DunkID

Breaking Bad SB Dunks

Breaking Bad is one of those shows that just keeps getting better and better every year.  I love this season, and I’m amazed by how badass Walter White is getting (seriously, Bryan Cranston is one of the best actors ever).  This SB is inspired by the hazmat suit Walter wears when he is cooking.  The shoe has tumbled leather to represent the crinkles in a hazmat suit, a black sole for the rubber boots, the swoosh is in a glitter patent leather baby blue to represent “Blue Sky”, and the insole has a face sketch of the notorious “Heisenberg”.

The Office, Dwight Schrute SB Dunks

I hated Dwight Schrute when I first started watching the Office, but over the years I have started to like him.  He’s one of those guys that are just annoying because they always want to come in first place.  Of course all that hard work ends up biting him in the butt because of karma.  The colours on this Dunk are inspired by what Dwight always wears: a yellow shirt, brown suit, and brown tie (which is used on the swoosh).  The insole would be a dark red colour that is inspired by beets.  “I don’t care what Jim says, that is not Benjamin Franklin. I am 99% sure.” Dwight Schrute

The Joy of Painting, Bob Ross SB Dunks

These Dunks were inspired by Bob Ross, the host and artist of The Joy of Painting.  I respect Bob, not only because of what he inspired in me, but also what he contributed to the world of art.  In a way Bob made art easy and enjoyable.  He took away the fear and intimidation one would have in wanting to paint.  He made painting fun, and most importantly he made it all about the soul.  The uppers on these Dunks are a mix of jean material (Bob would paint in a jean shirt) and canvas material.  The soles are gummy, and my favourite part of this sneaker are the insoles which feature one of Bob’s paintings.

Street Fighter IV NECA Action Figures

There aren’t that many fighting games that I like, but I do love Street Fighter.  It’s one of those iconic games that everyone played.  Back in grade school during lunch I would go with my friends to the local arcade and play some Street Fighter.  I would mostly use Ryu because I loved all his attacks, especially his Hadouken.  I really sucked and would lose a lot, but I just enjoyed hanging out with my friends and watching all the cool battles between them.

In 2009, NECA released their line of Street Fighter action figures based off of the popular video game Street Fighter IV.  I was excited for this toy series and bought the amazing fighting duo of Ryu and Ken.  The toys released in many places such as Toys R Us, but I bought mine from a local comic shop for around $20 each.  They come packaged in a clamshell so it’s easy to see the complete figure, allowing mint in box collectors the chance to display them proudly.  The art on the packaging is also nice, and even includes a character description.  Like, did you know, Ken hates spiders? LOL.

The figures are very impressive, they come with 35 points of articulation and an extra pair of hands, allowing collectors to display them in various poses.  The style the action figures take are from the video game by incorporating a watercolour effect.  Though the only drawback to this watercolour effect is that paint does run-over, so finding a flawless figure can take a few tries.  Other than that these figures are amazing and NECA did an excellent job with this line.

Street Fighter:

http://www.streetfighter.com

NECA:

http://necaonline.com

YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm8YLraj9sw

Berry Almond Chicken Salad

A friend of mine had been bragging about a salad she had at Wendy’s one day.  She tried the berry almond chicken salad, and she said it was very delicious and full of flavour.  Despite all the junk food I usually blog about, I am also a fan of salads.  My love for fast food salads began almost 10 years ago, when I didn’t feel like eating another hamburger and opted for a gourmet salad.  That decision changed my point of view on fast food salads, because I have been eating them ever since.  I was a little scared of the berry almond chicken salad because in the back of my mind, fruit wouldn’t taste good with lettuce.  But my friend’s high praise for this salad changed my mind, and I bought it.

This salad is amazing, and was even better than how my friend described it.  Besides being delicious it also captures summer in a salad with all the fresh fruit and vegetables.  Although you do have a mix of flavours from sweet, salty, bitter, and tangy they all mix together and work perfectly.  Wendy’s sells this salad for around $9, and after calculating all the ingredients that make it, it’s well worth the price.  Seriously, I tried to make this salad at home and was surprised by how expensive it is to make.

To make your home version of the salad, I have included all the ingredients I used.  I started with a roman lettuce, washed and then cut.  I included fresh cut strawberries, blueberries, chopped almonds, and Emmental cheese (Wendy`s uses Asiago cheese, which is very expensive).  I then added chicken breast strips, from a pre-cooked box (it`s just easier that way).  When I mixed everything together I added a store brand raspberry vinaigrette.  My salad came out the same way as Wendy`s only much cheaper, and with lots of left overs to make it a couple of times again.  I highly recommend this salad to anyone that is bored of the same old fast food, and would like to try something that is delicious but also healthy.

McDonalds Strawberry Vanilla Muffin

This past weekend I went to go get my morning coffee from McDonalds and as always paired it up with a muffin.  However, this time they ran out of carrot muffins and so I had to choose another flavour.  I asked them what they had left, and they mentioned their new strawberry vanilla muffin.  I freaked out because I wasn’t aware of this new muffin, and so I picked that flavour.

On the outside the muffin has this brownish and pink colour that is very appealing to the eyes.  Then the smell is what got me, it reminded me of those Strawberry Shortcake dolls from the 80’s which I always wanted to chew on.  The taste is even better then what it looks like, it’s bursting with flavour and the muffin top is just as good as the bottom.  What I also like about this muffin is that the vanilla flavour isn’t as intense, and that the strawberries don’t make the muffin soggy.  This is a very nice muffin and I’m glad McDonald’s surprised me with this new menu item.

McDonalds:

www.mcdonalds.ca

GTA San Andreas: Learning to Fly

I finally beat the “leaning to fly” missions in GTA San Andreas.  This literally was a nightmare for me because I suck at flying games.  I started San Andreas earlier this year and thought I would beat it in a few weeks, but when I came to these missions I hit a brick wall.  I looked online for a cheat, but didn’t find any.  I looked for walkthrough strategies as well, but they seemed too complicated for me, so I gave up.  The only advice I took was to leave the game for a while and then come back later and try the missions again.  This had worked for another person in a forum, so I figured I’d do the same.

Sure enough, 4 months later I decided it was time to go back and try my luck.  Well luck was on my side because this advice actually worked for me.  I think it’s because I came back fresh and regenerated so that my reflexes were on-point and accurate.  I was so excited to beat these missions because I felt that if I didn’t I would give up on the GTA franchise and never play a game again.  Games aren`t fun when you suck at them.

So now I wanted to share some advice and write a walkthrough for anyone needing help in these missions.  I present to you my GTA San Andreas: Learning to Fly Walkthrough.  First off, if you are getting frustrated by these missions I would suggest taking some time off from the game.  When you come back, you should be relaxed and calm.  As you start to fly, you should ignore the missions and focus on actually learning to control your plane.  This means you will have to learn to use all the buttons on the controller that are necessary in flying.  I first made the mistake of just relying on the analog stick and X button, and would always crash.  Instead try to use the X button minimally, the analog stick for only sharp turns, and instead rely on the L2 R2 buttons to make your turns.  This will be necessary in circling the airstrip, the part I had the worse time in.  The key is to not worry about the time at first and instead focus on learning the course and how to glide your plan.  Make slight movements, and take it slow.  Eventually you`ll get the hang of it, and will have to also beat the clock in order to pass the mission.

The next missions in learning to fly were also difficult, but weren`t as tough for me as circling and landing.  The `destroy targets` mission would have to be the next toughest mission, but since I was on a role, it only took a few tries (about 20 times lol) to finally beat.  The secret there is to speed up, and fire rockets all the time.  In case you are having issues with the other missions I have also added a link to my favorite website for GTA San Andreas walkthroughs.

GTA San Andreas:

http://www.gtasanandreas.net

Paul Moves Out

Title: Paul Moves Out

Writer: Michel Rabagliati

Artwork: Michel Rabagliati

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly

For me there is an allure towards Canadian graphic novels.  There’s something in seeing and reading about content that only growing up in Canada you would know about, that I find alluring.  Seeing Toronto, or Queen Street, or Montreal in a book is so comforting.  I also like seeing brands like Tim Hortons, Molson, or Humpty Dumpty chips.  There’s this sense of sharing a common voice when you read a book that features those things.  So whenever I spot a book in the library that was made in Canada, I pick it up to read.  Paul Moves Out has exactly all the Canadian content that I like in a book.

The book is about a young man named Paul from Montreal who meets a girl named Lucie.  Eventually they develop a relationship and move in together.  That’s basically the story of the book, however it’s the small things that I find appealing in this book.  Not all relationships are as suspenseful as they show in Hollywood movies.  Most of the time, romance is as simple as staying home at night and sharing a wonderful dinner together.  This is what Paul Moves Out is all about, finding romance in the most basic parts of a relationship.  Once you find that special person in your life, the most meaningful parts will be how wonderful it was to have shared those moments together.

Drawn and Quarterly:

http://www.drawnandquarterly.com

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Moves-Out-Michel-Rabagliati/dp/1896597874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331656735&sr=8-1

ReMax Balloon

I took a picture of the Re/max balloon flying (floating) in the sky... it looked so peaceful. A sure sign of summer that I always welcome every year.

Total Recall

I did not want to go watch this movie, but because all my friends wanted to go I went.  I thought this movie was dumb since I first heard about it last year, when they were filming it here in Toronto.  Back then I thought, maybe it will be a totally different story line with the company Rekall being the only connection between the two.  But alas it wasn’t, in fact it was the same movie, except with different actors.  While I do understand that both movies were based off of Philip K. Dick’s “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”, I still would have preferred a different story.  The first adaptation with Schwarzenegger was perfect and didn’t need to be redone.  

The concept of Rekall is very cool, a company that can make any dream feel as if it really happened.  If this movie had been based off of that and then a new story was created, it would have been more entertaining, and could have spawned numerous other sequels to it.  There were some parts of the movie that I did like such as the graphics (Oscar worthy), sexy Jessica Biel and Kate (I always show my underwear in movies) Beckinsale, and the army of robots.  Now that would have been cool if the movie was about Colin Farrell battling robots in the future (kind of like “I, Robot”).  There’s no way I would ever recommend anyone watch this movie, and for those that do I would recommend you visit Rekall to have your memory erased and just keep the Jessica Biel memories.