Must See Movies...like ACTUALLY.

The Freedom Writers - A heart-wenching tale of an English teachers impact on an inner city high school. This movie is FANTASTIC. Hilary Swank is in it...which makes it absolutely an ABSOLUTE must see, and also Patrick Dempsey plays her very good-looking husband. Plus it's based on a book...which is a true story. The book is a must read. I love this movie so much!

Milk - A heart wrenching tale about Harvey Milk's struggle for gay rights in California. The movie mainly focuses on his struggle to become an openly gay person in a legal office. Sean Penn won an Oscar for this role and rightfully so. Also, a gay James Franco? One can only dream.

Titantic - Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, and sinking ship. 'Nuff said.

Definitely, Maybe - A true romantic comedy where a young father, played by Ryan Reynolds, tells his daughter, played by Abigail Breslin, about his past love life with three most important women he has been in love with. It's kinda a love-mystery, where we know that one of these women is Abigail's mother. Who is it?

Were The World Mine - A gay teen in an all boys high school is part of the school;s production of A Midsummer Nights Dream, which becomes a parallel in his real life. He crafts up a kind of "love potion" in the form of a flower, that makes you fall in love with the first person you see....a la A Midsummer Nights Dream. This film follows a very Christian town as they become a rather gay town. Literally.

Now I want to watch all these movies. But no, homework.

Savion Glover

Tonight I had the wonderful opportunity to see Savion Glover, the tap-dancing marvel. Now, I know what you might be thinking: "Tap dancing? Isn't that passe? How can that be cool or exciting?" Oh my friend, this person is no ordinary tap dancer, Savion Glover was a prodigy at the age of six and can 1) move his feet at lightning speed 2) make it look far too easy 3) improv like no other and 4) look so happy! Speaking of "happy" he was choreographer for Happy Feet! Isn't that cool. Well, this guy is truly amazing. Words cannot begin to explain this man. Just watch this below:

Flossing

I just came back from the dentist, and my dentist tells me I need to floss more...because I don't. She tried to entise me to the white threadlike latex by saying "at first, you might bleed and it might be painful...but after a while it doesn't hurt at all." Ummmm....I don't think I would want this woman to create the slogan for Crest floss in the future. Why would I ever want to floss after hearing this? Just some wondrings.

Also, Urban Dictionary defines "flossing" as:
To flaunt expensive merchadise such as Iced-out rollies, Jaguars on Triple Golds, Gem-encrusted Pimp goblets, Huge whops of dank hydro, etc.

I might not know what that means. But.....maybe if she explained it like that, I wouldn't have plaque in my teeth.  :)

Beautiful People

Today I had the luxury of having no school which allowed me to shoot a photo shoot with three of my best-est friends. This led me to the realization that HOLY CRAP, people are so beautiful. I was looking over the pictures, and it was amazing how effortless these people who I don't normally think of as models, worked it and created true art. Astounding. People are always people. Simply because eh person is an individual. Yes, there are people who bare a striking resemblance to each other, but it is the uniqueness that one brings to life that makes them different and truly extraordinary. Crazy. Just some thoughts.

Done.

This long two weeks has come to an end. That's right: the hellish week of lack of sleep and over analyzing minute and useless fact has come to an end. I am rather glad. Not at all sad. A tad mad. And maybe feelin' rad? Rhymes. Oh life. How I've missed you. Okay. That's all. Forgive the shortness...but...ummmmm....

"Do Not Spend Money That You Don't Have."

Today, our family ordered Chinese food for lunch/dinner, and after I finish my delicious vegetable lo mein I, of course, opened the fortune that comes with the food. I opened the cookie and as I had half the shell in my mouth I read my fortune. It read "do not spend money that you don't have." I was not so much perplexed by this fortune but annoyed. This is CLEARLY not a "Chinese Proverb" but rather an American saying that I have heard countless of times from adults who boast about their financial security. Then I flipped over the fortune to see that under the "Learn Chinese" title was the word: "Father's Day" pronounce is Chinese as "fu-qin-jie." Now, do they even have father's day  in China. I am pretty sure about that Father's Day is simply an American holiday. Essentially today, I received an American "Chinese Fortune Cookie." Now, I understand that fortune cookies WERE started in America, but could the writers of these fortunes at least put in some effort into adding in a cultural perspective? Just a thought. I was intrigued.

...AND I DID.

Almost Done.

I am currently working on a mural at my school and I am close to finishing it. But at the same time, I am SO sick of working on it, that I don't really want to put the time into finishing it. It's quite a pickle....and I hate pickles. They are green, slimy, lumpy and salty. I guess I gotta just suck it up and finish it up. Not much to report. Simply tired. Simply bored. Good times. Off to listen to some Sondheim.

Sorry for the short post. Here's some belting to put you at ease:

Love.

Unexpected.

So, today I have a snow day...which is both fantastic and a great hindrance. On the upside...I don't have to take a chemistry exam today and I get the get to relax and sleep and relax some more. However, on the other side...I have to wait to finish this exam week until Monday. But, this morning all I can think about is relaxing and finishing this cup o' Hot Cocoa! Yum. Yum. Yum. It seems that this storm came out of no where....at least for me....because I've been studyingggggg. I was been watching some videos on the Youtube and a couple have really sparked my interest. They are both people singing "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls. Well, these "people" are just any ordinary people. The first one is the wonderfully fabulous ans crazzzaay talented Ms. Sutton Foster, of Broadway fame. She is freakin fantastic at everything she does. She first one a Tony in 2002, for her main role in Thouroughly Modern Millie, and has had four Tony nominations since that....making her one of the only actresses to have five Tony nominations in a decade. In this clip, she is parodying Jennifer Holiday's version of the song and at first I was laughing out loud and found it FREAKIN' amazing...but by the end, Sutton sound's actually fierce!!! Her belting, as always, is phenominal and she's just...perfect!!! Can't deal with it. Watch it below:

The second video is the also fierce yet, slightly less known, Natalie Weiss. She has become famous mainly because of her Youtube videos, especially one where she sings "Spark of Creation" from Children of Eden. Since then she has been in the show Everyday Rapture as the announcer and an understudy for Sherie Renee Scott's signers. In this version of Natalie's "And I'm Telling You...," Natalie starts off doing her version in an opera voice, trying to be as "white" as possible, but then.....gurrrrrrrrrl, I'll tell you, she works it. Her belting is phenomenal and I'm in love. I can't get over it. Just listen. You're gonna love her, yes you are! Check it out:

At the beginning of both of these, I was laugHing hysterically at their renditions, but by the end I absolutely loved them. Totally unexpected. OH WAIT! A CONNECTION TO THE TITLE OF THIS POST? 

Oh yes.

Study. Study. Study. Eat Dinner. Study. Study.

It's almost over. Just one more day. I can feel it comin' just 'round the corner. The end of "hell week" that has made me feel tired, hungry and keeps me second guessing my every move. Isn't it rich? Are we a pair? (P.S. Nothing gets me through a stressful week like some good ol' Stephen Sondheim. Oh Steve, marry me a little. Oh wait. Another reference? That's the trouble of being alive. :-D)  But, oh hey there...here's Chemistry. The big kahuna, the monster under the bed, the pit of my existance...and the thing I will never need to use again. Ah exams...gotta love 'em. Well, back to Polyatomic Ions. Ah yes. Favorites. Lies. So much. Ah. K. Bye.

(I can only think in fragments now....and Sondheim. Score.)

Save me, Stephen.  Somethings Coming, Something Good!

 

 

 

Eminem...and M&Ms.

 

Yes. I know. Unexpected. But I will admit to being a new Eminem fan. Who woulda thunk it? What sparked my interest a while back was his new release "Love the Way You Lie feat. Rhianna" which came out of nowhere and turned some heads. Now, I am personally not the biggest fan of Rhianna (especially because her image is from her record company....a post about that later ;-)...) , but this song caught my attention mainly because of the message and the lyrics. The song is about physical abuse in a relationship between two people and how its a roller-coaster about one day you are bashing your fist through a wall, then the next day begging for forgiveness from your partner. This was the first instance where I ever took and interest in rap...however I realized that this form of rap was different from the mainstream idea of rap which usually consists of lyrics like "Yo muthaf**ker, I wanna slap this b**ch up the a**" which I have always found so vulgar and truly unnecessary. However, with lyrics like the ones in "Love the Way You Lie" tell a story and have a poetic meaning that make you think. Eminem has told interviewers about how he is constantly thinking of rhymes for unique words and breaking apart the structures of words. I find this comforting to know that this rapper cares deeply about the weight his words have, and that being a rapper requires skill, practice, and analytical and emotional thought. It might be a bit of a stretch, but I've thought that ther is somewhat of a connection between Eminem and Stephen Sondheim (not in their genres, obviously) but in their ability to rhyme unheard words and have in depth sentence structure. Just a thought. Eminem is not a rapper. He's a poet....plus he's rather pretty. Eminem has this very hard, tough and serious exterior which is fitting (I guess) for a rapper nowadays, but when he smiles and laughs...you realize that he has such a great sense of humor. I look forward to delve further into my current obsession with Eminem...I cannot wait to see"The 8 Mile," a movie that he acted in and won an Oscar for Best Original Song for. Can't wait. Yo.

P.S. M&M's are really yummy. Mmmm.

Really?!

When will I ever again need to know the restrictions of tangent in a graph? Or when will I ever have to know that Phosphate has a charge of negative three? Well, I know the answer to this one....it's never. I plan to go to art school, major in Studio Art, or Painting, or Drawing, or SOMETHING, but I do not see myself using these asinine facts in the foreseeable future. I am aware that we need this education to become a well-rounded person who can have intelligible conversations an interact with knowledgeable people....but when was the last time you and your friend had a conversation about calculating the rotational speed at a latitude of 76.45 degrees north? If you encounter this...please videotape it...and I will actually give you a hundred dollars. This is actually "redonk." That's it for today....I have to get back to memorizing trig functions. Oh right...those trig-functions...comes up all the time.

"What did you have for dinner last night?"

"Pasta. You?"

"Oh, I had salad with a side of 1+sin^2x=cos^2x"

"Oh yes. Yummmm"

No.

Congrats Chris!

 It should be no surprise that the Golden Globes were on last night. Now, I must admit that I did not watch them, but I watched the interviews and all the acceptance speeches today on YouTube. Overall, I thought "the globes" were fair and very fashionable, however one win that struck me was Chris Colfer's win of Best Supporting Actor in a Series, for Glee. As most people know, Chris Colfer plays the openly gay high-school student "Kurt Hummel," who is known for his fashion sense and high soprano voice. Over the course of the show's progression, Chris' portrayal of Kurt has become more and more about his trouble his his seuality at school, and the fact that he gets bullied because of it. One moving episode of Glee was when Kurt confronts a certain jock that has been bullying him relentlessly, only to realize that he himself is gay. When Kurt confronts this jock he has a moment of pure vulnerable anger that one can truly capture when all your emotions pour out. I'm rather sure that this is the scene that clinched Chris this award, and rightfully so. When Colfer won this award, he looked so shocked and so happy and I thought it was well deserved. His speech was touching yet funny especially when he started off by saying "I think I just dropped my heart between Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, so if anyone sees that, please give that back to me." Humble and funny. A good speech. However the part that annoyed me was when the camera panned to Lea Michele who was balling her eyes out because of Chris' win. Now, I myself do not like Lea Michele, AT ALL, and the fact that she was clears over exaggerating her tears bugged the hell out of me. UGH. Damn you Lea. Well, all I can say is, "Congrats Chris." Your award is well deserved....but don't let it get to your head. :)

Let's Talk Some Coco!

IT'S COCO TIME!

Let me take a minute to introduce some very important to me. Her name is Coco Rocha and she is the best supermodel to inhabit this earth. Move over Tyra, Naomi, and Heidi...this girl can WORK! Now, for my most recent painting, I took inspiration from her Italian Vogue Editorial entitled "Indie Coco" where the theme was just that: Indie. Very "low budget," even though it's not...because it's Vogue. Here's the link to her blog with the photos: http://oh-so-coco.tumblr.com/post/2519464944/indie-coco-elle-italia-january-2010-photo#disqus_thread 

Also, Coco is extremely famous for were signature walk. Her sassy and high fashion strut has made her the supermodel she is today. But of course, who could forget what fashion show put her on the map. Jean Paul Gaultier. Fall/Winter Show. 2007. Coco has a background in Irish Step dance, and had won competitions as a child...so hearing this, Gaultier had Coco open the show step-dancing down the runway. It was the epitome of FIERCE.
The video below is fantastic and shows that exact moment:

 

Not only is Coco a tremendous poser and model, she is a fantastic person with a personality and heart as big as possible. Coco has become an advocate of  talking to girls about a healthy body image. Especially in the fashion industry, the question of being healthy AND skinny is one that is very taboo. Rocha declares that models should be healthy and that anorexia is not the way to be thin. Currently Coco, as well as all the other models at Elite Model Management, are going to Haiti to help out rebuilding houses and the culture...fiercely of course. She has a campaign called "Letters to Haiti," where you can send a letter of hope and guidance to the Elite Models to bring to the people of Haiti. Hand-written letters are better...but since they leave in a couple days, emails are the best way now. If you are interested and want to email a letter the people if Haiti, please email your letter to letterstohaiti@gmail.com to help bring hope to the people of Haiti.

Below is my painting as an homage to my dearest Coco. She's truly an inspiration inside and out.

Crabby Twins?

There has been some hoopla and commotion in the news lately about people's zodiac signs changing. After some in depth research...and by that I mean a two second search on Google...it has become clear that this whole thing is a misconception and phony. However, if this event was true, I would become a Gemini as opposed to the Cancer I had thought I had grown up as. As a cancer, I am supposed to take roundabout approaches to things, while being a little psychic, battling a bulge for my whole life, and moody, cranky and unpredictable. I can attest to some of these traits in that I don't really like to take conventional means to get something done, which might be a reason for my artistic mind. I take after my father, who has had weight issues, so although I am kind of a rial right now, I might have weight troubles when I'm older. Who knows. If only someone could predict that...oh wait. I do, because I'm totally psychic. False. I don't even know what I'm going to be doing within the next hour....which adds to the unpredictable nature of a classic Cancer. I AM a bit bipolar, meaning I can be so happy and cheerful at one moment and truly "crabby" (hahaha get it?) during another. Oh boy. 

But now, if I compare my classic Cancer traits to a Gemini's I realize that the bipolar and unpredictablitiy is come in again. As most people know, the Gemini symbol is "the twins," which brings back the dual personality trait. Strange, how it still applies to me. More common traits of a Gemini is that they are VERY talkative, the "life of the party," and social and charming to the opposite sex. Who knew? Actually, I feel that I fit more so with the Gemini personality than the crustacean persona I've had thus far. Being italian, and gay, I am rather talkative....even when no one wants to hear it. I also feel, not to "toot my own horn" (well, maybe a little bit), that I am rather charming. I am comfortable with the opposite sex, in fact, most....if not all...my friends are girls. Interesting. Who knew. However, another interesting thing is that classically, Gemini's and Cancer's go VERY well together. Who would've thunk it. So apparently, I would be a perfect person for myself. Let's just make this easier...could I marry myself? Quandary.

Low Battery.

If only it was as easy as "Please Charge Me"

I'm drained. Beat. Tired. Exhausted. Stick a fork in me, I'm done (but don't really...that wold hurt). After a long week of prepping for midterms and finishing up the final week of the semester I am spent. Now, seeing how it's the weekend I have time to sleep, relax and not stress about anything. This last sentence is a direct quote from a biography I call Lies I Tell Myself by AdamDaltonBlake, because I have midterms all next week. No matter how much I would love to sit back. relax and take a load off, I have flashcards to memorize, outlines to write, lack of sleep to complain about. The latter is a great time waster, but necessary for mental stability. Also, as if midterms weren't as must of a stresser already, I have to finish a mural for my school...in the next week, and learn, as well as memorize, the ugliest and most-difficult song your have ever heard, for a state-wide choir. I'll warn you, in the next week there might either be a lack of posts or truly random posts posted out of fatigue and anger such as "Does anyone really care about solving for x using sin or cosine?" or maybe even "Teachers: Necessary or Passe?" Yet again, random but CLEARLY therapeutic. Thanks for becoming my free therapist.

Everything in my life is exhausted. My iPod tells me every five minutes that it's running on "Low Battery," as well as my phone and computer. I think this might be a sign. If only I could plug myself into the wall and within an hour be full of the life and spirit I came into this world with. If only there was such a thing that was similar to that....oh right....it's called sleep. It's is a shame that sleep and I are going to be "on a break" for a little while, we used to get along so well. Then I caught it cheating on me with my older brother who's home for a month before going back to college. Damn you sleep. Well, it was nice knowing ya!

British blogBLAB

Cheerio Ol' Chap! How's the queen? Now, I figured out today that speaking in a British accent, is 1) Infectious and 2) The BEST THING EVAH!! I think it goes back to "playing pretend" as a child. Adapting a fake posh or cockney persona and dedicating yourself to it. However, I figured out, after greeting people in the hallway and on the bus for about an hour, that a British accent is very hard to get rid off. It is essentially the flu of accents. You have to work hard to "phase it out" by putting your R's back into your words, and ridding of phrases like "Thawt would be simply delahghtful". However, you get so used to some words (or or pronounced British-ly as "weuhds") having no "r" sound, or you get used to saying phrases like "Oh! That's bloody brilliant!" that they kinda just pop up in regular conversation post-accent. So you end up saying "Oh hey there! I love your shoes sooo much...whueh did you puhchase them?" And when you reach that moment of half-posh, half-American accent, that you know that its time to go cold turkey. You have to stop all together scratching that infestation of chicken pox, or should it be "chicken paux?" I don't even know anymore.

WAIT!!! Did I just ramble on for a long time about adapting a British accent? Well, now I need to say something actually interesting or leave a link or picture that will stay with you when you leave this post so that you can say "Well, this guy's blog post today started off a bit lame, but...OH LOOK, an amusing idea has left me wanting to come back for more." Ummmm.....pressure much?

Ok...well...ummmmmm...let me think here. Okay. Here's Marla Mindelle. She belts. She's funny. And she doesn't care at all whether you have a British or American, or even a Zimbabwean accent (ARE THERE SUCH PEOPLE?!?!) Enjoy!

Snow = Amazing = Blogging?

So, here we go! The first blog of my whole life....and it's snowing. It's so cold and beautiful outside...especially when you are watching your parents shovel the driveway from your nice warm bed and eating a nice warm pizza. Although I would love to just sleep all day and do nothing...mid-term review packets have found a way onto my bed. Even when I kick them off, they always seem to crawl their way back up. They're like cockroaches. Thick, stapled, and formulaic cockroaches....with Law of Cosine. Well, time to stop procrastinating and get down to studying...well, maybe in a couple of minutes. :)