The Year That Was 2011

As the files are being backed up to the Time Machine, I would like to take this opportunity to look back on a year of memorable moments that were blog-worthy for The Impala's Trunk, as well as to set sights on the horizon.

January 2011

The best New Years gift for Supernatural fans in Australia was announcement of the return of series (Smallville along with it) on the new digital channel, Eleven. Every man and his dog knew about the lack of support and promotion from the local TV network in Australia, and both shows were off air for awhile. You can't blame us for watching the shows we love so much via other channels. TV networks should distribute shows where fans choose watch it and when to watch it, right? Since the return of both shows, Eleven had been very supportive and committed, and fans are never shy in letting them know we appreciate them via Twitter.

PS: As I was composing this blog post, I saw an ad on Eleven promoting the return of Supernatural for January 9, 2012. Woot! Woot!

In January, I was also getting extremely excited about Creation Entertainment's Salute to Supernatural Convention in LA (also known as LACon) in February. Tinny and I were organising the final details for our trip. We were getting so close, I could smell Misha's cologne and I couldn't get the 'OMG-I-am-going-to-hug-Jensen-Ackles' smile off my face.

February 2011

This was the BEST month of my tiny little life. I was off to LA and New York. I was off to see Jensen & co, in LA! I haven't been able to shut up about it -- I touched Jensen Ackles!!

February 12-14 was the BEST weekend of my life. The experience was unbelievable, not only the cast was awesome, the organisers and the fans were a fantastic group of people. I also had the opportunity to meet new friends, who are some of the nicest people I've known in my life. Thank you once again for making my life brighter. I felt like my life was not the same ever since I came back, it was liberating! I embraced a new perspective and I intent to live a life that is fun and productive. Easy say than done.. I'm working on it!

My iPhone was Jensenated -- it was signed by Jensen, he laughed when I gave him my iPhone. My iPhone 3G has been officially inducted to the Tiny Hall of Fame. Thanks to Tinny for being so supportive and resourceful in finding the right box for it. By the way, it was also her idea to get the iPhone signed by Jensen.

The stage banner was the biggest pain in the ass, but in a good way. (Oh wait...that didn't come out right!) The banner was signed by all guests. That's 100 kinds of awesomes. I just need to find a place to hang it.

February 1 also marked the 2nd anniversary of The Impala's Trunk. As the 3rd anniversary approaching, perhaps I can bake a cake to celebrate.

March 2011

'Jensen Ackles' was the number one trending topic on Twitter on March 1 for a few good hours. It was his birthday in case you didn't realise. I remember I was about to go to bed and then it just happened. Supernatural fans are the best, if you don't know that already.

On the technology front, the iPad 2 was launched. I swear I couldn't wait to buy an iPad back in November 2010, I needed it for work and I needed it for the US trip. It was definitely one of the best purchases. Looks like my next iPad will be iPad 3 or 4. I still love my iPad 1 though.. It must be Jensenated before it retires.

April 2011

April is usually one of the most stressful months in my life, but no matter.. good things do happen. Supernatural season seven was given the green light in April. Not that we weren't expecting it to happen. In April, Supernatural, Jensen and Misha were named TV Guide Fan Favourites in the Sci-Fi Show, Actor, Non-Human categories respectively. Sorry Jared, you shall win Fan Favourite Hair next time.

In April, Smallville's Tom Welling and Erica Durance were on the cover of TV Guide. It was a perfect send-off for the show… I was totally ready to see the finale, in a good way of course. Who wouldn't want to see Clark finally take flight in man-in-tights...right?

As for the theatre, Thor took me by surprise in every sense of the word. It was probably one of the most enjoyable films in 2011. I hope Thor II will be as good!

May 2011

May 23 marked one year of anniversary of the Lost series finale and May 24 for the 24 series finale. Since both shows ended, I have been hoping to find some new shows to follow. With Smallville on its way out, I seriously need to find more shows to watch and to blog about.

After ten epic seasons of a show about the boy who was destined to be Superman, Smallville finally drew its curtains. The series finale was one of the best I've seen on TV. It was the perfect way to end the series. Fans should be happy to see such epic ending, I certainly was.

A few years ago, when I first started watching Smallville, I didn't think I'd like it at all, I didn't think I'd become a fan, I certainly didn't think I'd be so emotionally attached to it. It was such a great show. Tom Welling and Erica Durance are the Superman and Lois Lane of this generation.

My thoughts on the series finale and in general can be found here.

June 2011

June was relatively quiet. My sister and I went to Supernova, the pop culture convention in Sydney, it was not a total waste of time. My sister hasn't been to one of these before, so to help her avoiding a 'pop-cultural shock', I told her not to stare at people and freak or laugh. This event gives fans the opportunity to come out once a year to go nuts and be their own version of Spiderman, Superman, Batman, IronMan and Sailor Moon! Let them!

After Supernova, I realised I've seen seven Joss Whedon cast members in real life (including Joss himself) without even try. I am a nerd…without knowing it.

In June, fans welcome Jared (@jarpad) to Twitter. Finally! I think it's a good think and we know this was legit because he did during Nashcon. There are SO many fakers and haters out there. It's good to see Jared put his own stamp on his tweeting. He is awesome!

PS, Jensen is NOT on Twitter nor Facebook. Don't be fooled by those who claim they are Jensen.

JK Rowling also announced Pottermore, an online permanent home for all the Harry Potter contents including ebooks, audiobooks, and a lot of interactive goodies for fans.

July 2011

A lot happened in July, but noticeably the cast and producers of Supernatural were given an epic welcome to Hall H of ComicCon. Hall H was the biggest room at the San Diego Convention Centre, it has the capacity of up to 6,500 seats.

Jensen and Jared are now very confident on a live stage in front of thousands of screaming fans, they were a bit shy and not too lively in their first appearance on a stage like this a few years ago. If you've been to a Supernatural con, you'd experience the chemistry and energy, it's priceless. I got the same vibe from watching the clips from ComicCon. Like other panels could get a bit awkward, simply because the actors weren't expecting the scale and the madness from fans, but Supernatural and SG1 were probably one of the best and most fun.

2011 was also the year I declare my love for Ben Edlund and Jeremy Carver -- two of my favourite TV writers. Just throwing it out there again. They are my heroes. They inspire me to think and write creatively. Jeremy Carver was also the reason I got into Being Human (US). Being one of those who haven't seen the original UK version, I am really enjoying the show. I think he and Anna Fricke are doing a great job as the show runners and writers.

Speaking of my favourite writers, Eric Kripke was reported to be working on a movie Haunted. I haven't had much luck in finding out more information on this. I hope this is a go! I am dying to see more stuff from him!

Three movies that left me a great impression were Thor, Captain America and Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallow II. Captain America premiered in July, this also was one of the best films in 2011. You know you can't shut me up, I still think Jensen Ackles should have been the Capt, Chris Evans was good, but Jensen was still the fan's choice. When I was watching the movie, I couldn't help thinking what would Jensen look like in those tights?

Fans also said good bye to Harry Potter in July. I haven't watched a movie where I cried from the beginning to the end. It was exhausting! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part II was no doubt the best Harry Potter film since The Goblet of Fire in my opinion. JK Rowling is certainly one of the best writers, and the Harry Potter series will remind as one of the best, if not the best, book series I've read.

August 2011

Let the ducks swamp the Supernatural productive office… I too contributed to the DuckNation initiative. It was probably one of the craziest things I've done -- hunting for rubber ducks and Legos! Seriously! But I had so much fun… and I still have plenty of leftover Legos.

There wasn't a year went by without a couple of epic Supernatural rewatches. In August, we had the longest Supernatural rewatch ever on Twitter. We watched a total of six episodes, they were hand-picked by Jensen as some of his favourites according to the Official Supernatural Magazine.

I've previously watched Wicked the Musical three times in Sydney and Melbourne, but this was the one time I was dying to watch the show. In August, I flew to Perth to watch Wicked for the 4th time. I was so looking forward to it, I knew all the lyrics of my favourite songs. Defying Gravity and For Good were the most anticipated songs. The show and cast did not disappoint. I swear when I go to New York in 2012, I'll watch it again on Broadway! Still wishing to see Idina Menzel on stage though.

September 2011

Supernatural season seven premiered in September with Meet the New Boss. Cas's fans were concerned about the fate of the character. No worries, SPOILER ALERT, he is due to return in 2012.

It was reported that JJ Abrams and Eric Kripke were working on a new TV pilot together for NBC -- Revolution. Man! I really want to see this already!

In September, I also encountered some technology set backs -- Virgin Mobile sucks. They couldn't accommodate the Lion upgrade and their call centre was impotent. It was an epic fail that they didn't act quickly to respond to change. So backward! I eventually decided to leave Virgin Mobile after four years as a customer.

October 2011

Steve Jobs passed away on October 6th 2011. I was at work, and someone popped up from his workstation and told us the news. We spent the next hour or so online reading about the life and death of the greatest innovator of our generation. The world was never the same because of his vision. Let's hope Apple will continue to drive innovation.

My new iPhone 4S arrived and I was as happy as the one who invented trousers. It was like the best thing ever! Since I skipped 2.5 generations, I find the 4S was so much faster! Tinny also got her first iPhone. I have now converted 80% of my friends and family to switch to iPhone. I am not an Apple Snob I swear!

In October, Jared and Gen announced that they were expecting their first baby. Gen is due in 2012. So, that means, no piggybacking Gen, Jarpad!

October was also my birthday month…

November 2011

After months of searching for new TV shows to watch, I finally found A Game of Thrones. Thank goodness for that! I was so into it, I downloaded and watched the whole thing in probably in 3 days. By the time I hit the season finale, I have already downloaded the books (all of them) to my iPad. Epic! I am currently reading A Clash of Kings.

November also brought us one of the best Supernatural episodes this season. It was very sad, and I haven't talked about it for awhile because it was that sad. Death's Door was a brilliant episode focusing on the life and death of Bobby Singer. I still hope that he is not dead, but I don't know.. the more I think about it, the more I don't know what to think about it. But I guess time will tell.

December 2011

It's Xmas month!! I waited the whole year for it! I have been busy researching and baking with new recipes for cakes and cookies, getting my hair done, shopping for Xmas presses. I was so ready to go home to spend Xmas with family.

I've been baking like crazy; eating and drinking like there is no tomorrow; reading until my eyes popped out; rewatching some of my favourite TV series as planned; catching up with family and friends… I love December!

To end a year of awesomeness, my mum is now an iPhone user.

Looking ahead to the next 12 months

I am really looking forward to the Year of the Dragon. This is the year to shine.

I am really looking forward to all new episodes of Supernatural, Dean and Sam's story aside, I really want to know what will happen to Bobby; how will Castiel come back; and how the Leviathans will be destroyed? I am praying that the show will get its eighth season. That way I know I can make it to another convention. I am selfish I know! Wait for me Jensen!!

Gen and Jared will be new a Mum and Dad. Who knows if Jensen and Danneel will give us some baby news? Personal stuff aside, what I really want to see if for the boys to get a movie deal within the next 12-24 months.

I am already planning to go to New York again. While Nashcon is not happening for me, because they changed dates (and the new dates do not fit into my diary, which is kind of depressing!) I really need another trip in the US. I would love this to be a writing trip.

The Avengers is the most anticipated movie in 2012 on my list. Joss Whedon is one of the most worshipped directors of our generations. He is a fan, he knows his fan and he is an awesome creator and writer. I have no doubt Joss Whedon's The Avengers will be awesome!

One of the things I wanted to do is to expand The Impala's Trunk to a new realm, while I am keeping all the existing awesomes, I am going to canvass new experiential ideas. Hopefully I can align some of these ideas to my life as a writer.

So that's pretty much the last post for 2011 from The Impala's Trunk. Thank you very much once again for visiting and sharing your thoughts. I look forward to more blogging and sharing. Don't forget, you can also follow me on Twitter.

To wrap up, I quote the Overload Misha Collins: "Here's to redefining normal and possible in 2012." Cheers Cheers!