Bring It On: The Musical – Review

I’m the kind of person who isn’t afraid to do things on my own. Especially when it comes to going to musicals. I’ve seen “In The Heights” twice alone, “Fela” alone and last night I went to see “Bring It On: The Musical” solo dolo. I didn’t really have a huge interest in this show. I got an email with a code for discounted tickets, I had heard good things and decided to give it a shot. I went to the show with absolutely no expectations. It was one of the best musicals I’ve seen in a long time.

Hearing the title “Bring It On: The Musical”, you’d think it wouldn’t be that great. I had a friend who burst out laughing when I told her that was the show I was going to see. What drew me to this show (besides the cheap ticket price) was the involvement of Lin-Manuel Miranda. He’s the genius behind one of my favourite musicals of all time, “In The Heights.” He worked on the music to the show and since I know every single word to every song on the “In The Heights” soundtrack, I figured the music would be pretty good.

The first thing to point out is it’s not the same story from the movie. At intermission I heard some guys beside me say, “Where’s Torrance?” There were brand new characters and a new story line. Campbell Brown, the captain of her cheerleading squad, is transferred to an inner city school and creates a new squad to take down her old one.

The show was full of singing and dancing. There were real cheerleaders in the show, doing tricks, flinging girls so high in the air it seemed like they were going to hit the lights. At lot of times it reminded me of “In The Heights”, the way the characters would rap and even some of the choreography and formations because the same choreographer who worked on that show worked on this one as well. The show was funny too. It was modern with references to Twitter, Facebook, texting and video chats and it was a little racy with a few swear words thrown in.

I was laughing, nodding my head to the music and loving the dancing. It was a show that reminded me of how much I love musicals. There are theatre moments I’ve had in my life that I’ll always remember. Watching “In The Heights” for the first time in New York City, seeing “The Lion King” in the front row, seeing Fantasia in “The Color Purple” on Broadway and I’m adding last night to the list. There’s nothing better than going to a show with an open mind and being pleasantly surprised.

Bring It On: The Musical runs until June 3 in Toronto and will be on Broadway this summer.

America’s Best Dance Crew Episode 2 Review

Season 7 of ABDC continued this week, introducing us to the remaining 5 crews in the competition. Continuing with the “Season of the Superstars” theme, it was Flo Rida week and the man himself sat at the judges table. Here’s the rundown of the second episode of season 7.

America’s Best Dance Crew Season 7 Review

I know I’m late, but ABDC doesn’t premiere in Canada until Sunday so I had to watch it online. Leading up to this season I was so excited, especially knowing that one of my favourite crews of all time, Fanny Pak, would be coming back to compete for the title that they rightfully deserve. But my excitement dulled slightly when I heard that once again they were doing a “Season of the Superstars” season, where every week all the crews dance to music by one artist. And the first artist for season 7? Britney.

Fifty Shades of Grey – My Review

I only picked up Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James because of the hype. Usually erotica isn’t my thing, Twilight fan fiction is definitely not my thing. But I like to know what the hype is about when it comes to books, and I do enjoy reading erotica once in a while to get a good laugh.

But I’ve never, ever, read a book like this before.

People warned me that it was bad, but I had to see for myself. And it was pretty bad.

I don’t usually read erotica, but I consider myself an expert in romance novels. What I love about romance novels is being able to relate to the female lead character and fall in love with the male love interest. When they  have sex for the first time it’s emotional and beautiful because they love each other and are expressing their feelings. Fifty Shades of Grey had none of that.

First of all, the writing is horrible. That’s one of the main criticism of the book. The main character Anastasia is supposed to be 21, graduating university, but the way she speaks it sounds like she’s sixteen. It makes sense, since the book started off as Twilight fan fiction. So when she and Christian are having this hardcore sex, it seems like this is a really young girl and that makes it so not sexy. The author is British, these characters are supposed to be American, but everything they say sounds British. I kept forgetting that they were supposed to be in Seattle and not London. And if I ever see the words “Jeez”, “Holy shit” and “Crap” ever again, I’ll scream. At least one of those phrases were on every page. Every. Single. Page.

Christian, the love interest, was so not sexy. I was more interested to find out what happened is his life to make him not want anyone to touch him or for him to enjoy torturing women. You know you’re reading a failed erotica novel when the sex scenes do absolutely nothing to you. Nothing at all. I read the sex scenes either laughing at how stupid they were or cringing at how gross it was.

It was disturbing that Ana didn’t even want to do all the things that Christian wanted her to do, but decided to do it because she didn’t want to lose him. She was weak and needy and I couldn’t relate to her at all. The characters were so one-dimensional (and a little stereotypical when it came to best buddy Jose Rodriguez) I didn’t care what they were doing. I didn’t want to read endless pages of emails between Ana and Christian. Is this what’s considered good writing now? If so, it’s a little bit scary.

At the bookstores, this novel isn’t even shelved under erotica. They put it in general fiction, which is crazy. I’ve heard women have read it three times and seen women spot it in the store and sprint towards it. I don’t understand the appeal.

If you wanna read it, borrow it from the library or a friend. It’s so not worth the money.

The Importance of Headphones

You never realize what you have, or how much you take something for granted until it’s taken away from you.

I’m going through that right now… with my headphones.

Rewind a few years. I used to work the morning shift at my job and we were allowed to listen to music until the store opened. So everyday, for about four hours, I’d have my headphones in, either listening to music or a learn Spanish podcast. Then after work, I’d come home and write and put my headphones back in, cause I like to write with music.

All that headphone use turned out to be too much for my ears. After visiting the doctor this week for the second time, I was told that I have to give the headphones a rest for at least a month.

“But doc, are you saying I can never wear headphones again?” I asked frantically.

The doctor looked at me like it wasn’t a big deal at all.

But it’s a HUGE deal.

There is something so sacred about having your headphones in. The commute to school or work isn’t that bad, doing homework goes faster, that walk to your car becomes a dance, you walk with your back a bit straighter because a hardcore hip hop song is blasting in your ears and you feel like you’re the shit. It’s everything. It kept me alive working that morning shift.

There’s something satisfying about listening to music no one else can hear. A nod of your head becomes a dance, standing on the subway platform lipsycing your favorite song becomes the music video in your head, a slow jam can hit you a certain way on the subway and you burst in to tears. There’s that feeling that your iPod knows exactly the kind of songs you need to hear. You play all your jams when your happy, that make you smile super wide out in public, or the songs that match the shitty mood you’re in.

You put your headphones in so you don’t have to listen to the stupid teen conversations on the bus, hear the babies cry, tune out the crazy lady on the subway preaching about Jesus, when you’re bored in class, when you want to watch a show on your laptop late at night in bed.

Headphones are life. Music is life.

I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to have to learn to tune people out, find books that I can completely lose myself in so I can forget where I am and what my life is like. Walks will feel longer, the subway rides louder, the day a whole lot lonelier.

I’m already counting down the days. The first week of April, I will be the girl on the subway with big, ear muff like headphones in, grinning like an idiot because I have my music back.

Bits

Time hasn’t been an issue for me in a while. It always felt like there was too much time and I didn’t know how to fill my day. That has changed completely. School is literally kicking my ass. There are so many assignments due, quizzes to study for, an event to plan and of course a novel to write. Unfortunately, this blog has been put on the back burner. Thanks to the people who’ve asked me what’s going on, telling me they check the blog for new posts. I appreciate you and I’ll work harder to post more. But honestly, not much has been happening. There are no dance shows on to complain about, TV has been dry and boring, the music out right now is terrible. So I’ll just write about a few things I feel like discussing.

Rihanna and Breezy – Probably 20% of this entire blog is about Chris Brown. I’m known at school as the ultimate Breezy stan (and I’m proud of it). The two songs that he did with Rihanna hit the Internet and people are outraged. I’m not, cause the songs are good, well “Birthday Cake” is good, not really feeling the “Turn Up the Music” remix.  I knew this would happen eventually. These two have this bond that I’m not even going to try to understand, it was only a matter of time before they became friends again. I’m at the point now where I really don’t care. It’s been three years, obviously Rihanna had to forgive him in order to move on and allowing him back in her life is her choice. I can’t say that I would never do that if I were in her shoes cause thankfully I’ve never had a guy beat the crap out of me. I’ve also never fallen in love with my best friend. They’re grown, I’m grown and if they want to make music together I’ll listen to it. Of course there’s the argument that Rihanna is a role model and all these young girls are going to think it’s okay to let your abuser back in your life. If I had a daughter, I’d definitely talk to her about this and say this is Rihanna’s choice, it doesn’t have to be yours if this happened to you. It’s not up to Rihanna to raise the children of the world. If it was, she would have done a lot more to help girls dealing with domestic violence then she has. It’s all about the music. Haters, come for me.

Romeo Santos – The only kind of music that is giving me any kind of enjoyment right now is Spanish music. My iPod is so incredibly boring. So many mornings I feel like I have nothing to listen to with over 1,600 songs on my iPod. Whenever I feel like that, I go to my Latin playlist and enjoy every song. The majority of songs I’ve added this year so far have been in Spanish and my favorite artist right now would have to be Romeo Santos. His songs are really good, he has a beautiful voice and he’s not that bad to look at. I watched the “All Aboard” video in class on my iPod and almost had a heart attack. It’s amazing to hear him sing in English and to see him in a video with Lil’ Wayne. I had an urge to start a Twitter campaign to get 106 and Park to play the video and then I realized that I’m not 17. I have better things to do with my time. But now with techno pop, weird British boy bands and the decline of R&B, I have to turn to music in a language I barely understand.

Q’Viva The Chosen – Speaking of Latin culture, this weekend I watched Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s new show Q’Viva. It’s a talent show where the former couple travel all over South and Central America looking for the best Latin talent. They went to so many countries, looking for singers, dancers and musicians. It was honestly so entertaining and amazing to watch. For JLO and Marc Anthony to do a show like this is amazing in itself. For them to go to these countries to find these talented people who maybe would never get the chance to leave their countries and come to the U.S is so incredible. I love artists who are able to reach such high levels of fame and then give back to their communities. This show represents Latin culture in a way not many people have seen before. I love it.

That’s about it. Spring and summer are coming, which means the return of SYTYCD and hopefully Dance Crew. Then I’ll have something to write about.

Black Fiction Haul

Every February I do a black fiction haul. I go to a bunch of different bookstores in my area, check out their black authors table and buy some new stuff. This year, I didn’t get a chance to hit every store I wanted, because school has completely taken over my life, but I did buy a few books and have been reading non stop. It’s amazing how much fiction can be read on the subway. Here’s a list of a few of the black novels I’ve read within the past few weeks.