ATTENTION: POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERTS. This post is a review of the Michael Jackson movie "This Is It". If you are planning on seeing it still, DO NOT READ THIS POST.
So yesterday I saw "This Is It", the Michael Jackson movie. I didn't LOOOOOOVE it like a lot of people I know said. I don't really need to see it another two, three or four times. But I will say that it was really interesting.
I'm really fascinated by the "behind the scenes" parts of jobs. I like to know the process behind how things work, all the details that go into making a successful business. So for that reason, I was completely fascinated by this movie and the process of what went into creating the concert that Michael Jackson would have given in London.
The entire movie was footage from a few days/weeks of rehearsals leading up to the concert in London. They showed the selection of the backup dancers and had interviews with the band members and other producers and stuff. In a way, I'm glad that they didn't choose (or maybe it wasn't a choice) to interview Michael Jackson because you got the chance to listen to regular people who are getting to work with their absolute idol. They spoke about his character, his humility, and his absolute genius and passion for what it does. It was completely genuine and completely honest and really touching and moving too. It wasn't some weirdo celebrity interview with all of these big words about artistic direction. It was just normal guys and girls talking about how cool Michael Jackson is.
Like I said, it was pretty moving to see how these people talked about Michael Jackson and what it was like to just be in his presence. The title of the movie couldn't be more fitting because for them, this really was it. When the backup dancers were giving their first reactions to being chosen as his dancers, the guys had tears just streaming down their faces. They never had to dance another day in their life if they didn't want to because they had gotten to dance with Michael Jackson. All of the struggle and the rejection and even their triumphs were validated with this moment. Maybe I'm just too emotional sometimes, but it really touched me.
And as geniuses as these dancers and band members and musical directors and video producers and lighting guys and etc. etc. are, none of them measure up to the absolute brilliance of Michael Jackson. Even at 50, he made his dancers have to keep up with him and made the musical directors think twice. Everyone had to be on point to keep up with the vision that he had. What was most impressive isn't so much the vision that he came up with, but more the fact that he could so easily articulate exactly what he wanted. Oh the musical director isn't sure which note to hit next? Bam Michael Jackson sings it. It was pretty awesome to see. And when he spoke to them and guided them and directed them, it wasn't ever as "I am Michael Jackson, you are beneath me and I will speak down to you". In his words "We are sharing this adventure."
I have to say though, the show was completely stolen by one of his guitarists. This chick, yes girl, HOOKED UP. Holy cow. And after researching her for this post, she is LEGIT. First of all, she's barely 24. Second of all, I heard from my dad that everybody else in the band had to audition, but Michael Jackson went and sought her out. THAT is how legit she is. Except that in this video she says she auditions so, maybe my dad's not entirely correct. Here are a couple of videos.
This is the only clip I can find of her in the movie and playing:
And then this is just a random video of her with a DJ from a radio station in LA playing "Beat It" which is what she first played for Michael Jackson:
Her name is Orianthi and she's unreal. Shoot, I'd go see the movie just to see her play guitar.
So in closing, here are the highlights from the movie:
- Watching Michael Jackson perform the actual "Thriller" dance. It's so iconic so to see him actually doing the moves was pretty awesome.
- The marching cadet dance and video
- When the girl guitarist played "Black and White"
- Michael Jackson telling the band director what he wants done for a certain song, then following that up with "With love though, with love. It's all for love. L-O-V-E."
- The dance rehearsal where the dancers and choreographers were trying to perfect the Michael Jackson crotch grab and were having serious discussion about just how much to grab, if anything moved, etc.
- The Jackson 5 medley
So there you have it. My thoughts and feelings on "This Is It". I'm glad I saw it and glad I got to experience it. If you've seen it, let me know what you think!
And sorry if I ruined it for someone.
Happy Halloween weekend everyone. How clutch was that extra hour of sleep this morning?
So Jessica Simpson has decided that next time around she'd like to date an "intellectual man". Why? Because she gets bored easily. First off, the fact that she's had nothing but a string of long-term relationships does not give me the impression that she is someone who bores easily. You've never really seen headlines where Jessica Simpson is serial dating from week to week. Colin Farrel? Bored easily. The girls on the Hills? Bored easily. So I don't know if I quite buy that reasoning from her.
She also wants someone who "really understands his art." Well let's see how that's worked out for her so far. Nick Lachey I guess was an artist. He was trying to launch his solo music career but that didn't really get moving very well and then they got divorced. Then she dated John Mayer for a long time but he's way too into his art. And that didn't well either. Then she dated Tony Romo and everybody else gave him a hard time about it and a couple times it affected his art and then people gave him an even bigger hard time and then they broke up too. Maybe it's time for her to find a normal dude.
Time Magazine ran an article about what happens to your Facebook account when you die. Not something I've ever thought about, but I guess Facebook needs to somehow cover all the bases.
If I ever pass away while my Facebook account is still active, I don't think I'd want my family and friends to de-activate it or memorialize it right away. When I get around to writing a will, I'm going to have it so that Phil and James and probably the Big CM have the authority to go in and keep my Facebook account going. Just something to freak people out a little bit. Come on, isn't this a fantastic idea? Everyone reading this knows they have one friend who would totally fall for that. I wouldn't let them get crazy and talk about the Apocalypse or anything. Just random stuff. Like "Amanda can't believe she still can't win at Scrabble, even when she plays against Elvis." Or write on the wall of oh I don't know, a small, completely gullible and easily tricked former roommate of Phil's and say something like "So I've already been to Friday and you should stay home that day. Seriously." Come on - go out with a bang.
The people have spoken. Or should I say the teenyboppers have spoken. Miley Cyrus was voted the worst celebrity influence of 2009 and I have to say that I've kinda been saying this all along. According to this article, she's trying to make the jump from Disney to more grown up things and I'm wondering what the rush is. She's 16 isn't she? It's okay for you to be a kid and make kid movies for a little bit longer. And is the way you're going to try and get grown up attention to make not so great decisions? This year, she dated a 20-year-old underwear model, was accused of mocking Asians and performed some kind of pole dancing routine at the Teen Choice Awards. So yeah if I was a parent, I'd say she wasn't a great influence on my kid.
I still think a lot of it has to do with the level of immaturity that comes with being a teenager. She can't just be a teenager because she's in the spotlight but how much does she really understand that people are watching her all the time. Just because you get rid of your Twitter doesn't automatically mean that you're just hidden from the world. I never thought I'd be saying this but look at the Jonas Brothers. I'd totally let my kid listen to their music. It might suck but you don't hear anything about them that is in anyway controversial. Somebody's guiding them in the right direction and I just wonder how much guidance Miley Cyrus really gets. Earlier this month, she chose to disband her Twitter account and said, I mean rapped, that it was pretty much of an invasion of privacy. Fair. What does her pops do? He posts this little gem. Does that strike anyone else as being strange? Where's the "I stand by my daughter's decision to try and get a handle on her personal life considering she's only 16 years old"? It's all just kind of weird to me.
Southwest Airlines is having a ridiculous sale on flights right now. For a few weeks in December and a few weeks in January and February, flights into Sacramento from San Diego are as low as $25 each way.
Shoutout to James for officially being the first friend and reader of Livin the Dream who will make the trip to visit me and the CMs in Sacramento. Mad props James.
So go check out southwest.com! The sale is only going to last until tomorrow night at midnight. If you can clear a weekend to get up here, we will clear a weekend to entertain you!
Plus... who wouldn't want to see this face for only $25...
Shoutout to Phil for this suggestion.
As a few of my readers are guys, I updated the poll to feature an answer that caters just to you. So now you have the option of selecting "Uh...I'm a dude, so..." as your answer to the poll.
So get back to votin!
It's Monday! Hope everyone had a nice weekend (all five of you that actually read this). Not really much going on in the world of celebrity gossip so here is a little hold-me-over until something legit actually happens.
In last week's poll we asked the question "How long do you think Khloe Kardashian's marriage to Lamar Odom will last?"
Here's how the votes broke down:
0% said 1 year
40% said 1 month
40% said six months
20% said "There's another Kardashian that's not Kim or Kourtney?"
0% said 3 weeks
For the record, when I was typing out the question just now I definitely wrote Kim, then Kourtney before remembering her name was Khloe so maybe I should have gone with "There's another Kardashian that's not Kim or Kourtney?" as my answer.
The moral of the story is that nobody thinks they're lasting. Except I didn't put foreva-eva as an option so that could have been interesting to see if that got any votes.
They signed the elusive pre-nup so congrats Khloe, you're about to get paaaaaid if this marriage goes south. And Lamar actually had a semi-decent game against Denver the other night (during the 20 minutes I actually watched...I'm not sure if I'm allowed to watch the Lakers in my household). So maybe this is turning out for the best for both of them? I'm still not completely convinced but they signed the marriage license, everything is official, so now the countdown begins. Wow, how cynical am I?
The next poll question is up and running for your voting pleasure:
The Olsen twins are launching a juniors clothing line for JC Penney. Would you ever purchase and/or wear anything from their line?
Your choices are:
- Of course! They have the best style!
- I'd at least flip through the racks and see what it looked like.
- Mmmm...doubtful. Have you seen how they dress?
Get to votin!
About a month ago I decided to embark on the Countdown Challenge, a book challenge that will have me read 55 books in the course of a year. About a week after that, I posted the list of books, so far, that I would be reading for said challenge. And I promised to give updates and reviews along the way so here is the first one.
Books started: 0
Books finished: 0
Yeah so the actual starting of the challenge is not going so well. This is because I am trying to finish the book I was reading when I discovered the challenge before starting any actual challenge books. I am not a multiple-books-at-one-time kind of reader. Too bad the book I'm trying to finish is "Gone With the Wind". No big deal - 1024 pages. It's the longest effing book in the world. It's really good, it's just super long. I'm on page 8-something right now which means I'm almost done...but also have 200-plus pages left.
The book I will be starting after I finally finish "Gone With the Wind" is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. It was an Oprah's Book Club pick earlier this year and it sounds pretty legit. Here's the description from Amazon:
Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home. When Edgar's father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm--and into Edgar's mother's affections.
Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father's death, but his plan backfires--spectacularly. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him. But his need to face his father's murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward.
David Wroblewski is a master storyteller, and his breathtaking scenes--the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain--create a riveting family saga, a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, and a compulsively readable modern classic.
Not too bad right?
So hopefully soon I'll actually get this thing started. Key word: hopefully.
Unless you've been living under a rock... or perhaps have taken off in your very own homemade hot air balloon... you have no doubt by now heard of the latest media craze: Balloon Boy. This morning the family decided to post a note on their front door saying they would not be taking anymore media and interview requests because "we are tired".
Well boo freakin hoo balloon boy family. Don't fake a giant disappearing act by your son only to let people find out that you're doing it to try and get on a reality show. I'm tired of you too. I'm tired of all of these crazies getting media coverage for NO REASON. And I'm not even talking about the US Weekly and TMZs of the world covering these nut jobs. The freakin Today show wanted them on the day after the whole debacle as did CNN and Good Morning America. So now thanks to them it all came out that the dad was trying to get them on a reality show or something and now they are everywhere. The dad has a bad temper, the kid has some rap with his brothers on Youtube, the dad went to jail once, the family was on Wife Swap...there has been at least one new story about these people every day since the event. All that needs to be said is this: these people are nuts, the dad should go to jail and they should pay back the money spent trying to look for their fake lost kid. They have a kid named Falcon, they've been on a terrible reality show twice, and they have homemade hot air balloons and storm chasing devices in their backyard; you think they like attention? So far they're getting exactly what they're looking for.
Last night I wrote a post about the ridiculous prenup situation that Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian are in. His lawyers were holding out over some of her demands (5,000 a month for shopping?). Well it looks as if a deal has been reached. She'll get everything outlined in that link and so now the marriage can be finalized and they look like they're on their way to wedded bliss. I still don't have much to say on the topic except that I still don't think it will last and now Lamar Odom will probably have to look at her and her family at every Laker game for the rest of who knows how long. Of course, on the bright side, most of what she's asking for she'll only get for as long as they were married. For example, if they divorce after 5 years, she'll only get all of that stuff for five years. So if you're Lamar Odom right now, this shit better last forever or it better be over in a year or less. This could end up working out well for him after all...
TLC has announced that after existing footage runs out, they will no longer be shooting new episodes of Jon and Kate Plus Eight. It is about damn time. Regardless of whether you're on Jon's side or Kate's side throughout this whole thing, the simple fact is that the whole situation has taken a really awkward and uncomfortable turn for viewers. It just isn't the right time to be tuning in every week when these people are starting to have some very serious issues to work out. The kids need proper guidance right now and they need to start understanding what's happening with their family. Yes I believe that they might really miss the crew and all that but it just isn't the right time right now. There's a reason the show is losing more and more viewers every week. It's time to cut things off for a little bit, let everyone regroup and then it's possible the show will come back even better than before.
Apparently Lindsay Lohan's dad is crazy and so she's filing a restraining order against him. And I'm not gonna lie, I kind of feel bad for the guy. I think deep down he just wants his kid to get better. She's living a crazy life, she's had drug and alcohol problems and he might not go about it in the best way, but I think he just wants to see someone shake some sense into her and "fix her" so to speak once and for all.
If *NSYNC was to reunite and I got to go and see the show, that would seriously rank in the top-five best moments of my life. Probably top-three. I'm serious. It would be like the day the Cougar Mamba came home, the day I quit CBS, then seeing the NSYNC reunion show. The day Justin Timberlake agrees to it (because you know that's the reason they haven't done it yet) it is on. And when they do it, you know they'll do it right. Think about how fricken awesome it would be. The dance moves, the power ballads, JC, Lance trying to dance, oh it would be amazing. Who wants to be there with me?
So I heard a ridiculous thing today via my friend Nick via the radio.
By now I'm sure everyone has heard of Khloe Kardashian marrying Lamar Odom of the 2009 World Champion Los Angeles Lakers after they dated for only a month. Now word on the street is that there is trouble in paradise over the good ole prenup agreement. Shocking. Two celebs who can't work out their prenup.
I'm not a fan of the prenup idea. I think the thought of figuring out what should happen if you get divorced before you're even married doesn't strike me as a great way to start a life with someone. I know about the high divorce rate and I know there are some people out there who might want to be prepared but it's just not for me. I feel like you might go through your life with this person not working as hard on your marriage because in the back of your mind there's always this thought of well it doesn't matter what happens, I'm taken care of.
I guess I can understand the need for it more with celebrities. They have more to lose and I guess a higher risk of divorce because of their lifestyle and all that. But I still don't like the overall idea of it.
Another reason I'm not a fan? The system starts to get abused.
So Khloe and Lamar are working on theirs and Odom's attorneys are not agreeing with Kardashian's lawyers on the set of demands.
This is what Khloe wants if she was to divorce Lamar Odom...which seriously could happen at any moment:
1. Their new house - I agree with her on this one, I will say. He's getting 30 mil over the next four years...a house isn't out of his means. Not like she and her family are broke or anything but I just feel like he'd be able to recoup this a lot better than she could.
2. A new car at the end of every lease cycle - I'd still give her this if I was Lamar Odom's lawyers. It's a little unnecessary to have a brand new car every few years and you know she's rolling around in style so it's not like he's putting a new Corolla in her driveway or something. But fine, what's a car in the grand scheme of things?
Now is where we get a little ridiculous with our demands...
3. 25K a month to support herself. Is this necessary? You don't have a kid and you have plenty of ways to bring in your own income. You have a TV show, your family has a TV show, you make all of these random appearances and have some endorsement deals that I'm sure you get paid for. You really need 25 THOUSAND dollars a month to support yourself? If I'm Lamar's lawyers I'm starting to get a little ticked off...
4. $1000 a month in beauty care and $5000 a month for shopping. Uh... really? Do I even need to comment on this further?
5. Courtside Lakers tickets for everyone in her family. Why would Lamar agree to this? If he divorces her, why would he then want to see her and her family sitting courtside when he's trying to play. He already has to look at Jack Nicholson every game. And do you know how long it took him to finally sign his Lakers contract this year? Let's just say it wasn't exactly a smooth process. Apparently these tickets would actually also cost him money, not the Lakers organization, and would be built in to his salary in some way. So if I'm Lamar, this to me is the reason I hold out. The other stuff is just money and he'll make that back. But this starts to mess with how he makes his money. People are sometimes already on the fence about him and his work ethic (not to mention his freakish candy habit). Combine that with how slow his contract negotiations went this year and I would think/hope that he wouldn't want anything distracting him over the next few years.
I haven't said much on the topic of their marriage mainly because I don't have anything that earth-shattering to say. Like a loooot of other people out there, I don't get it and I don't think it will last. And now with all of this, I think they're headed for some real trouble mainly because she needs to come back to reality. But are you surprised really by any of these requests? If you've watched five second of her show or read five lines of any story about her, none of these demands should make you scratch your head. But come on. At least try to pretend like you're not going to use all of his money to go shopping.
Oh yeah and they haven't signed the marriage license yet because of all this. Isn't that interesting...
To go with this topic, there's a new poll question up so check it out.
I tried rejoining 24 Hour Fitness and I'm unhappy again. The last time I joined I lived in San Diego and had such a good time going to classes with Hailey that I wanted to go all the time. So I signed up and stuck with it for a good while but wasn't too happy while I was there. Too many beautiful people, too many extreme workout nuts. Just wasn't my scene. So I tried the classes. I went to this one spinning class and it was amazing. The music was great, the teacher was very motivating, it was really awesome. So I went to work the next day and told Hailey about it and we were all ready to go and we get there and it's an hour long marathon bike riding class with some other teacher. Terrible. Slow, quiet music, people chatting with each other, it was terrible.So then I decided to try a step class. I had always wanted to try it. I walk in and the teacher goes "You are new." I tell her yes. She says "You've never been in my class before." I tell her no. She says to me "You will never get my steps." I go "Excuse me?" and she says "All these people come every week so they know all my steps. You are new so you will never get my steps." Wow thanks a lot for making me feel so welcome. So I take the class anyway and sure enough she's yelling out these moves at top speed and every one is just marching right along and again it was terrible.I cancelled my membership and then we moved to Sacramento and joined a different gym and it is awesome. Super nice staff, beginner-friendly classes, normal-looking people. It's been an awesome switch. I've even gotten to know the step teacher there and she and I are pretty friendly now. It's not stressful to go there. It's just good all around.Well I decided to rejoin 24 Hour Fitness over the summer. The monthly fees were lower and for some reason I thought it sounded like a good idea.Like I said. I tried. Again. I went today to take a step class. Disaster. I think there is no such thing as a "beginner" level or a "just trying to get a good sweat in" level at 24 Hour Fitness. It doesn't exist. Everything is so intense and fast and if you don't get the steps, oh well too bad. It is very frustrating. And I'm a semi-perfectionist so that makes things even more frustrating. Plus this gym is really hard to get to and in a not so great area.So I'm over it. Sorry 24 Hour Fitness. I might try one or two more classes but no guarantee. I'll stick with my diva step instructor and the lesser known California Family Fitness. I actually come out of there feeling like I accomplished something. And that's all I'm really looking for at the end of the day.
Davis is a pretty cool town. It has some great cafes and restaurants and a nice park that has a Farmer's Market twice a week and like five different delicious cheeseburger places. I haven't seen the bar scene yet but I'm sure it must be halfway decent considering there are so many students. The actual campus is also really nice. Lots of trees and the buildings are nice. All in all, it's a really great place to be 40-ish hours a week.
Except for one thing.
The bikers.
So apparently Davis has more bikes than people. Everyone rides their bike everywhere and some of the bikes are really cool-looking beach cruisers that are all painted and stuff. It's not really the bikes I have the problem with. It's the people that ride the bikes.
There are some simple rules that if followed, could make the getting around Davis experience a LOT easier. So here is my message to the bike riders of Davis:
1. Decide if you would like to be considered a car or a pedestrian. You cannot be both. Don't try to mix up the rules because you confuse everybody.
2. Pay attention. Do not talk on the phone while riding your bike. Do not listen to headphones while riding your bike. These are both things that I see people do a lot when I'm driving through Davis. How can you know that I'm coming if you're busy talking on the phone? The answer is you can't. Hang up the phone and pay attention and look around.
3. You do not always have the right of way. Most of the time, yes you do. But not all of the time. Just because you stick your hand out to make that signaling motion doesn't mean you can just come on over. When cars do this on the freeway, it can cause accidents. You still have to signal, then look to see if you have enough room to move into my lane and then you can move over.
4. You cannot go faster than me. Don't try because you cannot.
5. On that note, if you are riding your bike and you notice that you are wobbling side to side, you are probably riding way too slowly. Speed up. Once you get on the bike path go ahead and slow down to 3 miles an hour. But when you're in the street please try to keep up with the flow of traffic.
6. I know you're in college and love your friends and think it's so awesome to ride your bikes together to class or where ever you're going, but please do not ride next to your friend to chit chat while on your bikes. Ride in one single file line when you're in the street and I'm trying to drive next to you. The side by side bike riding combined with how slow you go makes for a terrible combination.
7. Work with me. I am not your enemy. We are sharing the road together and if you make eye contact with me or signal to me that you are turning every once in a while it would make for a much more pleasant experience for everyone.
So Davis, you're a cool place to be but I cannot stand the bikers. Where I come from, I am bigger than you so you need to watch out for me. So move over, don't turn in front of me and get off the phone and then we can all get along.
Recent Comments
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phil said:
that guitarist rules. playing like that is amazing, but then you notice she has full, girl-length nails! DAAAAAAAAAAAMN. skills. read more
on This Is It -
phil said:
i and the shelby will eventually make it up there in car form. i promise. read more
on Come to Sacramento! -
Taxman1337 said:
Small warning, while it is only $25 dollars to get into Sacramento, it's $65 to get back out, I think... read more
on Come to Sacramento! -
you know he's a ghost like swayze right? read more
on This Is It