My First Impression Of Star Wars Episode VIII - THE LAST JEDI - Movie Review

Hi Huneybees,

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, the sequel to The Force Awakens is finally released after almost two years in the waiting for the fans since the introduction of Rey (played by Daisy Ridley), her missing parentage and mystery link to the force.

Space Battle Scene in The Last Jedi between First Order and Resistance. Copyright Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd

Unlike J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens, which borrowed too much from the original trilogy, The Last Jedi pushes the Star Wars story into new and unexpected places with better character development and insight to the returns of new favorites from The Force Awakens - such as Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren - the legends - such as  Luke Skywalker (played by Mark Hamill) and General (Princess) Leia Organa (played by Carrie Fisher) - as well as the minor antagonists in the Supreme Leader Snoke (played by Andy Serkis) and First Order General Hux (played by Domnhall Gleeson).

Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo in The Last Jedi. Copyright Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd

Together with several new characters such as Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo of the Resistance (played by Laura Dern), Rose (played by Kelly Marie Tran) and DJ (played by Benicio del Toro), new director Rian Johnson has created a dramatic, exciting, heartbreaking and yet the most funny Star Wars movie to-date (hey it's a Disney film afterall) through many exciting twists, turns and reveals that constantly put the fans on the edge.

Rose and Finn in the casino city of Canto Bight in The Last Jedi. Copyright Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd

While there are a few subplots such as the Canto Bight setting, where Finn and Rose went on a vital mission, that weigh it down in the middle, overall The Last Jedi has so many stunning sequence of events, including  Rey’s showdown with Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) on Starkiller Base, that made most if not all Star Wars fans loving it and looking forward to a possible emotionally rich ending in Star Wars Episode IX.

The unusual Padawan-Master relationship between Rey and Luke in The Last Jedi. Copyright Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd 

Having watched at the premier, I kinda understood why Mark Hamill was reported disappointed of his script in the new Star Wars film. Huneybees will get to see a whole different Luke Skywalker where he has now became a conflicted, deeply damaged Jedi master as compared to the previous archetype hero that we came to know in the original trilogy. Nevertheless I really enjoyed all his scenes in The Last Jedi as I believe this was his finest performance as Luke to-date, using the timbre of his voice and the pain in his eyes to express Luke’s reluctance to confront his past. Who said Mark Hamill can't act now?!

Equally emotional for me was seeing Carrie Fisher for the last time on big screen as a wizened Resistance leader in General Leia Organa, who exuded a compassionate warmth despite her heavy responsibility in ensuring freedom and fight against tyranny in Star Wars universe, as compared to her sexy iconic image in her earlier princess years.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now showing at the nearest cinema near you.

May The Force Be With All Of Us Till Episode IX.

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Pump Up Your Adrenaline With The First-ever Star Wars Orchestra In Singapore Before The Premiere Of The Last Jedi On 15th December 2017!

Hi Huneybees,

The worldwide screening of the much anticipated Star Wars: The Last Jedi , the second film of the sequel trilogy, is just weeks away and to pump up the excitement among millions of Star Was fans around the region, Disney Concert has brought the first-ever official Star Wars concert to Singapore and I am so happy to have the opportunity to catch part of the closed door dress rehearsal as well as an interview with orchestra conductor Nicholas Buc.

A passionate music and film enthusiast, Nicholas Buc is one of few conductors in the world that is specialized in bring music and film into Live concert setting as this requires very specific and unique style of conducting to synchronize the music with the picture.

Nicholas has a little video screen in front of him while he conducts so that he could have the visual reference points to make sure that the music hits the right moment with the picture, such as when Kylo Ren strikes with his crossguard lightsaber or a TIE Fighters chasing after the millennium falcon.

With 8 years of experience under his sleeve since started conducting his first film concert - Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock - Nicholas is a big Star Wars fan and picks Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) as his favorite character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens for her strong character and her teeth!

If he has it his way, you might be able to catch him doning a stormtrooper suit and conducting in his favourite green lightsaber in exchange for his conductor suit and baton at the Star Wars: The Force Awakens concert that runs from 29th to 31st October 2017 at Esplanade Theatre in Singapore.

Tickets for this first-ever official Star Wars concert is now on sales at this SISTIC link.

If you are a diehard Star Wars fan, this is definitely a concert not to be missed!

May the force be with you.

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How To DIY Star Wars Christmas Party

Hi Huneybees,

It was a great weekend spent celebrating Christmas and here's the lowdown of my Christmas Star Wars party. With just a week's notice (Yes, thanks Hubby!), I made this party happen and thanks to the existence of Daiso, I could stay within budget! :)

So, to begin, invites were sent out via Whatsapp to the family members and this was the simple part coz everything was found online and edited using my Photoshop skills. LOL!

Then, comes to the props and decorations. Our theme for the party was the SITHMAS on Planet HOTH, derived from the famous greetings MERRY HOTHIDAYS. That's why, we only had Darth Vadar and Stormtroopers mask with some speech bubbles printed for those selfies. Also not forgetting a couple of lightsabers for the epic battle between the Light and Dark Side...

With the right dressing and makeup, I was Darth Huney, the Dark Princess for the night. 

See the Princess Leia Buns on hubby? Well, that's simply done by combining brown wool threads, tying plaids on with them and stuck on to ear muffs with glue gun. Now ain't that a sexy babe? ROFL!

As for the background design, planet Hoth is all about snow and so, we stuck to blues and whites for the deco, we had wool threads again from Daiso, cut into equals lengths and stuck on the wall strand by strand to make great photo background. 

The DIY Christmas tree was done using 3 x Christmas streamers , 2 x blue LED lights and a whole lot of cut out washi tape for the Christmas ornaments and star right atop the tree. Of course, not missing Santa himself with some gifts!

At the door, we had the standard Merry Christmas sign but I added my very own hand sewn lightsabers at the side. All sewed up with felt that can be found... Yes! You guessed right! DAISO again! :)

And speaking of DAISO, I even bought these 2 jars from there, turned it upside down with a LED candle within, and there you have it! A Hoth scene light globe!

Then comes the food part. Most of it was catered and ordered from Creative Eateries, which hubby took care of. I just did printed and got the labels printed and stuck onto satay sticks to tie the whole SW theme together. Don't forget to get the SW looking fonts here - http://www.fontspace.com/category/star%20wars.

The fun part here is to make localised treats into Star Wars Cantina servings, just by being creative with the names. So like Honeydew Sago was Hoth Snow, Crystal Dumplings was Frozen Leia Buns, Tempura Prawns were Prawnbacca, Pineapple Rice was Sands of Tatooine and we even had drinking water named as Luke Skywater! Fun right? I might just give my dishes names next time. =X

Also, I wanted to make blue eggnogs for there was a Blue Milk drink in SW but hubby was shaking head to blue drinks, so skipped that. Maybe you can try that for your own party?

The catered menu also had Apple Strudels (which we called Snow Strudels), but I also created a few desserts of our own to add to the theme.

It was great joy winning these lot of Ferrero Rocher chocolates at the Casa Ferrero Launch and it was put to good use! Simply wrap each of them with aluminium foils and we got mini Death Stars where every bite comes with a chocolatey delight! =D

I was glad everyone liked what I did with these brown bags. I was Googling for ideas and there was these Chewbacca gift bags gave me the idea to draw my own and fill them with home made popcorns! Salt or Salted Chewbacca for you?

The heavy workload was with these Storm Mallow-s. Each single ones were hand drawn using chocolate syrup and I'm really thankful for these clever Japanese gadgets you can find from Daiso.

 I just had to pour in chocolate syrup into these pens and I can draw on the faces as though markers!

But as the chocolate syrup does not dry fast on the marshmallows, I had to draw, let the syrup stay for 2 minutes, before "stamping" them on tissues to remove the remaining syrup. You have to do this, otherwise it will be sticky business when you try to put and remove them from your containers...

Next, is the Hans Jello. I did a wrong move and bought blueberry flavoured jelly powder to make these Hans Solo in Carbonite jellies, but jello DO NOT HARDEN! you can only have them in cups and scoop out! 

But what I wanted was for them to harden and be able to pop out these moulds (that I got from Carousell). So, lesson learnt, I had to consult my mum and went out to get Konyaku powder, mixed with blue Mountain Dew to get this result.

This was an even faster process! These jellies harden within an hour, compared to jelly which took 4 hours to dry! =X

Phew! So after a week's of shopping and preparation, the Christmas Eve Star Wars party was EPIC! Hubby kept thanking me the whole evening and the night ended with a gift exchange. Psst, here's an A-Star wrapping by hubby's cousin which got everyone curious what was inside. Not a Yamazaki whiskey inside, but just shower gel, best gift wrapping ever eh?!

Celebrations may be over, but I can't wait for New Year's Eve this weekend! 

For now, I'm just gona catch up on my beauty rest. Buh Bye!  -.- zzzZZZZ

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5 Star Wars Christmas Gift For The Han Solo-s

Hi Huneybees,


Months before the release of the new Star Wars movie The Force Awakens, Star Wars franchise could already be seen everywhere in the shopping malls from home electronics to food to cosmetics and cloths, just to serve the appetite of the millions of Star Wars fans worldwide.
With Christmas just round the corner, here are my Top Five Star Wars Christmas Gift Picks for the Star Wars fanatics inside your boys, be it your son, brother, boyfriend, husband or even father.

1. Remote Control BB-8 Droid by Hasbro - SGD$99.90 @ ToyRUs

This is my TOP pick simply because it is so cute! Not only does it look more real - bigger and creates its own sound - as compare to the the app-enabled sphero BB-8, it is 40% cheaper too. 

Apart from having to standby a lots of AA and AAA batteries and a limited range, your boy will not be disappointed with this droid come this Christmas!

2. Remote Control Millennium Falcon Quadcopter Drone  by Air Hogs - SGD$180.00+ @ Carousell / AirFrov

With a superb print job and authentic sound and LEDs added on the front and the back of the remote control Millennium Falcon, mimicking the most iconic ship in the Star Wars universe, this is currently one of the most talked about Star Wars toys online.

Unfortunately as rugged as it is built for crash landing, this indoor flyer is actually under powered and has a short battery life... Nevertheless, the thought of been able to fly the Millennium Falcon like Han Solo did in the movies is enough to convince any Star Wars fanatics to part their money for this drone.

3. Kylo Ren Ultimate FX Lightsaber (SGD$169.95 @ ToyRUs) and Black Series Mask with Voice Changer (SGD$129.90 @ ToyRUs) by Hasbro

We all know by now who is the coolest villain in the new Star Wars : The Force Awakens and I bet there are many who secretly adores this new Sith character, like many of us to his maternal grandfather, Darth Vader!

With the battle-clash lights and sounds from the 58cm long Crossguard red lightsaber and a well finished, full front and back helmet that is movie-accurate and allow one to sound like Kylo Ren himself, I predict we will see more Kylo Ren in Comic Con, Cosplay events and even many Halloweens to come! 
The only sticky points for me is the high price tags and the muffled sound produced by the built-in voice changer.

4. Death Star by LEGO - USD$399.99 @ Lego.com or SGD$780+ @ Carousell 

 

With the appearance and then the destruction of the deadly Death Star-like planet in Star Wars : The Force Awakens, interest for the Ultimate Weapon of the then Empire and now the First Order is certain to rise; hence LEGO quick U-turn decision to resurrect this iconic set from retirement, days before the world wide screening of the new Star Wars movie.

Measured 41cm tall by 42cm wide, with 3803 pieces of LEGO bricks, the Death Star playset is not suitable for anyone other than a die-hard LEGO + Star Wars fan as a lot of patience (time consuming) is needed to piece all these together to recreate the scenes of the Original Trilogy where Princess Leia (now General Leia), Han Solo and Luke Skywalker were at their prime.

5. Stormtrooper / Darth Vader printed Shirt by Clio - SGD$49.90 @ Celio 

Toys aside, fashion is another avenue where more sophisticated Star Wars fanatics could brag about.
Unlike those T-shirt prints that almost all mass-market appeal brands - from Bossini (local) to Uniqlo (Japanese) to Forever 21 Men (USA), are currently selling, few actually makes decent Star Wars Shirts that is actually wearable for work, unlike Celio.

Celio, the French Men's fashion retailer actually designed what I considered the best design so far and I am impressed by both its cutting as well as its quality cotton. Priced at SGD$49.90, its the most affordable yet most visible gift a Star Wars fan can have for this Christmas!


Everyone can claim to be a Star Wars fan but only the true blue fans, whom I called the Star Wars fanatics, actually buys Star Wars merchandise or memento, and lots of them!
If you think you have one at home and you really wanted to impress for him during this Christmas, you would go wrong with my Top 5 picks for Star Wars fanatics.

Feel free to drop me a comment if you have any cool Star Wars theme gifts that you would like to share with all Huneybees. 
 
For now, May The Force Be With You!

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?

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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! :)

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