Experiencing the Nintendo Wii U GamePad

I have nephews and nieces ( 5 in total ) but never know what to get them for the holidays. They're literally playing games all day and all night. Since I'm not a video game player and most parents don't know much about video games the WiiU Gamepad can be a gift idea for you this holiday season.

I recently had the opportunity to play and review games from Ubisoft and try out the NEW Nintendo WiiU GamePad.


SD card and 2 USB slots in front.



I have never seen a gamepad with a screen before so this is different for me. It enables you to interact with the game and tv in a new way. It has a touchscreen functionality and comes with a stylus as an optional use. The best feature I think most parents would appreciate is that you can use WiiU Gamepad to play on your tv but if you want to watch a movie on the tv, your child can just directly play from the WiiU Gamepad unit while you watch the movie. The WiiU Gamepad control acts like a universal remote as well. Another feature that is interesting is the NFC capabilities for future use.

There are 2 different units being sold:

8gig White unit with gamepad and stylus for $299.00

32gig Black unit with gamepad and stylus for $349.99

Specific pricing can be found on the site: Nintendo WiiU GamePad



If you ask me for my recommendations for a game that the family can enjoy, it would be the ESPN Sports Connection game. Why? It's interactive and has all the different sports you can play. Enough of the guns and shooting games, right? On a side note when I tested this game I played against a 7 year old girl and she struck me out in baseball. So everything is fair game. :-)


Football ESPN


Soccer ESPN

Ubisoft has released many new titles including:

Marvel Avengers: Battle For Earth
Rabbids Land
YourShape Fitness
Just Dance Disney
For more titles for WiiU visit UBISOFT

So if you are a parent/uncle/aunt looking for a Tech gift this a great gift idea. It's new. It's different. So good luck on your search and gift shopping.

Celebrating the Holidays with Forty Creek Whisky

Thanks to the folks at Forty Creek Distillery, I've been given the opportunity to sample and enjoy the Barrel Select Whisky and the newest Forty Creek release of Copper Pot.

Forty Creek is a Distillery located in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada. It's a small distillery owned by whisky maker John Hall. I read his bio and he is a former winemaker with over 30 years experience. He now brings his experience to the whisky world. I tend to favour local business especially in food and drinks industry. Help support local business, right?



This past weekend i celebrated a holiday party with friends and family so this was a perfect opportunity to try both bottles of whisky. I would be considered a novice when it comes to the appreciation of whisky. Only until this summer did i get introduced to whisky. I always thought it was too strong of a taste for my tastebuds. Over the past couple of months i have tried many whiskies and have gained an appreciation for whisky. I actually favour my whisky with a single large ice in glass. I personally like to savour the taste this way. That evening I had whisky with snacks such as popcorn and nachos. It's not your typical combination but a great drink to have to celebrate the holidays! I look forward to trying different concoctions of Forty Creek Whisky. That will be next.


Barrel Select Whisky

I tried both but really enjoyed the Copper Pot Whisky. It has a silky flavour for me. I like the mix of ice and Forty Whisky. I like my whisky straight with no hassles.


Forty Creek Copper Pot

For more information on Forty Creek visit them: www.fortycreekwhisky.com

Follow them on Twitter: @FortyCreek_John

*Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Forty Creek Whisky. I will receive compensation for this post but all opinions are my own.

2nd Annual TdotTO Fundraiser

Last year I decided to organize an online fundraiser to raise funds for 2 charities. With the Twitter community we were able to raise $1,260.00 for Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Daily Bread Foodbank. For each day for the next 10 days the highest bidder by 10pmET will WIN a custom, "I Love Twitter" t-shirt. This year it will be a black t-shirt with white type and red Twitter logo.

I've decided to pick one charity this year, The Heart and Stroke Foundation. All you have to do is tweet your bid to me with the hashtag #TdotTO1 for the first day. The next day would be #TdotTO2 and so forth.

Example: @clickflickca I bid $25.00 for the @TheHSF #TdotTO1

The highest bidder each night will need to give me their mailing info for delivery of tshirt and for tax receipt purposes. Each shirt will have your Twitter name with the hashtag. 100% of funds will go to @TheHSF. Please allow time for tshirt process to be completed since each search will be custom. If you have any questions tweet me or ask me here. Good luck and let's see if we can raise a little for some good during this holiday season.

Virgin Gives Back.

Virgin Mobile has launched Re*Generation phone, the Samsung Galaxy Ace II x, which is expected to raise over $200,000 for at risk and homeless youth programs in Canada.
It's a limited edition phone where 15 bucks from each sale of this phone will go to help these programs in Canada. Over 65,000 thousand Canadian Youth don't have a home.

So in a unique way if you are still undecided on a purchase of a phone this season maybe the Virgin Re*Generation is a good reason to purchase. Do good by buying this phone. If you already have a phone plan with Virgin then you can still help by agreeing to have $1 added to your mobile phone bill every month to make a difference. Every little bit counts. This is just a nice way that Virgin is helping in the community.

For more details on this phone you can visit here

A Toronto Christmas in support of GlassFrog

I attended the Oxford Beach Halloween party and had such a great time that I thought I'd share another event by them. They are hosting the 3rd Annual "A Toronto Christmas" party in support of GlassFrog. GlassFrog is an international aid organization. The party takes place on December 15th at Steam Whistle Brewery.

So if you aren't in the festive spirit yet, I hope this video gets you into that mood. The party starts at 9pm.

To purchase tickets: A Toronto Christmas

It's going to be a fun evening of dressing up and dancing the night away. If you want to join in on the fun, i'll be giving away a pair of tickets to the party.

Tweet to WIN:

@clickflickca @OxfordBeach I want to celebrate A Toronto Christmas party. #ATOxmas

The winner will be chosen on Wednesday December 12th. Good luck!

Joey Yorkdale Restaurant Gift Card Giveaway

Joey Restaurants recently opened a NEW location at Yorkdale Mall. Joey restaurant started in 1992 on the west coast providing customers with the best experience of casual and upscale all at once. Now they spread the love to us in Toronto.



I had the opportunity to get an advance preview of Joey Yorkdale and I was impressed upon arrival. The interiors and design layout are beautiful and inviting. It reminds me of a cool bar/restaurants I visited in Las Vegas such as LAVO and Sushi Samba. Joey has a sexy vibe and that could be contributed to the beautiful staff that seems to be consistent amongst the various locations. That will attract my attention.



The attention to detail with the charging units below the bar counter is wicked. Yes, I used the word "wicked.


Chef prepares a special sushi.


This is watermelon covered with ahi tuna with yuzu dressing.


Sushi chefs prepping the food on Media night.



Joey is more than sushi. They have a full menu here. I frequent the Joey Toronto location and they probably think i live there. My go to meal is the Ahi Tuna Club and the mashed potato spring rolls with sour cream, bacon and green onions. I recommend you visit a Joey Restaurant for a great food and great experience. Plans are being made for Sherway Mall and a Markham/Markville location in 2013.

I'm giving away a $25 gift card to get you started. To WIN just tweet me the following:

@clickflickca @JOEYRestaurants I want to WIN a $25 giftcard to experience Joey Yorkdale. #ClickFlick

I'll pick a WINNER on Monday December 3rd-4pmET. Toronto/GTA entries only. Enter once a day if you like but one entry is fine.

For more info on Joey Restaurants: Joey Restaurants

You're the Best. Motorola Event

Image Source: Google

Last night I was invited to the Motorola party themed "You're the Best". It was an event of the "BEST" music, treats, cocktails, view of Toronto and smartphones. Motorola was celebrating with their ambassadors and influencers. They are also celebrating a year in which Google purchased Motorola. This foreshadows a big investment move for Google and the Android phones in 2013.



The party was held at the rooftop lounge of the Thompson Hotel. If you haven't been there it has a great view of Toronto.



As soon as I walked into the venue space, I was exposed to AYCE oysters. I knew this event was off to a great start.


The Clicquot Veuve was pouring all night. 18 year old scotch was also consumed that evening.


To cap the night I had a gift bag with an actual Motorola Razr HD LTE smartphone. This was unexpected and a nice touch to an already great evening. I'm looking forward to clicking and trying out an Android phone.

Image Source: @1LOVETO

The highlight of the event was prior to me even being at the event. I saw a tweet with a picture of my name on the Motorola signage. I thought the personalization was a very nice touch and great attention to detail. Overall I had fun and it was great to meet many familiar faces. If you would like to see more details, check the hashtag #MotorolaBest on Twitter.



Thanks again to Motorola and the H&K team.

NEW ERA Introducing Creative Project

NEW ERA cap is an International Lifestyle brand that produces baseball style caps that everyone is wearing on the streets. I want to explain this cool idea that NEW ERA initiated but let me give you a background for the creation of this blog post.

This past weekend I was out and about in Toronto and noticed a NEW ERA car on the street with banners showcasing the NEW ERA logo on an adjacent building. I wanted to know if a new store was opening in that specific spot. Aimee a good friend responded on Twitter and told me it was an Artist Exhibit in partnership with NEW ERA.



I had to take a look at this event because it involved NEW ERA ( I like the product ) and secondly it was a unique combination of a brand and art. I have a general interest in the way brands reach out in a grassroots way.




Blank canvas cap that artist had to use.

NEW ERA had over 100's of submissions. A judging panel had to select a winning cap that not only look good in design but told a story. This is genius. Why? It enables NEW ERA to reach out to a demographic- (Urban) and allows the entrants to tell a story of their creations. Social Media is all about "StoryTelling" and what a better way to convey the messages. Imagine all the content and stories to populate into social platforms for NEW ERA.

This exhibit was shown in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago and final stop of Toronto. I had the opportunity to speak with the NEW ERA event manager Jim Wannemacher and he mentioned how NEW ERA is headquartered in Buffalo. They came with Creative Project idea initially from their European counterparts. He told me of all the cities, Toronto had the most enthusiasm and highest attendance for the gallery and that the NEW ERA project continues to grow in popularity every year.

This is a great activation by NEW ERA to reach out to the communities and target market. It's a great way to interact with the consumers and build customer relationships. I can't wait until it returns to Toronto next year. NEW ERA plans to extend this gallery concept to an educational experience for those that entered the contest. Entrants will have the opportunity to see how they can develop skills and to put them into better use in the business world. The winner of this contest WON a $10,000 grant.
What do you guys think of this idea? I'd love to hear what you think. :-)


Here is the WINNING cap.

Here are some other notable caps:






For more details on the NEW ERA Introducing Project:
NEW ERA Introducing

Follow them on Twitter at @New_Era_TOR or @New_Era_Caps

Here's a cool time lapse video on the setup of the gallery in Toronto:

The LG Optimus G 2600

You had the opportunity to watch the LG Optimus video above. If you didn't watch the whole video, no worries. I don't like listening to all the nitty gritty technical jargon myself. Sure all the tech specs sound good and all but will it do the basics for me? That's all i care for now.

From my first look at this smartphone it is a larger size than my iphone and thinner. It feels very sturdy and nice. One of the features that caught my attention is the ability to take self pics without having to press a button. Just say "cheese" and it actually initiates the camera shot. Cool right? I wish the iphone had this option.



A feature I like is the "Quick Memo" option (See: red mark scribble in above photo). It let's you write with your finger like a stylus pen anywhere on the screen. You can save that note and transfer to email or text message etc. This is a very convenient option for someone on the go.



This phone has High Definition playback, you can pinch and squeeze to resize a video in playback just like you can on an iphone with photos. The iphone cannot do this yet. I'm not sure if this is a beneficially feature or useful. What do you think?



Another cool feature is the NFC capabilities. Now this attracts my attention. This makes the phone more than just a phone now. It enables you to activate certain features on your phone by just hovering your phone and pre-progamming it with the NFC chip that is supplied with the phone. This extends the functionality of the phone.

Overall it looks like a nice phone. Battery life is like a day and a half. The talk time is about 10-15hrs. Would I get this phone? Maybe! I'm slowly seeing features in Android that are making me think twice now. If you need more info check it out at www.lg.com

More info: LG

5th Annual Pedigree Adoption Drive.

I do not own a dog and have never owned a pet. My two sisters own dogs and treat them like they're a part of the family. At first I never understood the importance of having a dog but I appreciated through my sisters' experiences that they play a vital role in their individual families. The dogs have given my sisters a sense of responsibility. Dogs also provide a feeling of companionship and unconditional love. Dogs love attention so when you are down or upset you forget about your own issues which is a good thing. Having to walk your dog everyday forces you to have the responsibility and the added exercise is a bonus!

I'm sure there are gratifications to owning a pet but right now, I'm not personally prepared to commit to owning one due to my hectic schedule and lifestyle. This is where you come in. I usually blog about giveaways or events I attend but this is a different type of post. This entry is more about awareness and social good. Sharing is caring.

Pedigree for the 5th year in a row will be donating up to $150,000 from purchases of Pedigree product to help support over 30 different dog shelters across Canada. I'm hoping that you can participate in the adoption of a dog. Maybe you've been thinking of getting a pet but wasn't sure. Hopefully the info in this post is incentive for you to the adopt.



I'm hoping this triggers someone to adopt "Amos" an 11 month old male huskie/rottweiler breed. He loves people and loves getting his ears rubbed and his chin scratched. He is a little insecure around some dogs especially males. The trainer of this dog thinks he was probably abused before he was rescued. Amos is looking for a new home. Hopefully, one of my followers or readers may know someone that has an interest. For info, contact Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue at 250-696-3188. This dog is in Vancouver so hopefully one of my followers down there can spread the news.

If you would like more info on adopting a dog, here is the info: Adoption

You can also join the conversation on Facebook
For more information on the PEDIGREE® brand, please visit www.mypedigree.ca

Eat, Drink & Be Merry. The Big Give Event

The Big Give event is in support of LGFB: Look Good Feel Better. It's an organization dedicated to supporting those dealing with cancer and cancer treatment. This event happens on Wednesday November 7th at the Berkeley Church in Toronto.
Come support a good cause in which 100% of proceeds will be given back to the LGFB

To purchase tickets/details visit here: www.dothebiggive.com

What does the cost of ticket include?

Open Bar

Complimentary Canapes and Hors D'Oeuvres

Automatic Entry into raffle prizes including Tiffany & Co., Flight Centre and more.

Entertainment from various local performers.

If you are not doing anything that evening and would like to support a great cause, come out to the Big Give! Let's mix and mingle.

Here's a video to give you a feel of what to expect from this event.

Follow for details on Twitter
@TheBigGive
Hashtag for this event is #TheBigGive

HP Windows 8 Launch Party in NYC

(Original Post) Prior to leaving for New York. Read first.

Last week I flew to New York city courtesy of HP for the Windows 8 Launch "The Sound of Touch" at Terminal 5. Terminal 5 is a large music venue in Hell's Kitchen located by the Hudson River. I entered Terminal 5 and I knew it was going to be a great event. The venue was surrounded with numerous HP products with colourful Windows 8 interfaces. I had the opportunity to checkout the various units by HP and was very impressed. Any of the HP units located near the dancefloor allowed the control of the lighting and large digital screens on the ceilings which i found was creative and unique.




If that wasn't enough we had a "Cirque Style" performance and the hip hop superstars Far East Movement. I had the opportunity for an up close and exclusive Q and A session with the group.



If you haven't heard of Far East Movement they are know for the song Like a G6. Here's a little recording I took of the concert that night.








Popping bottles in the VIP area with friends @JadeEmily and @auwai_inc


Swipe the blue stripe on the HP laptop and it controls the lighting inside the venue.


Notice the oversized laptop in the background. That was a popular attraction at the event.



Now this is the first time I had time to touch and play with the new HP line and Windows 8. I travelled with my own HP Envy Beats Audio laptop and love it but using this touchscreen with the simple coloured block Windows 8 interface makes it so attractive. I think the future of computing will be touchscreen.

Here are additional photos from my trip.


My view of the New York Skyline from my hotel room.


The Front desk at the INK48 Boutique hotel in NYC.


Windows 8 Display dashboard.


Getting interactive with the oversized laptop display. Fun!!

Overall the HP Windows 8 Experience in NYC is one to remember. Arriving and staying at INK48 hotel and partying with the folks from HP has been amazing. Thanks to HP and H&K Canada

For more info on HP website and Windows Windows8