Monday, April 23, 2012

Lights! Camera! Action!

Thinking of movies from my childhood takes me back to a place of no worries. Being able to stand next to the television pretending I'm Ariel off the Little Mermaid. Singing at the top of my lungs about being "out of the sea, part of that world". Although I would like to imagine myself being a cute red head with an awsome body its not what I feel is the movie of my generation.



The movie that I feel that has defined my generation has to be the Scream series. Although the series is obviously not one movie I can't help but remember the first time I saw the movie itself.  We are too old for Disney and too young for Throw Mama from the Train. The first time I heard that voice over the phone talking to Drew Barrymore before she had her insides pulled outside I knew that there was no way that I would be caught on a friday night alone again.



Scream broke all the rules in scary movies. The killer wasn't supposed to be the heart throb of the movie and the bitchy reporter wasn't supposed to get her five minutes of fame. They were both supposed to die! However scream changed all that. You quickly found that the cute blonde died first and the ballsy brunette won out in the end. Scream redefined how we looked at our lives and made us wonder...Could my boyfriend be a serial killer?



Continuing with the next four trillogies I can't say that todays generation will be defined by their version of Scream...Scream 4 in which the killer uses modern technology to show case the killers blood bath but those of us Scream veterans will always have a place in our hearts for billy...the boyfirend even though we may not want to admit it

Friday, April 20, 2012

Really Reality?

When I think of reality television the first thing that comes to mind would have to be the larger than life celebrities that have cameras following them all the time. We watch their every move or so we think. Their moves and decisions being altered by the editor before the final copy hits our television sets and have us on the edge of our seats waiting every week for more.

Reality television really isn't our reality. I mean how many people do you know have their own private jets or are driving cars that cost about the same as a house. Or their houses are not houses at all but mansions? I don't know about you but that is not my reality.

The first time that I started watching reality television was when I became interested in the Real World. Strangers forced to live in a house..blah blah blah...I would hole up in my room and get really comfy and watch the all day marathons on saturday's in case I missed a big fight between the room mates or worse missed a hookup by the bad boy in the house that has fallen for the good girl that is out of his league and has a boyfriend that she is completely devoted to back home. Oh yes...I was a RW groupie!!




After a while though I seemed to just out grow the same old thing that the real world is known for and before you know it I was skipping episodes and wanting to watch something else. But MTV being the sneaky things that they are came back with the Real World/Road Rules challenge. Once again I was glued to my television and couldnt get away.

It seems that my reality wasn't good enough. Seeing people live together and fight, love, and fight some more seemed to be the reality that I wanted. But when you look at these people this isn't their reality either. They are playing the game they signed up for and are at the mercy of producers and editors. Not being able to choose how the rest of the world gets to see them as.

Funny how unsatisfied we are with our own lives that we need to escape into someone elses. Not much has changed over the years. We still have our Real World...but I have graduated to new more of whatI would like to call cultured reality television...oh yes. I have traded strangers in a house for a screeming dance coach and alcohol induced mothers! DANCE MOMS!!!


I am addicted. Like a crack feind I only am able to watch this when no one else is around. My fiance has banned it from the house as have I banned south park. I have the episodes on OnDemand though our cable company so that I have feed my nasty litte habit. I guess we never really grow out of watching reality televison. We just find new shows to tickle our fancy :)

Friday, April 6, 2012

Run DMC....Reba Mcentire VS Lil Wayne....Carrie Underwood

Thick gold chains and flaiming red hair have given way to dread locks and good girls gone bad. With the music of our generation ever changing looking back on where it started sometimes can make us laugh, take us back to lemonade on grandma's front porch or even make us want to run away and become the next big thing.

In the 1980's the world of new school hip hop music was born. Rum-DMC was one of the first new groups on the scene for hip hop. When we compare the old and new of hip hop we find a huge difference even in the lyrics. From Run DMC's song "Hard Times" the first stanza are as follows:

Hard times spreading just like the flu
Watch out homeboy, don't let it catch you
P-p-prices go up, don't let your pocket go down
When you got short money you're stuck on the ground
Turn around, get ready, keep your eye on the prize
And be on point for the future shock

Instead of  talking about women and their status they talk about hard times. Now lets look at Lil Wayne

All I was taught was murder murder
Kill drama, and nothin' less
I strap tha Smith-Wess, and bust.. it in they chest
I had ta hustle hustle hustle hustle
Had ta struggle for success
Hid grams in girls' breasts, stick bricks.. under they dress
Them niggas there with me fooli'
Me, I'm full of that dilly
Hope when I catch them slippin'
Him and they daddy's trippin'
Shorty can hold it down
Shorty be totin' rounds
Smellin' like a pound on school grounds
Shorty, wow
Hair... all over my head
Bandana 'round my brain
Eyes bloodshot red
Briches down to my legs
Guns up in my trench
When niggas playin', they get drenched
My pockets is full of lead
So, nigga, stay off tha ben
I'm young with bad nerves
Since I lost my partna, I've been troubled, hurt in this 'burb
So I'on't even hesitate ta leave 'em on tha curb
And wet dem niggas' shirt
Nigga, get 'em full of birds
Tell them niggas, Geezy!
I tried to find a song that was less...well less. Alot of the songs that I pulled up were very explicit.  Obviously a huge difference. Lil'Wayne is one that you can expect to do collaberations between artists and this is what we can expect. Judging by this Hip Hop is going to continue to go into this direction.

With looking at Country you used to see alot of sad songs and a more twang. You understood when you heard the first minute that the song was country even without the lyrics. Now its hard to distinguish because coutnry singers are making their songs sound so universal. The lyrics however I have noticed are ones that even now every one can relate to. For example compare Reba Mcentire and Carrie Underwood.

Reba's "When you Have a Child"

And when you have a child
Those four walls you call a house
Take on a life of it's own
When you bring 'em home
You will cry and you will laugh
When they hurt it cuts you in half
It's your flesh and bone

Every parent can understand this even when its sung. Now look at Carrie Underwoods work. Her newest song "Good Girl"

Hey, good girl
With your head in the clouds
I bet you I can tell you
What you’re thinkin' about
You'll see a good boy
Gonna give you the world
But he’s gonna leave you cryin'
With your heart in the dirt

You can relate to seeing that really nice girl with the bad guy that she thinks just hung the moon. When she sings she sounds country but the tune is so catchy that you cant help but sign along and understand what it is that she is saying.

Country is getting more of a pop feel to it because its getting more play of the radios that are not soley country. Hip Hop is getting harder to understand and is getting dirtier. There is almost an unattainable feel to hip hop now. I cant relate to getting money or going to clubs where as with country I have had those friends that I tried to warn to stay away from the bad boy and she didnt listen. If this is where hip hop is headed then Im staying with country!