Renegades

Ever since I was young I have had an interest in music. For a short period during grade school I took piano lessons, and I regret not continuing and admire anyone who is able to play. I have recently found how much I appreciate music because it is great for any occasion, whether I am happy, energetic, mellow, studious, tired, etc. The music I listen to directly relates to my mood or event I am dealing with in life. The way I find my music varies but I normally find music that not many people have heard of.

Pandora is one of my main avenues for music. I create playlists based on songs and artists I know and find so many other songs that are similar and I actually enjoy. One of my most recent discoveries is the song Renegades by X-Ambassadors. It originally popped up on one of my indie-rock Pandora stations and I fell in love.

What has happened to me forever, as I am sure it happens to many people, once I heard the song and started liking it, it pops up all around me. For example, Jeep has recently used the song to promote their new model car of the same name. At first I get really excited that I know the song and my friends around me might not. But then anger sets in when everyone else starts jumping on the bandwagon. I usually get irrationally upset and try to claim the song as my own since "I heard it first." Now that I have been able to identify these feelings, I can accept and move on that other people are going to love this great song just as much as I do. Here is the Jeep commercial featuring Renegades by X-Ambassadors. If you are interested, another great song by this band is Unsteady. Check this band out!

Renegades - X Ambassadors

Unsteady - X Ambassadors

Dancing with the Stars Update

Several weeks ago I wrote about the new Dancing with the Stars season on ABC, so I think it is about time for an update. Last week marked the halfway point through the competition and this was celebrated by the crowd favorite "Disney Night." 

Dancing with the Stars has started making theme nights throughout the competition to add more creativity and entertainment. Some of the theme nights so far have been #myjammonday where the stars dance to their favorite songs, Latin Night, Most Memorable Year where the stars highlight one year that changed their lives, and finally Disney Night, my favorite.

Rumer Willis - The Little Mermaid

Chris Soules - Hercules

Willow Shields - Alice in Wonderland

Riker Lynch - Pirates of the Caribbean

Nastia Liukin - Frozen

Patti La Belle - Beauty and the Beast

Robert Herjavec - Marry Poppins

Noah Galloway - Aladdin

Suzanne Somers - Lady and the Tramp

Unfortunatly Suzanne Somers and her partner Tony Dovolani were eliminated at the end of the night. The other stars who have been eliminated include Michael Sam, Charlotte McKinney and Redfoo. To keep up with the theme nights, next week will be Spring Break night where contestants dance to spring break themed music, along with a group dance, the first of the season. 

Guilty Pleasure - The Royals

E! has released a new scripted television show which started on March 15, 2015 and is getting ready to air it's 4th episode this Sunday evening. Given my fascination with royalty, which started with Disney Princesses and progressed to Princess Diana the Princess of Whales and now Kate Middleton the Duchess of Cambridge, the show has become another guilty pleasure of mine in regards to television.

The show follows a fictional British royal family set in modern London and the chaos and drama that comes along with that title. Queen Helena (Elizabeth Hurley) and King Simon (Vincent Regan) are the classy monarchs who just lost their oldest son Prince Robert to a mysterious military accident. Their second eldest son Prince Liam (William Moseley) is to soon take over the thrown but is struggling to get rid of his playboy ways and become more regal. His twin sister Princess Eleanor (Alexandra Park) is a rebel who has attracted a lot of negative publicity because of her crazy lifestyle. 

One reason this show has become somewhat addictive for me is that the family is so perfect, stylish and regal from the outside but absolute shambles on the inside. The love triangle between Prince Liam, his ex-girlfriend Gemma (Sophie Colquhoun) and  the head of security's daughter Ophelia (Merrit Patterson), and the sexual tension between Princess Eleanor and her security guard Jasper (Tom Austen) provide me much entertainment; not to mention the tension between the Queen and Ophelia, Ophelia and Gemma and between the Queen and her children. Another new-found reason for my attraction is an article I found comparing the fictional family to the real British Royal Family.  Read the comparisons from The Independent article.

Queen Helena - Princess Diana

King Simon - Prince Phillip

Prince Liam - Prince William

Princess Eleanor - Prince Harry

Ophelia - Kate Middleton

Princess Penelope and Princess Maribel - Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie

Gemma - Davina Duckworth-Chad

Sia and Maddie Ziegler

Yesterday Sia, an Australian singer and songwriter released a new music video to her song entitled Big Girls Cry. What makes this moment interesting is that the music video features Maddie Ziegler, a 12 year old dancer known for being a part of the television show Dance Moms. This is now the third music video that Maddie has starred in.

What has made Sia so interesting to the world is that she very rarely shows her face and has become known for her long, blonde bob that covers her eyes. She has been interviewed several times about this issue of disguise and each time her responses have been that she simply does not want to be famous. Despite what some people may think, Sia has been writing songs since 1997 and after retiring from her own career, she continued to write songs for other singers like Christina Aguilera and the soundtrack of Burlesque, Beyonce, Flo Rida, Rihanna and David Guetta. It was not until after David Guetta released a version of the song Titanium which included Sia's background vocals that she came up on the music radar again.

The main reason Sia does not want to be famous or recognizable is because she has seen what life in the spotlight has done to other singers. She doesn't want the focus to be on her, but instead on the music and the message and emotions her songs depict. This is the reason Sia and Maddie's partnership has been so successful. Maddie is an interpretive dancer and the three music videos she has starred in have featured her performing to emotional choreographed dances that use wide motions and facial expressions to depict Sia's vision.

The other music videos Maddie has performed in include Chandelier

Elastic Heart, which was featured on The Hunger Games soundtrack. The music video starred Shia LaBeouf and Maddie Ziegler

And the most recent video to Big Girls Cry  which was released on April 2, 2015

Dancing With the Stars

This post is gong to be another one of those occasions where instead of writing about a movie I write about a television show. One of my guilty pleasures is watching Dancing With the Stars on ABC and this is the show's 20th season, kind of a big milestone. For those of you who don't know, the purpose of the show is to pair a celebrity, whether they are a musician, actor, professional athlete, internet star and many other famous people, with a professional dancer who teaches them a variety of ballroom dance styles.

This season the stars who started out were Redfoo (from the band LMFAO), Noah Galloway (a combat soldier who lost his arm and leg in Afghanistan), Robert Herjavec (Shark from Shartank), Patti LaBelle (singer), Nastia Luikin (Olympic gymnast), Riker Lynch (singer from the bank R5), Charlotte McKinney (model known for Super Bowl commercial), Michael Sam (American football player), Willow Shields (plays Primrose Everdeen in Hunger Games series), Suzanne Somers (actress from Three's Company), Chris Soules (previous Bachelor), and Rumer Willis (actress and daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore).

One of the main reasons I enjoy watching this show is because of how inspiring it is. While yes these people are all famous for some reason, the majority of them have never had experience in ballroom dancing. They are placing themselves in a vulnerable position where they are judged by a panel of professional dancers as well as all of the American public, who are usually not so kind. The contestants come from different backgrounds, different skill sets and different ages yet they all show tremendous progress throughout the season.

Viewers get the opportunity to vote for their favorite contestant and their votes actually contribute to which contestants stay, and which get eliminated each week. On several occasions I have actually participated in voting, and sometimes I just vote for them in spirit. I however usually don't vote or root for people who are naturally gifted (like the gymnasts, other style dancers, or even musicians because they already have the musicality that is required). I usually vote for the underdogs, the contestants who come from nontraditional backgrounds, and people who are genuinely trying and thoroughly enjoy being a part of the process.

Season 17 - Bill Engvall (comedian)
Season 18 -Drew Carey (host and comedian) and Charlie White (Olympic ice dancer)
Season 19 - Sadie Robertson (TV star), Janel Parish (TV star), and Alfonso Ribiero (TV star)

This season my favorites at this point in the competition include the following pairs

Rumer Willis and Valentin Chmerkovskiy

Robert Herjavec and Kym Johnson

Noah Galloway and Sharna Burgess

Willow Shields and Mark Ballas

Cinderella and Corsets

The new live action movie Cinderella which hit theaters march 13, 2015 and stars Cate Blanchett (stepmother), Lilly James (Cinderella), and Helena Bonham Carter (fairy godmother), is stirring up controversy over Lilly James' incredibly small looking waist. Some people suspected her waist was digitally altered until the public learned that her hour-glass figure was due to her wearing a corset.

When James described wearing the corset for filming she mentioned that she had to stay on a liquid diet to fit in to the corset. Because filming lasted so long, and the corset was so difficult to tie and untie just for James to eat, she stuck to a liquid diet of soup so that her food could be more easily digested under the constricting corset.


A lot of criticism has been placed on James herself who has retaliated by defending her body by saying she is very healthy and always has been. Her naturally small waist was just emphasized by the corset (which is designed to make waists appear smaller!) Contrasting her waist to the extremely wide and full skirt of her iconic gown only made it look more dramatic.


While Disney did heavily market this film towards younger audiences, they are not the only people in Hollywood who are taking part in the new corset-craze. Models all over the country as well as all three of the Kardashians have posted picture on social media of them wearing the new waist-training corsets.

     

Just like almost everything in life, corsets have the potential of becoming dangerous and unhealthy. In regards to the making of Cinderella  Lilly James was closely monitored, and nutritionists made sure she was getting enough essential vitamins and minerals. The corset was used for aesthetic purposes in the film but unfortunately the trend is taking off. How far will it go? We will just have to wait and see.

Insurgent, Will It Be Like the Book

Insurgent is the second novel in the Divergent Trilogy written by Veronica Roth. The movie is set to be released on March 20, 2015, only 14 days away!!! But when any book is turned into a movie, there is always curiosity as to how the movie will compare to the book. Coming from someone who has read the series twice and seen the Divergent movie about 6 times (I know that't a lot), and after seeing the movie trailer, I expect it to be quite different.

I am going to assume you have seen the first Divergent movie, and if you haven't Wikipedia and Imdb have great synopses of the film. I am beyond excited for the second movie to be released, not only because I loved the series, but also because the trailer confused the life out of me.

The beginning of the trailer shows this high-tech box with all the factions' symbols on it and Jeanine (Kate Winslet) has is under heavy protection. Tris (Shailene Woodley) asks her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) what Jeanine thinks is in there and his response is that she doesn't know, she is testing divergents to see who can open it.

Okay woah, this is a pretty drastic change to the plot, something that will change this movie and the third, Allegiant. In the book, yes Jeanine was testing divergents, but she was doing so to create an even more powerful serum that they would not be able resist. SPOILER ALERT, I think this box is going to contain the secret video that was left by the founder of this futuristic town. But in the book, key leaders in the town including Jeanine from Erudite knew the secret information! Making her just as clueless as the other citizens is going to make the secret even more monumental. Maybe I am wrong about what is in the box, but if I am not, the movie is going to be very different.

Aside from that shocking addition, the movie seems action packed and amazing. I am very much looking forward to my visions of the book coming alive, seeing the blossoming romance between Tris and Four (Theo James), and what the other factions headquarters look like.