Friday Hops: Movies and Music

Speaking of hops, has anyone else had the Not Your Father's Rootbeer??? Oh. My. Goodness.

Happy Friday! Today, I bring you my Fast Five, created by the Cover Girls, Dani and Jackie, and Express Yourself Weekly, also created by the Cover Girls, kind of. lol

Fast Five Friday invites you to give 5 quick answers to whatever question that have for the week. This week they ask us to name 5 action packed movies. Easy for me! I love action movies.

1. Lethal Weapon
2. Die Hard
3. Star Trek: Into Darkness
4. The Fast and the Furious
5. The Matrix

Now, I'm not sure if we still sign up for this one, but they have the questions, so I'm gonna answer them! This week, they asked, "What song makes you want to dance as soon as you hear it?"

Hm...I'd have to say any song with a salsa beat. If I hear one, I typically go, "Eyyy!" and bust a move or two.

THREE DAYS left before Pitch Wars opens up. Are you excited?? What about those questions up there? Love a good action movie? Love to dance? :)

Good Friday Freeday: Musical Edition

A Good Friday to you all!

While I'm glad for the day off, in the Christian community, this is a solemn day, marking the first day of Christ's time in the tomb--I'm going to start calling it that.

It didn't occur to me until it was announced at my church, but we didn't have an Easter play this year because a lack of interest. Honestly, our plays are kinda blah, and our church's median age is probably 60, so that's understandable. I actually had an idea for one this year, though! Maybe I'll develop it for next year.

What it was was a musical about Jesus to many of the songs on the Christian radio stations I usually listen to. Hillsong and Kari Jobe have some great songs out right now, so I just thought I'd post my imagined set list for this play. For those who acknowledge today, and even those who don't, I hope it ministers to you. :)

Hillsong - Desert Song
Matthew 4:1-11 (Satan tries to tempt Jesus in the wilderness)

Hillsong - Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)
Matthew 14:25-29 (Jesus walks on water, and Peter comes to walk with him)

Kari Jobe - The More I Seek You
Luke 10:38-42 (Jesus visits Martha and her sister Mary)

Israel Houghton - Hosanna
Matthew 21:9 (The crowd meets Jesus as he comes to Jerusalem)

Kari Jobe - Forever

Matthew 27:45 - 28:10 (His Death through His Resurrection)

Friday Freeday: Smooth McGroove & Final Fantasy

Happy Friday, all!

I don't have anything to say, so here is this guy I need to marry (and his cat hehe) singing a capella versions of Final Fantasy scores.

Final Fantasy VII's Battle Theme:

Final Fantasy VIII - The Man with the Machine Gun:

Final Fantasy X - To Zanarkand (my favorite):

The behemoth that is Final Fantasy VII's One Winged Angel:

And though there are more, I leave you with Final Fantasy VII's Victory Fanfare:

Friday Freeday: International Problems

Happy Friday, everyone!

This is a complaint about what music is available where, if you were wondering.

Mr. Probz is a Dutch Hip Hop artist who I was linked to by a guy who is basically my boyfriend (not a long story, but a complicated one, and also an international problem). The version of the song he sent me below (the Robin Schulz Remix) is popular on the club circuit right now:

This is the one that is available everywhere at the moment. It's nice if you like club remixes. I don't like club remixes. The one below is the original version and the one I was sent:

It's BEAUTIFUL...and unavailable in the US. I know there are programs where I can extract the music from the Youtube video, and then I'd have the song, but I'd like to be legal about getting this song into my music library. Ugh.

Does anyone else have this odd problem with their musical tastes?

Weird entry, I know. Have a great weekend, though!

Express Yourself: Belt It!

Happy April!

Welcome back to Express Yourself: a weekly meme brought to us by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests. This week, they ask us about songs we belt out in the car or shower.

Having done a couple of shower/car concerts this week, lol, I know this answer pretty well. In the shower, I like to belt out Beyonce's greatest hits, most recently from her album 4, which is her best album. So, songs like "I Was Here", "I Miss You" (my favorite song), or "Best Thing I Never Had". If I'm feeling nostalgic, I'll go to "Halo," "Irreplaceable," "Listen", etc.

In the car, because our radio stations are whack, I often sing Christina Aguilera's "Walk Away" from Dirty.

So there you have it! Stop by some of the other participants to see what they love to sing when no one's listening. :)

For those doing A to Z, good luck!

Friday Freeday: Album Review: Ariana Grande "Yours Truly"

By the time last night rolled around, I still had no clue what I wanted to write about. I finished revising my WIP AGAIN, and I actually got it under 98k words, which I thought was impossible, but I let some scenes RIP and kept it moving *sigh*.

So then what? Well, as I sat at my desk and turned on my beloved mp3 player (see my purse from Tuesday lol), I turned on my currently first choice: Ariana Grande's "Yours Truly." So then I thought: ALBUM REVIEW!!!

Ariana (as many with kids know) is Cat from Victorious and Sam and Cat. I didn't realize she could sing until an episode of Victorious where she and Jade (Liz Gillies, also a very talented singer) did karaoke. I was shocked speechless (and it must suck to have been the star of the show and not been as good a singer as the other two girls, buuuuut...). Ariana has a gorgeous voice and is better (yes BETTER) than Mariah Carey. As long as she takes care of her voice and has good people behind her, she'll be around for a while.

So "Yours Truly" is a true R&B album with a great mix of modern hits (The Way, Right There, Lovin' It) and throwback tunes that harken back to 50s Doo-wop (Tattooed Heart (which she'll be singing at the AMAs Sunday), Daydreamin'). She's a true Soprano, which means she doesn't have a low register (or she never sings in one at any rate) and can belt high notes without screaming them. I posted her song with Nathan Sykes "Almost is Never Enough" a little while ago, and it is one of my favorite tracks. My very favorite is the first track on the album, "Honeymoon Avenue," about a failing relationship. It's a very strong opening for an album. "Piano" is also a favorite of mine, and I also use it as a squat track for my free Zumba class. lol

If you're a fan of R&B or Ariana Grande, I recommend this album. It gets a 5/5 stars from me (if you value my opinion)!

Friday Freeday - Music Feature: Ariana Grande ft. Nathan Sykes

I don't have anything special to say today, so to commemorate a book I just learned was a book when its movie is coming out, here is Ariana Grande featuring The Wanted's Nathan Sykes singing "Almost is Never Enough" for the soundtrack of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.

Two for Tuesday: Tunes for Tuesday

So, I'm listening to my mp3 player and thought of all the great first lines in songs. Some are so gripping that you have to listen to the rest of the song. Here are a few of my favorites:

"Close your eyes, make a wish. This could last forever." Backstreet Boys - Climbing the Walls

"Waste all your time writing love songs, but you don't love me." Lianne La Havas - Forget

"Come upstairs and I'll show you where all my...where my demons hide from you." Lianne again - Lost & Found

"You took your coat off and stood in the rain. You were always crazy like that." Jewel - Foolish Games

Friday Freeday: Rainy Day Tunes

Well, I will have to schedule my posts the night before. My work browser now won't let me type in this box.

I hope everyone not on the east coast is having a good Friday. My town is flooded. We had to take a back road to detour our back road detour.

But that's not what today was about. Rainy days are a perfect day to cuddle up with a book, blanket, movie, ideally a person, and chill. Since I work Monday through Fridays, while I'm watching the rain through the vestibule windows, I love listening to mellow pop tunes. I have a Pandora radio just for it. Jason Mraz, Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson, etc. Yuna and Birdy are also on that list. Some wine and popcorn Olivia Pope style would make it a perfect day.

So, what are your favorite tunes on days like this? Days like mine, that is? lol And stay dry!

Rainy Day Ramblings

Happy Monday!

If you're on the east coast, is it raining? It's been raining on and off for about three weeks now, and there's supposed to be a torrential downpour every day this week here. Meh. I'm going to just go out and dance in one of the rains. It would be more fun with a special someone by my side, but I guess I'll keep waiting, Jesus.

For four harrowing days, I couldn't find my MP3 player, and I longed for this Daley song the entire time. Common sense advised me to check the couch this morning, so now I'm listening to "Smoking Gun". British people have so much soul. I love it.

*Stopped to sing it*

Speaking of MP3 players, has anyone else ever experienced MP3-ESP? When you have a song on your mind and your player on shuffle, and boom: that song comes on next? It happens to me a lot, and I'm beginning to think my Philips has an AI prototype in their players.

I'm taking the time to elaborate on parts of my manuscript, and I'm stuck because I don't know how superfluous it is. I like to be able to see almost everything in a scene, but I'm bad at doing it myself.

Monday Morning came too soon...Does anyone remember that song? It was on a commercial for something: a girl was taking a test, and her teacher caught her opening up a note, but it was from her mom wishing her good luck on the test. It was a good pairing.

I want to write one of my revampings so badly right now. The issue I have at the moment is how to execute. I kind of want to have chapters dedicated to how each character came to where they are before I bring them all together. The last time I worked on this particular theme I was a teenager just coming out of my X-men obsession. That's about 15 years now (sheesh). I'll work it out.

I almost left without saying what I came here to say in the first place. My coworker who was the Admin I has been upgraded to the Admin III since ours retired Friday. I was talking to my sister about how when the Admin I position is posted that I don't want to apply because it's not what I want to do. Always the child of logic, she asked me: "Is it more money?" That wouldn't matter to me if I didn't owe Sallie Mae a grandchild and don't have my own set of wheels yet, so I'm going to stop throwing my tantrums and do what I have to do. I know I'd love to make writing a career, but for now, I have to be practical. Bleh.

I hope everyone has a good Monday, and see you tomorrow for Express Yourself!

Express Yourself: Your Soundtrack

I always tweak the title. lol I was having such a sucky day that I almost forgot one of the joys of Tuesday: Express Yourself! Thank you, Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests for this weekly bloghop.

Today is an easy one for me! What bands/singers would be the most used in the soundtrack to your WIP or your life?

Music has helped define who I am or express a certain point in my life. Instead of me explaining every single artist (as I was really about to do lol), here's the soundtrack that pretty much sums up my life from teen years to now.

1. Super Girl by Krystal Harris
2. Overprotected by Britney Spears
3. I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman by Britney Spears
4. Remember My Name by Yuna
5. I Was Here by Beyoncé

Now, oddly enough (or maybe not for writers), I also have a lot of my soundtrack planned for my fantasy WIP. As I one day hope for it to be a movie and am writing the book as an homage to the Final Fantasy series, I envisioned the music sounding like a Final Fantasy soundtrack. If I'm lucky, maybe Nobuo Uematsu can even oversee musical production! Aside from an original score I need to actually compose, I have a few pop tracks that I want to Finalize (giggle) for important scenes. They are:

1. Let the Flames Begin by Paramore (which I already know will come out sounding slightly like Jenova's Theme, but I also have a whole new arrangement I want to write)
2.Breathe Again by Sara Bareilles (I hear a harp and battle drums)
3. Smash into You by Beyoncé (maybe I can get her to sing it more softly lol)

Friday Freeday: The Best & Worst Movie Remakes!

This Friday Freeday is a BLOGFEST!

I didn't have time to watch all of the originals or remakes of the movies I've seen (I've seen so many movies), so I will have to go with the movies for which I have seen both the original and the remake. That narrows it down to like 5 movies.

Best Movie Remake: Beauty and the Beast
Weren't expecting that, were you? I was 7 or 8 when Disney put out this tale as old as time. From the opening tale of the mean prince turning away a fairy queen disguised as an ugly, haggard woman and being cursed until someone could love him for his inner beauty (or something, it's been a while), to the spectacular fight scene and the revelation of the hot prince Beast was (yes, even for a cartoon, the Prince was sexy), this movie captivated me and became my favorite Disney movie. Now, what made it better than the 1946 Jean Cocteau French film? What the heck didn't? I saw the original in my History of Film class, and my teacher for some reason hated the Disney remake. Admittedly, the set was beautiful (there were people in the furniture if I remember, so the candles were moving around, etc.), but the movie was boring. Even worse, the Beast was so not scary. When he first appeared, my classmates and I laughed. He looked like a regal Zoobilee-Zoo character. There was also some elaborate story about a rose garden (is this in the original story?) and when Avenant (Gaston in the cartoon) goes after Belle (I'm not sure he was rescuing her at this point; it's been 9 years), the garden turns him into the Beast, who gets Avenant's handsome features, at which Belle wasn't all that happy. At least in the cartoon, Belle is happy to get the Beast she fell in love with and his true hot self. lol

Worst Movie Remake: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
I had originally chosen The Wiz, but then I remembered this tragedy (You get to live another day, The Wiz). I actually wrote a review about this on IMDb.com; that's how much I hated this movie. I find Tim Burton highly overrated anyway, and this might have been the first time I thought, "You know what? Johnny Depp is, too!" Apparently, Roald Dahl didn't like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and neither did Burton, but the original is a classic, and I love Gene Wilder. I've only seen him in two movies, and I absolutely love him. Johnny Depp's Wonka was (as I described it) Stepford Wives meets (as others described it) Michael Jackson. The rush to get to Wonkaland and the lack of mystery sucked all of the magic from the movie, and the Oompa Loompa pop songs ruined the rest for me.


BONUS: The Best & Worst Song Remakes
Being a big music lover, this one was a little harder, because I've heard A LOT of remakes (sometimes haven't even heard the original first), so I had to go with what popped into my head first, because your first instinct is usually the strongest thought.

BEST: (I Believe I Can)/Fly by Glee (orginally by R. Kelly/Nicki Minaj)
Buy it on iTunes, look it up on Youtube, SOMETHING! DO it! Glee's really cheesy (it's like FOX's version of Kids Incorporated), especially when a student breaks out in song, and the others jump in as back-up like they knew the arrangement already (c'mon man). But sometimes, the remakes they come up with melt my heart! The one above was a mash-up of R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" and Nicki Minaj's "Fly" in a way that when it started with "Fly," I didn't expect "I Believe..." to come in, and when it did, I almost went into worship. It's beautiful.

WORST: Papa Don't Preach by Kelly Osbourne (originally by Madonna)
I think everyone scoffed when Kelly decided to do this. First, the child can't sing all that well. Second, I haven't heard it in years, but I remember being SO bored, and her staccato "Ooh-ooh" is now playing in my head over and over. This was a big moral-of-the-story moment that screamed "just because Daddy could, doesn't mean you should."

Thanks, as always, to the great Ninja Alex-Sensei and his co-hosts, Stephen Temp, Livia Peterson, and Father Dragon Al, for doing this blogfest. <3 Stop by their pages to find the other contestants, as well as their Best & Worst Remakes!

Mid-Atlantic Food and Wine Festival

Hello!

Unfortunately, I was on the road, and then my niece needed the computer to do her homework, so I missed the weekly AQC chat. Thus, there is no PSA today.

To calm the masses who are now outraged and riotous with this news, here is a news video and article for the Mid-Atlantic Food and Wine Festival, which concluded this past Sunday with a Gospel Brunch in Wilmington, DE, and in which my choir and one of my church's other choirs sang. I haven't watched the video yet, so hopefully I get to later tonight.

Heavenly music goes down well...

This was the second year I pulled double duty, but we did get to stop and eat a few items. The lobster pot pie was awesome. I will mostly likely try to make this one day. I didn't get to try but 2 wines, neither of which I particularly liked. They must be sweet-sweet for me.

The highlight for me were the people who listened to us. A few ladies were just so full of energy and were two-stepping through one song. Even the servers at the Montrachet Wines table were dancing like we had just picked THEIR song (you know that song that when you hear it, you go "THIS IS MY SONG!"). It made me smile, and the strain of rehearsing and things were worth getting to see their excitement.

Blogger Spotlight: Kristen Lamb

You all get at least a two-fer this week, as I'll have to visit my "AA" this Wednesday (ISWG). lol

I'm really bad with my writer social media, and the past few weeks, I've just been terrible, so because I'm going on a cruise next week, I vowed to be on the ball this week. The first blog-linked tweet I clicked on today caught my eye, because it was titled "How Eminem Makes Me A Better Writer." I found it humorous, so I went to read the entry, and I got a whole different entry than what I expected!

Kristen Lamb expresses her love of good music no matter the genre, and she goes into detail how the medium of poetry has transformed into today's rap music scene. She also does an awesome job of tying in songs by Eminem and the stakes of characters in select novels.

So click that link down there, and also check out her book We Are Not Alone. If you're a writer, there is also a contest tied to her entry, so extra-check it out. ;)

Kristen Lamb: How Eminem Make Me A Better Writer

Lua (a poem)

So I don't really have anything to blog about, so I thought I'd share a poem I wrote in college about a very deep, seemingly one-sided crush I had on this guy. It's based around the song he was singing at the time the poem takes place: Lua by Bright Eyes.

I'm tired of being cold
Why don't you set down your guitar
And tell me to come sit in your lap?
Sing some more Lua for me
Let the sound of your voice
Against those words
Roam around in me
Being alone with you
Like we were then
Felt too close to the real
I bet you'd feel my heart
Lose a little weight
If you kissed me right now
We can stay conscious if you want to
But I'd rather just
Look at you in the moonlight
And know I can count on you

Lianne La Havas (brief album review)

In case you haven't realized from some of my other posts, I love and live for music. In fact, I'm going to turn some on now, since I pressed pause and forgot that I did, so my MP3 player turned off.

What was I listening to? Well, Lianne La Havas, says the title. I happened upon her music while watching a Youtube video of Birdy covering "A Team" (speaking of which, I should listen to more Ed Sheeran). The ad on the video was Lianne La Havas. So I clicked it to go to her page and watched "Lost & Found," a very sad but beautiful song about what I can only describe as an awful boyfriend.

Lianne is another British usurper, and takeover has never sounded so wonderful. Her music is soulful, quirky, and lulling. Her current album Is Your Love Big Enough? takes us through the roller coaster that was her last relationship, from the break-up, to dating an older man, to getting back with the first boyfriend (I think).

My favorite songs:

Lost & Found - very memorable piano and sad melody
You broke me and taught me
to truly hate myself
Unfold me and teach me
how to be like somebody else

Everything, Everything - haunting chorus
There's nothing to say
Your eyes said it all
I'm not looking away
Your eyes hold everything, everything

Tease Me - neo-soulful, mellow, and relatable lyrics for a 28-year-old maid like myself. *wink*
I hate the way you tease me
I am not lonely, I'm all right

Genre Favorites Blogfest

I need to get on the ball!

Alrighty, so I just learned of another blogfest, this one hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh.  Here is what you have to do! There's less than a day left. lol

Post your favorite genre in the following categories:

Movie

Music

Book

Plus a Guilty Pleasure from one of these categories.

SO, my favorite movie genre might be action/adventure. I love a lot of movies, but no matter the subgenre (fantasy, sci-fi, etc.) If it has action, I almost always watch it.

My favorite music is hard, because I listen to almost everything. I do love my rock, though, mostly classic and bands like Kings of Leon and Foo Fighters.

My favorite book is another hard one because I've read many genres and don't particularly have a favorite...but I will go with speculative fiction.

My guilty pleasure would have to be movies because I'm not really ashamed of the other stuff. lol I sometimes end up liking those TV-kids movies, like the Cheetah Girls 2 and Rags. The ones with music incorporated into them. I can't help it. I'm a kid at heart. :)

Make sure you stop by Alex's blog and the others who have signed up for this. I think I'm #179 or something wild like that. Enjoy your week!

Birdy (Album Review)

I heard this little girl sing "Skinny Love" on Conan, and I fell in love!

"Birdy", or Jasmine van den Bogaerde (what a name), is 16 years old with the voice of someone so much more mature. I can't wait to hear how she grows. Her voice is like cotton, soft, smooth, and sleepy. I almost cried listening to it yesterday, but I was in my feelings, so...at any rate, her voice is emotionally compelling no matter what you're feeling while you're listening to it. I also like to imitate her accent when I sing her songs. She says ool (all) and stroowberries. lol

Her debut album Birdy is an album of covers, which if you asked me 10 years ago (geez 10 years) I would have said is a cop-out, but that's while I was listening to Joss Stone, whose voice I can't stand and music I can't stand even more. SO, when I went back to listen to the originals (haven't gotten to all of them yet) that Birdy covered, I shook my head and said, "Nah, hers is better." The arrangements are beautiful, and you (I) can't stop listening to them.

It's a very mellow album with only one fast song and many mid-tempos. If you're into dancing (not club but contemporary and lyrical) it's good for it. My favorite songs on this album are "Shelter," "Without A Word," "Youngblood," "White Winter Hymn"... I'll stop before I pretty much name the whole album. Birdy has inspiring piano skills. Maybe I'll get back to learning songs; I have to manage my time better.

I'm almost sure her album is available to listen to on Spotify, but I'm not sure because I bought it right after listening to clips on Amazon. You can also subscribe to her on Youtube. "The A Team" is a great song she recently put up.

This album gets 5 stars from me. I leave you with my favorite line from a song that I actually didn't list as my favorite.

People help the people
And if you're homesick
Give me your hand, and I'll hold it.

God is real

Not a preachy person, and I can count the number of scriptures I know on my hand, I think, but when God talks to me, it is CRAZY, and I have to talk about it.

I feel like I said this in another blog (was it during my nervous breakdown? lol) but when I didn't want to go to school, I went because I was stuck awake in the middle of the night feeling like someone was shaking my soul. That's the best way to describe it. I was shivering like I was cold, but I was hot. And I said, "Okay, God, what do I need to give up?" He said, "Music." "What do you want me to do?" "College." So I went.

I know that's hard for people to understand in this day and age, believing in something so "antiquated", but as someone said a couple weeks ago, God doesn't change, people do.

So, the speaker at our Young Adult service told us to write something that's been on our heart on these pieces of paper, and I'd had dreams of these non-denominational gospel songs for a couple of years now, and I've been really slow on them because of sub-conscious doubts. I'm in a family of singers, and not Jackson-voiced singers (sorry Jacksons), but BIG voices. My mom wanted to be an opera singer but got scared and went into other fields and still regrets it. My older sister is a solid operatic soprano, my younger sister has a whistle register (jealous), and my aunt is known around our city for her voice. So I get told a lot that I have a soft voice, or such a tiny voice that I oftentimes feel like this big.

I imagine myself sometimes having a Beyonce-esque voice, and I was once likened to Whitney, but LET'S BE REAL. lol I'm neither. I'm in a Baptist church with a Presbyterian voice (neither are bad, but I'm just saying I don't have the style of voice required for where I am). I'll belt a song out in the shower, but don't stand me by myself in front of a room of people if I'm not comfortable with the style of song on my throat.

Back to the last paragraph, so the speaker told us to write down these things, and I wrote down that I was going to finish these songs, buy a guitar, finish learning the piano, and minister through song. I got up 20 minutes later to pray with the directors over the Young Adults, because there'd been a disconnect, and halfway through the prayer, the speaker's husband told me, not having seen what I wrote, that I would be singing to thousands and my voice would heal the sick. I almost cried, but I don't like crying in front of people lol. God will speak to you when you least expect it, and when he's confirming things he's already placed in your heart, there's no longer any reason to doubt yourself. I'm going to finish these songs and stay (get) in God's Word and alignments, because I know my purpose, and it's HERE.

I didn't expect to say so much, but hopefully this touches someone.

The Origin of Love

You know how some things just stick with you once you've seen them? That one song that says everything you need to say, that movie that emotionally wrecked you?

"The Origin of Love" is one of those for me. It's from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. You can find it on Youtube. I haven't even seen the whole movie, but we watched the scene in my Mythology class my first year at Florida State. Parts of it are still hilarious to me (the song is pretty ridiculous when you listen closely). The story as a whole, though, is so profound and moving.

So, I wrote a short story based on it. This might have been the fastest story I've ever done. I started it on my cell phone after work (I sometimes love my Blackberry) and just finished it. I will read it over to check for any superficial errors, but I will be posting it within the hour.

[UPDATE: The aforementioned post was picked up for publication and taken down in order to be published. A sample of the story and e-zine in which it's found are now in the tabs above!]