Untitled

I’m not sure where this post is going to lead, so bear with me…

I’m having one of those moments when it hits me just how much good stuff is in my life and just how much I have to be thankful for.

My immediate thought was to make a status on Facebook about that, but right when I thought that, for some reason I thought someone would comment about god being good or something (I still have some animosity towards christianity, in all honesty)…but that made me realize, in a very twisted way, god does play a role in why I’m thankful.

From a young age, the idea of religion and god was instilled in me, went to church every week for my entire childhood, said the prayer when I was like 3 years old or something, and went through all the hoops that most of my friends did. Like I said, I do still hold some animosity towards christianity because I just find the whole thing rather cult-ish and laughable but if I think about it, if I hadn’t been brought up in that environment which would instill all the internalized self-hatred I have towards myself for being gay…would I still be the same person that I am today? Would I be better? Would I be worse?

If I had been able to express myself freely from childhood…what would have changed? I can’t help but wonder.

But back to point of this post, being thankful.

I’m thankful that my parents raised me how they raised me, yes, it was immensely difficult to get through it all on my own and I barely made it out alive (literally)…but I’m so happy with where I am right now that I wouldn’t ever want to risk changing anything that would alter how my life is right now.

I’ve got some of the best friends anyone could ever ask for (I love you so much Kim, ‘Chaunte, Brad, and Derek) that support me in everything I do (unless it’s completely idiotic lol).

Not only that, but I’ve got a rather unique outlook on life because of what I’ve been through which I think is a wonderful thing to have. It’s something that I don’t think gets discussed very much, but the whole acceptance process a person has to go through when they’re determining their sexual orientation makes you such an amazing person in the end. It helps you appreciate diversity in every form because you become a minority yourself when you decide to come out. You develop such a keen idea of who you are as a person that it’s just mind-boggling, I mean, after the amount of time I spend in thought, I know who I am inside and out (I may struggle to express that, but it’s there) and I can honestly say that I’m a pretty good person. Sure, I’ve got flaws, but so does everyone.

Something else that has been on my mind lately is how I don’t want to take anything for granted. Specifically, life in general. We have such a short time here on earth, why the hell would you want to spend your time being negative? Or ending wonderful friendships over petty arguments? Or not living out your dreams?

I’m struggling with the latter two personally, but I took the first step with one of them last night and reached out to try and repair one of my old friendships that I coldly ended out of anger and really regret (although a majority of people don’t understand why I want to try and repair it).

As for the last one, I’ll be honest, my life is sort of at a stand still right now…it feels like there’s a mass scramble of different things that I want to do or need to be done, but I’m not sure which to tackle first or there’s some inner turmoil/fear preventing me from really putting myself out there and going for it. One of the reasons I’ve been debating seeing a counselor to see if I can get some guidance on some of these issues.

But, I don’t want this post to be negative, I wanted this to be a positive post so that’s how I’m going to end it, dammit! =]

Here’s my advice to everyone (and myself):

Be yourself. Yes, there’s a chance you may lose contact with some friends (although, that can be avoided), but look at it like this…would you rather be friends with people that only know the mask you’ve got on? Or would you rather be the person you want to be and attract the people that will appreciate you for everything you are? That’s still something I’m working on myself, but so far it has been going better than I could have ever expected.

Take risks. If you don’t put yourself out there or take advantage of an opportunity because of fear or other unnecessary reasons, you might miss the opportunity of a lifetime whether it’s finding a job you love, meeting your best friend, lover, developing a new/better mindset, having more self-confidence in who you are, or anything…and then you’d just spend the rest of your life regretting not taking that chance. So really…what have you got to lose?

And finally, be thankful for everything you have, everyday that you’re alive and well, every person that has made an impact on your life, every friend that has stood by you through the thick and thin, every moment. Don’t take anything for granted.

I just want to thank all my friends that have been by my side through the years, the bouts of depression, the good times, the confusion of who I was, and for helping me and accepting me for the person that I am. I’m eternally grateful and I love you all so much.

Also, thank you to all the people that read my blog, it’s been doing infinitely better than I ever dreamed it would and I’ve been doing a pretty sucky job of doing regular posts but I’m going to try and find some things to write about in the future, so bare with me! Thank you so much!!

-Drew

Glee Review: “Prom Queen”

SPOILER ALERT: This is going to be a review tonight’s episode of Glee and will include many major events so if you have not seen it yet and enjoy being surprised, STOP READING NOW!!!

It’s prom night for Glee! (Another incredibly original title via Ryan Murphy)

Wow, was it an intense episode. Jesse’s back, Dave almost came out, Kurt was named Prom Queen and Blaine made his return.

So let’s start with Jesse’s return. I seriously dislike his character and wasn’t too happy when I found out he was returning but I cannot mistake that he has fantastic chemistry with Rachel and this was probably the most seamless introduction Glee has done to date. Basically Rachel started to sing ‘Rolling In The Deep’ by Adele and after one line, Jesse took over. I have to say that this was one of the best acted scenes in recent episodes and the lyrics fit their relationship to a tee. If you saw my music review a couple days ago, I was undecided on their arrangement of RITD but after seeing the scene and listening to it more, I absolutely adore it.

We had the continuation of the Bullwhips this week (which I still think is the absolute dumbest name they would have possibly come up with) which concluded in another incredibly powerful scene between Kurt and Dave. Max Adler did another fantastic job of showing a multitude of emotions at the same time and expressing so much inner pain and torment in a 1-2 minute long scene that I almost got teary eyed myself. There have been times when I’ve considered that maybe Dave is just confused and might not be gay but after tonight’s episode there’s no doubt at all that he is in fact gay but just completely terrified.

On a lighter note, I absolutely adored the ‘Friday’ performance/scene. I know it’s a very unpopular opinion but I seriously love the arrangement Glee did of Friday and it was such a fun scene (I also couldn’t help but think that I’m sure there WILL be some school’s that will play that song at Prom this year just because it’s so popular). But, y’know what they say, haters gonna hate *insert GIF of Darth Vader strutting*.

But back to the more intense parts, Rachel’s rendition of ‘Jar of Hearts’ and how it was shot was absolutely heartbreaking and I have to say that it was nice to see Finn with the longing stare for once instead of Rachel (what can I say? I’m a die-hard Finchel fan).

Following that scene, there was a confrontation between Finn and Jesse about Jesse’s conduct with Rachel which ended in Finn punching Jesse and both of them getting kicked out. This led to the infamous bathroom scene between Rachel and Quinn with the massive slap. I’m going to bluntly honest right now, I was horribly disappointed with this scene. I thought they were going to throw in some curve ball that would seriously cause Quinn to slap Rachel but to me it just seemed like some convoluted reasoning from Quinn who seemed to believe that it was Rachel’s fault for the fight and her date being kicked out (therefore losing her chance at having her fairytale King/Queen ending).

So after that scene, we move on to the actual naming of the King and Queen. First, they name Dave as King and it took everything in me to not sigh out loud and say “no” (my friend had come over to watch with me and he hates spoilers). See, as I’ve mentioned several times, I’m a spoiler junkie and I’ve known about a spoiler for the last few weeks that an extra leaked a storyline saying that Dave was going to be named King and Kurt was going to be named Queen which I thought was an absolutely horrible idea…

Side-note: Now that I think about it, couldn’t have Dave being named King been a form of bullying as well? I mean, I know he was nominated and everything originally, but it was pretty obvious that the student body had a specific idea of who they wanted to be named for Queen so isn’t there a good chance they would have rigged the votes for King because of Dave’s sudden change of heart to fight bullying instead of causing it? I don’t know, just a random thought I just had.

Anyways, going by that spoiler, another spoiler picture from the preview last week that expressly showed Kurt in a crown, my heart dropped when they named Dave as King because I knew Kurt was going to be named Queen next and did not want to see his reaction at all.

To the writers credit though, they did write it fairly well and really showed the pain that Kurt must have been feeling well and when he worked up the courage to walk back in and accept the crown and scepter, he could not have had a better one liner. So I have to give them props on that.

I’m also glad that they’re not rushing Dave’s storyline and have him come out really quickly because I know it took me years to accept myself and a few months more to actually come out so I’m glad they’re taking their time with it.

All around though, this was an absolutely fantastic episode…intense, yes…but it was very, very well written and I’m happy with how it all ended.

Glee Review: “Prom Queen” Songs Review

SPOILER ALERT: This post will include all the songs that will be used in this weeks episode of Glee. If you like to keep it a surprise, stop reading now.

So this week on Glee, prom is upon us! In case you haven’t seen the promo yet, you can watch it here. I just have to make one comment about that promo…that slap by Quinn? Umm…OW?! She put her whole body into that smack! Now, while I have my theories on why that happens (I’m somewhat of a spoiler junkie), I’ll keep my thoughts to myself so there’s no chance of me ruining the episode for anyone.

But, let’s get into the songs:

Dancing Queen (Sung by Santana and Mercedes):

I’ve never heard the original version of this song so I can’t say whether or not this is a good cover of it, but it does sound pretty good to me. I will always love Mercedes and Santana’s voices (Is this the first duet they’ve done together?) so I’m thrilled to hear another song spotlighting them. All that being said, this isn’t really my type of song so I won’t be listening to it on repeat but like I said, it’s still a well done song.

Friday (Sung by Puck, Artie, and Sam):

So, before I talk about the cover, I have to set the record straight on the original. To put it bluntly, people blew that WAY out of proportion. She had no intention of getting famous, it was a BIRTHDAY PRESENT from her parents so she could just have some fun and make video. Then it went viral and people started commenting saying she needs to slit her wrists and die or get an eating disorder so she’ll be pretty (both of those are completely true). People sicken me sometimes.

*deep breath*

Anyways, as for the Glee cover, I can honestly say that I absolutely love it. Yes, the lyrics are still horrible and you could get better writing from a 4th grader, but they did a fantastic job of changing it a bit musically to make it incredibly catchy. Also, I gotta say that Puck, Artie, and Sam all sound really good (however I think they could/should have left out that rap in the middle…it’s just painful). This is in the top 3 for my favorite songs this week just because it’s so much fun and so catchy.

I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance (Sung by Blaine with Tina and Brittany):

I’m really not a big fan of this song. I haven’t heard the original so who knows, maybe this is a good cover of a bad song, but I really cannot stand it. Maybe the scene it takes place in will get me to like it a little better, but as of now, I can’t even make it through the whole song.

Isn’t She Lovely (Sung by Artie):

I absolutely adore Artie’s voice on this song, it just fits perfectly. I also love how he sings the first half of the song a capella before the music comes in. This song really reminds me of ‘Never Going Back Again’ from last weeks episode just because it’s so painfully short. I really wish this song was longer because I never want it to end, it’s just that good in my opinion.

Jar of Hearts (Sung by Rachel):

I’ll be honest, I was excited but also very worried when I found out that Glee was going to be covering this song because I absolutely love the original and I was worried that would take away the immense emotion that Christina portrays in the original. However, I must say, Rachel does it again and does an absolutely beautiful rendition of a heartbreaking song. Yes, I do miss the unique sound of Christina’s voice but the added strings in the version do a great job of softening the sound to fit Rachel’s voice very well.

Rolling In The Deep (Sung by Rachel and Jesse):

I’m still unsure about this cover. I really like the verses but I’m still not sure how much I like the a capella version on the chorus. However, I do believe that Rachel and Jesse are the only 2 characters who can really do this song justice vocally so I’m glad they gave it to them. I think I’ll be sticking with the original on this one, but I’ll wait till I see the actual scene because they have a tendency to sway my opinion.

Overall, this is a great set of songs for this week, the only ones I’m not really a fan of is Dancing Queen and I’m Not Gonna Teach… . But the other songs certainly make up for it where the other 2 are lacking. I’m unbelievably excited for this week and how it will all play out.

Glee: “Rumours” Review

Another great episode following ‘Born This Way’ last week.

The entire episode was based around the ‘Rumours’ album by Fleetwood Mac which was an interesting concept after the multiple artist-themed episodes and it also focused heavily on rumors and how they can effect people (the writer’s have been so original this season with episode titles).

I actually really enjoyed this episode. When I first saw some of the clips and read up on what the episode was going to be about, I was wary because I haven’t been a big fan of the different “themed” episodes that have shown up several times this season. However, with a mix of good writing (which was a nice surprise because they haven’t been doing that great of a job with writing/consistency this season at all, in my opinion) and great song selection, this is the first episode that has really made me feel something since I watched “Throwdown” back in season 1 when Quinn’s secret pregnancy got out to the school.

It was nice to see April make another appearance without totally stealing the show, she just would pop in when it was necessary and then take a step back which was really nice so they could focus on the other story lines.

I’ll be honest, I really love the Santana/Brittany pairing (from here on out, I’m going to call them Brittana) however I was really, really hoping they would find a way to break up Artie and Brittany without having any hard feelings but it seemed like they did the complete opposite. It was very abrupt, dramatic, and quite saddening. But here’s to hoping some Brittana interaction is in the future and they’ll become an official couple *crosses fingers*.

I’ll be honest, Quinn was rather obnoxious this episode…but at the same time, if you look at things from her perspective, nearly everything she did this week was understandable. The entire time she’s been with Finn this time around, Finn has been eying Rachel every chance he gets and Rachel hasn’t exactly been subtle about the fact she wants to be back with him either. Obviously Quinn is going to be jealous and uneasy about Finn and Rachel spending time together and I really have to give her props for standing up and laying down the line for those two.

But now, for the main story line for the episode (even though it didn’t come to light until the last 15 minutes or so), Sam’s family struggles. It was absolutely heartbreaking. Chord did an absolutely fantastic job acting out his scenes and it was wonderful to see him get and actual story line since he was added to the cast at the beginning of the season. The motel room scene with him, Finn/Rachel, and his younger siblings was honestly one of the most well done scenes I’ve seen this half of the season and I almost started crying when his sister came over to try and comfort him. Beautifully done.

I also was pleasantly surprised to see another epic group performance to end the episode! It seems like they’ve been doing a LOT of solo/duet work lately and have had very few full group performance which were some of my favorite parts of the show so I was ecstatic to see one this episode (especially with the song they chose).

Speaking of the music, here’s my thoughts on the different numbers:

Dreams (April and Will) – It was a nice, simple, classroom performance which they’ve mastered by this point. Musically, this song didn’t really do it for me…it just seemed rather boring in my opinion, but oh well, can’t expect to love every number. Their voices did sound wonderful together as always though.

Never Going Back Again (Artie) – Yay another Artie solo!! I’m a little biased towards this song because I’ve absolutely adored nearly every one of Artie’s solos and they’re fairly rare so I was really excited about this. I loved how it was shot and musically I thoroughly enjoyed it as well, his voice sounds absolutely amazing on this song and there really isn’t anything bad I can say about it besides that it’s painfully short.

Songbird (Santana) – This scene was heartbreaking. Santana has such a beautiful voice and I absolutely adore her character so to see her in another emotional type scene was wonderful to witness. Musically, this song is beautiful; performance-wise, it was shot perfectly as well, simple and raw. No extra lights or effects needed, just heartfelt love from one human to another.

I Don’t Want To Know (Finn and Quinn) – The very first Fuinn duet! This is a fun song but it really doesn’t seem to fit Quinn’s voice. It might just be because Finn’s voice obviously overpowers hers but this sounds more like a Finn solo with Quinn as a back-up. Musically, I really like how they did it, it’s just a fun song all around. How they shot it was just painful though, although that was how it was supposed to look. The awkwardness they showed between Finn and Quinn was almost tangible and they did a very good job of relaying that to the audience.

Go Your Own Way (Rachel) – One of my 2 favorite songs of this episode. Rachel kills it as usual (her voice is just indescribable) and I also liked how it was shot, simple but fun. Nothing too over the top, just down to the basics. I also like how the club got engaged during the chorus so much and just had that moment of fun as a group.

Don’t Stop (Sam with the Glee club) – No contest my favorite song of the episode. It made me so happy to see a group number to end off the episode because they don’t seem to be doing those as often anymore. Also it was just adorable to see that they included Sam’s younger sibling’s in the number and I loved to see the club interacting with them. All around, it was a fantastic number and it ended off the episode on a very positive note which I was thankful for.

So all around, I really liked this song, it definitely leaned more towards the emotional side of things but it was nice to see a well written episode again. Can’t wait for the next couple episodes leading up to the finale!

I have returned (and I brought Samba with me).

Straight away, I want to apologize for disappearing for so long without any real notice. I hit writers block for a couple days and just had zero motivation to do any blogging, then things got a little hectic in my life (and my friend got me hooked on Tumblr) so this got pushed to the back burner, but I feel like the writers block has finally disappeared so I’m back!

Secondly, just want to give a quick shout-out/thank you to Brad for commenting on one of my old posts, that also helped to get me back into this seeing that someone still checks this occasionally. So, thank you, Brad.

Anyways, with my return I’m going to be doing things differently now. Since I’ve obviously failed with the whole “Post A Day Challenge” I’m going to just post when I have some really worthwhile to talk about. Whether it’s something I feel the need to talk about in my life, I need to vent about something, or some more reviews; I’m just going to focus on the actual content side of things instead of just forcing out a post every day even though it has very little substance. Although, more than likely, this is mostly consist of reviews of music/movies/TV shows (particularly Glee and America’s Best Dance Crew).

So, to kick things off, I’m going to review the new Pixar movie ‘Rio’!

The basis of the movie is a bird named Blu gets captured in Rio as a baby to be sold as an exotic pet but falls off the truck in Minnesota and gets taken in by a little girl who finds him on the street.

We then flash forward to the present time (as I remember there was a large jump in time, 18 years I believe) and find that Blu is still alive and well living with his companion, Linda. The only downside is that since Blu was captured at such a young age, he never learned how to fly. However, after seeing their routine, we find that he is more than able to get around using his feet. That morning, they get an unexpected visit from Tulio who is a bird specialist and wants to take Blu and Linda to Rio so Blu can mate with the one other Blue Macaw in existence and save their species. It takes some convincing, but in the end they decide to go for it and make the trek to Rio.

From there, the storyline really picks up. We’re introduced to the other main protagonist, a Blue Macaw named Jewel, who turns out to be a very feisty bird who is not very trusting of humans. Blu and Jewel quickly get captured again (this time they get chained together at the ankle to make sure they don’t get away) by the main antagonists, Marcel, Tipa, Armando, who are 3 bird smugglers and Nigel, a very conniving cockatoo who works as a type of hunter bird for Marcel.

During the night, Blu and Jewel manage to escape and the chase begins. In a flurry of flashing lights, bright colors, catchy music, and a rather memorable cast of creatures, we follow Blu and Jewel as they try to get the chain removed so Jewel can go back to the forest and Blu can find Linda and return to his comfortable life as a companion (as he considers himself).

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie (I actually ended up seeing it twice, once in 3D and once in 2D) and have been listening to a few of the songs from the soundtrack quite a bit since.

While the story line isn’t anything revolutionary (this is a children’s movie, anyway), the visuals are stunning and definitely capture your attention with all the flashing lights and vibrant colors. The music is incredibly catchy, keeps a energetic island feel throughout the movie, and all the musical numbers flow very well with movie. The cast is definitely memorable as well. There’s a plethora of well-known celebrities who do the voices for the main cast (Jesse Eisenberg, Leslie Mann, Wanda Sykes, Jane Lynch, will.i.am, Jamie Joxx, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez, and Tracy Morgan) and they do a pretty good job, in my opinion. I do have to give a couple shout-outs to my two favorite characters, Pedro and Luiz (voiced by will.i.am and Tracy Morgan, respectively). In my opinion, these 2 characters completely stole the show with their fantastic one-liners and delivery, I was wary when I heard that will.i.am was going to do a voice-over I must say, he did a fantastic job. Tracy also did an outstanding job and easily had my favorite line in the entire movie (“I don’t know how I got up here, but I ain’t comin’ down!”).

The only parts that kind of threw me off were the lengthy jump from the time we first meet Blu to the time he’s with Linda, I could be wrong but do Macaw’s really survive for upwards of 18 years? There were also a couple scenes with Linda that just didn’t flow well in my opinion, I don’t know if it was the animation that didn’t look believable or the voice-over, but there were just a few scenes with her that made me remember that I’m just watching a movie and I’m not part of the story (which is very hard to pull me out of).

All around though, this is a fantastic family movie and they through in enough “mature” jokes and references to give parents a laugh so they don’t get bored.

Overall rating: 9/10