I had in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter then I'm going back to buy a few cases.

After Whimsic Alley we drove down to Beverly Hills and then down Rodeo Drive. We wound up going to Islands on Pico as Steve wanted a good burger and I think Islands has one of the best.

Our next stop was Hollywood and Highland, hand and foot prints and the stars on the walk of fame. It was fun walking around there. Again it's been a while since I've been there and they have really changed things around.

We then went to my place as I wanted to show Steve where I podcast and had a few gifts for him. We ended our adventure with a half hour hike at Vasquez Rocks. I mean if you're a geek and don't make a stop at Vasquez then you're not really a true geek :)

I then drove him back to Long Beach and we had dinner at Outback Steakhouse (one of his favorite US restaurants) before we said our goodbyes and I headed home.


It was alot of driving, over 300 miles, but it was great to finally meet and hang out with my friend from the north.