Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I had hardly slept the night before because I was so excited, had to go to classes all day and couldn't pay attention at all, and felt like I was in some kind of fantasy bubble when I finally got to the movie theatre yesterday. We got our popcorn, put our 3D glasses on, and then... silence...

BWAAAM enter John Williams' music and STAR WARS in those big yellow letters we all love. It was an amazing moment, to see something this iconic and treasured on the big screen in 3D. Seriously, I urge everyone to go see this movie in the cinema! It's worth it. It'll awaken a force inside you that will make you laugh and cry, and make you feel like your heart stopped yet at the same time it's going faster than ever. 

I would write my own review, but other reviews sum it all up so perfectly. This review from Wired is really worth reading (AFTER seeing the film, contains spoilers!!). I'll just sum up my first thoughts about the movie (spoiler-free!) by inserting quotes from the Wired review between my own:

The Force Awakens might have been the best Star Wars film ever, if it wasn't so devoted to being exactly what we want it to be.

All this is understandable. This is the Star Wars we all expected, and in many ways it is the Star Wars that is needed right now. It lays the groundwork for the many, many new films and spin-offs to come. 

This episode is a mixture of old and new, and to some people maybe a little bit too much like episode IV. But, I think it was necessary as well as exactly what the fans have been asking for. Lessons were learned from the prequel trilogy, we have finally returned to what makes Star Wars Star Wars. To me, Episode VII feels like a bridge between episode VI and VIII which was just very much needed. And let's be honest: it's not like us Star Wars fans mind seeing our favourite characters again! 

Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren are easily the best characters ever introduced in a Star Wars film, and bring a surge of energy and chemistry that even the original trilogy never had. 

Setting 'the old' aside for a moment, let's talk about 'the new'. It's good. It's better than good. The new characters are all entirely unique and very refreshing. Most of the characters are young and energetic and played by really good actors, which seems like something obvious and normal for such a big movie, but as we've seen in the prequels: it isn't. Rey and Finn have great chemistry together, BB8 is sassy and cute and Kylo Ren is an amazing villain. 

There's Kylo Ren, a villain overflowing with emotion and rage and yet more human than any Star Wars bad guys to date. 

The characters are unpolished and raw, human and imperfect, which makes them incredibly relatable. Also, I am totally in love with Maz Kanata, who is a perfect example of how CGI can be absolutely wonderful. This episode is the perfect match between old and new, alien costumes and CGI, real-life sets and greenscreens, good and evil... most of all: it's Star Wars again.

I won't write any more because I don't want to spoil it for you! Please just take my advice, get your geeky hands on tickets in a theatre near you and go watch it in it's full glory. Enjoy, and may the force be with you.

Love,

Jade

Two sneak peeks!

Long time no see! Since our usual excuses of school and work are becoming a little repetitive and boring, we'll just say we were on a top secret mission, wearing awesome rainbow coloured aluminium suits while riding heroic unicorns made out of unboiled pasta. Better?

Okay, moving on! Aside from the above-mentioned, we've also been working a lot on our music! We get together every two weeks to discuss new songs and ideas. We both work on songs at home and send them back and forth to one another for adjustments. We have several new songs for you, and -despite the fact that we ourselves are saying this- they are really good! We can't wait to share them with you!

But, for now, these sneak peeks will have to do.
Stay great!

Love, Tall and tiny

Oh oh oh! And follow us on Instagram. Thank you and good day!

F.A.C.T.S. 2015

Wowza hello it's been a while how are you?

So, we haven't been posting for a while, but I just had to share this with you peeps!

This past weekend, the 25th edition of the Belgian F.A.C.T.S. convention was held. It's one of my favourite days of the year! Me and my boyfriend cosplayed Fry and Leela from Futurama. It was so silly. I was going as a Rebel from Star Wars and my boyfriend as Fry. Then (totally not because of F.A.C.T.S.) I dyed my hair purple. And the day before we went, my boyfriend said "Wait... Why don't you just go as Leela now that your hair is purple?" and I was like "Omg how could I not have though of this before??" We were kind of on a budget and had to improvise something easy, which I think turned out quite well. We heard some people saying "Leela!" and things like "Shut up and take my money!" which is always fun. Also, it was my birthday and I have been eating SO MUCH candy. Maybe it's for the best I didn't go as Leeloo again! :D As always, there were lots of amazing cosplayers and the general atmosphere was great. It's incredible how fast it is growing though. This year, more than 50.000 people attended. I really think they'll have to find a bigger location for next year! I also saw some great actors! First of all we met with Alfie Allen, and he is really handsome. Everyone I tell is like "Eww that's gross" which I don't get. Yes, he is creepy on Game of Thrones, but he has taken a bath since filming those episodes you know. He seemed super sweet, but kind of exhausted. Seriously, they should have better air-conditioning during photo shoots and signing sessions. Poor thing. Handsome thing. We also saw Peter Mayhew. My mom asked me how we could possibly know what Chewbacca actually looked like, and we both just went: "Uhm, duh, everyone knows!" He's such an iconic person and it was super cool to see him in real life! We also caught a glimpse of John Rhys-Davies, which was also awesome. Unfortunately, the doc (Christopher Lloyd) and Summer Glau (Firefly!!) were hardly there. The flyer said they'd be signing almost all day, but every time we went to look, they weren't there and we didn't feel like waiting amongst the big crowds.

As far as extra's were concerned, I felt like they recycled a lot of last year's stuff. Maybe they are waiting to get new things for next year, because then The Force Awakens will have been released. I sure hope so! As long as the R2-Builders are there, I am a very happy me.

Here are some pictures that we took!

First, I made this cyclops eye in the nearby Ikea. Because, why not in Ikea?

Then, over the parking lot we go. Totally enjoying my new hair colour in the sun btw. :)

Force Awakens! Rey! Speeder! Omg!

R2-Builders with a BB8. Aw yiss...

Hello mr. Bounty Hunter.

Assassins's Creed preview: yay!

I love it when the make the Artoo units communicate with you. It's so real!

Time for some meditation with mrs. Twi'lek here.

Fry and Leela <3

I got this purse a while back. Normally, it has a picture of Laika in it, but I changed it to Nibbler for the occasion.

Alfie!

And then enjoying my hair some more on the way home. Purple grey all the way!

Did you go to F.A.C.T.S.?
See you next year!

✎ Jade

ps: here is my f.a.c.t.s. post from 2013's edition and here is a post about last year! 

Summer nostalgia

Hi!

Next week it's going to be 30° here! 30!
Finally some summer!

Are you looking forward to it as well?
We always get nostalgic when the sun comes out.
Remember this picture?

Love, TNT

Star Wars day!

Hi everyone! 

Well, monday was Star Wars day and BOY it was impossible to not know it, right? I mean, two years ago it was a still rather unheard of (in this country, anyway), last year it became more popular and now all of a sudden everyone is obsessed with it? I mean, even Greenpeace and Ellen Degeneres were all over it! Maybe it's just me. Maybe I just didn't notice it the past couple of years. But I think it's safe to say that being geeky is super hip nowadays, right? Well, I don't mind! 

With The Force Awakens coming up, this year's Star Wars day was extra special. My boyfriend said to me: "Just imagine. Next year we'll be celebrating by watching The Force Awakens again!" That's so cool!! Since we were both super tired from working on our theses, we actually fell asleep watching episode III. But I woke up during the epic fight between Yoda and Sheev (yes, that is what we should call him, because it is an awesome, yet at the same time hilarious name). So, I guess I didn't miss out on the best parts? ;-) 

I also had some fun playing around with makeup and jewels, Queen Amidala style. I love how the makeup loses it's symmetry as soon as I smile. So THAT's why Amidala never smiles! 

I hope you all had a lovely Star Wars day. Let's keep counting down, episode VII we are so ready for you!! May the fourth be with you! 

Jedi Jade

Yoga Challenge

Hi!

21 days ago, my favourite yoga teacher Erin Motz started another instagram challenge. The idea was, that we'd learn/practise an intense yoga pose daily, to become -as they say- 'summer ready'. Honestly, it's not that much about my summer bikini booty as it is about my actual health. I've been seeing my physical therapist a lot lately, and am really working on training my muscles. Also, I'm going to start running soon, I'll keep you up to date! Maybe we can start to run together and motivate each other? So anyway, I did this challenge for 21 days and I really enjoyed it! It's great when someone (in my case, my sweetest boyfriend) can take pictures of you doing yoga, because you really learn a lot from it. Sometimes I think I've got a pose all figured out, when really, I don't. It's only after having looked at the picture, that I realise my back isn't as straight as I thought it was. So you can really use challenges like this to refine your poses. And of course, try out new poses that you never knew existed! 

Another great thing about this challenge is getting in touch with other yogis. Everyone is prompted to add the hashtag #badyogi to their posts, and so when you look up the hashtag, you get this huge amount of photos of people all around the world who are doing the exact same pose as you are. And they are not extremely fit models who can do a handstand on their pinky finger with their legs twisted like pretzels. Nope, just people like you and me, doing yoga in front of the TV, or in the backyard. And seeing them is so motivating!  

I was fortunate enough to go to the beach for a week, which was awesome! I love doing yoga at the beach. Especially the creepy stuff like headstands. I'm still figuring those out, but once I got onto the soft and safe sand, I wasn't at all scared to try them! I also love looking at the vast sea, and the endless horizon. So peaceful. 

And also, the weather! It has been amazing! Aside from the fact that good weather is always awesome, it was extra awesome because I could do my yoga challenge outside almost every day. And I love doing yoga out in the fresh air! 

So... That's pretty much it! If you missed the challenge and feel like trying out some yoga poses, here are my instagram pictures (including some extra pictures of me doing headstands and sundials)! Enjoy! 

✎ Jade

Star Wars Celebration

Hi!

Okay, so I was working on my thesis, when I suddenly remembered Star Wars Celebration was about to begin, and: it was being streamed live on their website. So I just had to take a study break. And boy am I glad I did! 

It was amazing! Seeing the new cast was great. They all look like great actors and I loved how they told us a little bit about their characters, without giving too much of it away (like the stormtrooper hint!). Also, I think Poe is going to be super cool, maybe a little Han Solo-ish? Claiming to be the best pilot in the galaxy... We'll see! Seeing the veterans was also super cool. Too bad Harrison is still recovering, but so wonderful to see the old cast back together again. Also, I really thought J.J. had some interesting things to say. It was nice to hear his opinion on certain things, such as CGI and carrying on the legacy of Star Wars. Personally, I thought BB8 was the best. THE BEST. They way he rolls, they way his head moves around. I'm saying 'he' and 'his' but you never know of course. Talking about gender, finally we are getting more girl characters inside our beloved Star Wars universe! Gwendoline Christie as that badass chrome trooper, Lupita Nyong'o, Crystal Clarcke, and of course Daisy Ridley. Yay!

Last but not least: the new teaser. OMG! It is so superduperawesome! Vader's mask, Leia holding a lightsaber, just... The Skywalker legacy! The new characters, who all seem to have really exciting stories (and amazing outfits, couldn't help but notice) also looked great. The mysterious 'chrome trooper' and that lightsaber wielding badass... Han and Chewie were basically the huge red juicy shiny cherry on top of a whole cake of Star Wars goodness!

Wish I could write more, but have to work for school right now, so that I can get my thesis finished, so that when episode VII is released: I will have time to go see it over and over and over again! Below I will add some pictures I took. I took them with my ipad though, forgot to videocapture my screen, woops! But don't worry, I'm sure it'll all be online in HD soon! 

Oh my, am I excited.