UCONN

After playing 5 games in 5 nights, the UConn Men's basketball team showed a tremendous amount of effort, teamwork, and perseverance as they beat Louisville to capture their 7th Big East Title.  While I'm not a hardcore UConn fan (although I'm from CT), I was both impressed and proud of the team for what they accomplished.  At the beginning of the year, UConn was not a favored team in the Big East, and the idea of them winning the Big East Tourney was a distant thought.  However, the leadership and grit of star player Kemba Walker, along with some key role players, led UConn to a successful season and now a Big East crown.  Walker may be one of the most energetic, driven, relentless, and unbelievable college players I've ever seen.  In those 5 straight games, he only sat out around 12 minutes all together, and while it may have taken a toll on him physically, it didn't touch him mentally.  He grabbed 12 rebounds a few nights ago.  This is a 6 foot guard grabbing 12 rebounds, a true demonstration of his grit and toughness and nose for the ball.

Basically, I just wanted to express my appreciation and congratulations to the Huskies for putting on a great basketball performance over the past 5 days.  U-C-O-N-N!  

The Power of Music

Music can speak to your soul, regardless of what language they're speaking in.

Greatest Feeling Ever

The moments after you finish a presentation or a test are perhaps the most relieving and exhilarating minutes of my life.  I have an extra jump in my step and feel like a new person.

The Race with Technology

Technology is something that many of us are trying to keep up with.  It's honestly a race that doesn't seem to have a finish line in the horizon.  From new phones, computers, GPS's, gadgets, video games, there's constant updating.  It appears to be growing at an exponential rate, so much that I question this:  Is it really worth it to keep up with technology?  Today's best computer will soon be outdated by tomorrow's new upgraded CPU or RAM or Motherboard addition.  Today's current smart phone will soon be ousted by another company offering a more efficient and intelligent phone.  If you were to leave this earth for 1 year and return, I bet you'd be blown away by the progress of technology.  Sometimes I wonder if its worth it.  Should I just desert this tech crazed world and live a simpler life somewhere where technology is non-existent?  It's quite tempting indeed.

Jessie J?

So I was on Youtube and I've been seeing this new artist named Jessie J being promoted insanely by YouTube.  I had heard her before and she's nothing more than a average songwriter with a decent voice, but I'm sure she'll become a hit in the US (She's from the UK by the way).  However, her credit took a massive fall when I read a little blurb about her on her VEVO page: "She can "Do It Like a Dude", shes making serious waves in the UK, and she wrote "Party in the USA" for Miley.  It's time you met Jessie J."


WOW.  She wrote Party in the USA? Incredible, I think I'm about to put her in the songwriting capability of guys like Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft, Dave Matthews, perhaps even Bob Dylan!


This just another classic example of what the mainstream music market is turning into.  They even threw B.o.B into one of Jessie J's music videos to get some attention from us Americans with the greatest taste in music these days.  It seems like all these mainstream pop/hip-hop artists are leaning against each other, promoting each other out the ass, just for a blink of fame.

I'm not saying Jessie J is talentless.  While her song "Price Tag" is a very superficial song that lacks creativity and musical technicality, she does have a good voice.  She just allowed the monster that we now call the mainstream music records/industry to get a hold of her and launch a marketing plan which, I admit, is clever in that it attracts a plethora of people who want to be "in" with modern music.  Do I blame her?  Not entirely.  The shimmer of fame and fortune is something we would all be hesitant to resist.

So while Jessie starts to make "waves in the USA", I'll be raiding through blogs looking for some unknown, actually semi-talented and legitimate artists to spend my time listening to.

 

Life Philosophy

For one of my classes we had to come up with our own life philosophies.  I came up with this:

"Avoid the cliché; nonconformity and creativity is what you should strive for.  Although you will be forced to do things a certain way, in the end, you should be doing what you feel is your calling regardless of what society or others tell you.  As long as you are respectful, grateful, kind, and live life with a smile more often than a frown, you are adhering to the philosophy."

Lissie

Check out this upcoming singer/songwriter Lissie Maurus, who simply refers to herself as Lissie on stage.  Currently living in Ojai, CA, Lissie lives in a bungalow with her dog and spends her days writing songs.  She got off the ground doing covers of some popular songs such as "Bad Romance" and "Pursuit of Happiness", but her original work shows off her irresistible whiskey-like voice, her lyrics that constantly promote the strive for independence, and her fearlessness to approach the music industry as she is; no hiding behind outrageous makeup or wardrobes as many others do.  Shes playing in at a nightclub in NY at the end of the month, and I'm hoping I can check her out live!

The Twilight Zone

One of my favorite shows of all time has to be the Twilight Zone.  I'm not talking about the new ones, I'm talking about the original black and white series.  Rod Serling was such a creative and brilliant mind writing excellent stories about the supernatural and paranormal.  I think I've seen almost every TZ episode, mainly because SyFy runs TZ marathons every New Years and Fourth of July, so I found myself watching a few episode this weekend.  Some of my favorite episodes including "Living Doll" with the creepy doll Talky Tiny, "Walking Distance", "Where is Everybody" and "Nick of Time" with a young William Shatner starring in it. You are now entering the Twilight Zone!