Registration For STAR WARS RUN Singapore 2018 Is Now Open

Hi Huneybees,

Last year's STAR WARS RUN was exhilarating, so many SW fans gathered for that glorious May the Fourth event. With over 15,000 participants in the inaugural edition last year, I bet this year it will even be more interesting!

Registration is now open for the second edition of STAR WARS RUN Singapore 2018. The night run returns on 5 May 2018, with new elements and a different event venue - the F1 Pit Building and the Marina Bay area. Presented by The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia and local race organizer Esprimo, this popular themed run is definitely something STAR WARS fans and runners can look forward to.  

Along with the STAR WARS festival happening on May the 4^th, STAR WARS RUN Singapore 2018 will bring a unique event themed around the iconic storyline and characters from the franchise. Fun activities at the Race Village include STAR WARS themed activities, interactions, food and beverages as well as an outdoor movie screening of STAR WARS movies. 

 

Participants will be able to pick either route – to join the Rebellion on the Light side, or follow Darth Vader’s footsteps on the Dark side. Both routes will feature engagement zones that will bring the STAR WARS experience to life with music and light projections and fun photo opportunities.

New Flag-Off Format and Run Category for Kids 

Increasing from two to three categories this year, STAR WARS RUN Singapore 2018 aims to cater to fans of all ages and fitness levels. On top of the competitive 10km and non-competitive 5.4km, the inaugural 540m Young Jedi Dash for younger children will be added to this second edition. Runners will also be part of a first-of-its-kind flag-off where the Light and Dark side participants for the non-competitive 5.4km will run in opposite directions.

Registration
Loyal Runners (those who registered for STAR WARSRUN Singapore 2017) and early sign-ups can enjoy a special registration price from now till 14 March 2018. Priority registration is also exclusively open to LoyalRunners for the first seven days, with limited slots available. Details of registration prices are as follow:

STAR WARS RUN Singapore 2018 participants can expect to bring home limited edition STAR WARS merchandise exclusive to this year’s race pack. Finishers of the 10km & 5.4km category will also receive a commemorative medal unique to their category and finisher t-shirt. Below are the race pack items...

For registration and more information on STAR WARS RUN Singapore 2018, please visit www.starwarsrun.sg.

All photo credits The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia and Esprimo, unless watermarked.

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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[Movie Review] My Rogue One Experience

 Hi Huneybees,

After banishing the well established world of Extended Universe (EU) to the status of "legend" with the release of The Force Awakens, many Star Wars fans like myself were skeptical about what good Disney would do with the 40 year old franchise moving forward.

Since the announcement of the Rogue One : A Star Wars Story - in 2015, there have had been many talks about how this first stand-alone Star Wars movie would turn out with a "simple" plot that surrounds the plan of Death Star, involving both a group of unknown rebels and familiar baddies like Stormtroopers and (of course) Darth Vader! Some of the much screamed about by many die-hard fans worldwide include the rumoured reshooting of the movie after the initial script was rewritten and the the lack of the opening crawl that's so iconic to anyone who has had watched a Star Wars movie!!

Despite Disney pushing out a teaser and 2 trailers leading to the premiere of Rogue One, Christina, myself and my brother were unsure what we were going to watch before entering the cinema on the official screening day in Singapore on 15th December 2016! It could well be a relive of the proven past with Disney putting many familiar elements - Stormtroopers, Imperial Walker, Scout Walker, Star Destroyers, X-Wing Starfighters - back together in this movie or would it be a setup for another round of criticism much with scene like Stormtroopers walking out of the sea???!!! I was hoping for something in between....

After sitting in for slightly over 2 hours watching Rogue One, my feeling was mixed but fortunately more on the positive side. Here's a disclaimer to all Huneybees who has yet to watch the movie as the follow was considered a spoiler to Rogue One.

While, as been told, no opening crawl appeared at the beginning of this new Star Wars movie; what replaced that iconic moment was a good 15 minutes long of planet-hoping by the director to set the story before the yellow Rogue One title appeared to much cheers from the audience.

The early introduction of the new black Stormtroopers also known as Death Troopers added some freshness to the predictable plot of stealing the plan of the new ultimate Imperial weapon, The Death Star. Seem to be the personal troopers for Orson Krennic, the main villian in this standalone Star Wars movie, these Death Troopers moved tactically and shoot a lot better than the standard white Stormtroopers. Mainly deployed at the will of Orson for his bidding including the killing of the suspected scientists for leaking the plan, the whole company perished with the villain when the planet Scarif was eventually destroyed by Death Star. That explained why we didn't see them in the original "classic" Star Wars Trilogy.

The appearance of the more familiar Imperial Officer, Grand Moff Tarkin, in Rogue One was not entirely a surprise considering he was the commander of the Death Star in A New Hope. What was impressive was the CGI used to recreate this on screen character whose real actor (Peter Cushing) passed away in 1994. Unfortunately this could not be said for the one minute appearance of a young Princess Leia, who appeared before the end of the show, as a link to Episode IV, A New Hope.

While we only have Lando Calrissian in the original "classic" Star Wars Trilogy and Mace Windu (played by Samuel L Jackson) in the prequel Star Wars Trilogy of Episode I, II & III, it is heartening to see more inclusion in terms of non-Caucasian actors representing human race in new Star Wars movies. In Rogue One, we have seen not one but four of them in the form of Baze Malbus (played by Jiang Wen), Chirrut Imwe (played by Donnie Yen), Saw Gerrera (played by Forest Whitaker) and Bodhi Rook (played by Riz Ahmed)!

All characters in Rogue One were rather flat except for lead Rebel character Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones) and Imperial Director Orson Krennic (played by Ben Mendelsohn). I would assume that Disney is trying very hard to recreate winning formula used George Lucas by packing in as many familiar actions within the two hours with battles both in the outer space above planet Scarif as well as on its ground that resemble the great battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi. The other theory I could think of is because these are one-off characters who will not be reused in the future Star Wars movies, so there's no need for any further character development.


For me, the real excitement of Rouge One was when Darth Vader boarded the Rebel Capital Ship with his infamous lightsaber and start killing every Rebel Soldiers in sight, in bid to get to the stolen plan of Death Star copied to a disc that the rebel has just received from the ground of planet Scarif. This scene is a remake of the starting scene of A New Hope that Rogue One is trying to patch in term of plot and I must admit it was a job well done!


While the absent of Jedi knight created a vacuum in this standalone Star Wars movie where "The Force" have been mentioned numerous times throughout, overall, Star Wars Rogue One was a success that Disney has gambled and paid off.

May the Force be with us for many generation to come!

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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[Movie Review] Is Star Wars : The Force Awakens A New Hope Or What?

Hi Huneybees,

I'm back from catching the most anticipated movie of the year - Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The audience I caught the movie with made the movie very memorable. Everyone clapped the moment the lights were dimmed and everytime our favourite Star Wars character is revealed through the movie, we get the "Yeah!" and "OOooo ~~~" along with claps again. It felt as though we were watching live show!

I've been seeing positive reviews about the movie flooding the internet but in my opinion, what I'm gona say, might just be the opposite.

BB-8 was definitely a cute droid and he stole the show, Rey had the best skin for minimal makeup and that hairstyle might just start making waves amongst the ladies; Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker were amazing actors; but other than that, I think George Lucas should take back the reins of Star Wars.

The first scene with the rows of Stormtroopers lined up and geared up for battle was indeed very impressive, but from then on, every scene just seemed to be replicating from the previous 6 episodes. 

I can't pinpoint a signature scene from this episode and I kept shaking my head from seeing multiple dogfight scenes between TIE fighters and X-Wing Fighters aka Death Star battle in in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope; there's even a revamped Cantina scene with a reggae kind of tune! Why are they re-doing signature scenes and not creating more epic scenes to carry on the legacy?!

BUT! My biggest issue is with the portrayal ofor the new era the Dark Side. Now elevating from Republic & Empire to The First Order, it seems that they are now handled by people who rules by the heart - either doubtful and questioning their mission, or in Kylo Ren's case, had daddy issues, anger issues and seem to be psychotic towards the end of the movie. He was like a lightsaber wielding Jason from Friday the 13th. My impression of the high and mighty, villainous Dark Side is totally DESTROYED!

Maybe Kylo Ren should be a female character for a story twist and shine a light on girl power instead of Captain Phasma being a female?

It was also earlier revealed that Andy Serkis is the CG guy behind the Supreme Leader Snoke (Snooki?), who is Darth Plageius - The Muun Sith Lord. 

But when his character came to onto the screen, my mind was screaming "Precious! My Precious!". How did a Golem x Lord Voldemort character become a Sith Lord?! Shouldn't he look more like how he was drawn in the comics?! What's this? Recycled 3D model to save time????

Oh! The horror, the horror. I don't want to go on too much and start writing spoilers, but all in all, I love how the movie used the same cut scene effects together with the filter and colour treatment to be in line with all the Star Wars movies. 

For those who were on the Easter Egg hunt, we did see the Boba Fett flat hung up high, but we didn't spot any trace of him in the film.

Do share if you spot him or even heard the "Jub, Jub" interjection.  I think I was too pissed with the movie to remember about my hunt.

Also, I would love to have seen more of Han Solo and Princess Leia interaction and the storyline should really be improved as it is simply too predictable, too replicated from previous movies. It made me feel that Disney/Lucasfilm didn't put in too much heart into making the film and just wanted to rely on the fame of Star Wars to make a success.

It was painful to watch this YouTube-esque Star Wars parody with impressions from Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Harry Potter and guest appearances from Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, etc coming back as a big reunion celebration for Star Wars anniversary.

I think this acapella video might just make a better Episode 7...

I felt like I have wasted 2 hours of my sleep time and I don't even want to rate the movie. But for first time Star Wars moviegoers, this might just impress you. 

So, did you catch the Star Wars: The Force Awakens too? 

What do you think of it?

Agree or disagree with me?

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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5 Christmas Star Wars Presents For The Princess Leia-s

Hi Huneybees,

With the impending Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie happening this week, I bet there are tons of die hard SW fans like me crossing their fingers on getting their hands on some of the latest merchandises under their Christmas Tree.

Well, for those still having a headache on what to get for their Princess Leia-s, here's a few that I got as well as some others that I'm secretly wishing Santa puts under my Christmas Tree! Though some of them might require some fast shipping, I still hope these will just help you cure that headache! :)

Photo Credits: Target

1. The Force Awakens Jewelry
http://intl.target.com/s?searchTerm=star+wars+jewelry&category=0%7CAll%7Cmatchallpartial%7Call+categories&lnk=snav_sbox_star+wars+jewelry

If you have not heard, Target now ships to Singapore and we can all get our hands on those US only products too! So, these rings, necklaces and earrings are just a few that I spotted and though they fall into the Mens' section, i doubt any girl will say no to accessories eh?

Simply log into http://intl.target.com/ and search for 'star wars jeweltry' and you will be brought into several pages of bling bling...

Photo Credits: Hot Topic

2. BB-8 Bag
http://www.hottopic.com/product/star-wars-the-force-awakens-bb-8-mini-dome-bag/10480434.html

Fast replacing R2D2 as the cutest droid is the bright orange BB-8. Even before we catch the movie, BB-8 is already seen as the face of The Force Awakens with its image printed and used everywhere. That's why this bowler bag from Hot Topic is seen as the "IT" bag amongst SW fans.

*Hot Topic is not available in Singapore, so you might have to arrange for overseas postage...

Photo Credits: Hot Topic

3. Let's Cuddle...
http://www.hottopic.com/product/star-wars-lets-cuddle-girls-t-shirt/10444304.html

Yup! This t-shirt is from Hot Topic too and it might just come in handy when you just want intimate time with your boyfriends or husbands. Who can say no to ditching beer buddies and snuggle up with their girl for some SW marathon?

4. That Pair of Skywalking Heels
https://www.facebook.com/THESUPERSPACE/

Own those lightsabers and light them up as you strut down the streets. This Irregular Choice x Star Wars Lightsaber Heels was the one I always hoped for, sadly my back does not allow me to own anymore heels, so 1 more pair out there for you to impress your girl ~~~

They are available at SUPERSPACE, Unit 02-18 Orchard Gateway and stocks are running low as there are limited quantity! 

Photo Credits: Forever21

5. X-Wing Bodysuit
http://www.forever21.com/Product/Product.aspx?BR=f21&Category=promo-star-wars-collection&ProductID=2000182943&VariantID=

Forget about riding in an X-Wing and own it by wearing it! This X-Wing Bodysuit from Forever21 is already in stores and with a cutout and sexy back, every SW fangirl will be looking smoking hot!
But if you are getting for a shy fan, there's many other options in the collection too...

So, here's my Star Wars Wishlist.
Now on to the cinema to catch the new episode! 

Have fun shopping! :)

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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