Neon Tiger, The Killers

Besides reading outside today,  this gem made me smile.  I dare you not to tap a toe or shimmy to this!

Sara Bareilles - King of Anything from Sam Garvey on Vimeo.


I saw you groovin' and shakin' ;)

Don't Waste the Pretty, Allison Iraheta ft. Orianthi

Pop Culture Thoughts:

• Sometime I think wearing sunglasses really makes you cooler than others. It's a similar element of putting on the shades and thinking people won't notice you aka Big Daddy theory. When I sing in my car, it's with sunglasses.

• Did you know Justin Bieber's tour is sponsored by Xbox360? Yeah that didn't make since to me either since his demographic probably isn't interested in the Xbox360.

• If Ke$ha asked me to "have a slumber party in her basement," I would immediately decline. Based upon her appearance, the basement wouldn't be very clean, which would cause dust bunnies in the popcorn as we watch Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
  

What's a current pop culture pet peeve you have?

Revelry, Kings of Leon

On Shirley's bus we were required to sit in groups of three. Thankfully I had my good friends B and her neighbor T to sit next to. We were the three inseparable amigos who frequently did things together, whether it was making music videos or playing tackle football in the show while "Mambo #5" was on repeat. Life was grand.

Well one afternoon T had to stay after school for some reason, I believe it was for his basketball team, so we had an extra space on our seat. Since we sat farther in the back, the tres amigos sometimes happened to sit next to the sketchy kids.


You know the ones! They had a reputation for being rebellious, cussed, had a corner in the school and were awfully mean to teachers. I called kids like that "trouble-makers."

Well on this particular day, Leo decided he was going to sit next to us, so he would be sitting next to his friends directly behind us. With his command for us to scoot over, B and I slide close to the window. We sat and waited for the rest of the students to board the bus, and while we did so Leo pulled something from his bag.



For the first time in my life I came face to face with the white sticks I learned about from many educational films. My favorite was "Your Choice Our Chance." It featured various situations in 10 minutes, and then left the ending open so you could make your own decision. But I digress...

Leo took out a cigarette from the package along with a lighter from his pocket and lit it. I was stunned. What was I supposed to do? B and I huddled over our back packs trying to avoid the smoke. Seconds later the doors to the bus closed and we began moving forward.

We continued moving from behind the school towards the front of the school. Without a hesitation the bus moved into the empty parking lot and instantly stopped. Shirley opened the bus doors and stood up.

"WHO LIT THE CIGARETTE?" She screamed. Her voice echoed as it bounced back from the back door to the front. B and I looked at each other not know what to do. We glanced at Leo who stared at us snidely.


"DON'T MAKE ME GO GET THE PRINCIPAL! WE WILL SEARCH EVERY BACKPACK IF WE HAVE TO!"

The fear of 50 middle school students froze. After scanning all of us like detained criminals, Shirley sat back into the drivers seat. With a slight jerk forward, the bus moved behind the school. The bus doors opened again, and Shirley continued her investigation. After several minutes of silence someone from behind me yelled Leo's name.

Shirley walked down the aisle and eventually reached our row. After a few probing questions Leo admitted it was him, and was kicked off the bus. As he made his way down the exit steps of the bus, Shirley ranted, " You will never ride this bus again."

For the rest of the ride home I sat in silence. The scenario in my mind kept thinking about how Leo was going to attack me outside my house. Also I knew that Shirley now assumed that I was one of the rebellious kids since I was sitting next to the "trouble-maker." There was no way to improve my situation.

Every Rose Has It's Thorn, Miley Cyrus

Yesterday as I was driving home early from work, I came across a school bus. Several memories came back as I thought about past experiences with the bus. So for the next few blog entries, they will all be related to the bright yellow school transport!



The agony of middle school was only embellished that the students in my neighborhood got to take the school bus to school. My bus stop was at the beginning of the route and directly across the street from my house. After visiting all the the stops, the bus would loop around to pass my stop again since my street is on the way to school.



Our school bus driver's name was Shirley, and if you were to clone Mimi from The Drew Carey Show, you would have her evil twin. She loved colorful eyeshadow which was always emphasized with her grim demeanor. To make her day better, I always thanked her because that's just who I am.

Well one morning I was off my routine for one reason or another. As I was hurrying to get out the door, I heard the bus brakes, which meant that Shirley was already at the stop. The brilliant idea came that Shirley would loop around all the stops, and that I could flag her down when she rolled back around. I hurried out the door, and stood against the street post on the corner where she would pass by.

Minutes later I could see the bright bus making it's final pick-up down at the end of the street. I prepared myself mentally for how I was going to get her attention. I was going to wave as big as I could and point at myself and then at the bus to indicate I needed to get on.

Up the street came the eyeshadow queen. I started waving and we made eye contact. The proceeded to get closer and closer with each second. As the bus neared the corner, fellow riders saw me began to pound on the windows and tell her to stop. The Dame Ms. Shirley continued forward. Time stood still as what appeared as a blurred yellow crayon passed by.


Voices continued to scream as big yellow taxi accelerated and moved up the street.

I was stuck in awe! How could she not pick me up? I was right there where she could see me. I never caused any problems on the bus!

From the street corner I ran towards my house, as teardrops fell upon the asphalt. As a child I was always very emotional and sensitive to rejection. I ran into my house and through sobbed out-of-breath words, told my mom the whole story. After I could calm down, my mom ushered me into the min-van so I could make it to second period.

From then on... I stopped thanking her for the bus ride. She was the anti-friend, a bully if you will.

Party, Nelly Furtado

Today is the start of the summer harvest. "What might we be our crop?" You ask. Well So You Think You Can Dance starts tonight. It's one of my favorite shows, because of the combination of good music by the original artists, and incredible dancing.

This season is looking to be more remarkable than the rest, but there are some bad apples creeping up in there as well:

GOOD:

• Mia Michaels is back. I just feel like I get her dances without an explanation. Also I think she is the best critic. She will tell you if you suck or not.
• I love a lot of the all-stars. Some of them, I am not sure why they were brought back, but I can deal. All-stars I like, Ade, Comfort, Lauren, Mark, Neil, and sometimes Twitch.
• My favorite people from the new cast are: Alexie, Billy Bell (he is the type of person that needs to go by his first and last name), Kent (hilariously awkward), and Lauren (Who looks like a mini-Lauren Conrad aka the Hills).
• Cat Deeley. She seriously is one of the best reality show hosts ever. You can tell she has a heart, is genuinely funny, and cares about the contestants.

BAD

• I know they are looking for international consistency, but the stage they use for the American and Australian SYTYCD is way too big. I also hate the lights behind the stage.
• Let's face it- This season is all about the All-stars. They clearly outshine who the new people are. I think the results of this show will be greatly tainted by who they are paired with.
• Dominque. Sure he's talented. Sure he created a crew with Hok and they won America's Best Dance Crew. BUT he needs the least exposure because of this. They should have chosen someone like Gev. Also he and Cat Deeley have this awkward relationship that makes me feel uncomfortable...

It's going to be awesome! Tune in Wednesdays and Thursdays on Fox

Hallelujah, Paramore

Guess what's coming out this Friday? Toy Story 3. This is the first movie that I really have wanted to see this summer.

Top 3 reasons I am excited for this movie:

1) I am not sure why, but I have vivid memories associated with seeing the other two movies. When I saw the original feature I went with my friends Tyler and Britney. Somehow we decided to skip school, and conned one of our parents to drop us off in Scare Valley. We shopped at Media Play, and then proceeded to the movie theatre. You may not believe that I wasn't always pop culture knowledgeable, but before going into the movie, I had no idea what the movie was about. As I sat watching the opening sequence of the movie, I thought it was lame and that the graphics were awkward. By the end, I was in love with this new tale of two best friends.

2) It's Pixar, which means there is high quality in their story-telling and they actually want you to feel something*. I often think that I hide my heart by an igloo built around it. Because of this, very few things make me feel an emotion. *Not added to this list are Cars, Incredibles, Wall-E, and Finding Nemo. Snooze-ville.

One of the "feels" from the previous movies have been the relationship with toys and their owners. Going back eons ago, I sat and considered if my action figures would hate me if I stopped playing with them. I seriously thought they would be sad and that I would be forgotten in their eyes. I had issues with this for a while, but thanks to the Toy Story movies, this feeling of lost identity was released.



3) Thanks to my cousin with crazy connections, we were able to tour the Pixar Studio and see how it works. From the tour I learned that the animators are hard workers, but know how to play hard as well.One of the fun things that impressed me was their cafeteria that provides food anytime of the day! Also they set up a museum-like area from their next feature production. At the time it was Toy Story 3, so I am excited how the artwork, sketches, and fun projects translate to the movie.

Un-thinkable (I'm Ready), Alicia Keys

Every now and then I am reminded how humanity and my own character is changing. I speak to a fair amount of people around the world every day. Some are good, while others need a refresher course from the Book of Virtues. Today's was thanks to a woman in Nebraska. Upon taking the call I noticed that she was speaking individual muffled syllables separated by seconds between. I had a hard time understanding her and instantly became annoyed and thought of how I could write her off. I asked several questions asking what she was calling about because the only word I could understand was Or-der-ed.

I then decided to listen harder and her 15 second message was life-changing. "Th-anks for the Or-der." Instantly I was ashamed of my disgruntled thoughts towards this wise woman. In some ways it reminded me of Susan Boyle's audition. I was expecting a horribly flawed person, but quickly realized the judgment was a reflection of who I am. 'It's moments like this that remind me that while the world may be falling apart there will always be the kind person to help it.

To the woman in Nebraska, thank you for making my day and changing my mind and heart.

Blind, Ke$ha

Typically the topics in my mind's Rolodex are pop culture or music based, but this week I have done deeper thinking than I usually do:

• I really am grateful to those that believe in protecting and serving our country. I don't think that I mentally, physically and emotionally could handle it. It really takes a special kind of person to do this. Because of my feelings, I think "don't ask, don't tell," should be repealed. Simply broken down, if a person desires to be in the military, they should be allowed to.
  

• The oil spill sponsored by BP is one hot mess. I have always enjoyed nature and the protection of it. As a corporation with a product that massively endangers the environment, you had better come up with a plan quickly. I fully support the government sending an invoice to BP. They have created a huge problem and it sometimes appears that they are somewhat lax in getting a resolution put in place. For example, believing that putting golf balls and old tires down the pipe will stop an oil leak? This isn't the "making time for those things that are important" object lesson. Two sources of info that helped me with knowing how gigantic a problem are: CNN's summary of the oil spill from day one here. Also check out this site that compares how big the spill is to your state.
  

• Everyday I try to catch a little bit of talk radio into my radio schedule. The other day I heard an advertisement from a political commentator speak about how kids need to get into homeschooling. I brought this hot topic up in my office and we had a good discussion on it. In short, I think that many people can't handle the time, discipline, and the mess that homeschooling requires. I also think that it stunts one's social growth drastically. If you are to homeschool it is better to do it in the 2nd to 4th grade of elementary school than K-12.

• I can't leave a pop culture topic out can I? A good friend and I were discussing Mariah Carey's alleged pregnancy rumor, which brought us onto the topic of celebrity kids. We both commented that the kids of Hollywood icons are becoming another type of celebrity monsters and only have their vain parents to thank. Take Will and Jada Smith. Several of their children have engaged in movie or singing roles. I realize that because their parents are famous helps them break into the business, but as a parent I wonder if I would subject my kids to the paparazzi, critic's tireless rants, and the dangerous paparazzi. Yes I don't know the full story on the kids but I have to think that exposing your kids for publicity can't be good for their well being. I am also curious to see what the lil celebrities, eventually do in life. Will J-Lo's twins become fashion designers and rappers? Will Suri Cruise become an Academy Award winner? Only time will tell...

So that's my rant. You may agree/disagree with what I said, and I would love to hear why. What hot topics are on your mind?