Michael Biehn is at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo this year. He played Corporal Hicks in Aliens, which is one of my favourite movies of all time (the other being Singin’ In the Rain). But here’s the thing, I didn’t want to have the typical photo op, where you’re just standing there all smiley. I wanted something funny.

So my brother Sam let me borrow his plush Chestburster. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it. Maybe it would be attacking us. Maybe it was coming out of my chest. So Chestburster came along and sat in the hatchback of my car, peering out the window. Where he stayed… as I forgot him when I went into the con.

Now what will I do? My photo session was coming soon and I had no props and no ideas. I turned to Google images and looked up images of Hicks and Ripley. That’s when I found this:

Perfect! I had an image to work off of.

When I went into the photo area and met Michael Biehn. He shook my hand, and I told him it was an honour to meet him. I showed him the photo of Ripley and Hicks and asked of we can do something like that. He studied the photo. The camera man was pressuring us to hurry up, and kept yelling “3…2…1…” and Biehn put his hand up and told him to wait. Okay, that’s when I was thinking “COOOOOL!!! He stopped time for me!!! Take that rules and regulations!”

He then gave me back my phone, and said “I got it!”

He set me up accordingly then we took the photo. I thanked him not knowing exactly how he posed since he made sure I was looking away.

Then I got my copy of the photo:

YES YES YES!!! I think I got the most ridiculous and hilarious and awesome and, oh, AWESOME photo I could ever ask for with Biehn! Totally made my day!

P.S. If that was (and I am sure it was) Jennifer Blanc sitting on the floor holding my cameras for me, she is a totally darling! Thank you for safeguarding my things!

But sometimes if you think there’s a chance you can pull it off, it’s worth driving out and just looking at the sky with your own eyes. In the daytime today it was mostly clear so I went out tonight hoping for the same clarity, even though we are currently under a snowfall warning. There was also winds gusting to 50km/hr but I thought I’d try it anyway (the problem being the wind could shake the camera). Instead, I encountered a lot of haze so I turned back. No photos tonight.

Another thing people can check for, which I never do, is road conditions. I drove through some pretty hefty snowdrifts tonight but I also have top-of-the-line snowtires.

Mentally. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. Positive, neutral and negative, my life was very profound.

I want to end 2012 by sharing with you the most profound photo I have ever taken.

A blog post that I never made but probably should have was about my vacation in the spring when one of the greatest person I know, South African illustrator Warren Louw came and visited me in Canada. It was easily one of the best times I ever had in my life. During his visit, I took him around the province of Alberta.

The place: The Canadian Rocky Mountains, somewhere between Lake Louise and Jasper on Highway 93, a mountain road also known as the Icefields Parkway. It was a cool but beautiful drive during dusk of May 02, 2012. The road was slightly slick from a recent snowfall, which gave it a glazed sheen. The setting sun gave a very cool hue to the snowy mountains and frosted trees. A fog up ahead brought mystery to the scene. The air was crisp and fresh. Warren noted to me how we can hear absolutely nothing – no sounds of cars, people, even the animals were away. It was a beautiful, calming silence. It was just the two of us and mother nature in all her glory.

At this particular stop, Warren ran ahead of me to take photos of this gorgeous scenery. Armed with my camera and the 10.5mm fisheye lens, I was a few steps behind him and took the most spectacular photo I ever had in my life. It was the most perfect moment. The landscape, the positioning, the lighting, my choice of lens, my travelling companion, my state of mind… all incredible! It was all so perfect! Perfect, perfect, perfect! Everything fell into place!

This cool twilight winter image burns a fire in my heart and invokes powerful emotions from me. Emotions so powerful, I can hardly bear them. Words almost escape me whenever I look at this photo. Even as I type this blog post about the image, tears stream down my cheeks. How… how can this one photo move me so much? This photograph captured me in the most perfect world I’ve experienced. Like a painter baring her soul onto a canvas with each passionate stroke of colours of emotion that won’t fade over time, but be treasured forever.

As beautiful as that day was, I cannot ignore the fact that the road ahead. Although shrouded in mystery, it will bring new experiences. We are all travellers of life on a journey… a profound journey, hopefully finding love, happiness, peace in this universe, and most importantly, ourselves.

And with this, I leave you for now. Happy New Year.

23 years ago in Montreal, 14 women, mechanical engineering students, were murdered by a man that believed feminists ruined his life.

Although nowhere as severe, I have experienced threats due to my gender. And it angers me as more recently, especially in the geek communities, that sexist attitudes still prevail and women still face threats of violence for standing up for themselves, or disagreeing or cosplaying or even simply playing a video game against a man.

The amount of harassment I have experienced is unreal. Or so I thought. Too many women get harassed a lot. Frequently. I am willing to speak out about it. People constantly write me about their experiences. People have told me they wish more women were like me. There are so many others out there that never say a word because of shame and guilt. I am happy to help but I can’t do this alone.

It is not just a matter of case-by-case basis, there is a problem with society and we need to fix it. And it’s not a job just for politicians or police. It’s not something that only “strong women” can or should be expected to fight for. I am happy if the things I do leads the path for others, but we need to work together. To learn to respect one another. To educate that it’s not okay to treat others like crap and to help teach the victims that they are not alone and show them the way out.

But for today, evaluate how you treat others around you. Look into yourself and consider ways that you can improve yourself and become an example to others that would make society and the culture around you more interested in equality and respect.

Then take a moment to tell the important women in your lives that you care about them. Because they are the ones that make your works go round.

This is something important I need to tell you all…

If you know anything about me, there are probably a few things that stand out as my passions. This is about two of them. I believe in the power of technology and social media as a form of communication and networking. And more importantly, I strongly believe people should be treated fairly and equally with respect.

That being said, harassment needs to stop. I am increasingly growing tired of creepers. I strongly believe there are things we can do to improve our quality of life, so I am going to up my game. I’m not putting up with assholes, perverts and jerks that think they can either sweet talk their way into my bed or troll me. As I already have in the past, if you’re going to start crap up with me, I WILL take you down. But here’s the new twist. If you are going to have the gall to send me a private message, then I’m going to call you out and post it online. Last month I reposted Trevor Conrod’s “Fuck you too” and tonight I took a screen grab of Adam Yau’s “ur such a good pussy” and graciously tagged him in the image. Think of this as a reminder that If you can’t say it to me publicly, then you should not be saying it to me at all. And if you choose to do so publicly or privately, expect to be humiliated.

Communication is a wonderful thing and we cannot let a few people ruin it for the rest of us. What I am doing isn’t going to be something anyone can do. You need a certain kind of personality to pull this off. You may need to find your own solution that works for you. But I think it’s important that we do something to stop this behaviour before the internet is overtaken by it.